Shifter Wars (25 page)

Griffin sat quietly for a moment before responding. “When do you want to tell him?”

“Tonight?”

“Bring him to the house, and we’ll tell him together. How do you think he’ll take it?”

“I honestly don’t know. Six months ago, he hated everything supernatural and now…” I hesitated.

“Go on.”

“Now he’s accepting of supes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to be one.”

“So we need to be as gentle as possible.”

I grimaced. “You may need to do the talking, then.” My phone rang before Griffin could respond. “It’s Jason. Do you think he knows we’re talking about him?”

Griffin shook he head. “Shifters aren’t psychic, Kyle.”

I answered the phone. “Hello.”

“Hey, Bruce just called; we’re on for tonight with the poachers.”

“Tonight? Why so soon?”

“They mentioned the hunting was better at night.”

“Bastards. Do we have the details about where he’s going?”

“They wouldn’t give him the address. Gave him some BS about it being off the beaten track and they would pick him up at a truck stop in Ashtabula county.”

“I’m not liking this at all.”

“Me, neither,” Jason responded. “But it’s our best chance to catch them. We’re meeting at the office to prepare. Where are you?”

“I’m at Griffin’s.” I stood. “I’ll be there in thirty.”

Griffin pushed back his chair and stood as well. “We’ll be there in thirty.”

Before I could open my mouth to argue, he plowed on.

“I heard everything…you know, shifter ears? If you think I’m going to sit around and not be involved in this, you don’t know me well enough yet.”

“They’re trying to kill you. Why would we take you into the middle of a war zone?”

“How can I let others risk their lives if I won’t do it myself? You have a human going in undercover, and he doesn’t even know what he’s truly up against. I’m going.”

My breath left me in a hard rush. “Your security will not allow it.”

“Fine, I’ll bring my guard.”

“You trust him?”

“Implicitly.”

“Don’t tell anyone else where you’re going. I still think you may have a traitor here somewhere.”

His eyes narrowed on mine before he nodded. “Give me five minutes.”

* * *

Jean Luc, Jason, Griffin, and I sat in the SUV. Griffin’s guard, Nathan, stood outside with Misha, watching him set up the long-range night camera on a tripod and aim it down the hill. Bruce and the other hunters had arrived a little over twenty minutes earlier and started a campfire. We arrived minutes later, circled around their spot, and parked out of sight.

Misha signaled Jason, who made adjustments to the computer until the camera images appeared on the screen. “Good to go.” He gave Misha the thumbs-up, and both men scrambled back inside.

We turned to the screen and watched the scene below. Besides Bruce, who was conspicuously empty-handed, there were three men standing around with rifles. One was Ken, and the other two were the ones who had met Bruce at the Steak House. Their faces glowed eerily in the light of the campfire as they stood in a semicircle.

I watched nervously. “Thank God they didn’t search Bruce. We took a big risk sending him in with a tracking beacon and microphone.”

Jean Luc spoke up. “It would have been more risky if we had not had a way to follow him.”

Bruce’s voice interrupted our conversation, coming through loud and clear over the microphone. “Okay, guys, when do we start?”

Ken answered, “Soon. We have to wait for a few more, and then we’ll be set.”

Bruce continued. “Deer season is over, what are we hunting?”

The three men smirked, and the older one answered. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Misha turned to look at us. “The one speaking is Tony DeMarco. I was able to ID him from the photos I took.”

“What’s his background?” Griffin asked.

“He’s an ex-cop. Based on my research, I’d say he’s dirty, but since the force couldn’t pin anything definitive on him, he was asked to take early retirement instead of facing prosecution. The other guy is Ronald Palmer. He’s a security guy who doesn’t hold his liquor very well.”

Now I was even more confused. “This is the group who’s behind the attempt on Griffin? I don’t buy it.”

Misha continued. “Every one of them is a member of the local gun club. I think it’s how they met. I also think Mark Brennan was the leader of the group until he was killed.”

“Now who’s in charge?” I asked.

Jason motioned to the screen. “We may find out shortly.”

A dark van stopped near the campfire. Three men climbed out and walked over to the group.

After a second, Griffin tensed. “We’re downwind from them, right?”

“Yeah, why?” Misha answered.

“Because there’s a shifter down there.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes. The tall one to the left is Simon Drummond, he’s a shifter. I’m not sure about the other two.”

“Why would a shifter be helping poachers?” Jason asked.

Griffin’s voice lowered. “He apparently has a death wish.”

Before anyone could ask Griffin more questions, Simon yanked open the back doors to the van, and I gasped. Inside was a cowering, naked man in a cage.

Bruce barked, “What the hell is going on?”

Ken stepped toward him. “Don’t act so shocked, Bruce. You were Special Forces for years; you’ve killed before.”

“Not an innocent man!”

DeMarco spoke up. “What about a monster?”

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t care what this guy did. You don’t cage him like an animal.”

The men chuckled.

Simon glanced around quickly at the rest of the men. “Do we have a problem?”

Ken answered him. “No, we just need to show Bruce what we’re dealing with.”

The shifter jerked his chin to the others and they opened the cage, yanking the crouching man out onto the ground and kicking him in the side. The strength of the kick forced him to roll over onto his back.

Griffin sucked in his breath and reached for the door. “That’s Gil Turner, he’s part of my pack.”

I grabbed his arm. “Wait. If you run down there, they might kill him before we can help.”

Griffin growled, and I handed an earpiece to Jean Luc. “Get closer so you can intervene.” Jean Luc flashed out of the car.

Griffin turned to his guard. “Go with him and stay downwind.”

Nathan nodded and got out. When I glanced behind the car, he’d dropped out of sight, and seconds later, a large animal loped down the hill. “What is he?” I whispered.

Jason had watched the transformation, and he answered me wide-eyed. “Panther.”

I turned back to the computer screen. Gil tried to stand and spoke to the tall shifter in front of him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Shut up!” Simon backhanded him, and he fell to his hands and knees. When Gil looked up again, his eyes were glowing light green.

Bruce backed up a step. “Holy shit.”

Ken laughed. “Not so sure of his innocence now, are you?”

“What the hell is he?”

DeMarco answered. “An abomination, and it’s our job to rid the world of him and his kind.” He took a step closer to Gil. “Change.”

Gil shook his head. “No.”

Simon smiled. “Just as well; we wanted to try the new stuff anyway. Hold him down.”

Griffin reached for the door again and would have flung himself outside if Misha hadn’t sent the van tearing down the hill. I watched the scene unfold on the screen as we bounced over ruts and continued toward the group.

Two men pushed Gil’s head to the ground and one of them produced a syringe and jammed it into the shifter’s thigh. Gil jerked in agony and started to change, his body actually rippling as if water flowed beneath the surface. Skin gave way to fur, and fingers sprouted claws. Within seconds, he had transformed into a leopard, but something was wrong. He couldn’t hold his shape. He shimmered between his human and animal self, an inhuman bellow ripping from his chest.

DeMarco and Palmer raised their weapons and pointed them at Gil, but they flew from their hands as Jean Luc disarmed them before they could blink.

Bruce knocked the rifle out of Ken’s hand and punched him in the face. He crumpled to the ground.

Simon shouted to no one in particular. “Idiots! This is a setup.”

He motioned to the others with him, and the two dropped to their hands and knees, clothes tearing as they transformed into a black bear and a wolf. The wolf lunged for Jean Luc. DeMarco pulled a handgun from his coat pocket and shot at the bear, missing him as he lumbered toward the men. Both DeMarco and Palmer ran out of the firelight into the dark field. Griffin’s panther guard launched himself out of the shadows and ran after the bear. Within seconds, human and animal screams buffeted the air.

Simon took a step toward Bruce. “You did this.” His eyes flamed yellow, but he held his human form and cocked his head to the side as if contemplating how to cause Bruce the most injury. Bruce’s eyes locked on Ken’s gun lying on the ground next to him, but the shifter shook his head slightly. “You won’t make it.”

Misha jerked the van to a stop next to the campfire, and Griffin threw open the door, leaping in between Bruce and the shifter.

Griffin’s harsh voice resonated over the frozen ground. “Betrayer.”

Catching sight of Griffin, the shifter’s pupils glowed a brilliant yellow and his hands elongated into claws. “Betrayer! It’s a bit hypocritical coming from you
Cain
.” They circled, in a sleek, muscled dance, each appraising the other.

I leaned over to climb out of the van and Jason grabbed my arm and held me in place. “Stay here, it’s not safe,” he whispered. The screams out in the dark field had stopped. I looked around the clearing. Jean Luc stood up, blood dripping from his mouth, the wolf lying in a heap at his feet. After a few seconds, the wolf disappeared, and a dead, naked man lay in its place.

Gil was writhing on the ground morphing back and forth between leopard and man.

Griffin clenched his fists. “How could you work with these poachers? They’re trying to exterminate our kind.”

The shifter shrugged. “Merely a means to an end. They’ve served their purpose.”

“What purpose? And who’s ‘they’?” Griffin demanded, but Simon gave him a smug smile and said nothing.

Gil began to moan.

Griffin’s eyes never left the shifter’s face. “What did you do to him?”

“We needed a guinea pig for our newest creation. It obviously still has some kinks.”

“How do we help him?”

“There’s no help for him or you,” Simon laughed. “You will be destroyed.”

“Big words from one shifter,” Griffin growled.

“I’m not alone.”

“Is Lucas your leader? Who is he?”

Simon took a deep breath. “I’m done talking now. I’ve served my purpose.” His hand jerked upwards, slicing his own jugular open. He fell to his knees.

Griffin howled and leaped forward. He grabbed Simon around the shoulders and shook him. “Who do you work for?”

The shifter opened his mouth, but only gurgling, and then blood, emerged. He struggled for breath one last time before the light in his eyes faded.

At his death, the field grew silent, until a high-pitched roar split the air, and Gil the leopard launched himself into the darkness.

Chapter 31

I gazed over the fire-lit field of bodies. Even my human nose couldn’t mistake the metallic smell of blood in the air. I breathed through my mouth to keep from gagging. Unconsciously, I reached for my holster, wrapping my hand around Stanley’s grip. Why I felt the need to check for my gun now, after the carnage was over, mystified me. I locked onto Jean Luc’s eyes, and for the first time, I saw the predator he’d hidden from me. He wiped his bloody mouth on his sleeve, his eyes never leaving my face.

I turned to Bruce, who stood arrow-straight, clutching Ken’s rifle. I took a step toward him. “Are you okay?”

He stared at me like I had two heads. It was a lame question, but what else was there to say? Actually, I knew exactly what needed to be said. “I’m sorry.”

His jaw clenched. “You should have told me.”

“Would you have believed me?”

His eyes bounced over the field, pausing at each of the bodies. “No.”

Griffin stood. “We have to find Gil before he hurts someone. Jean Luc and Misha, can you help me track him?”

Jean Luc agreed, and Misha ran to the back of the SUV, getting out a couple of tranquilizer guns and handing one to Jason. “Keep this close.”

Griffin took out his phone and hit speed dial. “Stephen, we need the helicopter ASAP, and bring Jensen. Lock onto my cell phone for the coordinates. We’re in a field approximately fifty miles northeast of the estate.” Griffin paused for a moment listening. “I’ll explain later.”

He hung up and threw the phone to me. “Keep this so they can find us. When Nathan comes back, tell him what happened, and then send him out to help with the search.” He looked at me for a moment, as if he wanted to say more, but I nodded my acceptance, and he turned to Jean Luc and Misha. After a quick conversation, the three of them jogged off after the leopard.