Walk on the Striped Side (8 page)

Elena heard Chloe’s phone make a
noise and didn’t bother turning her head. “Did you just take a picture of
this?”

“Yeppers. I wanted photographic
evidence that cats do in fact sniff asses just like dogs.” Chloe sang the words
instead of saying them. Elena tried not to laugh. Really. She tried. But as she
watched Delta struggle to pull her legs out from the deadweight of unconscious
shifter, and heard Chloe’s phone continue to take more pictures, she lost the
battle and burst out with uncontrollable laughter.

When Delta glared at her for her
laughter, then flicked Chloe’s camera off… she laughed harder. “Just think of
it as research Delta!”

CHAPTER-EIGHT

Gage

He knew something was wrong the
second he got out of his truck. With his sharper
Other
senses Gage could see the drag marks through the gravel of his driveway where
something heavy had been pulled from his house. Whatever had transpired had to
have happened earlier in the day though because he couldn’t scent anything
strange in the air around him. Jogging up to his home’s front door he heard his
brother’s truck pull up and park behind him. As soon as he opened the door the
unique smell of his mate filled the air, along with the scents of her sisters.

If circumstances were different,
coming home to Elena’s scent would be one of the best experiences of his life.
The fact that he was also smelling an unusual dusty, clay type smell that
didn’t belong here probably meant that this was
not
going to be
something that made him happy.

“Babushka?” He called out as he
stepped into his home. A gravelly crunch sounded under his foot. He looked down
at the floor, but even with his enhanced eye sight all he could make out were
tiny rocks. Why were there rocks in his house? If this was his grandmother’s
idea for turning his house into one giant ass Zen rock garden he was going to
be pissed. As Gage walked over to the wall to turn the light on, he heard Alec
walked in behind him.

“
Yo
bro,
what the fuck do you have on your floor?”

Good question,
Gage thought
to himself right before he flicked the light switch on. Of course, the minute
the lights came on he wanted nothing more than shut them back off again.

“Is that-?” His brother started to
ask.

“Shut the fuck up!” Gage growled.

Alec’s boom of laughter echoed
through the house as he closed his eyes in anger. Trying to pretend that he
wasn’t looking at a very obvious message from his angry, devious mate. Oh, when
he got his hands on her he was going to strip her naked, throw her on to his
bed and paddle her ass for this! A soft, plush object collided with his head
before he heard it hit the floor at his feet. Opening his eyes and looking down
he saw a small stuffed mouse that he could smell was full of catnip.
It was
a goddamn cat toy
. That his brother had just thrown at his head.

Snarling, he lost his temper and
roared at his brother. The bastard seemed to care less that he’d pissed Gage
off because he was now laughing so hard that he was bent over with his hands
resting on his knees, gasping for air. Gage did his best to ignore the idiot as
he looked around his home. Cat litter covered his hard wood floors everywhere
that he could see. Since the litter was even covering the floor in the hallway,
he suspected he would find it in the bedrooms and bathrooms as well. His Elena
hadn’t stopped there though. There were cat toys all over. Little stuffed mice
like the one Alec had thrown at him. Sparkly little balls. A brightly colored
pop-up tunnel for house cats to play in. A scratching post over by the French
doors on the other side of the room. When he saw the motorized mouse scurry
across the floor he almost flipped his shit. There had to be dozens of
ridiculous cat toys spread throughout his house.

Walking across the litter covered
floor he saw the little yellow piece of paper taped to one of the support
columns. He snatched the note and instantly recognized Elena’s messy scrawl.

Dear Garfield,

Don’t forget to scoop out your
litter after you take a shit.

Elena

P.S. I have your grandmother and
sister with me.

Don’t worry, you’re the only one
I want to make a tiger skin rug out of.

Strangely, Gage wasn’t worried
about Babushka’s safety. Because he believed Elena when she said that he was
the only one she wanted to make a rug out of. He was worried that Elena would
do something stupid though, like turn his sister over to the demon’s Ninth
Circle Council. Lulu might be guilty of being a twit for getting involved with
a mated demon, but she wasn’t a murderer. Gage knew that about his sister. She
didn’t have it in her to murder the demon. Or anybody for that matter. She was
a lover, not a fighter.

Crumpling the little note in his
hand, he stood perfectly still trying to regain his composure. His tiger was
going ape-shit in his head. The beast wasn’t mad at what their mate had done.
No, the beast was angry because the scent of their mate was finally in their
den, but she wasn’t here to stay. And the tiger blamed him. There was nothing
he could say to the animal half of himself because the beast was right. This
situation was all his fault.

The tip of his ear suddenly tingled
and he ran his hand over it to rub the odd feeling away. The tingly sensation
happened again at the back of his neck and as Gage swiped his hand over the
area the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end because someone was
standing behind him. Turning around he found Alec standing there holding a wand
with feathers on the end of it.

“Hey, can we keep all the toys for
your future cubs with the Amazon?”

Elena

“Where were you the night of
October 28
^th
?”

“Really? You’ve got me handcuffed
to this raggedy ass armchair in a dark room with a light in my face asking me
ridiculous questions? You’ve watched one to many shitty cop movies, haven’t
you?” Lulu huffed in annoyance at Elena, who stood on the other side of the
table between them, eyeballing her with disdain.

“Just answer the question Lulu.”

“And why should I answer your question
Amazon? Why should I do anything that could possibly help you when you’ve got
me detained here without telling me why? And what kind of fuckin’ handcuffs are
these?” She rattled the handcuffs against the chair to make a point.

Ignoring the handcuffs question,
Elena murmured back. “I’m here to help you Lulu.” Somehow Elena managed not to
cringe at the half lie. True her intentions had changed a little. Now instead
of persecuting Lulu she was back on the right track to see if the woman was
truly guilty or not. That Elena had once been bound and determined to turn the
Ivanov sister over to the Ninth Circle just to hurt her brother was of little
consequence at the moment. Or, at least that’s what she was telling herself so
that the regret of her actions didn’t eat her alive.

“How the fuck are you helping me
right now? I didn’t sign up for some kinky slap and tickle classes, so
uncuff
me skank!”

“I’m not going to take the
handcuffs off until we get a few things straight.”

“Yeah, like what?” Lulu snapped.

Elena crossed her arms over her
chest. “Like where you were on October 28
^th
.”

Baring her teeth in a snarl, “I’ll
tell you what I know.”

“Good.”

“You’re a twat-waffle. That’s what
I know.” The tigress tried to lunge at Elena again, but the titanium handcuffs
covered in a ridiculously expensive strengthening spell cast by one of the most
powerful witches of this century kept her hostage in the chair.

Sighing in frustration, Elena
glanced at her watch. Eight o’ clock. Shit. They’d had Lulu and Vera Ivanov for
several hours now. It was only a matter of time before Gage showed up hissing
and spitting like the pissed off kitty he’d turn into once he figured out where
she had the two women. She really needed to hurry this interrogation along. If
Lulu hadn’t slept so long because of the tranquilizers, Elena could have been
done with this already. She was going to have to stop her quiet ‘Good Cop’
routine if she wanted any answers before Gage got here.

Crossing her arms over her chest,
she glared down at the pissed tigress. “Look, I don’t give a flying fuck if you
don’t believe me when I say I’m trying to help you out here. It’s in your best
interest to let me know where you were the night of October 28
^th
or
I
guaran
-damn-tee that you’re going to regret not
telling me.”

Snarling, Lulu exposed her
lengthening fangs and snapped them in Elena’s direction like she wanted to take
a bite out of her. “What is one little Amazon going to do to me? You’re not
strong enough or fast enough to take me on before I could rip your throat out.”

“Speaking of ripping things… that’s
why we’re here.”

“Because you want me to take a bite
out of you? Really Amazon? You’re pretty and all, but I don’t swing that way.”

Elena snorted. “Don’t worry, you’re
missing a few vital parts for me too. No, I was referring to you taking a bite
out of Andrew Holden, your lover.” When Lulu’s face turned to confusion, Elena
added, “You know, the dead one.”

Lulu’s confusion melted away to a
blank mask.

Irritated at the obstinate woman
for clamming up on her, she snapped. “Holden’s brother sits on the Ninth Circle
Council Lulu. He’s the one who hired us to hand you over on murder charges. If
you don’t start talking, giving me something to help you out here, you’re as
good as dead by torture. Is that what you want?”

Shaking her head, “How are you
going to help me? There’s not a damn thing you can do. You’re almost as weak as
a human in our eyes. Mind your business Amazon and let me go. I was exactly
where I needed to be to get help when you kidnapped me.”

Well didn’t that snarly little
comment just piss her off to no end? The tigress thought she was too weak to
handle this? Pursing her lips, Elena decided to show Lulu what this weak little
Amazon would do when pushed to her limits. She’d already sized up her captive to
be a prissy girl like her sisters, so for the most part, she knew what made the
woman tick. Or scream for that matter. Looking down to the floor as if she saw
something, Elena gasped “Holy shit! That’s a big one!”

Sprinting out of the small room, as
if she were in a panic, Elena jogged into her Aunt’s kitchen with a smile on
her face. This was going to be so much fun. Rooting around in one of the
cabinet drawers she found the hammer she’d used a few weeks ago when she’d seen
a big hairy spider she’d wanted to kill in the worst way, and grabbed it. Elena
internally shuddered at the memory of that spider. God she hated all of those
eight legged freaky little bastards with a passion. Her absolute homicidal
hatred of the arachnids was just about the only girly quality she had. Walking
at a brisk pace back towards the room she’d left Lulu in, she passed Chloe who
give her the stink eye when she saw the hammer Elena was holding.

As Elena passed her, Chloe asked,
“What are you doing? You’re not supposed to hurt her.”

Elena smiled. “Oh, I’m not going to
hurt her.”

Chloe walked quickly behind her to
catch up. “You’re not supposed to kill her either.”

“Not planning to.”

“Then what the hell are you doing
with that hammer? Decided to hang a picture of your ugly face where she could
see it as a new torture technique?”

Elena ignored the insult. “Nope
again. This is
sooooooo
much better than that.”

She could tell her sister was
seriously worried now, but Elena continued to ignore her. Her plan was simple:
Make Lulu Ivanov think she was one seriously unstable chick on a mission. What
better way to do that than to fuck with her head, freak her out, and then scare
the shit out of her? Picking up her pace until she was sprinting into the room.
Pretending to act hysterical she ran in front of the table so Lulu could get a
good look at her wild crazy eyes and the hammer in her hand.

“Where did it go?” Elena yelled,
pretending to look around the floor around the table.

The tiger fidgeted in her chair,
trying to push it backwards from Elena. “What the fuck is your problem Amazon?
Did you forget to take your crazy pill today or something?”

Feigning an exaggerated fear, Elena
searched the floor, then under the table before she screamed, “There’s the big bastard!”
Elena smacked the hammer harshly on the table leg closest to Lulu’s leg,
causing the tiger to try and jump away from her.

“Jesus you crazy bitch you almost
hit me!” Lulu roared at her.

Elena was having the damndest time
trying to hold her laughter in, but she had to pretend for just another minute
or so before she could drop the charade. “DAMMIT! I missed the big furry
monster. That’s got to be the largest spider I’ve ever seen! Where did he go? I
fuckin’ hate spiders! Do you see him?” She screeched.

Elena pretended to look the table
over again until she reached under the table and hit it right in front of where
Lulu was sitting, almost hitting her knees in the process. The tigress roared
again in anger and was practically hopping in her chair now. Desperate to try
and put some space in between herself and Elena.

Elena pulled back from under the
table and once again pretended to look for the make believe spider. Lulu’s
hands were now on the edge of the table, trying to push herself and the heavy
ass arm chair she was shackled to, away from the table, but not making much
headway.

Elena thought as her eyes zeroed in
on the tigress’ hands clenched on the table.
Bingo
. Elena swung her arm
one final time, as hard she could swing the damn hammer, until in smashed into
the table less than half an inch from her captive’s hands. Lulu let out a
god-awful shriek, but the rest of her body froze like a statue. She was staring
at the head of that hammer, embedded into the wood of the table she was
clutching for dear life. Eventually, she oh-so-slowly moved her gaze up to meet
Elena’s slightly crazed, but determined one.

Elena watched as the dawning of
realization crossed Lulu’s face. It was now or never.

With an angry whisper, Elena said.
“Now I’m going to ask you one more time, and if you don’t answer me, the next
time I see my invisible spider and swing this hammer at it, it’s going to just
so happen to be on you. Where were you on the night of October 28
^th
?”