Slade Read online

  “Not so peaceful now, though, is it?” Slade took the exit he needed off the highway and began to navigate the smaller streets. They were close now.

  “The Lady moves in mysterious ways. The High Priestess couldn’t have known what was going to happen, but maybe she had a feeling that I needed to be here. Who knows? At this point, I’m just glad I’m here to help.”

  “Me too,” Slade admitted.

  He hadn’t been expecting to have a partner on this mission, but he found himself glad Kate was around and able to illuminate the magical path. That was something he couldn’t do on his own and he was man enough to admit that he wouldn’t have gotten this far on the trail without her.

  Slade usually worked alone. He’d spent decades perfecting his skills and the few times he had tried to work with a partner had been lessons in frustration. Not so, this time. He was rapidly discovering he not only liked having Kate around, but she was damn useful when it came time to track.

  “Thanks.” She smiled at him and he felt his heart lift.

  Slade turned the vehicle, shattering the moment as they arrived at their destination. She had no idea why she’d opened up to him the way she had. Normally, she was very reticent to speak about her past with anyone. Something about Slade appealed to her on many different levels, and he’d turned out to be a good listener. Who would have guessed it?

  She felt more comfortable with him than she had with any shifter. Actually, she felt more comfortable with him, than she had with anyone. Ever. It was like they were kindred spirits. She wanted to know his story too—especially after spilling her guts to him about one of the most painful experiences in her life.

  But there wasn’t time. Not now.

  No, now they had to sort out a bunch of irate cougars and get to the bottom of a murder so heinous, it had half the shifters in the country up in arms. On a personal level, Kate wanted justice for her friend, the matriarch. And she wanted to help protect the shifters she had come to know and care for here in Nevada.

  Slade handled the vehicle expertly, rounding curves with ease at a higher speed than she would have been comfortable driving at. She trusted his skills and reflexes, though, and felt secure with him at the wheel.

  They were moving into an outlying part of the city, where McMansions popped up out of the desert. She looked more closely. These were older homes, possibly from the last failed housing boom and many of them hadn’t been kept up the way they should have been. They looked old and a few they passed were in rather obvious disrepair, or looked abandoned.

  “This was one of those developments that failed after the housing bubble popped,” she observed. She’d learned quite a bit about the housing and construction market since joining the Redstones in Nevada.

  “Most of these were probably foreclosed, or the owners lost a lot of equity after buying,” Slade agreed, navigating the twining streets of the development.

  She felt it before she saw it. The tingle of dark magic alerted her even before they turned the corner. She grabbed Slade’s arm and he immediately slowed.

  “Feel it?” She was unable to speak above a whisper. Her blood chilled at the evil that was only growing stronger.

  “Yeah.” His tone was grim as he answered her.

  Slade pulled the SUV over to the curb between houses. These once-luxurious homes were spaced out and had a lot of vegetation between them for privacy. Palms and giant cacti interspersed with lots of ground cover made a convenient landscape for them to sneak up on the house that was the center of the evil energy.

  Slade got out of the SUV, moving silently. Kate did her best to follow suit, but it wasn’t easy to operate as quietly as a cat. Still, she did her best, walking around the back of the vehicle to follow in Slade’s tracks.

  The light was beginning to fade. They’d been tracking for far longer than she thought. Only the granola bar in her pocket, quickly gobbled after her stomach started to grumble hours earlier, had kept her going.

  But hunger was the last thing on her mind. She was too keyed up to worry about such a trivial thing at the moment. Evil was pulsing through the pavement, through the earth. Unpleasant didn’t begin to describe the sensations she was experiencing as the good earth rejected yet wasn’t strong enough to overpower the evil rolling over it. She felt nausea rise in the pit of her stomach, but pushed it down as best she could.

  “Stay close. The cougars are nearby.” Slade fell back to whisper near her ear.

  Sure enough, as they came even with the largest bird of paradise plant she’d ever seen, Matt and his brother Robert were waiting on the other side, well hidden by the shade of the enormous plant.

  “Anybody else get here yet?” Slade asked, joining them. He included Kate in their little grouping, one hand at her waist guiding her into the shade of the plant, under cover.

  “Not yet. Grif is closest. Steve is with him. Mag was the farthest away.” She noticed Matt didn’t apologize for calling in the cavalry.

  “ETA?” Slade insisted on clarification, his voice professional and concise.

  Matt responded to the tone, even if he didn’t quite recognize it. Kate saw the way his spine straightened. Whether he realized it or not, he was responding to the voice of command.

  “Twenty minutes,” Robert answered, giving Slade a narrow-eyed look.

  The older brother realized what had just happened, though he didn’t seem to be questioning Slade’s right to take charge. Kate realized belatedly, that she’d just seen three Alphas sort out the pecking order, so to speak, with a modest amount of words and the subtlety of tone and body language. Maybe she’d learn how to read these mysterious cats after all.

  “Did you two do any recon?” Slade asked, his tone clearly expecting affirmative answers.

  Robert smiled, as did Matt. Of course they’d prowled around that house. They were cats, weren’t they? But Kate worried for them. They were ill equipped to sense the true danger of those premises. She felt the evil and had to suppress her shivers. This wasn’t your garden variety dabbler in the black arts.

  No, to radiate that kind of dark energy, whoever lived there had to have been steeped in evil for decades. Maybe centuries, depending on what kind of creature they were.

  This was the place. She recognized the evil taint.

  Kate concentrated on the house, trying to read what she could of the miasma of red and black that swirled around it. She tuned the men and their conversation about perimeters and security systems out of her mind while she did her own sort of reconnaissance. Recon of the magical kind.

  She sank into her study, watching the patterns emanating from the house and grounds. There was a definite rhythm to the dark power thrumming through the ground over there. A magical kind of security system of shields and traps. Very sophisticated. But she could nullify or work her way around most of it. There were just a few tricky spots…

  She became aware of Slade touching her shoulder. She blinked and realized the two cougars were gone.

  “Where did they go?” She asked the thing that popped into her mind.

  “I gave them sentry duty. They’re watching for their brothers. I’m sure they have every intention of storming the place in force once their older brothers get here, but we’re going to outmaneuver them.” His devilish smile invited her to join in his dangerous mood.

  “In twenty minutes?” She looked back at the house. “It will be close, but I think we can do it.”

  “What did you see?” Slade immediately got down to business and she explained her thoughts and pointed out various features in the landscaping.

  She was able to illuminate some of the magic so he could see it, without triggering the magical alarms that would alert their prey. She pointed out two areas that would be particularly tricky and watched Slade study them. She liked the way he deliberated and thought through his actions before proceeding. So far, she’d only known shifters who were more or less hotheads—rushing in without sparing a thought for strategy. Slade’s more thoughtful appr
oach made her feel safer both for herself and for him.

  “All right. Stay here. I think I can do this on my own.” Slade moved to leave her, but she grabbed his arm.

  “I don’t think so. What are you going to do when you find them? There’s a buildup of energy in that house. Whoever is inside is up to something and it’s happening as we speak. Strong as you are, I don’t think you should try to handle it alone. I need to go with you. You need more magic than you have on your own.”

  Slade seemed to think about it, then gave in with a frustrated sigh.

  “You do exactly what I say, when I say it. Got me?” His tone was gruff but his eyes spoke of his apprehension. He was worried about her. It was touching, really.

  “I got you, partner,” she answered softly, warmed by his concern.

  They made their way with cautious steps through the magical minefield of the side yard, approaching from the neighbor’s overgrown property. There were lots of bushy things that were casting long shadows as the sun sank, leaving the world painted in orange, red and purple. And shadows. Lots and lots of shadows.

  Slade showed her how to slink from one shadow to the next, blending with them. She’d never be as good at stealth as he was, but with his patient guidance, she was a lot better than she would have expected.

  They had to stop several times while she defused magical traps. She was able to call on the powerful earth energy that lay, unsettled, far beneath the ground. It didn’t like the darkness that spread like a stain over its surface from the house. It readily rose to her lightest touch and smothered the nasty surprises the dark mage who lived within had left for the unwary.

  And the benefit of having the earth on their side was that it was vastly more powerful than either of them. It could also nullify the darkness, absorbing it and dispersing it, without anyone the wiser. Those inside the house wouldn’t know their traps had been destroyed until it was too late.

  The telltales on the darkly pulsing shields that surrounded the place were another matter. Kate had to deal with them using her own personal energy, and it was draining. She handled the first set, but there were others. Stronger ones, the closer they drew to the house.

  She was breathing hard by the time they’d gone through three sets and there were still three more to go. She felt panic rise inside her chest.

  “You okay?” Slade bent close to whisper in her ear as they crouched in the shadows behind a palm.

  “The shields,” she panted. “They take a lot out of me.”

  “Aw, kitten,” Slade touched her cheek, their eyes meeting. “Why didn’t you say so?”

  He bent his lips to hers and kissed her lightly. The kiss brought with it a flood of power, flowing from him into her, magical energy freely given and so desperately needed. He hadn’t had to kiss her to accomplish the transfer of power, but she didn’t mind. She liked the way he kissed and she wanted to experience more—as soon as they dealt with whoever was inside that house.

  He drew back and she had to stop herself from following, begging for more of his touch, his taste, his power. She felt full of life and raring to go once more. She looked him over, searching to see if he had suffered for giving her so much energy, but he looked fine. Shifters had vast stores of magic within them, she knew, though she’d never been the recipient of an infusion of their wild energy before.

  For that matter, she didn’t think most shifters would be able to do what Slade had just done. He was so much more intensely magical than any of the other shifters she’d known. He had skills and abilities that the other were didn’t even seem to be aware of. He was a mystery… and a paradox… and one of the sexiest men she’d ever known.

  “Better?” His grin was temptation itself. Even in the midst of the most dangerous thing she’d ever done, he had the ability to blow her mind.

  “Much. Thanks. We can go now.” She had to get her mind back on their task. Slade was just too distracting.

  “Not yet,” he cautioned, holding her arm when she would have moved away. “I want the sun down past the peak of the roof for the next part. It’ll only take a minute.”

  Kate was very conscious of time ticking away. They’d used up almost ten minutes already and she didn’t trust the cougars not to come barreling in without checking where Slade and Kate were first. They could really mess things up and get someone hurt—or killed—if they didn’t approach with more caution than she thought they were capable of right now.

  “You’re doing really well for a human,” Slade observed, drawing her attention away from her worrying thoughts.

  “Thanks,” she answered, pleased down to her toes at his compliment. “To be honest, I always sort of dreamed that at least one of my birth parents was something Other, but they both died when I was a baby and I grew up in foster care, so I guess I’ll never know.”

  Darnit. She was babbling. And this was not the time, nor the place, to be yapping about her sorry origins. What was it about this man that made her want to tell him everything, no matter how personal or embarrassing? He was definitely dangerous to her peace of mind.

  “If I was a betting man, I’d say you were part siren, luring men to their happy deaths.”

  “Oh, that’s nice,” she scoffed, careful to keep her voice low so they wouldn’t be heard over the natural sounds of the desert.

  “I can definitely see you as the helpless seductress of the ocean. It isn’t your fault if sailors toss themselves into the waves and drown trying to get to you. At least they die happy.”

  His teasing was sort of a backhanded compliment, so she went along with it. Was he flirting with her? It felt like flirting. And what kind of daredevil took time to flirt with a girl in the middle of a life-or-death mission?

  Suddenly, she realized what this was all about. He was trying to get her mind off what they were about to do. He was distracting her. Helping her cope.

  Damn. His gentle care of her only made her more attracted to him. He was such a special guy.

  “Thanks,” she whispered. “I know what you’re trying to do and it worked. I’ll be okay now. I’m recharged, thanks to you, and calmer.”

  “Am I that transparent?” One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that warmed her heart.

  “About as clear as mud, and you know it. But thanks for taking a minute for me to regroup. I’m good to go now.”

  “Ooh-rah. That’s my girl.” His tone was approving and he stroked her hair once before turning to continue their treacherous path. She followed along, a little more in love with him than she’d already been.

  Love? Oh, man.

  Yeah, if she was being honest with herself, she had to admit, she had it bad for the mysterious cat shifter. He fulfilled all her wildest fantasies about what a man could be and then some. Everything she’d seen about him attracted her on every level.

  She was in serious danger of losing her heart to him forever. When he left—not if he left, because his time here had a definite, and short, time span—she could be destroyed. But she’d be damned if she saw any way out of it. Slade was just too attractive for his own good and she was powerless to resist him.

  And they had a job to do. As the fourth set of shields confronted her, she set to work with renewed energy, knowing he’d be there for her if she needed to recharge again. They made a good team and she’d never forget this night, or the man at her side—if she lived through the confrontation to come, that is.

  Chapter Five

  The fifth and sixth set of shields went down even easier than the first few had. Now that Slade knew how to help her by feeding her energy, they were working more in tandem and were more powerful than either had been alone. The effect of shared energy was even greater than he’d been led to believe.

  Or maybe it was just the fact that he was sharing energy with Kate. Maybe there was something special about her that affected his power so strongly. He wouldn’t be surprised. The woman herself affected him as no woman ever had. He wanted so badly to be inside her, to know whether s
he was silent, or a screamer, when he made love to her. He wanted to hold her in the aftermath and bask in the knowledge that he had brought her pleasure.

  He wanted a lot of things he’d never contemplated before, and didn’t know if he deserved. He was only here for a short time. A mission that would be over sooner rather than later. Did he dare get involved with a woman who could break his seldom-seen heart?

  Kate frightened him. Him. The big, bad, black cat. His mother would laugh if she knew he was afraid of a small, human woman. But it was the feelings she aroused in him that scared him most. Protectiveness was something he’d felt all his life, but the possessiveness and need to claim one particular woman, was new and scary.

  Better to concentrate on their mission. They were close to the house now and he felt the evil building. Kate was right. Whoever was in there was up to something big, and bad, and magical in the extreme.

  Slade gave a passing thought to the backup he could have called. The Spec Ops boys would have been of little help in this situation, though. Most of them had no magic sense at all. They were good ground forces. Superior at stealth. But when it came down to it, this was a magical fight.

  Calling in the cavalry tonight would have been like bringing a knife to a gunfight. Slade was almost glad there had been no time to consider it. Matt’s discovery and the subsequent time squeeze made it impossible to get those guys here, and they wouldn’t have been of much help anyway. No, this was a job for Slade’s specialized abilities. His and Kate’s—much as he hated putting her in any sort of danger.