“Does he call from the same number every time?” Nikan asked the moment they disconnected.
Antoine shook his head. “No, it’s a new one each time. I have an acquaintance I trust enough not to repeat my request, and I asked him to trace a couple of the numbers. All burner phones. They must toss them after each time they call me. I have no way of contacting them because they always call me.”
Nikan inwardly cursed. It had been a small shot. A possible way for his packmate Ryan to track these guys down. His phone buzzed once indicating a message, and when he glanced at the ID, he gave a wry smile. Ryan.
As he opened the message, Esperanze sidled up next to him. “Is it important?”
“Maybe . . .” He scrolled through Ryan’s brief message outlining the lives of the Moretti brothers, holding the phone out so Esperanze could read too.
Ryan’s text told them that the brothers were packless, parents likely killed by vampires five years ago according to a cold case file. The address on their licenses was bogus, listing an abandoned warehouse, but he hadn’t had time to run their financials. Not much, but Nikan knew Ryan would come through if there was any information to be found. As he finished the message, his phone rang. “Yeah?”
“Found someone to help you guys. Name’s Thabit, he’s a feline—jaguar shifter,” Connor said.
“He doesn’t mind helping out a couple of lupines and a vamp?” Nikan didn’t give a shit about species differences. His mother had been human, had been turned into a shifter because of her pregnancy with him, and his father was a white shifter. He might have grown up on a reservation, but he’d grown up in a time where racism and prejudice had been more prevalent.
“Not at all. He’s on his way to your hotel room. Said he’s at your disposal.”
“How long until he gets here?”
“Half an hour, maybe less. He doesn’t live there but he’s in the area. When I told him about the human he had no problem helping.”
Nikan raised his eyebrows. Not all supernatural beings cared about humans. At least not to the extent they’d volunteer to help out strangers. “Thanks.”
Connor grunted. “Just keep me updated. If things get too fucked up, you pull out and call me. The pack can’t afford to lose anyone right now. I can’t afford to lose you.”
“I will.” Nikan slid his phone into his pocket, thankful for an Alpha like Connor. When the tall Scottish shifter had approached him about starting his own pack, a pack made entirely of warriors, he’d been hesitant at first. But his inner wolf had needed that connection and he’d bled alongside Connor. They all had. Now more than ever he was grateful he’d made the decision to join with the Alpha since it had led him to Esperanze.
“Now what?” she asked, her voice tearing him out of his thoughts.
“Now we figure out how to save Antoine’s friend.” No matter how much he wanted to finish the conversation they’d started barely ten minutes before, it would have to wait.
* * *
Watching Nikan’s hard expression, Esperanze felt as if her skin was too tight for her body. She’d been about to spill all her fears and worries to Nikan when Antoine’s call had interrupted them. Now the three of them were just waiting for Connor’s contact to show up. The room was thick with tension. Sexual for her and Nikan. Antoine was nervous and tense and couldn’t stop pacing around the room.
Since he was supposed to meet the pair of rogue shifters in less than two hours she didn’t blame him.
When Nikan suddenly tensed, she glanced over to find him staring at the door. His entire body had gone rigid. A moment later there was a knock on the door. He covered the distance to it before she’d blinked.
As he cautiously opened it, she scented a feline shifter. Of all the various shifters, felines were the easiest for her to scent other than lupine. A man the same height as Nikan stepped into the room. With smooth coffee colored skin, eerie blue eyes that seemed to almost glow against his dark face and sharp, defined cheeks, the shifter was very good looking. Almost too good looking. If it wasn’t for the very apparent edge of danger that seemed to surround him like a shroud, his features could almost be defined as feminine.
“I’m Thabit. Connor said you would be expecting me,” he said to Nikan, his voice much deeper than expected.
Nikan nodded and moved back, letting him enter the room. “I’m Nikan, this is Esperanze and that is Antoine.” He nodded at the vampire pacing by the open window.
Antoine stopped and grunted a hello to him. Refraining from snapping at her former professor, Esperanze smiled and strode toward Thabit. “Thank you for helping us. Antoine is grateful too, he’s just worried about his friend.” She held out a hand to the newcomer.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Connor said nothing of your beauty.” He held her hand much longer than necessary, lightly stroking her palm with his thumb. His eyes were directly on hers and he wasn’t looking at her too inappropriately, but the forward action took her so off guard she could only stare at him.
Nikan growled low in his throat, instantly moving between them, tugging her close to his side. His tight grip around her hip was proprietary, and she knew the only reason he was showing control was because Connor had sent the other shifter. Otherwise, he’d have likely unsheathed his claws. “Esperanze is taken.”
Those vivid blue eyes flicked to Nikan. He shrugged, obviously not apologetic. “You haven’t marked her.”
“Yet.” The word tore from Nikan’s throat, the sound more animal than human.
Oh, crap. She couldn’t dwell on the word “yet” right now because she didn’t know if that was something he’d just said to get this guy to back off or if he actually meant it. Last night he’d been territorial in the club, so much so that she’d needed to calm him down. They so didn’t have time for that right now. Leaning into his embrace, she placed a palm over his chest. “Before you two start measuring your dicks, we have more important things to worry about. The Moretti brothers want to meet Antoine in about an hour and a half and he’ll need a solid thirty minutes to get there. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”
Thabit looked over at Antoine, his lips pulling into a thin line. “I’ve never met a daywalker before.”
Antoine didn’t move from the window, his expression drawn and haggard as he stared at Thabit. Esperanze wanted to shake him out of his pity party. He had three people willing to help him and he was acting defeated. “Well, now you have,” he said drily. “I’ve already told Esperanze and Nikan that they want to meet me at an abandoned warehouse. We’ve met there before. There isn’t much life around there except for the homeless, which makes it easier for them to control the environment. From there, they blindfold me, drive me somewhere and draw my blood. This time it seems they have different plans.”
Raw energy practically pulsed off Nikan as he not so subtly moved to keep himself between her and Thabit. “We’re going to follow you this time. You said you’ve never met anyone else in their operation so if it’s just the two of them, we should be able track them back to where they’re keeping Chandra.”
“But what if they don’t go back to her today? Or what if they see you and decide to hurt her?”
Esperanze gritted her teeth. His questions were valid, but this was a completely different side to Antoine. He’d always seemed so sophisticated and put together. It hadn’t surprised her that a vampire had offered to turn him. Looking at him now, she realized no amount of polish, money or education could give him what Nikan had in spades. Confidence, control and an innate strength. Granted it wasn’t Nikan’s friend’s life on the line, but he always kept his cool.
Before she could say anything, Nikan spoke. “Anything could go wrong, Antoine. If you don’t want our help, we’ll walk away. Then you’re not risking anything. You also won’t be helping the woman you claim to care so much for.”
The three of them stood there, watching until finally he nodded. “You’re right and . . . I’m sorry. I appreciate your help. I’ve just never felt so fucking helpless in my life.”
Thabit cleared his throat, drawing their attention to him. “We can’t follow in one vehicle. It will give them too many opportunities to see us. One of us will follow for a while, then inform the other via cell phone where we’re turning off. Then the other can pick up the tail.”
Nikan nodded. “I agree. After our run-in with them this morning, they’ll be more careful. Esperanze and I will ride in one car and you can ride in yours. Did you drive here?”
The feline shifter nodded.
“Good. We’ll leave now that we have the address. It can’t hurt to get there early. Antoine, can you make it back to your hotel’s parking garage unseen?”
He nodded. “I’ll be invisible.”
Once he’d left, Nikan and Thabit exchanged phone numbers so they’d have a way to contact each other if they got separated. Esperanze knew without asking that the only reason Nikan was trusting this other shifter so much was because he had their Alpha’s backing. Connor never would have sent someone he wouldn’t have trusted to watch his own back.
As they rode the elevator down to the parking garage below the lobby level, Esperanze shot Nikan a quick look. “Before we arrived in DC, I memorized the grid pattern of all the roads. And all the traffic laws. Did you know some streets become one way after a certain time of day?”
His eyebrows drew together. “No.”
“Well they do and the streets can be very confusing from what I’ve read.” She didn’t have an eidetic memory exactly, but pretty close. Before she’d realized Nikan was coming with her she’d memorized the layout of the city because she always liked to be prepared.
“It’s true,” Thabit said, his deep voice echoing around the enclosed space. “I hate driving in this city.”