Entity Mine (22 page)

Ethan could almost see him arching an eyebrow.

No
.
He’s cheap and egotistical, but he’s not stupid.
Egotistical.
Wait
. Ethan snagged his phone and studied the keypad.
Try 5, 2, 4, 3. It spells the first four letters of Laird.

There was silence for a moment, then,
I’ll be damned. You got it. Now let’s hope it takes these gummy prints.

Hello!
Anjali broke in.
We’ve got a problem here.

Ethan scanned the monitors. Fuck! Speak of the devil. The guard was letting Laird inside.

Chapter 32

What
? Jake asked.

Ethan kicked at his backpack
. Laird’s here. He’s getting on the express elevator. The guard is staying with Anjali.

A string of profanities in several languages filled Ethan’s mental ears. Then everything went silent.

Ethan could still see the real feed on his laptop and he froze, sucking air in through his teeth as Laird entered the hallway and disappeared into his office.

Jake
? Ethan held his breath. No answer.

One minute passed. Two. Down at the security desk, the guard rifled through a plastic bin marked ‘lost and found’ as Anjali smiled at him. The guard glanced at his watch.

Any minute now, he was supposed to start his rounds and Jake’s drug would wear off. Adrenaline surged through Ethan’s veins. Every second that slipped away was one second closer to Jake being caught. Damn it! He never should have let his little brother do this. Hell, he shouldn’t have let any of them do this.

On the screen, the door to Laird’s office flew open and Laird stalked out. Ethan tensed, but the money man’s hands were in his pockets. When he didn’t whip out his phone and start calling the police, Ethan tried his brother.
Jake, if you can hear me, Laird’s getting on the elevator.

Still no answer. The elevator doors closed on Laird, then the office door came open again and Jake strolled out, the seal tucked under his arm. He looked up at the camera and brushed his finger down the side of his nose.

Ethan dropped his head into his hands.
Wiseass
.

Sorry, I couldn’t communicate while disembodied.
Jake dashed up the stairs, unscrewed the alarm box, cut the wires, then opened the door to the roof and handed the seal to Ky.

I’m off,
his older brother said, and Ethan pictured him, a great black dragon winging though the sky, a golden disk grasped in his talons. If anyone looked out the window, they’d see a scene from a movie. Hopefully, they’d believe it a bad-sushi-spawned nightmare.

Back in the lobby, Anjali and the guard were leaving the ladies’ bathroom. His brother’s mate had the bracelet she’d pretended to find in her hand.

At the roof, Jake repaired the wire with electrical tape, his movements smooth and methodical. He’d gained some time with his speed up the stairs, but not enough, he still had to re-attach the box.

Stall, Anjali!

Ethan couldn’t switch over the camera feeds until Jake had re-set the alarm and gone disembodied. If the guard got back to the desk before Ethan could transfer, they ran the risk he would see the break and know something was up. If they waited until he started his rounds, Jake would be solid and they would be blown. Jake could fight his way out, but the robbery would be exposed and lead right back to Ethan.

Anjali said something to the guard. He turned to her, then walked back to the desk.

Jake replaced the box and worked hard on the screws.

Before the guard could go around and sit down, Anjali broke down crying. The man looked flustered, but he rushed back over to her and patted her arm.

Come on, Jake.

I got it!
Jake wiped the handle of the cutters and the screwdriver, tossed them down the garbage chute, then disappeared.

Ethan transferred the feeds and removed his leads.
Okay, Anjali. We’re good.

Praise God, I couldn’t keep that up much longer. Jake, get the hell out of here before you turn into a pumpkin!

An hour and a half later, Ethan swiped a weary hand across his face and let himself into Ky’s apartment. It’d taken him a bit longer to repair the wall then he’d thought and he’d figured everyone was in bed, so he was surprised to find everyone at the table having an after midnight snack. He scanned the clock on the microwave. Make that a pre-dawn breakfast. His stomach twisted. He could eat a horse himself.

A lump formed in his throat at the sight of his family gathered together. Only a few months ago he’d been alone, clinging on to his sanity by the skin of his teeth. Now, here they all were, together, as it should be. He shook his head.

Damn, when had this turned into a coffee commercial?

His brothers and Anjali glanced up to greet him, faces alight with varying expressions of relief.

Devon jumped up and ran to him, her eyes sparking, mouth wide with a welcoming smile.

He scooped her into a hug. The feel of her soft curves sparked a flame in him. The tension coiled inside him for the last three days relented, as he breathed in her scent. He was home and all he wanted was Devon and a bed. He bent to taste her sweet mouth, but she moved back.

He frowned at the rebuff.
Was something wrong?

“Wait.
Fastcrete
.” She rubbed her hand on his forehead, then leaned in. Before her lips could reach his, the door behind him gave a tortured wail and flung open. The same homeless man they’d encountered in the park stood framed in the doorway like a large, raw-boned shadow.

There was a roar behind Ethan he recognized as Ky and a lion launched past him at the intruder.

Ethan grabbed his oldest brother’s massive secondary form.

“Hold him!” Jake leapt in to help restrain Ky.

Ethan’s muscles screamed as he wrestled with his oldest brother, Ky’s furred hide slipping under his fingers. Finally, his arms trembling with strain, they pinned him to the hardwood floor.

“Get control,” Ethan said, into Ky’s fur-edged ear.

“Come on, Ky.” Jake tightened his grip on the struggling lion. “We need you human, big brother.”

After a tense moment, Ky settled with a heavy sigh. Anjali laid his clothes over him and he flashed back.

The demon golf-clapped, the sound echoing against the high ceiling as he strolled into the room toward them, his mouth stretched into an unnatural grin too big for the vagrant’s face. “Very stirring. Brotherhood.” He patted his bony chest. “Gets me right here.”

“I’d like to get you right there.” Devon’s eyes were hard, and Ethan could feel the anger radiating from her. She folded her arms. “With a stake.”

The demon titled his head. “Amusing, but I’m not a vampire and you’d only further damage this—” He sniffed his sleeve. “—rather smelly shell.” He held out his chapped, dirty finger-nailed hand. “Do you have my seal?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

The stony voice came from the doorway. Laird stepped around the steel door dangling from its bent hinges. Four men followed him, guns drawn. Ethan knew the minute he laid eyes on them they weren’t police.
Trust Laird to use mercs.

These guys were big and competent-looking, their cold gazes reading the environment, evaluating each person in the room and their threat level. But they’d missed Ky’s loss of control and had no idea what they were dealing with. His oldest brother stiffened, his forehead shiny and Ethan knew these new additions where seconds away from having their throats ripped out.

Maybe a little civility would keep bullets and guts from flying. “Laird! This is a surprise. How did you find me and what are you doing here so early?”

“Funny thing.” Laird’s teeth showed for a moment, but the expression seemed nothing like a smile. “I saw Mr. Mara at his restaurant about a month ago. For a minute, I thought he was you. Then I thought, some relation.” He stuffed his hands in his suit pockets. “To tell the truth, I didn’t give a fuck until you stole the seal.”

“He’s my brother.” His last word came out sharp and emphatic, surprising Ethan with how possessive it sounded. “But I don’t know what you’re talking about. The Queen’s seal is missing?”

Laird wagged his thick pointer finger. “Even if I didn’t know it was, your friend here just mentioned it.”

“There are two seals.” Ethan tucked his hands into his own pockets, copying Laird’s posture. Mostly to annoy him. “And, as I was about to tell this . . . man, I don’t have any seals. Mine was stolen.”

The demon threw a malignant glance at Laird and didn’t speak.

Ethan figured the fiend was smart enough to bide his time.

Laird swelled like a puffer fish. “All the interest in the seal in the last couple days made me nervous, so I checked it in the night. Everything seemed fine, but there was just something off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I went back. This time, I opened the display and examined it. After I recovered the seal from the sea, I dropped it. It hit one of those covered screws on the
Cerberus’
deck. Put a round dent in the gold. It’s not there.”

Ethan shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I have it. As I said, mine was stolen. Maybe the same people took yours.”

“Anything’s possible, but I’m still going to search.” He made a circling gesture in the air. “Boys.”

Aww, hell.

Devon
went rigid, watching Kyle as Laird gave the command, waiting for a possible explosion. Could he stay human? Beside her, Ethan gave an almost inaudible growl as one of Laird’s men, pale blue eyes diamond hard, strode toward them.

Could Ethan? How had a simple plan gone to shit so quickly? The other men fanned out, one starting to search the apartment, one approaching Jake and Anjali and another Kyle.

She saw Ethan and Jake exchange glances and knew they were communicating.
Ethan
?

He pulled her back into his body, his chest warm and strong, comforting, as the man approached. She had to fight the urge to melt into him.

His mouth twitched.
Don’t worry, they don’t stand a chance.

That’s what I’m afraid of.
How the hell could they get out of this without leaving a pile of carnage in their wake?

Blue eyes stopped in front of her and raked her with his flinty gaze. “Lift your arms.”

Devon struggled to calm her skipping pulse at the proximity of the lethal weapon, something about the sight of it made her feel a little sick.

Ethan gave her a slight nod of encouragement. His face giving away nothing, but she could feel the coiled strength simmering under his shirt against her shoulder blade.

Let him get close.

Ethan—

I won’t change.

Devon raised her arms, hoping they wouldn’t shake too much.

“Hold on, gentlemen.” Laird rocked back on his heels.

Blue Eyes stepped back, his ugly black weapon at the ready, and directed his icy attention to his boss.

“Mr. Wade, here was a Navy SEAL and his . . . brothers”—Laird ran an appraising eye over Jake and Kyle—” look . . . capable. Bring the ladies over here. That should ensure good behavior and speed things along.”

Ethan froze, and Devon could almost feel his frustration. She reached behind her and squeezed his large hand, then allowed Blue Eyes to wrap his big mitt around her upper arms and drag her to the entry area. Across the room, Anjali was being manhandled in a similar fashion. She sent a calculating look over to Devon as she joined her, then gave an almost invisible wink. Devon rubbed the flaw on her thumbnail, her breathing staccato. How could the other woman be so calm?

As soon as the she and Anjali were corralled at gunpoint, Laird’s men tucked their guns in their waistbands, frisked Ethan and his brothers and ransacked the loft. Kyle’s beautiful things smashed and thudded onto the polished hardwood floor.

Devon flinched at each crash, her gaze focused on Kyle. He looked like a junkie in withdrawal, dripping in sweat, almost shaking with the effort of restraining his feral forms.

Anjali nudged her with her slender arm and caught her eye.
You ready?

Ready for what?

Anjali’s dark eyes flashed.
Ky isn’t going to be able to hold on much longer. If we don’t take control
. . .

Take control? They’ve got guns!

We’re chimeras. They’ll be disarmed before they know what hit ‘em.

Devon swallowed. Now she knew why the other woman had been so calm. She was crazy. The tinkle of broken glass made her jump. Ky snarled, his mouth bulging with teeth too large for his human face.

Crazy, but not wrong. They had to do something.

Well?
Anjali pointed with her gaze at the men holding the guns.
Are we waiting for Ky to start picking his teeth with their bones
?

Devon wrinkled her face at the image.
God, no!

Okay, then. Listen, here’s what we do.