Roman's Gold (Underground Heat, Book 1) (13 page)

Devon backed toward her. “Open the door. We’re leaving.”

“But—”

“We’ll talk about this outside.”

Something in his tone got her attention. She reached behind her until she felt the latch, engaged it, and slid out the door. Devon joined her on the porch and eased the door shut. He put a hand on her shoulder and propelled her toward the car.

Before they got to it, she heard the report of a laser pistol and a high, keening cry. She heard the gun again, then silence.

“Was that what I thought it was?” She felt ill. Kate ducked from beneath his arm, spun, and ran for the house.

Devon grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the driveway. “Yes. We need to be gone from here. Now. Unlock your car.”

They were halfway back to her office before it dawned on her. “You knew.”

He nodded. “I speak some Japanese. They took the honorable way out—at least by their code.”

Tears pricked behind her lids. One spilled over. “To think we are so hated,” she choked out, “that death is preferable…” Her voice ran down. She swallowed back bile burning the back of her throat. “I could have helped him.”

“He didn’t want your help. Not mine, either.” Devon’s ragged breathing was loud against the silence inside the car. “I wonder how the other forty-one of us will fare.”

“Crap. I hadn’t even thought about that. You did all right—”

“Not at first I didn’t. Remember?” He took one of her hands in his. “I had you. It made a hell of a difference.”

“Do you want me to drop you at your car?”

“No.” His jaw was set in a hard line. “I’d like to come upstairs with you. I’m ready to talk with Max. We need some sort of plan so we don’t lose any more potential allies to suicide.”

Chapter 10

Devon kept an arm around Kate as she guided the car into her garage. She was visibly shaken by what happened. His heart ached for her, but he didn’t know how to soften her pain. He’d seen so much death, he’d found places to pigeonhole it. Ray Tanaka couldn’t live with what he’d become, so he checked out. Devon could accept that. Makiko hadn’t wished to live with the shame of her husband’s dual nature, so she’d followed him into death. In Japanese culture, their deaths were honorable.

He followed Kate up the stairs. Once they got inside, he drew her against him and held her until her tears slowed. “I love you, Kate. If there were some way I could reach into your heart and make you stop hurting—”

“Thanks.” She snuffled. “I’m sad, but I’m angry, too. He was such a beautiful wolf. What a waste of talent and ability.” She tilted her head back until her gaze met his, amber eyes red-rimmed and swollen. “Because he died in human form, the wolf will be lost, wandering endlessly, hunting for his human half. It’s just so sad. Being a shifter is a great gift. Tanaka spat on it and cast it aside.”

“When we die, it’s as animals?” Devon wanted to know more about the cat part of himself.

She nodded. “Yes, our spirits rest easy that way. It frees the animal to find another bond partner.”

He led her through the bedroom to the outer office, sat on a plush floral sofa, and drew her against his body. “Tell me some things about being a shifter.”

“What would you like to know?”

“How do the human and animal parts integrate?”

She cuddled closer to him and drew her feet up onto the couch. “All I can tell you is how it works for me, but I think it’s similar for the rest of us. My human side has one set of feelings and thoughts, my cat side another. The cat is more instinctual, the human more rational. Each side has the utmost respect for her sister.”

She took a breath. “When I’m human, the cat lives inside me. When I’m a cat, the human lives inside. For me to kill myself in human form would be the ultimate
fuck you
to my cat. I’d deserve to rot in hell.”

“How do you find out which animal is yours? It can’t be genetic. Mother was a bear. One aunt is a coyote; another is a wolf. Grandmother is a mountain lion.”

“You won’t believe it if I tell you.”

“Try me.” His arms tightened around her. God, but she felt good. Like she belonged next to him—now and always. He kissed her forehead.

Kate wriggled away so she could look at him. “Maybe you will believe me. After all, it’s part of your Native American background. Dreaming is, anyway. The animals are immortal. They exist in something like a parallel universe. We dream who our animal will be. We dream them and they become part of us.” She stopped; her forehead furrowed in thought. “Maybe it didn’t work that way for you since you were so old when your first shift happened.”

Devon pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. A chill ran down his back. The same one he felt whenever he faced something eerie. “I did have mountain lion dreams. Lots of them from when I was a child until I was, maybe, twenty or so.”

Her eyes lit with delight. “See! It was your cat trying to connect, except your blood wasn’t strong enough. As soon as it was—”

He laughed. It bubbled up from his belly and filled him with a sense of well-being. “My blood had a hell of a boot in the ass from your considerable charms.”

She smiled and shrugged. “Maybe so, but still…” Her smile grew broader. “I’d say that’s one happy cat. He waited a long time for you.”

“What would have happened if I’d never had those infusions?”

Her face grew serious. “He would have wandered on the other side, waiting. Sort of like Tanaka’s wolf is doing right now. Except the wolf knows Tanaka is dead, so he is grieving—and probably furious because he’s trapped. Your cat wouldn’t have given up until he was certain you were dead.”

“And then?”

“Because you had never actually bonded, he would have opened himself to another’s dreams. We die in animal form because it frees both human and animal to move forward to whatever comes next.”

“The night he tried to talk with me, Tanaka told me he’d had wolf dreams.” Devon frowned. “If I’d known more then—” Guilt jabbed him. He dropped his gaze.

She stroked his cheek. “Don’t. You still couldn’t have told him anything without compromising yourself.”

“Animals are amazing, aren’t they? Loyal, true, honorable, courageous.”

Kate nodded. “All those things and more. I can’t imagine not being a shifter. It’s added so much richness to my life.”

“And I can’t imagine a life without you.” He pulled her close and kissed her. She fit perfectly against his body. She opened her mouth under his, but he broke away. “I have to go back to work. They’ll be trying to raise me on the radio, especially once they find out about Tanaka.”

“Do you still want to talk with Max?”

“Yeah, I do.”

She looked thoughtful. “Okay, I’ll see if I can connect with him through the vid feed, but you go wait in the bedroom until I call you. I need to make certain he wants to talk with you before I blow his identity.”

Devon hopped off the couch and walked into the bedroom. Since he had a few moments, he gathered his hair and braided it to get it out of the way. He heard the click of keys and the muted rise and fall of voices. It wasn’t long before she called, “Come on. It’s okay.”

Devon walked briskly to her side and hunkered so he could look at the screen. He whistled, then clapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, sir. I wasn’t expecting the California state governor.”

Max laughed. “No, son, I’ll bet you weren’t. Miss Roman told me what happened to Tanaka. Damned shame. Predictable, though, when someone turns into what they’ve been taught to hate. Quite a shock to the system.”

“What can we do to make certain the same thing doesn’t happen to the forty-one others in the Tracker task force?” Devon asked. “Not to mention others like us in different cities and states.”

Max’s lips formed a thin, hard line. “Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to keep desperate men and women who’ve lived by the gun from turning their weapons against themselves.”

“What if we warned them?” Kate asked.

Devon spread his hands in front of him. “What would we say? Congratulations, you just won the kewpie doll? You’re now a shifter. Most of them would react just like Tanaka. Or like I did, for that fact, until I pulled my head out of my ass. Uh, sorry, sir.” He glanced at Max.

“No offense taken. Miss Roman is right that forewarning—or even a bit of frank discussion—might go a long way toward making the news more palatable.”

Max frowned. “How about this?” He moved his gaze to Devon. “Pay your commanding officer a visit. Tell him Tanaka tried to talk with you at the riot. Look uncomfortable, then confide you’ve had some of the same problems with enhanced hearing and smell, but because you had the whole Native American mystic gig going, you’ve been able to manage things—”

“That will bring him to their attention and put him at risk,” Kate protested.

Devon held up a hand. “Let’s hear him out. So far what he’s said seems logical. I’m concerned about Tanaka’s death. Don’t want anyone else doing the same thing. Suicide’s quite common among cops. We don’t talk much about it, but it bothers all of us.”

“Exactly,” Max said. “Offer to spend time one-on-one with the other officers, especially the ones with shifter blood. You can even voice a suspicion that maybe the infusion strengthens shifter proclivities—but only a little. Since they have you pegged at twenty-five percent, you’d have a long way to go before you hit the magic halfway point which would spell your destruction.”

“I like it.” Devon ran the plan through his head, looking for holes. “It seems like a really clean way to give me access to the rest of the task force. I can feel them out to see who might be a candidate to join us.”

Max inclined his head. “Smart man. You understand how powerful this could be.” He shifted his gaze to Kate. “Looks like you picked a good one, Miss Roman.”

“I still don’t like it,” she muttered.

Devon took her hand. “None of us will be safe until this is over. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time.”

“Speaking of over.” Kate looked at Max. “How long?”

“Not more than a couple of weeks. Hopefully, more like ten days. We can move fast when we need to.”

“Sooner is better.” Devon’s brow creased in a frown. “Someone will talk and jeopardize everything.”

“Yes, that’s bound to happen,” Max agreed. He pointed a finger at Devon. “Watch your back. Best if you simply sound out the other task force members without revealing anything. Work through Miss Roman if you need me.” The screen faded to gray.

Devon pushed to his feet and shook his legs to get the kinks out of them from staying in a crouch so long. “I’ll be damned,” he muttered. “Guess it helps to have friends in high places.”

Kate stood and walked in front of him. Her amber eyes were pinched with worry. “Do not delude yourself. If you get into trouble, he can’t bail you out without compromising himself.”

He opened his arms. She stepped into them and wrapped her arms around him. Her breasts pressed into his chest. He dropped his hands to her wonderful ass and pulled her against him. Heat roared through him when he kissed her. Her scent eddied in the air, tempting him. His cock strained against his pants. It knew what it wanted: Kate. Any part of her would do.

He broke the kiss. “Kate. My heart, my life. I love you. I don’t want to leave your side. Not ever, but I have to go back to work. I’ll end up on the defensive if they have to hunt me down.”

Her face was flushed, lips slightly parted. “I don’t want you to leave, either. I love you and I’m worried sick something hideous will happen.” She gripped his face between her hands. “Maybe you could call in sick. Anything so you didn’t have to put yourself at risk.”

Devon laid his hands over hers, bent, and kissed the tip of her nose. “If it weren’t for Tanaka, I could. Whenever things like this happen, they circle the wagons. They’ll be searching for me soon, if they aren’t already.”

“Oh.” She looked distraught; her lips pressed into a worried line. “You have the list of names. You’re still coming by later tonight, aren’t you?” She dropped her hands to her sides and took a step backward. Tears glistened in her eyes.

His heart swelled. He wanted Kate to love him and want him and miss him when he wasn’t by her side. “Of course I’m coming to see you. This isn’t any easier for me than it is for you. If I had my way, I’d never leave you again—ever. Here.” He dug the list out of a pocket, scanned it, and handed it back to her. “Probably ought to burn this.”

“I thought you needed it.”

“I do, but I have an eidetic memory. All I needed was to see it.”

“If I text or call you, which wrist computer?”

“It would be safer to use the untraceable one. I’m hoping no one saw us at Tanaka’s house today. It would be hard to explain.”

She cocked her head to one side and nibbled her lower lip. “Maybe not all that difficult. You came to me through your doctor. We hit it off and started dating. It’s not like I’m a therapist. Surrogates sometimes pair up with men who started out as clients.”

“Good to know. Hope I don’t have to use the information. Bye, Kate. I love you, sweetheart.” His heart swelled. The words were sweet on his tongue.

She brushed a hand over his still-erect cock. “Love you, too, my mated one. Save some of that for later.”

“Mated one. I like the sound of that. So does my cat.”

“Oh?” She quirked a brow. “He’s started talking already?”

“Mostly, he just purrs, but yes.” Devon laughed and let himself out her front door. He felt buoyant inside, light and happy. It was the first time in a long time he’d had something to look forward to. He couldn’t wait to gather Kate into his arms later that night, strip her clothes off, and sink deep inside her.
Human sex or cat? Aw, what the hell. We’ll do it all.

“Yes.”
His cat purred agreement.
“She is our mated one. We will love her and care for her forever.”

He sprinted for his car, got in, and collected his wrist computer. Devon groaned when he looked at the display. He tapped keys to listen to seven messages from headquarters, all of them marked urgent. He hit redial on the last one from his captain.

“It’s about time, Heartshorn,” the captain growled. “Where the fuck have you been?”