“What’s going on here? Explain.”
“Go home,” he told her, “where you belong.”
Skye tried to read him, but she couldn’t sense him the way she normally could. The same thing had happened the other day. Weird.
“I am where I belong,” she argued. “You’re the one who is out of his element. Unless you’ve quit homicide for animal control.”
“Why I’m here doesn’t concern you. And for God’s sake, don’t tell anyone about what you saw.”
When he got like this, there was nothing she could do. “You can be such a jerk. Leave me alone.”
Irritated, she stalked away. He was directly behind her as she passed the arena, but when she stopped to unlock her car door and glanced back, he was standing some distance away watching her. Obviously, he wasn’t going to tell her what he knew.
And what about the mysterious stranger? He seemed to have power to control the predators.
But most importantly...
Why did he think he had the power to control her?
Chapter Two
The mechanical music of the slot machines jarred Luc Lazare’s nerves the following night as he moved down the stairs and along the tunnel, closing in on the lower-level “invitation only” part of the casino. His father had won the permit to build the first casino boat in Chicago, though the permit for The Ark hadn’t included the several lower decks cloaked by magic where only the invited were permitted to play. The year before, when the secret complex had first opened, Luc had taken the job of security director to please Pop. Most nights, the cacophony quickly faded into the background like white noise.
Not tonight.
Tonight, with the spectacle of last night’s shifter fight still clear in his mind, Luc felt everything here as if it was inside his skin—the scream of an excited gambler, the roar of a lion, the squawks of the caged parrots overhead, the blasting dance music from the bar.
He’d recognized Skye Cross immediately. She had the same mahogany hair as her brother, the same green eyes. Those luminous eyes had pinned him in place while he’d failed to control her. That was what made him want to know her better. He didn’t like being thwarted. He was used to having control, especially over humans.
The heart of The Ark’s cloaked decks was the casino, surrounded by entertainment venues. Pop’s magic stretched the perimeter far beyond the size of a normal boat. Off to the back, a live band played in the bar, as one did in the legal casino above. The most noticeable difference on this level was the animal habitats. Big cats, wolves, bears, hawks, alligators, and other carnivores were on display for their guests. As happened once a night, a caretaker was introducing prey for the predators. Even well fed, the meat eaters couldn’t resist the instinct to chase and kill.
On the other side of the closest habitat’s glass front, a rabbit whipped by him. Luc’s gut tightened and his gaze narrowed on the ragged prey. He had to restrain himself. His heart sped up, pumping hard. For a moment he was mesmerized, his appetites engaged. Wanting to shift and go after the prey, he had to force himself to look away, to take a deep breath, and get a hold of himself.
Guests lined up along the glass cages to watch. Did they feel their hearts fluttering? Their primal instincts humming? They spoke in undertones, some laughing nervously, as if they were embarrassed when they actually enjoyed watching. For some reason, humans always felt the need to appear more noble and caring on the surface than they were inside.
Luc stopped in front of Jez’s area. As a big black panther, she was sleek and muscular. As a woman, she was all soft curves. His childhood friend, she was the only shifter other than his sister, Nuala, who stood with him against his brother, Nik. But tonight, she wasn’t in her usual spot. Later. Though instead of lush dark hair, he thought of mahogany. Instead of golden eyes, he imagined green.
He couldn’t put Skye Cross out of his mind. Her image had been haunting him since the night before.
He’d known many human women. His mother, who’d raised him, was human. But no other human woman had ever captured his interest in quite the same way Skye had, perhaps because she’d heard his silent commands. How intriguing. He wanted to know exactly how she’d done that. He wanted to know her. Knew he couldn’t. Or at least he shouldn’t.
At the memory of Skye challenging him, his pulse began to race and his gut tightened, the sensation not unlike what he experienced when he was after prey.
Not that Skye was prey.
Moving on, Luc passed guests familiar to him—people invited because they had something his father wanted. He forced his mind away from Skye Cross and onto business.
“Alderman Bakula, good to see you,” he greeted the politician. “Leaving so early?”
“Already shot my wad, son. Another time.”
“We’ll be looking forward to it,” Luc said, moving along, greeting a wealthy socialite at one bank of slots and a man who worked in airport security at another.
Pop wanted ears to the ground at every level, his entry point to taking over the city. If Pop succeeded—and odds were that he would—he wouldn’t stop at Chicago. Being immortal, Pop had all the time in the world and filled his days and nights by figuring out ways of gaining more power. He was already making deals with Kindred scattered around the globe. Eventually, they would work under him. Pop had big plans for the world. That was the thing that tested Luc’s love of being Kindred. How Pop would do this offended his human side.
Luc waved to his people in the security office via one of the cameras suspended near high windows that let in the light of early evening. As always, flashes of silver circled the boat. Fish were drawn to the lights of sea glass. Odd how they were so aware of the lower deck casino when people weren’t due to Pop’s cloaking spell.
Then again, the humans in this casino weren’t aware of the potential consequences of their gaming. They thought the dealers in tiger-striped vests and the waitresses in leopard-print sarongs were like them.
If their luck didn’t hold, which was inevitable, they would face the truth soon enough.
What if Skye Cross figured it out? Just as her brother had obviously done.
As if his thoughts had conjured Shade, Luc saw him with Nuala. Again. The man had been after his sister for weeks, no doubt as part of his investigation. Luc hoped Nuala had been careful with what she’d told him. Even now, Shade was gazing around the casino as if trying to find some way to bring The Company down. The man was trouble, first appearing at the shifter fight, now here.
Stalking him, Luc wondered what Shade was saying to his sister. Normally an expert at hiding what she was feeling, Nuala hadn’t been herself lately, and right now, Luc could tell she was struggling to contain her emotions.
She looked his way and her expression closed. “Luc.”
He put his arm around his sister’s shoulders, and in a low voice asked, “What are you doing back here, detective?”
“You know I have a standing invitation.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to use it.”
Nuala moaned. “Luc, please—”
“What is it you really want?” he asked Shade.
Though after the raid the previous night, Luc thought he knew. And, like his sister, Shade couldn’t be influenced, as Luc had learned over the past weeks.