And then the bell clanged to cut off betting and portable lights aimed at the ring clicked on. Spectators gasped when they got a good look at Jez’s sleek black coat.
The controller’s pulse raced, and his senses sharpened as they always did when a fight was about to begin. The money was good, but money didn’t motivate him.
Another bell. Another bombshell-loud complaint from the clouds.
The combatants being held back at the scratch lines were let loose and the animals charged each other. At the wild dog’s first bite, Jez screeched. Bleeding, she tried to run from her opponent.
“Turn!” Jez’s handler yelled.
The other handler grabbed the wild dog, and both shapeshifters were returned to the scratch line to start over.
The controller had known Jez would try to back out and he’d told her handler to threaten her to make her fight. Whatever was necessary. The handler was doing it now, telling her if she didn’t hold her own out there, he would take great pleasure in skinning her.
Hatred focused him. He couldn’t wait to see Luc’s reaction. He’d been humiliated because of the bastard, and it was time for payback, and Jez’s death would be a start.
The fight resumed, and this time, Jez tore into the wild dog as the dog’s teeth tore into her. The heavens rumbled as, within seconds, she lost the use of a hind leg. She might be a bit bigger than the wild dog, but she was inexperienced. He could feel her desperation as she lunged forward, swatting hard with sharp claws. Atmospheric electricity surrounded the combatants, illuminating streams of blood spurting from the wounded animals. Spectators screamed and a few even left. Jez did an impressive job of holding her own but, of course, she hadn’t been trained. That was the point. That was her punishment. Her jaw already hung crookedly, and her howls pierced the din.
Someone in the crowd screamed, and a thrill shot through him, awakening his appetites. He glanced back to the arena. As wave after wave of pain and fear and excitement of the audience washed over him, he gorged on the human bloodlust.
Glancing to where Shade Cross sat, the controller watched the cop use his smartphone to capture Jez’s death. Then he pocketed his phone, got up, and left. Damn it! What the hell was Cross up to now?
Chapter Four
Shade went straight from the shifter fight to Elizabeth Reyes’s home. It was more estate than home, as were several other mansions surrounded by black iron fencing in the Buena Park neighborhood nestled close to the lake. Lit by streetlights as well as post lights on the property, the historic brick-and-limestone building was three stories high and certainly more than five thousand square feet. All for one person. Or maybe two, if her son still lived here—Shade hadn’t been able to find out.
He rang her bell. No answer. Shade checked his watch. Already half past eleven. He sat on the front steps to wait for her and flicked through the video he’d taken on his cell phone. The fight haunted him, and he hoped it would haunt the Reyes woman enough to make her talk this time. The panther had died, but in the morning, the woman’s body would be found, as had happened before.
Another case to add to the growing pile he and Ethan were investigating. Shade didn’t know how to tell his partner about the shifter fights. Practical, black-and-white cop Ethan wouldn’t believe it. People who turned into predators. Even Shade had a hard time believing it. Now he knew it was true. Straight-arrow Ethan might force a psych evaluation on Shade if he tried to explain.
A dark sedan pulled into the side drive and Shade got to his feet. Elizabeth Reyes alighted, her expression darkening as she took the walkway to the steps where he waited.
“What are you doing here, Detective Cross?” She walked up the steps past him, then paused to fumble with her keys. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
“You’ve told me fairy tales, Ms. Reyes. Now I have one to show you.”
She turned to him. “What?”
He clicked on the cell screen to show her digital footage of the black panther before she was sent out to be killed. “This is a friend of your son’s.”
“Excuse me? A zoo animal?”
He could see the lie on her face, could hear it in her voice. He couldn’t hear her. Not her thoughts. Not anymore. Not after what he’d done to break this case. He’d lost his psychic edge, maybe permanently. He’d lost more than that, enough that he shouldn’t care about the case anymore, but to his own surprise, he had no desire to give up.
“I think you know differently.”
“It’s late, Detective Cross.”
“One more look.” He clicked to the footage where the wild dog tore open the panther’s side and practically shoved the phone in her face. “This is how she ended the night.”
Her eyes widened and a strangled sound escaped her.
About to press her for information, Shade caught movement from the corner of his eye. One glance behind him, and he tossed away the cell to shove the Reyes woman out of harm’s way. The night exploded with sound, and her arm jerked as she took the bullet.
Before Shade could get to his Glock, something hot and sharp crashed through his skull.
Then all went dark.
Then all went dark.
Chapter Five
The doorbell’s shrill buzz nearly tossed Skye out of bed. A quick glance at the clock confirmed it was 4:13, well before dawn.
Had she dreamed the sound?
Another blare, more insistent this time, confirmed someone was, indeed, at her door. One of the cats flew off the bed. Shade, no doubt, had misplaced his keys. Again.
Grumbling, she climbed over a second cat that couldn’t be bothered to move and she stumbled out of bed and into the hall to the intercom. The video screen revealed not Shade, but his partner and best friend, Ethan Grainger.
“Isn’t Shade answering his door?” she asked over the intercom.
She heard Shade’s dog, Boomer, barking downstairs. They lived in a Chicago two-flat they’d inherited from their grandmother, Shade in the first-floor apartment, her in the second.
“I need to talk to you.”
At four in the morning? He sounded so serious. Of course, he wouldn’t wake her in the middle of the night unless something was wrong.
“Okay.”
She pressed the buzzer that let him up. Spotting a long-sleeved shirt she’d left on a dining room chair, she grabbed it and pulled it on before unlocking the door. Ethan’s short, light-brown hair accentuated his broad cheeks. His soft brown eyes had gone all eerie, filled with something that went beyond simple grief.
Her heart thundered.
“What is it?” She was fully awake now and filled with unease. She’d heard too often about official visits to relatives of cops when something bad had to be reported. “What’s happened to Dad?”
“Not your father.” Ethan shook his head. “It’s Shade.”
Her world suddenly got smaller. Tighter. Her eyes began to sting. She knew. But she wouldn’t believe it.
“Where is he?” she demanded, her heart thudding against her ribs. “What hospital?”
“I’m so sorry.” Ethan pulled her to him and held her so tightly she couldn’t move.
“No!” Tears flooded her eyes and she awkwardly struck him in the chest. “No.”