Body Master (20 page)

“Sit,” she said without looking up, her voice soft and soothing. Old, wise, patient. It wasn’t something he was used to. There weren’t a lot of old Shifters around.

He pulled up a seat and noticed that Seneca was nowhere to be seen. Her scent lingered, which meant she wasn’t far. She hadn’t visited him again since that first night. His own fault. It was a wonder she hadn’t killed him in his sleep for the sorry excuses he’d made. He should have been honest with her, but it wasn’t exactly easy to say that he wanted to sink his entire body and soul into her soft flesh.

No, not if he ever wanted to do just that.

Noko set a plate of eggs and sausage in front of him, and he didn’t wait for an invite. After eating two helpings, he pushed back from the counter. “That was excellent, Noko. Thank you.”

She smiled at him as she cleared the dishes, and he felt a strange peace. She was special, like Seneca, but in a different way, in an old way that went to her bones—quiet strength and power.

“Where’s Seneca?” he asked.

“On the roof,” Noko replied. “She goes there when she wants to leave this world behind.”

Leave this world behind? Seneca? He pegged her for being firmly grounded to this place. “Is it so bad here? Or just recently?”

Noko sat at the counter across from him. That was when he noticed that her eyes were like Seneca’s—brown and almond-shaped.

“When she was a child, she watched her parents die. A burglar entered their house and shot them both. Seneca hid and was unharmed, but she saw it all. No one knew until later that night when I came by. She sat on the stairs looking at their bodies until I found her.”

Max closed his eyes for a moment. Her seriousness, her anger at him because she thought he was dead, her mention of the funerals. It was more than just working for XCEL, and it explained a lot about her. Why did he think that he was the only one who’d suffered in life?

He looked at Noko. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because Seneca needs you. Her totem is the White Wolf, tracking and hunting on the ground. Surviving with her claws and her instincts. You are the Eagle, high above, seeing all. You know where the Wolf is and where the Wolf ’s enemies are. You know what the Wolf needs to survive.”

Max shook his head. “I’m not who you think I am—”

“She will not survive without you,” Noko added calmly over his objections. “Your people will not find peace without you.”

He stared at the older woman, so still and sure in her convictions. How did she know so much about him? “I’m no one’s savior.”

“You have a purpose here,” Noko said. “Listen carefully, and you will find it.”

Seneca heard him open the door to the rooftop patio and pursed her lips.
Thank you, Noko.

She felt her long coat being draped over her shoulders.

“Cold morning,” Dempsey said, and her heart jumped when she lowered the binoculars and turned to him. He looked good. Healed, healthy, and virile. And she was going out today and buying a vibrator and big pack of batteries. “Thanks.”

Dempsey moved next to her and looked up where the morning was primed to take the sky. “I didn’t know you had an interest in space.”

“Can’t see the stars worth a damn in the city,” she answered. “I don’t know why I bother.”

He said, “You can always use your imagination.”

“That’s okay. I’m pretty sure I already know. Besides, life is what it is. Imagining it different doesn’t change it.”

Dempsey asked, “You never dream about the future?”

She focused the binoculars on a smudged patch of stars far from this little world and its big problems. “Dreams only come true if you make them. Which makes them goals.”

“Okay, what are your goals, then?”

He was healed
and
nosy this morning. “Not to kill my partner.”

“I like that one.”

Smart ass
. She looked at him. “Your turn. Do you dream, Dempsey?”

He didn’t answer for a moment, and she smiled.
Gotcha.

“I did once,” he finally said, and Seneca realized he was serious.

“What happened?” she asked, even though she already knew. His wife.

Dempsey cast her a somber look. “Someone took it away from me.”

Seneca wanted to tell him that she understood. She’d been there, in his head; she’d seen what happened. But she couldn’t bring herself to breach something so personal and painful. No one should have to be forced to relive the past. It was already heavy enough to carry day after day.

“No new dreams, then?” she asked.

He looked back to the sky. “Like you said, doesn’t change reality.”

She pursed her lips, regretting her words. Who was she to kill his hopes? If he did indeed have any. “So what’s it like out there in the great cosmos?”

He scanned the sky. “About the same as here.”

“Jeez, Dempsey, you sure know how to kill a girl’s fantasy.”

“I’m sorry about your parents.”

The sudden change of subject stunned her.
Noko.
She murmured, “Thank you.”

“Did they ever find who did it?”

Seneca was going to have a talk with her grandmother. “No.”

“Even worse.”

Although he seemed sincere, she didn’t want to be having this conversation. “Can we talk about something more cheery? Like global warming?”

Dempsey grinned. “Here’s something that will make you happy. I’m going back to the hotel.”

“Why?” she asked, surprised by the disappointment in her voice.

“I’ve imposed long enough, and I’m healed,” he replied and then he turned his silver eyes on her. “Besides, if I stay here much longer, I can’t promise I’ll be a good boy.”

He said it softly and so matter-of-factly that it sent a shiver all over her body.

“I know you drew the line at partners,” he continued, his eyes riveting her in place. “But we both know it’s just a line.”

She felt her mouth drop open. “Don’t beat around the bush, Dempsey. Why don’t you tell me what you really think?”

The smile that stretched slowly across his face spoke volumes of whispers and kisses and wild, reckless sex. The kiss in the tunnel came back to her in all its glory. She already knew what it would be like with Dempsey—perfect.

A phone rang somewhere in the background of the new fantasy that was occupying the majority of her brain cells.

Dempsey’s lips moved. “I think that’s yours.”

“What’s mine?” she said without thinking, and then shook her head. Her pocket was ringing. She retrieved her cell phone and answered, “Yes?”

“Don’t say my name. Are you alone?”

It was Bart. Seneca glanced at Dempsey. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Meet me in twenty minutes at our spot near Ryders Alley. Alone.
No
partner.” He sounded hurried and sober. Both bad signs.

“I’m fine, thanks for checking in.” Then she hung up. Shit. Bart sounded shaken. What the hell was up with that? Why meet him alone?

All the doubts about Dempsey that she’d been burying under sexual desires resurfaced. He’d killed his own, done everything for XCEL, but deep down, was he really one of them? Or had Bart uncovered something so bad that he wouldn’t trust Dempsey with it?

She closed the cell phone. “That was MacGregor.”

Dempsey was watching her a little too intently. “We’re going to have to talk to him.”

“I know. Just not yet.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “I’m freezing. I should go back inside.”

He nodded. “I’ll be at the hotel if you need me.”

Seneca smiled. She hated lying to him. “Enjoy your time off.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. Or maybe she was just paranoid.

“You too,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” Seneca asked even before Bart got close. He hunkered down into himself, looking jumpy and strung out as his eyes darted back and forth between each end of the open alleyway they used for their meetings. Early morning didn’t diminish the smell of garbage. The high walls on either side created a narrow gauntlet that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. The rat traps lined up on the cobblestone didn’t help either.

“A whole lot,” Bart answered.

“Why didn’t you want Dempsey here?” she asked, lowering her voice.

Bart leaned close, his breath rotten, and he didn’t look like he’d slept in two days. “’Cause he’s one of them and I don’t trust any of them right now.”

Seneca frowned. “What is it, Bart?”

He sniffed. “It’s bad. Real bad. You gotta get out of town.”

Bart was either high or really scared. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

He checked the alley again. “There’s a contract out on you, on all XCEL agents. Big enough to interest a lot of nasty folks. The shifty kind, if you know what I mean.”

“Who signed the contract?” she asked.

“A big scary-ass Shifter name of Hager. Word is he’s recruiting Shifters, and you all are part of initiation dues—dead or alive.”

He was talking so fast that Seneca had to work to keep up with him. “Recruiting Shifters for what?”

Bart continued, ignoring her question as he talked faster. “Hager has them all riled, ’cause of the Skinman killing. They’re comin’ out of the fucking woodwork to join.”

He added, “They’re pissed. Tell me Skinman wasn’t you.”

She closed her eyes. “Can’t.”

“
Fuck
,” he said with feeling. “You started a war. That’s a real bad thing ’cause the word is Hager’s building a goddamned Shifter army under this city.”

That explained the recruits and Skinman’s big inventory. Considering Skinman was in XCEL’s sights already, he would have been taken down eventually. That was what she tried to tell herself, but guilt was still winning. “An army for what reason?”

“Don’t know. Don’t wanna know. I’m too close as it is.” He looked scared shitless. “And Dempsey, he’s public enemy number one right now in the Shifter world.”

Damn. Now she really felt like crap for not telling him about Bart’s call.

“And so are you,” Bart added. “They know about you, where you live, what you smell like. Do you know how much money Hager’s offerin’ for your heads? Someone’s gonna turn you over. It’s just a matter of time. You stay here in the city, you’re dead.”

Noko wasn’t going to be happy when Seneca ordered her to leave.

“Do you know where Hager is holed up?” she asked.

“No,” Bart said. “I don’t want no part of this.”

“Well, if you happen to find out, call me.” Then Seneca tried to slip Bart some fifties, but he backed up, refusing it.

“I don’t want your money either. Or your scent,” he said, looking at her like she had the plague. “I’m done. Serious. We’re done. Sorry.”

Max stood around the corner of the alley and spied on Seneca talking to Bart. And he wasn’t invited.

She’d lied to him. The question was why? What did he have to do to prove himself to her? He thought they had passed the trust level and were moving along nicely toward sex. Apparently not.