Burned In Shadows (Shadow Unit) (8 page)

“Faith, honey, you need to eat dinner first.” He said on a patient sigh. He bent down in front of her and grabbed both her little hands and started swinging them from side to side. He was trying to calm her down and get her to see reason.
If there was one thing Jes knew about her daughter, it was, she was stubborn. She had the tenacity of a bug not wanting to get squashed, or in her case out talked.

“I am not hungry for dinner, Gabriel.” Faith said sternly. That earned her a surprised look from him as he arched his eyebrows.

“Young lady, why did you call me Gabriel? It’s Gabe, not Gabriel.” He cleared his throat and knelt on one knee trying to coax Faith over to the dinner trays under the heat lamps. “There’s pasta honey, and there’s some corn and salad, what do you say? Hmm?” He asked politely. He didn’t seem irritated yet, but Jes was getting irritated by Faith and the way she was acting.

The men at the table laughed and snickered. More on lookers came over to place their bets on the table, and the majority favored Faith. Royce stood on his feet sniffing the air and so was Ronin, only he stayed seated and turned in the direction of Gabe and Faith. Jes took a tentative
sniff to because she could smell things differently now and obviously something was about to go down. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but when she sniffed again she smelled it.

There was a sudden change in the air, charged with something strong and aggravated. Gabe who’d been standing in front of Faith rose and stood back. Jes looked in the direction of her daughter who stood there in front of the vending machine shaking. The aggravation was coming from Faith.

She hurried over to her daughter and stopped short, when she noticed Faith’s curls were drawing up to the base of her neck, growing thicker and her claws, as well as everything else on her daughter’s body, was filling out.

“Faith Rene Stone!” Jes yelled.

Her little girl turned towards her and seemed to calm, but her fangs were lengthening, and as she stared back at her mom she quickly shot a look over at Gabe and said in a scratchy voice.

“Give. Me. The. Skittles. I. Want. Them. Now.” The growl was low and rumbled through the now silent cafeteria. Everyone watched in amazement as Faith half-shifted into a werewolf. Over Skittles!

Gabe quietly pressed the button on the machine and waited for the Skittles to dispense. Once they hit the landing tray, he pulled them out and handed them over to Faith who was still shaking. She took the Skittles ever so gently with her clawed hand, and smiled a wolfish grin at him as her claw sliced an opening in the package.

“Thank you sir,” She said as she up ended the contents into her mouth.

Jes was still shocked when Royce broke the silence.

“I win. Hand over your money folks.” The cafeteria burst into laughter, and that seemed to shake Faith out of her episode. Just as quickly as her change came on, her long beautiful curls were back, and her nails and teeth were now the way a five year old should look. Her clothes were a little torn around the waist and legs, but other than that she was fine. Jes grabbed her daughter by the hand and pulled her over into the corner.

“Faith! Are you okay?” She twisted and turned her daughter who now had a sticky face courtesy of the Skittles she just downed.

“Yes, mama I’m okay.”

“You are not, and you owe Gabe an apology.”

Faith put her head down and nodded slowly. She knew she owed Gabe an apology. Once Jes looked her over she directed Faith back over to the table where the other men were talking.

“Dude, she totally almost cut your eyeballs out over Skittles. Classic!” Royce said as she pulled out a chair for her daughter.

“Mr. Gabe,” Faith said in a small hushed voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, but I really wanted to taste the rainbow, like on the commercial.”

That earned another round of laughter and Jes eyed each of the men sitting at the table. She did not want her daughter to think this kind of behavior was acceptable.

“It’s quite alright honey. You’re under a lot of stress.”

“I am not under mess,” Faith tried to say stress, but it came out as mess. “I am just a little sad that’s all.” She hiccupped. Was she actually going to pull the crying thing?

“No, Faith honey, I didn’t say mess, I said stress.” Gabe reiterated.

Faith looked up and smiled wide, showcasing her dimples. The other men at the table were all putty in her hands after that. Her baby was also doing sessions with Ann, and it worried her that her daughter was under so much stress. She’d just met her father only to lose him, and now she was dealing with Mara and Antony. They were fantastic with her, but Faith made it no secret she preferred staying with her mother. Jesminda preferred it that way as well, but she had to get Draven back. Then they could be a family. She wasn’t human anymore, and if she didn’t contribute to finding Draven, then what good was she? Bells stood next to the table with her tray in hand and groaned when Royce motioned for her to sit by him. Bells ignored him and sat next to Faith who regaled everyone with her latest movie addiction.

“Now there’s something.” Bells said.

“What?” Royce asked.

She ignored him and continued talking with Faith who got more and more animated as she discussed her newest idea.

“I think that would be awesome, and Ro Ro is bald he can be Gru.” Ronin looked over at Faith and grunted. Jes smiled wide over in Ronin’s direction and arched a brow at him. He couldn’t read her mind, but he knew what she was smiling about.

Even if the entire team found out Ronin enjoyed Despicable Me as much as Faith did, no one would say a word. They’d watched the movie at least a dozen times. She’d even caught
Ronin imitating Gru’s voice. On cue, Royce mimicked the voice of the main character in the movie.

“I will stuff you all in the crust.” He said in Gru’s voice.

No one paid Royce any attention, it was his usual behavior. Ronin, on the other hand, said something about idiots and running out of time and left the table.

“Now you did it,” Faith said to Royce.

“What I do?”

“You went and stole Ro Ro’s favorite line in the entire movie, you suck Royce.”

Faith turned from her seat and went after the other man’s retreating form. Everyone watched the two as he let her grab his massive hand and walk to the elevator. He didn’t mind Faith tagging along with him, and in the beginning Jes was worried, but quickly banished the thought of him ever hurting her daughter when she saw the two of them together. He was gentle with her and seemed calmer in Faith’s presence.

Chapter 8

Three weeks later

“
Y
ou’re ready for this,” she said to herself in the mirror. She was still her; still Jesminda Zealand, not too tall, not too short, but average. This was the last time she’d see herself for a while. Her real self. She could hold her new form for however long was needed. If she ever needed to disappear forever, she had the perfect cover. Tonight would make or break this operation. She’d been sparring with everyone back at base including Dietrich. If his ass said she was ready, she was. The bathroom she stood in was nasty as hell. The smell of piss and mold was making her eyes water. She took more of the raunchy smell into her lungs and carefully let her body do the work.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Zea. Tall, athletically built with spiky black hair spun with gold strands. Green eyes stared back her and pointy ears made her look eleven as Royce liked to joke. She opened her mouth to make sure her canines were small and dainty. Inspected her silver tipped nails that would lengthen into deadly claws. Every detail of this façade had to be exact each and every time she took this form. But for the next couple of weeks this was the new her.

The volume outside the restroom was thunderous. She could hear the announcer over the screams and cheering. This plan had to work, this was her fifth fight. She’d been to this hole in the wall club every day for the last six days. The first time she’d come, she’d mapped the logistics of the operation. The Red Hand used the underground cage matches as a way to recruit. The second night she fought, then every night after that. Dravaggio hadn’t liked the change in plan. He’d wanted her to fight once and wait to be approached. She smiled at herself when she heard Royce’s voice in her head, checking in.
The first rule of cage club is: You do not talk about cage club. The second rule of cage club is: You do not talk about cage club. The third rule of cage club is: don’t get the shit beat out of you but beat the fuck out of your opponent. You got this.
She smiled at herself in the mirror and sent Royce a mental smirk.

She’d told the guy working the cage she only fought men. Her first opponent had been too easy. When no one inquired about her from the organization on her return the following night, she decided it was time to go back in the cage. She repeated the process each night, brutally
beating each male who’d stepped into the cage. Tonight was no different. They were watching her, she could tell. There was a certain violence in the air mixed with excitement and anticipation of the fight to come.

Zea stretched to loosen her muscles. Time was ticking down, and if she wasn’t approached tonight Dravaggio would send in someone else.
Fuck that shit.
She could handle this, it was a necessary evil that needed to be done. Last night’s fight had been extremely bloody and unforgiving. If she could take out a supposed commander within the ranks of the organization, surely someone would be approaching her tonight. When she opened the door, her body threatened to buckle at the force of the energy pouring from the main room. She never knew who she’d face until she met them in the cage.

“Give a gigantic fuck you very much from our new comer, Z” The crowd was cheering as she mentally prepared herself to take on her next victim.

“She’s bad-ass with a capital B. She only fights males people, how fucking sexy is that shit?” The loud noise rose as everyone in the room was out their chairs chanting her name over and over and over again.

“Our sexy, beautiful bad-ass is fighting the man tonight. The muthafucking man. Crowd, make some noise for Enri, supreme commander of the
Death Walkers.

Everyone went still as her worst nightmare was introduced. Enri. If Enri was here, so was Black. She’d heard the two simultaneously recruited together. Her leg muscles tried to tighten on her as she stepped into the cage.

No fear. No fear.

Enri was a fallen angel. Here among other immortals he let his true form show. When he’d worked for Marcus he’d looked as human as she once had. Tonight he was in full fallen regalia. His bare chest sculpted with ripples of muscles flexed as he took steady breaths. Black hair spun through with charcoal streaks looked silver in the light. His wings were a smoky black, like muted soot and rested gently against the cage floor. His wings didn’t reflect the light but absorbed it. Enri was a black hole,
swallowing everything in his path, and for a moment she had to look away to gain strength, composure.

She wasn’t going to let him thwart her plan. He was evil, pure and simple. Why he helped her daughter escape almost made her doubt her original reservations about him. But she wasn’t
dumb, he didn’t do anything unless it benefited him. Enri was only looking out for number one, and she wasn’t it. She knew first hand from his time spent in Marcus’ employ.

The closing of the cage door snapped her from her thoughts. Apprehension was a cold bastard. Only something like this would happen to her.
Enri was slouched in one of the places designated as a corner with his head resting in his hands. He hadn’t looked up when she stepped inside. She was nervous and wanted to get the fight under way. When he finally looked up, his aquamarine eyes roamed over her form quickly. She did notice the spark of what looked like recognition in his eyes. Did her mask slip?

She was on the balls of her feet making a change in her technique. She could dance her way out of this easy enough. She fell into a rhythm that confused him at first, but he quickly caught on. She landed the first blow. The crowd jumped to their feet banging on the outside of the cage, yelling all kinds of things she couldn’t hear. She just needed to be wary of his wings, what looked like soft feathers, were actually feathers tipped with what looked like glass. Now she was seriously dancing.

# # #

Ronin watched the fight from a dark corner in the back. She was kicking ass, but Enri was able to keep up. When his foot landed and took her to the ground, he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from growling. Enri’s wings were opening, and Ronin could feel as the other man tried to go for the killing blow. The crowd seemed to part letting someone through and then Draven was there pulling the door open and going to her defense. Obviously he was still protective of her, even if he didn’t realize why. The look on his face told Ronin he was truly upset with his feelings for the stranger he didn’t know. When he tried to help her, she kicked out and knocked him to his knees. They’d taught her well, she wouldn’t let her guard down. He watched as she was silenced and carted away. Every single b
astard in this dive would soon get what was coming to them.

“Zea is ready for battle.” He said to no one in particular.

“Enri will kill you if you say things like that, we should be honored we were allowed to witness his glory.” Who was this idiot? Talking like he was a fucking spawn of the Enri fan club?

“Yeah, well I’m not with the rest of you here. So there’s no need for me to agree with shit you’re saying.”

Ronin turned and headed for the exit. Draven was there now, and whether he wanted to acknowledge his feelings for the woman or not, his wolf wouldn’t let anything happen to her.