Shadow Soldier (10 page)

“Is he gay?”

Though she pressed her lips together in a tight line, Abby’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, but no, he’s not gay. We just don’t see each other that way.”

Roux understood to a degree, but she had more important things on her mind than discussing inconsequential things like sexual orientation. “What is a mating bond?”

For the first time since they’d sat down, the smile slid from Abby’s face, and she glanced around the room as if afraid of being overheard. “That’s something you’ll need to ask Deke.”

Before Roux could question her further, the man himself appeared, walking toward the table with a wary expression. “Sorry about that, ladies. I had to see a guy about a thing.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” Still, Roux smiled, and kicked the chair next to her, scooting it away from the table. “Are you hungry? Barbie here ordered half the restaurant. We might need a bigger table.”

Deke arched an eyebrow as he glanced between them. “I see you two are becoming fast friends.”

“We’re working on it,” Abby agreed, flashing one of her sugary sweet smiles in Roux’s direction. “Isn’t that right, cupcake?”

* * * *

Sneaking into the back alley to give the women a chance to speak freely had seemed like a good idea at the time. Upon his return however, Deke had been forced to reevaluate his definition of “good.”

While the majority of the meal had been spent in awkward silence, when they did speak, every word practically bled with tense, forced pleasantries. He’d expected it from Roux, but in the months he’d know Abby, the woman had never been anything except warm and welcoming. Goddess above, he’d never understand females.

“What did you think of Abby?” he asked as they left the restaurant, not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

Roux slung the pillowcase containing her new clothing over her shoulder and shrugged. “Barbie? She’s not what I expected, but she’s okay, I guess.”

“Wow, what a glowing compliment. Don’t strain yourself.”

She surprised him by bumping against his arm as she laughed. “Abby doesn’t mince words, which I appreciate, and she gave me a lot to think about. That’s all I really know about her.”

“Fair enough.” He wanted to hear more, but he didn’t know how to ask without rousing her suspicion. “I still have a few hours before my patrol begins, so what would you like to do now?”

To her credit, Roux actually seemed to think about it before she requested to return to his house. “I seem to I have everything I need, and the pain meds the doctor gave me are making me kind of sleepy.”

“Of course.” Spending time alone with her wouldn’t be a chore, especially in his own home where he could be himself. “Here, let me carry that for you.”

Tentatively, Roux passed her knotted pillowcase to him and nodded. “Thank you, Deke. Not just for carrying my stuff, but for everything. I mean it.”

Several responses came to mind, but none of them seemed adequate or appropriate, so he simply mirrored her nod and tucked the makeshift bag under his arm.

As they crossed the Square, Roux slowed near the fountain, watching a young woman with dark, wavy hair. He didn’t think much of her fascination until she stopped suddenly and tilted her head to the side.

“What is it, kitten?”

“Stop calling me that,” she muttered, though her tone lacked heat.

“Would you prefer kitty?”

“Do you prefer your balls attached?” She still didn’t look at him, and her threats sounded halfhearted at best. “Is that Phelps? The werewolf from last night?”

Following her gaze, Deke found the guard he hadn’t noticed before hovering just behind the dark-haired female. He also understood why the pair had drawn Roux’s attention in the first place. The woman—he thought her name might be Bethany—had her arms wrapped around her midsection, shoulders rounded, while she trembled from head to toe.

Shifting his focus back to Phelps, Deke watched the guard’s moving lips and honed his hearing, cutting through the white noise that filled the Square.

“You really should accept my offer, Beth. Life could be a lot easier for you as my pet.” Phelps chuckled darkly. “A lot better than selling baubles on the street.”

“Please,” Bethany whispered, “just go away.”

Warm fingers surrounded Deke’s elbow, and he looked down, just as Roux pushed up on her toes, bringing their mouths only inches apart. His cock twitched, and he held his breath, unable to tear his gaze away from her pink lips.

“What’s he saying?” she asked. “You can hear him, right?”

It took a moment for Deke to remember what he’d been doing, and then another for him to shake off his lustful thoughts. “He wants Bethany to be his pet,” he answered, dragging his attention back to the guard. “She refused.”

“Okay, quiet. Listen.”

Deke rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”

“It would be a shame if your merchant license was revoked,” Phelps told Bethany. “We wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Bethany argued, though her voice wobbled and cracked. “You can’t do that.”

“Come home with me, and we won’t have to find out if I can or not. Really, Beth, there are worse things. You might even like it.”

“No,” the female responded firmly. “Leave me alone, Phelps. I’m not going to sleep with you, and I don’t want to be your pet.”

With a low growl, Phelps stepped forward, grabbing Bethany by the elbow and jerking her around to face him. Before Deke had even finished processing what he’d seen, Roux was gone.

“Goddamn it,” Deke grumbled, following after her.

“Hey!” she yelled, shoving past people to reach the guard. “Leave her alone!”

Roux jumped in front of the other female, shoving the girl behind her. Curling his lip, Phelps grabbed Roux’s injured arm, digging his thumb into the wound through the bandage, but he released her just as quickly when she drove her other fist into his throat. When the guard doubled forward, she reached up, clapping her hands over his ears as she rammed her knee between his legs, dropping him to the ground.

The werewolf didn’t stay down long, though, and before Deke could reach them, Phelps lunged up from the cobblestone with a vicious snarl. Extending his arm, he backhanded Roux across the cheek hard enough to send her stumbling into one of the merchant stands. She had barely regained her balance when he grabbed her by the hair, jerking her sideways as he reared back to deliver another blow.

A red haze descended over Deke’s vision, and long, pointed claws extended from his fingertips as he caught the guard’s wrist. “Let her go,” he snarled.

“She attacked me!”

“I said, let her go.”

Proving he had zero sense of self-preservation, Phelps removed his hand from Roux’s hair and curled his fingers around her throat, cutting off her air supply. “I think you’re the one who needs to let go, Captain. Unless you want to see how long she can hold her breath.”

Roux fought hard, twisting and squirming as she pulled at his hand, but she was no match for his supernatural strength. Her toes scraped against the ground, scrambling for leverage, but her face had already begun to turn an alarming shade of red.

Enraged beyond rational thought, Deke reacted with equal violence, dragging the claws on his free hand across the werewolf’s throat. Phelps choked, the wounds in his throat gurgling as blood poured down his chest, soaking into the fabric of his uniform. With wide, fearful eyes, he slumped sideways, his hand falling away from Roux as he crumpled to the street. The gashes had already started to heal, but not fast enough, and within seconds, Phelps exhaled his last breath on a shudder.

Other guards around the Square sprinted toward them, some trying to control the terrified crowd, while others converged on Phelps’ lifeless body. Deke still couldn’t think clearly, and the voices of those around him blended together in a hollow roar. A female guard and his friend, Corporal Thea Mendez, approached Roux, likely to check her injuries, but she pulled up short when Deke growled at her.

“Captain,” she said carefully, holding her hands up. When he didn’t let up, she dropped her hands and let loose a snarl of her own. “Damn it, listen to me.” She spoke urgently, her voice quiet as her gaze shifted to those around them. “What the fuck happened here? You killed a guard, Captain.”

Shoving her out of the way, he took Roux by the shoulders, pulling his mate against him and winding is arms around her protectively. “It’s okay, Roux, I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

Naturally, Roux struggled against him, shoving at his chest until he released her. “Give me your dog tags,” she demanded in a harsh whisper. “Hurry.”

“Why do you want—?”

Grunting, she reached up, grabbed his dog tags, and jerked, pulling the ball chain from his neck. Then she reattached the ends with the connector and slipped the chain over her head, dropping the tags down the front of her shirt, just as another guard appeared at Deke’s side.

“You want to tell me what the hell happened here?”

Lieutenant Zerrik Thorne ran a hand through his long, silver-blond hair as he looked back and forth between Deke and the felled werewolf. The tips of his fangs peeked out beneath his thin upper lip, and his pale blue eyes darkened with worry.

“Watch your tone, Lieutenant,” Deke warned the vampire.

“Phelps attacked the captain’s companion,” Bethany interrupted, saving him the trouble of inventing a plausible explanation. “We all saw it.” She looked to those gathered for confirmation. “He was going to kill her.”

Murmurs went through the crowd, and several of them bobbed their heads, hurrying to corroborate Bethany’s story.

“That’s right.”

“He had his hand around her throat.”

“He hit her.”

“He was choking her, even after Captain Collins warned him to let her go.”

Apparently, he hadn’t been the only one who wouldn’t be sorry to see the last of the fucker.

“Companion?” Thea swiveled toward him, her inky black ponytail swishing around her face. “Since when do you have a companion?”

“Since today,” Roux challenged, gripping the chain around her neck as she stepped forward. “You don’t have to take my word for it, though. You can talk to Abby Dawson at the registration office.”

Zerrik pinched the bridge of his long, narrow nose. “Anything else you want to add, Captain?”

As much as he appreciated everyone’s support, Deke couldn’t lie, not about something like this. “Phelps was threatening Bethany, and when he assaulted her, my ma—my companion attempted to stop him…by punching him in the throat.”

The lie about Roux being his companion played to their benefit. Since she was his responsibility, he would be held accountable for her actions. His mate would be spared punishment, and beyond that, nothing else mattered.

Thea looked a Roux with a new respect shining in her chocolate-brown eyes. “You attacked a werewolf?”

“Only after he grabbed her,” Bethany chimed in once again. “She was protecting herself.”

Zerrik lifted a hand over his head, snapping his fingers at a group of nearby guards. “Get the body out of here and clean up the blood.” His hands moved to his hips as he turned back to Deke. “Since we have about twenty witnesses all telling the same story…”

“No laws have been broken,” Thea finished. “The captain used the force he deemed necessary to protect his companion.” She jerked her head toward Roux and arched an eyebrow. “Get her out of here, Captain. We’ll take care of this.”

“Come on, Deke.” Taking his bloodstained hand, Roux pulled him gently, leading him away from the fountain. “You heard the lady. Take me home.”

Neither of them spoke during the four-block trek back to Deke’s house. A million thoughts spun through Roux’s head, a thousand questions, but she kept them to herself. She kept quiet while she waited for him to unlock the front door, and even when she led him to the kitchen sink to clean the blood from his hands, she said nothing.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he mumbled.

“I know.” After turning off the faucet, she grabbed the dishtowel hanging from the oven door handle and used it to pat his hands dry. “I’m not afraid of you, Deke.” She’d seen far worse than some werewolf lying dead in the street. “Considering you just killed a guy for me, I’d say I’m probably the safest person in the whole damn region.”

Taking the dishtowel and tossing it onto the counter, he moved with deliberate slowness as he cradled her sore and swollen face. “Let me take you to the infirmary. Please.”

Roux’s heart beat too fast, causing her bruises to throb, but she ignored the pain as she fought for something to say. It didn’t seem possible that it had only been a few hours since they’d left the house that morning. Even more unbelievable was the fact that it had taken only ten minutes and one impulsive decision to change everything.

“I think I can make do with a bag of frozen peas,” she responded once she’d found her voice. “I’m sure it looks worse than it feels.”

It
felt
like she’d been hit by a train and then dragged for three miles, but she didn’t tell Deke that, not when he already looked so close to losing his damn mind.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I screwed up.” She’d never been one to play by the rules, but what had happened in the Square was different. This time, her rash actions had endangered everyone involved.

Instead of reprimanding her, Deke laughed. “Remind me not to piss you off.” He caressed her bruised cheek with his thumb, a featherlight touch that soothed rather than irritated. “You were brave, especially for someone who swears she doesn’t care about anyone but her herself.”

“I never said I don’t care about people. I said I don’t have friends, and I don’t.”

She couldn’t explain her hang-up, but the word “friend” just didn’t sit right with her. Too many people tossed it around to describe co-workers, acquaintances, and even the barista they exchanged a few words with every morning at the local coffee shop. Of course she cared about Cade and the other men.

Caring about someone’s well-being didn’t necessarily equal friendship, though. To her, the word meant something special, something beyond a mutual desire to survive. Hell, she’d spent an entire year with the guys, and she knew little more about them now than she had when they’d met.