Shifter Magnetism (2 page)

Leila could sense energy and use it as she wished. She didn’t need spells and chants to work magic. She could take the energy in her body, or even animate and inanimate objects, and then use it to manipulate her environment. Her innate brand of magic was dangerous, and she had trained herself to ignore the desire to pull at the energy around her.

“Power is seductive, Leila. Soon enough they will learn to trust their own magic.”

Leila hoped. Mages dissatisfied with their magic sought to steal it from others. That was the danger of repurposing energy. If she used her power without discretion, she would slowly be eaten by the need for more and slide desperately into the trap of fatal magic.

A shiver coursed over her spine. “I’ll send you more information about the Showcase. Be careful out here. There is a sicko killing witches.”

“I heard. None so far have been from this Council.”

Leila clenched her fists. “How is he getting past all the protective spells?”

For supernatural beings with such power, it was a shame they weren’t able to stop the murderer. She bet if this creep had been attacking one of the more aggressive races, they would have hunted him down and eliminated him by now. She felt so helpless.

Ametta shrugged. “The only people who seem to be searching for this guy are the human police.”

They wouldn’t be effective against a being with the killer’s power. “Yeah.”

That about summed it up.

* * * *

“Lobo, I need to see you.”

Nic watched as the captain walked into his office, rubbing his forehead and reading a police report.

Nic stood and followed the captain. He knew what had the man worried. The Brain Surgeon would strike again, killing another young woman by frying all the synapses in her brain.

No one could figure out how he was accomplishing the task. Nic had his suspicions. He also knew more about the situation than he could tell Captain Rochester. All the women had been witches.

Nic sat in front of the captain’s desk and waited for the older African-American man to speak. The captain had gone gray years ago, but he was still fit for a human. Nic actually admired him. He was fair and always tried to uphold the law.

Captain Rochester tossed the file on his desk. “Do you have anything to report on this Brain Surgeon character? Brain Surgeon. The press should be ashamed of themselves. This sicko is killing women, and they’ve given him a nickname.”

Nic could tell him what he’d scented at each crime scene, but the other man would think he was crazy. “We know he’s going to attack tonight. We know he picks plus-size women in their late twenties and early thirties. We know they were all attacked while leaving a party or nightclub wearing skimpy outfits. We will have plainclothes officers at every club and cabaret in town. I’m going to attend a costume party and keep an eye on things.”

The captain narrowed his eyes. “What’s so special about this costume party?”

“I just have a hunch.”

Captain Rochester grunted. He’d learned to trust Nic’s hunches. “Find me something, Nic. The Feds are on their way here to step all over our toes and get in the way.”

The last thing Nic needed was a gaggle of Feds tangling around his paws while he was trying to hunt down a paranormal killer. “I’m on it.”

He recognized the captain’s dismissal and left. He shut down his computer and glanced at his partner Hank’s desk. The other shifter’s mate had gone into labor two hours ago. Nic was on his own.

Nic drove through town to where the Coldwell Pack lands bordered the city limits. The rear of the grounds opened into fifty-four thousand acres of the largest state forest in western Maryland. A shifter pack had always stood on this spot. The community was shrouded in trees and brush that opened into a clearing surrounded by homes. There was a definite rustic feel to each house.

Nic pulled up alongside his home. It looked just like the others around him. Even the alpha residence was the same, only larger. Nic scanned the area; except for the children running and playing, no one was out. He hurried into his house, headed for the kitchen, and poured himself a glass of iced tea. Walking back into his living room, he took a seat on the couch. He had a few hours before the costume party. He didn’t know why he knew the perp would be there. When he’d seen the lineup of parties for the night one of the patrolmen had put together, the address had leaped out at him.

He wanted to catch this guy so bad. Supernaturals needed to police their own. No human prison was going to hold this killer if he was frying women’s brains. Sounded like a wizard to Nic, but there were other creatures and beings with power out there.

He heard someone coming up his walkway before he identified the scent as belonging to the alpha. Standing, Nic tensed as the other man simply let himself into his home.
Cabrón. Bastard.

Nic forced himself to relax, to keep himself from staring Manuel down and starting a fight for dominance in his living room. Nic had spent his entire life playing beta to Manuel’s alpha. His wolf had never thanked him for it.

He turned slowly to Manuel. It was never a good idea to have the shifter at your back. The smirk on the other man’s face was pure Manuel. It matched the hint of mean in his eyes.

“So, boy, what are the humans ordering you to do now?”

Manuel was only ten years Nic’s senior and calling him
boy
was a stretch. “I’m doing as you told me, Alpha. I’m just keeping an eye on the humans and making sure I’m in place to help shifters out.”

“We have other shifters on the human police force now. It seems to me your place is here.”

Nic waited. Anything he said now would put Manuel’s back up. The man knew Nic was hiding something. If he felt Nic liked his job too much, he would make him leave it. If Nic was interested in anyone or anything, Manuel made sure he took it. Nic didn’t want to fight Manuel for his spot as alpha. He also didn’t want to leave his mother behind as he wandered the country looking for a pack to take him in, jostling their pack structure when he prowled on the scene. It was better not to rock the boat.

So he lowered his eyes in submission while never allowing Manuel out of the corner of his eye. Nic had perfected the perfect nonchalant stance. He stood at attention, awaiting his alpha’s decision even as his wolf howled and snapped at him to take the other wolf’s throat out.

They stood that way for a long time.

Manuel broke the silence. “I suppose I can get more use out of you being a fancy detective for the humans. The boys get wild sometimes. You just remember your loyalty is to the pack.”

Nic watched as Manuel left his home, leaving the door wide open. He hoped he’d see someone take the wolf down in his lifetime. But he doubted it.

Chapter Two

Nic walked around the outside of Club Entourage looking for anything suspicious. He had a memory scent of the killer from the other crime scenes. He didn’t smell the man in the normal smells outside the club. There were other unsavory scents, especially behind the club near the garbage. Of course no alley would be complete without the pungent odors of urine and vomit.

Nic braced himself to enter the club. Shifter males gave off heightened hormones human females were susceptible to. In a highly charged sexual environment, to human females already attempting to attract bedmates, he was the equivalent of a tall glass of water to a person lost in a desert.

He passed the coat check, descended the club’s stairs, and tried to blend in with the crowd. His Western-wear shirt, jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hat stood out more than he’d anticipated against all the vampire costumes.

He mingled, dodging grasping hands and caresses. When he was positive the killer wasn’t inside, he took up a station against the bar, which allowed him to see the entrance and up onto the balcony. He hadn’t noticed any curvy witches, but it was early in the evening.

“Howdy, cowboy.”

He glanced at the slender redhead dressed as Venus at his side. Her incense-and-musk perfume assaulted his nose. She held a glass of champagne and smiled at him through lips that were a little too red. Normally the color made him think sensual thoughts; hers just reminded him of blood.

“Ma’am.” He kept his gaze neutral.

Her smile lost some of its luster. He looked away and caught a flash of gold near the entrance. He focused on the luscious sight before him. It took everything he had not to straighten, cross the room, and capture the woman at the top of the stairs.

She was exquisite. Her hair fell to her shoulders in wild, natural brown coils adorned with a thin gold braided headband. The golden undertones of her medium-brown skin were set off by flawless makeup and the gold accents trimming the barely there costume. And it was barely there.

The dark brown gladiator costume was held up by gold straps that matched the embroidery on the cleavage-baring neckline. Wolf-shifter females were tall and sleek, but this woman was lushly curvy. Her waist dipped in under the body-hugging costume, and her hips flared out, hiking up an already short hemline. She wore gold bangles at her wrists and a short crimson cape. Her legs were full and tantalizingly encased in high-heeled gold gladiator sandals that laced up to her knees.

She was sexy as hell, and she knew it. She posed with her body angled to the side, one bent leg slightly in front of the other, and a hand resting on her hip.

There was a hush as she paused at the top of the landing. She scanned the crowd nonchalantly, as if every eye wasn’t on her. Then she stepped down to the next step. His mouth opened slightly as he watched her body move under the costume. He might have drooled a bit. The wolf in him was close to the surface, and he swallowed a growl as he noticed a tall blond man dressed as a race car driver move forward to greet her at the bottom of the stairwell.

“How dare she? He’d better not dance with her.”

He’d forgotten the woman next to him. The redhead moved into the crowd and made her way toward the blond race car driver. Nic watched as the female gladiator, guaranteed to star in his most lascivious dreams tonight, shunned the hand of the man in front of her and strutted toward the bar. She never looked at Nic, and he was violently disappointed.

She stopped next to him, pressed her palms to the bar, and leaned forward. “Rum and cola, please.”

His already stiff cock throbbed at the throatiness of her voice. She smelled divine. The soft floral hint of her perfume didn’t overpower the scent of the woman underneath. He could lap up every trace of the tantalizing fragrance from her skin and other places hidden on her body.

A frisson of power brushed against his wolf, signaling he was in the presence of a magical being. He concentrated.
Witch.
Hell, he stood lusting after a curvy witch wearing a dress so short he swore he could see the shadow of her ass under the back hem. She was everything the Brain Surgeon would be looking for. She was the reason he’d been drawn here.

His wolf was also telling him she was everything it was looking for.

He stared. Finally, she looked up. Her eyes were large in her pretty face. She smiled, and he focused on the fullness of her dark red lips. Her teeth peeked through, and in his mind he saw her biting her plump lower lip just before stroking him slowly with her soft palm. He suppressed a shudder.

He took one of her hands from the bar and held it. “I’m Nic.”

“Leila.”

He smiled. “May I buy your drink, Leila?”

“It depends.” Her tongue peeked out to lick her upper lip slightly.

He followed the action with his gaze. “On what?”

One corner of her mouth lifted, and pure mischief entered her eyes. “What I have to do to earn it.”

His mind immediately went to Leila on her hands and knees as he pounded into her from the rear. “How about a dance?”

He really shouldn’t. Technically he was on duty. He had to touch her, though. He tugged on her hand lightly to draw her toward the dance floor. She held his gaze as she slowly peeled her body away from her pose leaning against the bar. Should watching her perform the simple action give him such visceral pleasure?

All around them couples gyrated to the blaring pop music. Nic made room for the two of them on the floor. He pulled her close and moved with her to the beat of the music. She swayed sensuously, making it seem a natural extension of the dance when she slid against him. Everywhere they touched, little pinpricks of awareness cascaded along his skin.

He held her flush against his chest, guiding her body the way he wanted it to go. It was easy to dip low and wedge his thigh between her legs. She rode him, undulating and moving fluidly as he tilted her back and cradled her, drawing her near again. Even among all the humans, he could smell her desire.

His reaction to her was strong. Almost too strong. He brought his mouth closer to hers. His wolf demanded he take her mouth. It didn’t understand human convention that forced his human half to play by civilized rules and not devour her on the spot. This woman made him want her on every level. It demanded he take her.
Mine.

He caught the costumed race car driver’s hand before it could land on her arm. He couldn’t quite suppress the growl that spilled over from his throat. Nic squeezed the man’s hand back, and its owner winced. He felt the surge in her magic, heard her whispered words, and fought the calm that tried to descend over him. He never released the other man.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Race Car Driver looked slightly dazed.

Nic smirked in Leila’s direction. “I think you overdid it.”

“The extra push was for you,” she mumbled. “Hal, what do you want?”

Maybe she should have used the calming spell on herself. She stared hard at the other man, one hand on her hip. If her brown eyes had contained any more fire, Hal would have combusted on the spot.

“You’re embarrassing yourself. This type of getup is for our bedroom only.”

She’d been with this clown? Anger and possessiveness flowed through Nic. He didn’t want this man anywhere near Leila. Nic applied more pressure until the other man was contorting to keep Nic from breaking his wrist.