Hidden Crimes (35 page)

“What?” Nate gasped before he could guard his
tongue. Victory parties were never at his place. Adam always was
the host. He’d have to clean. And shop. And cook, for all he
knew!

As she watched these thoughts cross his face,
Rita’s smile was undeniably catlike. “Your friend is very
persuasive. He also called my daughter’s station. Two of her tigers
have agreed to team up with two of your wolves to prepare the
food.”

“In my kitchen?” he burst out, so horrified
the twins turned to gawk at him.

“That was my understanding,” Rita said
creamily. “Something about you having two dishwashers and every
cooking utensil known to man.”

Nate shut his mouth and swallowed. He could
live with this. He was going to have to if he and Evina were
serious. He hoped the wolves Tony roped into cooking were his
parents. The Lupones were easygoing. They’d be unlikely to clash
claws with Evina’s crew.

“Is that okay?” Evina asked, coming over to
touch his arm. “Whatever your friend arranged, you don’t have to go
along with it.”

Her touch conveyed a charm he couldn’t
resist, settling his hackles in one warm wave. Nate grinned, which
made her grin back. Probably, they looked sappy, but he really
couldn’t care.

“It’ll be fun,” he said, hoping this was
true. “And so will the planetarium.”

Rafi and Abby bounced up and down with
childish roars.

“All right,” Evina said, smiling indulgently
at them. “Which of you mini-monsters has brushed your teeth
tonight?”

Abby stopped bouncing to plant her fists on
her little hips. “Mommy,” she said as sternly as if she were thirty
instead of six. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. It’s too early to get ready
for bed.”

Nate had to roll his lips together to contain
his laughter.

~

Without actually discussing it, Evina and
Nate mutually decided he’d sleep over. Evina was happy this was the
case. Maybe it was too soon, and him staying would confuse the
kids, but no way was she letting him leave her house tonight if she
could help it.

She walked her mother and her friend to the
door while Nate began the twins’ elaborate pre-bed ritual.

It seemed Derrick Black and Rita intended to
spend the night as a couple too. “I’ll catch up,” Rita said as he
went to his car.

“Thanks so much for protecting the kids
today,” Evina said. “I owe you a million trips to the dry
cleaner.”

“You don’t owe me anything. Those kids are my
blood too. I’m glad you and I . . . I’m glad we get along now that
you’re grown up.”

Evina hugged her. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, sweetie.” Rita pushed back
and tilted her head at her. “You’re serious about this wolf, aren’t
you? This isn’t fun and games.”

Evina’s cheeks grew hot, but she wouldn’t
deny it. “Nate is a good man.”

“I agree,” Rita said.

“You do?” She shouldn’t have been amazed. Her
mother’s decided tone of approval simply took her aback.

Rita smiled. “He’s certainly got better taste
in women than Paul. And he doesn’t have a nervous breakdown after a
few fisticuffs.”

Paul hadn’t had a breakdown; he was just
shaken up. Plus, Iseult being Liane’s mother likely accounted for
his wife’s less-than-formidable character. Evina didn’t waste
breath explaining this. She had more important things to share.
“Nate thinks I’m easy to get along with,” she confided in an
undertone.

“Well, then.” Her mother framed her face in
her hands. “All the more reason to treat him like a keeper.”

NATE enjoyed waking up with Evina and the
hodgepodge breakfast she pulled together. It wasn’t every morning
he ate Faerie-O’s with tuna salad on the side. To his relief, their
trip to the planetarium with the twins didn’t wear out his
patience. Rafi and Abby were normal kids and not Elfmark Cards, but
genuinely liking them smoothed any rough moments.

When Abby fell asleep and drooled on his
sleeve during the tour of the Milky Way, he felt like he’d won a
medal. Her brother might be shyer, but her fierce little heart was
better defended.

Lunch at Bob’s Kabob was the limit of how
long he could go without checking in on his squad. He left Evina
and the children pouring over the menu while he stepped out on the
sidewalk to make his call.

“Everything is fine,” Carmine assured him.
“These suburban gangsters are a chatty bunch. They’re so busy
turning on each other I doubt anyone’s gonna get a deal. Iseult
thought she was being smart, setting up her crime ring in her
daughter’s neighborhood where nobody would suspect it. Instead, she
wound up with a bunch of wannabe part-faerie amateurs. And of
course she couldn’t recruit anyone with as much mojo as she had.
She wanted to be the one doling out the power with her rituals.
That way, she’d assure their loyalty.

“Oh, and if I were inclined to gloat, no less
than five of these yahoos told us they were convinced that she—as
her Ellen Owen persona—actually preferred Ivan. She switched
brothers when she couldn’t push The Terrible around like she
wanted. Set up the embezzlement scheme to drive them apart. Once
Vasili killed his brother, she and her very well funded crew
planned to step into the power vacuum, just like you theorized.

“The reason you set off alarms in that smoke
shop was because Ellen Owen didn’t exist before two years ago. She
couldn’t have gone to high school with your fake cousin.
Her
cousins—the dead drug dealers from the smoke shop—planned the whole
thing with her. Helped her reinvent herself. Arranged for her to
cross Ivan’s path so he could be dazzled. The problem was, they
were also the distributors for the baby parts, which meant you were
too close to connecting her to something worse than being Galina
arm candy. So you didn’t screw up, really. You just got
unlucky.”

This was nice to hear Carmine say, but maybe
not that important. “What about Beaumont? And the bank teller, Mrs.
Norman?”

“Oh,
them
.” Carmine chuckled. “The bad
doctor and Mrs. Norman are the DA’s new favorite folks. I hear
she’s pushing for banishment to a demon realm, but she’ll settle
for the death penalty. This case is gonna be high profile. She’s
salivating to stick it to ’em good.”

“Good,” Nate said. He watched a gaggle of
giggling teenagers dash across the street. They made it safely,
despite the honking cars. “Did you guys catch the WQSN
coverage?”

“We did,” Carmine said. “They’re calling the
kids you guys saved Resurrection’s little miracles. There’s a big
swell of support for the ‘special needs’ shifters. Child Services
has been flooded with applications to adopt them.” Carmine let out
a snort. “One newscaster speculated spells must have been used to
draw clients to that Wings of Love outfit, ’cause surely no decent
parent would give up cute kids like that.”

“It could be true,” Nate said. “Iseult used
magic for lots of things.”

“Maybe.” Carmine sounded cynical. “I did see
one editorial that made sense. One of WQSN’s producers—that Derrick
Black—is calling for the fae to appoint godmothers to the rescued
kids. Said if they didn’t make a practice of neglecting their mixed
blood by-blows, Iseult’s peeps might not have turned to a life of
crime. Those kids could use protection, that’s for sure.”

“That’s smart,” Nate agreed. “Somebody should
call the Mayor as well. Really put a headlock on our founders.”

“I’ll drop that bug in Adam’s ear,” Carmine
promised.

To their alpha’s dismay, the city’s
benevolent yet terrifying head official liked chewing the
occasional fat with him. Creature-wise, no one quite knew what the
Mayor was—only that he out-juiced everyone.

Nate glanced at the restaurant’s window,
knowing he couldn’t stand out here much longer. “Look,” he said
hastily, “about tonight’s party . . .”

“Nope,” Carmine said. “You are under strict
orders to stay away from your loft. All you and your girlie friend
are allowed to do is show up.”

“But the tigers might—”

“Forget it,” Carmine cut him off, proving
authority didn’t always depend on alpha genes. “Tony took care of
everything. You show up at seven thirty and not a minute sooner.
And in case you don’t listen, we’ve put Grant on lookout to head
you off.”

They’d set the gargoyle to keep Nate away?
While he was sure the squad didn’t mean to, this situation made him
feel shut out again. Besides wanting to ensure the interspecies
cooks weren’t breaking his place to bits, Nate had a specific
reason he needed to get in.

“It’s my
home
,” he tried to say
reasonably.

“Not until seven thirty,” Carmine refused
flatly. “Now go enjoy your play day.”

He hung up, leaving Nate to stare at the
phone.

Hell
, he thought. He was startled from
his glower by Rafi sticking his head out the restaurant door. “Come
on, Nate,” he urged. “Mommy said if you don’t come back and order,
she’ll let Abby do it for you.”

“Is that bad?” Nate asked, a smile rising to
his lips.

“It’s
awful
. Abby orders everything
extra hot.”

“Even ice cream?”

The boy looked up when Nate stroked his hair.
“She would if she could,” he warned ominously.

~

Considering the twins were felines,
convincing them to nap so they wouldn’t fall asleep at the party
required more work than Nate expected. Once they’d succeeded, he
and Evina took one themselves. The fact that he’d been banned from
his home, where shifters he didn’t know were doing who knew what,
kept him from dropping off right away.

“You’re worse than a cat,” she teased, her
head nestled cozily on his chest. “Someone closes a door and you
immediately have to know what’s happening behind it.”

“So I’m territorial,” he said. “I can bend if
I have to. You know, if it comes to letting someone I care about
feel at home in my space.”

“Mm-hm,” she hummed, patting him
sleepily.

He could tell she didn’t believe him, but it
was true. Tony felt at home in his place, and Tony was a slob. He
lay awake imagining what he’d do for her and the twins. The
contents of his pantry would have to change, right off. Bottled
olives and fancy imported crackers weren’t exactly cub-friendly.
He’d need a contractor to throw up some walls for bedrooms. Maybe
an indoor ramp system like people built for housecats—assuming
Evina wouldn’t find that insulting. The kids would think it was
fun, he bet, especially if he added tunnels and hidey-holes.
Planning that entertained him until he remembered his weapons
room.

Holy crap, he’d need better locks for that.
Also, everyone might be happier if he had two bathrooms . . .

When he opened his eyes, it was late enough
to dress.

He
thought
they’d started early, but
it was seven forty-five before he parked the Goblinati in his
loft’s underground garage.

It was seven fifty before the freight
elevator let them out at his floor. Evina was suppressing laughter
at his antsiness, but he ignored that.

“Huh,” he said, looking around the landing.
His door was shut and there didn’t seem to be any noise.

“Where is everybody?” Rafi asked.

Nate hoped the answer didn’t involve corpses.
Before he could wonder if he needed to draw his gun, Tony opened
the entrance to Nate’s unit. “There you are,” he said with a big
bright smile. “The party’s on the roof. We figured the weather’s
nice, so why not move the festivities outside?”

Nate’s roof had nothing on it but air vents
and pigeon poop.

Tony laughed at his expression. “We hosed it
down. And strung up party lights. Go on.” He made shooing motions.
“Everyone is up there. Evina’s friend Christophe is manning the
bar.”

He seemed a little too eager to get rid of
them.

“What are you hiding in my apartment?” Nate
asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” his packmate said.

Maybe he wasn’t lying. Either way, Nate
turned to Evina and kissed her cheek. “Take the kids up with Tony.
I need to grab something from my place.”

Evina laughed. “You want to make sure my
tigers haven’t destroyed it.”

Unrepentant, he dropped a kiss to her mouth
and smiled.

“Fine,” she said. “Kids, let’s join the party
with Nate’s friend Tony.”

Nate could hardly get into his place fast
enough. He walked into a wall of scents so rich his mouth watered:
roasted meat and curry and fresh baked bread. Two tigers he hadn’t
met relaxed in his open kitchen with Rick and Tony’s parents. The
Brazilian black marble counters were piled high with dirty pans,
but everything else seemed fine.

“Hey, Nate,” said Mr. Lupone, looking tired
but accomplished. His arm was around his wife, and they were
sharing a glass of wine. The tigers saluted him with beer bottles,
apparently not thinking introductions were required.