ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (64 page)

              Jackson hung up. He shook his head at Caleb’s silent question; there had been no sightings in the west part of town. That was the fifth call in the last hour, the pack was coming up empty and neither Caleb nor Jackson had been able to find any sign of Shelia. 

              “Maybe she’s left town,” suggested Jackson, as they surveyed the outlay of the city from a high-rise by the lake. The was a nervous edge to Jackson’s voice, he hadn’t been able to get hold of Jake since their last conversation when he’d asked his brother to distract Sheila. He paced up and down, trying to shake off his concern.

Caleb watched his second in command, worried for him. Then he turned to the horizon. The sun was lowering its position in the sky now, and Caleb had a horrible feeling that time was running out.

All day Caleb had been trying to understand Sheila’s motivations. If she was behind the car accident, then clearly she wanted him dead – but why? Was she really interested in the business? She’d never indicated as such. As far as he could recall, it had never come up. But if she wanted something, then why wasn’t she seeking out Caleb, why was he searching all over the goddamn city for
her
?

He watched the building cranes at the edge of Lake Michigan, constructing the new piers, their steel cages glittering in the half-sun and moving so slowly from this distance they looked motionless.

              “She needs leverage,” Caleb muttered under his breath. Suddenly everything became crystal clear.

              “What?” Jackson turned to him, waiting for an explanation.

              “Leverage. She wants something from me, and she needs a bargaining chip.” The horrific realisation dawned; he’d been such a fool. “
Felicia
.” Caleb growled her name with such ferocity that Jackson took a step back.

              “The woman who you stayed with?” He asked.

              “Yes.
Shit
. Call the pack – they need to be on standby, get them all closer to the city. We need to take a trip to the zoo.” 

              “Is that safe?” Jackson questioned.

              “It’s fine. We need to speak to her boss. I need to know if she turned up for work today.” Caleb transformed, and bounded off across the roof of the building to the exit.

As they tore threw the city, Caleb felt no regard for his own safety – the very likely chance that a pair of panthers would be seen in broad daylight and captured.

              They transformed back into human form down an ally near the zoo, changing into clothing they’d carried with them. They headed across the block in silence, but Caleb’s chest was thumping and he could feel perspiration beading at his temples.
If anything’s happened to her…
he didn’t finish the thought. Its conclusion was unacceptable to him.

              They paid to enter the zoo, and the irony was not lost on Caleb. Fighting their way through the throngs of hyper school children and harassed looking teachers and mothers, they tried to locate the wild cat enclosure.

Caleb kept a look out for Ben, whilst simultaneously vainly hoping that he would see Felicia – safe, happy, wearing her green regulation park jacket and polo shirt that she always managed to make look indescribably delicious, her red hair pushed back into a beguiling-looking ponytail. 

              “Ben!” Caleb saw the keeper, standing outside the enclosure and looking impatient. Ben turned to look at him, appearing mildly perplexed that a stranger knew his name, and then as Caleb got closer, Ben’s expression changed to that of someone trying to place a person they vaguely recognised.

              “Can I help you?” he asked politely.

              “Have you seen Felicia?” Caleb asked. His voice was taught, not giving away the storm of emotion behind them. Ben had no such reserve.

              “No I bloody haven’t! Today of all days. We’ve got an animal
missing
, God knows how – and I can’t find Felicia anywhere. I even went to her apartment. I swear; if she’s done
anything
stupid…she loved that animal.” He muttered a stream of curse words beneath his breath.

              “
Shit
.” Caleb roughly shoved his hands through his hair. 

              “Why – who are you? Do I know you?” Ben looked at Caleb inquisitively, and then stared at Jackson. “You two brothers, or something?”

              “It doesn’t matter. Can you call me if you see Felicia?” Caleb held his hand out for Ben’s phone and he complied. They swapped numbers, and Caleb took another sweeping glance across the sanctuary.

              “Call me if you see anything weird.” He commanded.

              “Weirder than our new leopard going missing?” Ben responded, but it was to Caleb’s retreating back.

              “What’s going on?” asked Jackson, as soon as they got a block away from the zoo. Caleb hadn’t spoken a word, the only evidence of his rage were the muscles in his jaw twitching furiously.

              “Felicia’s the leverage. I think Shelia’s taken her. We need to get to her apartment and have a look around.” As soon as the last syllable was out of Caleb’s mouth, the phone rang.

He picked it up without saying a word. Over the line, a rasping weedy voice he recognised as Derek’s gave him the information he’d been so desperate to receive.

“Wreaking site, West Lake. We have the zoo worker, come alone.” The phone went dead.

Caleb recognised the address as a dilapidated old infrastructure that had once belonged to him – it had been used to store old emergency service boats for the river, but he’d turned it into a mainframe computer storage, before selling it.

              “We need to move. They’re near Garfield Park.” Caleb transformed again, and recklessly led Jackson back into the throng of the city.

              A few yards away from the location, Caleb came to a standstill.

             
I need to go in alone.

              No way! Are you kidding?
Jackson tried to block Caleb’s way.

             
It’s at Sheila’s request. I’ll be fine. But if anything happens to me, you need to destroy her. She won’t be good for the pack. I’m trusting you, Jackson
.

              Jackson bent his head low in a sign of deference and respect for his leader. Jackson desperately hoped he wouldn’t be needed – there hadn’t been such a successful leader in all of the pack’s history. Caleb hadn’t even reached his pinnacle; Jackson knew that they were heading for a level of power and security that no other pack in America had ever reached. And more importantly, Caleb had done everything peacefully. 

              He moved out of Caleb’s way and let the solitary panther make his way to the site. The sun was starting to set now, turning Caleb’s silken fur the colour of a dying fire, his shadow prowling by his side.

              Caleb slowly loped toward the entrance, trying to appear calm and unruffled. Derek’s short, stocky figure stood against the doorframe. He had trained a weapon on Caleb as soon as he saw him approach. As Caleb got closer, he found himself staring down the barrel of a trembling gun.

              “Stop! Don’t come any closer.” Derek’s words were rushed, and Caleb could see that the man was sweating, and an expression of sheer panic was written across his face. “You need to change, before I let you in.” The gun trembled even more. The guy was about to lose it, thought Caleb. A panicked gun handler could be more lethal than a trained killer.

              Caleb stepped back in an attempt to calm him, and transformed slowly. In human form he didn’t move a muscle. His hands were held out to demonstrate he was unarmed. They stayed like that, Caleb still and steady, Derek staring at him and trying to control his tremors, until a voice called out from within the building.

              “Let him in.”

Derek lowered the gun barrel, and gestured for Caleb to enter. Caleb stepped past Derek, feeling the gun’s barrel following his every movement. He walked as softly and slowly as he could.

              It took Caleb a while to make out the figure at the far end of the building in such dim lighting. There was one exposed bulb hanging from a celling, but the gloom swallowed up whatever light it gave out. Sheila stepped forward, in human form, with brutally carved hunting knives in each hand. Caleb couldn’t see Felicia anywhere.

              “Where is she, Shelia?” he asked. He kept his voice low. All her behaviour to date gave the impression of someone completely unhinged, and he didn’t want to aggravate her. Whilst outwardly he appeared calm, inwardly his emotions were raging – he had expected Felicia to be here, and with his panther senses repressed, he couldn’t locate her through scent.

              “She’s alive. And she’ll stay that way if you do what I ask.” Shelia’s voice cut through the room, and he could hear the high pitched note of hysteria in her voice.

              “What do you want?” he bit out the words. 

              “PanCorp, Caleb.” She smiled at him, a sick, twisted parody of a smile.

“You and I both know that’s never going to happen.” Caleb crossed his arms, fighting the urge to tear across the room and destroy her.

              Shelia laughed, and took a step backward. She sheathed one of her knives, and rolled open a hanger door, revealing a body trussed up tightly with rope. Felicia was unconscious. Her body hung in mid air, held by more rope which was in turn attached to a long chain bolted from the ceiling. For now, her feet were securely on the floor, but judging by the complex series of pulleys and axels, that could change at any moment Shelia desired.

              There was another shape on the floor that caught Caleb’s attention. It was a black formation, collapsed at Felicia’s feet. As he focused on it, he could discern the silken black fur and individual markings of a creature he knew well.
Jake
. The young panther’s broken body lay in a pool of its own blood.

              “Is the answer still no?” Shelia knew she had the upper hand.

              Caleb could only growl in response, muscles tensing in the sheer agony of repressing his movement, repressing his urges, his desire to kill. A red haze of rage ran through him, and he almost passed out with the exertion of trying to keep himself in check.

              “Derek has the papers. All you need to do is sign.” Caleb could hear Derek ambling towards him. The papers were then thrust at his chest, damp marks from Derek’s fingers staining the paper.

              Caleb looked over them briefly, flicking through the legalese with expert eyes. “You have been busy.” Privately he thought someone else needed to be helping Sheila, all of his assets were covered in this document. It would take someone that knew his business inside out to produce this kind of thorough analysis. 

              “Just sign it.” Shelia was getting impatient, and there was an edge of anxiety to her voice.

              “Or you’ll do what, exactly?” Caleb asked her.

              At that moment, Felicia gave a quiet moan. She was coming to, and as she turned her head, Caleb noticed the blood matting her red hair. His face must have betrayed his instant panic, because Sheila laughed, victorious.

              Caleb stared at Sheila, shutting down his panic, forcing his eyes to turn blank and empty of emotion. 

              “You’d be committing the greatest dishonour of our kind, if you hurt her. The pack
might
one day forgive you for the death of Jake, though I seriously doubt it, but never for the death of a human mate.”

              “What do you mean?” Shelia snarled at him, frustrated further by the delay.

              “She’s marked. She’s my mate.” He delivered the news smoothly, not once averting his gaze.

              “I’ve checked – I know she’s not!” Shelia shrieked at him, enraged, “you wouldn’t
dare
!” She flung one of the knives down in the floor in temper, where it stuck, handle up, in the wooden boards between them.

Caleb allowed himself a small smirk at her loss of control. She drew the other knife back out of her sheath, and waved it wildly in his direction. “
We
were meant to be mated, to rule side-by-side. We would have been unstoppable. I loved you, and you discarded me, can you even
imagine
that pain? Can you?” She was like a wild animal now, screaming at him so much spittle gathered in the corners of her blood red lips.

She marched over to Felicia, not caring now that she was turning her back on Caleb. Shelia yanked back the hair of her victim to see evidence of the bite scar that should be there if the two were mated. Felicia’s eyes were now wide-open in horror from the renewed pain, and all she could do was pray that this nightmare would soon be over, and that the poor cub who had tried to save her was still alive.

              Caleb flung himself toward the knife jammed in the floor. Picking it up he deftly threw it in one swift movement, lodging it in Shelia’s shoulder blade. She screamed, loudly – a blood curling cry that shook the very foundations of the building. She staggered backwards.

              “Caleb!” Felicia’s cry came just in time. A bullet ricocheted across the room, just missing Caleb as he ducked. Turning, he threw a clean punch at Derek’s jaw, knocking him out. He fell to the floor like a heavy sack.

              Caleb transformed into his primal form and in one movement pounced across the room. He knocked Sheila backwards down onto the ground, his paws placed heavily on her chest. She tried to plunge the knife into his front legs, but his weight was too restrictive.
Jackson
, Caleb called, knowing that his second wouldn’t have strayed too far.

              Jackson came bounding through the door a moment later. He surveyed the scene, pausing when he saw his brother’s body crumpled on the floor. He released a low growl, and raced up to Caleb, releasing his leader from his position of restraining Sheila.

Caleb transformed back into human form as soon as he was sure that Jackson was in control. The panther was shaking, but he didn’t attack – just kept his weight on top of her, preventing her from moving or shifting.

              As soon as he was back on two feet, Caleb yanked the hunter’s knife from Sheila’s shoulder, causing another shriek to emit from her, setting his teeth on edge. He went to work on the ropes, cutting the myriad of knots and restrictions away, until Felicia fell into his arms.

              He held onto her tightly, relief coursing through him. He could feel her heartbeat against his chest, fluttering lightly, but it was there. She groaned softly in his arms, and instinctively snuggled closer into his neck.

              He looked over, and saw Sheila watching the two of them. She was obviously in pain, pinned under the weight of Jackson, but the anguish in her eyes was palpable. “You’re making a mistake. She’s not
worthy
.” The words were spat out with venom.

              “Sheila,
enough
. I want to know who else was working with you, besides Derek.” Caleb’s expression and tone was completely at odds with the gentle way in which he was cradling Felicia in his arms.

              She was silent, her mouth closed in an obstinate line. Jackson turned toward his leader, and Caleb nodded. Jackson pressed more of his weight down on his victim, and extended his claws so that they dug into her skin.

              “Your assistant!” She screeched out, “You’re unprotected and exposed Caleb. She knows everything, and she
hates
you.” She reared her head up then, and gaining some space as a result of Jackson’s surprise, she transformed. Jackson was thrown backwards, but gained his balance and spun back to claw at her. His paw struck her forcefully on the side of her jaw, knocking her sideways. Shelia let out a low growl but instead of returning Jackson’s blows, she turned and fled from the warehouse.

              Jackson started after her, but before he could get out of the door Caleb commanded him to stop.

              “Jackson, take your brother to hospital. Then get my assistant out of the building. I want her escorted out of Chicago, tonight. You and the pack can pass judgement on Sheila. She won’t get far.”

             
Do you want me to call a pack meeting? 
Jackson responded.

              “Call it and run it. I need to take Felicia back to where she belongs.”