The Mercenary and the Shifters (The Turning Stone Chronicles) Read online

  “We need to consider it,” Mary Kate said. “The rogues won’t be able to sense the humans. They could help us with surveillance, at least until the rest of ye get there.”

  Alexi tucked a strand of long, black hair behind her ear and studied the floor. After a couple of seconds, she stepped to the counter and wrote something on a piece of paper. “Okay. Here’s Falhman’s address. Have your people tail him. But don’t make contact.”

  Mike took the paper and dialed his cell. The call went to George’s voicemail. Mike left instructions. “No answer,” he said as he pocketed the paper. “I’ll call when we get to the airport.”

  “Be careful,” Alexi said. “Falhman is dangerous and he won’t hesitate to kill.”

  “Neither will I,” Mike said.

  “Just kill the right shifters,” Mary Kate said. “We’re not all Falhman.”

  Mike’s gaze cut around the room at the three women he knew were shifters. They were not fully human either. He couldn’t shake the feeling knowing that gave him.

  Mary Kate mounted the motorcycle and wrapped her arms around Mike. His muscles tensed and hardened at her touch.

  He was strong. And sexy. And stubborn like her. Her heartbeat raced when he reared against her as the bike jolted forward. Unfortunately, he was human.

  Eli frowned on human-shifter relationships. But if Mike proved himself helpful in rescuing Baron and Hugh Jr., Eli might make an exception, if she asked.

  Earlier, during the fight, she had sensed something between them—a spark born of the camaraderie of the battle. But after the children had been taken, it disappeared, consumed, she supposed, under his raging guilt.

  She noted how easily he handled her bike. The old girl was temperamental, and he had just the right touch. She tightened her embrace. His heart pounded beneath her fingertips. She’d never ridden this way before, hugging a male. Normally she controlled the wheel. Controlled how fast she went and where she went. The rumble of the bike beneath her and Mike’s strong body in her embrace exhilarated her, emotionally and physically.

  When they turned on the carriageway, Mike’s voice buzzing by on the wind, pulled her from the sensual road she’d started down.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine,” she said. “Why?”

  “You’re gripping me so hard I can hardly breathe. Am I going too fast for you?”

  She whacked his back. He jerked and the bike rose on the rear tire. “Put the pedal to the medal, Yankee. Ye can’t go fast enough to frighten me.”

  Mike gunned the engine. The bike jerked and the speedometer clicked upward.

  “The faster we go, the sooner we’ll catch them,” she said.

  He accelerated a couple more notches. “What’s the speed limit?”

  “About ninety six kilometers per hour.”

  “In American miles per hour?”

  “How would I know, ye daft idiot. I’m Scottish.”

  Mike laughed and gunned the motor again. Mary Kate peeked over his shoulder and watched as the speedometer climbed. When he reached 128 kph her breath caught. Thirty-two kph over the speed limit. She searched the narrow road ahead. Not a car in sight.

  “Still doing okay?” Mike asked.

  If he was trying to scare her, she wasn’t going to give in. “Yes,” she hollered over the sound of the wind rushing by.

  Mike revved the bike to 145 kph. A rush of adrenaline surged through her. Bloody hell! The man was a speed demon. She hugged him tighter. A mass of white dots appeared on the horizon.

  “Don’t hit the sheep!” she yelled.

  Mike backed the accelerator off, coasting to a more reasonable speed, yelling like a banshee as they neared the sheep. The animals scattered off the road, and they cruised past them.

  “You can quit squeezing the life out of me,” Mike said.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to. Ye might want to slow down a wee bit. Ye wouldn’t want one of the remote cameras to catch ye and get ye a speeding ticket.”

  The speedometer dropped to 112 kph. “Couldn’t Eli fix it for me?”

  “Aye. He could, but he wouldn’t.”

  “Sounds like a stickler of a guy.”

  “Aye. He is.” And he wouldn’t approve of what she was feeling right now. Not one bit.

  She aligned her body behind Mike’s and let him take the buffeting wind for her. It would be nice, for once in her life, to be behind the man charging into battle instead of at the front of the fray. But she had made promises. Loyalty and the Society covenanted her to keep them. Most of all, she was bound by her responsibility for losing Rhys and Alexi’s child. He was, according to Eli, key to winning the war with the rogues, and she had screwed up.

  Alexi had downplayed Eli’s response when she’d asked about it. However, she suspected Eli would be angry. An angry Keeper of the Stone was not someone she wanted to face.

  Chapter 11

  The call he’d been waiting for came shortly after dawn. Falhman grabbed the landline phone from his bedside.

  “We’re in the air and should be tae yer penthouse by five this afternoon,” said a heavily brogued voice.

  “It’s about time you called, Ewan,” Falhman barked into the receiver.

  “We ran intae a wee bit o’ resistance in the form o’ a giant grizzly and two highly skilled female shifters.”

  “Grizzly?” Falhman asked. The only grizzly shifters he knew about belonged to the McCraigen clan. “What were the women’s animals?”

  “I dinna know. They fought in human form. One had red hair, the other long black hair.”

  “Did you kill them?”

  “Sean and I were outside for most of the fight waiting for the others tae let us know where the baby was. We dinna see who was left standing.”

  “Who is with you?”

  “Just me and Sean.”

  “Two women and a bear killed ten of my men?”

  “Three shifters and two humans. Another woman was there and a man joined them.”

  “Five took down ten of you?” Who were these people? “Did you get the boy?”

  “Aye, but there was a wee problem.”

  It was a good thing the man was 30,000 feet in the air, because if he’d been standing next to him, Falhman would have killed the idiot. “What kind of problem?”

  “There was more than one child. We dinna know which was your son. We hadtae take them both.”

  Shit! If they’d have killed the opposition he wouldn’t have to worry about repercussions. Now they’d kidnapped his son and someone else’s child. Quite possibly another shifter’s child.

  “They appear about the same age,” his underling said. “Maybe even brothers.”

  Brothers? Did LJ have two babies? The birth records hadn’t mentioned twins. Then he remembered. Alexi had been pregnant about the same time as LJ.

  Excitement jumpstarted his heart as he put the pieces together. “Send me a picture of the boys,” he commanded.

  “Sending it now,” Ewan said.

  Leaping from the bed, Falhman retrieved his cell phone from the dresser and thumbed it on. “Come on, come on,” he urged the device as he waited for the photos. A few minutes later a picture of two young children appeared in his text message stream.

  Children who looked like brothers.

  Children who also looked like he had at that age.

  His men had not merely grabbed his and LJ’s son. In all likelihood, they’d grabbed Rhys and Alexi Temple’s son as well.

  His grandson.

  A child with the blood of all three ancient Celtic lines running through him.

  Falhman’s heart pounded so hard he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. He had them both!

  “How far ahead are you?”

 
“Unless the other two shifters are birds, maybe an hour or two. We slashed their motorbike tires. We dinna see anyone, or anything, in pursuit. At the least, it would take twenty minutes for anyone tae reach them. The place was well off the main carriageway.”

  “Don’t bring the children to the penthouse. I’ll text you a new location. Good work, Ewan. If you’ve got who I think you have, there might even be a bonus for you and Sean.”

  “Serving ye is enough, sir.”

  Loyalty which asked for nothing. He liked that. Perhaps, once he’d met this man, he’d add him to his personal staff. He thumbed in the address of his country compound. The children would be safe there. The security on the place was stellar and tight. More importantly, Rhys did not know the location.

  “I’ll see you when you arrive, Ewan,” Falhman said when Ewan confirmed he’d received the address. “Take care of those boys with your life.”

  “Ye can count on us, sir.”

  The line went dead. Falhman burst from his bedroom, bellowing for Bently.

  The butler scurried into the hall, bleary-eyed. “Is there an emergency, sir?”

  “Pack all my clothes. We’re leaving within the hour.”

  “A continental trip or overseas?”

  “The compound, after we drop something off at the lab.” Then Falhman headed to his office. He had to order an extra crib for his grandson then erase all evidence he’d ever been in the penthouse.

  When George didn’t call after several hours, Mike dialed him.

  “Did you get the message I left?” he asked.

  “No,” George replied. “When did you call?”

  “Noon, Scotland time.” Mike glanced at his watch and calculated the five-hour difference. “About dawn Cleveland time.”

  “I got nothing, Mike. There must have been an international glitch. What did you want?”

  “I need a tail at the address I’m going to text you.”

  “How will I know him?”

  Mike dropped the cell below his chin and asked Mary Kate, “What’s Falhman look like?”

  “Anyone he wants to,” she said.

  “Not much help, Mary Kate.” He muffled the phone’s microphone. “Does he have someone he prefers to mimic?”

  She shrugged. “Rhys says he was always a tall, slender, silver-haired man whenever he saw him.”

  Mike relayed the description to George. “Your best bet might be to stake out the penthouse apartment. We’re expecting two young children to be delivered there. Dark-haired boys wearing—” He looked to Mary Kate for help.

  “Onesies,” she said. “Footed onesies.”

  “What’s a onesie?”

  “One-piece pajamas with feet.”

  “Pajamas,” Mike said.

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  “No. Send someone you trust. I want you to stay with the job.”

  “When will you be back? She wanted to know last night.”

  “This evening. Is she okay?”

  “Her feet probably hurt. She danced the night away with some rich dude at the country club. Afterward they went to his place.”

  “You let her out of your sight? For the night?” George’s revelation gut punched him. She never mentioned she was seeing someone.

  “Relax. While she was dancing with the dude I sent someone to check him out. He’s clean. It was only a nightcap. They weren’t there long enough for anything else.”

  Except a few kisses. Crap! Where had that thought come from? He slapped his rising emotions back. She hadn’t hired him to keep her from dating. He was security and bodyguard, not a boyfriend.

  “Keep your eyes on her, George, It’s what I’m paying you for. Let me know what your guys find on Falhman.” He thumbed off the phone.

  “Ye have someone tailing yer girl?” Mary Kate asked. “That’s creepy.”

  “No. She’s a security job I left in an associate’s care while I was in Scotland.”

  Mary Kate leaned against the seat. Mike thought he saw a flash of relief pass over her face. “How are ye going to chase Falhman and take care of her?”

  “Good question. Someone has already tried to kill her, and she’s in bed with some pretty bad characters.” He paused and stared at Mary Kate. “Maybe you could help me.”

  “I’ve got a job already. Rescuing Baron.”

  “She’s involved with rogue shifters.”

  Mary Kate bolted upright. “What? Do ye go around attracting rogue shifters?”

  “Until recently, I hadn’t met any of you. Knew about you, but hadn’t had the pleasure of an introduction. Now you’re tangled in my jobs. Mixing me into your problems. Crawling all over the place.”

  “Ye make us sound like insects or something.”

  “Something.”

  Her attractive face twisted into an unpleasant one. “Then walk away. We don’t need ye to find the babies.”

  “You needed me to get out of Scotland quickly. Or at least you needed my client’s plane.”

  “I could have rented a plane.”

  “I didn’t see any empty aircraft loitering around the airport. Where would you get one?”

  “Eli has a jet.”

  “Which I’m thinking he is using at the moment.”

  Mary Kate huffed and rose, staring him down. “We don’t need ye.”

  “You needed my man in Cleveland to track Falhman. You said so yourself.”

  She paced the length of the long couch, glaring at him each time she neared him.

  “Face it, Red, we need each other, whether we like it or not.”

  She whirled, her hair swinging out around her face, her knife drawn. “Don’t call me Red. My name is Mary Kate.”

  Mike grinned at her outburst, and Mary Kate knew she was in trouble. He wasn’t afraid of her. That turned her on. Most men she knew would cringe if she pulled a knife on them. Her Amazon attitude scared or revolted them. Either way, they couldn’t stand up to her bluster.

  “Put your knife away, Red. I’m not going to fight you.”

  She locked her gaze on his face. He didn’t flinch.

  The nickname was going to stick.

  If she was honest, she liked the sound of it coming from his mouth a whole lot better than she did from the mouths of her brothers and their friends. When the word rolled on his tongue it was sexy, not senseless and hurtful taunting. Slowly and deliberately she sheathed her knife.

  “Will you help me with my client’s problem?”

  “Sure, Butch.”

  His eyes widened at her nickname for him.

  “Once we have the boys I’ll see what I can do for yer client. But the boys come first.”

  “Don’t think I can agree with you. The way I see it, both her and the boys are in danger.”

  “But they can’t defend themselves. Can she?”

  “Don’t know. She pulled a gun on me the first time I met her. Damn gutsy of her.”

  His mouth quirked sideways, and she could almost see his mind reliving the moment. The expression on his face clearly showed he liked what she’d done.

  The thought stirred something inside her. A man she could be herself with. One who wouldn’t be put off by her dangerous life. She swept her gaze over him, taking in the hard planes of his face, his blond crew cut, his muscular arms. He was a man she could definitely get into. Deep in her pocket, the phone buzzed against her hip, adding to the sensuality filling her body. Shaking off the feelings, she pulled the cell from her pocket.

  “It’s Eli.” She stared at the number on the display, anxiety surging through her.

  “Aren’t you going to answer?” Mike asked.

  “Aye.” She punched phone, apprehension creeping up her throat.

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nbsp; “When ye dinna answer right away, I wasnae certain ye were in range,” Eli said. “Where are ye?”

  “Somewhere over the Atlantic. Where are ye?”

  “Still on the way home. By the Druid’s beard, how did the babe get away from ye?” His voice held no anger, only concern.

  “I’m sorry Eli, I sensed them, but couldn’t figure out where they were. I was expecting a frontal attack, not birds through the windows. They were fast and strong once they shifted to men.”

  Mike signaled she should give the phone to him, mouthing it was his fault. She refused to let him take responsibility. She had killed two rogues before the last two shifters attacked. She should have been able to take those two as well. “I’m sorry I failed ye, Keeper.”

  “Alexi said ye were injured. Are ye all right?”

  “My head hurts, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Dinna give me another scare like that agin, lassie. I’ve nae much family left, and I dinna want tae lose what I have.”

  “Ye aren’t angry?”

  “’Tis nae use tae be angry o’er that which ye canna alter. ’Tis better tae fix it, and I ken ye’ll be able tae do sae.”

  Relief flooded her as did determination. The Keeper of the Stone still believed in her. “I’ll get him, Eli. I swear.”

  “I know ye will, lassie. Now ’tis the man who brought us all this trouble there?”

  “Aye. Do ye want to speak to him?”

  Mike held out his hand to receive the phone.

  “Nay. I want ye tae make certain he dinna cause us any mair grief.”

  “How?”

  “Send him packing tae wherever he came from as soon as the two o’ ye find the location o’ the babes. We’ll handle it from there.”

  Mary Kate’s heart sank. Eli had spoken. Any hoped-for liaison between her and Mike was not going to meet with Eli’s approval—even if he did help them rescue Baron and Hugh Jr. With a heavy heart, she answered, “Aye.”