Shadow Shifters: Shifter's Claim Part 20

He continued speaking with Jacques's permission. "Greer arrived in the States a couple months back, immediately hooking up with our favorite group of rogues-Sabar and company. My cousin out in Seattle says they also have pictures of Greer with some human military men.

"Then he showed up on the East Coast the night of that explosion. Next thing we know he's out here setting up headquarters for that wannabe Darel Charles. We have no idea where that headquarters is exactly or how many they had in their employ already," Syfon finished.

"I had Syfon search Kaz's room the minute we returned. Everything's gone. Just like we thought, they had someone on the inside feeding them information. He must have informed them Bas was going out," Jacques added and the reaction was like dropping a match into a gla.s.s of gasoline.

"How did he manage to pull off driving the FL?" one s.h.i.+fter asked. "He never drives him."

Jacques spoke up for himself. "I was not aware that the FL was going out and so was indisposed. Syfon says he was never notified either."

"I got a text from Kaz about two hours ago saying he had some things to take care of in town," Paolo volunteered. "So Kaz was working with the rogues all along, that rat b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

s.h.i.+fters all around the room cursed and argued and praised Bas for killing the traitors-at least three of them since Kaz had clearly gotten away. Bas wasn't feeling terribly upset over the loss. Since the plan to either get rid of him or get their drugs back hadn't worked, Bas was almost certain Kaz's role as an informant had sealed the s.h.i.+fter's fate. What he was still concerned by was the fact that the rogue running the show in his area was one of the same f.u.c.king killers that he'd crossed fourteen years ago. That, in Bas's mind, was no coincidence.

Still, with all this going on around him, with the urge to s.h.i.+ft and hunt riding dangerously close to the surface of all his men, Bas only listened with half an ear. His attention in this room was limited to his physical presence. His mind was elsewhere, his emotions sifting through a dark funnel cloud as realization finally began to set in. Upstairs in his suite, in the bed he'd slept in alone for as long as it had been there, was a woman who had only been trying to save her brother. The fact that her agenda had punctured a gaping hole into his world was just one of those things that happened, something called fate, Bas figured glumly. That fate should be such a cruel b.a.s.t.a.r.d was another story entirely.

He'd left Priya in Jewel's care because he had duties to attend to, priorities in his life that did not include her-had never even antic.i.p.ated a "her" was more like it. He probably should have said something to her, consoled her in some way, but he hadn't. After putting a bullet between the eyes of the man who'd tried to orchestrate the killing of an innocent human, it had been all Bas could do to hold her in his arms, to relish in the fact that she was very much alive. Priya had crumpled instantly to the ground, moving so fast that Bas thought for a split second that he may have hit her instead. He'd fallen to the ground beside her and she'd sunk instantly into his arms.

She'd cried then, like Bas had never heard a person cry before. The sound had torn through his skull like a knife, ripping through the memories and the pain he'd stored there. From the moment he'd met her Priya had been strong, courageous, tenacious. She hadn't cowered when he'd caught her trying to break into Rome's room or when she'd shown up in Nogales. Each time he'd confronted her about the story or why she was here, she'd stood up to him, squaring her shoulders and answering him in that sarcastic way of hers. In the wake of a very real threat against her brother's life, she'd decided to be the one to save him, was determined to do so. Never in all his life had Bas seen that type of selfless courage. Now, tonight, she'd cried in his arms like a baby.

Minutes later Jacques and the rest of the team had arrived. Unaware that Bas was leaving the resort, when Jacques had found his leader missing he'd instantly tracked the SUV through its GPS. He'd tried Bas's cell but had initially received no answer, because Bas had given it to Priya. They were in their own vehicles on their way to the location when Jacques received the call from Bas's phone and heard the commotion on the other end. Priya had only been able to push the CALL b.u.t.ton while being watched by those cats before being grabbed by Palermo.

Once the team had arrived and secured the scene, Bas had lifted Priya and put her into the back of his SUV. He'd held her on his lap the entire ride back to the resort then carried her into his room and laid her down. She hadn't spoken a word in all that time, which for Priya was monumental. It also told Bas that she'd seen too much and experienced far more tonight than he'd ever wish on anyone.

Guilt was gripping him so tightly, holding him hostage when he should have been actively partic.i.p.ating in the discussion going on around him. His chest was tight, his brow furrowed-he could tell because his head was beginning to pound-fingers clenching and unclenching as he tried to figure out what the next step should be. How could he make this up to her? How could he prevent it from ever happening again? And why hadn't he sent her away before now, before it was too late?

Bas was so deep inside his thoughts that he barely registered the sound of a door opening behind him then the quick hush that fell over the room. But at the sound of his name he did turn. Shock and alarm both were checked as Bas locked gazes with the Leader of the Stateside a.s.sembly.

Squaring his shoulders, Bas looked to his men with a nod. "Syfon, you and the team should head downstairs to keep an eye on the situation with the authorities. The resort managers on duty down there will take care of the guests, but I want your eyes and ears open to what they're all saying about tonight's events. Make sure the yellow team is in position around the perimeter," he told the s.h.i.+fter solemnly.

Paolo stood immediately, ready to follow Syfon out into the hallway. For a split second while he and Jacques had considered the possibility of someone from Perryville feeding Palermo inside information, the young s.h.i.+fter had crossed his mind. His insubordinations and testy att.i.tude made him the prime candidate for switching sides. Bas had never felt better about being wrong in his life. The young s.h.i.+fter's father would have been devastated if his son had done such a thing.

"Yes, sir," was Syfon's response and within the next few seconds the members of the blue team, all except Jacques, had filed out, leaving only the higher-ranking s.h.i.+fters in the room.

"a.s.sembly Leader, welcome to Perryville," Jacques said, rising from his seat and motioning for Rome to take his place at the head of the room.

Bas moved slowly so that when Rome walked across the room and stopped behind one of the chairs at the table, he was right there, ready to shake his commanding officer's hand. Rome took his outstretched hand, their eyes meeting, holding, saying so much in those few silent seconds.

This wasn't going to be good, Bas thought as they released each other. Bas relinquished his seat at the head of the table to Rome. When he was seated, Nick and X immediately moved to stand behind him. The First Female, Kalina, touched a hand to Bas's shoulder and Bas leaned in to kiss her cheek. He pulled out the chair to the right of her companheiro and helped her into it. Jax, Kalina's guard, sat right beside her, with Ezra sitting next to him. Moving to the other side of the table, Bas took the seat to the left of Rome and Jacques sat down beside him.

The ten-foot-long, gla.s.s-covered conference table had never appeared so cold and foreboding in this room of dark charcoal and black as it did tonight. The blinds had not been drawn so the evening sky provided a picture-perfect backdrop, with its vague twinkle of stars looking almost as lost as Bas felt at this precise moment.

"What happened tonight?" Rome asked, his palms flattening on the table.

Jacques gave the rundown after Bas nodded for him to do so.

"So he's dead? This Palermo Greer person that was setting up the rogue operation on the West Coast? Has his body been disposed of?" Nick asked.

Jacques shook his head. "Not yet. We have all three s.h.i.+fter bodies in the bunker. We're waiting until the resort is clear of all law officials before taking action."

"Good move. But as long as they don't have a search warrant they can't go anywhere on this property you don't want them to," Nick continued.

"I'd rather not draw any more attention than absolutely necessary," Bas spoke up. "The disposal will be completed before dawn."

"I want DNA samples first," X told him. "The database should be updated with rogues as well."

Bas nodded. "Absolutely."

"And all this is because of that s.h.i.+pment you intercepted? The drugs, guns, and the blood from Comastaz?" Rome asked.

The tension settling over the room was palpable, yet Bas didn't falter. He sat up straight, shoulders squared, representing his zone and his team and taking responsibility for all that had occurred here like the leader he was. "Yes. He said as much when we were out on that road. He was p.i.s.sed that I took them and p.i.s.sed that I killed one of his minions."

Rome nodded. "X said Greer was a high-level official with ties to the rogues as far back as Boden Estevez, which connects perfectly to him hooking up with Sabar the moment he returned to the States."

Bas was not surprised to hear that fact. If Palermo Greer was connected in any way to Boden, Mariah's gruesome death had been just a game to him. The same game he was eagerly willing to play with Priya's life.

"So we scratch him off the list of most wanted," Rome continued. "We still have those crates to figure out and with that latest e-mail, that needs to become our top priority."

"And because they're the gift that just keeps on f.u.c.king giving, let's not totally count out Darel. He'll want to finish the setup out here himself now," X noted.

Rome shook his head. "I doubt that. He'll want to stay close to his current money flow, that's why he sent Palermo out here in the first place. What he will do is find someone else to do the job as quickly as possible."

Nick nodded his agreement. "That's why we need to nip his a.s.s in the bud too."

"There are quite a few things that need to be nipped in the bud," Rome continued. "One in particular that I thought we'd already settled."

And here it was, Bas thought, the real reason behind the a.s.sembly Leader's surprise visit to Perryville. Tonight's activities had happened only about an hour and a half ago, not nearly enough time for Rome and his crew to make the trip all the way from D.C. No, the leader had been called earlier, much earlier and Bas was fuming at the possibility that his second in command had been the one to make that call.

"Is there something you want to tell us, Bas?" the leader asked.

Bas looked to Jacques, who with the slightest motion of his head told him that he hadn't said a word. Then he looked to Rome. "The reporter from the Post showed up here a week ago. She's still here now."

There wasn't another sound in the room as Rome sat back in his chair.

"You mean she's still looking for her story? The one where she exposes the Shadow s.h.i.+fters," he said slowly, succinctly.

The thought of lying never crossed Bas's mind. The situation was what it was, Priya had a goal just as all of them did in their own lives. She had a family that she cared about just as much as Rome cared about his mate and the Stateside s.h.i.+fters. In the most basic of ways, she was no different from them.

"She has a job to do," Bas replied simply even though he knew this situation was anything but.

"And what happens when she finds out the truth? What happens when the existence of the shadows is revealed to the world? Whose job will it be then to deal with the consequences?" was Rome's next question.

"How long were we realistically going to stay a secret, Rome?" was Bas's quick comeback.

He hadn't even known he'd planned to say it until the words tumbled free. The already chilly aura surrounding them grew downright frigid as angry eyes bore down on Bas while he spoke.

"Our law states..." Rome began.

"f.u.c.k that law!" was Bas's immediate outburst. Rarely, just about never, had any of the s.h.i.+fters in this room heard Bas take this tone, a fact evidenced by the stunned looks around the room. On the table in front of him, his hands remained quiet, the rest of his body giving away none of the fury roiling through him at this very moment. Only his tone and his words had exposed him.

While Rome still sat quietly, his demeanor never wavering-most likely because Kalina had reached out a hand to touch his arm immediately following the outburst-Bas spoke again, with only a slightly less agitated tone.

"I know that we're not supposed to purposely expose ourselves to the humans nor are we supposed to pull one up off the streets and tell them about our tribe. I've lived according to those laws all my life, sacrificing my own needs and desires to keep that exposure from happening. h.e.l.l, my teams are trained explicitly in taking down the enemy without s.h.i.+fting, period. So I don't need you to fly all the way out here to tell me what the G.o.dd.a.m.ned laws are."

This was where friends.h.i.+p came into play, because from the standpoint of the leaders.h.i.+p hierarchy, Rome could have stripped Bas of all his duties and inflicted whatever other type of punishment he could think of on him and he would have been well within his authority to do so. And everyone in that room knew this and they all remained silent to see if that would be the next event on their impromptu agenda.

Instead of adding to the drama, Rome simply sat there, staring at Bas, not actually in surprise, but with another look that had Bas's temples throbbing even more incessantly.

Then a softer voice spoke, a spirit almost as composed as her companheiro's. "What happened to change your mind about the laws, Bas?" Kalina asked.

Bas took a breath as he looked at the First Lady. "Nothing happened," he told her. "I'm just saying that the laws were created in a different time, a different place. It was a lot easier to keep us a secret when we only populated the rainforest. We could hide within the trees and for the most part never be discovered by humans. But even then the shamans knew and they talked. And anyone superst.i.tious enough to believe them knew about us. Don't you see, it's never really been a well-kept secret? There are some out there who knew and have known for centuries."

Even though this was the first time Bas had spoken the words, he knew firsthand how true they were. It was after he'd buried Mariah in the forest all those years ago, when he'd stood in the rain, his body numb to its moistness, his mind in a frenzy over what had just happened, that he'd felt the presence. Standing at the base of a tree, b.u.t.tress root snaking along the ground so that it looked as if it held him captive, was Yuri, the old shaman who lived just outside the forest. The tall, wiry man had looked on with weary but knowing eyes and had never said a word. Not even when Bas had turned and walked away from the site. Throughout the years, Yuri continued to keep the secret, even when he came to the States and had tormented Nick's mate. But he knew just the same.

"You're right," Kalina said quietly. "There are some who are bound to know and there are more who suspect."

Once that was said, Kalina looked to Rome who caught his companheiro's glance and apparently her meaning as he began to shake his head.

"Thinking you know something, thinking that you've seen something is entirely different from actually knowing anything," Rome said vehemently. "Giving this reporter proof is dangerous, Bas. Letting her stay here especially now when all this unsettled business is being taken care of, is a mistake. Not to mention the fact that you kept it a secret. You should have told me immediately!"

It was Bas's turn to nod. "Because we can keep our secret from an entire world, but I cannot have one to myself."

"I don't think that's what he's trying to say, Bas," X interjected. "The safety of the entire tribe needs to be considered."

Bas looked over Rome's shoulder to the a.s.sembly Leader's Lead Enforcer. The man stood more than six feet tall and was built like a wide receiver, his tattooed arms bared by the short-sleeved s.h.i.+rt he wore.

"I've put this tribe and its safety first all my life. Why do you think I put the Mountain Zone's headquarters all the way out here in the desert? I could have had a penthouse in a thriving city with women falling at my feet, ready to heed my every command," Bas replied.

"She's no fool, this reporter," Nick spoke up. "I figured she wasn't going to give up. We shouldn't have underestimated her, we should have taken her sooner."

"We're not kidnappers," Bas objected.

Rome shook his head. "No, we're not."

"And we don't kill humans just for the h.e.l.l of it, or because they think they know something," Bas continued, looking directly at Rome. It was imperative to everything that Bas had been taught to believe, to the man that he'd become, that the friend and the leader he followed agreed with him on this point. Bas didn't even want to consider what he was going to feel compelled to do if Rome said anything to the contrary.

"No," Rome said, holding Bas's gaze, "we do not."

Even though n.o.body moved or spoke for the next few seconds there seemed to be a collective sigh among them. No doubt this was still a problem, one more to be added to their growing pile.

"So what do we do now?" Jacques prompted, but n.o.body seemed in a hurry to toss out a solution.

Until she walked in.

Chapter 27.

Priya looked taller as she entered the conference room, closing the door quietly behind herself. She'd changed into jeans and a pink T-s.h.i.+rt that displayed the resort's name and logo in tiny rhinestone letters. Her short hair was damp, curling at the top and slicked down at the sides. She wore no makeup, no jewelry, nothing, as if she'd just slipped on her clothes after showering and left the room.

Bas stood immediately. Nick and X moved in closer to Rome. Ezra and Jacques looked equally stunned and on alert and Jax rushed to stand as Kalina was already up and on her way across the room to stop where Priya now stood.

"h.e.l.lo," Kalina said with a warm smile, extending her hand to Priya. "I'm Kalina Reynolds."

Without hesitation Priya accepted Kalina's hand, offering a tentative smile of her own. "I'm Priya Drake."

"Yes," Kalina replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Drake."

"You can call me Priya."

With a slight tilt of her head Kalina continued, "And you can call me Kalina."

"I told you I would be back," Bas said, coming to stand beside Priya, instinctively touching his hand to her elbow.

"I can help you," she told him then looked to Kalina and to everyone a.s.sembled at the table behind her. "I can help all of you."

"We can talk about this later," Bas told her. "You should go back and lie down."

"No," she replied adamantly. "I want to tell you how I can help."

"It's not necessary," Bas insisted.

"I want to hear what she has to say," Rome interrupted.

Bas frowned but knew any further argument was futile. Short of tossing a kicking and screaming Priya over his shoulder to the dismay of his First Lady, he really had no other choice. But he would not leave her side, Bas vowed, and guided her over to where he'd been seated.

As she sat, Bas wavered, for only a second, but he stood completely still, his eyes riveted on the back of Priya's head. Inside of him there was movement, no, it might be better described as an awakening.

"Are you all right, Bas?" Kalina asked him.

He looked up immediately at the sound of her voice. Clearing his throat and trying like h.e.l.l to ignore this new feeling, Bas stood up straight. Jacques had vacated the seat right next to Priya, so Bas sat there.

"Fine. Let's just get this over with," he replied quickly.

"This is a surprise seeing you again, Ms. Drake," Rome said to her.

Priya didn't look at all nervous. In fact, she sat forward in her chair, arms resting on the table. For all intents and purposes she looked as if she were a part of this meeting, as if she actually belonged here.

"What happened tonight is going to be all over the media, if it's not already," she began immediately. "I'm sure that growling and roaring could be heard for miles beyond where we were standing. Everything echoes off those mountains. So why not use my connection with the paper to put your own spin on what happened, you know, sort of do some damage control," she said in what seemed like one complete breath.

Bas sat back in his chair waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop as Priya had basically just informed everyone in this room that not only did she know what they were, but that she was willing to help them hide it. Well, actually, she hadn't said it in those exact words, but he knew that's what she meant. He kept his own query of why to himself as he looked around the room to a.s.sess everyone else's reaction.

"You want to distribute a public statement for us?" Rome asked. "What makes you think we need a statement?"

"n.o.body wants bad press," she said. "The resort would definitely lose business. Or worse, you'd have all sorts of crazies booking rooms just to see if they too would hear the weird sounds or get caught up in some type of otherworldly drama. I'm proposing that we get a proactive jump on the media frenzy that is no doubt about to begin on the West Coast, since the East Coast buzz has already made its debut."