“And if you catch him?”
I shifted my stance. “I won’t kill him. Cross my heart. But if you want to know the truth, I’d be doing the world a favor. Imagine all the humans we’d save, and who knows what became of his younglings. Maybe they’re still prisoners, but they might have escaped and are now a menace to society. Chances are the higher authority will execute him, so why not save them the trouble?”
“Sometimes I look at you and I still see the Shadow. Try not to go on a murdering spree. Unless we are given specific orders or have no choice, we hand them over alive.”
That wasn’t always the golden rule, and we both knew it. I remembered with perfect clarity how Viktor left Shepherd alone with the Mage who had killed his old flame. But rules kept us legit and gained Viktor’s trust. They were necessary.
“It could be dangerous,” he said.
I flashed him a grin. “My kind of party.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Very well. Keep me informed on your progress. If you’re in over your heads, let me know.” Viktor wagged his finger. “Don’t make me have to call the cleaners.”
“I’ll be good.”
His grey eyes twinkled, and his lips mashed together as if he was suppressing a grin. “I’m proud of you, Raven Black. You are more selfless than I first thought.”
Christian chuckled, and I gave him the finger behind my back.
Viktor folded his arms. “Are you going to share what happened to your leg?”
“I tripped over Christian’s ego.”
He conjured a smile and then glanced at his watch. “Christian, I need your help unloading the crate. I don’t want those men on my property.”
“Ah, yes,” I said, limping behind him as we moved into the dining room. “The crate. I hope she came by air and not by sea. That would have been a long boat ride without a toilet.”
Viktor briefly looked over his shoulder. “I hear the judgment in your voice, but need I remind you that it was not my decision. This was at her insistence.”
I flashed a playful grin at Christian as we passed him. “So… this woman would have rather flown cargo instead of first class next to Christian? I think I’m beginning to like her already.”
Chapter 5
When the deliverymen buzzed at the gate, Christian and Claude hurried out to meet them. The rest of us remained in the foyer, taking a dim view of Viktor’s transportation arrangements.
“Careful!” Viktor bellowed as they moved inside with the crate. “Set her down gently.”
Claude gingerly lowered his end and then anchored his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
I tipped my head toward Blue. “Am I really seeing this? Are we getting a servant delivered by ground shipping?”
“Maybe she’s dead. Wyatt might have a new best friend.”
“Perish the thought.”
The crate was the width of the door and about four feet tall, but the men had set it down longways. Had she packed water in there? Food? It was winter, and the plane likely didn’t have heating in the storage area. The small gaps between the boards weren’t wide enough to see inside but were big enough so her animal could breathe.
Viktor approached with a crowbar and attempted to pry open the top. We all stood around in the foyer, watching with slightly horrified expressions.
I tilted my head to the side. “By the size of the crate, I think we can rule out her being a horse. Wouldn’t her animal go berserk in there?”
“In the old days, they used to transport Shifters in cages and crates,” Blue said, reiterating what Viktor had already told us. “Especially those who worked in the circus.”
I jerked my neck back. “They put Shifters in the circus? That’s a little demeaning.”
She folded her arms, which were a lustrous brown hue despite it being winter. “It was a dark time in our history. Some of the Breeds ran circus rings to turn a buck. This was before our emancipation, and even some of the humans were in on it. Everyone knows about Shifter slavery, but new immortals aren’t usually educated on the underworld of cage fighting, circus troupes, and using our kind as beasts of burden.”
A few nails popped out of the board, and Christian pried off the lid with his bare hands.
“She’s afraid,” Niko murmured. He knelt down on one knee before the crate.
The board hit the floor with a loud thud, and Viktor tossed the crowbar aside. I watched eagerly to see what kind of animal would leap out.
Slender fingers gripped the top of the crate from inside, and a head emerged, pieces of straw clinging to her hair.
Shepherd cut a sharp look toward Viktor. “She didn’t travel in animal form?” he growled.
The woman peered over the top of the crate at the semicircle of strangers.
“Huh. Red hair,” Blue muttered.
“Why do you say it like that?” I asked quietly.
“It’s a rare color among Shifters. They supposedly have stronger offspring than the rest of us. Not all wolves have an alpha child, but redheads almost always do. Assuming she’s a wolf.” Blue sucked on her teeth and gave the crate a skeptical glance. “I hope Viktor knows what he’s doing. I don’t want my bird to end up on her dinner plate.”
“Maybe she’s a mouse and she’ll end up on yours.”
Blue chuckled and shifted her weight to one leg. Despite the late hour, her tomahawk was hanging on the side of her dark-green cargo pants. Blue’s tough demeanor and wardrobe never entirely erased the fact that she had a killer body. She stood two inches taller than me, and that was when she didn’t have her boots on. She appraised the new girl as if working out a problem in her head.
Kira rose to her feet, and I admired the length of her wavy hair. The red changed to a golden shade at the ends, a blazing ombré effect resembling fire.
“Claude’s gonna love that hair,” Blue mused.
Kira’s sage-green dress was old-fashioned, the laces tied in front. Beneath was a long-sleeve blouse with drawstrings on the cuffs. Her copper-colored eyes looked among us, and when she found Viktor, her expression changed to one of relief.
Viktor clasped her hands and planted a kiss on each cheek. When he spoke, it wasn’t with the usual Russian words and speech pattern I was familiar with.
Gem furrowed a brow and stepped out of line. Then she cartoonishly whirled around to face us. “I’ve never heard that language before. Ever.”
“There’s a first,” Wyatt quipped.
Viktor said something and gestured toward Christian. She nodded warily.
“Help her out,” Viktor ordered him. “Her legs are weak from the confinement. I do not wish her to fall on her first night.”
The moment my Vampire partner tucked his hands beneath her arms, a knot tightened in my stomach. It was obvious by her guarded reaction that they had never been intimate, but Christian wasn’t exactly blasé about the graceful way in which he handled her.
When her bare feet touched the ground, Claude rushed forward. “She’s hurt.”