Broderick kept running. Behind him, the plant receded to a glow in the sky.
He eased off his pace and finally halted, dropping the phone out of his jaws so he could pant.
What the hell? The night had started off just fine. Out with his friends, besting others at the fight club, grabbing dinner with Spike and Spike’s mate and their cute cub Jordan, hanging a little with Sean.
And then all this shit. Broderick heaved a sigh, and shifted to human. He grunted with the pain of the shift—some Shifters could do it smoothly, but Broderick was in the ranks of those who struggled.
The cell phone had GPS and a map, so Broderick could finally find out where he was. Looked like he was about a sixty miles or so from Austin, out in the hard plains of Texas west of San Antonio. Nearest paved road, twenty miles due east. Just perfect.
A giant bang had Broderick falling flat, instinct of several thousand years telling him to get down. The glow on the horizon flashed red, flames leaping high into the black and cloudless sky.
The plant had just blown up.
Broderick thought of the guards, both nervous and bored, waiting for their shift to end. One wanted to take a picture of a coyote home to his kids.
“Aw, damn it.” Broderick dropped the cell phone, painfully shoved himself into wolf form, tucked the phone back into his mouth, and ran for the plant.
He found the guards within a circle of flames, both of them on the ground, groaning. Black, fetid smoke rolled over them. Broderick got his teeth into the shirt of the one with kids and dragged him backward, out into the dried grasses and dirt beyond flames and smoke.
The other guard was struggling to breathe, his eyes closed, his face pasty. Broderick grabbed his shirt with his mouth, which pushed the phone further back behind his teeth. He’d probably swallow the damned thing and have a hell of stomachache.
Broderick dumped the first guard next to the second. Guard one did not look good. Guard two was awake, sitting up, coughing.
“Coyote?” the guard asked, voice rasping. “Shit, I’m sorry I shot at you.”
Broderick dropped the phone out of his mouth, and strained back into human form. The guard reached for the dropped cell phone, not paying attention to Broderick in the dark, until Broderick snatched the phone from the man’s outstretched fingers.
“Wolf,” Broderick said in a hard voice. “Not coyote. Now be quiet, I need to make a call.”
As the guard’s jaw sagged, Broderick punched in Joanne’s number, remembering it because he remembered everything about her. She answered right away.
“Who’s this?”
She didn’t sound half asleep, yanked from dreams, pleasant or unpleasant. She was awake and already scared.
“It’s Broderick, sweetie. Hey, I need you to come pick me up …”
“Out past the Fort Stockton turnoff? Near the munitions plant?”
“Munitions?” Broderick’s gaze snapped to the fire. “That’s not good. Wait a sec—how do you know where I am? I don’t even know, not that specifically.”
“Because every computer I own popped up an alert and I can hear emergency response on the scanners. At the same time, you call me on a phone in plant’s proximity. What the hell happened to you? Your aunt is here—she’s worried sick.”
Broderick heard the voice of his formidable aunt in the background. “Is he all right?” Aunt Cora was saying. “Where is he?”
Aunt Cora was about half the size of Broderick and his brothers, but she’d kept them in line for a hundred years and more. “Tell her I’m fine,” Broderick said. “Any chance of a ride?”
“You didn’t … you didn’t have anything to do with the explosion, did you?” Joanne ventured.
“Hell, no. I wasn’t anywhere near the place. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to blow up a plant that makes more things that explode. Listen, baby, I’d love to talk, but I’d love more to get home and sleep. If you can’t come out here, call Spike. He owes me—I paid for the pizza. Oh, and call Sean while you’re at it. The crazy bitch who kidnapped me tonight was going for him, or his dad. Tell him to watch out.”
“What? Broderick …?”
“Gotta go, baby. Cops are coming. I’ll try to get to that road, but my clothes are in shreds back wherever the hell I was. I’d borrow the uniforms of these guards here, but they won’t fit. One of the guys seriously needs a hospital, so I’ll be carrying him to an ambulance. See you, sweetie.”
He heard Joanne yelling, spluttering as Broderick clicked off the phone.
“My girlfriend,” Broderick said to the open-mouthed guard. “She’s going to kill me, but I’m too tired to care right now. We need to get him help.”
Without waiting for the guard’s response, Broderick handed him back the phone, hoping he’d ignore the teeth marks, and lifted the unconscious guard over his shoulder.
Broderick loped toward the approaching stream of fire trucks, police, and paramedics, waved down the paramedics, and laid the guard carefully on the ground next to the ambulance that pulled hurriedly to a halt. Broderick gave the emerging EMTs a wave, turned around, and ran back into darkness, shifting into wolf on the way.
***
Joanne hunched over the steering wheel as she went slowly down the highway, looking for signs of Broderick. She was alone—she’d sent Aunt Cora back to Shiftertown to convey Broderick’s cryptic warning to Sean.
The crazy bitch who kidnapped me tonight was going for him.
What crazy bitch? Kidnapped? When the hell did Broderick get himself kidnapped? Joanne had been sleeping hard, her own life wearing her out, until Aunt Cora’s phone call.
She saw him. Broderick rose from the grasses, in his wolf form, watching the headlights of her car approaching him.
Joanne knew this wasn’t a wild wolf for several reasons—mainly, he was gigantic. Natural wolves were about two-thirds the size of a Shifter wolf. Second, the wolf didn’t run away from the car, but calmly watched it approach. Most of all, when she pulled alongside him and stopped, the wolf morphed slowly into a very tall, very naked man.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said, flashing her a Broderick grin. “Give me a lift?”
Joanne averted her eyes, though she couldn’t help peeking. “There’s clothes in the back.”
Broderick looked good, as he always did, hard-bodied, not an ounce of fat on him. His muscles rippled as he walked, unashamed, around the car to the rear passenger door. He was limping, though, and Joanne saw blood on his leg.
Broderick opened the door and leaned in to get the jeans and shirt Joanne had brought. They were his—Broderick left a change of clothes at her place, in case he needed them after a shift, like now.
Broderick stretched the cotton T-shirt over his head and across his shoulders then unfolded it down his chest and abs. He ignored the underwear and pulled his jeans on over his bare butt, zipping and buttoning, then sliding in the belt she’d brought.
He stood looking around the open fields for a moment before climbing into the passenger seat. “All set. Thanks, baby. Can you take me back to Shiftertown?”
Joanne stared at him. Broderick settled himself comfortably on the seat, looking out the window, ready to go. Any moment now, he’d turn on the radio or start singing.
“Excuse me?” Joanne said. “What the hell?”
Broderick swung his head around to look at her. “Excuse me, what?”
“I’m waiting for you to tell me what happened! What crazy bitch kidnapped you? Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere—with a munitions plant blowing up? Broderick!”
He gave her a maddening stare. “I planned to talk while we were heading out of here. Before there are roadblocks or whatever because of the explosion.”
“Which you had nothing to do with,” Joanne said, uneasy.
“Nope. But do you expect cops to believe that from a Shifter? You can start any time now, sweetie.”
“Why are you bleeding?” Joanne demanded.
“Hmm? Oh, that. A shot grazed me. It?
??s already closed. Will you go?”
Joanne made an exasperated noise, put her car in gear, and headed down the narrow road, her headlights cutting a swath in the pitch dark.
“You were shot at?” she said. “By the police?”
“No, by the woman who kidnapped me. She didn’t have all her oars in the water, I swear by the Goddess. Hey, you know about computers.”
Joanne glanced at him. He was lounging comfortably, gazing down the highway as though they were going on a road trip, not heading swiftly away from a crime scene.
Joanne clenched the steering wheel. “Yes, I know about computers.” She ought to. Joanne had trained as a programmer, became a very good one, and then got lured into the dark side by questionable friends in college. As a result, she’d learned how to be a very good hacker.
She’d hacked for the fun of it, until the day she realized it wasn’t the “victimless” crime her associates had claimed it to be. A close non-programmer friend had lost everything—house, savings, insurance—her whole life—because of a huge hack attack that had taken her identity, drained her accounts, destroyed her credit, and left a trail of ruin in its wake. It had taken her two years to recover, with Joanne helping her every step of the way. Her friend now lived in New Mexico, where she’d had to start all over again.
From that time forward, Joanne was anti-hacker. She landed a job with a security testing firm that worked to help companies and individuals protect themselves and their information, and now she was a freelance consultant, working for herself. Joanne was good at it, though she knew that the very best thieves out there were hard to catch.
“So,” Broderick was saying, “Why does someone need ten computers side by side in a basement? Compulsive online shopper?”
“No,” Joanne said, her heart beating faster and her fingers tingling. “Sounds like they’re setting up a network. Who was this woman?”
“Hell if I know. We didn’t stop to exchange how-do-you-dos. She has black hair, black lipstick, tatts, but she’s a baby, a cub. I bet not much past twenty.”
“That’s getting old for a hacker.” Joanne pulled to a stop at a crossroads, looking out for traffic before she turned onto the bigger, four-lane highway. Nothing came at them but a lone car going the other direction. It soon passed, its passengers heading wherever at three o’clock in the morning.
“The question is, what does a hacker want with a Shifter?” Broderick asked.
“Maybe I can answer if you tell me what the hell happened to you!” Joanne said loudly, her patience gone.
Broderick held up his hands—there was bruising around his wrists. “Yeah, yeah, all right.” He launched into a tale of innocently walking home from Sean’s and waking up with his hands cuffed and a canvas bag on his head.
He spoke matter-of-factly, not playing up his heroics in breaking away, shrugging off the gunshot which had taken a piece of his flesh but did no more damage. He’d found his way to the plant, tricked the guards, grabbed their phone and ran off, then ka-boom.
Joanne listened, the tingle in her fingers increasing as it did when something both scared and excited her. She put together everything Broderick said, which to her led to one conclusion. “You said they meant to grab Sean and got you by mistake,” she said. “Aunt Cora went to warn him.”
“Good,” Broderick said. “The men she hired were idiots though, if they couldn’t tell a Lupine from a Feline.”
“Not the point.” Joanne found her foot going down on the pedal while her agitation rose. “She wanted Sean. Don’t you get it? He’s why a hacker needs a Shifter, Broderick. I bet she’s going after every hacker’s ultimate dream. She’s planning to hack the Guardian Network.”
Chapter Three
Broderick stared at Joanne. He liked looking at her anyway, had since he’d met her.
When he’d first seen her, she’d been wearing groupie clothes, a tight dress that outlined every curve. Her hair had been as black as that of the woman who’d kidnapped him tonight, but in the nearly ten months he’d known Joanne, she’d let the dark brown that was her true color take over, though she kept her hair short. She had large brown eyes, which she’d changed to blue with contacts when she’d been in disguise as a groupie, but she’d since discarded.
Broderick liked her natural look better. Now she was all her. On the other hand, he wouldn’t mind if she wore the skimpy pink groupie dress now and again. But, she looked just as good to him in a sloppy T-shirt and denim shorts.
All this flashed through Broderick’s thoughts while Joanne’s words penetrated his brain. He started shaking his head. “No way. No one can hack the Guardian Network. It’s got Fae magic shit built into it. That’s what I hear, anyway.”
Joanne’s look was thoughtful. “I bet it can be hacked if you have a Guardian tied up and threatened.”
“It would take a lot to threaten Sean. He’d eat the woman for breakfast.”
“Well, it sounds to me like she wants to have a good try at breaking into the network. What if she threatens Sean’s mate to get him to cooperate? Or his son?”
“Yeah.” Broderick’s uneasiness grew. “I say we get back to Shiftertown as fast as we can and see what’s up.”
“On it,” Joanne said, and the car sped up.
***
Joanne didn’t want to go too fast, because being pulled over for speeding, plus having to explain why she was driving around with a Shifter in the middle of the night was not what she needed.
There was no mistaking Broderick for anything but a Shifter. He had the look—gray eyes that bore a wildness that had never been tames, dark hair buzzed short, a hard face, and a big, tough body. The clincher was the Collar that rested around Broderick’s neck, a Celtic knot at his throat.
The Collars contained technology and Fae magic that sent shocks through any Shifter who started to grow too violent. Shifters, however, had found ways around the Collar problem. Joanne had seen Broderick battle hard at the fight club without the shocks slowing him down too much. Afterward, he would hurt—Collar hangover, he called it. During the fight, though, he didn’t let his Collar slow him down.
Driving as fast as Joanne dared on the wandering back highways put them in the outskirts of Austin in an hour. At this time of night, traffic was fairly light, and she soon crossed town and turned onto the side streets that led to Shiftertown.
The bar on the corner just outside Shiftertown was dark, closed, everyone gone home. Shiftertown itself was quiet except for flashes of big cats roaming the yards of the tidy bungalows.
Broderick’s house was large, two-story, with space needed for Broderick, his three younger brothers, his aunt, and now Joanne’s sister and her mate, whom Broderick had rescued a few months ago.
Broderick had volunteered to let Aleck stay with him—there was not much room in any other Shifters’ houses, and Aleck needed to be under Shifters’ watchful eye while they tried to cure him. Plus, Joanne knew Broderick had done it for her, because of Nancy. She would ever be grateful to him for that.
Broderick was out of the car as soon as it stopped. A human man might have come around to Joanne’s side and opened the door for her, or at least waited until she was out, before approaching the house, but Shifter rules of etiquette were different. Shifter males always forged ahead to scout, to make sure the way was safe for their females and cubs. Didn’t matter that this was Broderick’s own house with his aunt and brothers inside—instinct told him to look anyway. And who knew? Rival Shifters could have taken over his home and be waiting to ambush him.
Once Broderick had the front door open and had checked inside, he came back out and waved Joanne up to the porch.
Joanne slammed her car door and hurried to him. Before Broderick could walk into the house, Joanne flung her arms around his neck, dragging him close. “Damn it, Broderick, I was so worried about you!”
She felt him start, then still. Joanne hugged him tighter. After a moment, Broderick’s arms came around her, hesitant, then stronger.
“I’m okay, sweetheart,” he said, sounding puzzled. “It was just a nick. She missed.”
Joanne lifted her head and thumped her fists softly on his chest. “No, you idiot. I mean, you were abducted and taken prisoner. I might never have seen you again.”
Broderick had a stunned look on his face, as though surprised she cared. Very surprised. “I’m all right. I got away easy.”
Joanne pushed from him. “You are so …” She made an exasperated noise. “And what you call easy scares the shit out of me.” She shoved past him and into the house, feeling his stare on her back all the way.
Joanne didn’t really blame Broderick for being surprised at her reaction. They didn’t have that kind of relationship, not one in which Joanne kissed him hello when he came over and asked how his day was then fixed him a hot meal before they went to bed for all-night passion. Nor was it one where Broderick brought her flowers and expensive jewelry and took her to fancy restaurants—before returning home for all-night passion.
Going out with a Shifter was a little more complicated. Shifters weren’t allowed into most fancy restaurants, and they didn’t understand that flowers and jewelry were gifts a woman would want. A Shifter’s idea of showing affection was keeping the woman safe from enemies. Gifts—presenting her with an object treasured in their family for centuries. That was Shifter-style dating. The gift giving usually only happened after mating, though, when the male Shifter’s mate of choice had joined the family. The whole family. Shifters living alone with their mates was a weird idea to them.
Nancy, Joanne’s older sister, loved everything about Shifters. Joanne was learning, little by little, how to appreciate them.
Broderick strode in behind Joanne, his voice gruff. “Aunt Cora, did you talk to Sean?”
“Of course I did.” Aunt Cora, who was smaller than her nephews but who’d managed to keep them in line before and after their mother had passed, came out of the kitchen. She had coffee, which Joanne fell upon gratefully. “Why wouldn’t I?” Aunt Cora asked. “Sean thanked me, but didn’t sound unduly worried.”