He’d gone back to the club to talk to Eric, who’d returned without finding anything. Diego fetched the tranq rifle Xavier had recovered, went home, and spent a restless night. This morning, Diego had investigated who’d checked out the tranq rifle and easily found the answer.
Stuart Reid, Lt., Shifter Division. He’d signed it out without hiding the fact.
Reid came to work as usual, but Diego deliberately hadn’t confronted him, wanting to corner the man alone. What he wanted to do to Reid wasn’t exactly regulation. Reid had neither sought Diego today nor avoided him—he’d simply gone about his business. Diego knew there was a chance he was wrong about Reid. If so, he’d apologize and leave the guy alone. If not…
Reid pulled up in an unassuming Chevy and got out, his hands full of grocery bags. It was dark now, and streetlights blared. Reid didn’t close his blinds when he went inside, so Diego and Cassidy could watch him putting away his groceries like an ordinary man with nothing else to do on a Friday night.
Diego and Cassidy got out of the car and crossed the busy street. Diego led the way up to Reid’s second-floor apartment. Second floors didn’t bother Diego, as long as there were solid stairs under him. Ladders, roofs, thirty-story balconies—different story.
Cassidy came behind him, moving so silently Diego could barely tell that she was there. But she was. He sensed her anger but also her watchfulness. She had his back.
Reid answered Diego’s knock without hesitation. “Escobar?” he asked, surprised. “What do you want?” He looked past Diego at Cassidy standing behind him. “I see you’ve brought your pet Shifter.”
Diego pushed his way inside. Cassidy came in after him and closed the door. Diego followed Reid into the kitchen, walked up to the man, and smacked him lightly on the stomach. Reid flinched and grunted in unmistakable pain.
Diego had him pinned against the counter before he could recover and yanked up the man’s shirt. Four deep, red gashes slashed across Reid’s abdomen, the skin around them dark with bruises.
“Thought so,” Diego said. He pulled his gun from its holster and pressed it to Reid’s chin.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Reid’s hand flashed to Diego’s unnaturally fast, and beyond-human strength crushed Diego’s wrist.
Diego gritted his teeth but didn’t move. “Let go or I’ll pull this trigger, I swear to God.”
Reid stopped the pressure but didn’t release him. “Stay the hell out of my business, Escobar.”
“Fuck that. You tell me why you shot at Cassidy and tried to drag her away last night. Tell me exactly who you are and why you want her.”
“I need the blood of a Shifter.”
Diego heard Cassidy’s faint gasp behind him, and he ground the pistol barrel into Reid’s jaw. “That was the wrong answer.”
Reid’s eyes flashed black with rage. “You can’t understand, human. You stink like them, the bloody beasts of burden. You were all over her—it’s like kissing a cow.”
Diego’s fury rose, the one that had had him tearing IV needles out of himself when he’d been in the hospital after being shot. “You tell me why you want Shifter blood, or maybe I’ll just shoot you for the sick and twisted bastard you are.”
“I need the blood for the ritual. So I can get back.”
“Get back where?”
“To Faerie.”
“What?” Cassidy was right next to him. “What are you talking about?”
Diego glared at Reid. “How the hell did the psych testers miss you?”
“You can’t ever understand,” Reid said. “I have to leave this place. I want to see my home again, no matter what it takes.”
“You’ll die if you touch Cassidy—or any of the Shifters. In fact, how about I arrest you for attempted murder right now?”
“I wasn’t going to murder her, until she sliced me.” Reid glared at Cassidy. “Now I want to bathe in her blood.”
“Wait, Diego.” Cassidy stepped up to Reid. “What do you mean? You need blood to get back to Faerie?”
“I’m locked out, aren’t I? I searched for years for a spell, hunting down every true Wiccan coven I could, looking for the ones who’d saved the ancient Fae lore. After scouring Ireland and Scotland for decades, I found the spell here, in Las Vegas, of all places. An old woman of Irish descent had a grimoire that had been handed down through her family for centuries. That grimoire contained some rites of the ancient Fae, and had a lot to say about Shifters. They certainly hated you. The grimoire has a spell to get me back through the gates, but I need Shifter blood to work it. Lots of blood. I never got to use your mate’s.”
Diego felt Cassidy’s rage at the same time her hands came up, fingers changing to claws. “You killed Donovan?”
“I never touched him,” Reid said, but Cassidy was already shifting.
Her limbs became strong cat’s limbs, her shirt tearing, her face contorting to the cross between Shifter and wildcat. Diego grabbed her and tried to hold her back, but she was too strong. Cassidy ripped herself out of Diego’s grasp and lunged at Reid, claws and teeth poised for the kill. Sparks danced along her Collar, and she snarled in pain, but she didn’t stop.
Sudden light flared, whiter and hotter than the Las Vegas sun. Cassidy fell back, and Diego shielded his eyes with his arm.
The light vanished. Diego lowered his arm to see Cassidy standing there, still in her half-shifted form, Collar sparking, staring at the place Reid had been. The only thing missing was Reid.