The Mercenary Read online

  At one point she had the uncontrollable urge to climb a tree and did so without any forewarning. Mark didn’t seem very impressed, thinking she had run off somewhere. It didn’t take him long to determine her location by following her scent. With a graceful bound Jodie dropped down out of the tree, fell into a sitting position, and began to lick her shoulder. The elegance she displayed in this form far surpassed anything she’d ever had in human form and would have made Jodie laugh if she had been able to see herself.

  Just then she smelled something irresistible that she couldn’t ignore, following it at once. It turned out to be a dog that had wandered too far from the trail, and it took great effort for Mark to stop Jodie from attacking it. After more frolicking in the woods, Jodie caught a possum. Mark waited at a distance for her to devour it and then led the way back to the house.

  They emerged from the trees, near the rear boundary of the fortress. Jodie’s ears flattened and she pushed herself low to the ground, emitting a vicious growl. Mark knew that she could smell Danny and her leopard still felt mighty upset with him.

  In the backyard tending the vegetable garden, Jarvis smelled them right away and came jogging over to the fence. Opening the huge gate, he met Jodie and Mark with a huge grin. His presence came as a relief to Mark who couldn’t key in the security code in animal form. He herded Jodie through to the yard though she hissed and spat at him. Jarvis let them into the house, then went back outside.

  Jodie crept into the building, keeping herself down at floor level. Her leopard did not want to be there so she moved with caution, listening and sniffing for signs of Danny. Leon sat at the kitchen table drinking a soda when Mark and Jodie wandered in.

  “He’s in the living room; you may want to head in the other direction.” He advised without looking up.

  Such a considerate statement did not often come from Leon, so Jodie tried to show her gratitude, “pirrrt!”

  “Yeah yeah, just get going before he notices you’re here.”

  Jodie had never seen him smile before and presented him with a curious look, he seemed a lot less scary when he got rid of the chip on his shoulder.

  As Mark and Jodie crept into the foyer, he sniffed the air. Jodie didn’t pay any attention to his actions; she’d become fixated on the beautiful echo of piano music nearby. Noticing her diverted attention, Mark tried to head her off but Jodie had already gotten through the door. It became a battle between her human self and her leopard, one wanted to bolt, the other transfixed by the music. Jodie crept closer, unable to break herself of the spell she seemed to be under.

  Danny sat with his back to the door, his long caramel hair loose down his back. He played the song Hysteria, by the band Muse. Jodie had heard it on the stereo in Danny’s car several times but had never imagined she would hear it like this. Her leopard still fought for control, but Jodie wouldn’t let her, she wanted to hear Danny play. As mad as he’d made her, this side of him she’d never seen, the first insight she had into the man underneath it all. His nimble fingers glided effortlessly across the keys as he lost himself in the melody.

  Without warning he stopped and spun around. His eyes widened as he recognized Jodie in the hallway. Staying put, he sat watching and waiting. His cobalt eyes followed her every move and Jodie could’ve sworn he sat poised to pounce in her direction. She panicked and back pedalled out of the doorway, running through the house. In her disoriented state she went the wrong way, finishing up at the far end of the building in the bedroom at the end. She could hear Mark behind her, and this only made her run faster.

  Thundering into the room and skidding on a rug Jodie almost gave poor Adam a heart attack, his whole body stiffened as he cast her a wary look. “Ho no no.” He said putting up both hands. “I’m not ready for another round.”

  He needn’t have worried. Jodie skirted around his legs and darted under the bed. She stayed there for a very long time. She had enjoyed her romp in the woods but she’d had enough now. She was ready to be Jodie again, though she didn’t know how to do it.

  Unable to be sure just who waited for her out in the bedroom, Jodie didn’t move a muscle. After a long wait she found herself getting sleepy and drifted off, when she opened her eyes again, Jodie had reverted to human. Pausing for a moment to get her bearings, she peered out from under the bed.

  “Did it have to be my bedroom you ran to?”

  She shrank back before realizing that nobody else but Adam shared the room with her. “I’m so sorry.” Those words seemed to be forever crossing her lips.

  “It’s not your fault,” he sighed from the wicker-chair in the corner. “It’s just that you didn’t do much to discredit the rumor that we had a ‘thing’ last night.”

  “Nobody really thinks anything happened,” Jodie insisted. “And neither will Danny when he stops to think about it.”

  Adam tossed her a robe, and she scrambled out from under the bed, shoving her arms into the sleeves as fast as she could and tying the sash at her waist.

  “I wish I had your confidence.” He said, dejected.

  “Did I really get you in trouble?” Oh no, that’s the last thing I want!

  “Not really. I just further proved my incompetence.” As deflated as he seemed, Adam didn’t seem surprised at the situation. It made Jodie feel even worse.

  “You’re not incompetent,” she assured him. “Yes I am. Ask me why Danny got shot that time.” “Okay... Why?” She said, deciding to humor him.

  “Because I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, I screwed up. Danny took the hit on purpose, because if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have survived.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes.” Jodie murmured, her fingertips smoothing out the soft chenille fabric of the robe.

  “I make too many. I let out our secret to you and Ainsley, I spoke out when I shouldn’t have at the dinner, and I slept in the same bed as you: my boss’s girlfriend. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, I took you on a ten-minute trip to pick up some clothes, couldn’t prevent you from changing and nearly got myself killed in the process.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

  “I know Jodie, I know. It’s not your fault.”

  “No, it’s mine.” Danny stood in the doorway, the strain evident in his expression. “All of it is my fault; I’ve handled this all wrong from the beginning. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Jodie said.

  “Please let me explain,” he begged.

  “I can’t. Not yet.”

  “Is there nothing I can do to change your mind?” Danny asked, giving a weary sigh. He looked as broken as she felt but Jodie refused to let that sway her.

  “She said she doesn’t want to talk to you yet,” Adam interjected.

  Danny looked at the bandages around Adam’s torso and forearms, quirking a brow. “Aren’t you afraid to be alone with her?”

  “No.” Adam said with conviction. “She attacked me out of fear, I can forgive that. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “And I did, is that it?” The anger in Danny’s tone escalated with each subsequent word. Even without the darkening of his expression, his entire body language had changed.

  “Of course you did!” Adam shot back.

  Jodie had never thought him braver. He feared Danny, yet he didn’t hesitate to stand up to him for her. She prayed Danny didn’t try to do anything stupid because she didn’t have it in her to try to break up a fight.

  “Did it occur to you that I might not have had a choice, that I might have been choosing the lesser of two evils?”

  The statement stopped Jodie cold and a couple of seconds passed before she turned to face him. “What could have possibly been worse?”

  Danny shook his head and walked off.

  Chapter 22

  Luke growled under his breath as he paced the living room floor, he’d called Jodie’s cell several times and been forced to change tactics. Af
ter doing some snooping, Luke found her address book and some alternative methods of reaching her. He’d already spoken to three different men and he still hadn’t gotten to his sister.

  It drove him crazy how much time she spent around Danny and the Unit now. Kicking a potted plant and knocking it over, his toes protested a pain shooting up the right side of his foot. Jumping, he swore under his breath, well that was stupid.

  “Hello?” Jodie’s voice sounded on the other end of the line.

  “It’s Luke.” He fought not to sound relieved.

  “Hello.” Jodie repeated, this time her tone even more formal. What the fuck? She became less personal after she knew who it was? It didn’t occur to Luke that it had nothing to do with him. He took it personally from the moment her voice changed.

  “Jodie what the hell is going on?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  How could she be so stupid? She’s got to be messing with my head. The way Jodie feigned ignorance made Luke want go to her so that he could give her a piece of his mind in person. At least he would have if he knew where she’d been hiding.

  “Dad dropped me off at your place so I could watch the rugby with Zach. When I got there, the whole place stank of shifters and the bathroom was covered in blood. Zach won’t tell me a damned thing.”

  “How did you get this number?”

  Luke stopped, astonished by her lack of regard for his concern. That’s her response to what I just said? Really? What the hell is she playing at?

  “Stop avoiding the issue. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

  Her silence said enough. Luke had a bit of a rant on the other end of the line and to his amazement, Jodie allowed it. When he demanded that she come home so that they could talk about the kind of life she’d chosen for herself, she fell quiet. She hadn’t said much at all, which couldn’t be a good thing; Luke knew his sister and silence always meant trouble.

  “No. I can’t, I have things to do here. I’ll be back at some point, but not today.” Jodie’s cordial tone grated on him.

  “I can tell when you’re lying,” his clipped and over enunciated words painted a colorful picture, one that would not win him any favors.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Then you are leaving out some of the most important information.” Luke’s temper began to build again, so he took a deep breath. He had to remain calm or this would get blown way out of proportion.

  “You are the last person who should be preaching about keeping secrets, I’ve been more than understanding about that. When you almost killed me I could have turned my back on you, nobody would have blamed me, I didn’t do that either. You’re my brother and I love you but you need to back off. I’ll talk to you when I’m ready, right now; here is the safest place for me to be. It’s also the safest for Zach.”

  “Did someone attack him? Whose is the blood?” Luke just wouldn’t give up. He’d failed as a brother, father and son, yet he clung to any possibility of redeeming himself, desperate to make amends. Jodie worried him, how could he help her if she shut him out? John and Penny had him under constant supervision and now Jodie would barely speak to him. Luke couldn’t stand feeling powerless; it brought out the very worst aspects of his personality.

  “Nobody attacked Zach, the fight didn’t involve him. The reason he isn’t talking to you is because he tried to kiss me and I wasn’t okay with that.”

  “He tried to kiss you...” Luke repeated. Just once, could there be an area of my life that stayed uncomplicated? Is it really too much to ask?

  “Yes. Now please, go and watch your rugby. I will talk to you later.”

  Staring at the phone in disbelief as the disconnected signal blared out of it; Luke dumped it on the table and went into the kitchen. Tremors rolled down his forearms, goosebumps rippling across his flesh, though nobody watching would’ve noticed anything amiss. The quiet composure he displayed told nothing of his parched, rasping throat. The way his lips pressed together could have meant any number of things but in reality, it stated that Luke craved the drink again.

  JODIE SNAPPED THE PHONE shut and noticed Eddie still standing right in front of her. “Oh,” she said, and held out the phone. “Thanks.”

  “You handled that well,” he smiled. “Now, are you hungry? Do you want lunch?”

  “I shouldn’t be hungry since I ate in the woods, but I’m starving.”

  “Welcome to our world,” laughed Eddie. “Come on then, you can make the coffee and I’ll find us something to eat.”

  “I’ll have a chicken sandwich thanks.” Doug called from the office nearby. The man knew no bounds, the first mention of tea or food and his voice soon rang out.

  “Get it yourself!” Eddie called back with a wink at Jodie.

  “What’s going to happen tonight?” Jodie asked as they started walking again.

  “Hmm?”

  Pursing her lips and toying with her hair, the long strands slipped easily through her fingers. “I mean at bedtime. I don’t want to be the cause of any more drama.” Jodie raised her gaze until her eyes found Eddie’s.

  “That’s not your fault; hopefully tonight will be easier for you.”

  “I don’t think Adam should be there.”

  “He won’t be. Regardless of how Danny feels, Adam couldn’t do it. You made a bit of a mess of him today and he needs to heal. Mark and Leon have both offered to take his place.”

  “But you’ll still be there right?” Jodie didn’t like the idea of being passed around. It felt humiliating enough to need a chaperone in the bedroom without everyone taking turns. The air became harder to breathe as she resisted the urge to panic.

  “I have to go to work tonight; I’ll come and see how you’re doing as soon as I get home. I know this is uncomfortable for you but don’t worry, every day gets a little bit easier.”

  “Don’t Mark and Leon have to work too?”

  Eddie shook his head. “Mark called in sick and two of Lancaster’s guys will fill in for Leon and Adam.

  “Is it this hard for every Therian when they first learn to change?” Jodie tried to put a good dose of ‘casual’ into the conversation as she began preparing the coffee. Unlike Ainsley, she didn’t know how to use the espresso machine, so she made a regular pot of coffee instead.

  “I know it seems back to front but the more powerful the shifter, the more difficult it is to adjust. It’s also hard for you because you are a lot older than most first timers. When I first learned the change at thirteen, my father and my uncle had to sleep beside me for three nights. They guided my change in a comfortable, familiar environment. Unfortunately you didn’t have any of that; it’s natural that this would take time.”

  “Every time I close my eyes, I see him looming over me. I hear his growl, the noise he makes when he wants to hurt something. I just can’t get it out of my head. When I start to change, I remember it and it’s as though my whole body refuses to function.” Telling Eddie left Jodie feeling somewhat exposed, but she’d needed to get it off her chest. Her humiliation hung over them, but Eddie sidestepped it like an expert.

  “Once you learn to halt the change, you’ll be able to take control of that. Then once you can stop it by yourself, you can learn how to shift intentionally.”

  “Leon scares me.” Jodie blurted, thinking about being next to him while she slept.

  “It’s all an act babe,” grinned Eddie. “He feels the need to be tough because he’s the lowest rank here and his beast is cute and cuddly.”

  “If you say so,” carrying the two cups to the table, Jodie sat down.

  Eddie looked up, his eyes meeting hers over the plate of grilled cheese sandwiches as he set it down between them. “I’m afraid this isn’t going to be anything fantastic.”

  “There isn’t anything wrong with cheese; it’s one of the most essential food items on the planet.”

  “Right...” he said, green eyes gleaming with amusement.

  Danny breezed in while they were ea
ting. Placing a cardboard box on the table, he continued on to the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of coffee. He didn’t speak a word to either of them, nor did he acknowledge Jodie in any way. Glancing in his direction, she focused her gaze upon him until he turned around again.

  “What’s the matter?” He asked, eyes alert and trained on her alone.

  “Aren’t you talking to me now?”

  With a deep frown, Danny’s lips pressed together as he prepared to speak. “I thought you wanted me to leave you alone, I just can’t get anything right with you!” He strode off, taking his coffee with him.

  Jodie stared at the door long after he’d gone, certain a piece of her heart had walked out of the room along with him. Sagging in defeat, she sighed and looked down at her coffee.

  “You are sending very mixed signals.” Eddie told her moments later.

  “I am, aren’t I?” Moaning in self-disgust, Jodie didn’t even look up.

  “Let’s see what’s in here.” An expert at diversion, Eddie pulled open the flaps of the box and glanced down at the contents.

  The pretty silver clutch-purse glittered under the overhanging table lamp as Eddie lifted it out and set it aside. Just looking at it made Jodie’s stomach turn over so she turned her attention back to the box. The remnants of Ainsley’s blue dress lay in folds, the strappy shoes sitting on top split at the seams and badly scuffed from the ordeal. Eddie poked at a shoe, revealing her jewelry, nothing but a pile of twisted metal, Jodie thought she might be sick.

  “It wasn’t even my dress,” she said in a soft voice. “Ainsley is never going to loan me anything ever again.”

  Eddie pulled out the pile of lustrous powder-blue fabric and studied it. “I don’t think much can be done with it, sorry.”