The first sign that something was wrong was when Dean didn’t meet Indigo during their set meeting—Dean, who was never late for anything according to Jack, unless there was something very important he needed to take care of or something that prevented him from coming.
Her gut instinct told her that it was the latter.
She tried not to panic, instead searching her mind for where he could possibly be. Then, because she really didn’t have any clue, she decided to just go for a walk when he was half an hour late and try to find him on her own.
She went to his cabin first, avoiding the guards before she slipped in and found it empty. Then she circled the island, using the forest as cover as she looked for him and wondered what trouble he’d gotten in. He was too slick to be discovered so easily, and he wasn’t the type to go off plan, considering his personality. No. Dean would go according to plan perfectly, even if it killed him.
The auction finished, and the guests went to their ferries and left for New York, where Jack and Kasper were waiting for them. The only threat at the moment was the bigwig, Mrs. Cortez, but the woman was obviously warming up to him. Indigo had burned the black witch.
Was there another black witch around?
The thought made her go cold, but logic replaced the horror quickly as she reasoned it couldn’t be. They were controlling that part of the equation now—and unless Dean himself ordered another black witch from the “bosses,” then she had nothing to worry about.
She remembered Kasper’s instructions to set up the trap and the evidence-recording before the other shifters arrived. Frustration slid in when she realized she couldn’t do it alone.
She needed Dean.
It was probably by coincidence that she found him just before she did another round on the island, after not having found him on her first try. He was standing by the river, walking around fast, but that wasn’t what had her staring.
It was the tension in his shoulders and a certain body language that indicated only one thing: he was looking for someone.
And he was going to kill that someone.
The question was in her throat as she approached him, but her steps halted when she remembered guards would be coming in this area in less than a minute. As if on cue, they came, bumping into Dean and basically ignoring him before standing at their posts. He visibly calmed down at the sight of them, nodding his head in greeting before slipping out of there and into the forest.
Grimly, she followed.
She wished she knew how to communicate with him while her energy was stored, but that was a high level of magic that only happened rarely, and their connection was done. So she settled for staying in the dark as she tracked his movements, and she worried slowly when she realized he wasn’t even bothering to keep in the dark himself.
He was getting careless.
Her opening came when he entered an area where no guards were usually around. Indigo quickened her steps, and she was on him just as he turned around, his hands moving fast as he tried to pin her shoulders. Anticipating the movement, she sidestepped and narrowed her eyes at him, allowing him time to absorb the sight of her before recognition flickered in his gaze.
Then she was dragging him somewhere darker, where she proceeded to glare at him and fisted her hands.
“What the hell are you doing? Are you purposely blowing our cover?”
Her voice was angry, and she couldn’t control it. She expected him to fight back and be cold again, to scold her and say something clever. But what came out of his mouth had her fisted hands opening and shock vibrating in her chest.
“Kasper found out it was my father giving the orders.”
That was all he said, but he didn’t need to say more. She understood what he meant and felt her heart reaching out to him, even while she deliberately placed her hands behind her. His stance told her any comfort was unwelcome, that he just wasn’t ready yet.
So she offered him logic instead.
“Is he sure?”
“Not 100%. He’s still going to keep tracing.”
Indigo took an inward breath of relief. It wasn’t a huge hope, but it was hope still. She grabbed on to that and used common sense again, her words slow and measured.
“Then we can’t assume until we’re sure. And you can’t act based on emotion and be careless right now, you need to be objective.” This time, she grabbed his arm, a firm hold. His eyes went there, and a frown marred his face. “Dean, we don’t have much time. We need to set those traps and devices, and I can’t do it on my own. We need to do it before they arrive.”
His jaw tensed, and she watched him struggle with whatever agony he was feeling. It radiated off him in waves, along with a frustration that she could almost touch. He won the struggle eventually, his eyes clearing and his shoulders straightening. When he met her gaze, they were cold and determined once more.
“Alright.”
Following his casual approach, she gave him her signature smirk. “Alright. That’s more like it.”
Indigo removed her hand and made a move to turn around—but before she could, it was his hand on her arm now, easing her back. She looked up, and the smirk on her mouth died at the sight of his face.
He was looking at her intensely again, and his eyes searched hers for…something. He must have seen it because she saw them softening, the dark gold turning light and making her lose her breath just a little bit. He moved closer until she lost any personal space she might have had—until longing filled her and made her want again. This time, the want was mixed with a need to comfort, and it shook her just a little bit.
“Thank you, Indigo. Thank you for caring.”
She shook her head. “I’m just doing what needs to be done,” she whispered.
But his gaze said he didn’t believe it, and she found she couldn’t protest anymore. He didn’t say anything, merely backed away and said they should get started. Then he stepped out of the darkness and in the direction of the cabin, where the equipment Kasper provided were hidden.
Still shaken, she forced herself to follow.
*****
It took them an hour to set everything up initially, then a couple more minutes to make sure those positions wouldn’t be touched by the regular guards in the meantime. Dean informed Jack and Kasper that everything was in place, and their timer was set to another hour so they could do everything accordingly: with Jack and Kasper finishing up the arrest in SoHo, and Indigo and Dean doing the arrest here.
The shifters weren’t meant to arrive until that set hour. So far, everyone was doing their routine. It gave Indigo and Dean the opportunity to roam again and check everything, especially Mrs. Cortez.
As it turned out, they didn’t have a problem because she was busy. In fact, she was very busy having sexual relations with one of the guards—a development that they didn’t quite predict but nonetheless worked for them.
The hours ticked by, and the time was slowly approaching. It almost drove Indigo crazy to wait, especially as she worried over Salazar, who was supposed to be shipped tonight to the person who bid for him. After she and Dean separated, she visited the vampire in his cage to give him some blood again. Then she told him to get ready because he wasn’t going to be shipped, and they were going to need his manpower to escape. But the point was he was going to be out of here.
And she was going to make sure of that.
Half an hour before the set time, a ferry came and docked down the front shore, throwing their plan for a loop. There were no schedules for docking at this time, and a look at the person who got out of the boat told them this was no ordinary docking, either.
He was broad and bulky—qualities that made Indigo suspect what he was already, despite him not doing anything but walking. His gait was confident, but the tenseness of his shoulders and frown on his face indicated he didn’t want to be here at all.
He stopped in front of one of the guards, looking positively menacing. “I want to speak to your head.”
“She’s currently busy.”
That wasn’t the answer he wanted, and his mouth flattened. Indigo half-feared he would tear up the guard then and there, and she readied herself to make a distraction to prevent that from happening. No human guard would stand a chance against him, not with that raw power.
To her surprise, he didn’t attack. Instead, he made an about-face and walked the forest, muttering words that she couldn’t understand at first. Then he walked closer, passing inches in front of her, and she heard the words loud and clear.
“Damn idiots. Making me barge sooner to check things. Watch me mess this island up for their goddamn grand welcome.”
So the other shifters had sent this one as bait, and he didn’t like it one bit.
Indigo would have let it go. But the traps were already set, and him trudging around in the forest like that would just mess things up. She realized she had no other choice in the matter, and she needed to do something now as he disappeared down the line of trees.
She followed him.
Indigo made sure her steps were heavy, made sure she breathed like a teenage boy would. She watched as the man stopped in his tracks, turning in her direction as they reached a clearing. This place had no traps, because this place wasn’t one of the guards’ routes.
She cleared her throat, eyeing him up and down and making a show of being both curious and frightened. She opened her mouth.
“What comes out of your mouth better be fucking information about why we’re called here.”
In response, she tilted her head. “You weren’t told?”
“Of what?”
“I’m not the right person to tell you everything. But I can direct you to the correct person.”
“Hurry up,” he grumbled. “I need to report to them that it’s safe.”
She nodded, pretending to be terrified. In actuality, she wasn’t as calm as she wanted to be, especially when she felt his eyes on her. His claws came out, and she watched it out of the corner of her eye.
Indigo kept walking, trying to recall the places with no traps. She stepped into another clearing—
Her eyes widened when Dean slipped in from the side, as quiet as the dead of night. It was his real face because he’d half-shifted. She swiveled her head back in the man’s direction—
A hand hit her stomach and sent her flying. Indigo felt her back hit a tree and felt pain spike. She stifled the groan, unsure whether she could control the loudness of the sound. Instead, she clutched her belly and stood back up, watching in horror as a silent fight was suddenly happening in front of her.
They wrestled on the ground in their lion forms, with Dean trying to stifle the other’s sound by wrapping his paws around the other’s jaw. The shifter retaliated by digging his claws on Dean’s fur, drawing blood. It dripped, and the sight of it had Indigo turning cold.
Then she snapped to movement and ran, leaping for the lion’s back and letting her energy flow out of her in spades.
The sudden use of it had her muscles groaning in protest and slices of pain singe her, but she kept on, using her energy to slice at the man instead. She had a weapon with her as a pretend guard, and she took that out now, stabbing the shifter repeatedly in the back until he growled and turned in her direction. His claws went to pounce on her—
Dean dragged him back, pinning him to the ground. Then Dean proceeded to bite his neck and snap, his shoulders bunching as he used his strength to break the bone in two.
She looked away, the blood of the lion splashing on her cheek. Then she scrambled up and watched as the lion slumped on the ground, obviously dead.
Breathing hard, Dean transformed into human form, golden eyes hard and angry. They studied him intensely, taking note of her wounds.
“Are you…?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Just wasn’t expecting that.” She looked around, finally finding a phone tossed to the side along with the dead shifter’s ripped clothes.
Indigo nodded her head at Dean, determined than ever. “I’ll text the other shifters to barge on time. We’re doing this.”
Dean’s response was just as determined.
“Yes. We are.”