Wild Cat

Eric sat down on the coffee table, resting his arms on his blue-jeaned thighs. The enviable tattoo swirled around Eric’s muscular shoulder and down the inside of his arm. Nice ink. When Diego had gotten the jagged chain tattoo across his shoulders at age sixteen, his mother had expressed displeasure. Loudly. For a long time.

Diego suddenly wondered what his mother would make of Eric—or Cassidy.

“Lieutenant Escobar, let me tell you a little bit about my sister,” Eric said. “Cassidy has had a rough time of it. Really rough.”

Diego thought through the files he’d read. “I know her boyfriend died last year.”

“Donovan was her mate, not her boyfriend. Mating is like a marriage, in human terms, but much more powerful than that. When Donovan died, we thought Cassidy would die too. Cassidy has a lot of spirit, a lot of guts. Not afraid of anything. But she grieved for a long, long time. She still is grieving. It’s been tough.”

To Diego’s surprise, he saw tears in Eric Warden’s eyes. A big, bad Shifter, weeping for his little sister.

But then, Diego’s brother, Xavier, had cried for Jobe when they’d buried him. Diego’s thoughts flashed before he could stop them to the huge, loud-laughing black man—Jobe pouring drinks into Diego the first time Diego had brought down a suspect with deadly force; Jobe with his arm around his beautiful wife at one of his backyard parties; Jobe laughing as he lifted his daughter into his arms. Jobe, who’d gotten to his knees and begged for Diego’s life, right before he’d been shot by a single bore, straight through the chest.

Diego dragged in a breath and blinked, finding his own chest tight.

“You all right?” Eric asked. He laid a hand on Diego’s shoulder, a firm but soothing gesture.

Diego blinked some more. “Yeah. Fine.”

“You were thinking about something pretty intense,” Eric said. “What happened? You lose your mate too?”

Diego shook his head. “A cop. My partner. I was remembering my brother at his funeral, trying to hold it together. My brother’s a cop too, and when one gets shot, it’s like…” Diego’s throat tightened, and the words wouldn’t come.

“The worst thing imaginable.”

“You got it.”

Diego had no clue why he was saying this to Eric Warden, a Shifter he’d met five minutes ago. Diego hadn’t talked about what had happened in more than a cursory way to anyone—not to his mother, not to Xavier, not to the other guys on the force, or even to the counselor they’d made Diego see.

“It was damn bad,” Diego said. “Especially since Jobe died trying to save my life.”

Eric pressed Diego’s shoulder, the movement almost a caress. “I’m sorry, Diego Escobar. I will say a blessing for him, and for you.”

Cassidy had said much the same thing. I’ll say a blessing for you. She hadn’t simply said it, as a stranger might politely say, I’m sorry for your loss. They understood, these Shifters. A loss for one person was a loss to everyone.

The phone rang in the kitchen, then stopped, followed by Jace’s low voice. Eric listened, head cocked, not letting go of Diego.

When Jace hung up, Eric called to him. “Jace, come on with that coffee.”

Something clattered. “Don’t get your pants in a twist, Dad. It only brews so fast.”

“I don’t need coffee,” Diego said. “I just need to see Cassidy.”

Eric’s hand slid to Diego’s neck and cupped it in a way that was a little more personal than Diego liked from another man, but he didn’t pull away. Eric kept up the pressure for a few seconds before releasing it.

“Cassidy’s not here,” Eric repeated.

“So you said. Can you call her? I’ll talk to her, make my captain happy, then I’ll get out and leave you alone.”

Eric rubbed his lip, a very human gesture. “Thing is, Escobar, I lied. Cassidy’s not here. I mean not here in Shiftertown.”

Diego got to his feet. “Then where the hell is she?”

Eric rose with him. “She’s all right. She insisted she go make her offerings, and I had to let her. But I sent my trackers with her. They’ll make sure she’s safe to their last breath, or they’ll answer to me. Trust me, they don’t want to answer to me.”

Diego glared at him. “Damn it, that’s not the point. Cassidy isn’t supposed to leave Shiftertown—at all. If she’s seen out of it, she’ll be arrested, Shifter Division will get her, and there won’t be anything I can do.”

“She won’t be seen,” Eric said in a hard voice.

“How the hell do you know that?”

Jace came out of the back carrying a mug of coffee. He looked from Eric to Diego, assessed the mood, then lifted the mug and drank the coffee himself.

“The phone call Jace just took was from one of my trackers,” Eric said. “They’re checking in every half hour. I heard what he said. Cassidy is fine.”

Jace nodded confirmation and took another sip of coffee.

“Son of a bitch,” Diego said. “It’s not about how well she’s guarded. The only reason she’s not in a Shifter Division cage is because I vouched for her, promised that she’d stay home. You need to find her and get her back here. Now.”

“I just told you what she’s going through,” Eric said in a hard voice. “Her mate was cut down by human hunters. Tonight is his remembrance blessing, and she’s making her peace with where he died. She hasn’t been able to make herself go there until now, which is a huge step forward for her. I couldn’t tell her no.” Eric’s expression reflected anguish, but Diego couldn’t let this go so easily. “I know what she’s feeling,” Eric went on, “because I went through it too. She needed to go, and I understood. I sent the trackers with her to make damn sure nothing happens to her. She’s praying, and she’s fine.”