City of Sins

Chapter 7

Adam headed towards a huge SUV in the VIP parking area, a low hung Porsche Macan GTS in a metallic green that shifted to blue under the right lighting. As soon as they got within ten feet, Bella squirmed. “Listen, I’m fine. I can sit on the curb or something…” Adam just grunted and pushed a button somewhere that had the vehicle chirruping as doors clicked open, loud to her sensitive shifter ears.

“Stop.” Instead of opening the front doors, Adam let her feet drop long enough to yank open the rear passenger door and pushed her into the leather seat. Another click and the trunk popped up, the big man moving away to rummage around while Bella wracked her brain for a way to just bounce. Not like the bullet wound did actual damage except for the explanation. Shifters healed fast and few people could afford or carry the silver rounds that would have required actual medical attention. Behind them, sirens sounded in the distance and she rose off the seat a second before he came back around and, without preamble, shoved the slender female down with a scowl.

“Hey!” Bella’s protest died out when his eyes met hers. Anger simmered in the depths, tempered with something that looked like interest and that right there wasn’t gonna happen if she had anything to say about it.

Hands that were oddly gentle pulled her fingers away from where the wound seeped, the blood flow already lessening. “This is a typical night for you?” Yanking the small first aid kit opened, he rummaged as he spoke. “Did you have any idea the guy was gonna be armed?”

Nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed. “No, I wouldn’t have run up on the asshole had I….”

Jenna ran up from the club, showing it all in cheek chillers, basically a set of chaps and a glittery push-up bra that had seen better days. Good thing the club was so dark, you wouldn’t have missed the wear and stains that were visible in the well lit front lot. “Oh, my god…. oh my god!!!!.” She kept trying to push past Adam but his bulk and the ferocious scowl he flashed when Jenna kept pulling on his shoulder backed her up a few steps on her massive work heels. “I did not know he carried a gun. I would have….”

“Warned her? Or were you worried about hazard pay?” Adam bit the words out as he tucked a wad of gauze pads up against Bella’s skin and taped them into place. No point in doing much else. As the wound closed, the bullet would work itself out.

Bella remained quiet, trying to hide the growing amusement at Jenna’s expression, one because Adam took her to task and because of all her attempts at getting what had to be a vast improvement on the current BF to notice her failed miserably. An ambulance came barreling into the broken parking lot and halted where Adam’s throw had sent Jenna’s ex careening off a Buick to land in a large banana yucca. At the same time, two responding officers approached from the rear of the building, obviously having talked to the bouncer who must have clued them into where the other witnesses were.

The taller of the two stared for a second, then his face brightened as he recognized Bella. “Isabella? Damn, what did you get yourself into this time?”

Grimacing, Bella shrugged as best she could with Adam finishing up his ministrations with a low key flourish. “What I thought was just gonna be me reminding an ex how quick he’d go back to prison at this rate. Didn’t think he’d have a gun.” She grinned at him. “And damn Gary! You’ve gotten all lean and mean.” The officer returned the smile and would have responded, but Adam had gathered the trash in a neat bundle and stood, deliberately crowding the officers and making them step out of his way and away from the slender female in the backseat. “Good thing he just grazed her or we’d be on our way to the ER.” Lobbing the snarled tape and wads of gauze into a nearby trash can before turning to face the pair and deliberately stepping between the cops and Bella. “Is there a way you can take her state…….”

Bella cut him off before he could finish the word. “I’m fine, and I can give the statement now.” Pausing, she glowered at the king of the pride, a flash of earlier irritation rising like the desert storms Vegas was prone to. No matter the grumbling, she finished the statement and left her card with Gary with a promise to call if she remembered anything, though as cases went, this one was a plea deal and minimal incarceration time.

Adam lingered in the background, disapproval in every line of his expression, until the two officers wished them both a good night. When they were out of earshot, he moved, crowding Bella into the grey leather of the backseat and grabbing her chin in a firm grip. “I know you value your privacy, but I need to know what the hell is going on. You’ve obviously felt free to share with other clan heads. Now it’s time for you and I to have some share time.”

Bella’s stomach sank, the pain in her side fading as irritation and a tiny, irritating hint of guilt rose up to choke her. He was right, and that fact alone pissed her off even more. “Fine. There have been sporadic reports of shifters going missing over the last 12 months, but nothing that’s a red flag statistically. I mean, we’re not known for stability once life with lycanthropy kicks in.” Which wasn’t too far from the truth. Infection often led to broken families and estrangements from loved ones, making trust a hard won commodity. Some just drifted from town to town, others had drifted so far away their lack of communication just didn’t register.

Her stomach rumbled and Bella’s voice died off as a flush spread over her cheeks. “Sorry, kinda skipped dinner thinking I’d hit up Arby’s on the way home.”

Adam drew her up, leading her around to the passenger side and waved her in. “Come on, I can feed you.”

She balked, pulling back and shaking her head. “No…. honestly I just wanna go home now, just let me finish…”

Leaning forward, he physically touched his nose to hers, eyes impelling and oh so intense. “It wasn’t a request.” A nudge and he’d unbalanced her enough to basically shove her into the seat, pinning her with his bulk as he reached across her chest to snap the belt into place.

She could have gotten out. Bella knew that a single twist of the wrist would free her and she’d be out the door before Adam could get back around the car, but something held her motionless. Hunger, a need that gnawed at her spine, an impending emotional crash lingering just on the horizon, and all she could think about was how good Adam smelled. Not a road that needed exploring, so with a grumble, Bella relaxed into the seat. “Fine.”

Adam drove with the same laser focus he approached life with and they wove in and out of traffic with an almost terrifying speed till the familiar arches appeared. “McD’s work?”

Nodding her assent, Bella watched sure hands pilot them thru the drive thru and didn’t say a word while Adam ordered for them both. Pulling away with three bags of assorted burgers, nuggets and fries, they drove till he found a park and pulled into a dark corner of the lot near the tennis courts. Refusing to listen to a word until she’d eaten at least a couple of beef patties and a handful of fries. He ate twice as much. Only when she wiped her fingers clean with a napkin did he too stuff the last three nuggets in his mouth and turn to face her.

“One, how do you feel?” It came out a little mumbled around the last few chews.

Bella rolled her eyes. “Better.” Pulling her blood smeared shirt up to peel the edges of the tape up so he could see the already half-healed wound with just the edges of the bullet showing.

Nodding, he sucked a little coke up the straw. “Two, what the hell is going on? How is this little mess part of…”

This time, she held up a hand. “This is just a case I shouldn’t have taken, but for a half day’s work, the money is good.” Still hungry, she nibbled on a nugget. “The LVPD case is something different. We’ve had three out-of-town shifters dumped in various locations before last night. All had injuries consistent with a fight with another shifter. No clan head I talked to knew these people or had contact with them before they disappeared.”

Adam kept quiet as she spoke, nodding only when needed and listening with an intent stare that never left her face, so she continued. “I started digging around and found we’ve had another seven shifters from various species visiting Vegas that apparently went missing after leaving town. I’ve run down three so far and all seem to have checked out of the hotel and were never seen again.”

“Any lions?” He asked, curiosity in both expression and tone. “It looks bad, like we’re involved.”

Bella shook her head. “No. Not one. That’s something both Zander and Michael brought up.” She glanced at him, amused to see his reaction. “You’re such an anal retentive prick about anyone that lands in town. If anyone came to you about a loved one who went missing, the entire pride would be out looking.”

Adam glared. “Is the name calling really necessary?”

She couldn’t stop the snort of amusement. “If you have to ask... yes!”

Again, he surprised her with a laugh and a pat on the head. “In all seriousness, are you sure you should do this alone?”

The comment should have brought her anger back, but Bella felt a tiny niggle of relief instead. The Lawman offering help, not barging his way into the middle of things like he’d done at the start of the evening, was a refreshing change of pace and, if truth be told, she kinda liked it. No way she’d admit it out loud, of course. “I’m not alone Law, I’ve got Las Vegas’ finest at my beck and call.”

“Which is why you contacted all the clan heads and the fang of the city about it.” Adam grabbed another burger and tore into it. The amount of food the man could put down in one sitting impressed even other lycanthropes.

Sitting for a moment, she counted to ten before responding, not willing to jinx the almost civil conversation. “It is gonna minimize my leg work and alert them to the problem.” Tapping her bottom lip with a now lukewarm french fry, Bella flashed a smile. “Because it dawned on me that someone has to know something. You can’t have shifters all over the city and working on the strip who’ve noticed jackshit. The odds aren’t right.” Tilting her head, she lifted an eyebrow. “But the clan heads will police their own people, and I’ll get the intel one way or another.”

Reaching out, Adam grabbed her chin with thumb and forefinger, dragging her head up till their eyes met. “Do me a favor brat, don’t make promises you can’t keep and if it gets out of hand or you get in too deep, call me. The pride stands together.” Before he let her go, his thumb brushed her bottom lip. “Besides, I’m actually beginning to like you a little.”

Bella knocked his hand aside, but her lips curled into a grin. “Well, at least one of us is warming up.”