Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

W ithin minutes of Selene's call, Gryphon pulled up in the armor-plated SUV he'd driven Selene home in. He dropped down and crossed to her.

The redhead Selene had identified as one of her sisters and another woman with jet-black hair stepped in front of him, before he reached her.

A growl rumbled up his throat and he fought to keep it from emerging. "I'm not going to hurt her. I came to help find the animal that killed Amanda."

"These two rude women are my sisters, Deme and Brigid." Selene stepped around them and stood beside Gryph, facing the women. "The other two are Gina and Aurai, also my sisters. And the cop is Cal Black. Sisters, this is Gryph." Her cheeks reddened and she glanced up at him. "I'm sorry, I don't know your last name." She'd made love to him, but there were a lot of things she didn't know about him. And a lot he didn't know about her.

"Leone. Gryphon Leone." Gryph's chest swelled at her show of faith as she stood with him in front of her sisters. The heat from her body ignited those embers he'd thought banked by a few hours' separation, reminding him of how beautiful her pale skin was against the black surface of his office desk.

The sandy-haired sister stepped up beside Brigid, the raven-haired one. " The Gryphon Leone?"

Gryph cringed. He preferred to maintain his anonymity. That others outside his corporation knew of him always baffled him. Why would they care? He wasn't his business.

"You know him?" Brigid asked.

"I don't know him," Gina said. "But I've heard about him. I contracted to clean the built-in aquariums in his corporate headquarters. He's one of the richest men in Chicago."

"By the goddess, we have a celebrity among us." Aurai chuckled. "And one of the hardest to get a picture of. The media would kill to get an interview with him." She covered her mouth. "Sorry, I didn't mean to infer someone in the media would have killed Amanda to get an interview with you, Mr. Leone."

"Please, excuse my ignorance." Deme's voice dripped sarcasm. "I'm not up on the rich and famous."

"Maybe not, Deme." Gina faced her sister. "But you've heard of GL Enterprises, haven't you?"

"Who hasn't?" Deme's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me we rescued the owner of GL Enterprises?"

Gryph nodded.

Selene's lips quirked on the corners.

Brigid wasn't laughing. "Rich or not, we know it was you Amanda drew the picture of."

Gryph's mouth firmed into a straight line. "Mine was the last face she saw. I was leaving the theater when I heard her scream. I found her after the wolf had already attacked. I fought him off, or he'd have finished the job then." He touched his shoulder where the wolf had bit him, the pain still all too memorable. "I stayed with her as long as I could until I heard the ambulance. I didn't attack her."

"The ME and a forensic anthropologist said that based on the bite marks, she was attacked from behind," Selene said, filling him in on what the professor had said about the bite being from a large dog or wolf.

"A shifter," he said.

"You know?" Aurai asked.

Brigid laughed. "Hell, he's a shifter. I'd guess he'd know if there were others in the city."

"Not necessarily," Gryph responded. "I shift to the form of a lion. I haven't had much contact with many wolves. However, I know they exist."

"And how many lion shifters are there in the city?" Deme asked.

His chin lifted. "I'm the only one I know of."

"You say you know an address of a place in Archer Heights we can start looking?" Brigid asked.

"I have an address of a pool hall where a gang of wolf shifters has been known to hang out."

"Where'd you get it?" Deme asked.

Gryph shook his head. "Sorry, I can't say."

Brigid crossed her arms and glared at him. "Why should we trust you?"

His lips quirked. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"No." Brigid's arms fell to her sides. "Let's look at it."

He pulled out his smartphone and brought up the map location, clicking on the satellite image that displayed the roofs of homes, businesses and warehouses.

"We can't all go barging into the pool hall demanding answers," Cal said.

"You're not leaving me behind," Selene said.

"Or us," Gina added as she nodded to Aurai.

"Some of us can stay in the vehicle outside the building in case we need to make a quick getaway." Deme stared around the group, her gaze landing on Aurai and Gina. "You two will be in the vehicle, at the ready, if we need a bit of sister persuasion."

The two of them nodded, and Gina glanced at the sky and sniffed. "If we're lucky, it'll rain."

Aurai draped an arm across Gina's shoulder. "We can make our own luck with a little help." She winked.

Selene shot what seemed like a nervous glance at Gryph.

His eyes narrowed. "I don't like the idea of any of you going in. It's a wolves' den, not an ice-cream parlor."

Cal chuckled. "You don't know much about the Chattox sisters, do you?"

He shook his head. "It's not safe. If they choose to attack, they'll outnumber us."

"I have my gun." Cal patted the weapon beneath his black leather jacket. "But it's nothing compared to their talents."

"Deme and I can handle anything thrown our way. We've walked into worse situations." Brigid turned to Selene. "Although I don't like the idea of Selene going in, we could use her skills."

"What skills? What do you mean?" Gryph asked.

"Nothing." Selene glared at her black-haired sister. "And don't worry, I'm going in."

"You'll stay in the SUV with Gina and Aurai," Gryph insisted.

Gina laid a hand on Gryph's arm. "Trust her, she can be our best asset inside."

"I'll be okay," Selene said softly. "I know what to do."

"Those are some of the roughest neighborhoods in the city," Gryph argued. "The humans are more like animals."

Gina grinned. "We can hope the animals are more human."

"Look, Gryph, we can be one of the most formidable opponents anyone will ever meet." Deme glanced around the circle. "Right?"

"Right!" Selene and the rest of her sisters all answered as one.

Brigid clapped a hand on Gryph's back. "Guess we're going to the pool hall. Unless you think it's too dangerous. You can stay here until we come back."

He glared at Brigid.

"Cheer up." Cal checked his firearm. "They're a force to be reckoned with."

"I'm beginning to realize that."

"We'll stop two blocks short of the warehouse and let Brigid, Cal and Deme go in first."

Deme pulled a kerchief from her back pocket, tucked her hair back behind her ears and tied the cloth like a do-rag, securing the knots at the back of her head.

She'd transformed from classy detective in a black leather jacket to a thug in seconds.

Brigid, in her kick-ass black leather chaps and well-worn black Harley jacket, already fit the part. She climbed onto her motorcycle and revved the engine. "Selene, you can't go in like that, get dirty or something."

"These are my best jeans."

"Exactly. Roll in the mud or something." Brigid's gaze skimmed across the neatly pressed line down the front. "They're too new, and switch shirts with Aurai. That white T-shirt will get you killed. You look like a high-school prep."

Selene's cheeks bloomed bright red. "We can change in the SUV."

"Just don't get yourself killed." Aurai grinned, running her hands over her shirt. "It's one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins T-shirts."

"Nice to know where I rank." Selene hugged her sister. "What are we going in?"

"You're riding with me." Gryph wasn't giving her any other choices. He didn't like that she was going at all. At least if she was with him, he could provide some kind of protection.

"Aurai and I will ride with Deme and Cal," Gina said.

They made plans and synchronized their watches.

Aurai and Selene stepped into Deme's SUV and exchanged shirts, mussing Selene's hair to give her a tougher, more badass look. When she emerged, wearing Aurai's stilettos, her chin high, sunglasses shading her brown eyes and bright red lipstick slashed across her full, luscious lips, Gryph wanted to skip the pool hall and take her straight to his apartment, where his king-size bed would be a lot more comfortable than the top of his desk. He'd make love to her until the sun rose the next day.

She strutted by him, running a finger across his chest. "Ready?"

His cock twitched. Yeah, he was ready.

Aurai giggled. "What a tease."

Brigid roared out of the morgue parking lot, leading the way to Archer Heights.

Before long, Gryph was driving past the pool hall. Several men leaned against the outside wall, smoking cigarettes. A couple of girls in tight jeans and strategically torn jean jackets hung on the arms of two of the men. Motorcycles, tricked-out cars and junkers lined the parking lot and rock music vibrated through the walls of the dilapidated building.

Gryph didn't even slow. He drove past an old bottling company warehouse, turned on the next street and pulled in behind a guard shack. The huge warehouse was surrounded by a chain-link fence, the gate chained and locked.

"Aren't you afraid someone will steal your car?" Selene asked.

"I have insurance."

"I hope you have life insurance. We might need it by the look of that pool hall."

Gryph turned in his seat and captured her hand. "I don't want you to go in."

She squeezed his hand. "I have to do this. They need me, and I need to help find Amanda's killer."

"Stay here. Let me handle it."

Her gentle smile made his insides flutter. "Between me and my sisters, we can handle anything that's thrown our way. We've been in worse situations than a little pool hall."

"Those are shifters in there. If they are anywhere as big as the one that attacked Amanda, they will dominate you and your sisters by sheer size and strength.

Again her smile sent blood rushing straight south. "There are things you don't know about us and that I don't have time to explain. We have to get in there. Deme and Brigid need me."

"I don't like it."

"So noted."

Gryph slid out of the vehicle and rounded the hood to open the door for her. Grasping her around her middle, he lowered her to the ground, sliding her body down the length of his, rubbing her pelvis over the hard ridge beneath his jeans. "We could call this off and go back to my place."

"I thought making love to me was a big mistake." She traced a finger in a swirling pattern across his chest. "Change your mind?"

"I still think it's a mistake, but I'd rather risk me hurting you than that gang of wolves in the pool hall."

"See? You're beginning to make more sense."

"So you'll go with me?"

"No." She stepped back. "You see, I have skills my sisters don't."

"Like?"

She bit her lip and stared to the far right. "I can read people."

Gryph studied her face. Selene wasn't meeting his eyes. Something about what she'd said didn't ring completely true.

"We don't have time to discuss it. Just know, I can tell when it's time to leave, before it's too late."

"I hope so, because we'll be surrounded." He grabbed her hand and guided her past the guard shack to the sidewalk. They rounded the corner two blocks away.

"Brigid just entered."

"How can you tell?"

"I know." She gazed ahead toward the pool hall, where a dingy neon light hung over the door. "Deme and Cal are inside."

"How do you know?" He squinted. "I have good night vision. It's one of the perks of being part lion. But from here, I can't distinguish who's going in or out of the building."

"Trust me." She pushed her sunglasses up on her nose and put a little more sway in her walk, slipping his arm over her shoulders. "Let's get inside and find us a killer."

Gryph gritted his teeth and went along with the plan. As they neared the pool hall, the men leaning against the building straightened, eyes narrowing, nostrils twitching.

Oh, yeah. They looked like humans, but something about the way their nostrils flared made Gryph think these could be some of the wolf shifters Rafe had said would be here and the whole area reeked of dog.

Without slowing, he tucked Selene close against his side and entered the building.

The guys on the outside followed them inside.

His gut told him things were about to get sticky.

* * *

As soon as they stepped through the door, Selene could sense the tension rising in the room. All eyes angled toward Gryph.

They knew he wasn't human and he was on wolf turf.

Perhaps having Gryph along wasn't such a good idea. Humans were expected. She and her sisters might have been better off coming in sans the men. Most men assumed women were helpless and didn't consider them a threat.

Selene could feel the first prickles of hair rising on the backs of the necks of the wolf shifters in the room. A low rumbling built in some of their chests. Too low to be heard over the music, but she sensed it, nonetheless.

Cal and Deme sat at one end of the bar, talking to the bartender. The bartender's lips were moving and his eyes were shifting around the room as if he was afraid of talking to the two.

Brigid stood beside one of the pool tables, observing a game and chugging a mug of beer.

Selene steered Gryph to a table in a shadowy corner and sat, glad for the glasses so that she could browse the room without being too obvious. The tabletop was sticky and the room smelled of old cigarettes and spilled alcohol.

Selene was in no hurry to order drinks she had no intention of drinking. She focused on the thoughts and mental images of the patrons of the pool hall.

Two tattooed men racked the balls on the pool table close to where Brigid stood. They were sizing her up and debating whether or not to let her in on the game.

Selene almost laughed out loud when her kick-ass sister dropped her keys on the floor and bent to retrieve them, hiking her ass in their direction, displaying the smooth curve in the tight jeans beneath her leather chaps.

The men's temperatures rose and a wave of lust flowed over Selene's senses. Two seconds later, they invited Brigid to play a round.

Selene shifted her focus to the bar, where Cal and Deme leaned toward the bartender, their faces purposely relaxed. Inside they were tense. Whatever the man behind the bar was telling them had their full attention.

"I'm going to the bar to order drinks and ask questions." As Gryph started to rise, a scuffle broke out by the pool table.

A third man had joined Brigid and her two pool players, his attitude and vibes shooting off anger and aggression. The man grabbed for Brigid.

The two men she'd been playing with stepped between her and the interloper, spun him and slammed him against the wall, knocking the cue rack over. The man slithered to the floor, a knot the size of a quarter rising on his forehead.

The bartender shouted, "Take it outside."

The two men picked the guy up, dusted him off and shoved him toward the door. He swayed, steadied and then staggered out the door.

A heavyset waitress, who was wearing a T-shirt with the words Waiting for Mr. Right written across her ample breasts in faded and peeling letters, stopped by their table. "What can I getcha?"

"Information." Gryph slid a one-hundred-dollar bill into the woman's hand.

She stared at the bill, then tucked it into her pocket. "For that kind of money, I'd give you the combination to the safe in the back room."

"I don't want the combination."

Selene didn't sense any animosity from the woman. She was tired from working two jobs, her feet hurt and she wanted the night to end so that she could get four hours sleep before she started all over again. An image of a small boy wove through her thoughts.

"Which one of the people in this bar is the Devil's Disciples pack leader?" Gryph asked, keeping his voice low and conversational, adding a little louder, "We'll have two beers."

Immediately the woman's back stiffened and her hands shook. Fear replaced exhaustion. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"She's lying," Selene said softly. "And she's frightened."

"There's another one hundred dollars in it for you if you point him out," Gryph said.

She backed away. "I got a kid. I don't want no trouble."

"I'm not asking you do anything but point."

She looked left then right. "He's not here."

"Is there a second in command?" Gryph asked.

She leaned over the table and wiped a dirty rag over the surface. "In the corner at the pool table. The tattoo with the upside-down cross."

Gryph slid another bill into her hand.

The woman hurried away, looking back toward the man beside Brigid with the upside-down cross tattoo on his upper arm.

Selene closed her eyes and sent a warning nudge to her sister.

Brigid gave an almost imperceptible nod and lifted her pool cue to take the shot.

A few moments later, the waitress returned with their two beers and a big burly man with tattoos covering his arms followed.

The waitress set the beers on the table and scurried away, keeping her gaze averted from Gryph and Selene.

The woman was cringing inwardly and envisioning an escape route from the crowded bar, anticipating a fight, as if she'd seen many fights before.

The man who'd followed the waitress moved closer, his arms crossing over his massive chest. "We don't serve the likes of your kind here." Every gaze swung toward him.

Trapped in his seat, with the big guy threatening him, Gryph smiled and leaned back. "And what kind would that be?"

Though his words were casual and drawn out, as if he didn't have a care in the world, he was revving up beneath the surface, ready to react to any threat.

Selene could sense the animal inside waking and flexing, preparing to spring, and she marveled at his self-control.

The pack member snarled, canines extending enough to let Gryph know he recognized a shifter when he saw one. "You better leave."

Gryph tapped the bottle in front of him "My girl and I haven't finished our beer."

In a lightning move, the man swiped his tree-trunk-sized arm across the table and the full bottles of beer crashed to the floor. "Looks to me like you're finished now."

Selene jumped, but managed not to squeal. The animosity emanating from the man could only be described as primal. One animal defending his territory against another, the wolf beneath his skin fighting to get out, barely leashed.

Gryph shrugged out of his jacket, folded it neatly and laid it across Selene's lap. "I'll leave when I'm ready."

Her breath lodged in her throat, Selene whispered, "Gryph, don't."

"I'm not starting anything, babe." He patted her hand, then glanced at the guy standing over him, his eyes narrowing.

Selene sent a silent push to her sisters. Get out. The shit's about to hit the fan.

Several other men closed ranks behind the tattooed man standing in front of Gryph, all shrugging out of their jackets.

Selene felt the wolves shift a few seconds before it happened, and the tiny hairs springing out of the men's skin almost made her itch.

She touched Gryph's leg and gave him an urgent nudge with her mind. Shift. Now.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek, whispering, "Get out while I distract them." Then he lunged from his seat in a flying tackle, hit the man in the gut, sending him crashing backward into the others. All of them landed in a pile on the floor, giving Gryph enough time to transform—the change was almost instantaneous, from man to lion.

He roared, dropped to all fours and pounced on the downed men even as they shifted into wolves. One by one, they were sent flying with a powerful swipe of his massive paw.

With three wolves in front closing in on him, Gryph didn't see the two who'd been playing pool with Brigid shift and spring toward him.

Brigid balled up a fist of flames and flung it at one of them, catching his fur on fire. The wolf howled, dropped and rolled, the scent of singed hair filling the room.

The other wolf bunched his muscles as he prepared to leap, but Selene hit him hard with a mental slap, making him stagger and fall on his face. He lurched to his feet, shook his head and would have leaped into the fray, but vines that snaked out from an ivy growing along a ledge wrapped around all four legs and pulled tight, like in a calf-roping contest. The wolf fell hard on his side and struggled to break free.

More wolves gathered until a dozen circled Gryph. A brief yip from the leader and all of them lunged at once.

If all the wolves ripped into Gryph, he wouldn't make it. What he needed was something like a force field, a wall between him and the enemy.

Fear for Gryph made Selene concentrate her telepathic abilities on him, a chant in her mind calling forth the influence of the goddess. A swell of power built inside her, around her, encompassing the space around Gryph, building an invisible barrier that prevented the wolves from reaching him, but it was more in their minds than grounded in reality.

Wolves charged toward Gryph and, at the last moment, skidded to a halt, their minds refusing to let them cross the invisible line.

Snarling and snapping at the air, they remained back, pacing, waiting for the moment they could pass through a barrier they could not see, but most certainly felt.

Deme dropped from her stool on the bar and raised her hands, sending a twist of vines at the wolf who'd yipped the attack signal, trussing him up like a pig for slaughter. In moments, he transformed back to his human form, the upside-down cross tattoo easily discernible in the dim lighting of the pool hall.

The other wolves backed away, growling.

Selene sent thoughts of fleeing to them. Some shook their heads, backed toward the door and ran. Others glared at her, seeming to know she'd been the one to put the thoughts into their minds.

The tattooed man fought against his bindings. "What do you want with us?"

Gryph allowed himself to transform back to almost human form, retaining enough of his animal to still appear fierce, but not enough he couldn't be understood. "Which one of your pack killed Amanda Grant?"

The wolf on the ground at his feet shook his head and spat on the floor beside Gryph's feet. "You're barking up the wrong tree."

"Lion's don't bark." Gryph's animal came out enough for him to slam a giant paw on the man's chest and he growled against the guy's face, his canines, wickedly long and sharp, pressing into the skin.

Selene shivered, glad Gryph was on their side.

The man flinched. "It wasn't us. Whoever it was went rogue. He's acting on his own. He's not part of the Devil's Disciples."

"You're known for turning humans. Do all the humans you turn join your pack?"

"No."

Selene prodded the man's mind, but couldn't get beyond the image of another wolf. One that had held off his pack in a daring standoff. "He knows who it might be."

Gryph roared and bounced his paw on the man's chest for effect. "Who did it?"

"I wouldn't tell you, even if I knew." He growled, his snout elongating, wicked teeth bared, the effect frightening even with the man securely tied in vines. "You can't fight off the entire pack. You won't get out of here alive."

Selene couldn't help glancing toward the door, half expecting an army of wolves to step through.

Gryph transformed into full lion and opened his jaws wide, his teeth gleaming in the darkness. He dropped his head fast, his teeth connecting with the man's throat, without breaking the skin.

"You better tell him what you know. He's not very good at holding back his beast," Selene warned him.

"Go ahead," the man on the floor snarled. "Kill me."

Gryph roared again.

Selene willed him to spare the man. He might be useful.

The lights in the building blinked out, the music from the sound system died with the lights, leaving the room pitch-black and eerily quiet except for the snarling wolves, and shifting feet and furniture as people and animals shuffled in the darkness.

Then the sound of wind wailed at the building and the pinging of something hard hitting the roof sent a shiver of dread through Selene.

She sensed the urgency in her sisters outside, a silent call to hurry it up, things were getting bad. "Time to go."