Page 23 of Shadow Spirit

He knew something that could take the edge off, but flinging her down on the bed and having at her in front of Greg probably wasn’t the way to handle this.

Adriana took a deep breath. “Okay, so how about we compromise. You do know how to compromise don’t you?”

“I do. Right now, I’m compromising by not turning your ass all kinds of shades of red.”

“Are you going to let him talk to me that way?” Adriana asked Greg.

“I know we haven’t ironed out how this will work between the three of us,” he said, circling his index finger to include the three of them, “but you two do not get to put me in the middle. And you might want to watch how you talk to your other mate. I’m probably far more easygoing than he is, and I’d take you to task for speaking to me that way. I have to tell you, sweetheart, even if I thought you were one hundred percent, I wouldn’t agree to you going to the village until Decker had a chance to take a group of his men up there to check out where the coven lived or the village that was located nearby.”

Decker nodded. “How’s this for a compromise—I’ll take a small unit of men and do a little reconnoitering. Once I know all there is to know, I’ll come back. We—as in you, me, Greg, Colby, and Brie—will sit down and figure out our next step.”

“Do I have a choice?” she asked.

“No,” they said in unison.

Decker left Greg to deal with their outraged mate, closing the door to her chambers as she howled in indignation and anger.

After assembling a small unit of six, including himself, he assigned four of the men to one of the SUVs. Decker and the fifth man were to take a different route on two of the Ducati Black Star motorcycles that Colby kept on hand. They were fast, sleek, and their handling, in Decker’s opinion, made them a superior motorcycle when speed and control were paramount.

“What is our purpose?” asked Samuel, one of the men in his small, elite unit.

“We are hunting shifters and shadows,” answered Decker, “those who killed the child Erin O’Leary’s family and coven.”

“Do you know who we are seeking?”

“Specifically, Eoghan O’Shea or his people. Some evidence as to why they struck and why they were chasing the child.”

“You are certain it was O’Shea?”

“As certain as I can be standing here within the abbey’s walls. Those of you in the SUV leave now. We shall rendezvous with you outside the village.”

Decker watched as the SUV left the abbey. Throwing his leg over the motorcycle, he and the man who would accompany him put their helmets on, gunned their engines, and began the trip up the coast. Once they reached their destination, Decker sent the men in the SUV into the village, posing as sportsmen stopping on their trip further north. He and Samuel would find a place to conceal their motorcycles and do a little more sleuthing around.

Once they were sure the men from the SUV were in the local pub, Decker sent Samuel to the site Erin’s coven had once called home. Decker had always found the best information came from local clergymen who often heard truths others wanted hidden. As he entered the church, he noticed stones around the perimeter of the chapel stained with blood. It looked as though someone had tried to clean the stones, but they remained stained nonetheless.

The church was eerily quiet. Other than the bloodstains, there was nothing to suggest that any kind of altercation or violence had occurred there. He looked down the main aisle and spotted a parishioner kneeling before the high altar, quietly praying. Candles burned. Decker continued to search, although for what exactly he wasn’t sure. A movement to his left caught his attention—a priest emerging from the confessional. Another man shuffled out from the other half, moving down the outer aisle and exiting the church.

Decker was wary and on edge. He’d seen too much done in the name of religion to find any comfort in any holy house. The man at the front of the church stood, crossed himself, backed away and then hurried down the aisle as if he couldn’t get outside fast enough.

“May I help you, my son?” asked the priest.

Decker started to laugh at the thought that a priest could offer him anything other than information but stopped himself and shrugged mentally. Local parish priests often had the pulse of the village so might be able to save him some time. Instead, Decker nodded toward the confessional. It would give him a chance to speak to the priest privately. The priest smiled and re-entered the confessional. Decker took a last look around, checked his SIG, and then followed the priest, closing the door to his side.

The priest waited, and then said, “Are you unsure how to begin my son?”

Decker held up his gun so its silhouette could be seen through the screen and cocked it. “Tell me what I want to know and live to see another day.”

The priest stood and tried to get away, but Decker was faster. As he, too, exited the confessional, he grabbed the priest by the front of his robes, swinging him back to the side of the box so that they could not be seen by anyone entering the church and giving Decker a good view of the interior.

“Talk to me, Father, for I have sinned and will most likely sin again.”

Decker tucked his gun into the back of his jeans and pulled his knife from its sheath, laying the blade against the priest’s throat. Decker had never been overly religious.

“You will tell me what I need to know, priest, or you will never speak again.”

“I cannot break the seal of the confessional, even if it means my life,” the priest answered him stoically.

Samuel had gone to the site of the coven’s compound. Upon his return, he reported finding nothing there but the charred remnants of the buildings that had once been there—no bodies, no graves, nothing to indicate that Erin’s people had once lived there.

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