Page 25 of Corbin
“Beckham is trying to determine if she’s innocent or is involved in something illegal she wants to keep hidden,”Adrian continued.“She complained the first day that she did not need a four-man team crowding her. Also, she refused any security that is not human.”
“Really? How can she think humans would be able to protect her better than shifter security?”
Adrian explained, “She might have a point since some shifter security untrained to fight in human form or who can’t manage their animals have caused deadly outcomes. On the other hand, humans would be easier to get rid of if she doesn’t agree with having security at all.”
Would Givenchy have a man killed for the simple crime of getting in her way?
He had his own reasons for carrying a grudge against her. The infamous night he’d gone to meet Eirene after school, her guards captured him and used titanium cuffs to control him. Then they’d shown him the note he’d left in her locker at school. They said she’d handed it to them with the order for them to keep him as far away as possible.
He hadn’t believed them at first.
Hours earlier, her lips had curved into the sweetest smile when she stood in front of her locker reading the note he’d left along with a wolf he’d carved from wood. She’d looked up to see him watching her from a distance and winked. His heart had done back flips.
But the next thing he knew, he was on his way to Romania.
Why did that memory still hurt so much? He was no longer a teenage boy with a broken heart.
Ares shattered his quiet moment of thought.I want out now.
That’s not going to happen, Corbin sent back.
I am strong now. I can break free, Ares bragged.
If you screw this up, we’re done,Corbin said, hoping to break through his wolf’s one-track mind.I mean it. If you didn’t learn anything from what happened to Badger yesterday, then I can’t save us. I’m doing my best to create a safe place for us to live, but you need to help. There are no second chances with Adrian if you break free. None. You think about that. I’ve got nothing to lose by letting Adrian or Jaz rip you apart except for being freed from your nonstop mental torture. I want some peace. At some point, I thought you would too.
Corbin shoved Ares out of his mind to pay attention to the heavier traffic they were encountering on the eastern side of Spartanburg.
Adrian led them off the interstate and onto surface roads, heading toward the outer perimeter of the city. In two turns, they were in a less crowded area and rode straight into a chaotic scene of flashing lights. Several vehicles were parked in spots along the street. Four police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck were well represented by their respective uniforms, crawling all over the grassy lawn leading up to the building. No one acted as though they had a fire to put out, but two men wheeled a gurney quickly from the ambulance and into the structure identified by a faded sign as the Libertas Theater.
What the hell was going on?
Following Adrian’s lead, Corbin backed his bike into the same angled parking spot. He dropped his side stand, then stepped off with eyes still taking in the unexpected scene.
Adrian turned to him with his helmet off. He unzipped his full-body riding suit and stepped out of it. “Grab your cap. That and the sunglasses will hide your face for now.”
Nodding that he understood, Corbin left his helmet hooked on the handlebars. He pulled a worn-out NASCAR cap from his tank bag and slid it over his hair that he’d pulled back into a short ponytail. His dark sunglasses made sense out here where it was bright, but he planned to keep them on inside as well.
Not much of a shield but better than showing his face.
Adrian’s faded olive-green ball cap and tactical sunglasses wouldn’t mark him as former military, but anyone who knew what they were looking for would see it in the way he carried himself. He led the way through throngs of people until he reached the police who blocked their path. He showed an ID to the officer who studied it with a frown, then must have read something that caused him to wave them in.
Flashing that ID again at the theater entrance to someone in a hard hat, they passed inside. The burly door guard then shoved a hand in the faces of the media trying to follow them. Corbin wanted to thank the guy for stopping people with cameras, but he’d only draw attention he didn’t want.
Inside the old building, a moldy smell mingled with the scent of fresh paint. Cobwebs had yet to be cleaned from windows that needed to be scraped more than washed. Rows of wooden pews reminded him of a church by the way they were arranged with a wide row down the middle and shorter ones on each side.
Corbin stayed near Adrian who moved down the right wall before pausing halfway to the stage.
They could easily hear anyone inside with their shifter hearing, plus some people were shouting.
Speaking quietly to Corbin through the special comm unit they both wore, Adrian pointed out what he observed. “The guy lying on the floor has a Beckham Security patch on his jacket.Based on how hard the paramedics are working on him, he appears to be badly hurt, maybe with internal damage.”
Corbin noted the dark blue security jacket with a white lightning rod overlaying the word Beckham stitched in red on the sleeve. The gurney from outside had been parked near the injured man and lowered closer to the floor. Three men lifted the injured guard into place along with an IV line and an oxygen mask.
The paramedics wheeled the gurney out of the building, and sirens fired up shortly after.
“I’m not going to assume anything without facts, but this doesn’t look good,” Adrian murmured.
Corbin asked, “Do you mean for Givenchy?”
