Page 21 of A Cougar's Kiss
“Where the hell is she?”
Nick was almost whispering now. Ten minutes ago, he’d roared so loud he could probably be heard two bunkers away.
Eli stood beside the table, running the tips of his fingers over the cool steel top. “Cam and Haven said they saw her down here in the hallway earlier today.”
“Just before the meeting in the main hall,” X added.
Eli walked around the table, once and then again, his fingers still moving over the surface. “Zion said his last check on Mackey was at two-oh-five. Mackey was sitting at the table staring at the wall. He logged the time and findings into his board and checked the locks. He came up to the meeting and afterward went to his room where he stayed until dinner time. The next guard logged in his check time at four-fifteen, and again every hour until just forty-five minutes ago. Each time Mackey was alive.”
“Until this time when Cam and Haven went on duty and did their first check.” Bas stood with his legs spread hands fisted at his sides. “They’re normally on the perimeter checks at this time of night but they said they were re-assigned.”
X lifted his wrist and spoke into his comlink. “Get me the Enforcer on duty in sector twelve tonight.”
“She wouldn’t leave,” Nick said slowly. “She knows better. Shya’s a good girl. She knows what’s out there, she would not willingly go above ground. She wouldn’t.”
Jace held his words but thought about how many parents said the same thing, human or shifter. But in this case, Jace had to agree with him. Nick’s daughter, his only child, was the epitome of good—soft-spoken most of the time, gentle and easy-going. Shya Delgado was innocent and she was special to each of the shifters that were close to Nick. She was their niece, the one they’d prayed long and hard to survive and now she was gone. Not only could he scent Nick’s rage, he felt it too.
“Her scent’s all over this room,” Eli announced. “That and I can hear remnants of her voice in this space. Hers and Mackey’s. Yelling in argument and then screaming in agony.”
In a flash Nick turned and his clawed fingers grabbed Eli by the front of his shirt, lifting the jaguar off the floor and slamming his back into a wall. “She’s alive, dammit! I don’t care what you see or feel with your power, my daughter is still alive!”
Rome was behind Nick instantly, placing both hands on his shoulders. “Let him go, Nick.”
X went to Nick’s right side and Bas filed in on the left. Jace moved around to stand near Eli who eventually slid down the wall to land on his feet when Nick finally let him go. The three shifters pulled Nick back and tried to lead him out of the room, but Nick wouldn’t go. He yanked away from their grasp and spun around.
“She was in here! I can smell her. Why the hell was she in here?” he yelled.
“We’ll find out, Nick,” Eli told him.
“How? How can we find out if she’s not here! She’s nowhere in the area so how the hell do we find out what’s going on?”
Eli moved in front of Nick and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m gonna go talk to Haven and Cam. And then I’ll figure out what happened. And once I do we’re gonna go find her, Nick. I promise you, we will find her.”
Seconds later Nick bowed his head and Eli walked out of the room. Jace followed him.
“I need to check the Holodeck cameras and find out exactly what time she came in and when she left, because the timeline doesn’t add up. It smelled like his body had been there for a few hours. How could they have checked on him every hour since two in the afternoon and he was alive until now? And if Shya was taken, cameras will also show who took her and which direction they went in,” he said as he followed Eli down the hallway.
Until Eli stopped and looked down at the floor, then up the wall where he ran his fingers over the rocky surface just as he’d done on the table in the room.
“There was no one else, just Shya. Nobody was here in this hallway but her and nobody was in that room except her and Mackey,” Eli said slowly, somberly.
Jace shook his head. “You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying. She didn’t even know who Mackey was. And that mess back there, all that blood was savage. A trained beast did that, not Shya. She’s not capable of that type of rage.”
“She’s a shifter. In the Gungi we’re predators, hunters, killers. Here in this world we tried to become something else and for a while it worked, but the rules changed. That meant we were bound to change. All of us.” Eli looked stricken at having to say those words, having to admit that there was a possibility that this was something none of them wanted to believe.
Jace hated hearing them because he had a suspicion there was more than a hint of truth in them.
“He’ll die before he believes his daughter killed anyone. And if he doesn’t find her soon, he’s going to start killing and taking names later.”
“Then we’d better find her soon,” Eli said. “Because after watching Rome worry about his daughter’s safety, I’m not sure anyone in Oasis or above ground is ready for Nick’s tirade.”
“No, they aren’t,” Jace agreed.
* * *
Miami
The Next Morning
