Page 11 of Mate For Hire (For Hire 3)

“What about her?”

Gerard looked at him.

“Look, man, I’m not judging you, but since Kelly is alive, Lachelle can’t be your mate. It’s not possible. We questioned it before, remember? About there being a second mate for one of us? We took it at face value that since you said she’s the one, she was the one. But this thing with Kelly?”

“You doubt me.” Gerard didn’t blame Declan. He blamed himself. As hard as he tried to remember everything that happened in the past, he couldn’t. A part of him didn’t want to remember the horror and the loss of life that he saw with his own eyes.

He believed with everything in him that violence was too much for the heart to bear. That’s why he had turned away from everyone. If he kept his distance, no one had to die. His thinking didn’t completely make sense, but he had never needed it to. All he required was peace and up until that day—Lachelle.

“You’re saying you want Kelly to take over leadership?” Gerard didn’t pay the day-to-day ruling of the shifters any mind since he and Lachelle lived in the city and not on the land that Declan took away from Patrick Sevelle. But he thought his brother liked being a leader, that he was good at it.

“No, I don’t want her to rule.”

Declan clenched his jaw. He and Gerard stood at the top of the City Hall steps, while his guy in the sunglasses stood at the bottom. Declan whispered the guy’s name, a sharp, annoyed tone to his voice. Sunglasses extricated himself from the small crowd of humans and jogged up the steps toward them.

“I want us all to present a united front,” Declan said. “It’s important for the humans to accept us. Under no circumstances are we going to war with them. Not now, not ever. So if I have to work with Kelly I will—and I need your help to do it.”

Gerard almost ripped the door off the hinges as they entered the building. He heard the metal creak, and the door stuck when the last of them walked into the cool dark interior. Sunglasses laughed, and Gerard tensed.

Before they could go much farther they were met with a squad of police, along with a metal detector.

“Freeze, shifters,” one of the officers commanded.

Declan offered an easy smile. “Careful, guys, we don’t want any trouble. Just wanted to have a chat with the mayor. I wanted to clear up a few facts to be sure none of your people are injured.”

The officer swore and walked toward Declan, aiming a gun at him. Several other officers followed suit. “Oh, you think you’re important enough to just walk in here and demand a meeting with the mayor? Is that some kind of threat?”

“No, of course not.”

Gerard picked up on his brother’s frustration and scented his anger. The emotions stirred something in Gerard that raised his hackles. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his nerve-endings danced with agitation. Experiencing the same thing, the shifters around him fidgeted. They were all wound tight.

Declan didn’t look away from the officers, but he spoke to his men and to Gerard. “Easy, guys. We’re here peacefully. I’ll try to calm down.”

The human assumed Declan spoke to him. “Is this you being riled up? Wow, they’re wimpier than we thought, boys.”

The other humans laughed. Declan reddened a little, but Gerard noticed his brother was keeping his word. Because Declan as leader wrestled his emotions under control, he didn’t inadvertently stir up the others.

A phone rang on the desk, and the man who answered called to the others. “Let them through, Joe. The mayor wants to talk to them.”

With obvious regret, they were shown up to the second floor of the building and ushered into the mayor’s office. More armed humans waited, along with a few others.

“You!” both Gerard and Declan declared at the same time.

“What are you doing here, Skip?” Declan demanded.

Skip Hunter, a man known to be a part of the hunters, humans whose mission was to kill all shifters, stood near the wall of books in the mayor’s office. With him was another man Gerard assumed was also one of the hunters.

Skip grinned and shut the book he held to place it back on the shelf. Gerard had the feeling he had struck a casual pose to impress. Had Gerard not been so preoccupied with what happened downstairs and about the coming meeting, he would have noticed Skip’s presence long before he saw him. So would his brother.

“Didn’t you know?” Skip said. “My organization is one of the advisors to the mayor about this situation. The hunters are the most qualified to give the humans insight about you.”

“You are murderers,” Declan bit out.

Sunglasses started toward Skip. Dark intent washed over Gerard, coming off the man in waves until Gerard choked on it. He had to restrain himself to think clearly.

“Get back here,” Declan ordered.

The man kept moving. Gerard thought he himself was more instinct than brains, but this guy was worse. Skip was directly responsible for killing several of their people, and Sunglasses wanted him removed from the earth.

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