Chapter Five

The buzzing from the nightstand table wouldn’t stop, no matter how long Dakota tried to ignore the annoying sound.

“I’m going to throw that fucking device out of the window,” Kieran muttered.

She moaned and rubbed her face against the pillow. Dakota didn’t want to get up. It couldn’t have been more than two hours since she and Kieran had finally made it to bed. She was tired.

“Dakota!” he complained.

“Fine.” She threw out an arm, knocking things off the table, until she reached her cell. Dakota held the stupid phone up and saw the string of text messages. “Fuck.”

“What?” Kieran still sounded groggy.

“There’s been another ritual, a murder—human victim.”

“No!” Kieran sat up then flipped the switch on the lamp. “That’s impossible. We had every inch of the rocks covered.”

“Yeah, well.” Dakota paused to respond to the text from Dare. Then she dropped her phone into her lap and turned to face Kieran. “The scene is only a block from here. In an old apartment complex.”

“What the fuck?” Kieran growled out. “That doesn’t make sense. Why would they move to the city? It’s much more dangerous.”

Dakota agreed. Why would this group switch sites? They hadn’t done that in the past. Not even when the police had been close. “They knew we were out there.”

“How?” Kieran demanded. He was already up and pulling on a black pair of pants, his tight utilities with dozens of pockets. He was going out in full badass mode. Kieran was pissed.

Well, so was she.

Dakota threw the covers off and rose. She stretched her back out, much like she would as a cat, then went into the bathroom. As she cleaned up and pulled her hair into a ponytail, she tried to put together her next plan of action.

Had there been a leak of some kind? Could someone on her team have betrayed them? Why else would the new scene be inside the city? And so close to her home? That couldn’t be a coincidence. Dakota had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“If you scrub your teeth any harder, you’ll break the brush.”

Dakota jerked, focusing on what she was doing. Kieran stood in the doorway of the bathroom, peering at her. She recognized the concern in his eyes. Dakota finished rinsing out her mouth then put the toothbrush back. “I’m fine,” she said, as she strolled past him.

“There’s nothing you could have done,” Kieran said.

She snorted as she walked to the closet. Obviously, Dakota should have done a better job. If she’d found whatever piece she was missing, someone wouldn’t be dead.

“Dakota.”

“I heard you,” she said. Dakota didn’t want to talk to her lover right then. She needed to think. They’d known the group would move on to humans, but she’d thought she’d have more time.

He sighed but didn’t press her anymore.

Within fifteen minutes of getting the text message, she and Kieran were out of the door of their suite. Inside the elevator, Dakota tried to center herself. The anger and fury that was bubbling up wouldn’t help. She needed to be able to focus.

The ding of arriving downstairs jolted her.

Kieran grabbed her arm before she could exit. “What can I do?”

Dakota shook her head. He was a good man and didn’t deserve her anger directed at him. “Just help me,” she told him. “I need you to find what we missed.”

“I don’t think we missed anything. I read through your case notes and we did what we could. You haven’t had the files even twenty-four hours yet.”

“I know.” She caught the door when it would have closed. “But that doesn’t help whoever was killed last night when we were in the desert.”

“We’ll catch these assholes,” Kieran stated.

“Yes, we will,” she vowed. “But how many more people will die?”

He let go of her arm and she walked out and to the back door. “If we cut through the parking lot, we’ll be at the apartment building.” Dakota pointed to the flashing lights of the patrol cars. “Shit, we can see the door from here.”

“It’s a message,” Kieran spat. “The fuckers know we’re working the case. They could have seen when we got in this morning.”

Holy shit. Dakota’s jaguar wanted out to hunt and kill. She actually became dizzy with the need to shift. Kieran squeezed her elbow as he shook.

“Deep breath,” Kieran murmured. “That’s it. Breathe again. There are humans all around us.”

“I want to hurt them,” she confessed.

“I know.” He kissed the back of her head. “You in control now?”

“Yeah, Thanks.”

“Come on then,” Kieran said. “I see Remy. What’s he doing here?”

That was a good question. Technically Kieran and Remy weren’t on this case except to help with searches.

Remy met them halfway across the parking lot. His hands shook as he rubbed them over his mouth.

“You okay?” she asked.

“It’s bad,” Remy said. “Real fucking bad. I’ve seen some fucked-up shit, but this…damn.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Kieran asked.

“Caspar called all of us in. We’re to help Dakota any way we can.”

She nodded. She’d take it. “Thanks. What can you tell me?”

“A young man was sacrificed sometime last night or early this morning,” Remy said. “The scene looks like the ritual sites, same markings.”

“Shit, okay. I guess I need to see it.”

Remy hung back as she and Kieran climbed the steps of the taped-off unit. She knew it was going to be just as bad as Remy had said when the young patrol officer outside the door was actually green.

Dakota didn’t say anything as she ducked under the tape.

If she hadn’t already studied the photos in the previous investigations, Dakota would have likely vomited on the crime scene. As it was, she clamped a hand over her mouth and nose as she peered around.

There was blood, so much blood, and it was everywhere. The floor, walls, ceiling. She couldn’t pick up any scents other than blood.

The carpet had been torn out at some point so bare concrete showed the gleam of blood and body fluids. Dakota didn’t know if the killers had stripped the room or if it had already been like this.

“We’ll need to talk to the management of the complex,” she said.

“I’ll have Remy get their information,” Kieran said.

As sick as she felt, she had to view the scene with the eyes of an investigator and not think about the horror the young man had gone through.

She knelt down beside the nude body.

The poor kid couldn’t have been older than twenty-five or so.

His throat had been slit and marks cut into every inch of his flesh. The lack of bruising and other injuries was consistent with the victims from the other cases. The symbol that had connected her case to the other two was right over where his heart was. He’d suffered terribly.

“Who are you?” she asked the deceased young man. “How’d they pick you?” Dakota knew there wouldn’t be answers, but she didn’t normally have to work homicides. The Organization was there to stop anyone from the paranormal community from committing crimes. This wasn’t what she’d been trained to do, but Dakota wasn’t giving up this case.

“Dakota.”

She peered over her shoulder as Caspar stepped into the room, with Kieran behind him. Her boss flinched as he took in the scene.

“Jesus,” Caspar whispered.

“I’m not letting the locals take this case,” she said as she stood. “I’m getting these bastards.”

Caspar nodded. “I have the pull to make that happen. We know from your research that there’s been two other cases.” He continued to look around. “Be sure, though. This is a lot to deal with.”

Dakota dropped her gaze to the poor young man who’d lost his life in the most brutal fashion. “I’m sure.”

Caspar nodded. “Dean is here. He is going to run the forensics for this. He’s lead tech, so make sure everything is run by him.”

She hadn’t gotten to work with her old partner since he’d moved to the lab after they’d met Kieran. “Okay. Warn him before he comes up here.” Dean hadn’t liked the field much. He much preferred being in his lab, looking through a microscope.

“I will. The city coroner will take custody of the body,” Caspar said. “There’s nothing I can do about that, but he’ll work with us. He has before.”

Dakota started to argue but stopped when a tall, slim man stepped up to the doorway. She immediately scented the shifter. Dakota narrowed her eyes as he entered the apartment. Bird of some kind, and her jaguar did not like him.

“Dr. Bryce Gilmore,” he announced when he’d taken a few steps forward. “I take it we won’t have a problem here?”

She knew he was asking about her feline. Dakota was a professional, though, and simply nodded. The doctor still remained wary of her as he made a circle and approached the body from the other side.

“Poor bastard,” Dr. Gilmore murmured.

Dakota crouched. “Can you tell me anything? Anything that might help?”

“He was alive when the cuts were carved into his skin. He would have fought—you can see the abrasions on his wrists and ankles as he struggled. I’m surprised no one heard him.”

That would need to be looked into. Even if they’d tried to muffle him, someone should have heard something. Mentally, she began a list of everything that needed to be done. Caspar wanted to give her back up with all the teams available, but she didn’t actually think that was a good idea. Someone had to have told the killers not to go into the desert.

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Not right now. I need to get him back to the office. I’ll try to ID him for you.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Dean stated from behind her. He wasn’t looking at the body but around the room. “My team can come in?” he asked her.

Dakota nodded. “Whenever you want.”

“Let me get the body removed first,” Dr. Gilmore said. “Then we’ll be out of your way.”

“Dean, you’re in charge of this scene. Don’t release it after you’re done. I want someone on the door at all times,” she ordered. Dakota turned to the coroner. “I’ll check back with you later, but if you come across anything that might help, please give me a call.” She passed him a card.

“Yes, Agent.” Dr. Gilmore actually smiled at her with amusement. She didn’t know why and it made her suspicious. She’d have the doctor watched, closely. Gilmore turned to her former partner. “Dean, it’s good to see you again.”

Wait, they knew each other?

As her ex-partner began to converse with the doctor, Dakota stepped back, watching. After a few boring minutes in which they spoke about a conference they’d attended, she let her gaze wander.

The apartment was small. A living room slash bedroom and a bath and kitchen. The entire space couldn’t be much bigger than three hundred feet or so. It was such a small area but had served the purpose well enough, she supposed.

How had they known it was an empty apartment, though?

She strolled to the open door and stared across the long parking lot to the back door of her hotel. The home she’d made with Kieran.

Kieran was right.

The group was taunting them. They had known that the investigators would be out of the city. Which led her to think about who could have betrayed him. The problem was she knew the agents she worked with, except for James and Caden. But they were both just like them. To go against the Organization was almost unheard of.

The Organization wasn’t like normal human police agencies. There was no recruitment or change of minds later. With the Organization being a birthright, the members served until they were too old to be an agent, or died. To betray the Organization wasn’t something easily done.

Would either James or Caden risk their lives for this group?

Almost immediately, she discounted Caden being involved. He was a lion shifter. This group had killed shifters before so him being involved just didn’t make sense. That left her with James. The human agent. He’d been in Wyoming before transferring to the Vegas office. She needed to get her hands on his personal file.

Dakota drifted to the edge of the balcony. Below her, there were human officers, agents from the Organization and her team milling around. It didn’t seem that anyone was certain about what they should be doing. Caspar passed next to a black SUV while speaking on the phone. Farther away behind the black and yellow police tape, a gathering of spectators were craning to see what was going on.

One young woman, a teenage girl, caught Dakota’s attention since she was staring right at Dakota.

Dakota narrowed her eyes to take in the young woman. And young she was. Her long hair was pulled back just like Dakota wore hers. The girl, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, didn’t stop staring even when it was obvious Dakota was watching her. Instead she grinned before turning into the crowd.

“Hey!” Dakota yelled. She raced down the steps.

Kieran, Remy and James met her at the bottom of the steps.

“What is it?”

“Young girl, jeans with a hole in the right knee, with a black solid hoodie. Five foot two, brown hair pulled back and black shoes. Find her,” Dakota called out as she continued toward the crowd.

The onlookers didn’t move back as the agents swarmed. Dakota shoved people, but she’d lost sight of the girl.

Fuck, Dakota couldn’t see the girl anywhere. She finally made it through the crowd and to the end of the apartment complex. She looked down an alley but didn’t see anyone. Shit.

Catching her breath, she tried to pick up a scent. There were just too many strangers in the area. Plus she could still smell the blood from the small apartment.

“God damn it!” she yelled.

“I didn’t see anyone.” Kieran jogged over. Further south, James was looking in Dumpsters as he checked another alley. Remy was already heading back to them. They’d lost her.

“She was there,” Dakota said. “She fucking smiled at me.”

“That’s pretty ballsy,” Remy commented.

“So was slaughtering someone within view of the home of the agents hunting them,” Dakota responded.

James started back in their direction and Dakota didn’t want to say much in front of him.

“I want to talk to the manager of the complex,” she said. “Kieran, can you get us set up in the suite? I want to come back over after the coroner leaves and Dean is done. Then after dark, to shift.”

“Sure,” Kieran replied. The way he was watching her, Dakota knew he was picking up on the fact that something was wrong.

“Remy, can you stay with the coroner?” she asked. “I don’t trust him.”

“He’s a shifter,” Remy told her.

Dakota nodded. “That doesn’t mean anything to me right now. Someone knew we would be gone and where Kieran and I live. I trust no one we don’t know well.”

Kieran glanced over his shoulder where James was approaching. He was human so he wouldn’t be able to overhear them. “And James?”

“I’ll put him with Dean. With the way Dean and his team triple-check everything, it will keep him out of our hair for a while,” she confessed.

“You think he might be involved?” Kieran sounded surprised.

“I don’t know him or his partner. But I do know the other agents who were there last night.”

“The wolf Pack was there too,” Kieran pointed out.

Remy snorted. “Come on, K.”

Kieran shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“He’s right,” Dakota interrupted Remy. “Damon’s not involved, but we know this group has been around for a long time. We do have to consider that someone paranormal is involved.”

“I run with them,” Remy reminded her.

“I know. That’s why I’m putting Dare and Gabe on the Pack to ask questions. They found the first sites, they know the area better than anyone else and knew where we’d be. Damon will not be happy, but his Pack needs to be questioned. They can take Caden with them. Two shifters will have a better chance of spotting someone lying or nervous.”

“Damon’s going to be pissed,” Remy said.

“I don’t have time to worry about that right now,” she responded. This was going to hurt her relationship with the Alpha, but the image of the young man upstairs was burned into her brain. She was going to stop anyone else from being killed.

“Okay,” Remy shuffled his feet. “I guess I can understand.”

“Hey.” James joined them. “I didn’t see any sign of anyone.”

Dakota nodded. The human agent seemed sincere, but that didn’t mean much. He was a trained agent. She waved over Dare, Gabe and some of the other agents to pass out assignments. It was time to get to work.

She watched her team walk away but caught Kieran’s sleeve before he could head out. “Can you get a hold of Mitch and ask him to meet me in our suite in an hour?”

“Mitch?” Kieran asked.

“Please. I’ll explain when I get back.”

Kieran nodded slowly. “Okay.”

“Thanks.” She wanted to kiss him, but there were too many damn witnesses. She peered around one more time, hoping to catch sight of the young girl, but wasn’t lucky enough. Instead she turned on her heel and headed toward the apartment leasing office.

 

* * * *

 

Kieran was worried about his lover.

The scene had been horrible and she was taking the murder hard. There was no way that any of them could have known what was going to happen, but Dakota wouldn’t see it that way.

All he could do was support her until they tracked down the killers. And they would find out who was responsible. Kieran was the best tracker in the world. He’d been able to pick up a few clues that might help. There had been five others in the room with the murder victim. It’d been hard to pick up the individual scents, but he could separate them enough to figure out that much.

Kieran used the same elevator he’d earlier been in with Dakota and thought about how many things she had on her plate right then. He still hadn’t found the time to tell her about her niece and knew he needed to. Hopefully the young girl would give him time before she introduced herself to her aunt. Kieran did not see that meeting going well if Dakota was surprised.

Plus, there had still been no word from his father.

Kieran wanted to go to Texas himself to see what was happening at his family’s compound, but he couldn’t leave in the middle of an investigation of this caliber.

Once inside his suite, he went straight to the closet in the living room. With two agents living there, they’d worked from the suite plenty of times. He pulled out the cork board and slid it in front of the television. He did the same with the white erase board. The files were still in Dakota’s bag, so he began to post them up. He used a piece of tape to divide the board into thirds—the two previous cases and the current one.

He knew Dakota, so it was easy to prepare her display. Once happy he’d done what he could, he pulled out his phone and texted Mitch. The young IT expert had become a good friend of theirs and responded right away he’d be there soon. Kieran went into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee and made sure they had cold water in the fridge. There were benefits to living in a full-service hotel but he could at least make coffee.

Once the coffee was brewing, he returned to the living room and picked up a red marker. On the far right side of the white erase board, he started to list what they knew about the case. At the bottom he wrote, 5 suspects.

By the time he’d finished writing, the door to the suite opened and Dakota walked in. She looked exhausted and let the door close loudly behind her.

“Come here,” he urged.

She stood in place and just shook her head.

Kieran went to his lover and yanked her into his arms. She buried her face against his chest and wept. He didn’t know what to do so he held her tight and rocked her. After she stopped shuddering, he leaned back and cupped her chin.

“He was so young,” Dakota said. “Why would someone do that to him?”

“I don’t know,” Kieran confessed.

“I spoke to Dean again before I left. He thinks they had him for hours before they finally slit his throat. He would have suffered horribly.”

“We’ll stop them,” Kieran said.

She nodded. “Before they do this again?”

“If we can,” he said truthfully. “We know that they’ve done this before and they’re masters.”

“Is it humans that are doing this? If they kill shifters, surely shifters aren’t involved.”

“Walkers,” Kieran said.

Dakota shook her head. “Walkers are solitary. They stay with their families and don’t work like this. Why would they need the rituals, anyway? A Walker can kill anyone they want anytime.”

“Then who?” Kieran questioned.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “What about James? Can we really trust him?”

Kieran had a feeling that was where his lover’s thoughts had gone. It had been obvious to him at the scene that the human had caught her attention. “Sit. I’ll get you some coffee and you can explain it to me.” He didn’t believe James had betrayed them. Not after spending time with the man the previous night.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. Give me a few minutes, then I’ll lay it out for you.”

He let her go then made his way to the kitchen. He poured two cups of coffee and carried them into the living room. He set them both on the coffee table before glancing at the window. The curtains were still drawn, so he walked over and pulled them open. From their window, the edge of the crime scene was visible. He could see the actual apartment, but the police tape was still holding back the crowd that had grown.

“See anything?” Dakota asked as she joined him.

“No, I can’t see the apartment, but there’s a pretty good crowd still out there.”

“Is the coroner’s van still there?”

“He just pulled away,” Kieran told her.

“Good. I want to get an ID quickly. That young man has family somewhere who will be missing him.”

“Either Dean or Dr. Gilmore will figure it out.” He turned as she picked up her mug.

“Wait—you know the coroner too?”

“I know of him,” Kieran responded. “Caspar trusts him. He works closely with us or has in the past.”

“He smiled at me.”

“When?” Kieran questioned.

“Inside the apartment, when we were talking. He was amused.”

“I can imagine,” Kieran said.

“What? Why?”

“You realize you actually licked your lips when he walked in, right? You were sizing him up.”

“I was not!”

“Babe, your jaguar was so close to the surface that your eyes had turned gold. I was worried you would shift inside the apartment.”

Dakota frowned at him. “I wasn’t going to shift.” She pouted at him, looking utterly adorable. “And don’t call me babe.”

He knew the pet name would irritate her. Kieran chuckled. “Yes, dear.”

She narrowed her eyes but also grinned. There, that was better. Kieran picked up his coffee and joined her on the couch.

“Did you get anything from the manager of the apartments?”

“No manager,” she said. “The apartments are empty. The complex just sold, and no one’s around to hear what was happening.”

“Fuck,” he spat. Just their luck.

“That information couldn’t be common knowledge.”

“I’ll ask Jackson or Alex. They know everything that’s going on around the casino.”

“Good idea,” she praised.

“Tell me why you suspect James, because after working with him, I don’t see it.”

“He’s human,” she said.

Kieran lifted an eyebrow. Dakota wasn’t the type of agent who was prejudiced toward humans. Dean and she had been partners for a decade and still remained close. Dakota was often a champion for the human agents, making sure the paranormal agents didn’t mistreat them.

“There were only two agents who I didn’t know personally that had inside information. James and Caden. Caden’s a lion shifter, so I can’t see him involved in a group that would sacrifice him. His lion wouldn’t like it. James, however, is human. So that puts him at the top of the list. If I can find something that ties him to this group, then we can get out of him who was involved.”

Her reasoning made sense, but Kieran still had his doubts.

“He just happened to transfer here right before the killing starts?” she said. “That’s suspicious timing.”

Kieran went to the desk and shuffled through the files until he found the one he was looking for. “I discussed his transfer with him last night. He had reasons for it,” Kieran said. “He’s a pretty solid agent.” He passed her the file.

“I’m surprised you’re not more on my side.”

“I’m always on your side. Read the file. I did some digging of my own. If you still think he’s in on this, I’ll back you. I just don’t want you to concentrate your energy on someone that I don’t think is involved. You’re too good to ignore your instincts, so check James out, but leave room to be wrong about him.”

She nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “You trust him?”

Kieran didn’t even have to think about his answer. He’d lived by his instincts for years. It was what had kept him going after the ten years he’d spent as a prisoner of the shifters. “Yes, I think I do.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll still have Mitch check him out. He can go deeper than this file. Caden too. But I’ll keep my options open.”

That was his girl. She was always fair and had no problem listening to him. Trusting him. If James was involved and had somehow gotten past Kieran’s defenses, he would make the human agent pay. But Kieran truly believed that James was a good guy, a good agent.

“Five people?” she asked, staring at the board. “Where’d you get that?”

“It was hard to separate the scents in the room, but I was able narrow down enough to pick up six different sweat odors.”

“That’s incredible,” she said. “I couldn’t get anything other than blood. Can you tell me more?”

He shook his head. “We’ll go back together after Dean and his people are finished. Hopefully, I’ll be able to separate more.” There was more that he could pick up. The shifters that had held him for those long ten years might have actually done him a favor by messing with his DNA. His already superior senses were enhanced better than anyone or anything in existence.

“Yeah,” she said, raising and walking to the board. “We’ll try that. I need to get copies of the symbols cut into the skin of our victim. And I need a fucking ID. To see who he is and where they met him.”

A knock came from the suite’s main door.

“I’ll get it,” he offered.

She nodded but never took her eyes off the board.

Kieran walked over to the door and opened it for Mitch. The young IT expert, Day Walker and friend had his black hair sporting green highlights this time. Kieran liked the kid and knew if there was anything to dig up on the two new agents, Mitch would find it.

“Hey, man,” Kieran greeted. “Thanks for coming.”

Mitch grinned at him. “For Dakota? Anytime.” He adjusted the strap on his laptop bag.

“Come in.” Kieran waved him forward.

Dakota was filling in gaps he’d left open on the timeline, adding what she knew and what she suspected.

“Wow, quite the set-up,” Mitch commented. He dropped to his knees next to the coffee table and pulled out his equipment. “Where do you want me to start?”

Kieran just shook his head as Mitch jumped right in. Kieran went to the kitchen and grabbed a cold Coke from the fridge, Mitch’s preferred drink. He took it out to Mitch before grabbing his laptop from the desk and sitting on the couch.

“These guys.” Kieran wrote down the two newest agents’ names and passed the piece of paper to Mitch. “We need to decide if they’re involved or can be trusted. I have the basic personnel file but need more.”

“No problem,” Mitch stated with confidence, his fingers flying across the keys as he typed.

Kieran opened the secured network connection to his company to do his own work. He didn’t ask Mitch how the kid would get into the files and didn’t want to know. He opened up his email and saw that the others on their team were already responding to the tasks they’d been given.

“How good are the security cameras here?” Dakota asked, turning to them.

“The best,” Mitch answered without lifting his head.

“You think Jackson would give us access? The ones at the back door that look across to the apartments?”

“He’s aware of the murder,” Mitch replied. “Call Alex. I’m sure Jackson already has him working on getting him the info. Hell, they probably know as much as you do at this point.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Dakota picked up her cell and found the right contact name. “This would be too close for Jackson’s comfort.”

Kieran tuned her out as she spoke to the head of security while he read Dare’s first report. The Alpha was pissed, although allowing the agents to do their job. He understood but wanted to talk to Dakota asap.

“Alex already has the tapes. He and Jackson are on their way,” she told them.

“Of course they are,” Kieran stated. “Damn man can’t stay out of the Organization’s business. I don’t know why he doesn’t take a job there.”

Mitch giggled, the sound surprising Kieran.

“What?”

“Jackson gives orders, but he doesn’t take them,” Mitch responded. “He respects your boss, but he won’t work for him. Although, since you’ve gotten here, he’s been more involved. He used to let things play out without getting involved as long as it didn’t affect his profits.”

Kieran nodded. He already knew that. Jackson had built an empire and he deserved everything he’d accomplished. The years they’d spent together as prisoners hadn’t been kind to either of them. Still, they’d survived and made something of their lives.

“All I care about is who I can trust,” Dakota stated. “I trust you, Jackson and Alex.”

“Thanks, Dakota.” Mitch wiggled happily. “We trust you too.”

Kieran shook his head as Dakota laughed. This was their team. Their friends who would always come when needed. Yeah, he might have been born into a shit family, but he wouldn’t trade his chosen family for anything in the world.