Luke answered since he was probably the most diplomatic of all of us.
“We were invited by Nial, I mean Dr. Roarke, to attend his celebration today.”
“Yes, sirs, you’ve been expected. Please, follow me.”
He turned and walked into the soaring entryway, expecting all of us to follow. So we hustled and followed him deep into the house where he opened the door to a lush sitting room. Ushering us in, he pointed out the bar and the trays of food on a side table.
“Please help yourselves while I go get your host.”
He shut the door, and we all looked at each other, not knowing what to do in a situation like this. Geordie, of course, went straight for the food and helped himself to a few vegetables and cold cuts. Then Kane walked over to join him along with Jarvis. Luke went straight for the bar and helped himself to a soda, which wasn’t that unusual, until he added it to a glass and then poured a healthy splash of some dark liquor to it. He hardly ever drank unless he was stressed, but I couldn’t tell what was causing him a problem, unless…
I watched him closely and noticed his gaze kept straying to Geordie while he ate and talked with Kane and Jarvis. I had worried about pairing those two up for the undercover assignment, but they had insisted they could pretend to be mates and not have any problems. Apparently, they had underestimated their abilities.
Geordie wasn’t totally unaffected either. I noticed him glancing over at Luke when he wasn’t looking. His concern written between his eyes when Luke kept going back to get one drink after another. After the third, Geordie cut his gaze over to me and tipped his head in Luke’s direction to get me to do or say something. I shook my head and turned to one of the windows looking out over the beautifully manicured lawn. I wouldn’t interfere. We weren’t technically on assignment yet, and Luke deserved a little downtime, even if the way he spent it might concern us all.
At last, the door to the room opened, and the butler entered, holding the door for a stately older gentleman, who had to be Nial’s father. The similarities were undeniable. His eyes were the same color, and his tawny hair was a little more on the gray side, but still the same. He smiled and greeted all of the team before coming up to me with his hand outstretched for a shake.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Detective de Keoning. I heard so much about you from your supervisor when we spoke a few months ago. He assured me you could handle the situation and he was completely correct. Thank you for bringing my boy home safe. I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
He thanked the whole team, keeping a noticeable distance from Eugene, who had slipped in at some point unnoticed by any of us. He tended to do his own thing, in his own way, so we were used to him just appearing like that. We weren’t sure if he could just move that fast or he could actually just appear in the room. Either way, he was invaluable to the team, and we didn’t question him much on what he could and couldn’t do.
“Gentlemen, Marks will lead you all to the dining room where drinks are being served before dinner. If you’ll follow him, I’m sure you’ll find everything you could need until the meal is served. Mr. de Koening, if you would stay for a moment, I have a matter I’d like to discuss with you.”
I had known this was coming, so I walked back over to the window and pretended to enjoy the view until the door shut. The inquisition was about to begin. I heard a snarl behind me and turned around quickly to see the gentile gentleman I’d seen before replaced by a partially shifted and pissed off lion. His nose had flattened, and his eyes were glowing with a silver sheen. His voice came out much more growl than words, but I understood.
“You and my oldest son are mates, you have a bond, and you let him think you were dead for three fucking weeks? Explain to me why I shouldn’t just kill you now and save him the pain of being mated to such an unfeeling and heartless asshole.”
He stalked me across the room until he had me backed up against the marble fireplace. The mantle dug into my shoulder blades giving me something to focus on other than the seriously pissed off cat in front of me. I led with the one thing I knew he wouldn’t brush off.
“The Syndicate has been informed of what Nial can do, and they’ve sent an operative to retrieve him. I can assure you, I never meant any harm to Nial, and I was following orders by not telling him I was alive. I miscalculated on how strong the bond was already, and I promise I’ll make it up to him. I felt the pain, too. Believe me. I wanted to run to him every second of every day, sir, but I had a job to do, and hundreds of shifter’s lives depended on me closing down Starke and assuring they got justice after everything they had suffered there.”
The big cat slowly moved back away from me and fully shifted back into Nial’s father. He went straight to the bar and poured himself a healthy glass of cognac, then offered me the bottle and a snifter. I took them both, poured and downed the drink in one shot, enjoying the burn and slightly sweet taste in my throat.
“The Syndicate is coming after my boy?”
Mr. Rourke looked years older than he had before. He walked over to an armchair and sank down into the luxurious fabric like he couldn’t stand much longer and needed the rest and support.
“In the line of business you’re in, Mr. Rourke, you know how dangerous the Syndicate can be. The authorities always considered you a crime boss, and I know you let them think that. You pretended, even to your children, that you’re a smuggler and thief, but I know the truth. You’ve been working for decades to rescue shifters and Others from the Syndicate. You’ve single-handedly run the largest group, hiding and relocating all manner of creatures taken or targeted by those monsters. So, you of all people know how serious this is. Nial is a prize they will not want to let go of easily. I need to get him somewhere safe before they can get any closer.”
The older man looked ashen now, and I worried he was going to be sick. That rug looked like it cost more than my entire house, so it would be terrible to mess it up.
“I understand, son, and I’ll do everything I can to help you. I’ve got a house in the mountains. I’ll give you the coordinates and all the supplies you’ll need for the trip. Take my boy, fix your bond and keep him safe. That’s your only concern until the Syndicate has backed off. I have a few strings I can pull to make them rethink coming for you. I’ll give you a cell to keep in touch, but only check it once a day, then turn it off and store it in the box I give you to block the signal.”
“I need to tell my team where I’m going. No, don’t say no, I trust them all implicitly. I’ll tell you something that’s top secret. I’ve been given the opportunity to start my own joint task force between the A.I.D. and the Paranormal Division of the Others Council for Justice. We’ll coordinate with both to investigate and bring to justice all of the entities out there who prey on the shifter and Other community. Our main target will the Syndicate, but we’ll be going after places like Starke, too. It’s a huge move for the two to work together since the majority of the population doesn’t even know the Others exist. Trust me, I’ll keep Nial safe, but I need my team to know where we are so if I need them, they can help.”
He nodded his assent, and I pulled out my phone to text the team to come back into the sitting room so we could plan. But before I could hit send, the door burst open and there stood Nial. He was so beautiful and so pissed.
“What the hell is he doing here, Da? You know I don’t want him here.”
I stepped up to try and calm him down, but I was thrown back to the fireplace by an invisible force I knew had to be Nial’s magic. He was so much stronger when he was mad.
“Nial, let him go, son. He’s your mate, and you two need to work that out. But right now, we have to get you packed and ready to go.”
“Packed? I just got home, Da. What do you mean packed? I’m not going anywhere. And I’m especially not going anywhere with him.”
Nial spat out thehimlike he was spitting out the worst kind of filth. I understood, but his hateful words hurt. I needed time to explain. He had to understand I did what I did for a reason. Our bond was still there, but it was brittle right now. We needed to reforge it somehow. Going away together was the best thing for us at this point even if we were in hiding from the Syndicate.
“Nial, don’t argue with me, son. The Syndicate is after you, and your mate is the only one who can keep you safe. You’re going away with him into hiding until I can make sure you’re safe. You remember what we talked about right before you went to school? Remember how I told you my business wasn’t all you thought it was? Well, now you need to know. I’m a resistance fighter. I work against the Syndicate to save shifters like you from a life of hell as research projects or military weapons.”
