“Would you mind grabbing me a bottle of water out of the cooler?” Meiling asked.
“No problem.” He waved them toward the tables again and disappeared behind the double doors leading to the kitchen.
Gedeon came up behind Meiling. Close. Too close. Telling himself he had to in order to ensure they weren’t overheard, not because he wanted to inhale her fragrance and fantasize that she was his. Maybe it wasn’t a fantasy if he thought of her that way.
“I never should have agreed to this meet,” Gedeon whispered, his lips against Meiling’s ear. “This could be a setup. We’re on their home turf. Since they’ve done their massive remodeling job, I don’t know the layout of the building. I’m not familiar with attics or whether they have hidden passages. We have to assume they do.”
“There’s a vent in the ladies’ room. I can slip inside the vent and take a look around that way, map out as much as I can and get it to you.”
Gedeon thought it over. No doubt they were being watched through the cameras right then. If she disappeared for any length of time, Timur would send someone looking. He shook his head. “We can’t trust any of them, no matter that they helped us. Lospostos is going to be pissed that he didn’t know what was going on. Amurov kept his word to us. He doesn’t want bad blood between him and Lospostos, so he could very well have made another deal to sell us down the river.”
“I’m not all that trusting, Gedeon,” she said softly.
He knew she wasn’t. He didn’t fully have her trust. He sometimes thought they were close, but then she pulled away from him. She became careful around him, would distanceherself from him. He detested those times and would patiently build their relationship back up again, telling himself he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t done anything—like save her life over and over—to show he had earned her trust.
Rodion returned from the kitchen, placing the ham and cheese pastry on the table in front of Gedeon and a fruit bowl and a water bottle in front of Meiling. Gedeon tried not to notice that the shifter crowded close to Meiling, his body brushing up against hers. She wasn’t sitting down, but she still had to look up at him. She looked very small and delicate beside the man. Gedeon cursed silently, despising his reaction. He had to stay on his guard, not be worried about whether the shifter was flirting with Meiling.
Men began to file into the bakery from the kitchen, having come in from the alleyway entrance. Timur had brought more security than Gedeon had anticipated, and it made him uncomfortable. He signaled to Meiling not to slip into the chair Rodion had pulled out for her.
The table the shifter had placed the food on was in the exact center of the room. They would be surrounded. Meiling caught the consequence of that immediately. The amount of security guards filing in and spreading out around the room already seemed too significant a force and Lospostos hadn’t even entered the bakery yet.
Timur stepped in from behind the kitchen doors, Fyodor right behind him. They came around the counter, Timur leading his brother straight to the table where Gedeon and Meiling were standing. At the same time, the front door opened and Kyanite strode in. Behind him came men Gedeon recognized as Joaquin and Tomas Estrada, personal bodyguards to Elijah Lospostos. Elijah was right between them, his gaze riveted to Gedeon’s face, and he didn’t look happy. Behind him, at least ten more shifters followed.
Gedeon instantly signaled to Meiling to leave. She was very slight, and although she was the only woman in the building, she had a way of disappearing into the shadows.Most of the shifters were big men in terms of density. They took up space in the bakery. If Elijah wanted to bluster at him, that would only draw attention his way. He was fine with that. It would give Meiling the opportunity to slip out of the bakery and set up with a sniper rifle across the street to cover him. She didn’t miss if she was needed—and she would be needed.
Elijah was about halfway across the room to him when there was a disturbance at the front door. Gedeon spun toward the sound and saw a young shifter clutching at Meiling’s diminutive form, holding a gun to her temple.
Gedeon exploded into action, using gifts he rarely showed other shifters. He launched himself at Elijah with blinding speed, using Timur’s taller form to go over the top of Joaquin and Elijah. He landed behind the notorious head of the crime family and had a gun to his temple.
“I’ll fucking end him right now if you don’t drop your gun now.”
There was instant silence. Fyodor cleared his throat. “Gedeon...” he began cautiously.
“Don’t talk to me. You know me. I’ll kill Elijah, Timur next and then you if that asshole doesn’t drop his weapon now. You fucking betrayed us, Fyodor. I don’t take that lightly.”
“This is bullshit,” Meiling said. There was a flurry of movement, and the young shifter was on the floor and Meiling had the gun in his mouth.
“Wait,” Elijah said. “Don’t kill him. He’s a kid. He’s just training. Seriously, don’t kill him.”
“Get moving to the door, Elijah. Meiling, back out of here. I’m coming to you.” Gedeon’s cold blue eyes met Fyodor’s. He wanted him to see he meant what he said. Fyodor would be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his days. Elijah and Timur too. They’d come after him. So many others had. He was still alive—they weren’t.
“Gedeon, this wasn’t a trap,” Fyodor said. “I can seethat it would look that way. We brought the men who helped you to show Elijah you weren’t in this alone. That’s part of the reason there are so many here tonight. It wasn’t for security reasons.”
“Yurik is a cub, still learning the ropes,” Elijah added his voice. “I don’t betray my friends. Fyodor told me there was a child involved and they couldn’t give me a heads-up, and I believe him.” He moved toward the door with Gedeon, waving Joaquin and Tomas back. “Was I pissed that I wasn’t in the know? Hell yes, but I understood.”
Gedeon continued to make his way through the crowd of shifters. They reluctantly parted for him. Meiling crouched in the doorway, eyes continually moving, scanning the crowd of shifters.
“You can hear lies, Gedeon,” Timur snapped. “You’re starting a war.”
“Youfucking started a war. I kept my word. I always keep my word and you counted on that.”
“Hear us out,” Elijah said. “You can’t think I came here to kill you and your partner for rescuing a kidnapped child. A favor, Gedeon. I offer you a favor for staying and just talking.”
“A favor from me as well,” Fyodor offered. “You deal in favors, Gedeon.”
“And me,” Timur added. “We don’t go back on our word.”
Gedeon went still inside. His eyes met Meiling’s. What these men were offering was huge.Huge.They were some of the biggest names in the business and they’d made the offer in front of their men. If they lied, they would never save face.
