Free Passion's Prey: The Shadow Shifters by A.C. Arthur Page A

sister and why didn’t you bring her home last night?”
    X rubbed his free hand down his bald head and took another swallow of beer. “Number one, I don’t know what’s going on. I suspect they think I killed Diamond Turner, the stripper from Athena’s I met a while back.”
    He was already walking out of the kitchen, a very angry Nick and a perplexed Rome following behind him. When he was once again sitting on the couch, X emptied the beer. “And two,” he stated, looking directly at Nick, “I wanted to keep Caprise safe. So I brought her home with me.” Not entirely the truth but he figured if he’d said, I wasn’t finished fucking your little sister, that’s why I brought her home with me, things were going to go to shit pretty fast.
    “Safe from what? What were you even doing at that club?” Nick asked, standing directly in front of X.
    Rome touched a hand to Nick’s shoulder. “The fact is that Caprise is safe. Right?” Rome asked, looking around the room.
    “She’s still asleep,” X said, then thought about his words again.
    Nick was shaking his head. “Negative. She’s locked in your bathroom. That’s where she called me from when she heard somebody talking about arresting you. That’s why we used Rome’s helicopter to get here as soon as possible, to keep your ass out of jail.”
    “Fuck!” X stood and placed the bottle on the coffee table. He was about to walk back to his bedroom when Nick grabbed him by the arm.
    “Whoa, you have some explaining to do first.”
    “Get your hands off me, Delgado,” he said, a rumbling in his chest signaling his cat was damn tired of sitting on the sidelines.
    “Just calm down, both of you clowns.”
    That was Rome, always the negotiator, the problem fixer, the fucking Faction Leader.
    Both Nick and X stood still. X looked down at Nick’s hand on his arm then back up to Nick.
    Begrudgingly and with a look that clearly said this wasn’t finished, Nick yanked his arm away. “You and I are going to have a conversation,” he told X.
    X thought about flipping Nick off, which wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary. It wasn’t as if they were planning some big-ass shifter wedding in the rain forest like Rome and Kalina had, or even a quiet ceremony at Havenway like Nick and Ary had shared not too long ago. No, he and Caprise had just had sex—some damn good sex, but still, just sex. Nick was X’s friend; they were even closer than friends; the three of them were like brothers. They’d been there for him when he needed them and hadn’t asked any questions. For that X would always be grateful. And it was that gratitude that wouldn’t allow him to disrespect Nick by brushing him and his concern off totally.
    “First, Caprise is obviously okay because she was able to call you, Nick. Second, I want to know everything that happened at Athena’s. Then I want to know what that cocky-ass DEA agent who used Kalina in his sham of an investigation was here questioning you about.”
    Rome had taken off his suit jacket and thrown it across the back of the love seat. He was loosening his tie as X came to stand by the fireplace. With his arms folded over his chest, he looked directly at Rome, who had now sat down.
    “I wanted to see what was going on inside the club. We know Sabar’s running his drug through there, so I wanted to check it out. When I got there, Caprise was dancing,” he said, casting a glare at Nick. He wasn’t sure if Nick knew about his sister’s occupation. No, X was certain he didn’t. And the curse that came from Nick the moment he said it confirmed that notion.
    “I waited for her to get off stage then took her back to her dressing room to question her.” He omitted the rest for everyone’s sake.
    “Question her about dancing or the drugs?” Nick asked, as if he had to in the first place.
    They were like family … except Caprise wasn’t related by blood, which meant he could sleep with her and remain loyal to Nick. Or at least