Free Fatal Call (New Breed Novels Book 4) by Martha Bourke

serum to the public? Rose would be out there. She would be vulnerable. Suddenly, checking up on her didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
     
    Pax walked up the main staircase to James’s room. He was so not looking forward to this. The male clearly had a right to know. But if he was thinking of dealing with Seth on his own, well…that was going to complicate things.
    He knocked on the door.
    “Lemme guess. The real Slim Shady.”
    Pax rolled his eyes. “Mind if I come in?”
    “Nope.”
    Pax went in and closed the door behind him. “Hey.”
    James took a cuff link off his shirt. “Hey.”
    “Listen, Ana and I found out some pretty crazy shit last night.”
    “So I heard.”
    “Hang on. I’ve got something on Seth.”
    James froze. “What?”
    “Yeah. Apparently, he’s working for Batiste.”
    “Wha— The drug lord?”
    Pax nodded. “I had the same reaction. Turns out, he’s connected to that human scientist, Roman. The douche was selling rogues to Batiste, and Seth has been handling the transactions.”
    The male started on the other cufflink. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s always had a way about him. People trust him.”
    “I don’t know whether he’s still there or not, but it’s a start. If your intention is to find him.”
    “Right.”
    Okay. Clearly, the brother wasn’t up for sharing. Pax watched him fumble with the other cuff link until he was sure he was going to break it. “Here, let me.”
    He moved closer and bent over the clasp. Then he stopped. James was covered in another male’s scent—one he didn’t recognize. He willed himself not to look up at him. He put the link on the dresser and beat it for the door. “Anyway, I thought you should know. What you do with it is up to you. Just be careful.”
     
    Seth walked down a dimly lit alley in Back Bay. It was a well populated and much loved hunting ground for Toltec shifters and their hellions who were looking for targets. Actually, it was kinda funny. He used to be one of those hellions . He had a Tolie in charge of him and a den to sleep in. The whole nine yards. Well, tonight he was hunting the Tolies for their k’ul . He smiled to himself. Maybe there was a little karma in that shit. Plus, Grace needed it, and it would be a lot easier taking down an unsuspecting Tolie in a dark alley than a civilian shifter out on the street in plain sight.
    Grace. He rolled his eyes. How the fuck he’d managed to get mixed up with that broad, he had no idea. What an asshole. He’d let her pull at his heartstrings until he took her with him. All he would do is give her the apartment and teach her how to feed. Period. He didn’t owe her any more than that. Come to think of it, he didn’t even owe her that. Besides, he had to think of his own neck. Batiste was the real deal. He had guys working for him all over the city. He couldn’t risk getting caught doing stupid shit like this after hours. Nope. Decision made. A quick lesson in basic hellion survival and he’d send her on her way.

CHAPTER NINE
    X materialized two buildings down from Rose’s condo. He cast out his senses and swept the area. There was one lone shifter civilian on the second floor of the house behind him, but no Rose. He moved quickly through the darkness, crossing the adjacent lawn in just a few steps. Her white Prius C was parked in the driveway. She was on foot. Again. Maybe she was just on campus. It was almost eleven, but she kept pretty late hours. With a quick gleam, X stood alongside an old Victorian at the corner of Cambridge and Prescott. While he took a gander at Harvard’s Japanese Institute across the street, he swept the block for Rose’s energy. His exhale was a rush of relief. She was inside the building with only a human custodial staff.
    A sudden yell from the delivery ramp next to the Institute caught his attention. Fuck. A Toltec shifter and two hellions were dragging a male civilian down the ramp into the darkness of the underground lot.