On a narrow street off Charleston Boulevard, in a twenty-four-hour club that was much more like the old, seedy Las Vegas than the slick new one, a man studied four snapshots he’d laid out on a somewhat damp table. His beer bottle, along with another empty, stood beside them. Across the room, a stripper—a tall, well-built Shifter woman, complete with Collar—danced her provocative dance.
Shifter strippers were popular, because Shifter women, apparently, never minded stripping all the way down to what was legal. They were also tall and curvaceous, with large breasts that were all natural, and equally great asses.
Josiah Doyle—Joe to his friends—occasionally watched the stripper, but confined himself mostly to memorizing the photos, which he’d burn tonight.
The first was of a man, Hispanic or Latino, with black hair and brown eyes. Joe’s notes on the back of the picture said that the man was a former cop who now ran a security company. Probably a dangerous guy to screw with. Joe was pretty dangerous himself, but he wasn’t completely stupid.
He sipped beer and set the still-cold bottle down again. The next photo was of a gorgeous honey of a Shifter woman, blond with light green eyes, tall and sweet like the stripper. She was the wife—or mate as they called them—to the Latino. Another potentially dangerous target, because the ex-cop Latino would protect his wife.
The third photo was another human, this one tall and thinner than the first man, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so dark they might as well be black too. Joe flipped over the photo and reread what he’d written: Stuart Reid, another former cop, now employed by DX Security—the Latino ex-cop’s firm—and living in Shiftertown.
Joe let out his breath in a slow sigh. That Shifter bear from Mexico who’d contacted Joe had to be crazy to go after these targets. But a job was a job, money was money, and Joe had promised himself he’d look into it.
The first three were no-goes, however. Joe didn’t kill humans, no matter how high the price. Killing humans was murder, and murder brought with it a long prison sentence. Joe had never gone to prison in his life, and he never intended to. He’d never even received a speeding ticket, and all his weapons were licensed and legal.
Besides, if he stooped to murdering humans, his mother would freak. Any break in the Ten Commandments meant a long lecture over Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, or Easter dinner—whichever holiday happened to be closest to the offense. For Joe, the breach was usually taking the Lord’s name in vain or coveting something. Joe had learned to keep his mother happy so he could eat his bird and stuffing or ham and greens in peace.
The stripper up on the little stage was baring it gladly, and Shifter females could bend. His mother didn’t have to worry about Joe committing adultery with her, though, or even coveting. She was a Shifter, for crying out loud. He might get fleas or something.
He bent to the photos again. The female Shifter in the photo was a better target, but again, if the Latino guy and maybe even Reid, who worked with her husband, protected her, then hunting her would be too risky. Joe might have to kill the two humans to get to her, or kill them to defend himself if it came to it. Nope. Best stay away from them.
Joe pushed their photos away and drew the fourth one to him. This one, now . . . This one had potential.
The photo showed a huge male with muscle on muscle and dark hair streaked with brown. The Collar around his neck proclaimed him Shifter, as did the look in his brown eyes. Shifters always had a certain look, as though they really did want to knock you down and kill you the first chance they got, never mind the Collar programmed to shock them if they became violent.
This Shifter wasn’t married to any human, and he’d never been a cop—Shifters weren’t allowed to join law enforcement. He wasn’t related to the Shifter woman target either. She was a wildcat and he was a bear, and from what Joe had heard, different Shifter species didn’t get along that well with each other.
Shifters could be killed without a stain in the eyes of God, or even in the eyes of Joe’s mother. Shifters were animals. Sure, they walked around in human guise, but how did that make them different from circus animals dressed up and paraded around in front of kiddies?
The bounty on the Shifter male was set at twenty thousand. A hundred thousand for the four, or twenty thousand for single kills. The Shifter doing the hiring obviously wanted to encourage Joe to go for the collection.
But then, Joe had never been greedy. An honest day’s living was better than six figures earned by deeds on the other side of legal. If he could pay his bills, help out his mom, and enjoy his life, he was happy.
Twenty thousand was a nice chunk of change. The target looked tough, but Joe liked a challenge.
He turned the photo over and studied the info on the back. The bear seemed to have only one name, but Joe had heard that the bear Shifters never took last names. Weird, but whatever.
This bear lived in the heart of Shiftertown, with his mother and younger brother, and his name was Shane.
“See, Mom?” Shane said. “You’ll be doing us all a favor.”
Cormac watched the stare-down between Nell and Eric. Nell could have invited Eric inside at any time, but she stood with her arms folded and kept him outside the door. Cormac liked that, because the arrangement put him between the two of them, Cormac in a good place to protect her.
“For the good of Shiftertown,” Nell repeated, ignoring Shane. “Go on, Eric. Explain that.”
“I’ve put in for a grant,” Eric said calmly. “You know we’re still cramped for housing. We have all the new Lupines plus the extras we can’t tell the humans about.”
Cormac didn’t know who these extras were, but the others seemed to, so he kept silent.
Eric went on. “We need more space for the Lupines alone, but the humans will pay for only so much housing. Even with Iona—she’s my mate, Cormac—cutting costs for us at her mom’s construction company, it’s tough to get more funding approved. Bears are the most difficult Shifters to place. If I show I’m willing to have more bears live here, I can qualify for a grant for more housing. So when I heard that Cormac wanted to come here, I figured it was a good start. He can help me bring in more bears from his clan, I can get my grant, and we solve the housing squeeze.”
Officially, he meant. Unofficially, Shifters had more room than they let on. Still, Eric’s Shiftertown had recently had another Shiftertown-full of Lupines shoved in with them, the humans having closed one in northern Nevada to save costs. Even with the extra underground rooms humans didn’t know about, ten Shifters to a small house was still a tight fit.
“Speaking of housing,” Nell said. “Tell me he’s bunking with you.” She jerked her chin at Cormac.
Eric gave her a smile. “Nope.”
Nell’s brown eyes widened with anger. “Oh, no, you don’t, Eric. I have barely any room as it is. Shane and Brody take up a lot of space, and I have Reid staying here.”
“Yeah, Mom, but notice Reid’s not here,” Shane said. “He’s spending nights down the block with his girlfriend, and you know it. We can give Cormac Reid’s room—good incentive for Reid to move in permanently with his sweetie. Who’s a bear,” Shane added to Cormac. “In fact, she lives with the Shifter females we rescued from a crazy Shifter down in Mexico. Peigi is the only bear, but I know the others must be ready to find new mates—mates who are sane, that is. So if it doesn’t work out with my mom . . .”
“Shane,” Nell snarled. “Zip it.”
“I’m just giving the poor guy options,” Shane said, undeterred. “Since you’re not welcoming him with open arms.”