Moon Sworn

The camera had already begun its rotation back toward the door, and was almost at the window. If I didn’t go now, they’d see the window, realize it wasn’t actually smashed as the shifter had said, and start to wonder why he’d lied. And if they had a decent enough telepath on their team, he’d probably uncover traces of my presence in the shifter’s mind.

I couldn’t take that chance.

I jumped forward, flapping my wings as hard as I could, aiming for the tiny hole in the middle of the glass. At the last moment, I closed my eyes and tucked my wings together, bracing for the impact. I hit with speed, shattering the glass and spraying it outward. Which might make them wonder how, exactly, the glass had broken, but I couldn’t help that. The jagged edges of glass scoured my side, tearing past feathers and into skin. Then I was out in the open air and tumbling downward. Panic rose just for a moment, then I spread my wings and began to fly, swooping past several rooftops as I curved around to the front of the building. I perched on the nearest rooftop, briefly shifting to my wolf shape and back again to stop the bleeding, then took to wing again.

The men were in the car, driving away. I followed them for a couple of streets, then swung around and flew into Cass’s window. I needed to question her a little more about her boss.

She was with another man, but the door was open as she’d promised. Given that I didn’t particularly want to watch her in action again, I sauntered through the door to have a look around. The hallway beyond was long and shadowy, and there were four doors leading off it. One was closed, but the other three were open and the rooms empty. I walked to the stairway and looked up. The camera sat above the landing, and was indeed an infrared.

It seemed a lot of trouble to go to for what was basically little more than a phone depot, but then I hadn’t explored the other rooms, so who knew what was in those?

I suspected it wouldn’t be much. Even though it had been Surrey’s soul that had given us the lead, Surrey himself would probably have done so had he lived—even if he’d done it unwillingly, via a telepathic raid. We would have found this place—and this phone—one way or another, and I very much suspected they’d be ready for such an event.

I went back to the room. Cass’s client was just finishing up, so I waited until he left, then shifted to my human shape.

“Couple of nasty-looking wounds you have there,” Cass drawled, swinging her legs around and sitting up on the bed.

“Glass will do that,” I said. “I don’t suppose you know where T. J. Hart lives, do you?”

She raised an eyebrow, amusement glimmering in her eyes. “It’s not listed on the business registration?”

“Apparently not.” I plopped down on the chaise longue and tried to ignore the stale scents rising from it. “I’ll give you another thirty for the information, because that’s all I’ve got.”

She considered me for a moment, then said, “How much trouble is T.J. in? Because as much as the clients suck, this is a reasonably secure and clean place to work.”

I hesitated. “It depends on whether he’s merely renting the room or actively involved in what is going on.”

“Well, I know he raised a hell of a fuss about the shit they put on the roof, so I suspect his only involvement is a pocket-level one.” She held out a hand. “Payment first. You look the trustworthy type, but I’ve been fooled before.”

I dug out my wallet and handed over the last of my cash.

She tucked the cash into her tin, then gave me a smile. “T.J. lives down the road in Elwood. He likes to be near his investments.”

She grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote down the address before handing it to me.

I shoved the scrap into my pocket. “So he has more than one brothel?”

“Yeah. The other one is in Caulfield. It’s a little more upmarket. I used to work there when I was younger.” She shrugged, like age and demotion weren’t really a problem.

“Can I ask why you’re still in the business? I mean, you seem pretty savvy, and I suspect you could get a job doing something else easily.”

“I trained as a personal assistant and I’m a damned good one, so there’s no doubt that I could. But the money here is good, I can set my own hours, and medical is included.” She shrugged again. “Another year or so, and I’ll probably open my own—”

She paused and cocked her head sideways. “T.J.’s just walked into the building.”

“He’s a shifter?”

She nodded, amusement playing around her lips. “Unfortunately for him, his alternate form is less than exciting. He’s a hare.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “A hare?”

“Yeah. It does explain his penchant for the sex business, though.” She paused again, then frowned. “Those men are back. The bird-shifter—”

The rest of her sentence was cut off by two short, sharp gunshots.

Chapter 6

As screams erupted from the floors below, I glanced at Cass and whispered urgently, “Get under the bed and don’t come out until I say so.”

As she scrambled to obey, I headed for the door. There was a blue silk dressing gown hanging from a hook near the door, so I grabbed that and put it on—more to blend in than to cover my partial nakedness. Then I pressed my back to the door frame and switched on the com-link.

“Jack, we have shots fired at the brothel. Something’s gone wrong.”

“Did they spot you coming in or out?”

“I’d say no except for the fact that they’re back here and shooting. Maybe there were some security systems that weren’t taken out by the power outage.”

“And maybe they got wind of us tracking down Surrey and are now erasing all possible leads back to them. And that would mean the phone number Surrey knew, and possibly anyone who knows its location.”

“That’s pretty cold-blooded.”

“And so are your targets.”

He probably had that right. I took a quick glance around the corner. Shadows and sunshine vied for prominence in the hallway. The door down the end of the hall was still closed, but as I looked, a bolt slammed home. The occupants had obviously heard the shots—not that a bolt would stop a determined shifter. I glanced over my shoulder to ensure Cass couldn’t be seen, then edged out into the hallway.

There were people ru

They were obviously going after their main target first, and that had to be the owner, the man who’d rented them the room. Anyone else they’d take care of when and if they had the time.

I reached the banister and took a quick glance down. Two half-dressed women were fleeing up the stairs, and several yards behind them ran a man wearing a lot of gold jewelry. Behind them all, one flight down, was the blond bird-shifter with the gun. His movements were calm, assured. Maybe he knew there was no way out up here—other than jumping out a window. And if anyone who didn’t have wings attempted that from this height

… Well, he’d probably save himself some bullets.

I reached out telepathically, intending to slip into his mind and stop him, only to hit an electronic wall. The bastard was wearing a nanowire. And a strong one, if the recoil of energy was any indication. I could break it, but it would take time and, more important, leave me open for attack from the wolf. I couldn’t psychically attack two men simultaneously, even if I was one of the Directorate’s strongest telepaths.