Ronan grinned, and Broderick made a noise of disgust. “Like I can’t be more stealthy than a giant bear,” Broderick muttered.
“Take out the guards, make your way to the house, and we’ll disable the alarm system.” Ellison studied a piece of paper before tucking it into his pocket. Pablo’s girlfriend had given them instructions about how to go about bypassing the alarm without triggering it.
More trust on Ellison’s part. Pablo could have instructed her to give Ellison bad guidance so he’d trip the alarm instead. Bradley might then reward Pablo. The Shifters were gambling on Pablo being more afraid of them than of Bradley.
Ellison didn’t say what they’d do after they got inside. Maria knew, though. They’d corner Bradley, find out where the cubs were, then kill him.
Ellison slid back into the truck. Maria looked at him in surprise, then let out a breath when he enfolded her in his arms. He didn’t squeeze, he didn’t kiss her; Ellison just held her, his embrace strong.
He’d never let her fall, the hug said. Never let her falter, never let anything hurt her. Maria had been drifting, rudderless, and now, Ellison was her anchor.
He kissed Maria’s cheek then her lips, his warm. “Goddess go with you,” he said, his voice low. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He transferred his gaze to Pablo, and the loving look turned to ice. “You take care of her. If Maria’s hurt in any way, or scared, or pissed off . . . You won’t live to regret it.”
“I know how to do this,” Pablo said, with no sign of anger. “Wipe out Bradley for me, and life will be good. That’s worth sitting a couple of hours in a pickup with a nice young woman.”
Ellison growled. With his arms still around Maria, feeling him rumble against her was like being held by a giant, purring cat.
Ellison kissed Maria one more time, took and pocketed Pablo’s cell phone, and exited the truck. Tiger waited for him with his usual stoic patience, his assessing eyes taking in everything.
Broderick and Ronan walked up the street one way, and Tiger departed with Ellison the other.
Maria turned around to watch Ellison go. His backside in the tight jeans swayed in a fine way as he walked, sun gleaming on his hatless hair. He’d left the cowboy hat in the car, but his boots clicked on the asphalt.
Ellison didn’t turn back, but Maria felt a tether between her and him, a line connecting them. She was with him, and he with her.
Pablo pulled a magazine out of his pocket, leaned back, stuck his elbow out the open window, and proceeded to read. Maria glanced over and saw that it was a home decorating magazine, open to a page on makeover ideas.
“Francesca’s redoing the kitchen,” Pablo said without embarrassment. “She wants me to find ideas I like.”
“I’ve never had a new kitchen,” Maria said, before she thought about it.
“No?” Pablo shrugged. “Well, that’s why I do what I do, sweetie. So I can live a little better than my parents did, which was in the gutter.”
“You’re a smart man. You could make a lot of money perfectly legally.”
“Most of my business is legal. I even pay taxes on it. But I was stupid when I was younger, and did some time. Prison gave me the opportunity to think about how I wanted my life to go, but prison closes a lot of doors for you.”
“So does being Shifter.”
Pablo lowered his magazine. “Don’t let them fool you. Those Shifters might wear Collars and be bound by rules, but I’m here to tell you, they do anything they want.”
“So I’ve seen.”
Maria turned around to look after Ellison again and found him gone. He and Tiger had vanished. Though open country rolled from behind the one street of houses, she saw no sign of anyone moving through the tall grasses.
Maria had promised herself she wouldn’t worry, but that was a silly promise. Of course she’d worry. Ellison was walking into a well-defended fort, with nothing but his teeth and claws and Pablo’s phone—though she felt a little better that he was with Tiger.
But if anything happened to any of the Shifters, she’d have to face Liam and Dylan and tell them. Explain why she hadn’t helped, why Pablo hadn’t.
They’d blame Pablo for not keeping them safe, and they might kill him. From the way Pablo’s fingers shook the slightest bit when he turned the pages of the magazine, he knew it too.
“What can we do?” she asked him.
Pablo didn’t look up. “Stay out of it.”
“Sit here until we know whether they made it or not?” Maria let out her breath. “I should at least call Andrea or Rebecca and tell them what’s going on.”
“And risk your call being picked up by someone in Bradley’s house? I imagine he keeps his ears open for any threat.”
“Can someone do that? Listen in on a cell phone call?”
“Yep. A cell call is nothing but a signal going out through the air. If a signal’s out there, you better bet someone has a gadget that can pick it up. My girlfriend can do it. I bet Bradley has a guy on his permanent staff who does nothing but scan phone calls. The guy’s paranoid.”
Maria’s heart squeezed. “Then why do you think Ellison can get inside Bradley’s house without a problem?”
“I don’t. But I wasn’t given a choice in helping, was I? Besides, if anyone can do it, it’s four stealthy, stubborn, scary-ass Shifters. I bet they get the job done with minimum casualties.”
“I don’t want any casualties.”
“Not always possible. If you go after something dangerous, there’s always a risk. The bigger the prize, the bigger the risk. You have to decide whether it’s worth it.”
Worth risking her life to stop men like Bradley stealing children, selling them to people with money who cared nothing for anyone but themselves? It was. After Ellison stopped Bradley, Maria would make it her life’s mission to find all the Shifter cubs who had been taken and release them. A good goal, better than her dream of going to school. She could always go to school when the cubs were safe.
“Whoa.” Pablo dropped his magazine, staring at something in the side-view mirror. “Start the truck. Get us out of here. But slowly. Don’t attract attention.”
“What? Why?” Maria looked back, her heart in her throat, even as she slid behind the wheel. “Oh . . .”
She saw it now too. A long black limousine, slowly sliding its way up the narrow, dirty street, heading for the unfinished houses. Some of the builders saw it too and glanced up, curious.