Phantom Wolf. Bonnie Vanak

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СКАЧАТЬ “Go take care of yourself, Shay. You’re bleeding all over the place.”

      He nodded. “Tell Sienna I said hello.”

      When he returned, Lieutenant Commander Dale “Curt” Curtis, commanding officer of ST 21, sat beside Dakota in the ready room.

      “Curt? What’s the deal?”

      His CO snorted. “Show’s about to start. And I can’t do a damn thing about it. My hands are tied by all this red tape.”

      The door burst open. Senator Robert Rogers walked in, accompanied by his well-groomed wife and a pretty, blonde woman with a tense look and wide, scared eyes. The woman carried a pad and pencil. In the senator’s wake was a parade of dark-suited aides, two Secret Service agents, Admiral Keegan Byrne and all the SEALs on the Phoenix Force except Renegade.

      It’s a freaking party, Shay thought humorlessly.

      Rogers gestured to the aides and agents. After some protest all the humans left, the aides casting anxious glances at their boss.

      As the door closed behind them, the woman sat and flipped open her pad. Rogers escorted his wife to a chair and glared at Curt. “I assume these quarters are private so I may question the suspect as I am entitled to under Mage law?”

      His CO’s expression tightened. “You’re entitled. But this is a military base. My unit. If you deviate from the rules, you leave.”

      Rogers nodded at the blonde woman. “Catherine is my personal assistant. She serves as secretary for the Council of Mages and will take notes for my report to them.”

      Two MPs brought Kelly in, removed her handcuffs and left. She sat on a gray folding chair near the front. As she rubbed at her wrists, her gaze caught Shay’s. She’d cut her waistlength hair. The wavy locks tumbled past her shoulders, still the color of a copper penny shimmering in the sunlight. With her heart-shaped face, pert nose and full red lips, she had an alluring combination of innocence and sensuality. Shay felt another jolt of pure sexual awareness. Just like the first time they’d noticed each other on his father’s estate.

      She had a figure, yowza, that would knock the socks off a eunuch sworn to celibacy. Hourglass, all smooth curves that tempted a man into tracing every single luscious inch of her skin with his hands, and his tongue.

      His cock went instantly hard. Shay gritted his teeth, his breath easing out in a harsh whistle of air. Air. Man, he needed air. He could hardly breathe.

      A side door opened, and Renegade strolled in and slid into the seat next to Shay. The SEAL’s tongue nearly dropped down like one of those stupid cartoon wolves. “Day-um. Now I see why you were into her,” he muttered.

      “You’re supposed to be doing laps around the compound,” Shay snapped, possessive male urges cranking from mild to overdrive.

      “Dakota didn’t say anything about the outside of the compound, so I jogged around the courtyard.” The Draicon wolf’s gaze riveted to Kelly. “Besides, I needed to check if you still had a pulse. You okay?”

      Shay felt a flash of gratitude. “Yup.” Renegade could be a bastard, but he was cool when it came down to it.

      Shay stalked toward the room’s front and stood against the wall, folding his arms. He couldn’t get involved, but the vulnerable shadows beneath her blue eyes punched his gut.

      The heels of Rogers’s polished black shoes clicked across the linoleum. In his dark gray suit, with silver edging his short hair, the senator looked urbane and handsome. But beneath the charming smile lurked something nasty, like an oil slick.

      “Now, Miss Denning.” Rogers took a seat behind the desk, steepling his fingers. “You kept asserting your innocence before military authorities and the FBI. Without evidence to hold you, they released you.”

      Rogers’s smile darkened. “Under human law, you are free to go. But Mage law is not so liberal. As Chief Elder on the Council of Mages, I ask you now, who gave the orders to steal my son?”

      Kelly rubbed the heel of her hand against her cheek. “I’m innocent. Sight Finders helps Mage offspring. we’re the only ones protecting the children of both Elemental and Arcane Mages.”

      “Don’t play the naive card with me, Denning. You were not imprisoned with Billy when the SEALs rescued him. You were lounging by the pool.”

      “Billy will tell you—I was rescuing him.”

      “He’s too traumatized to speak.” Rogers waved a hand. “Where is the nanny who took him? Was she working for you?”

      “Dead,” Curt said, his gray gaze steely. “My men killed the vamps and both Mage guards on the island. When the Mages died, they assumed their original forms. One was the nanny.”

      “So she was working for you.” Rogers turned his attention back to Kelly.

      Curt and Shay exchanged glances. No words needed. Shay could read his CO’s mind. The powerful Primary Mage had little tolerance for a slick politician with a hell-bent agenda.

      What an asshole.

      “Your organization is a front for stealing Elemental children to drain their magick and enrich your own powers. You would have killed my son had you the chance!”

      “Never! I was protecting him.”

      “Where did you get the knowledge of siphoning Elemental magick? The dark spell books were all destroyed.”

      Kelly rolled her eyes. “Now who’s naive? Knowledge isn’t contained by a book. Ever hear of our oral history?”

      Shadows darkened her face. “This goes a lot deeper than you realize. The Arcanes behind Billy’s kidnapping want to kill Phantom Elementals to take over their extraordinary powers and duplicate them. They’re going to create a Dark Lord.”

      A few harsh intakes of breath from all the Mages. Alarm filled Shay. Hell, she had to be wrong.

      Curt gave her the penetrating look he used to interrogate tangos, but it looked more thoughtful than menacing. “There hasn’t been a Dark Lord in three hundred years.”

      Rogers looked uneasy and then scoffed. “We have kept close watch over every Arcane through a regular sweep of ID cards. Until now, not one single Arcane has stolen Elemental magick.”

      Shay shifted uncomfortably. Curt glanced at him. “You’re wrong, Senator. There was one twelve years ago. We have no proof, though. He vanished off the radar.”

      A small, cruel smile played on the Mage’s lips. “I forgot. Your father, Denning. You’re just like him.”

      “I am not my father,” Kelly said, fire flashing in her eyes. “I save children. I’m about justice, unlike you. Just because you’re Elementals doesn’t make you better than me. Are you going to listen to me, you pigheaded fool? The real threat is still out there!”

      “Really, Robert. Are you going to let her talk to you like that?” Mrs. Rogers studied a manicured nail.

      Kelly gazed at Rogers without fear. Shay felt a surge of admiration. Same Kelly. Always standing her ground.

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