Chapter 5
SHADOWS AREN’T MEANT TO BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
NELSON
“Look lively,” Carter, a bear shifter who was acting as my chauffeur for the day, said from the driver’s seat in the limo.
A limo.
It was utterly ridiculous to arrive at a black magic market in a limo, but here we were.
After I’d secured an invitation to the event, my old team met to plan my mission.
I argued it was unnecessary, mostly because it really wasn’t a mission.
But once they found out about the mysterious Rudy Tada, Gage and the others had become quite opinionated about what should happen.
In the end, they’d insisted it’d be best to make a noticeable entrance.
It was meant to throw off suspicion that I was there to spy. Hence the limo.
Jeremy, who’d somehow finagled his way into the planning meeting, said it’d be better if I drove up in an Aston Martin like James Bond, but finally agreed a limo would work in a pinch. He also insisted that I wear a tuxedo, but I’d vetoed that idea before it could gain traction.
I hated this.
Shadow jumpers weren’t supposed to be noticeable.
It was in our DNA to fade away. I wanted to tell Carter to return me to my motorbike, where I’d stashed it just beyond the hotel’s property.
Bonnie, aka my Triumph Bonneville, was my backup plan, but I wanted it to be my current plan too.
Sure, my bike would have drawn attention as well, since few people drove bikes this time of year, but at least it wasn’t a fucking limo.
The whole situation made me want to disappear into the shadows under the back seat where Gage had told me to sit, and I hadn’t even been in the limo for more than a few minutes, just long enough to swap my thick leather jacket for a stylish black wool coat.
I rubbed my palms on my black jeans to warm them up.
The blizzard that’d been threatening for the last few days had finally made an appearance, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Carter guided the limo up to the front of the resort, where a few other vehicles were idling. The mage who’d found me a ticket had informed us most attendees would arrive later tonight, so I’d come early enough to poke around before things got busy.
According to my phone, it was late afternoon. Given the time of year, that meant the sun would be setting soon, not that I could tell. A thick layer of clouds obliterated the sky.
Normally my shadow magic would be alive and singing as shades of navy and charcoal cloaked the world, but not today—not when I saw how brightly lit the entrance was. Were they trying to bring Vegas to this remote mountain lodge?
Why had I agreed to this again?
I should be the driver, not Carter. I should be the one to park the car in the distant corner of the parking lot, far away from the bright lights. I should be the one to skulk around to the back door while Carter attracted everyone’s attention.
As soon as the limo stopped, a man scurried out of the hotel, dragging a polished brass luggage cart behind him. Normally, I’d slip away while all eyes were on him, but today I sat tight and tried not to fidget.
My neck itched. My stomach roiled. Was this what stage fright felt like?
“You look like you’re about to puke,” Carter said when he caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “Do I need to drive around for a bit? Get you some apple juice or a ginger ale? Crackers, maybe?”
“Fuck off,” I muttered without any heat. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Okay. Whatever, buddy. This is your gig.”
Carter climbed out of the car and lumbered to my door.
Not all shifters resembled their shifted form, but he did.
He was a big bear of a man in both forms—one just had more fur than the other.
In his austere chauffeur’s suit, he looked like a one-man security service detail.
And maybe that was the point Gage was trying to make to anyone who might be watching me: I wasn’t here alone.
The idea settled me. Just a little.
I didn’t know Carter well and had been surprised when Gage suggested him for this mission. He was the fire chief at Willow Lake, not a trained SC operative. But there wasn’t much for him to do, really. He was a prop, just like the limo.
Meanwhile, the rest of my old team had set up in a motel about thirty minutes down the road, just in case I needed backup. And while they waited for updates on the mission, they were scrambling to find out more about who Rudy Tada was and anything else about the other market attendees.
Just because we weren’t officially with the SC anymore didn’t mean we could ignore steamy piles of shit when we saw them.
And this market promised to be full of shitty people and shitty artifacts.
However, none of my old team was great with technology, usually leaving that kind of work for me, so I wasn’t optimistic about their chances of finding out much.
Carter held my door open. The hotel employee who waited beside the luggage cart glanced inside the vehicle. Luckily, my leather jacket was hidden from sight in an under-seat storage box.
But now that the man—a wolf shifter, I thought—had seen me, there was no turning back.
An icy gust of wind swept in, poking and prodding at me. I shivered and adjusted a pale gray cashmere scarf around my neck as I climbed out. The scarf was another prop—it was a subtle indication of wealth, according to Jeremy—but this one I actually liked.
“Get my luggage,” I said to Carter, “and I will book you a room.”
“Oh, sir, that won’t be possible,” the hotel employee said quickly. He winced when I scowled at him. “The hotel is fully booked.”
I glanced around the half-empty parking lot and raised an eyebrow at the man. “My driver doesn’t need much. Surely, there must be some closet he could sleep in for the night. Or a cave at the foot of the mountain, perhaps?”
Carter’s mouth twitched, but he kept a straight face. It had to be killing him not to tell me what he thought of the cave jab. Animal shifters were always so predictable. When you likened them to their animal counterparts, they always got huffy.
“I’m sorry, sir, but that won’t be possible,” the man reiterated, clasping his hands. “There are other establishments in town, just half a mile down the valley. Staff of the other attendees have found accommodations there.”
I pretended to be more annoyed than I was.
Getting Carter inside had been a long shot.
I’d only been able to procure one ticket and one room.
Gage and I had discussed having Carter stay in my room with me but had ultimately decided against it.
I could slip in and out of shadows quickly if I needed to escape. Carter didn’t have that luxury.
“Very well,” I said.
While the hotel employee transferred my luggage—an obscenely large case considering how few clothes it held—to the cart, Carter took the opportunity to check in with me. His silent look said, “Are you ready?” I nodded slightly as I adjusted my collar.
“I will call you when I am ready to depart. And I expect you to be sober, no matter the time.”
Carter smothered a snort by pretending to cough into his hand. “Yes, Mr. Long.”
My alias rolled off his tongue easily.
I’d chosen it because it sounded similar enough to Young that I should respond if someone called it out. I probably could have used my real name, but that seemed like an unnecessary risk.
Few people knew much about me, even within the SC. As someone who could hide in shadows and eavesdrop on conversations, I was in a unique position to investigate the most powerful supes, including SC employees. Everyone agreed it was prudent to take every precaution to protect my anonymity.
The hotel was bustling with activity, as assholes—because those were the only people who attended these things—checked in and chatted with other assholes. Hotel employees were also rushing around, setting up a bunch of tables to the left side of the foyer.
“I thought the market started in the morning,” I said to the guy wheeling my luggage inside.
“It does, but a few of the vendors asked if they could set up a smaller one this evening.”
Interesting.
A short time later, after dumping my bag in my room and shedding my winter gear, I was in my shifted form, jumping from shadow to shadow through the glitzy hotel lobby.
With a job and a task to do, I didn’t worry about losing myself to my shadows.
In fact, I felt more invigorated than I had in a long time.
Maybe I had just needed a break from Willow Lake for a while.
My first stop was the reception desk. I needed to find out which room Rudy Tada was using for the weekend.
But when I got to the desk, the crowd of people booking in had grown. All the computers were busy, so I couldn’t use one to search for my target. I waited for a few minutes on the off chance that a guest would drop my target’s name. They didn’t.
I debated hanging out at the desk all afternoon, but that felt like a colossal waste of time. Besides, there was a lot more to investigate. Coming back after midnight to hack into the computers when the employees were bored and inattentive would be easier.
I slipped away from the desk and explored the ground floor of the hotel.
The dimly lit pub with its enormous TV screens over the bar, its dark wood, and its cozy tables was the perfect spot to spy in my shadow form later.
I might have some success at the restaurant too.
The room was brighter, but it had a lot of wood and larger tables.
I could slither through there without anyone noticing.
Then there was the hotel manager’s office.
It had little personality, much like the mousy-looking woman seated behind the desk.
But if I couldn’t get into the computers at the reception desk quickly, this was a good alternative.
It might just take more time if she turned off her computer each night.