Gedeon went in low, beneath the gun, hitting him at the knees and taking him down, his knife sinking into his belly several times and then his groin, severing arteries while Meiling covered Lilith’s eyes and murmured reassurances to her.
9
GEDEON prepared for the meeting with Elijah Lospostos and Fyodor Amurov by packing up everything in their hotel rooms and checking out. He wanted to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. They had airline tickets, but that wasn’t the only way they could escape. In fact, he wasn’t counting on that being their way out of San Antonio.
He didn’t trust easily. Fyodor and Elijah clearly had a long-standing relationship. Lola Morales was dead. She was the daughter of Pedro Morales, a lieutenant for Elijah whose family had worked for Elijah’s family for generations. No doubt he was demanding answers and wanted revenge.
Alan Cano had also died, a young man from one of Elijah Lospostos’s long-standing families that had also served for generations. His people would be seeking explanations and demanding Elijah go after whoever had killed their child.
Caleb Basco was also dead. His family knew he had had a hot temper. They also knew he had believed no one would ever notice when he drew a knife in a fight, yet he had been seen by two police officers as he pulled a knife on a witness who was telling the policemen that the other vehicle was at fault, not Caleb’s, but for some reason, Caleb had attacked him. The witness had been faster and had killed Caleb with Caleb’s own knife.
Georgi Chaban was slain in his own home, stabbed several times. There was evidence that he had been involved in a kidnapping. There had been a child living in the bedroom where he had been killed. Evidence had been left that he had been holding the child prisoner there. His parents didn’t believe it and wanted Elijah to investigate and exact retribution.
Four members of Elijah Lospostos’s extended family were killed without his prior knowledge. At the very least, even if he accepted that they were all guilty and deserved death, he wouldn’t be happy that he hadn’t been informed of what was going on in his own lair. He was a powerful man and would make a dangerous enemy.
Gedeon had run up against many of Lospostos’s kind in his career. One had to walk a very fine line between fear and respect. He could never back down, and he could never fully trust anyone. Now he had Meiling to protect.
They approached the bakery, where they would meet with Lospostos as promised. It was dark and after hours, so the bakery was closed. Gedeon and Meiling had scouted carefully. Timur, as expected, had his men on rooftops and patrolling the streets in anticipation of the meeting. Gedeon wanted to know the exact position of each of them.
Timur’s man Rodion let them in and indicated the empty tables. “Fyodor and Timur are running a little late but will be here any minute. Make yourselves at home.” He dropped the dark privacy screens in place over the windows, blocking out views of the streets. “Nice job getting that kid back,” he added.
Gedeon was fully aware that Rodion’s gaze continually swept over Meiling. Had he stepped closer to her? Did he sniff the air near her? She did have an unbelievable fragrance to her. Gedeon did his best to clamp down on what he had to consider were jealous traits. He hadn’t known he even had them. He went through women all the time. He made it known he wasn’t looking for a relationship, that there was no hope of one. He rarely saw the same woman twice, even if he had sex more than once in an evening. He didn’t kiss or share intimacies such as breakfast or coffee or “going out.” There were no dates. He was very honest with the women he had sex with. He didn’t do innocents. He was careful to ensure the women knew the rules up front before they had sex with him. The sex was never satisfying, and it was getting less so since he’d met Meiling. He felt as if he’d lost so much more between the two of them, yet he didn’t know how to stop the endless cycle with women that had begun so many years earlier.
Meiling smiled sweetly at Rodion. “Saving the little girl was a joint effort. You and your friends certainly helped us to get her home safely. Seeing her reunited with her family was such a gift. Thank you for that.”
Gedeon forced himself not to step between them when Rodion stepped closer to her, almost close enough to brush his body against hers.
“Are you hungry? Evangeline left some fruit and baked goods in the kitchen just in case,” the shifter said. “I could get you something to eat.”