Shadow Effect - 4. Chapter 4

Seeing the look of surprise on Elijah’s face made Kage realize how much he enjoyed catching his cutie off guard. Whoa! His cutie. Where the hell did that thought come from?

“H-h-h-how do you know Sebastian?” Elijah stammered.

“I don’t.”

The glaring look of consternation Elijah shot him was amusing.

“I mean, how did you hear about him?”

“SNN?”

Now the look turned puzzled. Damn, this was too easy.

Kage chuckled at his confusion. “You know, Shifter News Network.”

Puzzled morphed into irritation.

“No? How ‘bout MSNBC? Multiple Supernaturals News Broadcast Center?”

Indignation, or maybe exasperation, was next.

“You’ve certainly heard of FOX, yes? Did you know the owner of FOX is actually a fox shifter?” Kage was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“You’re an asshole.”

Sticks and stones. Elijah wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know.

As much as he was enjoying this, they still had a mystery to solve, Scooby-Doo.

“I’ve done my homework, Elijah. I know Mr. MacTire has been elevated to top dog status in the wolfie world. What I don’t know is why you’re driving a brand spanking new vehicle, purchased a week ago and registered under his name.”

Kage almost, and he used the term lightly, almost felt sorry for Elijah. The guy turned beet red and looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“It’s pronounced Mock-tier-en, by the way. How much of your homework assignment have you completed?” Elijah threw back at Kage when he regained his wits.

So this was how he was going to play it.

“Mr. MOCK-Tier-En has taken control of the Montana Pack. He was recently elevated to senior Alpha over all animal shifters, as a direct result of his mating with Reilly Kaplan, nee Nichols, now Reilly MOCK-Tier-En,” Kage parroted sarcastically.

He didn’t miss how Elijah’s strawberry lips nearly disappeared when he pressed them together tightly into a thin line. Kage really enjoyed pushing his buttons.

“His mate’s status has been officially recognized as Kappa, something which hasn’t occurred in several millennia, or so I’ve been told. I do believe there’s a Lambda involved and, quite frankly, the Greek alphabet soup makes my head spin. In any case, there are three others in the mix and the six primary players are connected to the old wives’ tale, better known as the Sentary Sentinels. In a few circles, they are referred to as Quadrumvirate Warriors, but that only pertains to the four wolves with negative image coloring. The two blondies are Ben Marrock and Zev McClellan, also mates, as I’m sure you know.”

Kage noticed that Elijah was nervously biting the inside of his cheek.

“The six Sentinels, or whatever the hell they call themselves, are currently balls deep in breaking up a massive trafficking business which involved top level High Council members, who are on death row. Please correct me if I stray off base, by the way,” Kage offered.

Elijah shook his head. So far, Kage was right on all counts.

“The traffickers abducted dozens of young shifters and somehow altered them so that they were stuck mid-shift and sold them off to predatory pedophiles. MacTire and his Sentinels made sure the research facility where the kids were experimented on was shut down. I believe they are dealing with the fallout as we speak. What I haven’t figured out is how the hell a shapeshifting waiter gets involved in all the mayhem?”

Elijah seemed to have recovered from his earlier bout of being caught off guard, meeting Kage’s gaze confidently.

“It’s not all that complicated. They needed my help, so I helped them.”

“Clarify ‘helped them’.”

“Last summer, Ben was traveling around and met up with a friend to do some camping in Yosemite. They meandered over this way and stopped in at the diner a few times. I didn’t know it at the time, but Ben recognized me as a shapeshifter. When they were trying to figure out a way to get into Reilly’s old pack’s territory, he remembered my ability and came up with a plan. He and Zev flew out here and asked me to consider posing as an adolescent shifter and infiltrate the pack.”

“What?” Kage exclaimed. “Of all the fucking stupid ideas!”

Elijah must have sensed his impending explosion. He raised his hands in a calming fashion. “Easy there, Magilla Gorilla,” he snort-laughed.

Kage huffed, much like an actual gorilla, to his consternation.

“It was a good plan. I wasn’t alone. Caleb’s beta Wayne and his mate Sandi posed as my parents. They hoped Nichols would abduct and take me to where he was holding the other pups. They narrowed down the location to an abandoned mining facility in Idaho. It worked too. I wasn’t there more than a few days before Sebastian and the guys rescued us.”

“Why didn’t you shift and get the fuck out of there?”

The look on Elijah’s face nearly melted something inside Kage that he wasn’t quite sure even existed. “I couldn’t abandon those kids. They were so scared, Kage. There was no way on Earth I could leave them there. I knew help was on the way. We just had to be patient.”

“You could've been hurt, or worse,” Kage chastised, his voice much softer.

“That can happen crossing the street.”

Elijah had him on that one.

“What did you mean by Ben recognizing you as a shapeshifter? I thought he was human?”

“Ah, someone doesn’t get full credit for their homework,” Elijah quipped. “He was. Zev is his fated mate, and Ben chose to turn.”

Kage held back an eye roll, settling for shaking his head.

Elijah chuckled triumphantly before continuing. “According to him, he’s had the ability to identify supernatural beings his whole life. As he explained it, he sees a kind of holographic image superimposed over anyone not fully human. When he focuses on them, he can see an image of the person’s wolf, or bear, or whatever animal they are. Non-animal shifters are seen in their true form. Ben told me it took him a few minutes to figure me out. It was the first time an image kept changing on him.”

Kage gave it some thought. Identifying supernaturals by sight alone was an amazing ability for sure. He wondered if his boss knew about it. Most likely he knew the gift existed, but Ben’s freedom was a sure sign the Fae didn’t know about him specifically.

“So this MacTire gave you a brand new SUV out of the goodness of his heart?”

“Yep, I tried to refuse, but you don’t fuck around with the Alpha of all Alphas.”

Kage could see his point. “So what’s happening now? Have you heard anything?”

“I spoke to Zev and Ben briefly yesterday. Alberts and Nichols have been sentenced to die, as you already know. It’ll be carried out on the next full moon. Zev managed to figure out the location of another operational facility in Norway. It’s been shut down and they’re sorting out the situation there as well. It looks like the information on the pups that were hybridized and sold off is either buried deep somewhere in the computer files, or it was kept somewhere else. Zev’s still working on it. That guy has some mad ciphering skills. He can see patterns no one else can.”

Kage thought he detected more than a hint of admiration whenever Elijah spoke of Zev and Ben. It made him wonder if there’d been anything between the three of them.

Another thought occurred to him. What if the information regarding the whereabouts of the missing hybrid pups was on the elusive laptop? It would be just like his boss to withhold such details. Kasar Huntington was likely involved, but to what extent? Kage’s mind spun possibilities around rapidly, filing each idea away to be dissected later.

“Your friend is a genius at decoding, huh?”

Elijah nodded.

His demeanor turned serious as the situation took on a new purpose. “We need to look for the laptop. I think it might hold information pertaining to those missing pups.”

Elijah’s eyes widened. “Tyler is having a crew clean my parents' house tomorrow. We can look when they’re done.”

Kage’s gaze softened. Cleaning meant erasing the long-dried bloodstains of the Garrisons’ murder.

“That sounds like a plan. Here–” Kage slid his phone across the table. Elijah picked it up, tapped in his name and number, then slid it back.

Smiling, Kage quickly changed the name from ‘Elijah’ to ‘Cutie’ and sent a thumbs up emoji. He laughed when he saw Elijah tag him as ‘McBroody’.

Finished with their drinks, Kage led Elijah inside and took care of the tab, ignoring Elijah’s protests.

Outside, the air had turned downright frigid now that they weren’t basking in the warmth of propane heating towers. Behind the steering wheel, Elijah cranked the engine and turned the heat on, directing the vents to their feet. It didn’t take long for the new SUV to pump out warm air.

They drove in comfortable silence back to the diner’s parking lot where Kage left his car. He didn’t know what came over him when Elijah shifted the gear to park and shifted slightly to face him. Kage hooked his hand around the back of Elijah’s neck and pulled him forward gently and slowly, giving him ample opportunity to pull away. He let his lips descend and captured the sexy shapeshifter’s, tasting sweetness like he’d never tasted before.

The mewling, whimpering sound Elijah made went straight to his dick.

Kage pulled back while he still had enough control to do so.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Text me when you find out what time the cleaning crew will be done.” Kage opened the passenger door and shut it gently. He watched wistfully as Elijah drove toward Tyler’s apartment.

He got in his Camry, heading south toward his hotel. Tomorrow he needed to find a room here in town. He felt an overwhelming need to be as close to Elijah as possible. Another late night session in the hotel’s fitness center was in his immediate future. He knew sleep would not come easily.

He was right.

****

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Kage asked. He couldn’t help the concern that cropped up when he saw how tightly Elijah was holding himself.

“I can’t put it off forever. I certainly will not live with Tyler for the rest of my life,” Elijah stated.

It was late afternoon when Kage stood behind Elijah as he slid his key into the lock and opened the door leading into the kitchen. Immediately, they were assaulted with the smell of bleach and disinfectant. It reminded Kage of a hospital.

Elijah walked around and opened every window in the house. Dealing with the chill while they looked was better than passing out from residual fumes. Kage salivated as he watched the slim shifter’s booty flex with every step. Shaking his head, he needed to focus. He carefully took in the details he hadn’t noticed before. Pictures of Elijah through various stages in his life adorned the walls. Feminine touches, evidenced by floral artwork and bright pops of color, tastefully peppered the decor. Despite having no one living within its walls for over a week, the house still felt lived in. It was clearly a home that had seen much love.

Elijah stood in the middle of the now-pristine room. “Where should we start?”

“Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up.”

The house had three levels including the cellar, which is where they headed. Kage knew the sublevel spanned the entirety of the home, and like so many homes having the same occupants for many years, it accumulated a lot of stuff.

Elijah said he had not gone down cellar the last time he was in the house. It was an absolute mess. Tyler must have forgotten to instruct the cleaning service to include it. Whoever killed his parents hadn’t given one thought to do anything else as they trashed the place in search of the laptop.

The space was divided into three separate rooms. At the bottom of the stairs to the left was a laundry room with a half bath attached. On the right was a workshop-slash-craft room. It used to be neatly organized, but now all sorts of tools and arts and crafts supplies were scattered haphazardly.

The main room was clearly a man cave. A large TV was mounted to the far wall, the once-comfortable couch and overstuffed chairs ripped to shreds, stuffing strewn all over. A framed picture of Jay Petermeyer, number ninety-nine for Seattle, signed by the legend himself, adorned the wall over the bar area, albeit slightly askew.

“Holy shit,” Elijah intoned emotionlessly.

“Hey, it’s okay. This is actually a good sign," Kage assured him. "If they’d found anything, they would’ve stopped searching and it wouldn’t be such a mess.”

Elijah blew out a breath in frustration.

They spent the next hour sifting through the detritus, but came up empty.

Moving up to the main level, they slowly and methodically searched every nook and cranny. Every closet, every drawer, beneath, behind, over and under furniture, they looked until they were cross-eyed. Anything the cleaning service wasn’t sure where it went, was organized into boxes, which they rifled through meticulously.

Darkness descended and after several hours, they were both tired. Kage could see the mental and emotional toll that all the rifling was taking on Elijah so he called for a halt when he realized they had worked right through dinnertime. It was after eight o’clock and he was starving.

“Let’s continue this tomorrow. You look like you’ve had it. I know I have. Do you want to go out and grab a bite to eat or get take out?” Kage asked as he folded a blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch in the living room. It smelled of fresh laundry detergent, having been washed by the cleaning crew.

“I can’t deal with people right now. I’ll order some pizza. Double cheese okay?”

Kage nodded. He didn’t care what was or wasn’t on pizza. He didn’t eat it that often.

He couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering to Elijah. Everything about the man intrigued him. He couldn’t help but wonder how that lithe body would feel writhing beneath him. His cock was onboard, if the sudden twitch in his jeans was any indication.

Needing something to do to otherwise occupy his mind, Kage set about closing and locking all the windows. The house was freezing cold, but neither of them noticed, too focused on the task at hand.

Elijah put away his phone after using an app to order their dinner and turned up the heat. The upgraded system kicked in immediately. It wasn’t long before the temperature difference was noticeable as warm air pumped through the vents.

“So, what are your plans?” Kage asked when the silence stretched into an uncomfortable zone.

Elijah stared ahead absentmindedly. “I’m not exactly sure. The funeral director has set up the memorial service for the day after tomorrow. I need to get a new suit. The one I have is too small. Mom would’ve wanted me to look nice.”

Kage smiled. It was odd how one could fixate on a mundane detail when their life turned upside down.

The sound of the doorbell pulled Elijah out of his funk. He went to fetch the pizza while Kage grabbed a couple of plates.

The aroma hit them head on when Elijah opened the box. It was heavenly. Kage’s stomach rumbled, protesting the fact it hadn’t been filled since breakfast.

Elijah took two pieces and sat at the table. A long string of melted mozzarella trailed from his lips to the slice he’d bit into and pulled away from him. Kage watched, envious of cheese for the first time in his life as Elijah’s tongue darted out to chase the strand when it finally snapped free and hung past his chin.

Elijah caught him looking and chuckled. At least his sense of humor was still there.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to go all maudlin on you,” Elijah said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“It’s alright, you’ve earned the right. It can’t be easy dealing with everything you’ve been handed.”

Elijah head bobbed in agreement before taking another bite of his pizza. The silence was companionable as they ate.

After downing half his pizza, Elijah wiped his mouth and looked at Kage. “What about you? What’s your story?”

“What do you want to know?”

Elijah’s eyes caught his and held them for a moment. “Everything.”

Well, fuck. It seemed as though Elijah was just as fascinated with him. Too bad he was everything Elijah should be turning tail and running from. He wouldn’t lie, but no way in hell would the sweet shapeshifter know the real Kage. At the same time, he knew he should lay it all out there, but wasn’t sure how.

He compromised. “Not much to tell. I was given up for adoption when I was three months old, the same time I started going all dark and shadowy. My adoptive father made sure I was raised to excel at my current profession, all the best instructors available. His son has taken over his, uh, business dealings, so I now deal exclusively with him.”

“That sounds so… institutional,” Elijah said sadly.

“I agree. My upbringing wasn’t very conventional. I was raised by caretakers and tutors. Some aspects of my education were rather unconventional. After all, they don’t teach Lockpicking 101 in high school.” Kage left the rest unsaid.

His early lessons in killing still reverberated in his memory. It wasn’t anything that should sully the thoughts of the innocent shifter across the table from him. The more time Kage spent with Elijah, the more convinced he was of just how innocent Elijah was. Someone who’d been around the block a few times didn't respond to a kiss the way Elijah did. Awed and breathless, as though never having experienced such sensations before. Kage wanted nothing more than to be the one to teach Elijah the nuances of hot, carnal sex, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. It would only break the shapeshifter’s heart.

Elijah needed someone who could love him with every fiber of his being. Right down to his soul. He knew he wasn’t that person for Elijah. There wasn’t anyone in this world who would ever be that for Kage either. Love was a foreign concept; something so elusive, it was beyond whatever his imagination could conjure up.

Early in life, the brain forms crucial connections that allow humans and supernaturals alike to have the capacity for many emotions. If love wasn’t taught from infancy, the connection could never form properly. Psychologists called it emotional detachment. He called it nannies and tutors being no substitute for loving parents.

“Did you pass?”

Elijah’s question snapped him out of his reverie.

“Huh?”

Elijah laughed, the sound pleasant to Kage’s ears. “Did you pass Lockpicking 101?” he repeated.

This time it was Kage’s turn to laugh. “With flying colors. I managed to advance to post-graduate courses. I’m now certified to teach at the PhD level. Lockpicking 501; How To Use a Bobbypin Effectively.”

The smarmy answer was worth the bright smile it brought to Elijah’s face.

Kage spent the rest of dinner explaining different types of locks and the basics of picking them. It kept Elijah amused until they were done and had cleaned up the small mess.

“It’s late. Do you want to continue this tomorrow?”

Surprisingly, Elijah shook his head. “No, if I don’t tackle this now, I won’t want to tomorrow. The day after is the memorial service and I won’t have time. It’s now or never. You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to.”

That wasn’t an option for Kage.

“Let’s do this then.”

He followed Elijah down the hall, taking a moment to admire the backside nicely packed into a pair of dark blue jeans. Kage took a deep breath to recenter himself. ‘Not the time or place you idiot,’ he admonished himself.

Elijah decided to start in the guest room. It didn’t take them long to check the dresser, in and around the bed, and the small closet.

They moved on to Elijah’s room. Most of the mess had been taken care of by the cleaning crew. Anything they didn’t know where it went, was neatly placed in a box on his dresser. Kage took in the soft blue-gray walls, a queen bed with a matching nightstand on either side. There weren’t many personal touches, which surprised Kage. Several photos of a young Elijah and another boy, whom Kage assumed was his friend Tyler, were displayed in a collage frame. Elijah and his parents rounded out the collection of pictures.

It didn’t escape his notice that Elijah was quick to look through the nightstand drawers himself. Kage searched through the closet, which spanned the length of one wall. Elijah certainly didn’t skimp on his wardrobe. There were a lot of clothes, but Kage noticed they weren’t all name brands. Sure, there were a couple of pairs of Diesel jeans and upscale label shirts, but for the most part, Elijah’s winter clothes had more mid-priced brands like Champion and Abercrombie. Several pairs of Vans and Adidas lined the bottom of the space in an organized row, Elijah’s face revealed a look of surprise. Kage guessed he wasn’t the neatest person, but Kage didn’t picture him a slob either. Most likely he was the type to kick off his footwear, letting it land where it may.

Kage was a little disappointed when Elijah hunted through his dresser, particularly his underwear drawer, on his own. He explored the small ensuite while Elijah finished his exploration of his room.

When they were done, the only room left was the master bedroom. Kage nearly bumped into Elijah when he hesitated on the threshold. He was so close he could feel Elijah take a deep breath, steeling himself for what needed to be done. The sweet scent unique to the shapeshifter was tinged with an underlying hint of sweaty trepidation, despite the lingering chill.

There was a whispered ‘click’ as Elijah flipped the switch on the wall and soft white light bathed the space. Gone was the blood soaked bedding. The stains on the carpet were now invisible, and the splatters on the walls erased.

This room held the strongest scent of chemical cleaners. The company Tyler found certainly did a great job. The soiled mattress had been replaced, new, neutral beige sheets were on the bed, a plain gray duvet covering the bedding underneath. Fresh, fluffy pillows had been plumped and placed perfectly, like something out of a magazine.

Kage felt the tension radiating from Elijah, like heat from a fireplace. He could only guess what the young man was thinking. It didn’t take more than a few heartbeats before he had an answer.

“It feels so strange. I mean, I told Tyler I didn’t care what they replaced here, but looking at it? My mom would’ve hated it. She hated gray. She hated neutral colors. She loved bright, vivid things. It doesn’t feel like their room.”

“You can change it.”

“No. No one’s going to come in here, anyway. What’s the point?”

“Are you going to keep the house?” Kage cringed. It wasn’t any of his business, but he was too surprised by the admission.

Elijah glanced sideways at him as if he didn’t know how to answer. “For now. My parents' estate wasn’t life-altering, but it gives me some breathing room for a little while. I realize I need to grow the fuck up. I’m not really the go-back-to-school type. I dropped out of college after the first semester because I hated it. Being stuck in a classroom is torture. High school was bad enough. I can’t stomach the thought of four more years of that shit.”

Kage couldn’t relate. He’d never spent a day inside a classroom. He imagined he’d feel the same way as Elijah though.

“I can’t work at the diner for the rest of my life either,” he continued. “I don’t have any talents like music or athletic ability that I can make a career out of. I just don’t know right now.”

“It’s okay, Elijah. You do whatever it is you need to do. The rest will fall into place when the time is right,” Kage assured him.

“I hope so.”

They took their time searching through the Garrisons’ bedroom and master bath. As he expected, they found nothing. It was after midnight when they started in the garage. Kage thanked whatever Fates there were when Elijah informed him the attic above the garage was empty of the junk that had accumulated for years. He and his father cleaned it out in the fall, giving or throwing away every last piece of whatever bric-a-brac had been collected over the years. His dad wanted to convert it to a studio apartment for Elijah, so he’d have his own space.

When they flicked on the bare bulbs that illuminated the area, all they found was dust. The rest of the garage was devoid of clutter as well. When Elijah’s dad made up his mind to clean, he went all out.

They checked the cars, looking under the seats and even pulling up the carpeting. Still no laptop.

Kage wasn’t so much disappointed as he was discouraged. He was back to square one, with no clue where to look next.

Elijah yawned so big, Kage heard his jaw crack. Glancing at his phone, he was stunned to see it was three in the morning. No wonder Elijah was tired.

“It’s time to call it a night. There isn’t anything here. Go back to your friend’s, Elijah. You look beat.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going back to my hotel to catch a few hours of sleep. I’ll probably meet with my boss later and try to come up with a game plan. He may have some new information, or at least an idea of where I can look next.”

“Will I see you again?” Elijah asked tentatively, as if he was afraid of the answer.

“I hope so,” Kage answered as honestly as he could.

He didn’t have a clue where his boss would send him next. He may decide this job is over and Kage would be on the next flight to Buenos Aires, or Tokyo, or East Timbuktu. There was no way to tell what his next whim might be.

Together, they made sure the house was locked up before Kage escorted Elijah to his SUV. He was just going to open the door for him, but as the ‘beep, beep’ chirped when Elijah pressed the button to unlock it, Kage didn’t know what came over him. He grasped Elijah’s shoulders and spun him so his back was to the driver’s door. He pushed the smaller man up against the vehicle, effectively trapping his body between it and Kage.

When he dropped his head down, Elijah met him halfway. To say the kiss they shared was mind-blowing didn’t serve it justice. The shapeshifter tasted sweet, salty, and something heady that Kage couldn’t quite place. It was definitely uniquely Elijah. Something he knew he would never taste with anyone else.

Heat flared between them and Kage broke the kiss all too soon, yet not soon enough. Kissing Elijah was like getting addicted to something the first time you tried it. Kage didn’t want to let him go.

Elijah’s eyes were hooded when he looked at Kage.

Kage said the only thing he could think of.

“I will see you again, Elijah. I promise.”