Mostly it was an edge-of-the-seat ride through the city. If something did happen, then the hacks depended on their cabs being sturdy enough to keep the wolves out long enough for the Night Shift to get to them. They’d have to pay a fine, but they’d be alive and probably still come out ahead.
The fares were moonlight robbery, in Marlow’s opinion. Even for this trip, which should have Marlow dropped off just before the cutoff point, the price had been enough to make Marlow wince… and it wasn’t his account.
It wouldn’t,he thought grimly to himself,be Cade’s for much longer either once the stocks were transferred.
Guilt settled onto Marlow like a heavy blanket.
“No one ever tell you it’s a bad idea to date a wolf?” the hack asked. She angled the mirror so she could see him in the back seat. “You’ll lose your heart the old-fashioned way.”
“We’re not dating.”
“Not what he said,” she pointed out with a chuckle. “Eh, I’ve got a few exes running around out there with their asses all furry tonight. Some of them are wolves too.”
She cackled at her own joke and turned her attention back to the road.
Marlow sat back and watched the city roll past. He rarely saw it like this, in the calm before the storm. The marks of the last few nights were still on show—scored walls, broken windows, blood not quite scrubbed off the pavement—but it was quiet and oddly peaceful. More so because you knew that was about to break.
The radio crackled. Habit made Marlow focus on it as adrenaline kicked his heart rate up a notch and pulled at his shoulders. He expected to hear the familiar clipped delivery of Dispatch come out of the speakers. Instead, it was a flat midwest drawl that opened with, “Hey, hon.”
Marlow pushed his shoulders back and tried to relax. He rolled his head from one side to the other, the bones in his neck noisier than was healthy.
“We had a call from Pippa,” the woman on the radio said. The driver straightened up at the name. “One of her clients is in labor. They aren’t advanced enough to justify an ambulance, but Pippa says the baby won’t wait all night. Baby five, apparently. Can you take the call, Bets? No one else is in the pickup area.”
Bets glanced over her shoulder at Marlow. “Pippa’s a midwife,” she explained. “One of our clients. Look, I can still get you home before the first shift. The hospital is right on the way. I won’t even charge you—”
Marlow raised his hand briefly. “It’s fine,” he said. “Go ahead. The full moon is no time for a home birth.”
Blood, screams, and the smell of a newborn—they might as well set up a ‘Fresh Food Here’ sign with a neon arrow pointed to their house.
“Thank you,” Bets said with relief. “Hopefully, she won’t give birth back there with you, eh?”
“It wouldn’t be the first baby I’ve delivered,” Marlow said with a dry smile. “And I’ve nothing else to do tonight.”
Chapter Nine
JUSTIN WAS OUTon the long balcony that wrapped around the outside of his office when Cade went back in. He didn’t look around at the sound of the door closing, but he raised his hand and gestured for Cade to join him.
Back when they’d worked together, that had always put Cade’s back up. It had always felt like he was being given an audience with his boss, not a meeting with his partner. Now they were competitors…
It still made Cade want to push him over the railing.
“I’m not saying a corner office was why I took Bear Arms up on their offer,” he said. “It didn’t hurt, though.”
“It’s our building,” Cade pointed out. “You could have any office you wanted.”
“I prefer people to seagulls,” Justin said. He lifted a cigarette to his mouth and inhaled, the tip cherry bright against the dim light. “Plus, I get to run their entire West Coast operation, including protection detail for the diamond companies reps. I already have my eye on a promotion to the East Coast.”
“More money?”
“Old money,” Justin said. “That comes seasoned with influence, and that opens the sorts of doors I’ve always been interested in. What do you think? Congressman has a ring to it. For a dirt-poor lad made good.”
He offered the cigarette to Cade, who took it after a moment’s hesitation. The paper was dry under his fingers as he took a drag and filled his lungs with hot, mellow smoke. It didn’t taste as good as the lingering taste of Marlow’s kiss, but the wolf didn’t need any reminders of him.
“Your dad’s a doctor.”
“He worked in the fishery.”
“Yeah, when he was a teenager.”
