Devil's Eye Read Free

. ”
    “ Hayden. Sophie Hayden. And I had noticed that Mr . . . .?”
    “ Micajah Guidry. My place is entirely on the up and up. I have both human employees and Mirus, and while they fraternize on the premises, no rules have been violated. None of my human employees, including Liza, know anything about the Mirus world. If you’ll allow me to get to my file cabinet, I can show you all the proper paperwork that was filed with the Council regarding my set up. I’ve got the proper permits for hiring humans—”
    “ I’m sure you do, Mr. Guidry. I’m not interested in your paperwork or permits. I’m interested in Liza.”
    He couldn’t stop the wolf from rising up inside him. She threatened one of his Pack. When he spoke, his voice was edged with a growl. “Liza’s done nothin’ wrong. She’s broken no laws.”
    Sophie lifted one well-shaped brow. “Not recently anyway.”
    That brought him up short.
    “ What is your relationship with Liza?” she asked.
    “ She’s my employee.”
    “ Your employee. Why is it, then, that I get the sense you’d be happy to rip me apart if I proved to be a threat to her?”
    Mick dug deep for patience and some measure of civility. “She is alone in this city. No family. Few friends. Same as most of my other employees. We make our own family, Agent Hayden. I protect what’s mine.”
    She tipped her head, curiosity plainly etched on her face. “You speak of them as Pack.”
    “ Family is more than blood and race,” he replied.
    Something like approval flashed in her eyes. What the hell was going on?
    “ You can stand down, Mr. Guidry. I’m not here in my professional capacity. And while I came here with every intention of dragging Liza away whether she likes it or not, it isn’t for the reasons you seem to think.” She blew out a long breath and seemed to exhale some of the stiffness with it. “Liza is my sister.”
    “ Sister?” Mick repeated. “But she’s . . . ”
    “ Human, yes. We share a mother. She has a propensity for getting into trouble in our world, which, as you are well aware, she isn’t supposed to know about.”
    Studying Sophie, he could see some subtle similarities. The similar soft mouth. Same diminutive stature. Maybe the same shape to the face. But the same could be said of many women, and Liza had never mentioned a sister. Was this some kind of trick? Some means of sniffing out his affiliation with the Underground?
    “ Is Liza in some kinda trouble?” asked Mick, his mind and body shifting to deal with a different kind of threat.
    Her cell phone rang and she held up a finger in a just a second motion as she checked the caller ID before shoving it back into her pocket. “Sorry. I was hoping you’d be able to tell me. She hasn’t come in tonight?”
    “ No. Nobody’s heard from her.”
    She leaned back against his desk, crossing her arms. “I’ve been trying to reach her all day, but I figured she was just avoiding my calls. When was the last time you saw her?”
    “ Last night. Or this mornin’, dependin’ on how you look at it. Several of the girls live within walkin’ distance, so me and a couple of the boys rotate to make sure all our girls get home safe. I walked her home at two, after clean up,” he explained. “I didn’t sense anything that set off my radar. We realized she wasn’t in about an hour and a half ago. Been tryin’ to get her ever since.” Why didn’t I send somebody to check on her sooner? The gnawing sensation in his gut was rising. He had a bad, bad feeling about this.
    “ Do you remember anybody hassling her at all last night? Watching her? Anybody who shows up regularly and sits in her section?”
    Mick sifted through his memories of the last few weeks, but they were hazy, all running together. “I’d have remembered anybody givin’ her grief. I don’t tolerate mistreatment of my people. As for regulars, we’ve got a lot of ’em. We’re a neighborhood place, so we’ve got a lot of the same folks