Rio's Fire (10 page)

Once again Fire buried his face in Rio’s chest, and that gave Rio the answer right there. His mate was in serious trouble. “We’ll figure this out, but after that, you’re attending meetings.”

Fire peeked up at him, worry in his brown-sugar eyes. “You’re not going to tell Maverick?”

Rio snorted. It was an unmanly sound, but the thought of telling the alpha that Fire was once again in debt was not something he was going to do. “Do I look crazy to you? You and I will figure this one out on our own.” Rio opened his arms and encouraged Fire to stand.

“We need to get off the side of the road and go get something to eat.”

“I’m sorry,” Fire muttered as his shoulders slumped. His mate began to walk back to the truck and Rio had an urge to tell him that everything was going to be okay. But it wasn’t. Rio had no clue how to deal with a bookie. He knew he was in over his head, but the thought of going to Maverick wasn’t an option to him.

The alpha would probably bury Fire under the house if he ever found out—or worse. No, they had to handle this on their own. Rio was just at a loss of what to do or who to ask about bookies. The first
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thing they needed to do was find out was who Fire had placed the bet with.

Until then, Rio was going to get something to eat. Dealing with dangerous situations was never a wise thing to do on an empty stomach. Although Rio had no clue what a dangerous situation was considering he grew up in an ordinary home, with loving parents.

However, he had a feeling that being mated to Fire was going to entail a lot of not-so-ordinary situations.

They finally made it to the diner where they grabbed a booth by the window. Once the waiter had taken their drink orders, Rio grabbed the menu off the table. He was looking over the selection when he noticed Fire stiffen.

Turning his head, Rio followed his mate’s gaze. Across the street and off to the side, Rio spotted Mr. Fishman. He was standing there talking to someone that Rio didn’t recognize. Although Rio didn’t know a lot of people in town, the stranger Mr. Fishman was speaking to reminded Rio of somebody shady. The man was wearing a suit that was one size too big for his narrow frame. His dark hair was slicked back, showing Rio the man’s receding hairline. The stranger reminded Rio of somebody trying to come off as important, but failing miserably.

“That’s him.” Fire lifted the menu and tried to conceal his face.

“That’s the guy I made the bet with.”

“Are you sure?” Rio glanced back across the street and saw the two parting ways. Why would Principal Fishman be caught dead with a bookie? From the way he had spoken to Rio in his office last week, Rio would’ve thought the man allergic to anyone below his standards.

He knew something fishy was going on with that principal. He just couldn’t figure out how Mr. Fishman was tied in with Fire and the bookie.

It could’ve been something as simple as Mr. Fishman making a bet, but Rio couldn’t see the highly polished man getting himself involved with someone who could blemish his reputation.

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Mr. Fishman was just arrogant like that.

Tapping Fire’s foot under the table, Rio nodded toward the other side of the diner. “Let’s go sit over there.”

They both quickly moved away from the large window and headed over to a booth closer to the back of the restaurant.

“What do you think that was all about?”

Rio shook his head, unsure of what to think. It didn’t make any sense to him. The principal was all over Fire because he didn’t measure up to Mr. Fishman’s high standards. Seeing him with a bookie was contradictory on so many different levels. “I’m not sure but we are going to get to the bottom of this.”

“
We
?” Fire asked, the word sounding a little strained.

“Yes, we. Or would you prefer I get Maverick involved?”

Fire threw his hands up, palms out. “Okay, okay. So how do we find out what those two were meeting about?”

Again, Rio wasn’t sure. But the one thing he did know was that he had to keep his mate safe—even from himself.

Rio saw the waiter walk over to the table that he and Fire had just vacated, a confused expression on his face as he held the drinks in his hand.

“Over here.” Rio waved at their table.

The waiter turned, looking even more confused as he walked over and set the drinks down. “This isn’t in my station,” the waiter said as he set two straws down next to the drinks. “But I guess it’ll be okay if I take your orders.”

They both ordered and then tossed their menus aside. Once the waiter walked away, Fire asked, “So, do you have some master plan?”

“Shhh,” Rio said tightly as he glanced around. “Let’s keep our voices down. There’s no telling who could be listening.”

Fire’s head snapped around, his eyes flickering over the diner.

When he turned back around he spoke. “Uh, we are the only customers.”

“That we are.” Rio smiled.

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Fire cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”

Rio reached across the table, covering Fire’s hands with his. “I know you fell, and you have a long way to go, but you no longer have to fight this alone. I’ll help you get through this, Fire. Look to me when you feel yourself slipping.”

“Nobody’s really been in my corner. They look at my outer shell and see a man who is irresponsible, has an inflated ego, and just fucks everything up. They never took the time to take a closer look at who I really am.”

“I see you, Fire.”

Rio pulled his hands away when the waiter brought their food. He hadn’t meant to turn their evening into such a somber setting. Picking up his straw, Rio pulled one end of the paper off and then pressed the exposed straw to his lips…and blew.

The paper shell flew across the table and smacked Fire in the nose. Fire looked momentarily stunned. His eyes dropped down to the straw paper that was resting on the table, and then he looked up at Rio. A slow smile formed on his lips, and then Fire burst out laughing.

Rio chuckled then began to eat.

Tension sufficiently broken.

“This is pretty good,” Fire said as he dug into his food. “George is a great cook.”

“I agree.” Rio was demolishing his meatloaf. It was even better than his mother’s—although he would never tell her that. “So Maverick’s punishment was you becoming an art teacher?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

Rio wiped at his mouth with the napkin. “From the very beginning. But you can’t tell me the kids aren’t growing on you.”

“Like a fungus.” The smile tugged at Fire’s lips. “But seriously, yeah, I’m growing to like the little hellions. But I’m still trying to figure out how to stop Jeff from eating crayons. It seems no matter what I do that little boy is shoving one into his mouth.” Fire leaned
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closer. “Don’t tell anyone, but just out of curiosity I tried one myself.

Nasty things.”

Rio nearly choked as he laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Fire shrugged, stabbing his fork into his mashed potatoes. “I had to see if they were as good as he made them seem.”

“And if they were?”

A mischievous sparkle began to shine in Fire’s eyes. “Then he and I would have been splitting a twenty-four pack.”

Rio couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he ate. How anyone couldn’t like Fire, he wasn’t sure. The man was a breath of fresh air and made Rio’s cat purr in satisfaction. Now all they had to do was figure out the correlation between Fire, the bookie, and the principal of Brac Elementary.

Oh yeah, and get Fire out of debt and to some meetings.

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“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Maverick said as he held the phone to his ear. “Did you just say demon?”

“A very nasty and deadly demon,” Panahasi corrected him. “He used the black river to escape and one of my warriors, Deandre, tracked the thing to your town.”

Maverick felt rattled. He didn’t like feeling rattled. It always put him in a pissy mood. “How in the fuck did he lose a damn demon?”

He could hear a low growl on the other end on the phone. “This is no ordinary demon, Maverick. It’s a shape-shifter, taking on whoever it kills.”

Oh, fucking great!

“But.” Panahasi said the word like it would soften the blow he had already delivered. “The demon can only survive in the host body for so long before it begins to decay, and then it goes on the hunt for another. It has no demonic scent. Whatever host body it inhabits, it takes on that person’s scent.”

“How can I kill it?”

He didn’t like the lapse in conversation. “You have to wait until it kills.”

He cursed long and with feeling, wanting to hang up the phone and forget the bastard had even called him.

He couldn’t believe Panahasi just told him that he had to wait until the damn thing killed someone.

Maverick wasn’t waiting. If the demon had come to his town, Maverick was going to track the son of a bitch down. The only flaw in that plan was that the demon held no demonic scent. Not only did he
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take on the host’s body, but the host’s scent as well. So if the demon had killed a human, he would now smell human.

Panahasi continued. “I doubt the demon will mimic a paranormal creature because of the unique DNA.”

“I’ll let you know if I find it.” Maverick hung up.

Gee, he only had what, five hundred humans living in Brac Village? Maverick was not only going to have to alert his warriors, but the paranormal creatures who resided in his town. He wanted everyone to keep an eye out for anyone acting suspicious.

People acting suspicious in his town? Nah, never. He rolled his eyes at his own sarcasm. Maverick also had another problem to take care of. He knew full well that Fire had placed another bet…and lost.

He was trying his damnedest to let Rio handle the problem—without the black panther knowing what Maverick was doing. But if shit got funky, he was stepping in.

If anyone could straighten out a lost soul, it was a mate. But Maverick wasn’t too sure about Rio. The man was a strong predator and shouldn’t be fucked with, but he knew Rio had grown up in a sheltered life.

Maybe this experience would be good for both Fire and Rio.

* * * *

“I’m telling you,” Fire argued. “Mr. Fishman is the demon.”

“Why, because he is an asshole?” his mate asked. “I need more proof than that if we are going after him.”

Fire tossed his hands on his hips, glaring at his mate. “What if he is the demon and we do nothing about it? He’s the freaking principal of an elementary school. Are you willing to risk the kids?”

Rio paused. They had been walking through the faculty parking lot. Fire moved closer to his mate, seeing the wheels turning in Rio’s head. “All we are going to do is check his car out. If he is a demon who kills its host, there has to be some kind of proof.”

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Rio glanced around. “I’m only going to do this because I’m thinking about the kids.”

“And I’m doing it because I like to engage in illegal acts?” Fire snapped the sarcastic question at his mate. “If you ask me, Mr.

Fishman should be the number one suspect.” He placed his hand on Rio’s shoulder. “We have to rule him out, Rio. I can’t in good conscience ignore the fact that he might hurt a child if he is a demon.

We have to protect them.”

They quickly hurried over to Principal Fishman’s car, Fire praying they were wrong about the guy. He didn’t care for the pudgy man, but the thought of having a demon near the kids at the elementary school was a nightmare Fire didn’t even want to contemplate.

“Then let’s hurry up,” Rio shouted softly as his eyes swept the parking lot.

“Sorry, but this is the first time I’ve ever broken into someone’s car.” Fire pulled at the handle and eased the door open, thankful that the damn thing wasn’t locked. The brick he brought with him wasn’t going to be needed.

“I just don’t want to get caught.”

Fire glanced incredulously at his mate. “Like I do?”

Rio shooed his hands at Fire. “Less talk, more searching.”

Fire exhaled irritably as he leaned in to the car and checked the center console, sun visors, and glove box. Never before had he seen a car this clean. The only thing he had found was an owner’s manual.

Who didn’t have a bunch of junk in their car? He felt down between the seats and under them…nothing.

As he began to pull back, Fire noticed the latch for the trunk. It was a small lever situated on the floor between the doorframe and the seat. He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t. Digging in Mr. Fishman’s trunk could be seen by anyone. They could be caught. Both would be fired.

But what if the principal was truly a demon posing as Mr.

Fishman?

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Fire pulled the latch and heard a distinct
pop
.

“What are you doing?” Rio shouted quietly as he threw his hands up. “We are only supposed to search the inside of the car, Fire.”

“It’s as clean as a whistle,” Fire defended. “Don’t you want to find out if Mr. Fishman is the demon Maverick warned us about?”

Rio ran his hand down his face. “Yeah, but—”

“Then no buts.” Fire shut the car door and walked around to the rear of the vehicle. With a quick scan of the parking lot, Fire pulled the trunk open. It was just as clean as the inside of the car, except for one thing. There was a black combination briefcase tucked to one side and held in place by some black netting found in most trunks of cars.

Did demons carry briefcases? Fire snatched it from its resting spot and then slammed the trunk closed.

“What’s that?”

“Evidence.” They both dropped down when a truck rolled by them. From his pounding heart and dry throat, Fire knew being a thief was not his forte. He wasn’t sure how anyone could do this all the time. His damn stomach was in knots.

Rio glanced over the end of the car before standing. “How do you know that’s evidence? He is the principal. It could just be paperwork.”