food, equipment, and weapons made sense now. Javier was amassing supplies enough to see him and his faction through the end of days.
Temporarily forgetting my ruse, I sat up straighter in my chair.
And all those construction projects he was overseeing… They had to be fortifications to his compound.
He’s been preparing for the apocalypse. And he wants to ride it out with my mate.
I shook my head slightly. No fucking way would I allow that. Frustration ate at me as I tossed back another watered-down drink and looked away from the unfamiliar green-haired female awkwardly thrusting her hips in crotchless chaps on stage. Her terrible dancing and the loud twang of country music blaring through the club made my head throb. I toyed with the idea of cramming my cocktail napkin into my ears to block out the irritating sound.
That’s not all I could block out. A jolt of excitement ran through me. If I couldn’t hear Javier’s voice, there was no risk of falling under his control and I could happily beat the scientist’s location out of him.
My mood sank when I remembered Jen’s orders not to approach Javier. The chip in my head made it impossible to ignore a direct order from my handler. However, I’d learned a long time ago that the secret to circumventing my orders was all in my interpretation. The vaguer the order, the more I could misconstrue it and still avoid punishment. Unfortunately, in this case, my orders were pretty clear.
As I tried to think of a workaround, I noticed the dominatrix stalk out of the VIP area and join the other humans at the bar.
Donna looked up at her. “Honey, you need to see this. There’s some freaky shit going down.”
The dominatrix shook her head. “Tell me about it. I got a guy covered in black veins about to pass out in the VIP room.”
My blood ran cold. The virus is here. Fuck. It’s moving fast. Faster than even the Colonel had predicted.
As the humans continued speaking in panicked tones, two strange males walked into the club. Although the humans didn’t notice their arrival, the scent of Lykos was impossible for me to ignore.
Javier’s enforcers went on immediate alert and moved in protectively around him.
Keeping my head on the table, I questioned the sanity of wolf shifters who would enter a club filled with feline shifters.
The blond Lykos in the collared shirt and slacks looked confused to be there, but the taller, dark-haired male with the eye patch scanned the place with tactical precision. His one eye skimmed over my hunched form and zeroed in on Javier and his enforcers.
Javier met his gaze and exchanged a tense nod with him.
Interesting. There seemed to be some sort of truce between rival species. In any other circumstances, I might have given more of a shit at that unsettling discovery. But at the moment, all I cared about was getting the intel I needed.
Javier must’ve said something telepathically to Miguel, one of his enforcers, because the tall, muscular shifter quickly left the club. At the same time, the two Lykos shifters headed back into the VIP area.
I started to tense but reminded myself they were no threat to my dancer. Lee’s scent had faded to the point I knew she’d left the club.
Why are the Lykos here?
Maybe Javier had telepathically summoned them to deal with the infected human the dominatrix was worried about. If so, Javier was even more powerful than I’d credited. Not only did he rule his faction and the largest drug cartel in the hemisphere, he wielded incredibly powerful mind control, and was allied with the Lykos.
Suddenly, going up against such an adversary with a few pieces of paper in my ears didn’t seem like the brightest idea.
Dammit. I needed a plan and I needed it now. The club owner’s next words only added to my mounting frustration.
“We’re closing early tonight. Donna, go get Sly up. I’ll tell Mr. Diaz and his men that they need to leave.” Max looked over at Javier and trembled. “Let’s hope they don’t kill me…”
I gnashed my teeth together. There went any chance of getting the intel.
Seeming to have overheard the club owner, Javier glanced at his younger brother. “Go start the car while I close out our tab.”
Luis, a depraved and blood-thirsty latent who hadn’t yet made his transition into an adult shifter, tossed his long hair behind him. “That’s a task for one of the humans. Have Carlos or Nero do it.”
Javier leveled his brother