Chosen by Sin by Virna Depaul Page B

had
secrets he was keeping, nothing Dex could say or do would drag them out of him.
He just hoped Mahone’s secrets didn’t end up complicating Dex’s life even more.
“Between each of us, we’ve danced with the devil more times than I can count.
Whatever’s got the shape-shifters out of sorts, we’ll contain it.”
    “I hope you’re right.”
    Dex left, but as he did, he heard Mahone mutter under his breath,
“Problem is, I don’t think you are.”
    ***
    Mahone’s chest ached with a burning sensation as he watched Dex leave.
    If he didn’t know better, he’d say the sensation was guilt. Even if it
was, so be it. After all, any guilt he felt was well deserved.
    When Jesmina Martin had called him, proposing an exchange of money for
information, there was no way Mahone could have guessed just how bountiful the
information she possessed really was. Or that it would have concerned one of
his own team members.
    According to Jesmina, Bodin of Hammersham had abandoned his grandson in
order to protect him because he believed Dex possessed the gift of immortality.
A gift Jesmina hoped to replicate with her test tubes and microscopes. All of
her theories were based on the whispered accounts of an old legend, the same
legend that predicted a werewolf with an identity crisis would save the world
by shepherding a bunch of dark demons back to hell.
    What she hadn’t known, at least as far as Mahone could decipher, was
that shape-shifters were killing each other and that dark magic and incantation
spells were somehow involved. But Mahone had certainly made the connection fast
enough.
    Even if it was only speculation at this point, it was speculation
accompanied by a gut feeling that he was right. And Mahone paid attention to
his gut feelings. If what he suspected was true, shape-shifters were killing
other shape-shifters based on what they truly believed was self-defense. They
were killing their own in order to stop those in their midst from bringing dark
spirits back to earth.
    When he thought about it, it made sense. As Walker had recognized days
ago, shape-shifters were mostly a mystery to the rest of the world. That’s how
everyone preferred it. Shape-shifters were scary not only because of their
alien-like exteriors, but because they could travel undetected anywhere and
anytime they wanted. They could disguise themselves as someone’s brother,
mother, or lover, and most people would never know it. Because they were the
most feared and least understood Otherborn, they were also the most persecuted.
    Since they’d seemed relatively peaceful, everyone had pretty much
ignored the threat they posed up to now. That had been a huge mistake.
    If the shape-shifters couldn’t find a place among the living, why not
with the dead? And why not use the dead to avenge themselves against all the
living creatures who’d fucked you over in the first place?
    A legend. Dex. Dark demons. Shape-shifters performing rituals to raise
dark demons.
    It had to be more than coincidence.
    He’d wait to see if Dex made the same connection—without any help
from Mahone. And who knew? Maybe Jesmina would play a role in things, which
would validate Mahone’s decision to keep their little arrangement a secret from
Dex.
    Of course, Dex hadn’t mentioned a single word about Jesmina to Mahone,
but Mahone was no fool. He knew Dex wouldn’t be able to resist seeing the
vampire again. Mahone had followed Dex the night he’d gone to see Jes at her
hotel, and Dex had been inside her hotel room far longer than it would have
taken Jesmina to take the samples of blood she’d been after.
    However he got the information, Mahone was counting on Dex bringing him
back something useful. And if the “good” shape-shifters wouldn’t open up to
him? Well, Mahone had prepared for that contingency, too.
    By strategically leaking Jesmina’s suspicions about Dex to several
shape-shifters, Mahone was gambling that word would get around and that the
“bad”