A Soul incarnate: A past she can’t outrun. A secret world she never knew she belonged to. A daughter she will do anything to protect.

When a simple rescue mission goes horribly wrong, ex-cop Allura Forsayeth accidentally bonds with Jenna, the shapeshifting tigress girl she’d been sent to rescue.

That simple act of kindness irrevocably draws Allura into the hidden world of Creatures, and makes her the target of an ancient feud that’s been threatening to erupt for millennia.

Blackmailed by a former lover and threatened by a pack of werewolves desperate to get Jenna back, Allura will do anything to keep her adopted daughter safe, no matter the cost.

To have any chance of surviving, Allura must confront the monsters without and embrace the one within.

Note: A Soul Incarnate is a dark and gritty urban fantasy with adult themes and situations – recommended for mature audiences aged 15 years and up.

You can grab a copy directly from me (eBook only, though I’m a little cheaper than the big retailers), or almost anywhere else, including:

Hand over her mouth, Allura staggered through the bathroom door to the toilet, half shoving her head into the bowl as she retched. For a moment she felt better, but then the cold sweats came on once more. Trembling with the familiar, horrid, sickly feeling in her gut, she tried and failed to hold it in.

After several more bouts, she rinsed her mouth at the basin, weak and trembling. “Why do I keep doing this?” she asked her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror.

She’d forgotten to pull her blonde hair back. It was filthy. “Crap.”

Because you’re an idiot?

Allura glared as her reflection changed into Sparrow’s appearance. “Screw you, Sparrow.”

You wish you could.

“Eww. You’re supposed to be my imaginary friend, not my lover.”

Oh, I’m far from that. I’m thousands of years of experience rolled up into a bitter ball of frustration and simmering resentment. I’m everything you deserve.

He was probably right on the last part. After showering and washing her hair, Allura pressed her aching forehead to the tiles and let the water-saving showerhead’s jets punish her neck until the hot water ran out.

After drying, Allura wiped the fog from the small mirror with her hand, grimacing at the dark circles under her eyes. Her reflection changed once more, only now Sparrow sported unkempt hair, probably to mock her appearance. “What’s with the goatee?” she asked when she belatedly noticed it.

She’d gotten good at imagining him over the last couple of years. Why she imagined him to be a slightly dishevelled college professor who criticised everything she did, she couldn’t say. Probably her subconscious speaking the truth.

You’re too old for this. You’re a mother of three. Grow up, Allura.

And there it was. Advice she didn’t need or want. “Mother of two,” she corrected bitterly, the old, painful heartache threatening to overwhelm her once again, even half a decade after Piper’s death. “Hey! What do you mean, I’m too old?”

Ahh, three thousand years of trying and failing to resolve your issues, only to fail once again. At least we’re persistent, aren’t we? Maybe it’s time you gave up and moved on? A new incarnation would suit us.

What was all that supposed to mean? ​”A new incarnation?” she asked. Allura honestly couldn’t tell if she was insane or if her imaginary friend was.

Sparrow’s image vanished, replaced with her own. Glaring at his infuriating disappearance, she towelled her long blonde hair dry and left the bathroom to get dressed for work.

A thrill of fear rushed through her when she found a man sitting on her living-room mattress.

“Quicksilver?” she asked as she breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced at the apartment’s door and then back at Quicksilver, trying to remember anything from last night. He was dressed in a suit minus the tie, his back to the wall. “Did…?”

“Of course not,” he said, clearly struggling to keep his eyes on hers.

Allura abruptly remembered she was naked and with a rush of embarrassment ran for her office door, peeking around the corner when she was suitably hidden. “What are you doing here?”

“You called me at two this morning. I found you in the carpark across the street from the casino, passed out against a tree. Very becoming. There was a delicate pile of half-digested carrots next to you. Probably a gift from a passing drunk.”

Allura flushed as foggy memories returned, and wished they hadn’t.

She ducked back into the room and opened the single wardrobe door, grabbing her last fresh shirt with the casino’s tiger logo on it. It took her a minute more to find the matching pants in the corner of the room.

As well as her desk and laptop computer, neither of which she’d used in months, the office contained two filing cabinets, bookshelves, and her clothes, mostly second-hand from the local op-shop.

The filing cabinets guarded the overburdened bookshelf holding dusty cameras, telescopic lenses, and disused surveillance equipment. She hadn’t taken an actual investigative job in nearly six months, not since she’d started working at The Menagerie Hotel and Casino. There wasn’t enough space for a bed in the room with everything else, so she’d dumped her mattress, minus the broken bedframe, in the living room. It was currently Quicksilver’s seat.

Allura dressed before looking around for her clothes from last night. She opened the office door. “Did you undress me?” she asked.

Quicksilver, still sitting on her bed, stared back, his expression carefully blank. “They were a bit manky thanks to the carrots and whatnot. They’re washed and in your dryer.”

Allura flushed again. She really needed to stop drinking.

Quicksilver held up her apartment’s keys and tossed them to her. “You almost threw up in my car, too. I’m surprised you had anything left by this morning.”

“You’re just jealous,” she said with a forced smile, hoping he’d appreciate the dregs of her humour.

His steady stare said he was anything but jealous. “Shall we play this game again tomorrow? How about one-thirty this time, just to mix it up?”

Allura dropped her eyes. “I should thank you for bringing me home.”

“Yeah,” Quicksilver agreed. “You should.”

God, she hated apologising. “Thank you,” Allura said as she walked to the kitchen bench. It was piled up with dirty dishes, few matching, and some beginning to waft an aroma rodents might appreciate. “I should have married you when I had the chance,” Allura added.

“Wendy and our kids might not agree,” he replied.

Allura smiled. “They’re good kids, and Wendy’s a keeper. Letting you go might have been the biggest mistake of my life.”

“The biggest of many.”

She laughed. “True that.”

She dumped three teaspoons of instant coffee in her last clean glass, filled it with hot-ish water from the tap, and drank it straight. For a few seconds she kept a hand over her mouth as the coffee threatened to come back up.

“This brings back fond memories from when we were dating,” Quicksilver said. “Worst week of my life.” His voice was heavy with… something. Nostalgia perhaps. Did he really miss the person she’d been back then?

Allura gave him an uncertain look, but when he met her gaze, she was the one to look away. “Why?” Allura asked.

He frowned. “Why what?”

“Why… Why keep looking after me? Why be my friend? I’m a mess and⁠—”

“You know why.”

“Because you feel sorry for me?”

“Yeah,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “That’s it.”

“Seriously, why are you always there for me? You’re still a cop. I’m an alcoholic deadbeat working for someone you think’s a mobster. He’s not, by the way.”

Quicksilver released a long sigh. “I wish I could pretend to be someone else, too.”

She flushed angrily at that, fighting off unwanted memories. “You don’t owe me anything and I’ve been trouble for years. Why do you keep pulling me out of the gutter? Seriously, I want to know.”

His shoulders slumped, and he gave in. “Because Piper would have wanted me to.”

Pain and hurt almost shut Allura down. She had to force herself to take a deep breath before she could speak. “Piper’s dead. She doesn’t want anything anymore.”

“Allura—”

“I’ve begged, borrowed, and stolen every cent I could in order to track down the bastard who bought and murdered her, only to come up with diddly squat. I’ve got nothing left, Quicksilver. Just let me drink myself to death. Please.”

“You have two other children.”

She gripped the empty glass, the dregs of her coffee pooling in the bottom. Her white knuckles threatened to shatter it. “They’re better off without me.”

“No, they’re not.”

She put the glass down with the rest of the unwashed dishes and indicated her apartment with a wave. “It’s not like there’s anything here for them, even if Greg agreed to fly them across the country to see me.”

The awkward silence stretched. To cover it, she took a bag of dry cat food from under the sink, put a handful on a metal plate, and opened the kitchen window to place it on the sill. She couldn’t afford to keep a cat of her own, but feeding a stray or two gave her something to care about, at least. Everyone wanted to feel wanted, and stray cats were all she had.

“Oh god,” she whispered with unwanted realisation. “I’m the neighbourhood’s crazy cat lady.”

Quicksilver laughed at that. “You want a lift to work?” he asked.

More than a little embarrassed at her realisation, she nodded. “Yeah. That’d be good. Thanks.”

You can feel it, can’t you? The inevitable? It’s about to happen all over again.

Allura glanced at Sparrow’s reflection in the car window. She certainly had a strong feeling of déjà vu, so maybe Sparrow was reflecting her own anxiety. “Yeah,” she agreed.

Quicksilver gave her a curious glance as he drove, but Allura ignored his unspoken question. At least it was only a short drive from her apartment to the Kingston Foreshores, so there wasn’t much time for small talk.

He found the time anyway. “I want you to promise me something, Allura.”

Not this conversation again. Inwardly, she groaned, though she didn’t let him see it in her expression. “What?”

“Stop drinking.”

She rested her aching head against the cool glass window. “That’s against my religion.”

He sighed and pulled the car over, turning the engine off.

She sat up straight and gave him a frown. “What are you doing?”

He twisted in his seat to face her, squaring his shoulders, chin up a little more. “Promise me you’ll stop drinking.”

“You’ve asked me that before,” she replied.

“I’m serious Allura. I can’t keep doing this. Promise me you’ll stop.”

“Oh, come on…” Allura began in her best wheedling voice. “You know I don’t make promises. I…”

He held up a hand to cut her off. “Because you’ve never broken one as far as I can tell. You’re my best friend, my first love, and the mother of my first-born child. You’ve always had my back and I’ve always been there for you, too. But… Wendy’s threatening to divorce me if I keep running out at all hours to help you through your latest mess. Promise me you’ll stop drinking. Please.”

He sounded serious. “Quicksilver—” she tried, but again he cut her off.

“Make the promise and keep it, or find someone else to call. Please. You’re killing me and my marriage. You know I’ve got your back, but you’re not reciprocating. One day, I may not be able to help you out, and we both know it. Please stop drinking.”

Angry, she reached for the door handle, expecting him to stop her. He didn’t. Allura hesitated, looking over her shoulder. “You’re serious?” she asked.

His eyes were steady as he nodded. “I should have been at home this morning helping Wendy get the kids ready for school. Instead, I was making sure you didn’t die in your sleep or something. How you’re even conscious I don’t know.”

Allura slowly let go of the door handle. She needed Quicksilver more than she needed to drown her pain every night. Sparrow gave her a single nod from the window.

“Fine,” she whispered. “No more grog.” It wasn’t exactly a promise, more like a lofty goal, but it should be enough to get him on side again.

“Not good enough,” he said.

Damn. How did he know her so well? She closed her eyes, shaking her head slightly. “Fine,” she whispered, unable to look at him. “I’m sorry for needing you so badly and for everything I’ve put you through. I’ll sort myself out. I swear it. No more alcohol. I’ll even make it a pinky promise.” She held her hand up, pinky outstretched.

He wrapped his own pinky around hers, as if not quite certain he’d expected her to agree. They shook, and a chill ran through her as if she’d just done something momentous. A sensation of tightness closed over her skin as if her words were actually binding. She shivered.

“You better follow through with it.” Quicksilver turned the engine on again and pulled back into the traffic.

Sparrow broke the silence inside her head as Quicksilver drove past the Old Bus Depot Markets.

He’s a keeper. You should have married him when you were pregnant with Piper. She was his daughter too.

“Get stuffed,” she replied.

“Me or Sparrow?” Quicksilver asked as he turned left.

“Sparrow.” She’d spoken to Sparrow too much lately.

“How about you call that helpline number? The one they’re always promoting on television? It’s free.”

“Ouch,” Allura said as Quicksilver slowed the car at an intersection as they approached The Menagerie. “You think I can’t give up the grog on my own?”

“I was referring to your conversation with your imaginary friend,” he replied as the car picked up speed again.

“I wish I’d never told you about Sparrow.”

Ahead, police cars had cut off access to the area between the back of The Menagerie and the Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

Quicksilver pulled up as a uniformed police officer directed him to stop. He put the window down. “Hey Jim, what’s going on?”

“A murder. Real weird one.”

Jim bent a bit lower until he could see Allura. He smiled. “Cassie! Been a while. How you been?”

Allura gave him a genuine smile. “Hi Jim. My name’s Allura now. I changed it a couple of years ago.”

Jim raised his eyebrows. “That’s uh… Okay. Allura it is. You consulting with Quicksilver now? I’m assuming you’ve still got that side business photographing marriage cheats and whatnot?”

“Something like that.”

Jim nodded. “Go on through, then. They could use your help.”

Allura no longer had a security clearance, which meant no more access to crime scenes, even as a consultant or photographer. She’d never officially been registered as a private investigator either, so she really shouldn’t be allowed through.

“Thanks Jim,” Quicksilver said. “You coming to drinks this Friday?”

“Hell yes, and thanks for the invite.”

Chapter 2

Quicksilver killed the engine.

Time to bail.

Allura glanced at Sparrow. “Why? We just arrived.”

Don’t you recognise trouble when you see it?

Quicksilver gave her a look. “Your imaginary fiend still giving you sass?”

Fiend. That was appropriate. “Yeah. But he’s making about as much sense as me when I’m drunk.”

Sparrow made choking sounds as Allura opened the door, his protests disappearing when she could no longer see his reflection.

“I should get to work,” she said, frowning at the commotion ahead. “Dragging me into that chaos could get you into trouble.”

Several of the Menagerie’s security personnel were being interviewed on the sidewalk across the road at the rear of the twenty-storey hotel and casino. An ambulance waited nearby, too. There were uniformed police everywhere.

“Pretend I’m interviewing you. That’ll fly considering you work at the Menagerie,” Quicksilver said.

Allura brushed aside a lone hair tickling her nose, curiosity fighting to the surface. “I don’t want to get you into trouble.”

“Come on. You’ve helped me out on a dozen cases over the last couple of years. More. How’s this different?”

She gave him a look. “I let you bounce ideas off me over a beer or two. In confidence. Nobody knew. Having me here is…” She indicated her work uniform. “Just turning up with me could cause you problems. Everyone thinks I work for a mobster in a pinstripe suit, remember? Including you.”

“You’re about the only person who doesn’t believe that,” Quicksilver said as he shrugged and began walking toward the commotion. “You’re a potential witness. Come on.” He gave her a follow me gesture. Curiosity finally got the better of her and she hurried to catch up.

They entered the cordoned-off grassy area behind the tall building. Allura squinted against the mid-morning sunlight reflecting from the windows of the twenty-storey Menagerie. She recognised a few faces in uniform, but not as many as she’d expected. Lots of newbies on the force.

Allura kept close to Quicksilver’s back until he stopped at a mummified corpse hidden by tall grass about ten metres from the road. The woman’s flesh was dried out, while her long dark hair framed a skeletal face even her family wouldn’t recognise. “Holy shit,” she whispered in shock.

“This isn’t possible,” Quicksilver said as he started reading the report on his computer notepad. “She’s…” He looked around as if seeking whoever was in charge. “It has to be a hoax.” He walked around the corpse until he stood opposite Allura. “This can’t be Jingyi Lee. At least a dozen people saw her alive last night.”

Allura crouched, careful not to touch anything. “Body switch?”

“Maybe.”

“What does a hoax accomplish?” Allura asked, running through possibilities.

He didn’t seem to hear the question as he continued studying the report. “The long grass and nearby shrubs hid the body, so it was only pure chance a man walking his dog discovered her this morning. The dog did, at least.” He sounded distant.

“The body’s too close to the Menagerie to be a coincidence,” Allura said. “You think this is a setup?”

Quicksilver brushed dark hair from his eyes. His hair was cut a little too long, though it suited him in a roguish kind of way. He claimed it helped him blend in with Canberra’s less affluent communities. The jacket belied that. How he could wear a jacket in summer, she had no idea. She could use a bit of shade herself.

Quicksilver kept reading through the report. “Her parents confirmed she was at dinner with them last night.” He glanced at the body and then back at the report as if trying to reconcile them.

“If this is Jingyi Lee, how’d she get mummified in hours?” Allura asked.

He shrugged and kept reading. “She had a fifteen-year-old sister who went missing about four years ago while they were holidaying in Malaysia. Nobody’s seen the girl since. Could be connected.”

“A kidnapping in Malaysia connected to Australia? How?” She looked around. “The area’s been stomped on pretty good. I assume it’s all been photographed, and forensics are done with everything except the body?”

“Yeah,” he said absently. “We’re late to the party.” He continued reviewing the report. “The father and mother don’t speak English, so they used an interpreter. Mister Lee is a business executive. He and his wife arrived three days ago from China with Jingyi Lee. The missing daughter’s name was Bo. Officially, Jingyi Lee works for the Chinese government, but we’ve got no details about what she actually does. Did.”

“So, she’s a spy?” Allura asked with a smirk, not entirely sure if she was being serious. “Get the feeling this is out of your depth? Maybe you should take a walk with me to the Menagerie, and I’ll buy you a drink?”

Quicksilver gave her a frown. “You promised.”

Allura grimaced. “I’ll have a soft drink. Did Jingyi Lee have a job title?”

He flicked the screen to the right. “She is… was, qualified as an interpreter. No job title. Her parents were vague on the details.”

“How the hell do you desiccate a corpse?” Allura wondered aloud. She looked around as if a clue would materialise nearby, like a guy holding a placard saying I did it.

She stared in surprise when she saw Slade Mills, her old boss and former lover, talking with another cop near the road.

“Shit,” she whispered under her breath, turning away and hoping he didn’t see her.

Quicksilver caught her glance. “These days Slade runs the people smuggling and modern slavery division,” he said, filling her in.

And Jingyi Lee’s sister went missing about four years ago. Slade’s presence was unlikely to be a coincidence then.

Quicksilver returned to reading his tablet. “Jingyi Lee ate lobster with her parents in the High Roller restaurant before going for a walk along the foreshore. Her father played roulette in the casino while her mother visited the spa. Everything’s verified. There’s even CCTV footage outside the casino.”

Allura did a slow turn. She’d never actually stood at the back of the Menagerie. The twenty-story glass-fronted building contrasted oddly with the bush and lake setting. Apartments to the right. Bushland and the lake behind her stretching all the way to Fyshwick.

Built in the decade before the Kingston Foreshores precinct was commercially developed, there’d been almost nothing in the area then. Now, there was a sprawling complex of apartments and restaurants nearby, all built to take advantage of the lake, the casino, and the location.

Her boss, Lawrence Shaw, owned the land they stood on, the Menagerie, and half the apartments and commercial premises in the area. That was just the tip of his reach, though. He owned half of Canberra as far as Allura could tell. He also owned her, depending on how she looked at it.

“I think someone’s sending a message to Shaw,” Allura said, feeling an odd loyalty to the man who’d helped her get back on her feet. Shaw had lots of enemies and a dangerous reputation, but he’d always been good to her.

“Or Shaw stuffed up,” Quicksilver countered. “One of his minions was probably on his way to dump the body in the lake, but got spooked.”

Minions? Allura worked for Shaw. Did that make her a minion? She tried not to feel offended, but it was hard.

Why the city needed two casinos she didn’t know, but the Menagerie was the only one with poker machines, a significant advantage over its rival. The poker machines were limited to a floor that had been sub-let to a local club, so officially the club owned them, not the casino. Casinos weren’t allowed to own poker machines in Canberra, just tables of broken dreams.

The partnership attracted a lot of people to the casino, though. For that reason and a dozen others, more than a few people would have been happy to see Shaw take a hit of the lethal variety. Causing trouble for him by dumping a body near his casino probably only came in at the high five level.

“You want my opinion? I think it’s a setup,” Allura said.

Quicksilver scowled. It clearly wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Care to say why?”

“Remember that massacre about a year ago?” Allura asked. “The police officially put it down to a gangland war in Mitchell, not that the public bought the explanation.”

Quicksilver nodded. “The one that came complete with torn-apart bodies and no explanations that fit? I’ve tried to forget.”

“That was messed up, and so is this.”

“Messed up, sure, but I can’t see a connection.”

“Mummified bodies and corpses that look like they’d been torn up by hyenas? They’re both off-the-charts weird. That’s the connection.”

“Which means what?” Quicksilver asked.

“Remember that car rebirthing racket a couple of months ago where that biker got shot and killed? Got a pretty good writeup in the news.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t involved, but of course I know about it.”

“I overheard Shaw telling a couple of people to spread the rumour that he ordered the hit. He’s all reputation.”

“Yeah, I heard that rumour too. I’m inclined to believe it, though we’ve got no evidence.”

“Exactly! He takes credit for stuff he doesn’t do, because he knows you’ll never pin it on him. Even if you believe Shaw ordered Jingyi Lee’s murder, he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t dump a mummified body at the back of his own casino. He doesn’t need that kind of attention. This is a message for him, not from him.” Allura pointed at the Menagerie’s external cameras. “I can probably prove it. If you’re nice to me, I can ask for the footage. It’d save you a lot of red tape.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I was nice to you last night.”

She flushed with more than a little shame. “True. How about you forget about my promise in exchange for access to the footage? I’ll even let you buy me a drink.”

“Shall I invite Wendy and the kids? We could all get drunk together.”

Allura laughed. “Of course not. Your kids aren’t even teenagers yet. That’d be tacky.”

Quicksilver offered a begrudging smile. “You really think you can help? If you can’t, Shaw will demand a warrant like he did when I was investigating those girls who went missing last year.”

“I can ask.”

“I could ask with my gun drawn and handcuffs out,” Quicksilver added.

Allura snorted back a laugh, at which point her former boss and lover Slade Mills finally noticed her. He frowned and began walking their way.

“Shit,” Allura whispered, dropping her gaze as if pretending not to see him was the same as him not seeing her. “I hope you’re not too keen on your job,” Allura said to Quicksilver under her breath. She looked up and forced a smile as Slade stopped before them.

Slade was still good looking for a man in his late fifties. He had an intensity she’d always found attractive, despite their falling out.

Lawrence Shaw was the only other man with that same presence, but he’d shown no interest in her beyond their professional relationship. That stung a little, but Shaw was the kind of guy who had a different girl in his bed every night, so it was probably a blessing.

Slade was still hard, fit, and lean. He had a sharp mind, too. “Morning Rabbit. Quicksilver.”

Quicksilver did a double take. “Rabbit? I thought you hated that nickname,” he said to Allura.

Allura clenched her fists. Quicksilver was right, but if she didn’t play nice, Slade could make things very difficult for Quicksilver. “I prefer House Bunny,” she replied with a smile she hoped didn’t look forced.

Slade laughed. “House Bunny? Sure.”

Grey at the temples and with a five o’clock shadow, she’d forgotten how good-looking Slade was for a man nearly a couple of decades older than her. She hadn’t forgotten how she’d caught him in their bed with another woman, though.

“Why are you investigating a murder? Is it linked to human trafficking?” Quicksilver asked Slade, neatly changing the topic.

Slade offered a half-committal shrug. “Why are you here at all? You weren’t called in.”

Quicksilver met Slade’s eyes. “I was just dropping Allura off, saw the commotion, and…”

“And you were stupid enough to bring a civilian along for a peep show?” Slade asked with raised eyebrows.

“Care to share any goss?” Allura intervened, hoping to diffuse the situation. “Otherwise, I’ve got a bar to run. Happy to leave you two at it, though.”

Slade gave her a speculative look. “What do you know about your boss, Lawrence Shaw?” he asked, eyes going to Allura’s uniform.

Allura felt the conversation cross into dangerous territory. She didn’t want to get involved in any kind of feud between Shaw and the police. “I have a loan with him, which is helping get me back on my feet. Working in his bar helps pay it off.”

He gave her a doubtful frown. The awkward silence stretched as if he could get her to say more by not talking. She’d been a cop, though, and knew the tricks.

He gave up, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding her away from Quicksilver.

When they were far enough not to be overheard, she pulled away, or tried to. He didn’t drop his grip. “Please don’t touch me. You lost that right when you invited another woman into our bed.”

He gave her a long-suffering look. “And I’ve apologised a dozen times. What do you want from me?”

“What do you want from me?” she countered. “I’m not a cop anymore.”

He looked around and leaned in as if not wanting to be overheard. “We’re investigating a murder likely committed by your boss. I need inside information.”

Offended, she stiffened. “I’m not risking my neck for you.”

His hand tightened on her shoulder, pinning her in place as she tried to move away. “Then how about I release a report about an investigation I was a part of about five years ago? Two men involved in child trafficking disappeared. Your daughter went missing a few months beforehand. Would you like to know who the evidence points to, and who didn’t pursue the matter?”

Allura went cold. He knew. Shit. He really knew what they’d done. “You’re blackmailing me?”

“Blackmail’s a strong word. Let’s just say I’ve been putting some coins into the bank of opportunity, and opportunity has finally appeared.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Allura said, nausea rising. She might have thrown up if she had anything in her stomach.

“I could show you my personal notes about that investigation, which I never filed,” he added. “Very interesting reading. They mention both you and Quicksilver. A lot.”

Oh god. Feeling whiter than the few small clouds in the sky, Allura swallowed down bile. “Leave Quicksilver out of it. He wasn’t even there,” she lied.

Slade smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Then let me tell you what’s about to happen. You’re going to help with this investigation, understood? Afterwards, you’re going to return to my bed. I want you back, Allura.”

To protect Quicksilver, she’d do whatever he wanted. “Fine,” she whispered, her voice almost hoarse. “You leave Quicksilver out of it, and I’ll keep an ear out for information. You want my soul as well, or is having me back in your bed enough?” Allura added with all the bitterness she could manage.

He narrowed his eyes at her tone. “Let’s just agree on the basics, shall we? We’re going to return to Quicksilver now, and you’re going to take him to the Menagerie and do whatever you can to help. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” she repeated, not daring to say more.

“Good. Start looking for answers that prove Shaw’s guilty. I want him arrested within the week, got it? I’ll be in touch.”

His hand still on her shoulder, he guided her back to a very curious and somewhat nervous-looking Quicksilver.

Slade smiled as he released his hold on her. “Word is that Jingyi Lee was investigating an international people smuggling ring. Hear anything about it, Allura?”

“No,” she said honestly, still shaken by Slade’s threat. “But I can keep my ears open and pass any info through Quicksilver.”

Quicksilver gave her a strange look at her tone, but she shook her head slightly. He got the message and didn’t question her.

“I assume the Menagerie is as much of a rumour mill as anywhere else?” Slade asked. “Should be good pickings.”

She smiled weakly. “I can probably get Quicksilver the security camera footage. That help?”

Slade nodded, smiling as if he wasn’t blackmailing her. “You do that.”

And there it was. He had a hook in her, and she had no way to get out. Was Slade dirty or just obsessed? He was certainly still the same asshole who’d broken her heart. If he was gunning for Shaw though, one of them was going to lose, and she was now in the middle. She might as well slit her own throat and be done with it.

Slade inclined his head as if she was fully on board with everything he wanted. “We suspect Jingyi Lee held a similar position to me on the other side of the Great Firewall of China. That, or she was dirty and using her job as cover. Maybe both.”

“And you think Shaw’s involved?” Allura asked. Quicksilver was decidedly quiet, watching Allura more than Slade now.

Slade glanced at the tall building across the road, the upper levels made up of apartments and hotel rooms. “I’ll ensure the investigation’s transferred to Quicksilver for now, but I’ll remain involved. If you hear anything that implicates Shaw and it leads to his arrest, I’ll make sure you get the credit for it. Fair, Allura?”

Fair? Shaw valued loyalty above everything else. If he didn’t kill her after this, one of his people might, if only to prove themselves to him. She might have to leave the country to untangle herself from this mess, and she wasn’t even sure that would be enough.

“Is it possible Jingyi Lee was investigating Shaw because of her sister?” Quicksilver asked when the silence stretched. “She might have been staying at the casino to poke around.”

“Allura might be able to find out,” Slade said. The words implied ‘or else’.

“Anything more you can tell us?” Quicksilver asked cautiously, his tone implying he’d picked up on the tension and lack of ethics involved, but didn’t know what to do about it considering Slade outranked him.

Slade let the question hang for a long moment. “Unofficially, I think Jingyi Lee was one of the good guys, which suggests Shaw didn’t want her sniffing around his turf. What do you think, Allura?”

Another loaded question. “I think I should keep an ear out for anything out of the ordinary and tell Quicksilver about it.”

“Good enough. For now.” Someone waved for Slade’s attention. “Gotta go.”

Quicksilver chewed his bottom lip as he watched Slade walk away. “What the hell, Allura? Helping me out with footage is one thing, but Shaw’s not going to be kind to you if he thinks you’re passing information to the police.”

“I’ll be fine,” Allura said without confidence. “I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

She already had, and Slade knew everything about it. If she ran, Slade would make Quicksilver pay. If she did as Slade wanted, Allura would probably end up at the bottom of a staircase with a broken neck, or worse.

Slade had put her on a tightrope over a chasm, and there was no safety net.

Chapter 3

Allura walked through the casino’s reception and into the Atrium Bar, the large open area where drinks and food were served. The family-friendly space was filled with tourists and casino guests who’d gathered around a temporary stage next to the dance floor.

Directly behind the bar, a netted enclosure rose to the roof six stories above, the circular space full of butterflies. Potted flowers hung from a central chain, kept alive with a drip-watering system. Allura suspected some of the butterflies had migrated to her stomach after what Slade had asked of her.

On the stage, one of the Menagerie’s massive Siberian tigers was on show for tourist photos, probably brought out from the zoo before dawn. The tigress’s paws were almost as big as dinner plates, and she outweighed the biggest three men in the room, combined.

The Siberian looked Allura’s way like a favoured pet desperate for help. Allura couldn’t help a snort of laughter at the look on the tiger’s face. Two tigresses currently took turns posing for tourists on different days, though she hadn’t seen the third one, Missy, for a while. Apparently, Missi was pregnant, and the trainers wouldn’t risk her.

Allura could tell them apart easily enough, but she doubted the tourists knew there was more than one.

“That’s not legal,” Quicksilver said as he stared at the tigress, his hand going to the missing gun under his jacket. He wasn’t allowed to take his weapon home, and he’d spent most of the night looking after Allura before coming directly here. “It’s got no muzzle or even a chain holding it to that stage. Nothing.”

Allura put a hand on his shoulder. “Lotti’s gentle. They wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t safe.”

“But—”

“The casino puts this show on two or three times a week. It’s safe.”

Quicksilver glanced over people’s heads as if hoping to find gun towers. “How’s this safe? Seriously? If that tiger gets spooked, there’ll be a massacre.”

Luci Nguyen held Lotti’s chain while four security guards stood at the corners of the waist-high stage. Each security guard concealed a Taser from casual view. They’d never needed them, though. The tigers had been raised with people and were professionally trained and well behaved.

Today, Luci was dressed in black leather, her ruby and gold choker tight about her neck. She wore fishnet stockings and a top hat with coat and tails. Sometimes she did the show in a feather-laden showgirl outfit or as a cancan dancer. She’d also done it as a clown, which was a little creepy.

Quicksilver frowned, but he clearly trusted Allura more than the tiger. “I did that meet-a-cheetah thing once. It was amazing, but the cheetahs were like big house cats. That tiger’s big enough to eat a cheetah.” He cocked his head. “Hey, is that Luci Nguyen?”

“Yeah,” Allura said. Luci had never taken to Allura or anyone else as far as Allura could tell. She was rumoured to be Shaw’s enforcer, the kind who would put a knife in your back or poison in your drink, not that she’d been anything but polite to Allura. If Luci caught wind of what Slade had demanded of her, Allura’s new priority would be clearing town faster than a mouse in a python’s sights.

Rumour had it that Luci had worked for both the Yakuza and the Hong Kong triads before switching her loyalties to Shaw. Allura had happily ignored the rumours. Luci was Vietnamese for a start, and she couldn’t speak Chinese or Japanese. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t take a crowbar to the side of Allura’s knees if she suspected betrayal. She certainly gave off that vibe.

Officially, Shaw employed Luci as an entertainer and a bartender in the After Dark Ladies’ Lounge, a highly unlikely occupation for an underworld assassin.

Still, Luci wasn’t just a bartender. The choker she wore was made of woven gold wire bound into a cord as thick as Allura’s finger. The large ruby dangling from it was worth an absolute fortune on its own. She’d heard it was a gift from Shaw, implying her value to him. Allura had seen men more than twice Luci’s size jump at her command.

Lotti continued behaving herself, a heavenly feat considering she was now being mauled by a chocolate-smeared toddler maybe two years old. Dozens of guests took pictures with their phones.

“How do they get away with this?” Quicksilver continued, still caught up on the likely legalities. People expected cops to know everything there was to know about the law. If only that were possible.

The tigress yawned, displaying frighteningly big teeth in a mouth that could close around a man’s head. Lotti glanced at Allura again, her long-suffering look imploring help until her gaze settled on Quicksilver as if he were a threat to Allura.

Quicksilver noticed, and didn’t look happy.

“I’ll protect you from the big pussy,” Allura said as she put her hand against Quicksilver’s shoulder and guided him through the crowd.

“Bite me,” he muttered.

As the people-barrier thinned, a massive mountain of a security guard moved in front of Quicksilver. Nicknamed Teddy Bear, he was Shaw’s head of security and rumoured stand-over man.

Clean shaven with close-cropped, mousy-coloured hair, Teddy Bear was easily the biggest man Allura had ever met. He might have even given Lotti a half-decent wrestle. Teddy Bear stood about six foot eight and was built like a pro-boxer, his uniform tight across his chest. He could probably pick Quicksilver up with one arm, and Quicksilver weighed half again what Allura weighed.

“Allura,” Teddy Bear said. “I thought we made it clear you weren’t to drag any more refuse in off the street.”

Allura snorted back a laugh, much to Quicksilver’s disgust. “Mister Shaw about?”

Teddy Bear moved aside to reveal the man in question talking with Mia, the two of them close to the bar and the huge central net full of butterflies.

Mia was a tiny young woman of Chinese descent who ran the Cancan Coffee Bar and the evening shows. She was also heavily pregnant with her fifth child and married to Shaw’s adopted son, Don Bencivenni. Mia smiled when she saw Allura and nodded to Shaw before leaving, as if knowing what this was all about.

The first time Allura had met Shaw, she’d felt déjà vu and a sense of imposing danger. Today was no different. She caught other women struggling not to glance Shaw’s way as well. Allura imagined Sparrow laughing at her for no obvious reason.

Shaw looked Quicksilver over like a man bracing for a fight.

She’d read Shaw’s file several times when she’d been a cop. The casino owner was a former street brawler and rumoured underworld figure, commonly known among police as a thug in a suit. It worked for him rather than against him. He’d taken a small empire and built it into a big one over the last few decades, a lot of it because no one dared to oppose him.

A little taller and broader than Quicksilver, if not nearly as big as Teddy Bear, he had a chiselled cast to his features and the kind of dangerous, bad-boy looks Allura usually went for. If his nose had been crooked, it would have suited him. It was disappointingly straight.

That magnetism which had first attracted her to him gripped her once again, but as before, he showed no interest in her, which stung as much now as it had the first time she’d met him.

Growing amusement in his expression made her flush when she realised he’d caught her checking him out.

Despite being considered one of the most brutal men in the city, he’d always been polite to her. Generous, just as he was to all his staff. With the exception of Luci and Mia, and his adopted son, Don, Allura had never met anyone with the courage to challenge him on anything.

“You look happy for someone hosting a murder,” Quicksilver said as they reached Shaw.

Allura gripped his forearm, squeezing as hard as she could. “Don’t be an ass,” she muttered under her breath before releasing his arm.

“Allura. It’s always lovely to see you,” Shaw said, ignoring Quicksilver’s barb. Probably to piss Quicksilver off, he took Allura’s hand and kissed it as if she were royalty. Allura was so surprised she didn’t protest, but the temperature in the room rose significantly.

Quicksilver tightened his grip on his datapad. “You going to kiss my hand, too?”

“If you wish.” Shaw reached for Quicksilver’s hand, but Quicksilver stepped back. It was enough to make Shaw smirk, the kind of smirk which suggested Quicksilver had better stop playing games or he’d find himself with a few broken teeth.

“Mister Shaw. One of our patrons died near these premises last night,” Allura said, ignoring Quicksilver’s discomfort and her own swirling insides. “My former colleague has a request I was hoping you could help him with.”

Something changed in Shaw’s expression. It was subtle, but despite his show of nonchalance, the murder clearly concerned him. She swore she caught anger in his eyes. “Several police orificers have already questioned me.”

“Orificers?” Quicksilver asked.

“Slip of the tongue.”

She’d been right, then. Shaw was the target, not the instigator. How was she supposed to tell Slade that? Who’d actually committed the murder, and why?

Quicksilver pursed his lips. “I need the footage from your CCTV system,” he said. “Specifically, the back, front, and all entrances and exits to the Menagerie for the last twenty-four hours.”

“A request that’s been made several times already. This casino’s policy requires a warrant.” Shaw looked like he could have happily thrown Quicksilver out just then, perhaps in a body bag. “If you’d asked politely, I might have been inclined to break policy.”

Quicksilver didn’t back down. “I can get a warrant, and I’m sure the media will love to hear about it. All press is good press, right?”

Shaw gave Quicksilver a steady, flat stare, a signal Allura recognised from her long experience as a cop. Both men were spoiling for a fight.

Allura stepped between them. “Mister Shaw, it’s going to cost you nothing to provide the footage, and it might help thaw relations between you and the police force. Please⁠—”

Shaw raised an eyebrow. “Please? That’s a word I haven’t heard you use since you first came to me begging for money.”

Allura flushed.

Quicksilver cleared his throat. “Do we need to get a warrant for the footage, Mister Shaw?” His tone was barely polite.

Shaw focused on Allura. “Ms Forsayeth, if you’d consent to having dinner with me here tonight, I’ll gladly provide all the footage Defective Silver requires, no warrant required.”

Allura caught her breath. What the hell? Was he asking just to piss Quicksilver off, or because he was genuinely interested in her? She didn’t have a clue how to respond. Maybe someone had overheard her conversation with Slade and reported it to him. Crap. She must have gone white.

Quicksilver gave Allura a look which clearly told her to turn down the request.

Mouth dry with tension at being put in the middle of the issue despite her desire to be invisible, Allura ignored the look. “Dinner, and five grand off my debt to you.” That should put him off. Hopefully, it didn’t piss him off.

Shaw studied her as if seeing her for the first time. If anything, he seemed amused. “Agreed. Eight o’clock?”

Oh shit. Really? “Eight o’clock,” she repeated weakly. She should have made it ten grand.

Shaw led them to one of the three glass elevators evenly placed around The Atrium, where one of his security people held the doors open for them. Women subtly glanced Shaw’s way as he passed, as if he were magnetised, yet it was Allura who was having dinner with him tonight. That equally thrilled and scared her.

The elevator took them up to the sixth-floor balcony overlooking the Atrium. Shaw guided them through staff corridors until they reached the casino’s locked security room. Allura had never been inside.

Banks of monitors displayed dozens of rooms and walkways, including the empty nightclub currently being cleaned. Mostly they showed lots of unused gaming tables. Only a handful were open this early. The system endlessly cycled through the cameras, all presumably being recorded. Two people were monitoring everything, though there was room for half a dozen more. The extras were probably only needed at night.

Allura caught sight of Sparrow’s reflection in a turned-off monitor.

Leave. Cancel the dinner. Get out of town. He’ll kill you again.

Sparrow then laughed and vanished, leaving Allura confused. When she looked up, she found Shaw staring at her, a frown betraying something she wasn’t comfortable seeing from him. Curiosity. Had she responded to Sparrow under her breath, and not noticed?

“The footage?” Allura prompted.

Shaw approached the young woman at one of the monitor banks. She had red-dyed hair and an impish look about her. “This is Neednap,” he said to Quicksilver. Allura had met the woman, but they’d rarely spoken. “Recently nicknamed when we found her asleep during her break. You may call her Polly.”

The pretty young woman smiled, clearly not offended. “I had a hangover. I didn’t think it was a good excuse not to show up to work and they haven’t let me forget it since.”

“Neednap, I need you to compile all the footage available from the back dock and casino entrances since yesterday, and provide it to this upstanding public servant.”

“Of course, Mister Shaw.” She turned to her computer and began tapping keys to call up the required footage.

“Leave out nothing relevant. We don’t want my favourite defective trying to pin this murder on me.”

“Defective again?” Quicksilver asked. He leaned closer to Allura as Shaw focused on Neednap’s work. “Shaw’s being far too generous with his information, and hitting on you has to be a distraction.”

A little insulted, Allura ignored the comment. Her situation was weighing far more heavily than Quicksilver’s unintentional insult. She had to make good on a dinner with Shaw for a start, not to mention Slade Mills was likely to ask her to do much more than report rumours. And if she didn’t get murdered before it was all over, Slade wanted her back in his bed. She’d do it to protect Quicksilver, but there had to be another way out.

Shaw glanced over his shoulder. “Defective Silver, if you insult Allura again, please note I won’t stand in her way if she murders you with the pointy end of one of her stilettos.”

“Can you hurry please, Polly?” Allura asked, hoping to diffuse the tension.

Polly nodded, a new screen appearing. “I’ll drop the files into a cloud-based folder. Where should I send the download link?”

“My work email address,” Quicksilver said, handing her a card with the details.

Shaw opened the door for them to leave. “Don’t forget about dinner tonight, Allura. Meet me in the After Dark Ladies’ Lounge.”

“It will be a pleasure,” Allura said with a smile that threatened to crack one of her molars. If Slade Mills heard about this…

Thanks for checking out the first three chapters of A Soul Incarnate. If you want a free copy in exchange for a review, please click on this link or the image below.

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