Declan: Trillionaire Shifter Club Book Three

  DECLAN

  Trillionaire Shifter Club: Book Three

  Rosette Bolter

  CALLUM (TRILLIONAIRE SHIFTER CLUB BOOK FOUR) IS NOW AVAILABLE!

  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B0WI8U0

  CHAPTER ONE

  The cupboard door closed.

  Declan placed one foot on the short stool nearby it, and pulled on the long rubber boot. He picked up the next one, his eyes avoiding the dresser mirror, and put that one on too. The cheap, swooshy material, and the florescent colors and glitter – they brought back some dark memories for Declan. Still, he’d kept the costume after all. So perhaps they weren’t all bad…

  He turned towards the dresser. He picked up the next item of clothing – a white glove for each hand. Then it was the frizzy green wig. And the plastic red nose.

  “Come on, faggot!” one of the tigers banged on the bedroom door. “Hurry the fuck up!”

  There was more than one of them out there. They were rattling on the door handle, cursing that it wouldn’t open.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” Declan called to them. “Another minute please.”

  He opened up the drawer. He picked up a large metallic container and set it on the dresser. Sighing with shame, he popped open the lid and picked up the brush.

  White powder, all over his face.

  Black mascara, around the ridges of his eyes.

  A disguise of his outward appearance, no less. A funny mask for him to wear.

  All Declan had to do though, was glance into that mirror.

  And see the truth about who he really was.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The tigers hadn’t wasted five minutes after Chill was gone. Declan was summoned to the upstairs entertainment floor, where the leader Sebastian Sarsgaard was getting an explicit lap-dance from two girls at the same time. There he stood, in the centre of the room, tigers standing around him at all sides, staring him down. Sebastian made him wait a full three minutes before gently nudging the ladies away.

  “Low and behold – my replacement!” Sebastian exclaimed. “You know, when I took off from these parts those many moons ago, I knew they’d need to get someone else to lighten the workload. Whoever they found too – I knew he wouldn’t be anywhere near my capabilities. But … you? I must say I’m a little insulted.”

  “We all have to start somewhere,” Declan said stiffly.

  Sebastian nodded. “Indeed.”

  He rose from his chair.

  “You might not realize it, Declan – isn’t it?”

  Declan nodded.

  “You might not realize it Declan, but you and I have met before.”

  “We have?”

  “Oh yes. I believe it was at the Cirque du decalage. Circus of the Shift.”

  Declan swallowed. “You must be mistaken.”

  “I think not. I remember your face distinctly. They had you dressed up as a clown, serving up balloons to the children. Never got to see you shift though. Which type of bear are you again? Brown? Black? Polar…?”

  “Black,” Declan mumbled.

  “Black,” Sebastian echoed so everyone would hear. “Don’t suppose you could offer us a demonstration, could you?”

  “No,” Declan said firmly. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have things to do here.”

  “Oh you do, do you?”

  “Yes.”

  Sebastian’s glare was so magnetic, Declan had a hard time pulling away.

  “Yes, I have a lot to do.”

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Dumbo,” Sebastian said slyly. “Your brother-bear friends? They’re not coming back.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean they’re gone. Sorry to break it to you.”

  Declan looked at him sideways. “You’re pulling my leg, right?”

  “If you insist.”

  With a violent snap of his arm, Sebastian shot through and yanked Declan’s leg out from under him. He collapsed on the floor, the whole room howling with laughter.

  Declan stared up at them, bewildered.

  “Oh dear, you really kill me, Dumbo,” Sebastian chuckled. “In all seriousness though, they are gone and I’m in charge of things now. Which means I’m your boss, and you’ll do as I say.”

  Declan climbed to his feet. “What did you do with them?”

  “Whoa, their departure has nothing to do with me,” Sebastian said quickly. “I’ve simply been informed that they’ve been relieved of their duties here, and I’ve been reinstated to carry things out, business as usual.”

  “Who are you working for?”

  “No one. Everyone. Bane and Chill had to go, don’t ask me anymore questions about it. Be grateful you’ve been spared.”

  Declan shook his head. “This isn’t right. You can’t just make yourself in charge of things here.”

  Sebastian leaned in close to him. “Oh, but I have. And if you don’t start showing me and my men some respect, I’m afraid your life will be at its end.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The door to the bedroom opened slowly. On the other side of it, the two tigers burst into laughter when confronted with Declan’s newfound appearance. As cruel as it might have been to call on him to dress up as a clown, it had been Declan’s idea to begin with. It was his best attempt at a distraction.

  There was no way Sebastian could find out what type of shifter Declan was. Because if he knew that, well…

  Back upstairs. Declan was in the middle of the floor again. Sebastian was off to one side, his arms folded, half leaning against the wall. It was at that moment he realized he’d been waiting for him. This wasn’t just a random occasion of bullying, or exerting one’s power. Sebastian wanted something from him.

  “Silence, silence everyone!” Sebastian said. “Dumbo here is going to put on a little show for us.”

  Sebastian nodded to one of his men in the corner, and there was a change in the background music. Declan recalled it immediately. It was the same faint tune they played between acts at his circus.

  This was no coincidence.

  “Well then, Dumbo. Dance.”

  Declan swallowed uncomfortably. His feet were pinned to the floor.

  “Now, I said dance, Dumbo,” Sebastian said moving from the wall. “Are you trying to embarrass me? Are you making fun of me in front of my friends?”

  He snatched a bottle from one of his men’s fingers and hurled it at Declan. He managed to side step it just in time for it to shatter on the floor beside him.

  “DANCE!” Sebastian screeched.

  Now that his feet were on the move, the transition into dancing came naturally. Declan did his best to keep up with the beat, the whole time his heart racing, his mind wet with suffocated terror.

  “Good, that’s it,” Sebastian purred, clapping his hands together.

  The room followed with him.

  Clap … clap … clap…

  And then the music was getting faster.

  Clap, clap, clap –

  Declan couldn’t keep up. He tripped over one of his own boots, and hit the ground right next to the shattered bottle.

  “Enough!” Sebastian said. The music switched off.

  Sebastian’s feet moved across the floor, until his shoes were in Declan’s field of vision. Before he knew what was happening, Sebastian had ripped him up from the floor, so that he was standing tall again.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Sebastian murmured. “You understand, don’t you?”

  Declan gave him a pained expression.

  “I hope that means yes,” Sebastian said. “Because that wasn’t your last trick.”

  He snapped his
fingers.

  Two tigers moved in from the back of the room, wheeling an objected hidden under a blanket.

  They stopped when they were in front of Sebastian, and then parted ways.

  “Do you know what this is?” Sebastian asked him. “Do you want to have a guess?”

  Declan shook his head.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Sebastian said. “If you can guess what this is, then I won’t make you go through this anymore.”

  “Okay,” Declan mumbled.

  Declan crouched down and inspected what little of the shape could be seen.

  As harsh as it was for him to do, he let his mind go back to the circus again…

  And think about his time as the clown…

  “Time is ticking, Dumbo,” Sebastian said, circling him.

  Declan’s lips pushed together. Was it a box of pins that he used to juggle? A pile of rings he used to spin with fire?

  He remembered Sebastian had mentioned something about the balloons earlier. He didn’t know how it could be them, given the shape of the object, but the perhaps looks were deceiving…

  “Is it the balloons?” he asked hopefully.

  “Bowm, bowm,” Sebastian buzzed. “Wrong answer.”

  He ripped off the blanket to reveal the most dreaded thing Declan could have imagined.

  The tricycle.

  “No!” Declan screamed. “No, anything but that! Please no!”

  Sebastian laughed heartily.

  The whole audience did.

  And then just when Declan thought it couldn’t get worse, the door to the room opened, and the club’s bartender rushed in.

  “Sir, Declan, sir?”

  The room went silent.

  The bartender looked around, now realizing he’d caused a major interruption.

  “Um, I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “Declan, we have a phone call for you.”

  “Who is it?” Declan asked. “Bane? Chill?”

  The bartender stepped forward. “I’m afraid not. It’s a woman named Maisey. She said she needs your help.”

  Declan looked down and saw the phone was in his hands.

  Horror shot through him.

  “Tell her to go away,” he whispered. “Tell her I’m not here.”

  “As you wish, sir.”

  The bartender began moving towards the exit.

  “Just a minute, man,” Sebastian said.

  The bartender turned nervously.

  “Give me the phone.”

  “What are you doing?” Declan stammered.

  Sebastian held a finger up to silence him. “Hello? Who is – ah, Maisey. No, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Sebastian, well, I mean – everyone calls me Slash. Yes…”

  His gaze burned through Declan’s.

  “Why yes, Declan is here, but he’s a little preoccupied at the moment. Can we send a car out to get you? Great. Why don’t you leave your address with –”

  “NOOO!” Declan shouted. “MAISEY, NO –”

  Two tigers jumped on him and pulled him to the ground.

  “Yes, leave it with the bartender then. Thank you so much.”

  Sebastian handed the phone back to the bartender.

  “See she gets here pronto.”

  The bartender nodded and left the room.

  “What are you going to do to her?” Declan asked as the tigers released him.

  “I don’t know,” Sebastian said vacantly. “Perhaps that’ll depend on you.”

  “On me?”

  “Stand up.”

  Declan bit his teeth together, and made it onto his feet again.

  “There’s still the little matter of the tricycle here.”

  Tears streaming down his cheeks, Declan began to get on it.

  A hand landed firmly on his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  Declan looked up to Sebastian, confused.

  “Not as you, Dumbo,” Sebastian said, roaring with laughter. “As the panda!”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Marshall Long was currently in his bedroom, heaving around a cardboard box, collecting up Cordelia’s things. A lot of them were presents she’d given Marshall, stuff he was supposed to keep and hold on to, despite the break up. He recalled back at her apartment she still had love letters written by her ex’s, among other presents. There was one time where Marshall had scrawled You’re driving me crazy on a napkin at Subway, just after they’d gotten together. Cordelia had taken the napkin and put it in a shoebox filled with letters from guys who’d liked her in the past, some going as far back as grade school. Marshall thought at the time that it was cute that she still held onto those old memories.

  Now he thought it was sick.

  Anyway, it was time for a total erase. A cleansing. Everything in his room that he associated with her was finished.

  When the last of it was packed away, the box was brimming at the seams. He carried it back to the garage and set it down there, thinking of the day she’d come back to him. The day she’d say she was wrong, a fool, an idiot. And he’d just hand her the box and slam the door in her face.

  “No,” he muttered out loud. “That isn’t right.”

  Shaking his head, Marshall went to the fridge, which was also in the garage, and pulled a cold beer out of it. He twisted the cap off and chucked it in the box from where he was, sipping the beer.

  “I have to burn it,” he said. “That’s the only way I’ll be rid of her.”

  Because Marshall didn’t want her to come back. He didn’t want her to say she was sorry. Because if she did, then well, he might actually forgive her…

  He couldn’t imagine anything more horrible.

  “That’s it,” he said. “I’m gonna do it.”

  He closed the fridge door and went back into the house, in search of his phone. He thought he’d heard it when he was in the bedroom, but was so involved in his thoughts he didn’t answer it.

  It was probably her, after all.

  “I bet it isn’t,” Marshall said walking through the lounge room. “It’s not her. She’s a slut. She’s fucking that asshole shifter.”

  The phone was in the bathroom. Right next to the sink.

  Marshall leaned against the wall, almost afraid to touch it.

  Everything was silent. The house was completely dead. He lived here with his older brother who was obviously out for the night, which meant Marshall was alone.

  Any sound now… Any kind of sound. It would have been good.

  As long as it wasn’t the phone.

  Brrrrrriinng, brrrrrriinng!

  Not the phone. The doorbell.

  “Shit,” Marshall muttered. He took another swig of beer and then went round to the front of the house and opened the door.

  It was one of Cordelia’s best friends, Maisey Newfield.

  “Yeah?” Marshall said clearing his throat.

  “Cordelia’s not with you, is she?”

  Marshall shook his head.

  “Damn it,” Maisey cursed. “Sorry – I –”

  “We broke up.”

  “You did? When?”

  “About an hour ago,” Marshall said. “Wait, what time is it?”

  “Almost ten.”

  “Then make it an hour and a half. Thereabouts.”

  “I think I need your help with something,” Maisey said. “But … are you alright?”

  She was looking at the beer in his hand.

  “It’s my first one,” Marshall said. “Don’t worry, I’ll refrain from taking out my anger on you.”

  He stood aside, allowing Maisey to pass.

  Then he closed the door behind her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Maisey had been to Marshall’s house a few times before, but only when she was hanging with Cordelia. The reason she was here now was because the train she’d been catching home from work arrived at a station that was only a five minute walk to Marshall’s house. She figured she would find out more info from him about Cordelia’s whereabouts before she did anything s
tupid.

  “So what do you need help with?” Marshall asked once they were in the lounge room.

  Maisey stood by the back of the couch, letting her handbag slide over the front of it towards the cushion. Marshall was walking slowly over to one of the armchairs.

  “I think Cordelia’s in trouble,” Maisey said. “She called me about ten minutes ago when I was on the train. Said I was supposed to call that Declan guy or something. And find out the address of where she was.”

  “Did you call him?” Marshall asked. He sat down.

  “Yeah, but he wasn’t there. I talked to a couple of other people. They said I should come by and meet up if I wanted to see Declan. I don’t think they have any idea what’s going on.”

  “You’re not going to ask me to drive you there, are you?”

  “No,” Maisey sighed. “They’re going to send a car for me. I just need to wait here until they arrive.”

  “I wouldn’t go if I was you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, there’s a whole bunch of psychos there to start with.”

  “Like Bane?” Maisey grinned.

  “No, not like Bane,” Marshall said with angst. “Bane and Harper never made it back from their honeymoon. That’s the reason Cordelia and I were dragged up there to begin with.”

  “Tonight?”

  “That’s right. But as you may or may not know, I got to find out that Cordelia was getting it on with the best man at Bane’s happy little wedding.”

  “Oh,” Maisey laughed. “Yeah. He was a bit handsy.”

  “You mean he was feeling her up?”

  “No, I mean he was handsome.”

  “Great,” Marshall muttered. “Just what I needed to hear.”

  “But now that you mention it –”

  “Enough!” Marshall shouted. “Okay? Enough.”

  Maisey sighed. “You seem like you’re in a really bad mood. I should probably go.”

  Marshall looked at her. “How should I be?”

  “I don’t know,” Maisey shrugged. “Maybe a little worried about Cordelia.”

  “What? Come on. She’s all over that guy by now.”