by Amelia Jade
“It probably was. There’s nothing else up that road, so they must have known where you were going. Interesting.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you were the one who could interpret actions?” he teased. She was glad he wasn’t there to see her blush. He could make her do that so easily it would have annoyed her if she thought about it more.
“Body language. Now, I tried reading what the truck was trying to tell me, but it was rather hard.”
He laughed, conceding the point. “Okay, okay. It was them though, I wouldn’t doubt that.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“They turned off because there’s nothing else up that road except the mansion. They would have had to come all the way up to it if they didn’t turn.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t know that,” she said somewhat tartly. “I’ve only been in town a few weeks.”
“That’s true,” he admitted.
“So, when do I get to see you again?” Caia closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. “When do we meet up to go over our next steps, I mean?”
“I actually have a lead. Different approach, but I have a hunch it may all be related.”
Caia nodded, waiting for him to continue until she realized she was on the phone and he couldn’t see her.
Idiot. Too busy daydreaming about his bulging arms and broad chest, aren’t you?
She couldn’t fault herself, he was a gorgeous specimen of the male species.
“Okay, what is it?”
“Evan Mosier has apparently been acting really weird, and has been seen with the Sapphires. I think we should look into it, maybe tail him, and see what he’s up to.”
Caia racked her brain, but couldn’t put a name to the face. “The name sounds familiar. Why does it sound familiar?”
“He was the primary shifter involved in the first incident, between the Amethyst and Onyx crews, the—”
Caia interrupted him as she remembered who he was. “The Alpha of the Onyx crew at the time. Now he’s a member of the Jade Crew, right?”
“Exactly. He’s their second, to be exact, though I’m not sure how that happened.”
“If I had to hazard a guess, it’s because of what you guys did.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, sounding somewhat defensive.
“Well, let’s see. You took the remnants of two crews who hated each other and stuck them together as a brand new crew. You also stripped an Alpha of his status, and forced him to serve under someone else. A new Alpha. One who had no memories of who he was and no experience as an Alpha either.”
Gabriel didn’t say anything so she continued, outlining her logic. “So, here he is, in a place he doesn’t know, trying to do a job he has never done before, and there’s a bitter ex-Alpha right there. Of course he’s not going to stop him from asserting himself as second of the crew. He probably needed his help at the start.”
“That’s some pretty sound logic. I’m not sure if that’s how it actually went down, but it would certainly make sense. Either way though, it’s not working out any longer now that Garrett has established himself as the Ridgeback Alpha. And a good one at that.”
There was a note of respect in Gabriel’s voice, one she hadn’t heard very much from him. She wasn’t sure if it was directed at her, or Garrett, or both. After a moment’s thought, she decided on the latter. She was trying hard to make an impression on Gabriel and by extension the Kedyn brothers as well. She needed this job.
Which means you can’t let yourself get too close to him.
“So, I’m thinking we’ll meet tomorrow evening.”
“Sounds good. I have some paperwork to catch up on anyway,” she agreed.
“Excellent. Meet me at Shift on Main for seven thirty, okay? And dress nicely, it’s a classy place.”
Caia froze. Shift on Main. She had heard of it. It was a fancy place. A very fancy one, in fact. One that you didn’t go to for dinner meetings. It was where people in town took dates. There was no other high-end establishment in town, so everyone knew of it.
“Uh, Gabriel. Listen. I don’t know if—”
“Nonsense. It’s the perfect place for a business meeting. They’ve got a private room. I’ll get it reserved for us so we can talk without being bothered.”
Private room? This just keeps getting better and better!
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” she told him, though her heart was definitely not as against the idea as her brain was.
“It’ll be fine. All business. Trust me.”
Caia sighed, giving up. It really wasn’t in her to fight the idea. “Fine, I’ll be there.”
Besides, she liked the way he looked at her when she dressed for work. It was a mixture of appreciation for the effort she put into it, and something else. Something far more raw, and primal, filled with hunger and desire. Gabriel did his best to keep it hidden and tucked away, but she could still see it from time to time, and it made her shiver at the thought of finding herself alone and at his mercy.
Part of her very much wanted to find out how he would look at her if she dressed up for him. Would he be able to contain that animalistic hunger, or would his eyes feast upon her, sending her wild with desire?
Caia took a deep, shuddering breath as she envisioned several different scenarios of what might happen, each of which ended with an explosion of pleasure. Pleasure that she knew she would have to deny herself, both for his sake and hers. Both of them would find themselves in extreme jeopardy if they got involved. It would be worse for Gabriel, because he would find himself at the mercy of the Kedyns, and they didn’t take it very well when a shifter broke the rules in Genesis Valley.
Caia would simply be dismissed from service, but if it was bad enough, Gabriel could find himself on the courtyard out behind of the mansion, which is where Caia knew they ended any shifter deemed unreliable. She shook her head, snatching herself from the increasingly morose path her thoughts were heading down. She had work to do. Work that while not overly fun, was at least a little less depressing.
If she had to daydream, she would come up with various outfits to wear for the next day, and picture Gabriel’s reaction to them. Now that sounded a lot more fun, especially if she wore the–
The black multi-line phone on her desk buzzed and Marcus’s voice sounded, asking her to come into his office.
“Right away Mr. Kedyn,” she said, stabbing her finger to end the connection before she sighed with frustration. Couldn’t a girl be allowed just a minute to fantasize around here?
The leather chair under her rolled back easily as she rose. The door to his office was behind her and to the right, allowing her desk to be interposed between anyone who entered from the main offices of the mansion into her room. The only other door in or out of Marcus’s office led into private areas of the mansion where she wasn’t allowed. So if anyone wanted to see him, they had to go through her.
Marcus’s desk was situated in the middle of the room, facing the door she had just entered, positioned in the center wall. Her legs worked quickly to bring herself across the floor, stopping smartly in front of his huge, arcing desk. Despite the hulking size of the wooden behemoth, it always seemed cluttered and covered in paperwork.
Right now, however, everything had been pushed to the side to make room for the folder he held in his hand.
“What can I do for you?” she asked politely, though her attention was focused on the folder and its contents.
The parts of your attention that aren’t focused on Gabriel, you mean. On what you picture he’s going to look like tomorrow. Is he going to wear a suit? I think he would look good in a suit.
Marcus was looking at her expectantly.
“I’m sorry sir,” she said, flushing bright red as she realized he was waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t even heard. “Could you please repeat that?”
“Everything okay Caia?”
“Yes sir, sorry sir.”
&n
bsp; She had completely blanked out on her boss speaking, all because of the good-looking shifter who happened to be her partner! How embarrassing. Caia just wanted to run into a closet and hide until the day was over. But she couldn’t. The part of her that refused to give up and hated being defeated rose up, overwhelming her initial urge to flee the room.
Caia straightened, focusing in on Marcus as he looked up, as if evaluating her.
“Very well then. I asked how your little excursion went this morning.”
“Rather less productive than we had hoped, unfortunately.”
She wondered just how much Marcus knew about what had happened. Was she about to get reamed out for simply showing up at the Sapphire apartments?
“Do you know why I assigned you to be Gabriel’s partner on this?” There was a dangerous undertone to Marcus’s voice that she didn’t like.
Any doubt as to whether he knew the exact goings-on from earlier that day were erased from her mind as he slowly flipped open the folder in front of her. It showed the destruction of the lobby that had occurred when Gabriel had “taught his lesson” to the Sapphire who had been on lookout duty.
“Because you valued my insight and body-language analysis sir?”
His black eyebrows narrowed dangerously, and she couldn’t help but think that made the long angry scar on his face stand out even more.
“I paired the two of you together because I knew that Gabriel could get a bit straightforward at times, and I was relying on you to be somewhat more subtle. This,” he gestured at the smashed glass and broken walls, “is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to see from you. What the hell happened?”
Great. Now she would have to defend the man who had just angered her boss, all while pretending that she didn’t find Gabriel utterly desirable. Perfect.
“The man in the lobby was warned, Mr. Kedyn. Gabriel made it very clear that he was not to communicate with Ben that we were present. But he disobeyed that, so Gabriel was forced to follow through with his promise.”
“Do you have any idea how much damage those two bears caused? Fighting indoors in animal form is not exactly conducive to our pocketbooks. It’s one thing if they brawl outdoors and nothing but the ground gets damaged. But this, this has to be fixed! Next time control that beast Miss Rowan, or I’ll find someone who can!”
Caia blinked in confusion.
“What, is there something you don’t understand?”
“Yes sir,” she said, ignoring the dripping sarcasm. Marcus was clearly in a foul mood over something else, because he had never addressed her in such a tone before. Or anyone, at least for the few weeks that she’d been around. “You said two bears.”
“I did. Gabriel and this other one, Morgan, I think his name was.”
“Sir, Gabriel never changed into his bear. He didn’t even consider it. The other shifter panicked, and in an attempt to overpower Gabriel I suppose, he shifted. But, as much as I don’t want to defend him any more than I already have, Gabriel didn’t do anything wrong. He was perfectly content to beat the other man in his human form, without resorting to shifting. Even when the Sapphire shifted, Gabriel didn’t.”
The scathing retort she knew had been ready died on Marcus’s lips as she explained what had happened.
“You’re positive?” he asked sharply. There was still anger in his voice, but she could sense that it was no longer directed entirely at her.
“Yes sir. I watched it all happen from start to finish. I never thought that a human, even a bear shifter in human form, could take out such a huge animal. But Gabriel did it with such ease. It’s kind of scary, knowing how proficient he is.”
Caia stopped short of asking the question she was dying to know.
Why did Gabriel have the training and skills to be so deadly? What was his normal job that he required that knowledge and experience?
It chilled her to the core. The only reason that she could come up with for Marcus to need someone like Gabriel around was either as an assassin or a bodyguard. Gabriel had too much life in his eyes, however, which made her think he was a bodyguard. But he did not spend much time around Marcus or Valen.
So who, or what, was he guarding, and what was he protecting it from?
Something much bigger than she was being led to believe was going on in Genesis Valley.
Her attention focused back as Marcus spoke again.
“Gabriel is the best at what he does, yes. Now, you say that only the one bear was there. Tell me, why do you think Ben would say that the two of them were fighting in bear form?”
“He hates Gabriel. That much was clear. But also, unless there were video cameras there, Ben wouldn’t know any better. So he may have assumed it. When the other shifter recovered consciousness, he may have just told Ben that Gabriel shifted. Or maybe he wants Gabriel in trouble. If he told you that Gabriel had caused a lot of the damage in bear form, you might have prevented him from going back there. And while I don’t think the Sapphires were hiding anything in the apartments, they are definitely up to something. I picked up on that much at least.”
She leaned back and waited for Marcus to digest all she had said. To his credit, it didn’t take him long at all.
“I think your last theory makes the most sense. Let’s run with it. For now, I’ll play along with Ben, pretend that I’ve disciplined Gabriel. With a little bit of luck, perhaps they’ll buy it, and slip up in a way that will let us catch a break.”
Caia didn’t think it was overly likely that they would slip up now, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt.
“With that being a dead end, how do you propose to continue?” he asked.
There was no malice in the question this time, which she appreciated. It would appear her rationale had calmed down Marcus for the time being, or at least ensured that his anger wasn’t directed at her.
“We have word that one of the Ridgebacks has exhibited some of the same characteristics as the others, so we’re going to try and follow him, see if he gives us some more information. If we knew the whereabouts of the Opal crew, it would be so much easier. I don’t understand how six bears just up and disappear. It’s not like the valley is that big a place. Nobody has reported seeing any of them, despite information being given out and broadcast everywhere.”
Then another thought struck Caia. “Could they have fled the valley entirely? Leaving us behind?”
“It’s possible,” Marcus mused. “But usually once a shifter arrives, it’s because they’re no longer welcome anywhere else, and are given a last chance to survive here. So if they turned up elsewhere, human law enforcement would find them quite quickly, I would assume. No, I think they’re still here. Whatever is going on, they’re a part of it.”
Caia nodded. “Well, we’ll continue looking, and I’ll update you as we proceed.”
“Excellent.” Marcus voice took on a more formal note now. “That will be all Miss Rowan.”
She gave him a nod and left the office before he could ask her anything else, especially about Gabriel.
Chapter Five
Gabriel
“Good morning gentleman.”
The other two men in the office looked up as he entered, but neither rose from the desks they were sitting at.
“Boy, you two both look like you’re working hard.”
“Yeah, surprisingly enough, not all of us get to go gallivanting around the city any time we please.”
“Raphael, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that was jealousy in your voice!” Gabriel smiled at the second-in-command of the Stone Bears.
“Oh, it’s not? What pray tell is it that you hear then?”
“Why, the respect and acknowledgement that, I, as your glorious leader, deserve.” He swept his arms out wide, as if welcoming them to pay homage to him.
Uriel, the third shifter of the team, snorted and threw a pen at his “glorious leader.” “Spare us your drivel please, good sir. I must finish this mountain of paperwork.”
Gabriel dodge
d the airborne object with ease, moving his big frame faster than anyone else his size was likely able to do. He could have easily grabbed it and sent it flying back, but now Uriel was without a pen to write, and that, to him, was much more entertaining.
“It’s rather ridiculous, isn’t it, at how much paperwork we have to fill out as simple guards.”
Raphael arched an eyebrow. “After the money they spent training us, I’m not that surprised. I would want to know what we’re up to as well, and to ensure we’re doing everything our contracts necessitate. For all they know, we could be doing nothing but partying when we’re not picking up.”
“Raph, that’s exactly what you do though!” Gabriel said, mock confusion on his face. “Are you telling me you lie in your reports?” He brought a hand to his mouth in shock.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Raph complained.
“Ah stuff it. Nobody wants to hear it anyway.”
Raph smiled. “So, what are you up to now that you get to beat up Sapphires and leave us to do the boring work?”
Gabriel looked at him. “You guys know about that?”
He hadn’t expected the word to get out that quickly.
“Oh yeah,” Uriel said, chiming in. “Everyone knows by now.”
“How the hell did the word get out so quickly? That only happened yesterday afternoon!”
“Marcus was pissed, because Ben reported that you shifted and blew up the entire ground floor. So he was yelling about it until Caia set him straight on the truth.”
Gabriel didn’t say anything for a moment. Then “Caia set him straight…on my behalf?”
“Yes sir. I was waiting in the back of his office to give him our latest report on the stones, and I overheard the entire thing,” Raph said. “She must think you’re an okay person. Doesn’t say much about her though,” he joked.
Gabriel had to reach out and grasp the edge of his desk to fight back his bear. The instant-anger response at a sheer joke astonished him. The strength of it caught him off guard, and if he wasn’t so highly trained, Gabriel doubted he could have stopped himself from going after Raphael. Considering the other shifter was the closest thing to a best friend he had, that scared Gabriel.
