She could hardly imagine bringing him home to her father without inducing some kind of apoplectic fit. The very idea of it all gave her a splitting headache.
Please, a dry voice in her head drawled. You haven’t even talked to him for more than five seconds, and you’re already envisioning bringing him home to your parents? Get a grip girl. Just because you felt some chemistry doesn’t mean that he’s your mate.
Maybe. But she couldn’t rule it out either. God, she really wished Raina was here. Her partner always knew exactly what to do and say when Angela got worked up like this. Which of course, brought her back around to her other problem. Where the hell was Raina?
He laughed a little. “Don’t we all,” he said, glancing over her shoulder to the bar behind her. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to do the exact same thing you just did… and I imagine you’ve had to do it a lot more times than me.” He patted her kindly on the shoulder, his dark eyes filled with understanding. “You should go get some rest.”
Angela sighed and dropped her gaze so Lorenzo wouldn’t see the worry in them. “I know.” She glanced back at the bar. “I’m going to look around one more time, and then I’m heading home once I write my report.”
“Good deal.” He clapped her on the shoulder once more. “Let me know if you need anything.” He joined his partner in the car and they hauled the two misfits off to the precinct.
Inside, Angela re-checked every nook and cranny for Raina. She spoke with the bartender, asked the locals, scoured the dance floor, and checked the upstairs lounge area as well, with no sign of her.
She was just about finished checking the privacy rooms in the back – where customers could go to spend a little ‘quality time’ with each other without having to go home – when the door at the far end, and Raina’s dark elf spilled out with a pixie hanging on his arm. Their eyes were sparkling and their faces flushed – or at least as flushed as a dark elf’s could be – all signs of a good romp in the sack, and Angela’s blood boiled as she realized that Raina was not with him.
“You!” She grabbed the dark elf by his hair, and jerked him forward. “Where’s Raina?”
“W-what?” His silvery eyes widened as the pixie squawked angrily behind him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”
Baring her fangs, Angela slammed the elf into the wall, cracking the wood paneling and eliciting a shriek from the pixie. She turned to the pixie– who had electric blue hair and was dressed in sparkling green dress – and all it took was one orange-eyed glare to send the fae running for her posse.
“Tall, skinny. Long black hair. Wearing a purple shirt. I was sitting right next to her when you were giving her bedroom eyes from across the room. I saw you dancing with her. Where is she?”
“Oh!” the elf’s eyes widened with recognition. “The mage girl. I… umm…” his gaze slid away, and embarrassment tinted his dark skin again. “I don’t really remember.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Angela snarled. She jerked the elf forward, then slammed him back against the wall again, panic and temper soaring high and making her forget her protocols. “Why isn’t she with you?”
“Stop!” the elf howled, squeezing his eyes shut as he squirmed beneath her grip. “Okay, okay, relax! It’s just that I can’t really remember what happened because my brain is really fuzzy.” He frowned. “Which is really weird because I haven’t actually had that much to drink tonight.”
Alarm bells went off in Angela’s head, her keen nose telling her that the elf wasn’t lying about this. “Tell me what you do remember,” she ordered.
The elf closed his eyes and swallowed, then opened them again. “I remember us being on the dance floor,” he said. “I was leading her toward the back, so we could go up the stairs and use one of the privacy rooms, and she was giggling. And then all of a sudden, some guy appeared behind us, dressed in a black robe.” He frowned. “There was a hood over his face so I couldn’t see him, and he was holding some kind of incense burner thing in his hand. I stepped forward and then I went all fuzzy. The next thing I knew I was sitting in a corner with my head against the wall. I thought maybe I’d had a few too many to drink and I’d just passed out or something.” His skin grayed beneath his complexion. “Did… did something happen to her?”
Angela clenched her teeth against the fear curdling the alcohol in her belly. “I’m going to need you to come down to the station for questioning.”
His eyes widened as she spun him around and began walking him towards the front. “But why?”
“Because the woman who you so conveniently lost track of is the commander’s daughter, and it looks like she might have just been kidnapped.”
* * *
In the end, the elf – whose name was Darian – had come quietly, which was a damn good thing because Angela had been forced to call a cab to take them to the precinct, since she’d ridden her motorcycle over to the Crazy Horse. Her captain was waiting for her right inside the precinct when she came in, and he did not look thrilled.
“I got your message,” he said after Darian had been handed off to two uniforms, folding his arms as he looked down at her. Captain Gerald Fitzsimons was a big guy, with ebony skin and wiry, close cropped hair, his wide, six-foot four frame crammed into a grey suit. His coffee-colored eyes could be warm and compassionate, as they were when he had to speak to victims, or hard and dangerous, like they were as he stared her down now. “Please tell me that you just forgot to have someone go by her condo to check if she hadn’t just decided to go home early.
Angela shook her head. “I had a patrol car go by her place and knock on her door. No one was home. And she hasn’t been answering her phone. Sir, with the information I received from the witness, I have to assume…”
“I know.” The captain set his jaw. “Let’s see what other information we can get out of him first.”
They went into the observation deck for the interview room and watched as Lieutenant Novak walked in to question Darian. As a high-level mage, the lieutenant specialized in drawing out details from witnesses and suspects who suffered from mental manipulation, and soon enough she was casting her spell, pulling out images from Darian’s mind and hovering them high into the air so their special cameras could record them.
Angela sucked in a breath as she watched the hooded man drug Darian and Raina with the strange incense he wafted in front of their faces. Darian was out instantly, but Raina struggled against the enchantment as another hooded man came up behind her, and hooked an arm around her waist and placed another on her shoulder to lead her out. As she fought, her struggles weakening as the drug took firmer hold, the man’s hood slipped, and she caught a glimpse of orange eyes.
“Shifters,” the Captain murmured. “These guys are shifters.”
“No,” Angela whispered, horror-struck as she got a good look at the man’s face. “It can’t be.”
“What?” the Captain rounded on her, his black brows drawing into a fierce scowl. “Do you know these men, Mason?”
Angela swallowed. “I recognize that one there,” she said, pointing with a finger that wasn’t as steady as she liked. “He’s from my brother’s clan.”
The Captain’s frown deepened. “I wasn’t aware you had a brother.”
Angela bit her lower lip. “He’s adopted,” she explained; though the fact that she didn’t share blood with him didn’t make the betrayal hurt any less. “He left our clan a long time ago to become the Chieftain of another. Which means that whatever the reason they took Raina… he’s the one behind it.”
* * *
Angela took a deep breath through her nostrils to try and calm her churning stomach as the Captain escorted her to Commander Madison’s office. Unfortunately, her breathing exercise was doing little to help calm her, which might have had something to do with the fact that she was about to tell her superior’s superior that his daughter had been kidnapped. On her watch.
Not that she was Raina’s b
abysitter or anything. But still, the Commander was fiercely protective of his daughter, and would no doubt lash out at Angela and blame her, at least partially. If it weren’t for the fact that Raina was just as fiercely passionate about working for the Order, he would have her cloistered away in some high tower where she could practice magic safely without the dangers that were part and parcel of being a Protector.
The Commander sat behind his desk, his lean, wiry frame dressed in an expensive dark suit with diamond cuff links winking at the wrists of his Egyptian linen shirt. He shared Raina’s inky dark hair, but his eyes were a laser blue that had the uncanny ability to pierce through even the staunchest of souls. Magic practically shimmered beneath his pale skin, an indication of just how powerful a mage he was – but then, you didn’t get to the top without being one of the best.
“Sit down,” he said curtly to both of them, indicating the two dark brown and green leather visiting chairs that sat in front of the huge mahogany desk that looked like something that belonged in a manor house’s study rather than a supernatural police station. But then, at nearly a thousand years in age, Commander Madison had a fondness for old-world décor and taste that manifested itself in different ways – like the wall sconces that held electric candles in lieu of light bulbs on his walls, and the pen on his desk that masqueraded as a quill. She imagined that if he could get away with it, he’d be wearing mages robes, but the Order was required to blend in with the modern world in order to facilitate their efforts to co-exist with humans.
“Tell me everything that happened. I want to hear it fresh from your mouth.”
Angela folded her hands in her lap and told the Commander everything, meeting his icy stare with her own and trying to ignore the way his face tightened with each word she spoke, his ire growing until the room was practically crackling with unleashed rage. By the time she was done, her palms were damp, and she kept them hidden in her lap, not daring as to so much as rub them against her jeans lest he pick up on the sign of weakness. The best way to get out of this unscathed was to stand firm and reassure the Commander that she would fix this.
“Commander, I know I fucked up by not paying closer attention to Raina – ”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” the Commander said gruffly, surprising Angela. Scowling, he crossed over to the mahogany cupboard standing against the wall to his right and pulled out a crystal glass and a decanter of dark liquid that Angela’s nose identified as brandy when he popped the stopper off it. He poured himself a generous measure before returning to the desk with it. “My daughter has always been strong-willed, and now she is paying the price for her carelessness. If she’d taken the proper precautions the way that I taught her and constantly remind her of, this wouldn’t have happened to her.”
Well then. Angela shut her gaping mouth, knowing that now was not the right time to say anything to the Commander. Part of her was outraged on Raina’s behalf that her father’s first instinct was to blame, but Angela knew that was just his way – he truly did love his daughter and would do anything to get her back.
“Captain Fitzsimons tells me that you gleaned more specific information from the interview regarding the kidnappers’ identities?”
Angela took another deep breath, knowing that if she imparted this information the wrong way the Commander would bar her from this case. “I recognized one of the assailants as belonging to the Black Moon Clan.”
“The Black Moon Clan?” The Commander frowned. “They’re a bear shifter clan, aren’t they? One that has a particularly intense hatred toward mages?”
Angela nodded, and the Captain chose this moment to interject. “She told me that her brother is the clan Chieftain, which is how she recognized them.”
“Excuse me?” The Commander’s eyes widened angrily. “Are you saying that the clan who kidnapped my daughter is your kin?”
“No!” Angela barely managed to keep from shooting out of her chair. “No,” she said more quietly, but her denial was just as stringent. “I didn’t grow up in the Black Moon Clan – my father is the Chieftain of the Redstone Clan.”
“Oh.” The Commander relaxed a bit. “That’s right – I seem to remember reading that in your file when I was reviewing your last promotion.” He frowned. “If you’re from the Redstone Clan, then why is it that your brother is the Chieftain of a different clan, especially one so radical?”
Angela sighed. “My father adopted Garrison because his parents were killed by a mage for their pelts when he was just a cub.” Evil mages went after shifters on a regular basis as they could use their pelts, and other body parts in a number of spells and rituals. “He grew up hating mages and wanting to seek revenge against the mage community, and when it became clear he wasn’t going to get what he wanted from us, he found a clan that better… served his needs.” The pain and disappointment of that night rose up in her chest, threatening to choke her, and she shoved it back down. “I haven’t spoken to him in years, but I visited him once to try and persuade him to come back and I remember seeing the shifter from Darian’s memories from that time. I know my brother is involved.”
The Commander leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his stomach, his expression completely impassive. He stared at her for such a long time that Angela’s palms broke out into another sweat, and she began to wonder whether or not he was fantasizing about all the different ways he could murder her – ways in which no one would ever be able to find out.
“Do you love your brother?”
“What?” Angela blinked. She’d been in the middle of imagining how it would feel if the Commander took her to an abandoned warehouse and incinerated her using magical fire.
Commander Madison scowled. “I asked you whether or not you hold any affinity for the shifter bear you spent the majority of your childhood with. I want to know whether or not that love is going to compromise your ability to help retrieve my daughter.”
Angela’s heart grew heavy as she thought about how best to answer that question. It was true that, despite all Garrison had done, she still loved the serious yet charming bear cub she’d grown up with, but… “Garrison is highly intelligent and does nothing without a purpose. He chose to kidnap Raina for a very specific reason, and he would have known that she’s my partner.” She set her jaw. “I can’t forgive him for that, no matter the reason. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Raina back.”
“That’s exactly what I want to hear,” the Commander said. He was about to say more, but the phone on his desk rang, and he picked it up. “Yes? Oh, that’s great. Yes, please send him in. Thank you.”
As he hung up the phone, Angela really wished that the phones around here weren’t spelled to prevent beings like her with sensitive hearing from listening to the conversation. “Who’s coming in?”
“Someone who I want you to work with,” the Commander said. “He’s a freelancer, but he’s one of the best – though his methods are a bit unconventional,” he added. “You may have heard of him, his name is – ”
“Cole Avery,” she said flatly as the door opened and the very man who’d come to her rescue when she’d needed backup stepped into the room.
Chapter Three
Cole sucked in a breath of air as he walked into the Commander’s office, his eyes alighting on the same Protector from the Crazy Horse sitting in one of the chairs in front of the Commander’s desk. He gritted his teeth as the same wicked heat he’d felt earlier when she’d touched him, began to unfurl deep in his belly, not at all happy at the reaction she was stirring up in him. And, if the way her gemlike green eyes were narrowed on him were any indication, she wasn’t entirely happy to see him either. Twisted around in her chair with a glare on her heart-shaped face, she looked as though she’d swallowed something particularly sour.
“Nice to see you again.” He inclined his head to the female shifter, trying not to glare at her even though it was entirely her fault that his hormones had decided to go into overdrive.
“You two k
now each other?” Commander Madison asked, surprised. He’d already stood from his chair – at least someone around here was showing some respect – though his shock had stopped him from making it more than halfway around his enormous desk.
Cole nodded, his lips curving into a small smirk. “I gave her a bit of a helping hand at the Crazy Horse earlier tonight. She was trying to break up a fight between a vampire and a shifter single-handedly.” Not that I got any thanks for that, he thought to himself silently, conveying the thought with a pointed look.
The shifter female’s back stiffened as she received the message loud and clear. “I do appreciate your assistance in that matter,” she said. “But I don’t see why – ”
“I called Cole in to help the moment Captain Fitzsimons informed me of the situation,” the Commander wisely interrupted, likely stopping the female shifter from saying something insulting that would chase Cole away. “He was already in town finishing up an assignment so I secured his cooperation to assist in retrieving Raina.” For a fee, of course, but Cole imagined the Commander wasn’t prepared to share that information with the room.
The Commander turned away from the now sputtering female and closed the distance so he could shake Cole’s hand. “I appreciate you coming on such short notice.”
“Of course. This is an urgent matter.” More than that, though, Commander Madison was one of the few mages that didn’t look down on Cole with some measure of disdain. He supposed that tolerance was a necessary trait for a commander whose employees were a hodgepodge of races that dealt with an even wider pool of supernaturals on a regular basis, but still – it was refreshing.
Bear Meets Girl Page 2
