by Amelia Jade
Kelly made some contented sounds, wrapping her arms around his and pulling them close. He ended up cupping her breast simply because of where his palm was located, so it all worked out in the end. Moments later Kelly was asleep. Gray smiled and kissed her shoulders, drawing sleepy purrs from her still form.
He lowered his head to the pillow, contemplating sleep as well. It did seem like a wonderful idea, a short nap in the evening before whatever happened next.
Maybe she’ll want to go again?
A soft snoring sound from in front of him made it clear that she wasn’t thinking along those lines at the moment.
Eventually sleep claimed him as well, but not for long. When he stirred an hour later, he found that Kelly was still in his arms, snoozing comfortably. With as much care as he could manage, he extricated himself from her and slid off the bed. Padding into the kitchen as quietly as possible, he put his clothes back on before grabbing hers and laying them in a neat pile on the floor on her side of the bed.
Then he retreated to the kitchen, rummaged through several cupboards until he found the one with cups in it, and poured himself a glass of water. It disappeared in one long gulp, so he refilled it, taking his time after that.
“Hey.”
The quiet voice was so unexpected he jumped as Kelly emerged from the bedroom, clad in a robe instead of her clothes.
“I feel like I should be saying ‘morning,’” he joked. “But hi.”
“Maybe you’ll get a chance to do that anyway,” she suggested, bouncing her eyebrows suggestively.
“That’s a pretty big assumption, don’t you think?” he returned.
Kelly took it in stride, her lips twitching as she attempted to keep a serious face. Sliding a finger from her neck downward, she slowly forced the robe open, revealing copious amounts of skin underneath, including the curves of her breasts. She adjusted her stance to force the lower half of the robe to hang open, revealing almost everything to his sight, but stopping just short of giving him a show.
All she said was, “Is that so?”
Gray twitched. “I…”
Her hand dropped, pulling the robe tight and she adjusted her posture to close the gap between her legs. “Okay. I understand.”
There was a twinkle in her eye though, and he growled with delight, closing the gap between them in two long steps. Kelly yelped and tried to retreat into the bedroom, but he had her now.
Or at least, he had her robe, which she slipped out of in her attempt to get away, retreating into the bedroom now fully naked.
“Not fair!” she shouted, trying to cover her nakedness.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He walked into the room.
Kelly crossed her arms over her breasts and one leg in front of the other, hiding her nudity as best she could given the nature of her body. Gray just stopped and stared, appreciating the sight.
She adjusted her grip on her breasts and extended one arm. “Robe, please.”
He eyed the garment in his hand, feeling the thick terry cloth under his fingertips. “Why? If you’re going to just keep taking it off again, maybe I should keep it? Might make less work for you.”
Kelly arched an eyebrow at him and walked forward, snatching it out of his hands and putting it on, giving him a full view of her body as she did. One corner of his mouth turned up.
“Pervert,” she said accusingly, her face matching his.
“You like it.”
She laughed. “Well, what now?”
He considered for a moment. “Hungry?”
Kelly hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, kinda. I’ll heat us up some leftovers if that’s okay?”
He shook his head and reached out to snag an arm, pulling her close into a casual, relaxed hug. “It would be, taste-wise. But no, that’s not what I meant. You have a phone, right?”
“That’s a rhetorical question, right? I know it would be serious to another shifter, but I’m a human…”
“Got the number for a local pizza place? My treat.”
Kelly’s stomach answered for her.
“Perfect, dial it up. I’ll take an extra-large meat lover’s, with extra bacon. Also, if the place you call has like a special bread thing, like garlic or whatever their twist is on it, get a couple of orders of that too!”
“Are you sure?” she asked tentatively. “You don’t have to.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled several bills from his wallet, more than enough to cover the order. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m friggin’ starving!”
Kelly grinned and rummaged through her pile of clothes, pulling out her phone and fiddling with it for a moment. She dialed and placed the order. Just as she was finishing up with it, he leaned in, snatching the phone from her.
“Please double that order by the way. Two of everything she just ordered.”
There was a stunned silence from the phone and from Kelly.
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Positive. I know it sounds ridiculous, but please just do it.”
“Okay. Two large pizzas with pepperoni, mushroom, and onion, and two extra-large meatlover’s with extra bacon, and two side orders of wacky bread. Anything else?”
He thought for a moment. “Garlic and ranch dipping sauces. Throw in some of each, and some soda. Surprise us.”
There was another, longer pause.
“All right. I…well this is unusual, but it’s fun, so sure, I can do that!”
Gray nodded his silent approval. “Good stuff. Get it out here on the double and there’s a big tip waiting. We have a hungry pregnant woman.”
The three of them shared a laugh and then he handed the phone back to Kelly so she could give the address information. She hung up and turned to look at him.
“That’s a lot of pizza.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Even for a shifter, that’s a lot of pizza.”
He shrugged. “So there will be leftovers.”
Kelly glared at him as she realized what he’d done. By providing her with two or three meals’ worth of leftovers, he’d just effectively stretched her budget by an extra day. It wasn’t much, and he didn’t want to overdo it, but he had felt the need to do something.
Lavishing her with what she deserved was the end goal, but Gray was good enough at reading people that he knew her stubborn pride would take a while before it allowed her to accept his generosity. He would have to build up to it, little by little, doing small things one at a time, to get her used to having him do stuff for her. It would be slow going at first, he knew, but eventually it would work. But until she caved and accepted the fact that he was going to spoil her as much as possible, he was going to have to do it via things like this.
“I don’t need your pity,” she said at last.
Gray shrugged. “I’m well aware of that. Which is why you aren’t getting it.”
Her face became skeptical. “Right. So ordering all that extra pizza just so I could have leftovers after I mentioned having to work to stretch the budget they give us? That’s just coincidence?”
“Pretty much. Besides, if I’m staying the night I’m going to want breakfast.”
Kelly sighed. They both knew it was plenty even if he did that, which he had no intention of doing. “Okay, but this is it. I can make it on my own.”
Gray thought about telling her that he was well aware of that. That she was smart, capable, and more than able to do it alone. The truth was, he wasn’t doing it because he thought she couldn’t. He was doing it because she didn’t have to. Yes, she could scrimp and buy stuff that could go a long way, forgoing more delicious and fresher items. He knew that; he’d seen first hand evidence of it. But why do it when she didn’t have to? She’d been demonstrating for months now that she didn’t need his help.
But he could tell from Kelly’s demeanor that she wouldn’t accept that attitude. She would perceive his help and generosity as nothing more than a handout, which would be rejected automatically. He suspected the only
reason she’d let him pay for the pizza was because she’d already fed him tonight. She would let him pitch in his share, but no more.
Not at first. So instead of arguing or agreeing to her demands, he took the easy way out, and did so shamelessly.
“Want to curl up and watch some TV until the pizza gets here?” he asked.
Kelly shook her head, not in a negative manner, but in exasperation. She could probably read his eyes, she’d known everything he just thought, and where things were going.
“Yeah, that would be nice,” she said, walking over to him and giving him a bump with her shoulder, a flirty way of telling him what she hadn’t been willing to say.
“This isn’t over yet.”
Chapter Fourteen
Gray
The following morning, after an evening of pizza and adult activities, which included more than just watching TV, he was forced to depart with a promise that he would visit again very soon. Not that night, but soon.
The grin followed him into the embassy.
“Morning Hector!” he called across the lobby to one of the other guards, who was standing watch.
“About time you showed up. I am so ready to go home,” the other man grumbled.
Gray slapped him a high five as he passed. “Yeah, I’ll bet. Too bad you still have an hour to go.”
He ignored the false complaining that trailed after him. The truth was, they loved their jobs. For the most part things were easy, they had easy hours, and their boss was a good man who treated them well. The third guard, Martin, who had replaced Charles just the other week, was less sociable with them, and also a lot newer, but even he was more than bearable.
Hah. Bearable.
“Morning, boss,” he boomed, striding into Andrew’s office after giving the closed door a swift knock.
“Close it.”
Gray’s jovial mood fled as he shut the door and took a seat. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing new. But I just don’t want the others to hear or listen in. This is for your eyes only.”
He said nothing, but his alertness notched up a level. What could Andrew possibly have that wasn’t new, but was for his eyes only? He wasn’t aware of anything coming in.
“Sure,” he agreed. “What have you got?”
Andrew pushed a dark gray file folder across the table at him. It was fairly thin, but there were still several papers obviously lodged within. When a lift of his eyebrows got him nowhere Gray picked up the folder, keeping it closed.
“How much shit am I in if I look at this?”
Andrew smiled. “Looked at what?”
Translation: A lot.
Gray nodded in understanding and without further hesitation opened the folder. Andrew wouldn’t have given it to him if he didn’t think Gray wanted to see it, or should see it. So he trusted him that it would be okay.
There was a picture of a man inside. It was taken from the waist up. He was large, his shoulders probably larger than Gray’s, with the same familiar muscle that belonged to a bear shifter. The hair on his head had once been cleanly trimmed, but in this photo it was just at the point where it started to look a little ragged and in need of another cut, but not overly unruly. The beard was day or two old stubble at most.
The man wasn’t smiling, but that was probably due to the bruises covering his face. Gray wasn’t even sure he could smile. They were so thick and plentiful that it was tough to make out his facial features behind them. He could barely see out one eye—the other was swollen shut. Then there was the way he held his arm, indicating that it had recently been broken, or perhaps a dislocated shoulder, it was tough to tell what, but he was obviously harboring some injuries. A long pink weal ran from his collarbone down his chest, narrowly missing a nipple before it curved over his ribs and finished on his side just above his belt.
“This is the missing person,” Andrew said.
Gray looked the picture over again. “You mispronounced punching bag.”
Andrew didn’t say anything.
“What the hell happened to him?”
“They wouldn’t say. This is also apparently the only picture they took of him, which was from several months ago. They have nothing more recent.”
“So nothing that will help us identify him.” He tossed the picture back down, having memorized what he could out of it. “Sweet. What a bunch of pros these guys are.”
“Something tells me they weren’t exactly planning on releasing him,” Andrew mused. “They probably didn’t figure they would ever actually need his picture.”
“Still sloppy.” He considered the meager information in the folder. It wasn’t much, not even a name. “Can you get any more than this?”
“No.” Andrew shook his head emphatically. “It took me a week of pulling some strings to even get this much. I’m not sure what they’re being so secretive about.”
“I do.”
His boss looked at him, indicating he should continue.
“Responsibility. They don’t want to take it. They had this guy, doing who knows what to him, and he got away. Nobody wants to take responsibility for screwing up. If they lock down all the information about him and don’t share, he just looks like another rogue of sorts and we deal with him as normal. Then once he’s in custody, they can spirit him away out of the public eye or something.”
Andrew considered that for a moment. “You’re probably right,” he conceded.
“That’s one question down. One to go.”
“Where is he,” Andrew provided.
“Where is he?” Gray tossed the folder back down, having memorized the man’s features enough that he could reliably expect to recognize him if he saw him. “Any tips, boss?”
“Actually, maybe,” Andrew said, much to his surprise. “There’s been a run of reports over the past five to seven days of someone sneaking around the women’s units.”
Gray rolled his eyes. “Another lurker? When will these people give it a rest?”
There had been on average, a creep a week for the first month or two that the women had been housed in the newly constructed buildings on the south side of Cloud Lake. All but one of them had been human however, and relatively easy for the shifters to track down and apprehend before turning them over to local police. Word had spread rapidly that the women enjoyed the protection of Cadia, and the peepers had stopped relatively soon after.
“This one is different though. More skulking, less confrontation. People have only reported seeing someone moving in the dark between buildings and such. Nobody has had an actual run-in with them.”
Gray pondered that for a moment. “Could be our guy. What’s he doing there though, if he’s not trying to spy on them?”
Andrew could just shrug. He had just as little clue as Gray did.
“I guess I’ll go check it out tonight then, won’t I?” he said, not feeling overly unhappy about the situation.
“Something tells me you’ll survive,” Andrew teased, knowing full well why Gray wasn’t upset about spending time near the units.
Gray smiled and left the office, contemplating the best arrangement to both track the lurker down and spend as much time as possible with Kelly.
He couldn’t wait.
***
That evening he waited until the shadows had fallen and the tiny town of Cloud Lake had gone to sleep. The population of the town was no more than thirteen thousand and change, including the surrounding countryside, according to the latest census. The shifters and the women pushed that up, perhaps closer to fourteen thousand, but either way, there was very little in the way of midnight hustle and bustle. All but a few stores closed down, and even the ones that remained open had next to no activity, fueled only by international corporate greed and the demand for more profits.
With the mood right, including a thick cloud cover that had rolled in during the afternoon, Gray set out into the town, moving at a slow jog from the embassy to the south side of town. It wasn’t far, and even at his easy
mile-eating lope he crossed the distance inside of ten minutes, taking the shortest route, cutting through several residential neighborhoods instead of sticking to the main streets.
By the time he arrived, night had well and truly fallen, and much of the area was dark. The buildings were on the outskirts of town, and to the south of them was forest, thick and impenetrable at this time of day. To a human perhaps, he thought, stepping over the theoretical boundary of the town and calling upon his bear.
Power surged through his limbs and concentrated in his core as he opened up the mental connection between him and his beast, letting it rush out from where he kept it contained to spread through his body. Bones split and enlarged, doubling and then tripling in size in the span of a heartbeat. Fur of a vivid auburn brown burst from his skin, covering his body in a thick protective coating. Mass appeared as if from nowhere, thickening his size over and over again until he weighed close to two tons, over twice the size of the average wild bear.
A snout protruded from his face as he fell onto all fours, the ground shaking slightly from the impact, the final piece of the change. To Gray it had felt like a handful of seconds had passed, when in reality he’d gone from human to two thousand pounds of bear in the span of less than two seconds. The speed of it all never ceased to marvel him.
Giving his massive head a shake, he focused on the mission at hand and began to test the air. Trying to identify an individual human scent this close to the packed ranks of units, each of which held an individual in it, would have been a pointless exercise. Gray would have no way of telling if one of them was his quarry or not. So instead, he didn’t look for anything human.
He looked for bear.
His beast ambled around the tall grasses at the edge of the forest and then into the trees themselves, patrolling, trying to pick up the scent. Nothing leapt out at him, no signs of someone who had perhaps set up shop nearby and was moving in and out of the forest to stalk the women nearby.
