“But – “ Jax stopped himself. “All right. If that’s the way you want it.”
He actually looked hurt. What did he expect?
Bobbi took a seat in an overstuffed chair. Pixie perched on the arm of the chair.
“What are the possible reasons that some of the men, but not all of the men, who come in contact with Aurora would go rabid?” Bobbi asked. She had an idea why, which was the very reason she’d gotten herself assigned to this case, but there could be other causes. It might be the Chemist’s work, but there were other possibilities as well. Whatever the cause, they needed to get to the bottom of it before anti-shifter hysteria took hold and it was open season on shifters.
“V.D.,” Pixie declared. “Maybe some of the men who were with her used protection and some didn’t.”
All the men in the room winced at the thought, and Bobbi chuckled quietly. Yep, that would be one nasty strain of the clap, all right.
“Some kind of curse?” Dominick’s brow wrinkled in thought.
“Possibly, but you’d think it would affect everyone she came into contact with,” Kenneth said.
“She could be doing it deliberately. It’s possible she targeted one of the men for some reason, and poisoned the other two to cover it up. All three men were wealthy and powerful, which inevitably means they have enemies,” Jax said.
“The police are looking into whether any of them men have enemies who could have accomplished something like this, although no trace of poison or toxin has been identified in their bodies yet,” Bobbi said.
“A virus? Maybe she’s like Typhoid Mary, she’s contracted something that doesn’t affect her, but can infect others?” Kenneth suggested.
“That’s a possibility,” Bobbi nodded. “It would be great if we could get a blood sample from her, but I doubt she’d volunteer. Even a saliva sample might reveal something.”
“Jax could offer to buy her a drink at the club tonight, and then pocket the glass afterwards,” Bobbi suggested.
Kenneth nodded. “Good plan. I have chemists on my staff.”
Bobbi paused as a thought struck her. “Tyler,” she said. “Can you look at the information that was on the USB and see if Cedric keeps a record of when customers go into a private room with submissives?”
“On it.” He was already typing on the computer. She turned to Jax. “Did you see if Aurora went into any private rooms with anybody last night? I didn’t notice.”
Jax shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but I wasn’t paying attention to her most of the time, so I couldn’t say for sure. Let’s hope not.”
“It would help if we knew what the time span was, between when she went in those rooms with the men, and when they went rabid,” Bobbi said.
“Give me a minute…now, that’s interesting,” Tyler said. “She normally entertains between three and six customers a night in those private rooms. Last night, she didn’t go into any private rooms. The men who died – when she went into the rooms with them, the rage attacks occurred two to three days later, based on what Jax has told me.”
“She knows,” Jax said. “At the very least, she knows about Judge Galbraith. She could hardly have missed that; it was all over the news.”
“Did she seem nervous to you at all?” Bobbi asked.
“Not that I noticed, but there’s got to be a reason she changed her pattern like that,” Jax said, shaking his head.
“We’ll really need to keep an eye on her tonight,” Bobbi said. “See if she goes into any rooms with anybody, and if she does, we’ll have to make a decision – because they’d be at risk of turning rabid.”
Jax nodded, and Bobbi turned away, arms still folded tightly across her treacherous nipples, and wondered how long her resolve to stay away from him would last.
Chapter Eleven
Later that afternoon…
“I think I’m breaking out in hives,” Pixie said anxiously. She thrust her skinny arm in front of Bobbi’s face. “Look at my arm. Does this look like a hive? What’s a hive look like, anyway?”
Bobbi frowned down at her arm. “I see nothing but a skinny white arm. You need to get more sun. I thought you were half Hispanic.”
“My mom could have been lying.”
Pixie had come to meet Jax and Bobbi at the police station to report on her progress, but she’d frozen in place on the sidewalk outside, staring up at the looming brick structure.
“I thought that you had turned over a new leaf. You’re supposed to be working with the cops now. You’re practically one of them,” Jax said.
The late afternoon sun was heading for the horizon, and long shadows washed out over the sidewalk. Pixie put her hands on her hips. “From a distance. Through an intermediary,” she muttered.
“All right, fine. Just give us what you got,” Bobbi said patiently.
“I managed to talk to Aurora and her room-mate. Something’s definitely wrong there. I met up with them outside the building. I asked them what the neighborhood was like, told them I was looking to rent an apartment, and Ashley kinda glanced at Aurora and said, we might need a room-mate soon. And Aurora looked annoyed and it’s way too soon to be talking about that, but Ashley said, stop by in a couple of days. And Aurora gave her a dirty look and walked away. Bobbi’s eyes lit up. “That makes it sound as if Oliver is getting ready to take off. Or he’s already pulled a disappearing act.”
“Oh, and I went through their mail,” Pixie said. “I didn’t steal it, though, that’s a federal offense.”
“I’m glad to hear you have some limits,” Jax said.
“You’re not paying me enough to commit a federal offense,” Pixie shrugged. “Anyway, Ashley’s full name is Ashley Marie Chapman, and she got a credit card bill from Macy’s, if that helps Tyler when he’s hacking into the national databases. And that’s it for me. I’m getting out of here before I find out what hives look like,” she said glancing nervously at the police station. Then she paused and held out her hand expectantly. Bobbi and Jax glanced at each other. Jax pulled out his wallet, Bobbi pulled out her wallet, and they each slapped several twenties into her hand.
“Gee, I love being a cop,” Pixie said cheerfully. “See ya.” And she waltzed off.
Jax called Tyler and gave him Ashley’s full name.
“Captain Thorne’s waiting for us. Let’s give him what we’ve got,” Bobbi said.
“Let’s hope to God that Roosevelt’s not in there still,” Jax growled. “I’m not sure I could hold myself back a second time.”
Bobbi sniffed the air as they walked through the front door of the police station.
“I don’t smell the overpowering aroma of hatred, prejudice and stupidity,” she said. “I think we’re good.”
That earned her a brief smile.
Captain Thorne met with them alone this time, in his office. It was small and the walls were made of cheap, fake wood paneling. Pictures of Thorne with his wife and teenagers adorned his desk and the bookshelf behind him.
“I can’t apologize enough for what happened here earlier,” he said as they sat down.
“You’re not the one who needs to apologize. I know you’re in a tough spot, and you did everything that you could do,” Bobbi said.
“Well, I may have to report back to Stanford, but I don’t have to report quickly,” Thorne said. “No point in giving information until it’s been thoroughly checked out, and confirmed.”
“I appreciate that, but Stanford’s a dangerous enemy. Tread carefully,” Bobbi said.
Jax nodded. “Yeah. The chief’s got his head so far up Stanford’s ass-”
Bobbi kicked his leg. “Language! We’re in polite company.”
At that, Thorne threw back his head and laughed, a deep, rich sound.
“Me? You got the wrong guy,” he said.
Bobbi and Jax filled him in on the connection with Aurora, and gave him the names of her two room-mates. He nodded thoughtfully.
“I’ll assign a detail to watch her apartment. Front
and back. At least for the next few days,” he said.
“We’re going back to Caged Heat tonight. If we see her go into rooms with anyone, we’ll let you know, because they’d be at risk of going rabid,” Bobbi said.
Of course, that meant they’d need to stay at Caged Heat all night. All night with Jax. All night resisting him.
Be strong, she instructed her private parts.
Unfortunately, she didn’t trust her lady bits in the slightest where Jax was involved. While Pixie was out sleuthing, she’d gone back to her hotel room and changed into a sports bra to hide her rock hard nipples – but she couldn’t hide the truth from herself.
No matter how angry Jax made her, her nether regions had a mind of their own when it came to Jax. His scent, his strong, masculine presence, his-
“Bobbi? Hello?” Jax said.
“Oh,” she said, startled. They’d been talking, and she had completely zoned out.
“Do we have anything else to tell Captain Thorne?”
“No. I think we’re good,” Bobbi said, standing up. “We’ll check in again with you tomorrow, Captain. And thank you.”
Outside the building, Bobbi said “I’ve got errands to run. You should probably call Hammersmith and check in with your boss.” At Jax’s annoyed look, she shook her head.
“Do it,” she said.
“I can barely have a civil conversation with that jackass.”
“You can barely have a civil conversation with anybody,” she pointed out.
“No argument there. Civilization’s over-rated. What’s it ever brought us? Suits and ties. Red tape.”
“Wah, wah, wah. I gather you’re already on thin ice with them, so don’t aggravate them even more. Do you want that reward, or not?”
“Fine,” Jax grumbled. “What time do you want to meet up at the apartment?”
“The” apartment, he’d said. Not “my” apartment. As if it were their place, as if they lived together.
“I’m not going to stay with you any more,” she said firmly. “We can meet up in the Caged Heat parking lot together tonight at 10 o’clock. I will be dressed appropriately. When we go in, we go our separate ways. If anyone asks, we had a lover’s quarrel.” It made total sense, she couldn’t trust him any more after what he’d pulled the night before, but every word that she said hurt her. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to fall asleep with his arms wrapped around her, to feel his chest rising and falling. After having spent one night with him, the thought of sleeping alone made her feel hollow and lonely.
Jax’s eyes flashed amber, and his lips thinned to a hard line. “Where are you staying?”
“That information will be shared on a need to know basis,” she said. Her belongings were in the trunk of her rented car; she’d likely just sleep at her hotel room at The Plaza, which the Enforcer’s were still paying for.
“Fine.” His face was impassive, his tone hard as granite. He turned and walked away, and she felt a sharp stab through the heart at how easily he’d accepted it.
Maybe he was already figuring out who’d bring home tonight from Caged Heat, she thought.
There was nothing she could do about that. Jax didn’t belong to her.
She dug into her purse and grabbed her cell phone.
It was time to make the call…to both of her bosses. The one who she officially worked for, and the one who was probably going to kill her one of these days, if she didn’t get the chance to kill him first.
* * *
Jax waited until he was back in his apartment to let a howl of rage rip from his throat. He wasn’t angry at the damage that Bobbi had done to his furniture; he’d totally deserved that, and more.
He was shaking with fury at the thought of her staying somewhere else. She belonged with him, he suddenly realized. When she wasn’t with him, he ached, and the ache got worse and worse the longer they were apart. Didn’t she feel it too? How could she walk away from him?
He barely managed to rip his clothes from his body before he shifted into wolf form. He dropped to all fours, a massive, raging gray beast, In a frenzy, he shredded what was left of the couch, ripped the books on the floor to shreds, then smashed his kitchen table to pieces.
When he shifted back to human form, he was panting for breath, his chest heaving. He collapsed on the middle of the floor, burying his face in his hands.
He’d been an idiot, stealing the USB stick and ditching her like that. He’d sent a clear message to her: You can never trust me, and you and I are not partners.
Had he ruined any chance of things working out between them? And had he gone so crazy that he actually was thinking of trying to make things work out between them? He’d spent his whole life believing that a relationship would make him so weak he might as well crawl into a hole and die. That falling in love would make him the Samson to some woman’s Delilah.
Was it possible that true love would make him stronger, not weaker? Bobbi truly seemed to want him to succeed, in the investigation, with Hammersmith…she seemed like she’d be a real partner in every sense of the word. She was the kind of woman who’d always have a friend’s back, he could sense that in her.
He stood up, taking a deep breath and heaving it out.
He was still so angry at the thought of her sleeping somewhere else that his hands were shaking. Normally he’d head down to the warehouse district and pick a fight, but today, he’d go for a run in the woods instead. He’d shift, and run and run and run until, with any luck, he’d have burned off that white hot rage that flowed through his veins like a river of lava.
Half an hour later, he was standing next to his car by the side of the road in a wooded area north of Playa Linda. Pine and fir trees creaked in the wind, and the late afternoon sun’s rays slanted down, bathing the forest in golden light. He opened the back door, tossed in his clothes, and slammed the door shut before shifting.
He paused for a minute after he’d shifted, as his senses blazed to life, a thousand times more intense. He tipped his head back, scenting the air. He could smell ripening berries and rich loamy earth and every kind of plant and animal within miles. He could hear the song of every bird, braiding together in an orchestra of trills and coos, and the beating of the bird’s wings, and the delicate crunch of a fox’s paw on twigs.
The wind felt good ruffling through his fur, and he raced through the woods faster than an antelope, ears back, leaping over thickets and dodging past swaying pines.
For the first time ever, as he ran, he imagined what it would be like to have someone by his side. Would Bobbi enjoy running through the woods? He’d never seen her fully shift, but he imagined that her coyote would be beautiful. Would she be able to outrun him? Doubtful…especially if he was properly motivated.
He imagined chasing her through these sun-dappled woodlands, catching her and pinning her, both of them turning human…naked and panting with the sun beating down on his skin, their senses on fire…
Danger. Human.
He heard the sound of a rifle snick at the same time he scented the human.
Quickly, he shifted back to human form. Although it was illegal to hunt wolves, he had a strong feeling the person aiming the gun at him wouldn’t let that stop him.
To his shock, the forest floor near his foot exploded in a cloud of dirt as a gunshot landed near his feet.
“Hey!” he yelled angrily. “I’m human! Watch where you’re shooting, asshole!”
The only response was a bullet landing in the bark of a tree right next to where he stood – at the same level as his head. Far off in the distance, he heard coarse laughter drifting on the wind.
Jax shifted back to wolf form and ran, and more bullets spit up dirt at his feet. He dodged through thick bushes, the laughter and the bullets chasing him, and he smelled silver and knew the hunter was well aware he was a shifter, not a wolf.
He raced through the woods for a good half hour before he circled back to his car, and quickly dressed, shaking with fury.
&nbs
p; He grabbed his cell phone, placing a quick call to the local police department, and then he climbed into his car. Rolling the window down, he began driving, following his nose.
His keen power of scent led him exactly where he’d expected – a redneck bar called Hog Spit, on a tiny dirt road off the main road. The parking lot was full of pickup trucks mounted with gun racks.
He pulled in to the parking lot at the same time as a highway patrol car, and leaped out of his car.
The hunter was inside the building, and Jax followed his scent, to find a heavyset, red-faced human leaning on the bar, holding his rifle and howling with laughter with a group of friends.
“You should have seen the look on that bastard’s-” all eyes swiveled to Jax, and the man froze mid-sentence, and leveled a pig-eyed glare at Jax.
“You got a problem, freak?” the man snapped as Jax stormed over to him. The door banged open as the highway patrolmen rushed through the door.
The hunter raised his gun and started to level it at Jax. Both highway patrol officers pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the human. Everyone around the group dived out of the way, and the bartender ducked behind the bar.
“What are you doing? He’s threatening me. He ain’t human! He’s a dog!” the human wailed. Jax felt a keen wave of nostalgia for his native Florida, so shifter-friendly, mixed with a murderous rage and an urge to rip this human’s throat out with his fangs.
“Hunting wolves is illegal. Hunting shifters gets you an attempted murder charge,” the highway patrol officer said coldly. “And that’s only because your aim sucks.”
“I didn’t know it was a shifter! I just saw a huge wolf, coming right at me, his fangs dripping with rabies! Just like that judge! I thought he was going to kill me!” the hunter wailed. “I never been more scairt in my life! It was self defense, I swear on my mama’s grave and a stack of bibles, self defense!”
The Alpha Meets His Match Page 12
