by E A Price
“Do I have time to take my shirt off?”
Gunner sucked in a breath and his eyes widened marginally.
Erin cringed over her clumsy mouth. “I mean do I have time to change?”
“No, he wanted to see you at 9am. It’s now half past; we better go. You’ve only seen the nice side of the Director; you don’t want to see his other side.
Without waiting for her, Gunner strode away, leaving her to scramble after him, avoiding the snickering of her teammates. She puffed and panted as she caught up to him. Yeesh, he could have at least walked a little more slowly for her. She only had small legs! Apparently the brief concern he’d showed her the night before had been a fluke; now, he was trying to live up to his moniker of BBB.
Erin found it irritating, but worse than that, it did nothing to quell her attraction to him. And that really annoyed her. Usually, she hated bossy and domineering people, finding them to be intimidating and rude. But, if anything, it just made him hotter.
Ugh, maybe moving to Los Lobos had been a bad idea. Wouldn’t she have been better in her sexless little bubble back in Playa Lunar?
*
Gunner listened as Erin recounted her reason for being late to the Director. Was the Director mad? No, if anything he was impressed by Erin. Great.
Erin had made some promises to the ghost of their victim, Hilda, and she had spent the early morning visiting Hilda’s family to pass some messages on. Typical. She couldn’t have just slept in or gone to get her nails done like a normal woman. No, she had to do something selfless and kind that made him want her even more. Erin had no consideration for his desire for her!
Last night, after he’d promised himself he’d leave her alone, he’d left the bar to go for a run – as his polar bear. The damn beast had taken advantage and ran all the way over to Erin’s apartment. They’d spent the night watching her window. It had been torturous being so close to her but not actually being with her. But at the same time it was somewhat soothing, knowing that while he was there, she was safe.
He’d come up with a different solution to his problem. If the Director deemed her unfit for field duty, she would have to stay in the office and work as a consultant. Then they could be together. It would be the perfect solution. Of course, he didn’t expect Erin just to volunteer for desk duty, so he had to be the one to make the Director see she wasn’t fit and able. He found that part of the plan very distasteful, but necessary. He’d thought he had a win when Erin was late, but, sadly, no. She just had to find another way to prove how lovely she was. It was maddening.
In the interim, Gunner had resolved to be a testy jerk – well, raving asshole – toward her. If he could create some distance between them, it might make it easier on him not to just press her up against a wall and shower her with kisses. He’d replayed that scenario in his head numerous times. It also might help to dim the arousal he saw in her big brown eyes every time she looked at him. Yeah, he wasn’t blind or cursed with no sense of smell - he knew she wanted him. It just made it harder to stay away.
He’d almost completely slipped up that morning. While cleaning up her spilled drink, he almost lost complete control and fondled her. A well-timed moan from her was definitely a wakeup call. He just wished he didn’t have such a good view of her breasts now; her sodden shirt wasn’t leaving much to the imagination, which also meant none of the other males in the building had to use their imaginations either. His bear was not a happy beast.
After the Director was done with her, mostly congratulating on a job well done and barely even chastising her for her faux pas with the gun, Gunner was leading her back downstairs.
Erin’s gratified smile at the Director’s words lit up her whole face, making her glow. He felt a softening in his heart, and his defenses started to slip as she beamed at him, eyes twinkling. What he wouldn’t do to be the one to make her look like that.
That feeling didn’t last long. As they walked back down to their office, they passed Diaz, a jaguar shifter and leader of the Beta team. He cocked his head at Gunner, but his eyes were riveted to Erin’s bosom. Fucking cat was practically drooling.
It was enough to send Gunner into a bad mood for the rest of the day.
*
Erin perched on a bar stool and pinched the skin on her hand. Okay, out for a drink with her teammates – she could do this. All she needed to do was be quiet, join in with the laughter, and not say anything that could be considered as loopy. Also, it would really help if she would refrain from seeing ghosts or having visions.
Gunner gave her an interested look as he watched her pulling on her skin, but he didn’t say anything. Not that she would have minded if he did; it was just a little coping mechanism she had for when she was nervous. Although, it probably wasn’t a good idea to admit to a predator that she was nervous.
Erin fidgeted in her too-tight t-shirt. She’d borrowed a shirt from Avery that, undoubtedly, looked fabulous on the lithe lioness but actually made Erin look like an overstuffed sausage. Or maybe that was just her opinion. She wasn’t used to wearing tight clothes. Nobody else said anything. In fact, she had caught a couple of the male agents eyeing her speculatively. Sadly, it didn’t seem to have an effect on Gunner. He’d been interminably grouchy all day.
She’d spent the day first of all filling out wads of paperwork over what happened the previous day. Then Jessie absolutely insisted that Erin be given a tour of her work area. It consisted of a fairly large office, home to numerous computers and various pieces of electronic equipment that Erin daren’t touch. It wasn’t much of a tour, but Jessie was chatty, friendly and seemed to enjoy her company. They spent the afternoon basically gossiping about other agents in the building. Jessie seemed to know everything about everyone, in particular who was sleeping with whom, who was secretly dating and so on.
Erin had to hide her chagrin at learning of Gunner’s own entanglement with a feisty tiger shifter. The same shifter who had been less than welcoming on her first day. The same shifter who happened to be about six feet tall, toned, red headed and drop dead gorgeous. Yep, she was just the kind of woman who would suit Gunner. Erin hated her on principal.
Still, even if her schoolgirl fantasies about her sexy boss weren’t likely to come true, at least she had a friend in Jessie. That was something she never had in Playa Lunar. There was even talk of the two of them going out to lunch and shopping. It gave her a warm feeling right in the bottom of her belly.
Other than enjoying her time with Jessie, however, she’d been informed by Avery that she was expected to undertake further firearms and hand-to-hand combat training. The thought of it left her with a dry throat and sweaty palms, but at least it could have been worse. The hand-to-hand training would be with Avery and the weapons with Wayne. Avery was forthright but friendly, and Wayne seemed to be softening toward her. Cutter could barely stand her. The idea of being trained in anything by him scared the hell out of her. Which was strange; Gunner was easily bigger and stronger than him and yet even when he was yelling and punching walls, she didn’t feel scared. Sure, he made her jump – the guy moved like a darn cat – but she always felt safe with him.
At that moment, she was avoiding looking at Cutter; the wolf shifter just sneered when he caught her eye.
Jessie drummed her hands on the table. She was so bouncy; she looked like she was about to shift and start zipping around looking for an acorn. Erin stifled a giggle as she imagined Jessie shifting into a sabre-toothed squirrel akin to the creature in the Ice Age movies.
“So Erin, here’s to your second day of work. You got through a whole day without someone trying to strangle you – kudos!”
Erin flushed as everyone but Gunner sniggered. “Yeah, well the day’s not over yet.”
“That’s the spirit!” laughed Avery. “So, Cutter, how are things going with Lucie, the nurse?”
Cutter let out a grunt of displeasure. “Nothing is going on with the nurse.”
Wayne smirked. “That’s not what she say
s.”
The wolf shifter let out a protracted sigh as his friends continued to rib him.
Gunner leaned toward Erin. “How’s your neck?” he asked quietly.
“It’s…” She was going to say fine, but it would be a lie, and she didn’t want to lie to him above all people. “It’s really painful.”
He let out a soft snarl. “This wouldn’t have happened if…”
Oh, not again. “I know, I know, if I hadn’t been dumb enough to leave my gun in your car. Again, I’m sorry. Trust me, I already feel like a complete idiot. You don’t have to remind me.”
Gunner’s mouth gaped open in surprise. “I was going to say it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t left you on your own. I shouldn’t have. You’re on probation; I should have been there with you. I’m sorry I wasn’t. What happened is on me. I realize that now, and I shouldn’t have overreacted yesterday. I’m sorry if I scared you at the hospital.”
“You didn’t!” she exclaimed. “Scare me, I mean. You don’t scare me.” She hoped that didn’t sound defiant; it wasn’t meant to. She meant it to sound like she was comfortable with him.
He looked at her wryly. “I don’t? Gee, I must be losing my edge.”
Erin snickered at the expression of mock misery. “Oh, I think your edge is safe.” If the roar he let out yesterday was anything to go, it darn well was!
“Just as long as people don’t start comparing me to a teddy bear, I reckon I’ll survive.”
“Teddy bear?” she teased. “Perish the thought.”
Gunner chuckled, and his eyes sparkled. She just had one question, if she swooned, would he catch her?
“Ugh!” uttered Jessie in annoyance. “Heads up, Tigger’s on the prowl.”
She nodded her pink streaked hair in the direction of Isis, who seemed to be making her way to their table. Erin gulped. Not a fan of confrontations, she wanted just to fade away into the background, lest the tigress say anything to her.
Isis approached the table and bid hello to everyone. Jessie and Avery groaned, while Wayne and Cutter nodded. Erin felt a thrill of satisfaction that Gunner hardly even acknowledged her presence. He stiffened when she approached but nothing more.
Surprisingly though, Isis was very cordial to her. “Hi, Erin. How’s it going?”
“Ah, fine, thanks.”
Isis nodded before affecting a sympathetic expression. “How’s your neck? Wolf shifters are such bastards.”
Cutter snarled in objection, but soon piped down when the squirrel shifter slapped the back of his head.
Erin pressed her fingers to her sore skin. “It’s fine; it looks worse than it is,” she lied. It was one thing admitting weakness to Gunner, but it was quite another to do it to this female.
The tigress gave her a toothy grin that seemed to be a staple of felines. “We were all really impressed by how quickly you cracked that case yesterday.”
She shuffled in her seat. “It was just luck.”
Isis clucked her tongue. “Nonsense, no one else here could have gotten that clue. My team leader would love to meet you. Hang on, I’ll get him. Hey, Wes!” she roared.
Dang, if Erin thought she showed a lot of teeth when she smiled, it was nothing compared to when she roared. So many sharp, white teeth.
Hmmm, maybe Erin had misjudged her. Although, a spiteful voice still resented the fact that the tigress had been involved with Gunner, and for all she knew still was. Sneaking a peek at Gunner, Erin was shocked by the intensely angry look on his face, but she was mighty relieved it wasn’t directed at her. No, that was all for the tigress.
A tall, although not as tall as Gunner, male wandered over. He had an easy, cocky smile that bordered on arrogant, but it wasn’t that big of a surprise. He was extremely handsome – disturbingly so – and the women in the bar stopped what they were doing to watch him walk by, much to the dismay of the males they happened to be with them at the time. He was a lot slimmer than the polar bear, but Erin didn’t doubt that he still packed some vicious strength in his sinewy muscles.
He purred out a ‘Hi’ to the table that had Wayne, Cutter and Jessie rolling their eyes. Avery went very quiet; Isis grinned, and Gunner looked like he wanted to murder the interloper.
“Hi,” croaked Erin.
Wes’ eyes roamed over the occupants of the table until they landed on Erin, and he gave her a predatory smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, Erin. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Wes; I lead the Gamma team.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
Erin inhaled as a question popped into her head but then hesitated. With surprise, she noticed that Gunner’s attention was now firmly on her, and he was watching her closely. Cheeks burning, she blurted, “What species are you?”
Wes chuckled. “I’m actually a liger.”
She gasped. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yep, my mom’s a tiger and my dad’s a lion.”
Erin looked at him with frank fascination, and she could have sworn that Gunner groaned. “But I thought that for shifters the babies usually either took after their mom or their dad – they were one or the other.”
“Most of the time that’s true, but sometimes when the different species are compatible the offspring gets characteristics of both.”
“Wow, I had no idea.” There was so much she didn’t know about shifters.
“Yeah, don’t worry, like I say, it’s only where the species are compatible, you’re not going to see a half-polar bear, half-tiger mutant walking around like if Gunner and Isis had a baby.”
Gunner’s jaw clicked, and his eyes melted to dark brown as the liger shifter slapped him on the back.
Wes smiled suggestively at Erin and waved his finger in a circle. “But, if we had a baby, it could easily be a tiger or a lion and have your abilities too. Double species are rare, but they happen.”
Erin noticed that Gunner had balled up his fists, and she was dismayed when he asked Isis if he could speak to her. Oh, no, why does he want to talk to her alone? Crap, what if they were going to have sex? She knew that shifters were quite lascivious creatures, and even she couldn’t fail to notice the sexual undercurrent in the bar – heck, a number of patrons were almost having sex in their booths! But would Gunner just ditch her like that to be with the beautiful tigress?
Isis and Gunner disappeared into the crowd, and Wes eagerly hopped into Gunner’s vacated seat. He started asking her numerous questions about life in Playa Lunar, about her abilities… She answered with as much spirit as she could, while obsessing over what Gunner and Isis were doing together.
*
“What the fuck are you doing?” snarled Gunner as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot of his nosy teammates.
Isis fluttered her eyelashes theatrically. “What do you mean?”
His bear roared at him. “Don’t act coy with me, what the fuck are you playing at?”
She rolled her eyes at his attitude. “Wes wanted to meet her, so I said I’d introduce him. It’s perfectly harmless.”
The tigress affected a look of innocence, but Gunner didn’t buy it for one second. “No, Wes is hoping that he can talk her into a requesting a transfer to his team. And you’re helping him because you think that means you can get onto my team. Well, you can stop right now because it’s not happening.”
Damn right, it’s not happening. He wasn’t about to let that damn liger get his claws into Erin. Alright, so under different circumstances, Gunner might have considered him an okay guy, but he was trying to steal Erin and that made him the enemy.
Isis pursed her lips. “You can’t control what Erin chooses to do. If she decides she’s better suited to working with Wes, then that’s up to her.”
No, Erin wasn’t allowed. “She won’t do that.”
“Cocky aren’t we?” sneered the tigress. ‘Wes can be very persuasive.”
Gunner felt his ire rise and he pushed his claws into the palm of his hands to stop his beast from lunging at the ir
ritating tigress. “To be clear, Isis,” he hissed, “even if Erin did leave my team, for whatever reason, I wouldn’t give you her spot.”
“Now you’re just being spiteful.”
If Isis took Erin away from him, he’d more than just spiteful! “What you’re doing won’t work, so call off the liger.”
“We’ll see,” she hissed and flounced away.
Gunner took a few moments to compose himself and calm his irate bear. He couldn’t allow himself to lose control. Not over a woman. Not even if she was the most perfect woman in creation… damnit. He had it bad.
His bear nudged him. Just what was he doing standing at the other side of the bar when Wes was probably flirting up a storm with his human? Shit. The bear was right.
Gunner promptly shouldered his way back to their table and was thoroughly alarmed to see that it was almost entirely empty. In particular, he was panic stricken to see that neither Wes nor Erin was there anymore. What if they had left together? What if they were going back to his apartment to have sex? The fucking liger could have his feline tongue down her throat at that very second. No, he had to stop them.
“Where’s Erin?” he growled.
Wayne and Jessie, currently in the middle of an argument about the benefits of his gator wearing Kevlar, looked up in surprise. They both shrugged and got back to their conversation.
Useless. His bear snarled. Find her!
Gunner sniffed the air, trying to decipher Erin’s delicious vanilla scent, but he had trouble picking her out of so many sweaty bodies. Fuck.
He would call her. He would tell her there was an emergency, and he needed her right away. Whatever she was about to do with Wes would have to stop. He stalked to the exit, almost knocking over Rory the SEA medical examiner as he did. He howled as a small, curvaceously familiar body careened into him while exiting the ladies' bathroom.
His hands clamped down on her shoulders and an inordinate amount of relief washed through him. She looked up at him in shock, an apology dying on her lips when she saw who it was.
