by Milly Taiden
Russel reached out and shook his mate’s hand. “Thank you, Tama, for the information. It’s helped a great bit.” He hurried out of the building. He had a killer to find and a veterinarian to confirm was still alive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
At his desk in the fellowship department, Russel’s inner voice and brain argued. His voice wanted to stay with their mate, but his brain said his coworker, and a great person, was in danger.
He loved his mate, but she didn’t even like him. He did get a smile from her, but he didn’t get a good vibe. His heart hurt, knowing how the future looked: lonely.
She mentioned having kids and a family. He wasn’t sure he was ready for kids or ever would be after that day of the hostages. If she wanted children, maybe he wasn’t the right man for her. Being human, she could love another man, but would always feel something was missing. But for him, he would never love again and probably die of a broken heart sooner than later.
He shoved those thoughts aside. He had to remain positive and believe that Fate knew what she was doing. Focus on his case. And Barry.
He hadn’t seen Charli since this morning, nor was she answering her phone. He wanted to believe she was safe, that Barry wouldn’t pick this moment to hurt her, if that was his plan.
He dialed Devin and turned in his desk chair, remaining calm.
“Sonder here.”
“Hey, you seen Charli lately?” Russel said. He heard Devin ask someone the same question, and a female answered no. Must be his coworker’s new mate. A painful ping struck Russel’s heart, but he pushed it aside.
“Not since lunch. Why?” Devin asked.
“I was with Tama, talking about the armored truck robbery, and I think we have solid evidence linking Barry to the guard’s killing. I had hoped he just carted the money away for Charli’s sake, but evidence proves otherwise. He’s dangerous, Devin.”
He heard “shit” over the phone line. Devin’s mate said, “She’s not picking up her phone.”
“I tried her mobile too, several times,” Russel said.
The sweet female voice spoke again. “Do you think Barry is with Klamin?”
“Why would you ask that, Devin’s mate?” Russel asked.
“Sorry, man,” his coworker said. “Marika Paters, this is Russel Mayer, shifter agent.”
“Nice to meet you, Russel,” she said.
“You too,” he replied, trying to keep despair from the problems with his mate from his voice.
“Here’s what we’ve got so far,” Marika started. “The wolf isn’t born naturally, but man-made and a multishifter. Barry is also man-made, but only a bear, as far as we know. Klamin is connected to files on creating shifters, so we think Klamin created the wolves and sent them out to kill the senator because of a pipeline project dealing with a lot of money.”
“So you’re saying since Barry is created, he’s with Klamin?” Russel asked. “That makes him that much more dangerous. Shit. I wish Charli would answer her phone.”
“Yeah, me too.” Devin sighed. “Listen, there’s a lot of info we got that we need to sit down and puzzle out. I have a feeling everything we’ve seen this past week is connected. I just don’t know the link yet. Marika and I are on our way to a quick meeting at a new laboratory on the south side of town. How about we meet you at the bar in forty-five minutes?”
Russel heard Devin and Marika discussing the meeting time. “Okay,” Devin continued, “I’ll call you in thirty minutes no matter what to update you on our progress.”
“Yeah, that’ll be good,” Russel replied. “I’ll wait for the call. T-T-Y-L.” He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.
Who was this Klamin person? He was responsible for Senator Hayseed’s death over a pipeline. That part of the investigation had been solved.
He turned to his computer and wiggled the mouse to kill the screen saver. Into a search engine, he typed the man’s name. Three hundred nineteen thousand results in .39 seconds. Great. This probably wouldn’t help much. But he had time before Devin called him in thirty minutes.
He clicked on the first result. The site read, Klamin—algae extract for women seeking an alternative to hormonal therapy during and after menopause. Oh shit. That wasn’t even close. The next several pages were the same. All right, time for a different idea.
Then he remembered the doctor’s name he saw on Tama’s phone. Was it an invasion of privacy if he googled the doctor? Yes. But she was his mate. He cared for her and needed to know if she was sick or hurt. It was his job to protect her, whether she wanted it or not. That would be a perfect excuse, if caught.
He clicked to return to the search engine and typed the doctor’s name. A page popped up showing the pictures of several people and a medical center. He clicked on the female’s image with the name Aveena Schrieffer under the photo.
Another web page came up with the female doctor info. He skimmed to the end of the first line of her bio: . . . twenty years as a gynecologic oncologist.
Wasn’t an oncologist a cancer doctor?
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
T-T-Y-L?” Devin said. “What the hell does that mean?” He pushed the phone button on his steering wheel to disconnect his hands-free connection.
Marika giggled. “I guess you don’t have younger ones around much.”
“No,” he said, “that I haven’t had in a long time.” He thought of his little nephew and sighed. A warm hand rested on his arm.
“I’m sorry, Devin,” Marika replied. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories of your family.”
He glanced at her with his own expression of apology. “No, Mari. It’s not your fault.” He turned back to the road. “I need to get past that point in my life. Need to move on.” Trying to keep his smell to himself was nearly impossible, especially when most of his worry was for the gorgeous woman sitting next to him. “So what does T-T-Y-L mean?”
“‘Talk to you later.’”
His brows raised and he flashed a smile at her. “Seriously? Talk to you later?” He shook his head. “Kids these days will be the worst spellers in history because they don’t spell out anything. Not to mention the laziest.”
“But think of the time they’d save if they used Morse code.”
Devin barked out a laugh. He loved how his mate always had the positive side to see and share.
Marika followed along with the map on her phone as Devin continued to drive them to the laboratory. The area south of town was underdeveloped with square blocks of overgrown weeds. A few rusty warehouses were scattered here and there surrounded by chain-link fencing. The map from the senator’s desk came to mind. Especially the one southern section where the pipeline crossed into town limits. He wondered how far that was from here.
Marika’s phone said to take a turn at the next street that led up a slight hill. The flat top was covered in broken-up asphalt butted up to a one-floor cinder-block building. He had a bad feeling about this.
“You sure this is the correct address?” he asked.
“According to the map and address, this is it.” She looked around. “It is a new business. Maybe they haven’t had time to fix up the outside yet.”
“Still sorta creepy,” he said. “There’re no other cars here. Maybe the guy isn’t here. What’s his name?” Devin parked in front of the main double glass doors.
“Nex is what he said when he called me earlier.” A light was on inside, illuminating a reception area. A shadow passed over the desk. “Looks like someone is here. Let’s go in.” Marika opened her door.
“You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll try to get Charli on the phone quickly, then I’ll be in. You can warn this man your overprotective mate is tagging along. And he has sharp claws.”
She leaned toward him across the seat and he met her over the console and kissed her, slowly, with lots of delicious tongue. Too bad they didn’t have a little time to jump into the backseat. They pulled apart reluctantly.
“Hold that thought, my love,” sh
e mumbled. “As soon as we get back outside, I’m biting you.”
He gave her a wink. “Not if I bite you first.”
She gave him a sly smile. “You’ll have to fight me for it.” She ran her tongue over her lips. His body shuddered. That brought a laugh from her. “Wow, I can’t believe the very serious, too-tidy investigator lets a few words affect him so much.” Marika slid from the seat to the parking lot, blew him a kiss, then closed the SUV door.
He watched her hips sway in her casual dress as she headed for the glass doors. Yup, she would have made him happy. He didn’t want to tell her the decision he’d made.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Sitting in the parking lot outside the soon-to-be laboratory, Devin sighed as his mate disappeared inside. He pushed the phone button on his steering wheel. After the double beep, he said, “Call Charli Avers.” The system’s female voice verified the name, then dialed her number. It rang to voice mail. Shit. Maybe it had been a mistake to let Barry, or Perry, go. What Rupen revealed at lunch was enough for him to haul the bear’s ass into a cell for safekeeping.
He had a bad feeling that Barry and Klamin were tied somehow. It felt deeper than creator and creature. Barry’s involvement in the armored truck robbery was more than just a brainwashed follower committing a crime. There was more to the man. He called Charli one more time with the same results.
Not wanting to leave his mate alone with a strange man too long, he opened the truck door and headed for the building. When he shoved his keys in his pocket, he felt something already in it. He pulled out the wad of napkins that had Russel’s blood on it from the café earlier. Damn, he’d forgotten he had that.
Standing close to the main entrance, he didn’t want to walk back to the SUV just to toss them on the floor. Instead, he scooped up a handful of pebbles, laid the wad of napkins on the ground next to the door, and covered it with the pebbles to keep it from blowing away. He’d grab it on their way back to the truck. After brushing off his hands, he opened the glass door and stepped inside.
Two things struck him at once: the lobby was vacant, and the smell of the second wolf at the crime scene this morning lingered in the air.
His gun was in his hand before he mentally called for it. His panther pushed at him to find their mate. She was in danger. Had he lost her already? No, he wouldn’t think that.
A door was on each side of the desk. He followed the smell to the far side. Throwing the door open, he waited a beat before he ducked and hurried in, gun ready. Inside, he flattened against the wall, watching and listening.
His panther’s eyesight took over, scanning the dark space. Before him, a large area was filled with cubicle desks that looked as if they hadn’t been used in years. On a couple of desks, huge boxy computer monitors sat next to old CPU towers. Those things were from the 1990s.
A noise came from the opposite side of the room. He snaked around the low metal walls separating one desk from another. He debated whether to call out to Marika. He didn’t want to give away his position, but desperately needed to hear her voice, hear she was alive.
As he slid closer to the back of the room, another smell reached him. A strange scent that was familiar. He sniffed. Yes, he’d smelled it recently, but where? He reached the end of the aisle bisecting the room. That smell—where had he come across it? He prepared to jump into the back passageway. Then he saw the top part of . . . an elevator? He hadn’t heard a ding, so hopefully his mate was just around the corner.
His panther lending him strength, he sprang into the back aisle. At that second, the answer to where he’d smelled the strange scent hit him. It was the moment at the morgue when the body bag was unzipped with the dead wolf inside.
Before his feet touched down from his leap, two wolves tackled him, slamming him to the floor. “Devin! Run—” Marika’s voice registered in his brain. He rolled toward the sound to see a tall, bulky man with one hand over her mouth, the other around her waist.
By the expression on her red face, his little mate was pissed. He watched as she mashed her heel into the foot of her captor. She then drove her elbow into his gut, bending him over. Turning in his loose hold, she faced him and shoved a knee into his crotch. The wolves growled, reminding him he had his own adversaries.
He rolled, bringing up his gun. He fired shots, hitting each wolf in the chest with no damage done. “No bullets, Devin. Remember the cornstarch and water.” The moment at her lab a few hours ago flashed in his head. The skin was a colloid. Only slow finger jabs got through the material. So what was he supposed to do now? Poke them to death? Not likely.
Both shifters squared up with him still on the floor. They reared back on their haunches, ready to spring and tear the shit out of him. He didn’t have time to fully shift. He threw his arm in front of his face in time to feel hot breath, but no teeth.
As he looked up, a cute little fox fumbling in a dress body-slammed into one of the wolves, taking out the other in the process. They tumbled into the cubicles, knocking down several. Immediately he shifted to his panther. His clothes restricted his movements from an awkward fit, but his claws and teeth worked fine.
One of the wolves climbed to its feet quickly, going after his foxy lady. Before he could respond, she ran directly at the wall. What the hell? Was her eyesight gone? Inches from the wall, she sprang straight up, then pushed off with her back legs. She flipped back, over the wolf behind her, as the creature slammed into the drywall, its snout busting through the panel.
Upon landing on four paws, she dived for the trapped wolf’s neck. She latched onto the skin and slowly, as slowly as one could go in the heat of a death-defying battle, closed her jaw. Her teeth sank in farther and farther as the wolf thrashed its body trying to shake her off. Seconds later the wolf went still, its throat torn from its body.
Standing, watching, his panther’s mouth fell open and his butt hit the ground. Who knew? His mate was a freaking killer ninja. Fuck. Could she do that in bed?
He heard bones breaking and tendons stretching. The remaining wolf shifted into a bear. Oh fuck, multishifter.
Devin pushed to his feet and stepped back, but the bear was faster than a normal bear shifter. The monster scooped up his cat and threw him into the cubicles, sending him crashing against the end of a row, starting a domino of falling walls, burying the cat under debris.
From under collapsed desks and computer parts, Devin’s panther slinked out, looking for his mate. Hearing a roar from the bear, he snapped his head that way and saw his fox dangling between the bear’s back legs, jaws locked on its groin. The massive animal stood helpless, unable to reach its rear feet with its paws, unable to step on her between its legs. The only option it had was to sit, squishing her.
The thought must’ve come to the bear because it positioned to fall back. Again, Devin found his cat diving through the air before he issued a command. They made a great team. He agreed with his cat that if a fox can take down two wolves, then a big-ass cat could push down a bear. At least, he hoped, or his love would be a sexy flat fox.
As Marika did earlier, Devin body-slammed the massive animal, knocking it sideways as it sat back on its hind legs. His mate wiggled away, but her dress was snagged on the bear’s claw. Having no hands, she wasn’t able to simply unhook the material.
Devin scurried to help his mate. They had to get to the front of the room to escape. He heard a ding from the wall and the elevator doors slid open. Before the doors fully opened, a sting hit his shoulder. A dart with a fuzzy red tail was sticking out of him. An identical shaft was embedded in his mate as his vision narrowed to black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Marika rolled onto her side and reached for her pillow. It must’ve fallen off the bed. Her hand banged into hard metal. Her eyes popped open. This didn’t smell like her bedroom, or Devin’s. The metal her fingers hit were steel bars of a large jail-like cell. She slowly sat up, trying to keep her head from spinning.
She lay on a green cot against a concrete
wall. The air was cool and damp, a bit of mustiness coming now and then. The rest of the small room had two more holding cells and a desk and chair by a door several feet away.
Swinging her feet over the side, they hit something solid. She looked down to find her mate lying on the floor, either sleeping or unconscious. Then the fight in the lab came rushing into her head. She and her mate were tranqed and brought here. Who in the hell would have reason to kidnap her and Devin?
The concrete was cold on her feet as she sat next to Devin, cradling his head in her lap. “Come on, baby. Wake up for me.” Her fingers brushed hair from his forehead. A moan vibrated in his throat. “That’s it, sweetie. Come back to me.” His lids opened and his beautiful eyes looked up at her. So soulful, so deep. “Hey, there you are.”
He sat up and lifted a hand to his head. Marika warned, “Careful, you’ll be dizzy for a few seconds. But then you’ll be okay.”
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Besides a jail cell, I can’t say.”
“What?” His head lifted and he looked around. Then he whipped around and ran his hands all over her. “Are you injured? Anything broken or bleeding? Do you have any pain?”
She smiled at his concern for her. “I’m fine, love. Calm down.” She grabbed his hands, holding them tightly to her chest. “We’re okay. Sit next to me and let’s figure out what’s going on.”
The crazed panic left his eyes and his frantic expression melted away. “You sure you’re okay?” She brushed her fingers over his cheek.
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.” He wrapped his arm around her and moved her onto his lap where he held her to him. She burrowed her face against his chest and took a deep breath. A calmness washed through her that she hadn’t known she needed.
The door at the front of the room opened. The man she knew as Nex, the man who had dragged her into the room of cubicles, entered. Her eyes narrowed at him.
“You creep bastard. Why are we locked up? We didn’t do anything to you. We don’t even know you,” she called out.
