by Lia Davis
But, had she really won? Nik had kept his word and stayed by Dani's side. He made his reports as thorough and to the point as possible. He supported Dani, but not with the over-enthusiasm of a lover.
Dani had held out hope for their relationship until tonight. The investigation was ongoing, but everyone knew about Daniel and everyone knew about Dodger. There was outrage from former blitz addicts and the families of those who hadn't survived their addiction. She'd expected that. Catherine produced the paperwork verifying what Dani had told the Committee about the stolen money she had donated for the clinics, but it didn't help much. Generation Med offered limited testimony that they had hired her based on her preliminary research into finding a cure for blitz addiction. They didn't give details. That information helped a little bit, but there were still some folks who would never forgive.
Folks like Nik. She knew how to take a hint. He never tried to contact her outside of the official investigation. No flowers, no dinners, no dancing on the dance floor or in his bed.
Now she had nothing. Generation Med still employed her but her job was nothing more than that: a job. Killing Fagin had killed a piece of her, too. A piece that she hated, but had still been a motivating factor in her life. She'd wanted more than anything to make up for what she'd done, for who she'd been. To erase the damage Dodger had brought into so many lives. She'd thought she'd done the right thing by burying whatever dreams she had of doing something else, anything else, and instead dedicating her life to curing blitz addiction. Without motivation, all she wanted to do was sit on her couch in her pretty princess pajamas and fuzzy slippers, eat ice cream, and cry while watching action movies.
Yes, she was crying. Real tears poured down her cheeks, even before the opening credits to the movie rolled.
No motivation and no Nik. She stuffed another scoop of ice cream into her mouth. Even the bliss of sugar tasted bland without Nik.
A shadow fell over her. Dani held her breath but didn't budge. Nik had phased directly into her living room. Nik, not Ghost. He was dressed as casually as she'd ever seen him, in blue jeans and a white oxford shirt. He walked around the couch to stand where she could see him. He said nothing. She was too scared to move, the ice cream dripping down the back of her throat.
He moved a throw pillow from his corner of the couch so he could sit next to her, but still too far away to touch her. He didn't try to comfort her. He just sat with her as the movie rolled across the screen. She didn't talk, even as she finished her ice cream.
The movie ended. The heroes rode off into the sunset. Nik turned to her, but she couldn't face him.
"I miss you." He leaned forward, caught a curl of hair in his fingers and tucked it behind her ear.
"I miss you, too." She kept her eyes on the screen as the end credits rolled. Her stomach cramped, rebelling against what she needed to say. "But, I don't miss you so much that I'm going to let you back into my life unless you can love me. All of me."
She clutched the ice cream carton closer, her fingers crushing the cardboard, and waited, still watching the screen.
"Dodger is a hard act to get over." Nik reached for the remote and shut off the TV. She had to face him now.
"Dodger was just that. An act," she said. "I'm not that monster. Not anymore. I haven't been for over ten years. I've said my apologies. I've given my testimony. I'm not going to spend my life, however long that may be, defending what I did as a hurt and angry teenager."
"There's a call by some folks for your arrest." Nik raised his hand at her attempt to protest. "I'm not telling you to threaten you. I'm telling you so you can prepare."
"There's nothing to prepare." Dani twisted in her seat to stab her spoon into the empty carton. "The judge dismissed the charges from my original arrest. Everything else is already past the statute of limitations. There's no evidence for any prosecutor to present. I'm sure as hell not going to put myself in jail just to make others feel better. There's too much work to be done."
Oh. There was her motivation. She knew she'd placed it around here somewhere. All she'd needed was Nik to help her find it again.
Nik nodded. "I know. If it helps any, Thomas sent me over here to tell you he managed to find your research."
"I thought Fagin destroyed it." No one had found the drive anywhere on Fagin or on the ferry.
"He probably did, but Thomas managed to find a copy on a back-up server somewhere. You probably don't want to dig too deep in that direction, either. Just be glad he loves a challenge and he finds you intriguing."
"Nice to know somebody does," Dani muttered.
Nik closed his eyes. "I deserve that. I know I've been distant, but there's a lot to come to grips with and I didn't want to influence the investigation with my bias."
Dani huffed and shoved back against the couch. "That's the problem with you two-shoes. Always doing the right thing for everyone except yourselves."
"Yeah, well — that comes with the territory when you join T-CASS."
Dani snorted. She couldn't help it. T-CASS wasn't high on her list of favorite organizations right now.
"So, will you?" Nik asked.
"Will I what?" Nik had better not be suggesting what she thought he was suggesting.
"Join T-CASS?"
"Have you been snorting blitz?" Damn the man. What was he thinking? "You know your ex-girlfriend almost got me kicked out of Thunder City because I wouldn't do a strip tease for the Oversight Committee."
"No one is asking you to do a strip tease." Nik ran his hand through his own hair this time. She'd forgotten he did that when he was frustrated. It sent his adorbs score through the roof. Oh, she was back in dangerous territory now. Vain and wicked was in rare form tonight. "Catherine has excused Serena from your review. No one from your past is going to be there. You shift once or twice, with your clothes on, run through a series of exercises, and you're done. It's about proving you have control, nothing else."
"It's not like I have any real power, anyway." Dani knew she could pout with the best of them. "I change my gender. I don't have super strength or anything like that."
"It's still an Alt ability. Blockhead will be there too. He's a shifter. He'll understand."
Dani wasn't so sure about that. Nik was right, though. Not having anyone from her past gawking at her made it a little bit better. Also, according the rules, she wasn't allowed to touch anyone until she could prove she had control. No skin-on-skin contact allowed, according to the Committee. "I guess I'll have to meet with them before my surgery."
Another horror story she had to deal with. The medical community was up in arms that they had unknowingly performed multiple transplants between an Alt and a Norm. On the up side, as the only Norm to have received multiple transplants from an Alt, Robby was more the center of attention than ever before. Would he ever develop Alt power? He was lined up for a long string of tests to see what other changes his body might have undergone, and judging by his television interviews, he was loving every second of it. In the meantime, Harbor Regional Hospital had cautiously given permission for her to donate her kidney to Robby. There would be more forms and doctors involved than normal, but they would go forward as soon as the transplant team completed more tests on her and Robby. Robby might not have changed much, but she could almost care about him from a distance. Her parents had yet to try and contact her.
Nik nodded. "I'll let Catherine know."
Dani sank deeper into the couch. "You still haven't answered my question."
Nik couldn't meet her eyes, his tone sounded more resigned than questioning. "Can I love you and Dodger."
"No!" Dani sat up straight. Damn it. Men could be so thick sometimes. "Not Dodger. There is no Dodger. He's gone. Banished. Non-existent. I'm not even asking you to love Daniel. All I need to know is, can you be Daniel's friend?"
"His friend." Nik pulled back, thinking over her words.
"Yes. His friend." How could she make it any clearer? "Look. Daniel is a part of me. I can't pretend he doe
sn't exist. Not like I can with Dodger. I like being Daniel sometimes. I like to go to the gym and work out as Daniel. Or, go to the movies as Daniel. Or even, go dancing as Daniel. I'm not asking you to have sex with him. But I need to know, if I shift to Daniel every once in a while, can you walk down the street next to him as you would any other man? Like Thomas? Or, your father? Can you have a conversation with him over dinner?"
Nik didn't answer right away. Her words sparked his imagination. He too wondered if he could walk down the street with Daniel and reconcile the male side of her with Daniella, the woman who loved him. "Daniel and I did work together pretty well going after Fagin."
Dani's stomach relaxed around the ice cream. He was trying to understand. It wouldn't matter what size Dani shifted to in the future, Dodger was as dead as Fagin. There was still one detail she had to tell him. "Yes. I daresay you two made a pretty good team. The thing is, Nik — sometimes, when I sleep, I shift." She immediately raised a finger to his lips. "I know, I know, I'll have to tell the Oversight Committee about that, too. All I want to know, right now, is — if I shift during the night, can you deal with that?"
Nik blinked. "You mean sleep as in. . . ."
"Dreamy time sleepy land. Not sex. I already told you — no sex with Daniel."
"Has this been a problem in the past?"
Jerk. Making her talk about past relationships. Nik deserved the truth. "I have an ex-fiancé. He swore it would be okay until it actually happened. Then, he freaked. He was one of the main reasons, aside from the Alt ban, why I had to leave Star Haven."
"Your ex-fiancé was a foolish man," Nik said. "I'll do my best not to freak."
"Good." Dani's worry melted away to nothing. "All you really have to do is nudge me with your elbow and I'll shift back. It's not hard and doesn't take long. I promise. Besides, unexpected shifting is why I always sleep naked."
Nik's fingers found their way to her hair again, wrapping themselves around her curls. He had a familiar look in his eyes. Vain and wicked banished all thoughts of obeying the no skin-on-skin contact rule. Did Nik remember? Did he care? Nik had obeyed rules all of his life. Maybe this one time he didn't care, either. "You're staring, Nik. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking about how cute you look in those pajamas."
She grinned. For the first time in days, she wanted to smile and never stop. "Why, Nik, don't you know that I look even cuter out of my pajamas than I do in them?"
"Really?" he asked, his eyebrows raised, acting shocked.
"Yes, really. Do you want to take them off?"
"I do," he said. "But, first, I want you to go upstairs and pack up an overnight bag."
She frowned. "What do I need an overnight bag for?"
Nik leaned closer. "I'm taking you to my bed and this time I want you to stay there all night."
"Ooooo." She giggled. "All night in your big bed. What will I do with myself?"
He kissed her then. Kissed her like she'd never been kissed before. The kiss was unique, not because it was long, sensuous, and demanding, but because he gave her his heart. She could feel it beating against her hand as she worked the buttons on his shirt, one by one.
She wouldn't need that overnight bag tonight. She wasn't going to let Nik go for a long, long time.
About the Author
A Connecticut Yankee transplanted to Central Florida, Debra Jess writes science fiction, romance, urban fantasy, and superheroes. She began writing in 2006, combining her love of fairy tales and Star Wars to craft original stories of ordinary people in extraordinary adventures and fantastical creatures in out-of-this world escapades. Her first published novel, Blood Surfer, has won the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award for Best Paranormal and Futuristic.
www.debrajess.com
Operation Wildcat
Megan Michelau
Chapter 1
Caleb Marsh pulled up in front of Baker’s Dozen Diner and turned his truck off. His black Dodge seemed out of place, caked with mud and dust from the drive. He took a quick glance around. A post office, flower shop, and brick apartment buildings lined the street. Blackford appeared to be a quiet and quaint little town. He knew there were a few shifters in the area, but the majority of its citizens were human. Shifters were being hunted and dumped in prominent human communities. People were starting to get suspicious—Keystone could only report they were ‘escaped zoo animals’ for so long before the public started to wonder. Evidence had led Caleb to Blackford and he intended to find answers.
He got out of his truck and stretched. He needed some grub after his eight-hour ride. The keys rattled against the truck as he locked the door and headed into the diner. His nostrils flared when he opened his senses to discreetly sniff the air. The smells of grease, coffee, and perfume hit him like a brick wall, almost unbearable to his sensitive senses, but it did nothing to hide the smell of leopard shifters. A booth near the large bay window appeared open. He strolled over and sat down, then scanned the diner and watched for any reaction from the patrons.
It seemed like the place where locals came to get all of the latest news and gossip. Red vinyl covered the benches, which creaked under his weight. Baker’s Dozen resembled a diner straight from the fifties. Caleb shrugged out of his jacket and set it beside him. He stared out the window and studied his surroundings. Blackford’s Main Street looked well-maintained, serene. There were baskets of flowers hanging from the cast iron light posts and in front of most of the businesses. It appeared to be just like a Norman Rockwell painting. Perfect.
Caleb’s commander had told him Blackford would be the kind of place where you knew everyone and everyone knew you. A town where you could leave your front door unlocked without worrying someone might walk in and take everything you own. Caleb could never imagine being that naïve.
The waitress’s scent caught his attention as she came near. Shifter. He leaned back in the booth and allowed her to place a menu in front of him. She stared at him through suspiciously narrowed brilliant green eyes. The woman could be described as stunning, tall and lean with the legs of a runner. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders in soft gold waves, sun streaks throughout.
“What can I get you to drink?” She asked.
She wore a faded Motley Crue concert shirt, holey jeans, and flip flops. The smell of leopard radiated from her, filling his nostrils. But if he wasn’t mistaken there was more than one in the building. Caleb gave a quick glance toward the counter and saw two younger women huddled together. The one standing before him angled herself in such a way to make sure she shielded what must be her family from his view.
“Black coffee and a glass of water,” he ordered as he picked up the menu to browse. With a nod, the waitress left but returned quickly with his drinks.
“What can I getcha?” She asked, then pulled a pad of paper out of her back pocket and a pen from behind her ear.
“I’ll get a steak sandwich, rare, and mashed potatoes with gravy on the side.” She jotted down his order. When she glanced back up, they locked eyes. The challenge reflected in her gaze surprised him. An unmistakable seriousness and the promise of bodily harm were evident. It told him if he tried anything she didn’t like, he would be sorry. With a nod, she turned and walked away. She handed the order to one of the other shifters and sat down at the counter, gave him one last quick glance, and then returned to the paper that lay open in front of her. His cat’s curiosity piqued, he wanted to find out as much as he could about the bold woman. Strictly professional of course.
Caleb sipped his coffee and smiled. This job might be easier than he first expected. Not only had he found what he assumed was a family of leopard shifters, but they possibly owned the local diner where humans frequented. They may have heard something that would help.
The waitress returned with his order. She placed a porcelain plate holding a mouth-watering steak sandwich and potatoes on the table in front of him. “Can I get you anything else?” She crossed her arms over her well-endowed chest.
>
What would it be like to have her voluptuous breasts pressed against him? Snap out of it! He gave himself a mental shake.
“Actually, yes there is,” Caleb answered. “I have a question.” She grasped her bottom lip with her teeth, tension radiating off her in waves. He couldn’t help but imagine himself doing the biting, and his wave of desire intensified. He tried to gain an ounce of composure before returning his attention to the conversation at hand. “What’s your name?” She tilted her head to the side and watched him through suspicious eyes.
“My name? That’s your question?” He nodded, leaned forward, and studied her as she spoke. “Jess. My name is Jess.”
“Nice to meet you Jess. My name is Caleb Marsh.” She quickly glanced over her shoulder toward the counter.
“Can I sit down?”
When he nodded, she eased into the seat across from him and rested her arms on the table top.
“Why are you here?”
He drew his brows together and stared at her for a long moment. The blatant question took him by surprise. He wasn’t used to someone being so bold. Whenever he met new people they always kept their distance. Shifters and humans alike could sense the predator lurking within him.
He glanced around at their surroundings. Sure no one could hear them, he leaned forward. “Listen, I’m not comfortable talking in such a public setting, so if you’re really interested give me a call.” He opened his worn brown wallet, pulled out one of his cards, and handed it to her. “I’m just trying to find some answers, and I’m hoping you or your family might be able to help.” She nodded, stood up, and slipped his card into her back pocket—which only brought his attention to her firm backside. Damn.
He cleared his throat and continued, “I’m staying in town, so whatever time works for you.”
