by Crissy Smith
Since he had a thing for bites, Brandy had unknowingly hit his hot spot. Then the feel of her mouth on his cock—damn, thinking about it had him twitching to get hard again and he was too tired.
He was barely drifting back to sleep when his cell phone rang. Groaning, he swore quietly, trying to untangle himself from Brandy without waking her up.
He groped for his jeans, where the sound emanated from. Once he and finally got a hold of his pants, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw Zak’s name.
“Hey, man,” he answered quickly.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
Jamie peered over at Brandy sleeping peacefully. “No, man, I’m up.” Standing, Jamie didn’t bother to redress but since he didn’t want to disturb her, he started walking to the living room.
“Good, I’m calling to check in.”
It wasn’t procedure, and in fact, Zak could get into a lot of trouble, but Jamie knew his friend wouldn’t take unnecessary chances so it was safe for him to call. Plus, they had enough worked out not to say anything that could question Zak’s position if he was overheard. “Where are you?”
“I’m close by.”
So he was still in the city. That was good. Sometimes Zak was sent places where Jamie wouldn’t be able to help if his buddy needed him.
“How long are you going to be? You know Aubrey’s planned a party for Cody this weekend.”
“Yeah, could you tell her I’m not going to make it? I promise to take them both out after I get back. We’ll paint the town and I’ll bring Cody back a gift from my trip.”
“You got it, man,” Jamie told him.
Apparently, Zak was going to be under for a while. That wasn’t going to make either Cody or Aubrey happy. Plus, Zak was working something that was big for the city of Lake Worth.
“You need me to send you anything?”
“Nah, man. I got what I need. Just watch the place for me.”
“Of course.”
“Thanks, got to jet. I’ll call soon.”
Zak hung up not giving Jamie time to say anything else. Putting the cell away, he looked down. The conversation hadn’t lasted five minutes. It made him sick to his stomach thinking about his best friend being out there on his own without backup.
He hated deep undercover. He’d only worked that kind of case once, and as much of a loner as Jamie was, he couldn’t handle it.
Commander Green was a good boss, so Jamie knew all precautions were being taken to insure Zak’s safety. But working under was dangerous and the chances of something going wrong were too high.
“Everything okay?”
Jamie jumped. He hadn’t heard Brandy moving about the bedroom or the living room. He smiled at her. She had slung one of the sheets across herself and her hair was mussed. She looked beautiful and well loved.
Holding his hand out, he beckoned her closer. “Yeah, everything is fine. One of my friends is out of town and I promised to keep an eye on his place. He was only checking in.”
She tucked herself under his arm then lifted her face for a kiss. Jamie gladly leaned down to rub his tongue over the bottom of her lip teasingly before kissing her deeply.
Brandy let the sheet fall to the floor as she wrapped her arms around his neck. As their mouths melded, Jamie ran his hands down her back to cup her ass. He hitched her closer, taking a step over to the couch.
He was up for another round. She obviously had the same idea. As the backs of his legs hit the couch, she pulled away and pushed on his chest.
“My turn,” she told him and climbed into his lap.
He hummed in approval.
Chapter Ten
Jamie could have spent the entire day in bed with Brandy, but after a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs, they’d both had to get ready for work. So instead of burying himself into her hot body, he was once again strolling across the university campus.
He’d called that morning and had gotten the schedule for Victor’s professor whom he’d wanted to talk to yesterday. During an earlier call to Aubrey, he’d found out that she was already at the hospital.
Not being able to put the whole case together was driving him crazy. He knew he was missing a big piece of the puzzle and if he could find that link things would fall into place.
Past experience had taught him that once he discovered that small thread and pulled, everything would start to unravel. Checking the notebook in his hand, he found he’d reached the correct building. There weren’t many people milling around. Away from the student union, this area was quiet and the students who were around had their heads bent over books.
As he entered the large structure, he stopped to listen. He heard a professor from a close classroom giving a lecture. Farther up the hall, two male students were discussing a paper due in a week.
The professor’s office should be a few halls away. Heading in that direction, Jamie once again regretted never having the chance to further his own education. He needed to get over it. He loved his job, and if given the chance now, he wouldn’t change the direction his life had taken.
Christ, he was getting melancholy in his old age. That thought made him chuckle as he turned the corner. Three doors down was Professor James’ office.
He paused at the threshold. The professor was a stylish woman who, Jamie guessed, was in her late forties. She wore a skirt and jacket suit in bold red paired with high heels.
Standing with her back to the door, she hadn’t seen him yet.
He took a good whiff and was surprised she wasn’t a shifter. While there was a scent on her, it wasn’t her own.
He knocked, causing her to jump. Nope, not a shifter.
“You startled me,” she said as she spun around.
“I apologize. Are you Professor James?”
“I am Talia James.”
“Agent Ward from the shifter Coalition. I called earlier about one of your students.”
“Yes, Victor. Come in please. Would you close the door?”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Jamie strolled into the office and closed the door quietly behind him.
“I have to say you’re not what I expected in a Coalition agent,” she told him.
Jamie was used to the response so he wasn’t offended. His usual dress of jeans and a T-shirt showing off his tats made most people uncomfortable. He hadn’t shaved this morning so his beard was a little shaggy but he liked it.
“I understand,” he responded politely.
Professor James laughed and waved a hand. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not disappointed. I expected an FBI clone or something. I wasn’t looking forward to this meeting.”
Well, at least she was honest.
“But now that you’re here, I feel better. With all this talk about forcing the shifter community to register, like they’re animals, has put me on my guard. I wasn’t pleased to have a government official visit.”
“Well, ma’am, I can promise you that the Coalition will do everything in their power to beat this proposal for legislation.”
“Good, and please call me Talia. Have a seat.”
The room was small but neat. Filing cabinets lined one wall with the desk in the middle. Sitting in one of the two visitor chairs, Jamie knew being closed in all day would drive him crazy.
“I’m surprised but pleased that someone is asking about Victor after so long. He was a brilliant student and I never believed he took off.”
“His disappearance, whether voluntary or not, may be connected to some other cases. I would have liked to have gotten his case sooner, but now that I have, I intend to make sure he’s okay. If he left on his own, I won’t force him back, but if he didn’t, I will find him.”
“Good. What can I do to help?”
“His roommate says he was working on a paper for your class. Victor had intended to spend the evening in the library.”
“Yes, a high percentage of my students are shifters. With the talk from various officials demanding a type of database
to monitor the shifters, there was no way the subject could be ignored. This year I assigned a paper to all my students on the long-term effect.”
“Do you know what stance Victor was taking?”
“I do,” she replied. “Victor would have gone far in my class. From what I’ve heard from his other professors, they felt the same way about him. He was very passionate about the subject. He was comparing the current issue with similar ones in the past. Most notably the Germans and Jews through World War Two.”
“Had he seemed different in the days leading up to him leaving? Nervous or distracted?”
“As a matter of fact, no. I had a conference with him a few days prior. He asked my opinion on his research, but he was the same determined young man as always.”
“Any change in his friends? Was he hanging out with anyone you didn’t recognize?”
The thoughtful expression and pause Professor James gave him had Jamie leaning forward.
“Yes. I would always see him with his roommate or a few of the others from class, but about a week, maybe week and a half, before he left, I did spot him a few times with some of the older students on campus. Seniors, and not his usual type of buddies. They were loud and not as studious as he was.”
“Do you know their names?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t. I’ve never had any of them in any of my classes. I’d seen them around. Wait a second, I think one’s first name is Billy and he was a history major, but that’s really all I know.”
Jamie filed that away for later. He’d get Ray to search for him. “Were they shifters?”
“I’m pretty sure they were.”
“That’s good information.”
“It struck me as odd since Victor was such a loner.”
“Have you seen them lately?”
“Huh, now that I think about it, I haven’t.”
“Thank you, Professor James, Talia. Is there anything else you can think of?”
She shook her head. “No, but I do hope you find him and he’s okay.”
Smiling, Jamie stood. He held out his hand. “Me too.”
After they shook, he turned around. Stopping with his hand on the knob, he spoke quietly. “Can I ask a question?”
Nodding, she gave a little laugh. “Why am I teaching a class based on the shifter community if I’m not one?”
Embarrassed, he flushed. “Yeah.”
“I was raised by a shifter after my parents died. I am also mated to a wolf shifter.”
Well, that answered that. “Thank you for your time, Talia.”
“Good luck, Agent.”
Jamie felt the professor had been truthful and as forthcoming as possible. He hadn’t noted a raise in her pulse or any stumbling over her words. It wasn’t scientific but he was pretty good at reading people.
Unless it came to his own situations. How had he ever questioned his connection to Brandy? She’d been right the night before. He’d moved too slowly, afraid that she wouldn’t have accepted him.
He’d thought he’d gotten over some of the issues from not having family and his own self-esteem, but he obviously had more work to do in that department.
Now that he had Brandy, he wasn’t going to let her go.
Deciding to walk around campus and see what else he could dig out, he reached into his back pocket and withdrew his phone. He’d downloaded a picture of Victor. Time to start pounding the pavement.
* * * *
“So we’re going to march on Friday morning. Everything is ready. I received the paperwork for the permit this morning,” Chris told Brandy as they sat talking over coffee and sandwiches during her lunch break.
“You got a permit this time. I’m shocked. That’s actually legal.”
He stuck his tongue out at her then they both laughed. “I’m doing this by the book as much as I can. It is going to be a battle.”
“Do you really think these proposals will really pass? With as many shifters that are out there?”
“Who knows? But people fear what they don’t understand.”
Brandy had heard this same lecture several times. “I know.” Picking up her coffee cup, she took a sip. It was still hot and tasted so damn yummy.
“We have a high number of supporters. We set up a call station and we’re receiving a respectable amount of donations, but we need to do more.”
“What about your parents?” Brandy asked softly.
Chris’ relationship with his family was even more strained than hers. He also challenged his a lot more.
The other night was one of the first times she’d openly defied her parents. She used to let them order her around then disappear for a couple of weeks until they’d moved on to something else. Her usual strategy wasn’t going to work this time.
“I’ve been told to not come around until I’ve gotten over this little rebellious stage of mine. They’re tired of it. It’s time I went back to school, finished my degree and joined the family business. I need to start acting like a man. Until I do, I’m not welcome at home.”
“I’m sorry.” She placed her hand over his.
As much as Chris fought with his parents, it was never easy to hear something like that.
“I didn’t expect them to act any differently,” he said sadly.
“Maybe they’ll come around,” Brandy told him.
They both knew that wasn’t going to happen. The last time Chris had gotten arrested during one of his protests, Brandy had had to bail him out. His parents hadn’t been bothered to answer the phone.
“I won’t hold my breath.”
”Why do you think the family supports the registration so strongly?”
“Oh, my sweet cousin. It’s all about the money.”
“What?”
But Chris wasn’t smiling. “All this humanity talk is bullshit. Sure, there are people who are fanatic about only humans having rights, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. At least not the majority. This is really all about the money.”
It sounded even worse to her. “How do you figure?”
“There will be so much green trading hands getting this set up, enforcing the mandate, running the tests, keeping the database. Companies are going to make a killing.”
Sitting back in her chair, Brandy picked up her mug again. Her coffee was cool enough to take a big drink. “That’s not right. This isn’t only about their rights.”
“We’ll keep fighting. No matter what, and we will win. It matters to a lot of good people.”
Brandy took a good look at her cousin. She could admit in the past that she’d always thought all the causes that Chris had fought for was done to embarrass his family. Or to prove to them that they couldn’t control him.
She was seeing Chris in a different light now.
“If they can’t see what a wonderful man you’ve become, it’s your parents’ problem, not yours.”
Surprise washed over his features then he grinned widely. “Thanks, cuz.”
She laughed with him.
“So how was your night?” he asked.
She refused to blush. “Fine.”
“Uh-huh. Just fine.”
He was poking at her and she knew it.
“Yeah.”
“You usually don’t enjoy dinners with the family.”
Shit, had that only been last night? After her time with Jamie, the horrible evening with her parents and brother—and who could forget Colby—was far from her thoughts. “You won’t believe what they did this time.”
Filling him on everything that had taken place, she watched his face. Chris had always been an open book for her and she could see the disgust and anger in his eyes.
“Jeez, that guy is an asshole. Like you would hook up with him,” Chris said at the end of her story.
“Yeah, the situation took me by surprise.”
“You don’t have to get any more involved. William isn’t going to let this go. And if he pushes your mom and dad, they’ll back him up.”
&nb
sp; She shrugged. “There’s not much they can do about it.”
“So you’re in?”
“I’m in,” she confirmed.
“Good, the protest should get us some more publicity then we’ll have a fundraiser. I’m working on that right now. If we’re going to fight this, we need enough cash to go up against some of the supporters.”
Having attended numerous fundraisers with both her parents and Chris, she groaned. “I’m going to have to dress up.”
“Yes, you are.”
She hated it but knew she would do it. They sat in silence finishing their drinks.
“So are you going to tell me?” he asked.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Where you got that hickey on your neck.”
Without thinking, she snapped her hand up to her neck to cover the mark that Jamie had left earlier that morning. This time she couldn’t stop the blush heating her face.
“I take it Colby didn’t mark you.”
“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose.
“So it had to be Jamie.”
Not meeting his gaze, she nodded.
“You know I’ll get the details out of you sooner or later. Since your break is almost over, you’d better tell me.”
She smiled in spite of herself. “I’m not giving you details.”
“That good, huh?” he teased.
Brandy looked up. “Better.”
He snorted. “Good for you. Did you find out what type of shifter he is?”
Unsure what the protocol was on revealing that information, Brandy didn’t know what to say. But Chris was her family. The person she was closest to. “Black bear.”
“Aw, man, that is so cool.”
“You are such a shifter groupie,” she told him, amused.
Shrugging, Chris didn’t seem bothered by her accusation. “I’m happy for you.”
She knew her cousin was being sincere. “Thanks, I really like him.”
“I know you do. He’s a great guy too. A little intimidating when you first meet him but he has always come across on the up and up.”
“Yeah, he is,” she agreed. She couldn’t wait to see him again. He had a case he was working and they hadn’t made solid plans for later but she wasn’t worried.
