Rising Sun

by Lyla Oweds

  “Highly ranked?” My mouth ran away from me again. “But you’re strong.”

  Somehow my statement caused Gregory’s eyebrow to raise. The ice melted from his expression, and amusement bloomed back into his eyes. “Perhaps,” he said finally. “But sometimes raw strength isn’t enough.”

  The familiar scent of grief filled the room, and my concern raised. “What do you mean?” I wasn’t even sure why his moods affected me so much, but I wished to not see him upset.

  Gregory changed the subject. “I work in conjunction with Mr. Michael. While he questions suspects, or interviews people, I analyze their reactions. In many cases, if you understand the person, you can figure out their motives. Knowing that can allow you to intellectually deduce their actions.”

  That was smart, but not where my interests lay. I hardly understood myself, let alone cared about how other people worked.

  I only wanted to know what happened, and to see justice prevail. “I don’t care about why, I only want to know how and what happened,” I explained. “Obviously, I use my senses to help discover clues that might otherwise be missed. And my training to figure out possible solutions. So it’s good that someone else has the patience to deal with everything else.”

  “Is that so?” Gregory raised his eyebrow, and the way he phrased the question was much different than my own. “I think you’ll find me to be an extraordinarily patient man, Miss Gloria.”

  A retort froze on the tip of my tongue. While his words weren’t necessarily alarming, the sudden expression on his face was.

  Why was he suddenly calling me by my name? W

  as he actually flirting with me?

  “You…” I wasn’t sure I liked this—he was supposed to be wary of me, not the other way around. It was the natural way of things. How dare he put me off my guard.

  Mr. Kohler cleared his throat, catching my eye. He spoke as if nothing at all had transpired between Gregory and me. “As you could deduce, I am the team lead. I am also a necromancer. My skills within the category vary and will be exposed to you on an as-needed basis.”

  Considering that we’d all been open, the fact that Mr. Kohler was going to hold back was rather rude. “What—”

  “When not in the field, I’m stuck addressing the office nonsense while you lot are working. This team is given a certain leeway others in your station are not allowed,” he interrupted my protest, his gaze holding mine. A sense of authority began to radiate from him—a power that surpassed any of ours. “But be forewarned, I expect complete professionalism from all of you while in public. And, if we’re in a combat situation, your absolute obedience. I do not give orders lightly and expect to be obeyed.”

  Even though he wasn’t my Alpha, my spine tingled in response to his words. There was something different now, hardened in his gaze. He hadn’t gone to school like the rest of us, he didn’t carry himself in that manner. And his demeanor was different than the other veteran officers that I’d spoken to in the past.

  Mr. Kohler was deadly. Suddenly, every instinct I possessed shied away from displeasing him. My mouth felt dry, but he wanted a response. I could see the expectation in his eyes.

  So, slowly, I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  His mouth pressed together as he nodded, and his eyes flickered across the room. “We’ve not the space for another desk. Until we’re allowed to upgrade, you’ll work at either Mr. Abernathy’s or Mr. Stephens’. But you’ll have time to figure that out later.” He glanced toward Michael. “My second reason for seeking you out is this: Mr. DuClaw has finally sent over his research. After the initial disappearance of his wife, a Mr. Timothy Bigelow was a primary suspect. He is deceased, but his grandson is a member of The Riverside Boys. Jordan Bigelow was raised by his grandfather, and the two were close. Mr. DuClaw is convinced that the elder Mr. Bigelow was involved, and that he passed that information on. I want you to question him.”

  Chapter Four

  Gregory led me through the small restaurant while he searched for an open booth.

  It was past lunch, which meant that I had officially been on this team twenty-four hours at this point. After the briefing, I’d been sent home to prepare myself for a day in the field. But no one had told me where we were going, or what we were doing.

  So I dressed to the theme that Gregory and Michael had established in their attire yesterday.

  Uptight, but professional.

  But now that we were here in this… place, I felt woefully overdressed in my gray pencil suit and red flats. Even if Gregory also dressed similarly. If we were supposed to be undercover, we were failing.

  The restaurant smelled, was dirty, and was filled with questionable characters. But then again, the place didn’t seem strange, considering the seedy part of town where we’d found ourselves. We were barely inside, and already I was worried I’d have to fight off a leggy vixen who had begun to eye Gregory.

  How unbecoming. It was people like her who gave us redheads a bad reputation. Thank heavens I knew how to act like a proper young lady. No woman in their right mind would lose sight of proprieties over a man.

  “How do you know about this place?” I leveled a glare at the fox before returning my attention toward Gregory. His hand was on my waist. At my question and glance, he nodded at the booth beside us. I took the hint and grabbed a seat while he moved to remove his outer jacket.

  “We used to come here quite often during our school days,” Gregory answered, sliding the tan garment down his arms and folding it. “One of the entrances is close-by.”

  He was saying something interesting, I was sure. But despite hearing his words, nothing processed. When we’d met, he’d been wearing his jacket. And I’d thought he was muscular and attractive then.

  But his tailor was a fool, because they’d failed to fit Gregory’s clothing to the trim curve of his waist. The bulky sleeves were hiding the definition in his arms and shoulders. The fabric of Gregory’s shirt was thin. With my vision, I could just make out shadows of skin under the light-colored fabric. When he moved, it was impossible not to notice the way his muscles shifted.

  “Miss Gloria?” Gregory sat in the seat across mine. “Is there something the matter?”

  “N-no!” My voice sounded too-high pitched to my own ears, and my throat was parched. Somehow, I had become one of the staring idiots I’d been disparaging in my mind.

  How humiliating.

  Thankfully, a striped-dressed waitress was making her way past us at that very moment. Before she could move out of reach, I snatched the edge of her skirt, causing her to squeal and her blonde ponytail to bounce.

  “Bring me some water!” I demanded, unable to focus on pleasantries.

  I wasn’t certain what scared her most. It might have been the way my voice wavered between a growl and a plea. Or maybe it was because I felt dangerously close to changing, so my eyes were likely as bright as the moon. But whatever it was, the scent of her alarm spiked. She squeaked in acquiescence before rushing away as fast as her legs could carry her.

  “Was that necessary?” Gregory’s amused question snapped me from my subconsciousness. I shot my gaze toward him.

  He seemed to find this funny, if the grin touching his mouth was any indication. But what was even more jarring was the lack of fear from him. Weren’t his instincts warning him that he was in grave danger?

  Instead, his grin grew wider. “What in the world has gotten you riled up?” he asked.

  What indeed? The more I stayed around this man, the more I could see why he and Michael were best friends. He might be proper, and much more handsome, but he was also a tease.

  At least he was far less infuriating.

  But thinking of Michael, the brute, this was a good time to change the subject. “Where did Mr. Abernathy go?” Not that I missed him or anything, but he’d dropped us off here and took off without explanation. It was rather rude.

  Gregory’s eyebrow rose slowly, and he paused a moment before answering. “Mr. Michael is seekin
g one of our intended targets. You were supposed to go with him, but he said he had a better feeling about the success of our mission if you stayed here.”

  I frowned. “He’s trying to get rid of me?”

  “Hardly,” Gregory replied, trailing off as the waitress returned with water and tea. She left, and he unfolded one of the faded checkered napkins. He resumed as he prepared his drink, “Mr. Michael’s instincts are superb. He has led us into success in what might have been unfruitful endeavors. If he believes that here is where you need to be, then it is so. Trust him.”

  “You said that you’ve not had a single successful case,” I pointed out. Besides, there it was again. “You’re best friends.” I followed the motion of his spoon as he added the fourth round of sugar to his beverage. “Why do you call him ‘Mr. Michael’?”

  The spoon stopped, and Gregory watched me with hooded eyes. “That’s an interesting question. The same could be asked of you, why do you call your beau ‘Mr. Abernathy’?”

  He asked the question with such bluntness it took me a moment to register. When it did, I couldn’t stop the heat from rushing over my skin, or my enraged snarl. “He is not my beau!”

  Gregory smirked and his green eyes twinkled. I couldn’t help but feel I’d lost in some way. “My—”

  “Excuse me, sir.” A velvet voice cut through Gregory’s words, and the woman from earlier leaned over the edge of our table. Her focus completely on Gregory. “I couldn’t help but overhear that your date is taken. In that case, might we—”

  It wasn’t every day when another shifter challenged my position. Nor was it very often that I cared about the hierarchy of things, especially considering my disability. It was better for everyone if I didn’t, even when it really mattered. Still there was no way, with everything else I suffered today, I would sit idly by and watch a fox try to move in on my prey.

  There was no hesitation in my actions as I reached across the table and gripped her wrist. I made certain that her attention was on me before I spoke. “Cut out.”

  There was a flicker in her eyes, a challenge that lasted for only a half second before it was gone. With that, I released her wrist, and her shoulders slumped. She turned her attention away from both Gregory and me. She sighed and turned to leave. “Party pooper.”

  “What?” Now it was on, even if she continued to walk away from me as if she didn’t say a word. “Come back here and—”

  My statement was cut off as Gregory’s hand covered my own and his gaze met mine. “Leave it.”

  How little faith he had in me. “I can take her!”

  The stern line of his jaw softened, and amusement filled his face. “I don’t doubt it.”

  “Then why…” My focus shifted between us as Gregory’s hand moved. Fingers drifted over my skin until his fingers were entwined in my own. All thoughts of the fox faded. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the place where our skin touched. “What are you doing?”

  “You’re amusing,” Gregory replied in a conversational tone. “But you don’t need to concern yourself with defending my honor, Miss Gloria. I am well able to take care of myself.”

  “You’re fae,” I reasoned, not looking from our hands. “In the natural world, that makes you a shifter’s prey.”

  “Only if they are stronger than me,” Gregory answered as this thumb began to move circles over my wrist. “The fox didn’t even come close. And you, Miss Gloria, must stop eyeing me as if I’m a tasty snack. It won’t happen.”

  My vision tore to his, and my face heated in embarrassment. “I am doing no such thing. But even if I were, there’s no way you could best me. You already admitted you couldn’t win a fight against me.”

  Gregory nodded. “You would pulverize me, but that is with raw strength. If we were to face in a battle of will and abilities, you would lose.”

  “I-I…” I had no idea how to respond. But he was so wrong.

  “Joe was correct in his observation—you are highly skilled and have potential. If you fought for a position in your pack you would most definitely be among the top,” Gregory continued, and the lack of formality didn’t go unnoticed.

  But instead of making his words easier to bear, every sentence was even more jarring.

  “You don’t care about that, though. You’ve been focused on your education and career, and you’ve ignored your own culture. If I were to wager a guess, you most likely avoid the top-ranking people in your pack. Or, if you do see them, you overly submit. You tell yourself it’s because they frighten you, but that isn’t true. What frightens you is what will happen if a challenge is issued and you win. Because if you rank, you’ll have no choice but to abandon your current goal.”

  With each word, my stomach clenched even more. “That’s not—”

  “The reason you don’t like Michael is not because he’s obnoxious. But it’s because he is stronger than you.” Gregory had let go of my hand at this point, and rested his chin on his fist. He leaned over the table, his focus never wavering from mine.

  Which meant he could see everything. There was no way to stop the panic from leaking into my expression or my racing heart.

  He continued. “Michael’s father was the Tongjun to the last Xing. Not only is Michael powerful, but his abilities exist to subjugate yours. That is why you won’t even give him a chance. Out of the men who’ve surrounded you, he’s one of the few who can actually best you. At the same time, others don’t interest you because you want someone who can give you a challenge.”

  I had to remind myself to breathe, and it was difficult to place what emotions were racing through me. But there was one thing I knew for sure: psychologists were worse than fortunetellers. The latter wouldn’t tell you what they saw without money. Money a poor female college student didn’t have. The former just kept running their mouths.

  Anyway, he was wrong.

  “That doesn’t explain what you said earlier,” I said, wrapping my arms around my stomach. “About you being stronger than me. Shifters hunt fae.”

  Gregory tilted his head, studying me. “You haven’t met a lot of fae, have you?”

  I opened my mouth to protest, though I wasn’t sure what. Because it was true. Most fae tended to keep to themselves or in their own communities. And the ones I had met were so low ranking that they never even interested me.

  “You are a predator, and most fae would fear you,” Gregory replied. “But even between a controller verses the controlled, the level of magical ability is taken into consideration. It is a fact that my strength far outweighs your own. You can chase me all you want, but you’ll never catch me.”

  “You also said that I’m strong,” I pointed out, somewhat offended now. Why was he so contradictory? “So if you’re strong enough to not be afraid of me, then that would make you—”

  “You’re a strong shifter, but it’s probably not enough to rank you in the top three,” Gregory said without a hint of apology. “The top twenty? Absolutely. You may even qualify for a quintet. But my father, and my father’s great-grandfather, have both served as the Er Bashou to the Xing. And while power flows differently even within our family, I am not someone you can challenge.”

  I couldn’t even respond. My mind was fuzzy with disbelief. How arrogant.

  At the moment, there was nothing that would please me more than for it to be socially acceptable to rip off his head. The sight of him drinking his tea made my ire swell.

  “Is that so?” I finally grit the words out, needing to respond to the expectant expression he had leveled at me. “If you two are so powerful, where is your quintet?” He had to be lying. If they were among the top in our world, they’d be regulated and monitored within a balanced group of five.

  But a small voice nagged at me. I also had considered—in passing—Michael powerful enough to rank. However, I’d reasoned that I was exaggerating to myself.

  It didn’t make me feel any better knowing that I had been right.

  “We don’t have one.” Gregory raised h
is eyebrow. “We’ve protested, and the council made an exception on our behalf.”

  Since when did the council approve highly powerful people to traipse around unregulated? I narrowed my gaze at him, suspicious. “Why?”

  “That’s a story for another time.” Gregory tilted the white mug toward me before he set it back on the table. “Are you going to look at the menu?”

  The question, and change in tone, snapped my attention back to the present. The menu now lay on the table between us. I had been distracted during Gregory’s speech. Thrown off enough to not even notice it had been dropped off.

  The realization caused my heart to pound in alarm.

  So it was now Gregory, as well as Michael, who had a way of making me forget myself. What had I gotten into? And he said that I couldn’t catch him… but then why did it seem like, before, he had been flirting with me?

  Gregory watched me, all traces of his previous expression gone. “Miss Gloria?”

  I stood, pushing the menu toward him. “I need a minute. Order without me.”

  Without even waiting for his response, I left. Pushing past patrons and exiting to air that suddenly didn’t seem so tainted anymore. I didn’t even slow to a walk until I made it past the parking lot to the sidewalk. Even here, there were still so many people. Which was suspicious for such an inconspicuous place.

  Suspicious, but not entirely surprising. Not considering Gregory’s words about coming here in his youth.

  This must be one of the many melting pots. Establishments that existed within the normal population, but catered to all elementals. I had heard of them, but since I’d never focused on socialization, I had no idea which places were popular.

  We weren’t so far from Aletheia University, the first co-ed school of the same sort. The university existed within the human world. Disguised as an elite school with a low acceptance rate. In actuality, we were the first all magical school in the country.