Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (6 page)

"Works
for me."  She turned and made her way back to a seat with a sway to her
walk that drew his eye to her spectacular ass. Logan took a minute to let the
view distract his thoughts, and wondered idly if she walked like that on
purpose, or if it was just her natural sensuality coming out when she moved.

"We
need to talk about what’s going to happen when we reach Anchorage
anyway."  She was talking but it took him a minute to concentrate on her
words.  Then she turned and sat in a chair and he was listening again.  "I
need to meet with my contact alone, and then we can discuss where we go from
there."

He
studied her face as she waited for his reaction, and knew she was gearing up to
fight again.  This time however, so was he and his words were implacable. 
"You aren't going anywhere without me."

He
watched her eyes narrow and wondered if it was the words or the tone, and
figured it was probably both.  He didn't let her speak.  "If it was me and
I wanted to leave you behind while I went to the very place we both knew someone
was probably arranging your death what would be your answer?"  It was a
long shot.  They weren’t mated yet, and she was fighting it all the way, but he
hoped the answer would be the right one, and not just because the wrong one
would gut him.

She
opened her mouth; her eyes narrowed, and then snapped it closed again.  After a
long moment where she seemed to have lost her normal humor, she huffed. 
"Fine.  But if you’re recognized, whoever is after me is going to have a
good idea of where to look once we leave the area."

Logan
grinned, his humor restored.  "Darlin', the chances of anyone in Anchorage
recognizing me is slim.  Not sure I've ever been there, and I have not had too
many run ins with the council."

Xena
snorted.  "That's what you think.  I may be a shadow operative for the
council and an outsider, but I know this."  Her eyes changed to a serious
warning he would do well to take to heart.  "Lionsgate is on the shifter
council radar, as in, all over it.  And that is not a good place to be."

Logan
cursed silently.  Looks like he needed to have a talk with Lucas.  He didn’t
want to divide Eli's attention, protecting Xena was his first priority, but
maybe he could kill two birds with one stone.  If he was going to be searching
for the council leak, he might as well see what he could find out about what
the council, and what they had in mind where Lionsgate was concerned.  He gave
his mate back serious eyes, letting her know he had heard her warning and would
act on it.  "Understood."

How that
would affect their relationship he didn’t know.  She worked for the council, if
they were after Lionsgate for whatever fucked up reason, it would put her right
in the middle.  And test a mating that might not be able to handle the
pressure.

The
shifter who met them in Anchorage to deliver their vehicle was a wolf that she
did not recognize from her study of Lionsgate and since Logan did not bother to
introduce the young wolf, she assumed he was just an errand boy.  An Errand boy
who had military training, six-pack abs, and looked at Cleo like she was his
secret dream made flesh. 

For her
part, when the hunky six-foot stud of a werewolf showed, Cleo barely noticed. 
All business in her post flight check, which they could all see her doing since
Shawn had left the cockpit door ajar once they landed and joined them in the
main area of the plane to talk with Logan.  Shawn did not react to the burly
wolf who looked to have about fifty pounds of muscle on him, other than to
watch him like the raptor he was; silently, and with diligence.

Logan
finally dismissed him with a curt "that will be all", and with one
last barely hidden yearning look in his wolf eyes, he was gone.

Xena was
quickly disabused of the notion the others were unaware of the man’s pointed
stares as soon as he departed.

Logan
looked at Cleo, who was not quite so busy now, and raised a brow.  Her mate had
turned that predatory raptor gaze to her.

"What?"
Cleo snapped, looking from one to the other as she came out of the cockpit with
a flounce.  "I flirted with him, like one time, years ago."  She
wagged her finger at Shawn.  "To annoy you, by the way."  She threw
up her hands when this statement had no effect, her voice going heavy with
sarcasm.  "I didn't even date the man.  There has to be a statute of
limitations on such a heinous crime."

Her mate
shook his head at her, then quicker than Cleo could counter he put a hand to
her waist and pulled her into his body, kissing the "oomph" from her
lips before she could work herself up to the rant that seemed to be in the
making.  Xena should have looked away when the kiss turned heated, but she
didn't until she felt the eyes on her, then turned to find Logan giving her a
questioning look.

Xena
lifted her shoulders and dropped them.  "They're just so pretty," she
offered by way of explanation, her hand motioning toward the couple.

His eyes
briefly lit with humor and then he set about ignoring the mates kissing beside
them.  "Was there anything you needed to do before we set a meet with your
handler at the council?"

Xena
snorted, offended at the very idea of such a word applied in any way to
Sterling.  "Handler, my ass”; she canted her hip aggressively, and gave a
flip of her hand in dismissal at the very thought, before resting it on her
jutting hip.  "As if there is a man alive who could handle this.  My
contact,"
she emphasized.   "Doesn't know we're coming, and he's not going to
know.  So we have no meet to set up, and we can pick up my "to go"
bag in Anchorage before
we see Sterling.  Though still thinking if you’re
recognized it would be a bad thing for your pack."

Logan
narrowed his eyes, clearly understanding the emphasis and the challenge
inherent in her stance and words.  "Already stated and answered.  You
aren't going alone.  Now, lets get back to the strolling into Council
headquarters, and how counterproductive that plan is to keeping a low profile
when their security will pick you up within minutes of walking in the front
door."

"Who
said anything about a door?"  Xena canted her head and gave Logan her
sexiest smile.  "How are you with scaling tall buildings, Superman?"

The
telltale clenching of his jaw was the only indication he gave that he
understood what she planned.

"What
floor is Sterling on?”

"Eighth.” 
Her smile widened.  "Might be a good idea if you waited in the car.  There
is no shame in admitting when something is beyond your capabilities." 
Okay, even she knew that was over the top challenge-wise to throw at an alpha
male.  Especially one like this one, who always felt capable, but he was just
so...stoic.  Made her want to rattle him up.

Logan
closed his eyes briefly looking pained.  "Up or down?"

Xena
flashed him a true smile, enjoying that reaction.  Boy did he look grim. 
"Up.  They have sensors and cameras on the roof."

"But
not on the windows?"

She
shrugged.  "Only sensors on everything above the fifth floor.  The cameras
there all point down."

Logan
raised a brow.  "But you are going to somehow propel yourself past the
first five floors and those cameras without triggering the alarm?"

"Yep." 
She popped the P, and kept smiling.

"And
the sensors at the window?"

"I
have mad skills."

Logan
grunted at her answer.  "Apparently."

She
heard a chuckle and turned to see that Cleo and Shawn had finished snogging. 
She had their complete attention.  Cleo was standing with her mate directly at
her back and they were both looking back and forth from Logan to Xena with
identical gleams of humor in their eyes.  Though unlike Shawn who seemed to
have a perpetual serious face, Cleo was also grinning at them.

"Can
I just say," she said, and Xena would not have been surprised if she fist
pumped the air such was her tone of glee:  "I am
loving
this."

Not sure
what the girl was now jabbering on about, and really not caring; Xena moved her
eyes back to her would-be mate who seemed to be in deep thought while his eyes
dissected the situation and her.  She waited for him to tell her he would wait
in the car or try to talk her out of the whole thing, but he continued to
surprise her.

"Fine,"
he finally said.  Looking only mildly displeased at her plan.  Then his eyes
warmed as they trailed over her jutting hip and back up to what she knew had to
be surprised eyes.  "Let's see what you got darlin'"

Xena
narrowed her eyes, more than a little surprised he had not only accepted the
challenge without argument, but threw one back at her.  He never did what she
expected.
 Damn it.

"Fine,"
she huffed.  Now she was the worried one.  Her eyes narrowed dangerously when
the sexy grin moved over his face and his eyes lightened in humor at her
reaction.  "But if you get us caught out of some
macho-man-just-to-prove-a-point bullshit I'm going to kick your ass."

Logan
chuckled, and like every other time, Xena felt the purr of the sound warm all
her girly places.  "You set the pace darlin', I'll keep up."

Well. 
Shit. 

***

"Hey
Sterling," Xena watched the man at the desk jump at her words.  She
couldn’t blame him, she had just silently bypassed the alarms and sensors on
his top floor office in a secure building manned by shifters, and she had done
it with a cowboy alpha wolf in commando black staring at her black, cat-suit
covered ass the whole way.  But really, it's not as if this was the first time
she’d broken in this way.  Though admittedly, the cowboy sidekick was new.

Sterling
was a puzzle to her.  Always had been.  He reminded her a bit of Geppetto from
the Pinocchio cartoon, with his grey hair and mustache, the glasses perpetually
perched on his nose.  Had to be an affectation.  She had never seen a shifter
who actually needed to wear spectacles, but she had never seen him without
them, and he was one of the oldest shifters she had ever met so maybe he did
need them.  She had surprised him plenty, and he always wore them, so what did
she know?  The looks and the slightly sagging belly made him look harmless.

She
wondered how Logan would react to the perception Sterling presented to the
world; because Xena knew enough about Sterling Gates to know he was in no way
harmless.  She had never had reason to doubt his voracity however, and to the
extent that she was capable of, she trusted the old shifter.  She just didn't
trust anyone he worked with.

After
the initial jump of surprise, she caught the relief that flashed over his
face.  "Hell Xena," the old shifter rumbled; and his voice, like
always, surprised her.  He had a precise English accent that belied the
unrefined Italian features.  "Thought you were dead."  He stood to
come around his desk and stopped at the sight of Logan standing in the shadows
behind her.  It was late in the day in Anchorage, so those shadows were long,
but even so, he was hard to miss.

For all
his size, the man had zip lined over and followed her nimble moves up the
slick, brick Council building as if he had been doing it all his life.  Xena
was not sure whether to be irritated at his continual ability to confound her,
or turned on by it.

"Yeah,
I've got a tag along," Xena said with some of her irritation flowing
through the words.  She motioned to the hulking shadow behind her.  "This
is..."

Sterling
interrupted her right before she could make up a name.  "Logan
McCord," he said mildly.  But he came no closer.  "I know who he
is."

Xena
glared at Logan.  Small chance of being recognized, her padded ass.

He
shrugged, his eyes firmly fixed on Sterling.  

Whatever. 
She would so tell
him "I told you so," at the first opportunity.

"I
take it you were not in the hotel when someone incinerated it?"  The words
were dry, but the meaning behind them had both Xena and Logan's attention
sharpening to a razor point in an instant.

"Come
again?" she asked, thinking she misheard him.

Sterling
raised a brow, finally looking away from Logan.  "You didn't know someone
blew up the hotel the council set up for your use in Prague."

"I
never even saw that hotel," Xena answered, not liking the implications at
all.  "You know I never use them."

"I
know that.  He looked tired all of the sudden.  His age, which he usually wore
well, seemed to drag him down a bit.  He rubbed a hand over his eyes. 
"When I heard about the bombing I worried you had changed your habits and
your enemies had followed you there.”

Xena
shook her head, and felt Logan's heat move close up at her back; though she
didn't turn around to look at him, she allowed that heat to comfort her. She
suddenly needed it.  "Casualties?"

"Extensive." 
The one grim word said it all.

"Someone
expected you to be there, and knew the identity we had you booked under.  If
they didn't follow you there..."  The words trailed off but they all knew
the implications.

"I
assume the humans working with us had no way of knowing this?"  She knew
they would not.  They had a vague inkling of the organization they worked with
on occasion, but the council shared with no one anything they did not have to,
the humans least of all.

"You
assume rightly."

"Then
I am thinking you have bigger problems than I do at the moment old man."

Sterling
shook his head at her, a little humor leaking through the gravity in his eyes. 
"Someone wants you dead, and is willing to go to extreme measures to do
it, how is a possible leak a bigger problem here?"

Logan
grunted his agreement, but kept his silence, which she appreciated.

"In
any case," Sterling said before she could answer.  "Until we find the
leak I want you off the map.  I’m giving your assignment to someone else.  You
are done with this.”

She
opened her mouth to argue cursing fluidly in her head when the old man just
gave her a look.

“No,
it’s past time this goes to an enforcer anyway.  You have done your job on this
one.  You’re out.  No discussion.  I know how invested you were in this, but
right now I want you to concentrate on staying alive."

Xena
gritted her teeth
. 
Though luckily, she refrained from speaking her
feeling on that decision out loud.  She let it go, irately, and with a hiss.

“You
need protection,” he started but she interrupted.

 
"I'm way ahead of you."  She motioned her thumb over her shoulder at
Logan.  "The cowboy here is guarding my body indefinitely."

Sterling
did not look impressed.  He studied them both for a moment but spoke directly
for Xena alone.  "I know a few things about Mr. McCord here, and one of
them is that his pack comes first.  He'll drop you in a hot minute if it brings
heat to Lionsgate." 

Ouch,
blunt, even for Sterling, and delivered in that snooty British accent it might
have stung if Logan had not taken immediate exception.

"You
know shit about me or Lionsgate if you think we don't take heat." He
growled, and Xena could feel the anger vibrating off him.  She had seen him
mad.  Now he was
pissed.

Xena
stepped back so that she was firmly pressed along that length and spoke before
he could go for Sterling’s throat, which is what it sounded like he wanted to
do. 

"So
who had the information?” She asked, trying to stave off the bloodshed.

Sterling
had gone still, clearly knowing he had crossed a line.  He studied them both. 
Her pressed against Logan, his hands at her hips, and his eyes she knew were
sparking wolf gold and predatory on the other man over her head.  Oh, yeah,
Logan was pissed.  Sterling looked thoughtfully at them both.  But he finally
answered.  "Myself, my secretary, and perhaps a few others.  Not
many."