Polar Bears are Forever: Book One Supernatural Enforcers Agency (12 page)

Chapter Eleven

Erin looked up as Gunner stomped out of his office.  His face was a picture of barely restrained rage.  She hadn’t seen him so angry since she’d been in hospital, and he punched the wall. 
She wondered if he had to pay for that wall…

The rest of the bullpen went quiet as Gunner stormed over to her and the rest of the team.

He eyed them all in turn before alighting on Erin.  Cutter, Avery and Wayne had the grace to incline their head slightly in submission.  Erin, in a hitherto unknown fit of defiance, jutted her chin and stared right back at him. 
Moody bear.

Erin was peeved.  He had no right to be angry at her.  He wasn’t the one who woke up in the middle of the night, in a strange bed to find himself all alone!  How would he have reacted if she’d just skipped out on him?

His eyes travelled down to the stuffed cat sitting next to her computer.  He snorted derisively.  Erin picked the cat up and began stroking its matted fur.  She pouted at him. 
Don’t mess with my cat!

He huffed.  “Conference room, ten minutes,” he barked, and turned away without waiting for an acknowledgement.

Seconds later his office door shut with a resounding slam, and everyone in the office sighed in relief. 
BBB, indeed
.

“Wow, that was actually kind of mild for him,” commented Avery, over the divider between their cubicles.

“Oh?” replied Erin, uninterestedly.

“Yeah, nothing got broken, no walls were hit, yep, this has to be one of his nicest bad moods yet.”

“Good to know,” she murmured. 

She stowed the cat safely in her bottom drawer and stood up.  “I’m going to the bathroom; I’ll see you in the conference room.”

Avery nodded as Erin walked away. 

In the bathroom, she splashed cool water on her cheeks.  She could kind of understand Gunner leaving her during the night.  She assumed it was about work.  At least she was praying that was what it was about.  A horrible, tiny, little, niggling, oh-so-anxious part of her couldn’t help but worry that he had left her to run off and see another woman.  She didn’t like herself for thinking it, but she couldn’t help the unbidden thought taunting her.  The truth is she had no idea where he went.  Maybe if he’d left a note or texted her… 
But nope, nothing
.

It sure as hell wasn’t nice to wake up in the middle of the night screaming from a nightmare and find herself all alone. 
And that was the crux of what upset her
.  Having nightmares wasn’t something new for her, but waking up and being disappointed that he wasn’t there to comfort her was.  She resented the fact that he hadn’t been there when she needed him.  Unreasonable?  Maybe a little, but it sure as sugar had hurt to wake and find him gone.

Oh, well, better get going.  Don’t want to give him another reason to be mad.  An insolent part of her considered hanging around in the bathroom, and purposefully being late. 
Ha, that would rile him.

Erin looked at herself in the mirror and giggled –
yes, actually giggled
– while the rest of the world seemed intent on staying out of Gunner’s way when he was mad, she seemed to want to make him even madder.  It was strange; she’d never been so… so… naughty or disobedient. 
Usually her mottos were, don’t make waves, blend in, pretend you’re invisible...
  But no, here she was trying to enrage a seven-foot polar bear shifter on purpose.  She found it odd at how comfortable she was with him, and how she really didn’t fear him hurting her at all.  Well, not physically anyway. 
Emotionally was a whole other ballgame.

Well, she’d waited long enough.  She really ought to get going.

She made her way out of the bathroom and ran smack-dab into a solid wall of chest. 
Mmmm, a yummy solid wall of chest.  Gunner.

He steadied her and placed his hands on her shoulders. 
Oh, she just wanted to climb him like a tree.

“What have you been doing in there?” he demanded irritably.

And just like that, all sexy thoughts were vanquished.

“Why do you hang around outside women’s bathrooms?” she asked with equal ire.  This wasn’t the first time she’d careened into him outside a toilet.

His mouth gaped open, surprised at the vehemence in her retort.

Erin squirmed under his gaze.  “Shouldn’t we get going?”

“They’ll wait,” he said gruffly.  “Why did you leave this morning?”

She narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders, not easy with the way he was gripping them.  “I woke up alone, I didn’t know where you were,” she replied, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice, not altogether successfully.  “But I knew I needed clothes, so I went back to my apartment.”

“How did you get back there?”

Erin shrugged.  “The bus.”

“The bus!” he exclaimed incredulously, eyes bulging.  “What time was this?  You shouldn’t be riding the bus at night alone.  You shouldn’t be going anywhere alone.  You shouldn’t have left my apartment.”

“I could say the same to you,” she muttered petulantly.

Gunner grimaced.  “I had to work.”

“Well, I didn’t know that!”

Were fumes coming out of her ears?
  She suspected there might be fumes coming out of her ears.

Gunner visibly relaxed and stroked his thumbs over the edge of her shirt.  “Okay, fine, you’re right.  But know this, I wouldn’t have left if it weren’t important, and I didn’t think I was going to be so long.”

Erin sighed as her anger melted. 
She was such a pushover
.  “It’s okay, I was just worried when I woke up and you weren’t there.” 

Gunner swivelled his head and scanned the empty corridor before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.  “We better go.”

They walked together, side by side, towards the conference room, both a little happier than they had been earlier that morning.

“It probably wasn’t a bad thing for you to have showered at home and got fresh clothes,” he said in an amused voice.  “At least my scent won’t be on them.”

She stopped and cocked her head at him quizzically.  “Oh?”

He shrugged his Herculean shoulders, making the fabric of his t-shirt stretch impossibly tight.  “We don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

“The wrong idea…” she repeated slowly. 

A small pit of worry was forming in her stomach.  Oh, she didn’t like where this was going. 
What the heck was the wrong idea?

He furrowed his brow.  “Yeah.”

All her crossness and crabbiness from the morning came flooding back.  “Okay, yeah, we don’t want anyone to think there’s something going on with us.”

But instead of the anger laced words she was expecting, he seemed almost fearful.  “That’s not what I meant.”

“I think we should go in,” she said prissily as she pushed the door open and ignored his almost inaudible groan.

Erin seated herself between Jessie and Avery and avoided looking at him altogether.

“About time,” snapped the Director.

Gunner huffed but didn’t bother to apologize.

Succinctly, and in a low, hard voice, Gunner proceeded to tell them about the body they’d found.  Gingerly, everyone looked at the crime scene photos.  Erin could feel Gunner’s eyes boring into her as she bent her head over the gruesome pictures, but she studiously avoided him. 
Childish?  Maybe, but he had it coming!

“We identified our victim as James Silver,” said the Director.  “He was part of the Roystan pod of hippopotami, and he was also reported missing almost two weeks ago.”

Gunner looked up sharply.  “He was one of the suspicious disappearances Zeta team was looking into?”

“Yes, he disappeared in the same way as the others.  Potentially, we have to consider the possibility that they all died the same way too.”

Wayne tapped the photos.  “Why do we think his heart was missing?”

The Director pursed his thin lips.  “We don’t know yet, it may yet just be a simple murder.”

“Cutting out someone’s heart is hardly simple!” scoffed Cutter.

“Let’s not make any assumptions,” rumbled the Director.  “We don’t want anyone panicking about this.  For now, it’s just a murder.  He was reported missing by his mother who found a note at his home stating he was leaving town, and some of his belongings were gone.  But not many and his car is still parked at his home.  She didn’t believe it and reported it.”

He passed the missing person file to Gunner, who flicked through it. 

“We managed to retrieve his clothes, phone and wallet from the trash,” said Gunner.  “So, whoever dumped him in that container must have hoped they’d be incinerated at the same time.  Jessie, see what you can get from the phone.”

He skimmed the phone across the table, and Jessie immediately picked it up and started studying it.  He hesitated slightly.  “Erin,” he said softly, “do you think you could get something from his wallet?  A, uh, vision or something?”

Erin ignored her heated cheeks and the interested glances of her teammates.  “I’ll try, can I touch it?”

“Sure, the crime scene techs are finished with it.”

Gunner rose to his feet and loped around the table in easy strides.  He passed her the wallet, rubbing his fingers against hers as he did.  She withheld a moan and firmly clamped her legs together as she met his stormy gaze.  It was woefully unfair just how much he turned her on with a slight touch and a look.  At that moment, her inner nymphomaniac was practically winking at him.

Thankfully, she was soon distracted.  As soon as she clasped the wallet with both hands a vision flashed before her eyes.  Their victim, James Silver, was sat at a high table in a club.  He pulled out some bills and threw a couple on a waitress’ tray as she handed him a drink.  He then pushed one into the waistband of her blue hotpants and leered.  She gave him a suffering smile and walked away.  He swigged at the drink and looked around at other women.  He smirked as a tall, skinny blonde sauntered over to his table.  She rubbed his arm, and he whispered in her ear, making her throw her head back, letting out a cacophony of high-pitched, fake laughter.

Erin blinked and was surprised to find Gunner kneeling beside her.  One of his large hands hovered over her shoulder, unsure whether to touch her.

“Are you alright?” asked Avery tentatively.

Erin gazed around at the worried faces of her teammates.  “Of course.”

“You just went so pale, and your eyes went blank…” murmured Gunner.

She laughed lightly.  “I wouldn’t know; I’ve never seen myself have a vision before.”

“You saw something?” demanded the Directory, ignoring the disapproving look Gunner hurled at him.

“Yes,” she told him uncertainly, “I’m not sure how helpful it is.  I guess it was from the last time he used his wallet.  He was at a club, and there were neon flamingos on the walls and people dancing in cages.”

Jessie raised an eyebrow.  “Strippers?”

Erin, in spite of herself, blushed.  “No, they had their clothes on, or at least they had their bikinis on.  He paid for a drink, leered at the waitress and then a blonde woman came up to him.  I don’t think he knew her.”  She smiled self-consciously.  “It’s not much help.”

“It might be the last place he visited, and she might have been the last person to see him,” said Gunner softly.  “Did you get a good look at the blonde?  Would you recognize her again?”

She nodded fervently.  “Definitely.”

Gunner stood up to his full height, towering over her.  She tried to restrain herself from quivering.

“Cutter, go to the crime scene, see if you can pick up anything and see how they’re getting on with the search.  Plus, it couldn’t hurt to scare the hell out of the good people at Cinderella – just in case they’re holding something back.  Jessie look into his background, see what you can find but go through his phone and get Wayne a list of his friends.”  He nodded at Wayne.  “I want you to talk to them, and see what they can tell you about him.  Avery and I will make the death notification to the family, and we’ll check out his apartment.”

Erin looked up at him almost coyly.  “And me?”

“I need you to look through mugshots for the blonde woman.”

“Keep me informed,” ordered the Director.

Everyone filed out the room, eager to get moving. 

Gunner lingered at the door and gave her a meaningful look.  “We’ll talk tonight; don’t leave this building without me.”

With that, he was gone, too quickly for her to even argue. 
Sneaky bear.

Oh, well, here we go, desk duty – yay.

*

Erin yawned and licked at the mountain of whipped cream perilously piled onto her hot chocolate.  Feeling bored of looking through photo after photo of young blonde women, she decided to take a short break and had taken refuge in the coffee shop across the street.

Mmmm, perhaps coffee might have been a better choice.  She hadn’t exactly had a lot of sleep in the past two nights –
she had something much better to do
– but now she was starting to feel a little weary.  And the bags developing under her eyes certainly weren’t helping her self-esteem.