Shifter Wars (6 page)

“I hope you eat meat. I know some humans are vegetarians.”

“No, I’m definitely a meat-eater.”

Griffin cleared his throat. “Thank you for bringing the tray, Bea.”

She turned to leave. “It was great to meet you, Kyle. We’ll have to talk more later.”

“You can count on it,” I replied. I glanced at Griffin…and, if I wasn’t mistaken, I saw the teensiest bit of panic in his eyes.

Yep, Bea and I were going to be good friends.

Chapter 6

Jean Luc dropped me and Jason off in front of the office and went to park the SUV Griffin loaned us. Misha had stayed behind to strip out the equipment from the old van. When I opened the door leading to the office, I had a weird sense of
déjà vu
. Dolly was manning the front desk, and she did a double-take when she saw me.

“Kyle!”

“Hey, Dolly.”

“Nice of you to blow into town again.”

This was Dolly’s version of a warm welcome. She was tall, sleek, and beautiful—better suited to a photo shoot than a desk. And she was remote, not letting many get close to her.

“Someone has to take care of business around here,” I said.

She smiled. “Well maybe you can rein them in again. Now I’m having to deal with
three
ridiculous alpha males. And they hired a norm to replace you. I don’t know if I have much confidence in him, yet.”

Jason chuckled. “Hel-loooo, I’m standing right here.”

Dolly’s teasing eyes changed to concern when she looked at him. “You’re hurt!”

“I’m fine. Just a few stitches, although I do have a headache.”

Dolly stood. “Let me get you some aspirin.”

I watched the interplay in awe. Dolly was clucking over Jason. I had never seen Dolly cluck over anyone before. Maybe she liked him? The idea threw me for a loop. It had never occurred to me that Dolly would be interested in a normal. To her, humans were fun, but not her cup of tea, relationship-wise.

I meandered around the desk into the back office area and was not surprised to find the seventies décor still intact. The faux almond-colored table was littered with food wrappers and empty pizza boxes. And the lime green sofa had several stacks of manila file folders piled high on it.

Jason walked in behind me. “Wow, I forgot we left it this way.” He grabbed the garbage can from the kitchen area and walked around the table, chucking the junk into it. “Misha and I were about to finish transferring the paper files to electronic storage when we got the call about Trina.”

“We’ve been talking about getting rid of the paper files for a while now. How did you convince Misha to finally do it?”

“We’re going to convert the old file room to an area for me to work.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Why didn’t you just move into my old office?”

Jason jerked his head in my direction. “No way. It’s your office. We agreed you would be back and bitching up a storm if you found me in your space.”

I choked up a little bit and cleared my throat before continuing, “Well, I’m going to check to see if Griffin sent us the file on the poacher.” I escaped to my office. It looked the same, except the files I had left piled on my desk were gone. Hopefully they had been scanned along with the rest of them.

I plopped down into my chair and sighed. I hadn’t been sure I would ever be back here again. I powered up the laptop and checked the office email. No file yet. I opened an Internet page and did a search for Dalton’s name, but there were no new articles. As soon as I started admonishing myself for being pathetic, the computer beeped. We had an email from Griffin Enterprises. I opened the attachment and reviewed it.

“You look as though you never left.”

I jumped and gasped. “Damn, Jean Luc, I forgot about your sneaky vamp skills. One of these days, my heart’s going to stop, and then you won’t be so funny.”

He stood in the doorway, smiling. Which in itself was an event. Jean Luc was very laid back and didn’t show many emotions. He took a step in and shut the door.

“How are you really doing,
mon amie
?”

I studied him for a second. Jean Luc didn’t tolerate bull, so I decided to be honest, up to a point. “It’s been hard. But it’s getting better. I needed to get away from here and clear my head.”

“Did it help?”

“I think it was good I didn’t have to deal with the supernatural for a while, yes.” I tapped my fingers on the desk. Time to change the subject. “Guess who I met while I was in Mesquite?”

Jean Luc watched me silently.

“Talia. She works for Nicholas in Vegas. She is quite interesting and beautiful.”

His face showed no emotion. “I understand she has become a powerful vampire.”

“She flashed into my room. She is young to already know how to do that, right?”

“Yes, it is unusual for one so young to have mastered flashing.”

Jean Luc glanced away, but if I wasn’t mistaken there had been hint of pride in his voice. I had to find out why they were no longer together. I opened my mouth to ask when Jean Luc interrupted me.

“Has Misha told you about Joe?”

I swallowed before responding. “He said Dalton was doing well and on a task force in Chicago. He’s already familiar with Chicago.” Right. My evil inner voice was screaming
he can get together with his smart, beautiful ex who just happens to live there as well.
Life was great!

Jean Luc’s eyes tightened on my face for a second. “You know Misha and I are here for you?”

I nodded. “That’s the one thing I
am
sure of.”

He sat down in one of my guest chairs. “What did Griffin send us?”

One of the things I love about Jean Luc was his ability to let things drop. I scanned the screen.

“Mark Brennan was the poacher who kidnapped Trina this summer.” I braced myself before opening the photo file. Compared to Trina’s memories of Brennan, which still haunted me, the driver’s license photo was mild. I studied the nondescript face in the file. Caucasian, with light blond hair cut short and blue eyes. His nose looked like it had been broken at some point. I turned the screen for Jean Luc to see. “He was forty-two, and the house where he stashed Trina was newly rented.”

“So it was probably not his actual home.”

“Looks like it. His tax records show him working as a mechanic at a body shop in Brook Park. Maybe some of his mechanic friends are in the poaching business, too…”

“We need a reason to get close to them,” Jean Luc suggested.

“Does Jason still have his beater truck?”

“Yes.”

I clicked the intercom. “Jason Watson, please report to the principal’s office.”

* * *

Jean Luc, Jason, and I stood in the parking garage staring at Jason’s truck. It was a quad-cab Chevy from the eighties. From the looks of the outside, it had seen better days. There were several large rust spots along the truck bed and the blue paint was fading.

I grimaced. “It might be a lost cause.”

“This is a classic!” Jason sputtered.

“A classic piece of crap,” I retorted.

Jean Luc actually chuckled.

“I spent a lot of time on this truck.”

I gaped at him. “Are you serious?”

“I’m an engine man, not a body man. It has a 350 small-block.”

I was impressed. “Did you rebuild it yourself? What is the engine compression?”

Jason’s right eyebrow raised, and he opened his mouth, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“Before you say something sexist like ‘How do you know about engines?’ let me enlighten you. My mom had a thing for mechanics when I was growing up. I spent a lot of time in the garage learning about cars. When I was sixteen, I helped rebuild a 1962 Corvette engine.”

Jason looked suitably awestruck. “Sweet. I shouldn’t be surprised you’re a gearhead.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. So if your engine is in good shape, we should ask about body work. Maybe it’ll give us a foot in the door.”

Jean Luc agreed. “I think you and Jason should approach them. The men who attacked us today probably got a good look at me this morning when I rammed their Jeep. If they are working at this shop, I might tip our hand.”

“Did you get a good look at them?” Jason asked.

“I got a quick look at the passenger firing the gun. I gave a description to Misha. He is going to enter it in the facial recognition program to see if we get a match.”

“Do you think they saw Jason or me when the window shattered in the SUV?”

Jean Luc paused a moment. “Not your faces, no. You both dove down to protect Trina. But your hair might be a different matter.”

“Yeah, well, I’m getting sick of purple anyway. Time for me to pick out a respectable color.”

Chapter 7

Jason and I sat at the back office table plotting our visit to the body shop tomorrow. We had decided not to rush over today in the heat of the moment. When the office door opened, Dolly came in with a plastic bag and held it out to me.

“What’s this?”

“Hair color.”

“Why…”

“Jean Luc mentioned you needed to dye your hair a normal color, and since you were busy back here, I told him I would run out and get you some.”

I looked at the bag like it was a rattlesnake. “He did mention normal color for a
human
right?”

“Yes! It can’t be any worse than that purple.”

Which was true. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

I accepted the bag, and she stomped off, hollering over her shoulder for me to call Misha.

I picked up my cell and hit speed dial.

Misha answered on the first ring.

“Hello.”

“Are you ready to be picked up?”

“Yes, have Jason come, too. Trina wants to see both of you. I’ve insisted you’re okay, but she wants to see you in the flesh.”

Half an hour later, Jason parked the SUV in Griffin’s driveway. I walked up to the large entry door and knocked.

I was half expecting a posh British butler to answer. Instead Beatrice opened it with a smile.

“Good to see you both again. Come in.”

“Where’s Misha?” I asked.

“He’s in the kitchen. He has an amazing appetite.”

I laughed. “You can say that again. We understand Trina wants to see us.”

“Yes, she’s upstairs. Stephanie insisted she take it easy today, but Trina doesn’t remember what happened in the SUV and she’s afraid you were hurt.”

Before I could respond, there was a commotion at the top of the stairs, followed by Stephanie yelling, “Trina, wait!”

I looked up. Trina beamed at us from the top of the stairs. “It’s okay, Mom, I told you Kyle and Jason were here.”

She wore pajamas and a robe and slippers. As she ran down the stairs toward us, she stumbled and pitched forward. My heart plummeted, but before I could react, Jason dove and caught her. He pivoted and landed on the floor with her on top of him. Bea and I ran over to help.

Stephanie appeared at the top of the stairs and shrieked. “Trina!”

Which caused a number of other shifters to come running, including Griffin, who rushed out of his office to take in the scene.

Trina scrambled off Jason, and he sat up laughing.

Stephanie ran down the stairs and snatched Trina into a hug, somehow managing to also check for injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I knew Jason would catch me.”

“Trina, how many times have I told you not to run on the stairs! Apologize to Jason at once. You could have hurt him.”

Jason held up a hand. “I’m fine, Mrs. Connor. I grew up playing tackle football. Trina was like catching a feather.”

Trina giggled. “I am not a feather!”

Stephanie gave Trina a Searing Mom Stare before turning to Jason. “Please, call me Stephanie. This is the second time today you’ve saved my daughter, so I don’t think we should stand on formality. I didn’t get the opportunity earlier to thank you for protecting her.” She looked up at his bandage. “How’s your head?”

“I’m fine.”

She turned to me, probably much to Jason’s relief, since he looked ready to squirm. “Thank you, too, Kyle.”

Trina interrupted. “Are you guys staying for dinner? We’re having macaroni and cheese. It’s my favorite. Mr. Misha said it’s his favorite too.”

I sighed. Every food was Misha’s favorite food. “I don’t know, Trina.”

Griffin spoke up. “There’s plenty for everyone. Trina is being a better host than I am at the moment.” He walked up and held my gaze. “Please stay.”

I glanced at Jason. “You might as well tell Misha we’re staying for dinner.”

* * *

Between my full stomach and the lull of the drive back to my apartment, I dozed off. Before I knew it, we were parked in front of my building on the east side of Cleveland. I climbed out while Misha and Jason got my duffels from the back of the SUV.

I stood on the sidewalk for a moment, soaking in the ambiance. Not only was I back in Little Italy, but I was glad. I had always loved the turn of the century brick buildings, not to mention the fabulous foods available just a few steps away from my front door. Which was perfect for me, since I was not a cook.