The Runaway Cat (Book 2 Cloverleah Pack Series) (9 page)

Chapter Nine

Griff woke up with Diablo still in his arms and for a moment he lay there savoring
just how good it was to feel his mate safe and warm in his embrace.  Oh he knew he had yet to claim the man and he guessed Diablo might consider him a pretty passive lover based on his two performances so far.  But Griff fully intended to claim Diablo but not until the man understood exactly who he was and what he did.

Griff had been
really surprised when Diablo turned up in his shower the night before.  After Griff’s performance at the club, complete with Ramon Griff had worried that Diablo would walk out on him.  After the amazing sex they shared he kinda hoped the guy wouldn’t feel like that once he woke up.  Touching his shoulder where the huge cat bite was covered in scabs again he smirked.  Okay Diablo didn’t have to claim him again so that had to be a good thing, right?

But that didn’t negate the fact that t
he two men had a lot to talk about. Breakfast and coffee would be a good idea.  Lots of coffee.  Griff gently disentangled himself from the man sleeping in his arms and quietly left the room, closing the door behind him.  He grabbed a clean pair of jeans from the laundry and then headed into the kitchen.  Retrieving his cell phone from the table in the living room, he flicked through his contacts until he found the one he wanted.  One brief text message
,
Package had been collecte
d
, and Tony would now know that Diablo had been pulled out of his undercover assignment. Tony could sort out what needed to be done from here on in. As far as Griff was concerned Diablo was never going back despite what Griff/Angel had said to Georgio. He would worry about what that might do to his own Angel cover story later.

Bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms were soon cooking in various pans on the stove while Griff’s huge coffee machine was busy brewing the first batch.
Griff didn’t know a lot about cooking but the things he did cook seemed to turn out okay.  He was just setting the food out on the table when he heard the bedroom door open and Diablo came out wrapped in a towel. Griff was heartened by the man’s grin.

“Mmm smells heavenly.  I’ll just grab some clothes.”  Diablo headed into the guest bedroom returning moments later in black jeans and a black muscle shirt.  Griff was pleased to see they obviously fit his mate.  He had gone on a quick shopping spree the day before knowing that when he did get Diablo out they would not have the time to retrieve Diablo’s clothes and effects from his place in Baton Rouge. And somehow Griff seemed to know that black was Diablo’s preferred clothing color choice.

“Sit down and I’ll get you coffee.  How do you have it?”  Griff would guess black and strong.

“Cream and three sugars please,” said Diablo as he sat down.  Griff raised his eyebrows as he looked at Diablo and the man laughed.

“Na, you guessed right.  Black and strong and lots of it.  Thanks.”

Grinning Griff went to fix the coffee and by the time he came back to the table Diablo had already piled his plate high with bacon, sausages, eggs and mushroom.  Diablo caught Griff’s look. “Don’t like tomatoes but love mushrooms.” Griff nodded and filed that away for future reference.

As the two men ate Griff’s mind started to wander.  He started thinking about how weird it is that the Fates had a system set up where by mates would immediately recognize each other and be strongly attracted to each other sexually.  But there didn’t appear to be any factoring in of what two people might do, the lives they lead, their likes and dislikes or things like that.

But if that was the case then for two mates to live together there were times when at least one person might have to move to be with the other one.  Then there were aspects like jobs.  Shit, Griff realized he knew that Diablo wanted to set up his own business because that had been on the man’s resignation form from the FBI but what on earth would he want to do in Cloverleah?  And Griff loved his home, his pack, and his job at Custom Rides.  Okay he could probably give up the job,
he had been thinking about doing that for a while especially since Shawn had arrived, but giving up his home and the pack wasn’t something he could do lightly.

Realistically Diablo c
ould already have a life set up somewhere else. He wasn’t a regular at Claude’s so he could effectively live anywhere in the United States.  He could already have a home, family and friends that he might not want to leave. Fuck why didn’t the Fates consider stuff like that before they threw two people together.

“Griff, honey, you are starting to give me a headache
again.” Griff looked up from his almost finished plate of food, to see Diablo had finished his and was nursing his coffee grinning at him over the edge of the cup. 

“Does your mind always run off like that or is this something new.  Only it will take me a while to get used to it if this is a normal thing.”

Griff blushed and grinned.  Caught out thinking like a girl.  How embarrassing.

“Na, I think it is just since I met you.  I am usually a pretty laid back sort of guy and I don’t let too much get me in a stew.
” Griff finished his breakfast and picked up his coffee cup. 

Diablo laughed and went off to the kitchen to get more coffee. He bought back the pot.  Clever man. Sitting down again he said, “So just me, ha?  I will keep that in mind.”
  He poured himself some more coffee and then topped up Griff’s cup. 

Then Diablo leant back in his chair and said in a deceptively calm voice, “Tell me who is it that I have committed to spending the rest of my life with?  A mechanic from Cloverleah, or Angel Bandures, crime lord from Florida?
Cos up until yesterday I was planning a future with a mechanic but if you are Angel Bandures then I am going to have to change a few of my ideas especially when technically I am still an FBI agent for the next week.  Which one are you?”

He’s committed to spending the rest of his life with me.  Inside Griff did a very unmanly happy dance although it didn’t show on his face. Goodness this kitty cat was turning him into a girl with all these feelings and
heavy thinking.  Yeah but he’s worth it.

“Both.”  Brief but honest.

Diablo sat up and leaned on the table. “You are telling me that Angel Bandures, recluse, and probably the most feared crime lord in the States is also a mechanic that works for Custom Rides in Cloverleah?”

“Yep.”

“But there has never been any indication of any criminal activity in Cloverleah, nothing like Bandures is reputed to be interested in.  What do you do, commute to Florida every couple of weeks?”

Griff grinned.  “No nothing like that.  Look what do you know about Bandures?
  What does the FBI know about Bandures?”

“I don’t know.  I would have to look it up and I wouldn’t because even if you are my mate I am not passing on FBI information to you if you are a crime lord even if it is about you.”

Pleased with his man’s loyalty, even if it was misguided in this case, Griff dragged over the laptop that he had left on the table just two days before.  It was still running.  That shows what a mess he must have been in when he left to get Diablo.  Normally the thing was put away after every use.   He bought up the FBI staff site and clicked in his login details.  Then he bought up the file for Angel Bandures.  He turned the laptop to the side so Diablo could see what he was doing.

“How the hell did you get in there?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.  But what does it say about me?”

Scanning through the file Diablo could see there was precious little in it.  There
were no photos at all.  There were rumors about involvement in drug trafficking, more than a couple of murders, prostitution rings and an apparent interest in a couple of large casinos.  Diablo looked up at Griff and then started clicking a couple of links of his own.  As he delved deeper into the file he could see there was nothing actually in it.  The rumors all came from informants and had no substantial backing. There was not one bit of evidence that tied Bandures to anything.  He had never had a warrant issued for him and from the looks of the case file two stings had tried to catch the man in some sort of criminal activity and in both cases the agents hadn’t even been able to find the man. It was as though Angel Bandures didn’t exist.

“It’s all about smoke and mirrors.”  Griff was watching him quietly.

“What is?”

“Angel Bandures.  My cover.”

Diablo stared at him and then back at the computer.  “Oh no! Don’t tell me you are FBI too?  Fuck it I just resigned from all that mess so I could spend my life with you. A normal life. Now you’re telling me it will be you that will be off for months on bloody undercover assignments?” 

Diablo slammed down his coffee cup and ran his hands through his hair.  Glaring at Griff he filled his cup again.

“No not exactly…”  Griff started.

“Well what exactly Griff?  You haven’t said much at all and right now my head is in a bit of a mess.  When I met you, you said you were a wolf shifting mechanic looking to get laid.  That’s about the only bit that has gone right so far.”  Interesting
ly Diablo’s voice didn’t get any louder when he was angry, but the growl in his tone was evident.

“I am sorry Diablo I am not trying to muck you about.  It’s just what I am going to tell you is only known by me and Tony Gearson.”  Griff saw Diablo’s surprise at the name of the Director of the FBI.

“Have you ever heard of the ‘The Mechanic’?”  Griff asked.

“Yeah, who hasn’t.  An
FBI urban legend.  Apparently The Mechanic is someone who comes in and fixes things on undercover cases that have gone wrong for the agent. Pulls them out when their lives are in danger; sorts out evidence when agents are being framed.  That type of thing.”  Diablo looked at Griff accusingly.  “What, you’re The Mechanic?”

Griff nodded
and then went on to explain.

“I did my military training about 12 years ago and was quickly pulled into special ops.  During my time there I met Tony Gearson’s son and was on a couple of assignments with him.  Long story short I saved the guy’s life and when I got out Tony came to see me and see if I was interested in doing some solo work, helping agents who got themselves in too deep with their undercover work.”

“I am not an FBI agent technically.  I am more like a contractor.  I only work a couple of cases a year and when I do I am not gone more than a couple of days.  Tony authorizes what I do and sends me on the cases he believes can’t be fixed any other way.  I don’t report to anyone but him and I don’t work for anyone else on any other case unless Tony has contacted me personally first.  No one knows who I am or what I do except Kane and Shawn of course who know that sometimes I just need a couple of days off and have to go work on things I can’t talk about.”

“And Angel Bandures is one of the ways you get these agents out?”

“Yeah.  Tony and I cooked him up when we first started this.  You know what it is like in criminal circles.  Ninety percent of what is actually said about criminal bosses is all gossip so we started some of our own.  Angel Bandures’s reputation has been carefully crafted by rumors to the point where there are not many places I can go as Angel and not get what I want.  It’s saved a lot of agent’s lives over the years and that is the only reason I do it.”  Griff was looking down at the table now and at the last sentence his voice dropped until it was so quiet Diablo could barely hear him.

Diablo sat and watched Griff for a while.  He had no expression on his face as he thought over what his mate had said.  On the one hand he was really pleased that while Griff was Angel he wasn’t the badass Angel’s reputation made him out to be.  But it was also clear that being The Mechanic was not something that Griff wanted to give up. 

“So how did Angel end up rescuing me?  My handler wouldn’t have let it be known that there was any trouble with my case.  The only one that knew I was having any trouble at all was you.”

“I called Tony and told him about your case.  He
reviewed it and agreed to send Angel in to get you out.”  Griff looked Diablo straight in the eye. “For what it is worth I would have gone in and got you out anyway as soon as I knew you were hurt.  I might not have claimed you yet but you are my mate and you had no other back up.  I held off even looking into your case details until after I knew you were hurt. I honestly didn’t want to interfere.”

“But why would Tony authorize Angel Bandures to go in and get Georgio’s boy over a few bruises?  Agents get roughed up all the time on the job especially when they are undercover.”

“I told him you were my mate and that I knew the handler’s notes on your case were lies.” 

“He knows we
’re shifters?”  Griff nodded.

“Wait a minute.  What do you mean the handler’s notes on my case?”  Diablo grabbed the laptop, pulling it to him and tapped in some keys.  Moments later he was reading what his handler had written about his performance and their meetings since he started the Georgio case two years before.
Griff could tell when he had finished reading because he pushed the laptop away and sunk his head on the table.

Five minutes later Diablo looked up, straight at Griff.  “I am going to kill him,” and Griff imagined he was talking about the handler, Corbin.  Standing up and pacing the floor, Diablo kept running his fingers through his hair
and muttering to himself.