by Ally Summers
I nodded. “Not willingly.”
He chuckled. “I’m okay with that.”
I groaned, letting the detective follow me inside.
Four
Nolan
I crossed the threshold into Ava Lance’s cottage and had to yank my bear back into place. Something had snapped in him the instant I stopped her from falling. My fingers sank into her waist and he wanted off his chain. Damn it. I was here for a reason. Getting involved with a woman wasn’t part of the job, especially a lead as significant as she was. I had to stay focus. He was going to have to wait.
“The mugs are up there.” She pointed to a cabinet next to the sink.
“You know I’m not the bad guy here.” I reached inside to grab a cup from the shelf. “I’m a cop. Most people consider us the good guys.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “And the shifter part?”
I poured the coffee. “That noticeable?”
“To me it is.”
I faced her. “There are a lot of shifters in this area, more than humans actually. But I’m sure you know that with your line of work, Dr. Lance.”
“I’m here on sabbatical, detective. I’m not interested in getting involved in town business. I won’t be here long enough to make friends.”
“You can cut the bullshit cover with me. I came here because you might be the only person who can help us right now.”
I felt her hesitation. It was as if she was equal parts stubborn and protective. I had to break through those barriers and get to the truth. She might know something that could crack this case wide open.
She huffed. “How do you know?”
My eyebrows arched. I sat at the kitchen table and nodded for her to join me. Ava slid into a seat. It was hard not to follow every movement of her body. I wasn’t ready for her to be curvy and gorgeous. Neither was my bear.
“Our team has been working every angle possible on the missing hikers’ cases. When I heard there was an Allied agent in the area, I knew I needed to drive up here.”
“Former agent,” she corrected. “And you didn’t answer how you know about me. I haven’t told anyone.”
“We had an anonymous tip.”
“Anonymous? And you trusted it?”
I chuckled. “Turned out to be a good one, it seems.” I picked up the mug. “How do you like Thunder Pike?” I asked.
Ava looked toward the window. “It’s fine.” I could tell she was thinking, probably trying to figure out the leak from Allied who ratted her out. I didn’t have that information, only a vague description of an agent up in the Thunder Pike mountainside.
“So this is where you decided to land? The heart of shifter country?”
Her eyes drifted toward me. “I needed a remote place where no one would bother me. This seemed like a good place to disappear for a while. The shifters here keep to themselves. No one has bothered me. Until now,” she added.
“Why are you disappearing from your life?”
She flinched. “Is that relevant?”
“I’m not sure. It could be. There are a lot of people disappearing lately.”
Her eyes widened. “This is about the hikers?”
I nodded. “It is.”
“I’ll talk to you, detective, but only on one condition.”
I chuckled. “You know that’s not how it works?”
“It is, if you want me to cooperate.”
Damn. She was smart, independent, beautiful, and sassy. I had my hands full.
“All right. What are your terms?” I pressed my elbows into the table, shifting my body toward her.
“No one here knows I worked for Allied. I’d like to keep it that way.” She paused. “Or anyone else. My family doesn’t know. No one knows. They all think I teach at a university.”
“Done.”
“Done? Just like that?”
“I’m not here to expose your secret. I’m here for answers. You give me those, and I have no reason to take this further. You can keep your double life to yourself.”
She studied my eyes when I spoke. “I have your word?”
“You have my word.”
I expected her to relax, but she didn’t. Her gaze was just as intense. Although, maybe I couldn’t get over those gorgeous blue eyes of hers.
“I don’t see how I can help,” she argued. “I don’t know the hikers and I haven’t spoken to any of my Allied colleagues in months. Although, someone obviously knows I’m here.” I heard the frustration in her voice.
“It’s my job to put the pieces together. All you have to do is answer the questions. Don’t worry about the rest. I’ll take care of it.”
Ava nodded. Her auburn hair falling into her face. I held in the urge to lift it from her eyes.
“Good. I appreciate your cooperation, doc.”
“Ava,” she offered. “Just call me Ava.”
“All right, Ava. How long were you at Allied?” I asked.
“Five years,” she responded.
“And when did you leave Allied?”
“Does it matter?”
I huffed. It was hard not to focus on her lips when she spoke. Even if she was doing everything she could not to answer the question.
“It does.”
“Two months,” she replied.
“And you came here? Straight from Allied?”
“You must already know some of this. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You already have some idea of what information I have that you need.”
I rubbed the side of my face. “Don’t you want to make sure I have the facts straight?”
“Of course I do.”
“Look, doc. Ava,” I corrected. “Maybe we should start this whole thing over.”
I pushed back from the table, rising to my feet.
“What are you doing?” She gawked.
I strolled to the front door and closed it behind me. I counted to ten, and knocked.
Ava pulled the door open. “I don’t know what this is supposed to prove—”
“Ava Lance? Hi, I’m Nolan Bryson. Detective with the Hunter’s Lake police department not far from here.” I grinned. “Would you be willing to answer a few questions for me that might help in an on-going case? I’d really appreciate any help you could give.”
She folded her arms over her chest, but I saw it. The glimmer in her eyes. The corners of her lips turning upward. I stuck my hand toward her.
The softness of her palm fit against the callouses in the center of my hand and I felt a zing as powerful as the first time we touched. I tried to keep my face expressionless. Did she know she was driving me crazy? Did she know my bear was tugging and pulling as hard as he could to get to her?
I cleared my throat.
“Come on, detective.” She smiled and took a step back. “Can you I offer a cup of coffee?”
“Sounds great.”
I walked through the door, not taking my eyes off her. It was the first time since we met that I thought there was a chance I could tear more than just one of her walls down.
Five
Ava
It was at least an hour of questions. And the man had so many. He wanted to know about my work at Allied. He wanted to know who I worked with and what they did. He had questions I couldn’t answer, and some I wouldn’t. But, I tried. I did. I really tried to help him.
I had as many reservations about him, as I did hope that I could trust him.
“Maybe I should make another pot of coffee,” I suggested. I had poured out our first two cups and started over. The pot was running low.
“Not a bad idea.” He stretched his long muscular legs. “Does your cell work up here?” he asked. “I haven’t been able to get a signal since I arrived in Thunder Pike.”
“Only in one room of the house,” I explained. “If you stand in the corner of the hallway on one foot you can get a signal.”
“Funny.” He grinned. “Mind if I try it? I need to check in with the station.”
“S
ure.” I rose from the kitchen table to show him where he could make a call in the cottage. There was also the center of my office, but I wasn’t interested in showing him my inner sanctuary.
As I walked along the narrow corridor, I felt the heat of his gaze on my ass. There was no doubt he had zeroed in on it like a target.
“Right here.” I pointed to the intersection of the guest bathroom and my office.
“Got it. I’ll make it quick. Thank you.”
“Sure.” I started to walk backward, and finally turned for the kitchen.
I rinsed out the coffee pot and started a fresh pot. I was tempted to open a bottle of wine instead. Nolan’s questions had opened up memories about Allied I wanted to forget.
He had tapped into conversations and information I would rather leave locked up. I placed the carafe on the burner and listened as it sizzled and dripped with new coffee. The machine beeped when it was finished.
Why wasn’t Nolan back yet? He had been on the call at least fifteen minutes. I walked out of the kitchen. He wasn’t at the end of the hall. The bathroom door was wide open.
“Detective Bryson?” I called, checking the spare bedroom.
I stopped in the doorway to my office. “What are you doing in here?” I asked.
Nolan turned around. “What is all this?”
“You aren’t supposed to be in here.” I rushed toward him, ready to haul him out of the room, despite that he was four times my size.
“This map shows every hiker attack this spring.” He didn’t apologize for snooping in my house.
“So?”
“So. What are you doing tracking the attacks?” His blazing eyes set on me. I inhaled and shivered at the same time.
“It’s nothing.”
He jammed the end of his finger into the map. “Here. Here. And here.” He studied the dots. “You made a triangle out of them. Why?”
I pressed my lips together.
“Ava, if you know something that could help, you have to tell me.”
I sank into the chair behind my desk. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Try me.”
“When I first started at Allied I was an assistant to a classified project.” He listened closely. “I wasn’t the lead, or an agent back then. I just wanted to be a part of the program. I wanted to help. I wanted to do anything to bridge the distance between humans and shifters.” I took in a gulp of air. “Before I really understood what was going on with that project, I was reassigned. I was told I needed more training and had to learn about Allied from the bottom up.”
“Okay.”
I shook my head. “There’s more to it than that. They brought me back on to that same project five years later. Only this time I was privy to the details. I was given the files. I knew exactly what they were doing.”
“And what was that?” he asked.
How was I supposed to tell someone about the horrors I witnessed? I had kept them to myself. I had sworn to leave it in the past. To put as much distance between Allied and me as I could. But here was this gorgeous sexy detective, with bedroom eyes and a strong athletic body doing everything in his power to get me to talk. He was sympathetic. Concerned. He was trying to help. It didn’t know whether to deny him or give him everything he wanted.
“Maybe it’s best no one knows.”
He walked toward me. “No, Ava. People are missing. Families have lost loved ones. It’s not best. It’s not. You might have information to stop all of that. You. You might have the only piece of information to save others. You can’t keep that to yourself, can you? You wouldn’t. I haven’t known you long, but you don’t seem like the kind of woman who wants to sit on the sidelines while people are dying. Innocent shifters, Ava. This map you created and tracked proves that to me. You want to help.”
I glanced away. His eyes were too seductive and distracting. His voice was calm and authoritative. The deep timber affected me in ways I couldn’t describe. I didn’t want to make a life or death decision based on my attraction to him. I needed room to breathe.
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
He clamped his fingers around my arms. “Then tell me. What were in those files?”
I swallowed. “Allied wanted to make a superior race shifter. They started replicating super shifters,” I confessed in one breath.
“Holy shit,” he whispered.
“I left. I ran,” I admitted. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t help them. Not with something like that. It was inhumane what they did to those poor shifters.” My throat closed shut and my stomach rolled. “I didn’t want any part of it. You have to believe me. I never wanted anyone to be hurt. I swear.”
“Shh. Shh.” His hands moved from my arms, circling my back. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t want to hurt anyone. It’s okay.” He pressed my cheek against his chest and I inhaled his delicious scent. He was mint and masculinity rolled into one.
For a second I let myself be held by his massive arms. For a second I listened to his strong heartbeat while he comforted me. For a second I didn’t think about the horrible things I knew I was a part of at Allied. I forgot about the nightmares that awakened me at night, and the memories that came with them. I let Nolan Bryson build a fortress around me while I cried my last tears over Allied and the super shifters.
Six
Nolan
She was crying in my arms. Fuck. What was happening? With one tiny sob, my bear’s instincts kicked in and I had to protect her. Comfort her. Get the crying to stop and make sure the bastards at Allied never made her cry again. What had they done to her?
“Ava?” I brushed her hair from her tear-stained cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” She pushed off my chest hard enough I had to loosen my grip. “That wasn’t…I’m sorry.” She turned to the window and wiped at her eyes. “I’m losing it, I guess.” She tried to laugh.
“You’ve been through a lot. It sounds like Allied put you through hell. Don’t apologize for that. I’m glad you told me about the project. You needed to tell someone.”
“Yeah, well now what? What good does it do? They’re invincible. I couldn’t stay. You have no idea what a risk it is that I’ve told you this. It’s dangerous for both of us.”
“I can handle it. Believe me.” I grinned, trying to reassure her.
“What? Because you’re a bear?” she countered.
“It helps.”
She shook her head. “It won’t stop them. You have to promise me, that you won’t do anything crazy with this information. It’s too dangerous.”
I sat on the edge of her desk. “What can you tell me about the project? There has to be a way to put a stop to it.”
“That’s impossible.” She stared at me. “It’s well-funded, and heavily guarded. You can’t get to it.”
“Can’t you give me something to go on?”
“What are you going to do? Go in guns blazing into the research and development warehouse?”
“There’s a warehouse?” My eyes bulged.
“Damn it.” She pivoted away again. “Forget it, detective. Forget all of it. It’s dangerous. Allied’s scope it too big and powerful for a small-town police force.”
“Hey,” I barked.
“Sorry.” She withered into a corner and I immediately regretted that my bear got the best of me.
“It’s not your fault. None of this is.” I exhaled. “Tell me about the map.” I shifted her attention away from how tense things had gotten. “Why are you making all these triangles?”
I moved to the side to allow her to approach the hiking map that spanned half the office wall.
“All right. It wasn’t until the third hiker went missing that I really paid attention to any of the stories,” she explained. “I marked their last known coordinates and noticed that every three hikers made a distinctive pattern. A pattern I recognized.”
“Which is?”
She tilted her head to the map. “Super shifters work in threes. These
points on the map started to look like their hunting behavior.”
“You think it’s supers picking off hikers?”
She bit her lip. “Maybe. But I don’t think it’s something they would do on their own. I think Allied is behind it.”
“Do you have any evidence? Something we could use to pin it on them?”
She shook her head. “No. Only a gut feeling. I’m sorry. It’s not exactly something you can build a case on.”
“No. But maybe we can build up to it.” I thought out loud. “What if we start at the warehouse you mentioned and go from there? See if it leads to a location for the hikers? Let’s start at the beginning. We need to take out the operation that makes supers and put an end to it.”
“I knew you would try to attack the warehouse.”
“There are procedures in place. We need a warrant. It’s not an attack like you think. But with your statement, I have enough to go in front of a judge and get one.”
“I could be way off,” she protested. “I don’t know that it’s Allied or supers. You can’t go off my hunch. That’s crazy. You said it. I don’t have proof, only a theory.”
I pushed my finger to the map. “You didn’t track this for nothing. You know deep down it’s the right thing to do.”
“There’s a reason I came up here. It wasn’t to be dragged back into the quagmire. I wanted out. I wanted a place I could put Allied behind me. I think I’ve done everything I can to help you, detective.”
“Is that your way of you asking me to leave?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it,” I mumbled. My bear was angry that the detective in me had taken over and fucked up. “Look, I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to be.”
“Why? Are you going to stay up here or something? Watch the mountain for supers? Be my bodyguard?”
He lurched under my chest and I almost didn’t have the strength to rein him in. She was irresistible and the idea of staying out here in the wild in her secluded cottage was enough to make him steal my composure.
“If that’s what you need.”