by JJ Jones
She didn’t pull her hand away from his, but her face contorted into a slight sneer. She tried to hide the emotion, but it was visible to his keen eye. “Dom.” It was a one word answer, unwilling to give up more information.
He released her hand, letting it drop back down to her side. “It’s very nice to meet you, Dom. Now, where can a man get a bite to eat around here?” He pronounced her name with a rumble in his throat. It sounded like a word injected with sex and forbidden desires. Her name became the center of his words.
She chose to ignore his unspoken offer, instead, she crumpled up the cardboard so that she could fit it into the garbage can. “I’m supposed to take you to the safe house, not take you to lunch. I’m sure there will be food there, waiting for you.” She explained, her voice growing harder as she spoke to him. He seemed to be one of those overconfident swaggering men that were full of more self-confidence than ability and common sense. “Let’s get your bags and get you out of here.” She began to lead the way to the baggage claim, walking briskly in her annoyance.
“Is it really that dangerous?” His smile held a dangerous glint. He saw the look on her face and dropped his face to a more serious expression. He pulled his luggage off of the belt, checking the tags. She noticed that they were expensive bags, showing a little age, but still carried a sophisticated air with them.
“I don’t think that you’re going to be in a lot of danger, but there are always the splinter groups that just don’t want to listen to reason.” She explained carefully, her words echoing in the vacuous halls of the airport. “That’s why we need you. As much as I don’t like the idea of calling in outside help, you might be the only one who can stop this from escalating into full fledged war.”
“So you don’t like me?” His eyes started to twinkle again. It was the same look many people get when they are anticipating a challenge.
“I don’t know you, but I respect your abilities.” Her answer was politic but held the ring of truth behind it.
They stepped out of the airport, and he looked around. “It looks a lot different than I thought that it would.”
“What were you expecting, giant cacti and tumbleweeds?”
“Well, honestly, yeah, a little.” He laughed at himself. “This just looks like a city that’s been coated in dust.”
It was her turn to smile. “That’s pretty much it. You were thinking about Arizona, by the way, western Texas and New Mexico aren’t really known for tall cacti with reaching arms. There is a different type of cactus that is predominant here.” She was explaining to him and he could see a small light form in her eyes. The love of this place was something that had been held deep within her, obviously planted as a seed at a very young age. Her dark brown eyes glittered in the desert sun and her brown hair sparkled with her natural blonde highlights. Her skin was a light mocha color, with slightly darker freckles playing across her cheeks. He had to admit that she was beautiful when she smiled. He was silent for a while, just appreciating the sight of her.
They reached the car fairly quickly. She unlocked the doors and opened the passenger side door for him. It was silent as she slid behind the wheel. “If you want me to, I can take you through a drive on the way to the safe house.”
“That would be lovely. Where is this safe house?” He asked, seeming to contemplate the situation. “We can get down to business a little quicker that way.”
“Once I drop you off with your handlers, they’ll fill you in on the situation.” She explained eager to drop him off. She was speeding slightly, weaving through the rush hour traffic leaving the airport.
“You don’t like me very much do you?” His question hit on target.
“I don’t even know you.” Her words were terse, filled with a controlled sort of indifference, or at least that’s the emotion that she was trying to portray.
“That doesn’t explain why you’re trying to get us into an accident.” His voice held a hint of laughter in it, as if he was exaggerating to emphasize the erratic manner in which she was driving. “Do you always drive like this?”
Her face softened a bit. She slowed down and stopped weaving through the traffic as much. “Only when I have VIPs in the car.”
In a safer manner, she arrived at the appointed destination. He climbed out of the tiny car, his large frame unfolding out of the seat. He plucked the bag of burgers off of the center console and asked if she wanted to bring her salad in. She shook her head and followed him into the small house in a much better part of town than she lived in. It was a pretty little townhouse with a pretty little flowerbed in the front yard.
She walked to the door and unlocked it with the specialized key that she carried. Once the key had been turned, she touched the door and released a bit of magical energy into it. The house opened up to them and they walked inside.
The first thing that Dom noticed was how empty it was in the building. “Where is everyone?”
Gregor sniffed around. “I don’t think anyone’s here.”
“I don’t get it. Someone was supposed to be here to take you off my hands.”
The large shifter mocked offense. “Take me off your hands?” He put his hand across his chest and gasped in shock. The twinkle in his eye appeared again and she knew that he was laughing at her.
She rolled her eyes, refusing to respond to his teasing. Pulling her phone out of the large purse she carried, she dialed a number. Dispatch didn’t answer her this time; instead she was routed to the division head, Anna. Anna was a powerful woman, but the rumor was that she was something much more than human, she must be something very special to keep her identity so secret.
“Dominique.” Anna’s voice was severe, serious and filled with professionalism.
“Anna.” The response was slightly shocked. “No one’s here.”
“I know. We had a slight situation. A skirmish broke out on the North side of town and we need all hands out there.”
Dom’s attention snapped back to her situation. “Who’s going to deal with emergencies?”
“We’ve got all of the emergencies that we can handle right now; you just stay with the kitty and keep him safe. With the fighting starting again, that cat could become a target very easily.”
She sighed into the phone. “You owe me; this “kitty” is super annoying and keeps trying to climb on the drapes.”
As Anna disconnected the line, Gregor laughed. “That was a wonderful analogy. Should I get your food from the car for you?”
“I’ll get it, you stay inside.” Dom’s order was firmly spoken. She was cursing herself with each step she took. “Don’t answer the door. I know how to let myself in. If someone knocks, they aren’t meant to be here with you.”
Climbing down to the car she opened the door and pulled out the bag and her soda. It didn’t take long for her to reopen the front door in the same manner she had originally used. Her guest had made himself comfortable, lounging on the couch with a burger in his hand. “This isn’t a great burger.” He said the words between bites of the sandwich.
“You seem to be enjoying it well enough.” She taunted him, baiting him with her words.
“What would you like to see me do, spit it out in disgust and curse in Russian?”
“That would make more sense.” She tucked her brown hair behind her ear with a smile facing down. “You are nobility, after all.” She caught her action and stopped it, chastising herself.
He laughed. “I’m not that type of guy. I’ve moved out of the silly games of my ancestors. When my parents moved to America, they left that stuff behind.” He paused for a moment to take another bite. “Tell me about the situation here.”
Dom sighed. “I don’t even know where to start. I’m sure you’ve heard about the trouble with the cartels around the border.”
“I’ve heard a few things on the news, but not much.”
“Well, in this area a lot of people are connected to the cartels, it’s no different for the shifters.” Her story continued. �
��The tensions in the entire area are affected, neighbors are moving against each other in even the best neighborhoods.”
“The news doesn’t make it seem that bad.”
“It’s more of an underlying tension. Bullets fly over the border and kill people; cartels are taking over so many aspects of our lives.” She opened her salad. “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m a field agent. I don’t typically brief people like this.”
“You’ve thought about this a lot, I can tell.”
“I’m connected to the land here. My mother and grandmother were as well. We’re healers. I responsible for banishing and controlling troublesome spirits.”
“Did your mother do this kind of work as well?” Gregor asked, trying to pull her into a personal conversation.
“No, not that it’s any of your business.” Her manner became guarded again. She didn’t particularly want to talk about this – that much was very obvious.
He raised his hands up once again, abandoning the line of questioning. “Are the local shifter’s associated with different gangs?”
“Not particularly, there are some minor associations. I just believe that the tensions in the humans around are affecting their nature. As you probably know, because you are one, shifters are fairly sensitive to the moods of nearby humans.”
“How very nice of you to point that out. How bad is the fighting?”
“Right now it’s mostly coyote against wolf. They break out into fighting at the edge of their territories, when they used to be able to roam freely through the city, sharing territory, or at least letting the others walk around them. “It’s not major fighting as of yet, but it could explode into a full-fledged war at any point. That’s about all I know about it.”
Gregor nodded and pursed his lips thinking about the situation. He clasped his hands together and placed the elbows on his legs. His index fingers tapped against his upper lip as he gathered up all of the information in his head.
Chapter3
They waited for hours but no one arrived. Dominique called once again, trying to get someone to relieve her. To her great disappointment she was told that she would end up having to spend the night in the house with him. “If you need something from your house, someone can stop by and bring it to you while they’re running around.” She was told.
“I think that I can get whatever I need. Can you send someone over to feed my cat for me? I’m going to order food for tonight.” She hung up when Anna agreed to take care of it for her, frustrated and alarmed at spending the night in such a tiny little house with such a handsome man. “I’ve got some bad news.” She told him while walking back into the living room where he sat on the couch.
“What’s that?” He looked at her, his eyes seeming to bore into her soul. It was the gaze that felines are so good at, in general. Her own cat possessed that same intense look. She almost laughed at the way this man’s stare reminded her so much of the tiny little kitten she had saved from a freezing death in the streets. He caught her subtle display of humor. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, the bad news is that it doesn’t look like they can get anyone else here from the shifter division until at least tomorrow. It looks like we’re roommates for the night. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get the shifters to want to start talking again. Until then, we have an obligation to keep you safe.”
“Should I talk to them now?” He questioned her, his voice serious and concerned. “I might be able to get them around the table.”
“They aren’t talking to anyone yet. It’s mostly fighting and growling across borders right now. From what I heard, which isn’t much, they had a big blowout yesterday that most of us had to go deal with.”
“Do you have any idea what happened?”
“Not really, I was busy picking you up.” She sounded disappointed, almost as if she wanted to be out there on the front line.
“I think that I should see the city in the morning. I need to see what exactly I’m dealing with.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Intoning the danger of that idea, she made her feelings on the matter very clear.
“Whether it’s a good idea or not, it has to be done.” Gregor’s accent hardened with determination. She could almost see his eyes flash into blue cat’s eyes. It frightened her a little and she chose not to argue her point further. They spent the afternoon watching various shows on the television, not really paying attention to any of them. The pair continued to steal glances at each other during the show, never quite meeting each other’s eyes.
Dinnertime arrived and she started to shuffle through the delivery menus that sat on the coffee table. They had been in that house for almost six hours. “What do you want to eat?”
Gregor smiled at his companion, it was a naughty smile filled with promises that would go unanswered if she could continue to deny her own carnal needs and desires. He resisted the urge to turn this conversation into an excuse to flirt with his pretty guard. “What do you feel like having?”
“How often do you get really good Mexican food up north? There’s a place that delivers near here.”
“I’m not a fan of Mexican food.”
She scoffed at the idea. “You must not have ever gotten good Mexican food. There’s no way that you could hate it down here.”
“I’m sure the people that don’t like Mexican food around here would be forced into hiding, but it’s just not the type of food that I enjoy.”
“Well what do you like?” She was still sorting through the menus, searching for a good place to eat.
“How does Asian food sound?”
She licked her lips. “That sounds like a plan. Pick a place and I’ll call in the order.”
He shuffled through the menus asking advice about each place before arriving at a decision. Dom placed the order, making sure to specify extra meat in her companion’s meal. When the meal arrived they ate in silence, sitting at the small kitchen table. Gregor ate a lot of food, littering the table with his empty cartons. After they finished eating, Dom started to clear the table. “Let me help you.” Gregor touched her hand and she could almost feel the jump of electricity.
For a long moment the two stared at each other a mix of surprise and lust playing across their features, but that moment was quickly cut off as Dominique regained her self-control. “What does Dom stand for? It has to be short for another name.” Gregor tried to cover the situation.
“My name is Dominique.” She sighed in response. “We should get some sleep soon.” She finished gathering up the garbage and throwing it into the trash.
“I’m not really that tired, and I’m enjoying your company.” He told her, confessing something that meant a lot more than he said.
Her eyes narrowed, “Just let me know when you’re ready to get some rest. I’m going to go make sure a bedroom is set up for you upstairs.”
She walked up the stairs, painfully aware of him following her. Peeking into both bedrooms she noticed that neither room had bedding. She found the hall closet. Looking inside she had to ask. “Flowers or superheroes?” The sheets looked like they were made for a child.
He chose superheroes and she started to make the bed in the room that he chose. When she finished she noticed that he had just finished setting up the other room where she was supposed to be sleeping. She whispered a thank you and they went back down stairs to sit on the couch some more. The television was still on from earlier.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, the pair watched television for the next few hours then climbed into their respective beds to get some rest after Dom cast some more protection spells on the grounds.
In the morning, there were leftovers for breakfast. They sat at the table in silence, eating, drinking coffee and rubbing sleep from their eyes. “I still need to see the area. I have to find out what I’m working with.”
“That will be the next shifts problem.” She informed him, stepping into another room to call the office. It was very ne
arly devastating to find out that there would be no one coming to relieve her. “Really, I’m going to be stuck with this guy for the entire day? He wants to see the city.” Anna’s orders were clear, take him into the city, show him the lay of the land, but for right now stay out of the contested areas.
Walking back into the room she broke the news to him, but he seemed happy about it. “Let’s go.” He handed her purse.
She drove him through the town, showing him the major features, past the zoo and the army base and explaining in detail what she knew about the current conflict between the shifters. He listened carefully, paying attention to every detail. “I’m sorry that I don’t know more about this.” She told him as they looked on the line of cars leading to the Mexican border.
“If people are so afraid of the cartels why are they still heading into Mexico?” He asked observing the crush of people and cars eager to enter and leave the bordering country.
“They can get a lot of things cheaper over there, including dental work. There’s a great little clinic over the border run by American’s that’s less than half the price of dental work there than in the States. Everything is cheaper over the border, and if you can believe it, the flow of traffic heading over the border has slowed down in recent years.”
Gregor nodded carefully, mulling over possibilities. “Do you know about any neutral ground where we can hold the meetings?”
“Not really, that really isn’t my expertise. When we get this thing set up I’m sure the experts will have advice for you. As far as I know, however the initial meetings will be at headquarters.” She was exact in her words, fully knowing that she wasn’t an expert on the subject, however he seemed to appreciate all of the information that she was able to share. “Let’s head back to the safe house.”
“Of course.” He was incredibly polite with her. “Tell me about what you do.”
“Well first, you would have to know a little of the history of the area.”