by E A Price
Fuck, there she was.
Her hair, brown with natural blonde highlights, framed her flawless face. She smiled shyly in between sips of some god-awful looking green liquid. Her eyes, those big, erotically torturous, pools of blue were riveted on Isis, who appeared to be air making out with a red-faced panda shifter. His heart stuttered as he saw her curvy frame was draped in a figure hugging blue dress. Damnit, why did she have to wear something so fucking revealing? Okay, so it had a high neckline, long sleeves, and the hem fell below her knee – but people could still see her ankles!
He ducked out of sight before she could see him. Maybe she had scented him, but he doubted it. Her nose wasn’t the greatest, and the bar was a sweaty throng of overheated horny bodies. His wolf whined a little; why was he disappointed that she couldn’t pick him out of a crowd? It didn’t matter one bit. Of course he could pick out her scent anywhere, he was a fantastic tracker, and it had nothing to do with the fact that her scent was the most glorious thing he had ever smelled in his life. No siree.
Cutter sat down heavily on a bar stool next to Dale and nodded at his fellow SEA agents Wes and Lake. Wes was a liger shifter and led the Gamma team while Lake was an arctic wolf shifter and worked in tactical. Lake was a little shorter than him but wider and was known for being quiet and thoughtful in private, and a living battering ram out in the field.
Wayne had already abandoned them to flirt with a shifter groupie – a human who came to the shifter-oriented bar for the purpose of hooking up with shifters. He was treating her to a very toothy grin as he winked at Cutter.
He huffed and downed the beer Dale had set in front of him in one go. Dale gave him a knowing smirk and ordered him another.
Wes regarded him with interest. “So I heard you’re afraid to go and get your physical done because you don’t want to be naked in front of Lucie, that true?”
“No,” Cutter hissed, glaring at Dale, who wasn’t even bothering to try and hide his chuckles.
The liger gave him a mock look of concern. “Look if it’s a size issue…”
“I have no issues!” snarled Cutter as his wolf roared at the nerve of the cat. Fucking feline.
“You only have to be naked for a few minutes. Maybe you could turn the thermostat up before you go in. If it’s warm, there’ll be less shrinkage.”
“What?!”
Wes rolled his shoulders. “Besides, Lucie’s quite a small woman, I suppose anything next to her looks big. Even something like, I don’t know, a pencil.”
Dale, who had somehow already managed to down four beers and was now moving on to hard liquor, was almost sobbing with laughter. Even Lake had to hide his smile.
“Although,” said Wes, thoughtfully, “Lucie has seen all of us naked. I guess it would be a bit of a let down to see you…”
Cutter slammed his empty beer bottle down and spat each word in a thick, growly voice. “Thin. Fucking. Ice. Cat.”
That just brought on more bouts of laughter. Cutter called them all assholes and left them to go to the bathroom. Annoyed by Wes’ completely untrue ridicules, he made the mistake of letting his guard down and…
“Cutter!” cooed a very happy voice.
His wolf pranced around like a puppy as Cutter froze and mentally tried to assess whether it would be easier to run to the exit or throw himself through the window. Clearly he spent too much time deciding as the next thing he knew a small, warm hand was tugging on his arm.
The touch of her skin burned him, sending hot desire scorching through him. His beast whimpered in ecstasy as he scented and wallowed in the aroma of her delicious arousal. He bet she tasted unbelievable. He bet that if he wanted to, he could fall to his knees, lift up her skirt and plunge his tongue right into her hot, beautiful sex. Even in this busy bar, he was sure she’d let him. Her cheeks turned a dusky shade of pink as if she could hear his lewd thoughts.
Cutter shook his head, trying to gain some control even as his mind turned to jelly. Aroused, happy jelly, but jelly nonetheless.
She flashed him an enchanting smile. “I didn’t know you were here.”
His first instinct was to apologize and beg her forgiveness. Well, no actually his first instinct was to grab hold of her and kiss her silly, while his second was the whole dropping to his knees and tasting her thing. But the apology was still up there in the top ten.
But, he remembered his miserable resolve. Lucie wasn’t taking no for an answer, so he had to start showing her that he meant what he said.
“Yeah, well, I knew you were here.”
It wasn’t quite as mean as it could have been, but Cutter still wanted to beat himself up, not to mention what his wolf wanted to do to him.
Her megawatt smile dimmed a couple of notches, but she was undeterred. Yep, it just couldn’t be that easy, could it?
“I was wondering if you wanted to come round to my apartment one night this week, and I’d cook you dinner. I remember how you said you hadn’t had a home cooked meal in years.”
Cutter frowned. He had mentioned that about eight months ago when Wayne was extolling the virtues of his momma’s fish head stew. He was surprised Lucie remembered.
“I’m free any night this week,” she blurted.
She must have realized that it made her sound a little desperate and perhaps a little pathetic as she immediately blushed, right from her ankles up to her hairline. He didn’t think it sounded desperate; hearing that she wasn’t lining up dates with random guys was, quite frankly, a huge relief. Although, he knew deep down he shouldn’t be thinking like that, given that he was actually trying to drive her away and all.
“So? What day’s good for you?”
The tip of her pink tongue darted out of her mouth and wet her plump lips. Cutter inwardly groaned. She wasn’t making it easy.
“Never,” he replied shortly. “I’m not interested.”
“But…”
“But, nothing! I’ve told you before; nothing is going to happen between the two of us.”
It took all of his strength – which he had to wrestle from his inflamed wolf – but there, he said it.
Lucie frowned. “You can’t pretend that I don’t affect you.”
Cutter scrubbed a hand down his face. “What do you want from me, Lucie? Fine, yeah, you’re attractive, that’s just a physical reaction I don’t have any control over.”
She jutted her chin stubbornly. “It’s not just physical.”
“I’m not your mate, okay? I don’t want a mate.”
“But…”
“I mean it, Lucie,” he told her warningly. “You need to forget about me and move on.”
Cutter clenched his fists to stop them from trembling. No, no, he didn’t want her moving on to another man, not deep down, but what could he do? He wasn’t right for her, and she deserved to settle down with a successful husband in a big house with lots of kids… From experience, he knew he wasn’t much of a father. He didn’t deserve to be a dad again, either.
“But, what if you’re my mate?” she asked quietly.
His beast howled, but Cutter remained stony. “I’m no one’s mate.”
Lucie scowled at him, defiantly but cutely, of course. “I’ll wait for you as long as it takes.”
He turned his back on her and started walking away. “You’ll be waiting forever.”
“We’ll see,” she muttered obstinately.
He made his way back to his friends – or at least those assholes he happened to be out drinking with. Dale was looking a little worse for wear. It took a lot for wolf shifters to get drunk, but Dale seemed determined to do so. Lake and Wes had abandoned the wolf to talk to other colleagues.
Cutter sank onto the stool next to him and signaled for a bottle of beer.
Dale leered in Lucie’s direction. “Saw you talking to snuffles. Whatsamatter?” he slurred. “She knock you back?”
“No,” said Cutter, tightly.
“She’s not your type?”
No, he wouldn’t have s
aid a cute, chirpy, little hedgehog whose favorite color was pink, collected stuffed toys, enjoyed carnival rides and cotton candy really was his type. Not before he met her, anyway.
“Just leave it.”
Dale started swaying ever so slightly. “You should just fuck her. That’s what she wants.”
His sullen wolf perked up at the suggestion, but Cutter wasn’t moved. “I can’t.”
Dale pursed his lips together. “Well, maybe I will.”
Fury lanced through Cutter, and as Dale moved to stand up, he kicked the stool out from under the inebriated wolf, sending him sprawling to the ground. Dale dissolved into laughter, shared by many other shifters in the bar.
Cutter grabbed Dale off the ground and half-carried him out the bar, pretending that he didn’t see the wistful look on Lucie’s face as he did.
In spite of his wolf’s protests, he knew he was doing the right thing. She should have more than he could offer her. Despite how much he wanted her, he had to stay away. He just needed to make her see that before he gave in to temptation.
Ugh, life really wasn’t fucking fair.
Chapter Four
Tuesday
Go big or go home. Easy to say, not so easy to do. Not that she had no plans of ‘going home’ if her plan didn’t work.
Lucie pondered what kind of gesture she could make as she rearranged the medical bay. Over the past year, she had rearranged everything thirty times. It irritated the heck out of her fellow nurse, Helga, but Lucie found it therapeutic and it helped to pass the time. There wasn’t a lot for her to do really. Other than the physicals, she was supposed to help out the medical examiner, but the last two certainly hadn’t wanted her assistance. Hopefully, the new one would have his head planted firmly on his shoulders, rather than buried up his own patootie.
She heard a yelp followed by a moan. Helga was currently massaging a stressed out otter shifter. Helga’s massages were a strange mixture of pain and pleasure. She could just imagine the large she-bear working as a dominatrix. Lucie had once submitted for a massage, but never again. She felt like Stretch Armstrong at the end of it.
The problem with working at a place where the majority of workers were shifters was that they rarely got sick, and when they did get injured, more often than not their own healing abilities cured them. If they needed a doctor or a nurse, it usually meant they weren’t likely to recover.
Okay, back to her problem. Go big or go home. Hmmm, the problem with Cutter was that he didn’t seem to like anything. He complained about the things he didn’t like – and there were a lot of them, but he didn’t seem to mention if he actually liked anything.
She’d seen him drink beer. Maybe she could sneak into his apartment, fill his bathtub with beer and get into it naked. Her hedgehog fluttered in delight at that idea.
Lucie decided against it. While it had its merits, she doubted she’d be able to get into his apartment – she was hardly stealthy, and she didn’t really want to walk around smelling like a brewery.
She had seen him eating cake. Well, once, when it was another agent’s birthday. He hadn’t admitted to anything as extravagant as liking it, but he didn’t spit it out on the ground. Ooh, she could bake an enormous cake, have it delivered to his apartment and then jump out of it – naked.
Again, she got encouragement from her little animal for this plan, but again, she decided to reject it. Her oven really wasn’t big enough, and the thought of being trapped inside a cake wasn’t enticing.
The right plan was out there somewhere; she just needed to latch onto it.
“Hi there,” rumbled a deep voice behind her.
Lucie and her hedgehog yelped in surprise and threw a dozen bandages into the air, scattering them all over the floor. She spun to find herself staring at a tall, handsome lion shifter.
He leaned against the doorframe, nonchalantly and gave her a bemused smile. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Rick.”
Snickerdoodles! She’d totally forgotten that their new medical examiner was arriving. She was such a scatterbrain.
She rushed forward and gave his hand a thorough shake. “No, I’m sorry, Doctor Powers, I knew you were coming, I should have welcomed you up at reception.”
The big lion shifter waved his hand. “Nonsense, I don’t want you to go out of your way for me. And, please, call me Rick.”
Lucie’s cheeks warmed. “I’m Lucie; I’m one of the nurses.”
Rick raised an eyebrow as the otter let out a cry before an almost orgasmic groan.
“And that’s the handiwork of Helga, our other nurse,” explained Lucie.
He cocked his head on one side and sniffed. “Polar bear shifter?”
Lucie nodded.
“Strong hands,” he murmured, thoughtfully. He gave Lucie an appreciative glance that, to her surprise, made her blush. “Hedgehog?”
“Yep.”
He gave her a wide grin that, if she hadn’t been so hung up on Cutter, would have made her melt like an ice cream. Her hedgehog didn’t like it, but Lucie had to admit the doctor sure was good looking. He was tall – maybe even an inch or so taller than Cutter – and he was built like a solid wall of muscle. His blonde hair was thick and wavy, framing his chiseled face. He was definitely going to turn a few heads in the office – male and female heads.
“I look forward to us working together,” he purred as his eyes roved over her generous curves.
Lucie gulped. There was definitely some innuendo breathed into those words. She tried to hide her astonishment.
“Well, I, uh, how about I give you a tour of the building, introduce you around, and I’ll get you a pass key sorted out.”
Rick gave her a crooked smile that brought out a dimple in his left cheek. “That sounds wonderful. Lead the way.”
She did, self-consciously aware that he was following behind and ogling her butt. Her big, round butt. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it just wasn’t her favorite feature, and she’d never actually met a man who showed it quite the same appreciation Rick was doing. He’d only met her ten minutes ago – he certainly wasn’t wasting any time!
Her little beast huffed. The prickly little being did not like this lion shifter one bit. Lucie, on the other hand, couldn’t make up her mind. He certainly seemed charming and open, but his flirtiness was a little unnerving. Sure, plenty of men had flirted with her, but they’d never come on quite so strong, nor did they emit such powerful vibes as Rick. He was definitely a strong shifter, maybe even an alpha personality.
As they got in the elevator, Lucie suddenly became all too aware of just how tiny the metal box was. But, then again, she’d never been inside one with such a huge lion shifter who seemed more than a little determined to brush up against her.
“So, umm, are you married? Or do you have a significant other?” she asked trying to sound casual. She may have just missed it and instead sounded breathier than Jessica Rabbit.
Rick chuckled. “I’m single. I moved back here to be near my sister, she just had twins, and I want to spend time with my family. I’m looking to settle down and start my own family.”
Oh! She and her hedgehog quivered. Those were such wonderful words to hear. She just wished they were coming out of the mouth of a stubborn wolf shifter. She wondered if she could introduce him to Cutter, maybe he would be a good influence.
“Umm, why don’t we start with the gym?”
“Perfect, I like to work out every day if possible. If I don’t, then I like to go sailing on my yacht.”
Of course he did. He couldn’t just be handsome, charming and a doctor, apparently he had to be rich, too. This guy was Mr. Perfect. Or rather, Doctor Perfect.
Oh, he was definitely going to be popular with the female denizens of the building.
*
Cutter kicked a stone with his scuffed boot and huffed as it ricocheted off a dumpster. He was trying to replay how their hedgehog victim had been murdered, while trying to forget his own hedgeho
g shifter problems.
His wolf had, uncharacteristically, opted to give him the silent treatment over what happened last night. Cutter didn’t like to admit it, but it was a welcome change from dealing with an almost unmanageably loud wolf. But he certainly didn’t want it to become a regular occurrence. He’d met shifters who had lost touch with their animals and were forced to live as humans. The haunted looks on their faces said it all – it was like losing your soul.
A very hungover Dale and an extremely unimpressed Primrose had been dispatched to re-interview the toucan bride’s family. The more he thought about the case, the more he was certain that their victim had faked her own death. There was too much that didn’t fit, and he didn’t like the fact that they didn’t have a body. Who could just walk around a wedding carrying a corpse? Although, the bride seemed to have disappeared in the middle of it, so maybe it wasn’t that hard for something odd to go unnoticed.
His hope was that the obnoxious agents would somehow irritate a confession out of one of the bride’s nearest and dearest. Hell, twenty minutes alone with the two agents might even tempt one of them to confess to being Jack the Ripper.
Avery stared at him, hands on hips. The sun glinted off her aviator shades. “Are we ready yet?”
“Settle down, Topgun,” grumbled Cutter. “We want to get this right if it ever gets to court.”
Wayne smirked and crossed his sinewy arms over his chest. “Since when do you care about that? You usually terrify suspects into volunteering themselves onto death row.”
“Since I became the boss,” he snapped.
Avery grimaced. “Remind me again, when’s Gunner coming back?”
“Not fucking soon enough,” muttered Cutter.
He knelt on the ground and traced his fingers over the spot where a few drops of blood had been found. The body of their victim had been discovered elsewhere, but they guessed that the attack had started in the alley where Reginald, their hedgehog, kept his makeshift home, which was a kind of shelter made out of old mattresses, magazines and held together by used extension cords. The care worker told them that Reginald never strayed far from home for fear that someone else would take it over. He was very proud and territorial over his shack. They did wonder if the murder had occurred from a fight over that – a heat of the moment deal – but they weren’t sure.