At first she didn’t see anything, but then she caught a flash of orange on the periphery of the window’s reflection. Ryenne whirled around and came face to face with Tess.
“Well, hello there,” Ryenne said.
Tess took off running.
“Crap,” Ryenne muttered, pushing her phone back into her pocket and following. Turning the same corner Tess had just rounded, Ryenne came to a stop. Tess was nowhere to be seen. There were shops and apartment buildings and restaurants on both sides of the street and Tess could be anywhere.
Ryenne put a hand to her head and muttered a string of curse words. And kept muttering the entire way back to the office.
EIGHT
“Hey, where’s Lucien?” Gavin greeted her when she walked in.
She rolled her eyes. “He needed to be alone.”
“Oh? What’d you do?”
Hands on hips, she said, “Why do you think I did something?”
He put his hands on his hips, too. “Because I know you. Does it have to do with you looking at Scotty and Nick like they were creampuffs you wanted to devour the other day?”
“What?” she asked, her voice rising. “I did not.”
“Yeah, you kind of did.”
Shit. No wonder Lucien was so pissed at her. She had given him reason to be jealous without meaning to. Now, she had to find a way to make it up to him when he returned. A knife twisted in her gut, worse than any wound she’d ever suffered at the hands of a rogue. What if he didn’t come back?
Gavin didn’t let her wallow in it for long. “So what was that picture you sent me?” he asked. “One was Tess but who’s the other guy?”
“One of the rogues who tried to kidnap Mom.”
“The son of a...” Gavin began.
“Exactly. Can you figure out who he is or find out anything more about Tess?”
He stared at the picture on his screen for several seconds. “Let me see what I can do.”
“Scotty and Nick are on their way to get this photo, too,” she said.
Gavin stopped typing and shot her a glance. “Oh, that’s what you did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You invited them to the office to get the picture rather than just texting it like you did to me? No wonder he’s mad at you.”
“Who said he’s mad?” Sweat broke out on her forehead and her gums itched as if her fangs wanted to descend.
He sighed. “Because I know you.” Then, ignoring her, he turned back to the computer.
She paced behind him, waiting for him to find something or for the guys to arrive.
“Can you please stop that?” he asked in an exasperated tone. “Find something else to do. Go take a cold shower.”
“Yeah, me naked and wet when they arrive is probably not a good idea,” she said. Instead, she went into the kitchen, cleaned out the coffee maker and made a fresh pot of coffee. Then, she washed and dried the mugs and plates sitting in the sink. Any activity was necessary at this point.
A knock came at the door as she put away the last mug. “Perfect timing.”
The two cops came in and filled the space with their larger-than-life presence. “What have you got for us?” Nick asked with a smile that could melt her panties right off.
But she was determined to fight any effect they would have on her. Lucien could walk in at any moment and she didn’t want to give him any more reasons to be jealous.
“This,” Gavin declared and turned away from the computer, leaving the picture of Tess and the rogue visible on his screen.
“Oh, it’s the rogue from the spring,” Scotty said. “Tess Michaels. Who’s the guy?”
“One of Mom’s would-be kidnappers. Do you recognize him?” Ryenne asked.
Both men shook their heads. “But we can check the computer at the office. Do you have a copy of this for us?” Scotty asked.
Gavin printed them a copy of the picture.
“Do you have any information for me?” she asked.
“Nothing new on your dad,” Scotty said.
She paced around the room again. How would she ever figure out what had happened to her father? “Oh hey, what happened with your shifter with the gunk in his wound?”
Nick and Scotty shared a glance. “We haven’t solved that one yet,” Scotty said. “The dead shifter was the owner of a store on Tenth and doesn’t have a record. Tried to fly under the radar. That’s all we know at this point.”
“Do you know something we should know?” Nick asked, his dark eyes boring into hers. Damn, they weren’t going to make themselves easy to resist.
“Just curious,” Ryenne said with a small smile. “Anything that happens in the shifter world piques my interest. It’s kind of our business.”
Scotty nodded, but she couldn’t tell if he believed her or not. “Okay, thanks for this photo, we’ll see what we can do with it.”
Once they were gone, Gavin said, “Give me an hour. I’ll hack into the facial recognition software on their network and get us some answers.”
Ryenne gave him a big smile and kissed his head. “I love you, Gav.”
“I know.”
***
Less than an hour later, Gavin whooped in victory. “I’ve got ‘em!”
Ryenne jumped up from her computer on the other side of the room where she had been writing up a report for a client. “What have you got?”
“He’s Joseph O’Brien. He has a brother named Liam and a sister named Tess,” Gavin said, a smug grin splitting his face.
“Tess O’Brien? T.O. She sent my mother the letters.” Ryenne paced the room, her mind whirring and sparking like one of her mother’s stun guns. “They tried to get to Mom by pretending to give her information about my dad, strung her along until Mom agreed to meet them, and then tried to kidnap her. Tess is a Fang, so this is confirmation that the Fangs want my mother.”
Gavin nodded along with her, stretching his arms over his head after so long at the computer.
“Do you have an address for any of them?” Ryenne asked.
Gavin turned back to the computer and tapped on the keyboard. “Yeah, I’ve got the last known address in Brooklyn for all three, based on DMV records.”
“You are brilliant, Gav.”
“I know.”
She grabbed her long-sleeved shirt from the back of her chair and checked her weapons.
“You’re not going there now, are you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Why not? They tried to kidnap my mom. They’re Fangs. Now that I know who they are and where, I don’t want to waste another minute before meting out the punishment they deserve.”
“At least wait for Lucien,” Gavin said. “Please don’t go by yourself.”
“He’s not answering my calls or texts.”
“Are you surprised?” Gavin asked, standing and striding over to the kitchen and pouring himself a cup of coffee. “You really hurt his feelings.”
“I tried to apologize but he won’t respond.”
Gavin went back to work without another word and Ryenne dropped onto the couch. She wouldn’t push her luck by going by herself. Protecting Mom was more important.
At the end of the day, she walked up to Mom’s office building. Her phone rang as she crossed the last side street.
“Hey Scotty. What’s up?”
“We’ve got names for you. The O’Briens.”
“Yeah, I already know.”
“How?” he asked.
She only smiled, even though he couldn’t see.
“Never mind,” he said on a sigh and terminated the call.
Still smiling, Ryenne glanced around at the people in front of Mom’s office. Lucien. Staring at her.
The smile dropped from her face.
“Talking to one of your other boyfriends?” he asked.
“It’s not like that,” she said. At times like this, she wished she were better with words. She didn’t know how to make him see that she couldn’t help flirting with other men
. It wasn’t something she wanted to do. She only wanted him.
“I’ll move out of your apartment tonight,” Lucien said.
“What? Why? Can’t we get through this? Couples have fights all the time. It’s no big deal.” How much she wanted it to be true.
“I don’t know, Ryenne. But right now, I can’t deal with you and help you with this job, protecting your mom, while I have all of these negative feelings inside, and I think some distance will help.”
“Where will you stay?”
“Maybe at the office with Gavin or in your mom’s empty place. Maybe it will help flush out the Fangs.”
“But what about...?”
“Satisfying your urges?” he asked in a monotone. “Now’s the time to learn to control them without giving in. We did the giving in thing, it didn’t curb your appetite. Eventually, you just have to figure out how to get through life with the female equivalent of a hard on every minute.”
What he said made sense, but it still hurt. “It’s not just that,” she said in a small voice. “I love you.”
He ran a hand through his hair and she wished she could do the same. But she was afraid he’d push her away. She couldn’t take another rejection from him.
“I love you, too,” he said and stormed away.
NINE
When they got back to Ryenne’s apartment, Lucien packed up his stuff, kissed Ryenne’s mother on both cheeks, and left. When the door had closed on him, Mom stared at Ryenne and Ryenne ignored her. Instead, Ryenne went to the kitchen and put away the groceries they had bought on their way home.
Her mom followed her in. “Do you want to talk about this?”
“No.”
“Don’t you think we should?”
“What’s to talk about, Mom?”
“Something clearly happened between you two. Does it have to do with how you flirted with the two cops?”
Ryenne spun around and flung her arms up in the air. “Did everyone notice that but me?”
That was a lie. She had noticed. She knew what she’d done. She just didn’t realize anyone else could tell.
Ryenne had never needed to feel embarrassed in front of her mom about anything. About her desires, her sexual appetite, her love life, her lack of a love life. None of it had bothered her. Ryenne had had a hard-edged attitude since losing Cody and her dad, and her mom had let her be. Had let her be who she needed to be.
But now, Ryenne’s cheeks flushed with shame.
She strode out to the living room and collapsed on the couch. “Oh, Mom, what have I done? I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for Lucien, and now I may have lost him.”
“Does he know how you feel?”
“I don’t know. I tried to tell him. He says he still loves me but he can’t be near me right now,” she said.
Her mom nodded. “Then you may not have lost him, sweetie. Just give him time. He’s a man and men are easily hurt by the kinds of things you were doing. I know you didn’t mean them,” she rushed to add when Ryenne looked about to interrupt, “but you were flirting with other men right in front of your boyfriend and he needs time to get over it. And he needs time to miss you. And then he will want you back and he will forgive you.”
“You think?” Ryenne asked.
“Yes. Lucien is a good guy,” she said. “He’s not intimidated by your strength, by your career, by anything you have shown him of yourself so far. Despite being a shifter, he’s a human being and he is hurt right now. But he will get over it because he loves you.”
Ryenne stood up and wiped the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes. “Okay, but I can’t stay here tonight and just miss him.”
Mom held out her arms to Ryenne.
Ryenne knew the hug would make it harder to leave, so she turned away and called Gavin. “Hey, can you come hang out with Mom tonight. I don’t want her to be alone.”
“Sure. Where are you going?”
She sighed. “You know where I’m going.”
“But Ryenne...”
“Please, Gavin. I’m going no matter what you say, so can you please come over so Mom isn’t alone?”
“Alright, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
She thanked him and shoved the phone back in her jeans pocket.
“Where are you going?” her mom asked.
“I’m going to check out an address Gavin found today.”
“What address?”
“Mom, I love you, so please don’t make me lie to you. I’m going where I’m going and no one is talking me out of it.” Ryenne went around the apartment collecting weapons, determined to get answers. She made sure her dart pouch was full and added it to her belt. She pulled out the dagger from its sheath at her back, inspected it, and returned it to its place, relieved and comforted by its warmth from her own body heat against her skin. Covering everything with a black, lightweight, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, she slid one of her mom’s smaller stun guns up the right sleeve.
“Ryenne, you really have me worried with all of that gear.”
“Mom, don’t worry. This is how I always prepare for a job. Remember, this is what I do for a living.”
Her mom plopped down on the sofa and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t need a babysitter, you know.”
“Gavin’s not a babysitter. Anyway, the Fangs are trying to kidnap you, Mom. They want your help. For all we know, they want to turn you or kill you. We don’t know and I’m not going to let them do it.”
“Fine.”
By the time Gavin arrived, Ryenne was suited up and ready to go.
“Aren’t you going to stay and have dinner?” her mom asked.
“No, thanks.” Ryenne thought the hunger might make her fiercer and more vicious as she faced the people who’d tried to kidnap her mom. She didn’t want her mom to know this, but she would do anything it took to get information from the O’Briens.
***
Ryenne knew that going off half-cocked was never a good idea. She had learned her lesson in Paris. Or so she thought. But this time was different. This time, they’d come after her mom. This time, she was a shifter. And this time, her wolf pushed her on. No matter how stupid this might be, she couldn’t help it. She had to go to Brooklyn.
She took a taxi and got out a few blocks away from the O’Brien address. When she got there, she scoped out the neighborhood. It was a pretty common New York City neighborhood of brownstones, apartment buildings, and corner stores. Unlike Manhattan, there were no buildings with a doorman.
The darkness was occasionally broken up by a streetlight, a bodega, or lights in front of the apartment buildings. The O’Briens’ apartment building was a typical brownstone broken into apartments.
Ryenne went up to test the door. It was locked. She pretended to leave a note for someone to cover her presence.
Then, she walked around the corner to see what the back of the building was like. There had to be some way for the O’Briens to get out to run in their animal forms. Sure enough, behind their building was a park. The urge to shift and run became overpowering.
That would be one way to confront them. She could wait as a wolf for one of them to come out to run. She had no doubt she could run down a little fox, or even all three.
Since their apartment was 3B, she assumed they were on the third floor. From behind she was able to count the windows and figure out which belonged to the third floor, but she didn’t know which side was theirs.
A silhouette appeared in one of the third-floor windows, smoking a cigarette. From the shape of the person and the haircut, she was pretty sure it was Tess. Good, she was home.
Ryenne watched for another few minutes so she could figure out if Tess was alone. She wasn’t sure which she would prefer. Her wolf wanted all of them, but the human part of Ryenne’s brain knew it would be smarter to face Tess alone.
While she stood there, she ran through the possibilities. Ryenne could walk up to the front door and ring the bell and hope they let her
in. She could sneak in and try to force her way into the apartment. Or, she could wait for Tess to come out.
Her wolf wanted to pounce, but in human form, Ryenne did have a certain amount of control and knew trying to get into the building was a bad idea for lots of reasons. She wouldn’t have a lot of room to fight, it would be too easy for Tess to fight back, and there could be witnesses. Also, she could have trouble getting into the building.
So she decided to watch from her current location. If the light went out, she could get to the front of the building and wait for Tess to emerge.
She found a spot under a tree and hunkered down and watched the window. Tess finished her cigarette and moved into the interior of the apartment, away from the window. But the light stayed on.
About ten minutes later, there had been no more movement in the apartment, but Ryenne caught a whiff of cigarette smoke and fox. She jumped up from her comfortable spot, but before she was fully standing, a body hurtled at her out of the darkness.
She fought her way out from under the person. Once she was free, she looked up. Tess stood over her. Black leggings and a black scoop-necked, long-sleeved top made her blend into the shadows as well as Ryenne did.
Shame and anger mixed in Ryenne as she stood. Later, she’d have to think more about how to stealthily approach another shifter and figure out how Tess had snuck up on her.
Ryenne had a lot to learn still about being a shifter.
For now, though, she wanted answers.
Before she could say anything, Tess spoke. “I owe you a beating for what happened a few months ago outside the Archangel Club.”
“Is that why you harassed my mother with letters and then tried to kidnap her the other day?”
Tess’s only answer was a smile. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and cocked a hip.
“I know you’re a Fang, Tess. Why do the Fangs want my mom?”
Tess still said nothing. Her facial expression didn’t change. Her mocking smile increased Ryenne’s anger.
“Listen, bitch, what do you want with my mother?”
Tess raised an eyebrow.
Ryenne decided to change her line of questioning. “Fine. What do you know about my father?”
Lord of New York (Shifter Hunters Ltd. Book 3) Page 5