by T. S. Ryder
Ana felt blood rush to her face and she ducked her head. "Mama!"
"When was the last time you ate? A big man like you needs proper food." Ana's mother shook her head and tutted. "You should have told me he was a giant, Ana. I'll have to cook twice as much food!"
But the little woman still threw her arms around Joseph and kissed his cheek. The detective's eyes widened. They bugged out a little more when Ana's father also embraced him. Ana couldn't help but think it was adorable, the way such a big strong man would look so awkward from getting hugs. But her family was very hands-on and not everybody was used to that.
Ana intended to have a private word with her father about the shooting, to reassure him that she was fine, but her mother never left her alone long enough. Fortunately, she also insisted that Ana spend most of the time off her feet (because she looked like she was about to fall over due to hunger, apparently) and so her injured leg didn't give her any problems. The cut was stiff and painful, but she had adjusted to it quickly. Better than a gunshot.
After a long day, Ana and Joseph were hustled off to bed while her mother continued puttering around the house. Given the events of the past few days, Ana was grateful. She was exhausted and wasn't sure how much more of her mother's energy she could take.
"Why are we sharing a room?" Joseph asked stiffly when they were alone.
Ana's heart sunk a little, though she tried to remind herself that she wasn't interested in Joseph and so had no reason to be upset because he didn't want to go to bed with her.
"My family isn't prudish," she told him. "And we're supposed to be a couple, remember? It's a big bed, we'll be fine as long as you stay on your side."
He shoved his hands into his pockets and scowled.
"So what do we do now? Not even my father would be able to hide it from Mama if Seth was found dead, so there is a chance he's still alive."
"There may be," Joseph admitted. "But we are doing nothing. You are staying here where you will be safe and I am going to find out who in the precinct wants the senator dead. A conspiracy isn't the place for a PA, no matter how smart she is."
Ana's eyes narrowed. He was trying to get rid of her again? Well, that wasn't going to happen. At least he wasn't pretending she was too stupid for the job. "We can start with the threat groups, see if there are any connections to the police in your precinct."
"There is no we," he snarled.
She ignored his attitude and walked to the computer on the far side of the room. She didn't get home very often, but when she did, she always used the desktop PC. The keyboard fit her fingers better. She booted up the computer, glad that she had had the sense to keep it updated to the newest models on the market.
"What are you doing?" Joseph asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. He pulled off his shoes, tossing them aside.
"Pick those up," she ordered. "Mama will trip over them tomorrow."
"Why would she be coming into the room before we're dressed again?"
"Because she has boundary issues."
Joseph groaned.
Ana stared at the loading screen, trying not to notice how her pulse was beating or how dry her mouth was. Or the fact that she could hear the whisper of fabric against skin as Joseph took off his shirt. Maybe sharing a bed wasn't such a good idea after all… Clearing her throat, she pulled up the internet as soon as she could and began typing furiously.
"What are you doing?"
"I keep detailed records about all the threats the senator gets on my work computer. I'm just hacking into it so we can have an idea of who to look for."
"How many times—"
"Fine. So I have an idea of who to look for."
A brief pause. "You aren't planning on going after them on your own."
"You aren't going to help me," Ana replied coolly.
"These people killed my partner. I'm not going to let them kill you, too."
"I'm not going to give up on Seth, not when he might still be alive."
Joseph made a strangled noise. He shook his head, but joined her at the computer, pulling over a stuffed chair so he could sit beside her. "Fine. We will go after them, but I will be the one to confront them and try to retrieve Seth. If–and I do mean if–we can find out who it is, I want you to stay out of this, understood? You're a PA, not a cop."
Ana scowled but nodded, understanding that he had a point. She continued typing. "Seth asked for your captain personally," she mentioned, having just remembered. "After the shooting at the office. So if Seth trusted him, maybe we should as well."
"Maybe."
She had managed to hack into her work computer by that time and quickly brought up her files. She had them organized by most to least credible already, so they had a good starting point. There were several powerful groups out there that wanted to destroy shifters or, at the very least, didn't think they deserved to be treated as human.
With Joseph sitting beside her, she closed the hack into her work computer and turned to the internet. She ran a few searches about the various members of the anti-shifter organizations. Eventually, they stumbled into a chat room that held gold. The cop that killed Buck had been there, plainly stating that he was part of the precinct investigating the attempted assassination of Senator Fischer. He disclosed enough personal information for Joseph to identify him.
"If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him," he muttered, eyes dark. "But there's nothing else to do about him, is there? At least not now."
Ana put her hand on his arm, trying to comfort him.
The detective took over the computer then. Ana read over his shoulder for a moment, but the sheer level of hatred and violence in the chatroom had her shivering and she retreated to the bed. Eventually, Joseph yawned and turned off the computer.
He dropped his pants so he had only boxers on, and Ana’s mouth watered at the sight of his perfect abs and, when he turned to the window, his glutes. Her body urged her to drop her own pants. He retreated to the bed and laid down beside her, holding himself as stiffly as she was holding herself.
"I have a starting point at least."
Feeling his weight on the mattress had Ana's hands itching to reach over to him. There was a tightness between her legs and she clenched her thighs together to try to make it go away. Of course, that only made it worse… She rolled over, her back towards him.
"Good," she whispered in a strangled voice. "Where do we go from here?"
"I have some contacts I'll speak with tomorrow."
Joseph reach across her–why did his sweat have to smell so good?–and turned off the light. Ana tensed. She felt the detective pull back a little further from her. It was ridiculous, after nearly dying, that the dark would still frighten her.
"I can sleep on the floor," Joseph said as she shivered.
"It's not that," she was quick to say, not wanting to lose his warmth beside her. Somehow feeling him near made her feel safer. "I'm just… I sleep better when there is a light on. But it's fine. I'll be fine."
There was a brief moment of silence, then one of Joseph's huge hands began stroking her hair. His touch sent a tingling down her spine… with a sigh she moved closer, fitting herself right against his body. Safe in his arms, her eyes drifted closed.
Chapter Six
Leaving Ana's warmth and scent behind in the bed the next morning was pure torture, but Joseph knew he had to leave before she woke up. Not only did he need to get away from her parents' house quickly, before she could argue to come with him–or worse, actually convince him to take her along–but he didn't want her to wake up with his erection stabbing into her back. That would be too awkward to explain away.
It had been a restless night for him, her body so near, his desire building with every second as her scent became more and more powerful in the darkness. It had taken all his strength to keep his Bear from taking over and tearing off Ana's clothes. Several times he startled from erotic dreams, fearing he had done just that, but she was sleeping peacefully in his arms every time.
>
She needed her sleep. It was the only thing that kept him from waking her and trying his luck with a kiss… He thought she would be receptive, but…
But it didn't bear thinking about. It was against police rules to sleep together plus it was overall bad taste. After everything she had been through, it would be wrong of him to take advantage of her.
The night was over, anyway, and he needed to seek out a shifter support group that might have information on the anti-shifter group that mostly likely took Seth. He still thought the senator was dead, but he had to expose this group if he was going to expose the dirty cops in the precinct. If Buck was here—
He's not.
Joseph jumped when he opened the front door to find Ana standing right in front of him.
"Did you really think you could sneak out without me knowing?"
He stared at her. "How did you—"
"I climbed out the window. Sophie used to try to sneak out all the time. I got quite adept at making it to her getaways before she did. I had to stop her from breaking Mama's heart by going to wild parties." Ana lifted her chin, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "And if you think you are going to leave without me, you have another thing coming. Either I come with you or I go to your precinct and tell them everything I know."
Was she threatening to expose him?
I like her, his Bear chuckled. She'll make a good mate.
Yes, she will.
Joseph jumped. Where had that thought come from? Not our mate.
"Well? Which is it?" Ana put her hands on her hips.
The detective hesitated a moment but nodded. "You can come with me. I'm not going anywhere dangerous right away."
"Good," Ana smiled. "Now we have to say goodbye to my parents before we leave, or they'll never let me forget it."
***
Apparently 'saying goodbye' meant 'staying for breakfast', but Joseph had to admit he had never had a more delicious meal in his life. He had been too nervous the previous night to eat, afraid that they would be tracked, but with the hearty pancakes and sausages that Ana's mother made for them before they left, he felt much better prepared to face the day.
He found Tracey, the wolf shifter in charge of a shifter support group he attended, at the café she ran. It was a well-known place where shifters went for a safe haven against the prejudices in the city. The entrance also went to several other boutiques, so people on the street couldn’t see who was going into the café. It made shifters feel safer inside the quaint, cozy place.
Today it was completely empty and Tracey actually jumped when they entered. Seeing the normally calm Wolf so jumpy made him frown. He led Ana over to her and took a seat at the counter.
"Ana, Tracey, Tracey, Ana," he introduced. "What's going on here? The café is usually full to the brim."
"I was hoping to see you," Tracey said. "I phoned you at the station, but they said that you weren't available."
Joseph nodded. So there wasn't an arrest warrant out for him. Good. It meant that either the captain was hoping to handle this quietly or he was giving Joseph time to do what he needed to do. "What happened?"
"I came in today and found this on my door." Tracey unfolded a piece of paper and passed it to him. "It's about that kidnapped senator, Seth Fischer. They say that if I don't publicly announce a need for a shifter registry, they'll kill him and burn down the café."
Tracey was one of the best-known shifters in the city. For her to say they needed a registry would be a severe blow to shifter rights. Joseph scanned the note. Nothing jumped out at him. No hint or clue he could use. Once he was done reading the note, Ana took it.
"They'll kill him no matter what you do," he told the Wolf.
She gave him a dirty look. "I know that. But I have a mate and two little ones. What if they go after them next?"
"Why wouldn't they have done it already?" Ana looked up at them, her brow furrowed. "Why threaten the senator and your café, rather than the people closest to you?"
It was a good question. Joseph resisted to urge to smile at Ana for thinking like a detective. Instead, he grunted and inched a little further away from her. "Our best bet is to find the people who took Fischer. I'm going to show you some pictures, Tracey. I want you to tell me if you recognize any of them.
She didn't, nor could she tell them anything new about the anti-shifter group that the dirty cop had been a part of. Joseph left the café feeling worse than when he arrived. He continued to go around the city, asking all of his contacts if they knew anything. Other than the rumor that Seth was alive, he learned nothing.
That evening, he checked himself and Ana into a hotel. It was too risky to go back to her parents' place. He paced around the room, feeling his frustration build with every passing second. He didn't know where to go from here and had never felt so utterly useless before. He teased his hair to its ends, desperately trying to come up with another lead for the investigation.
Eventually, he knew that he had to stop himself from worrying about this or he'd never be able to think. Ana was at the window, peering out through the blinds, and he went to her, gently tugging her away. Just being near her helped him calm down.
"So how did you end up working for Seth, anyway?" he asked. "What got you interested in shifter rights?"
Ana looked a little startled at the question. "Umm… well, as far as Seth goes, we've known each other since we were kids. He's basically my older brother. I knew I wanted to get a job in politics and when he offered me the position as his PA, I took it."
"Simple as that, huh?"
"Pretty much. My family isn't really political. My father is a kindergarten teacher and my mother an insurance broker. But I was always taught to be thankful for what we have, stand up for what we deserve, and give freely to those who are worse off than us. It was never a pity thing. And like I said, Seth is basically my brother. When I started to see how poorly shifters are treated… it makes me angry."
That surprised Joseph. He was used to non-shifters expressing sympathy for their cause, but never anger. Even other shifters were usually too afraid of harming their tentative position in society to be angry about the way they were treated.
"Why?" he asked before he could stop himself.
"Why not?"
"You're not a shifter. Discrimination against people like me wouldn't hurt you if you hadn't gotten involved."
"Discrimination hurts everybody, whether they're willing to admit it or not. What if God gave us the cure to cancer, but the teenager He gave it to committed suicide because they felt they could never be accepted?"
"You make a good point. I wish more people could see it that way." Joseph found himself stroking her hair again and moved his hand away. Physical boundaries were necessary. "I'm glad that we have you on our side, Ana."
She ducked her head. "So… Seth told me that shifting isn't always hereditary. Did you always know if you were a shifter?"
"Pretty much. I was able to distinguish my thoughts from my Bear's at a young age. But my parents never tried to suppress that part of me. I know a lot of shifters aren't that lucky. People whose parents heard that they were brutes for so long that they started thinking it of themselves, and then passed on that mentality to their children."
His gaze flickered to her lips. He wanted to taste them so badly he forgot what he was saying.
"And that makes them more susceptible to mental illness." Ana's voice was pitched. She was leaning forward, her gaze on his lips as well. He could see her pulse beating in her throat.
I can't, Joseph thought. I'm meant to protect her, I'm on a case… I haven't even told her she's...
Our mate, his Bear said firmly.
What about Buck?
He'd say go for it.
It was true. All resistance crumbled as their lips brushed together.
Chapter Seven
She knew she shouldn't–not only was the timing and situation all wrong, but everything that Joseph did told her that he was just one of those beefy je
rks who thought he was better than anybody else. Well, almost everything… There was a tenderness to him occasionally that she hadn't been expected.
But, she didn't need another guy like that in her life. She didn't need somebody who would use her and leave her with a broken heart, an empty bank account, a pregnancy scare. Whatever it was, he would leave her. Just like all of the others did.
But the moment he kissed her, she forgot all of the reasons why she shouldn't want this. There was fire in his lips, a fire that sparked her blood and sent shivers down her spine. Ana seized his head, digging her fingers in his hair and thrust her hips forward, grinding against him.
Belatedly, she realized that it probably wasn't the best course of action… men like Joseph Baker, in her experience, liked to be the ones doing the seducing—
Holy Crap!
Her eagerness woke something in him and he answered hungrily, gripping her so tightly that he lifted her half an inch off the floor. He spread her thighs to either side of his body, bringing her injured leg up over his hip. Ana gasped into his mouth as he supported her with one hand and slipped the other under her shirt.
Ana's skin tightened. Joseph caressed her breast, tweaking the hardening nipple with one hand. He ground more firmly against her. She did her best to grind back against him, kissing his neck now, nipping at his collarbone.
"Tell me what you want," he whispered.
Joseph pushed her bra up to her chin and tugged her shirt out of the way, letting both feet back on the floor as he began kissing each breast in turn. Ana struggled to think as heat and pleasure coursed through her. She always did like it when men paid attention to the girls, and feeling his mouth on them in real life was so much better than the dream she'd had.
With one hand, he pulled her pants down to her knees. Another moan broke from her as he retook his position against her, brushing his lips against hers while he cupped her. She could already feel how ready she was as he eased a finger inside of her. Her muscles clenched, sucking him in deeper.