by E A Price
“Who can I speak to?” he shouted. “I need to speak to someone important right now!”
Boris, the bear shifter security guard, ran over to the rabbit shifter while growling at the otter.
Gerry stepped forward and nodded at Boris, telling him to take care of the rabbit. “Gerry Sanders, Director of Operational Teams. May I help you?” he said with a chilly smile.
“Yes, if you value your job you damn well can,” glowered the otter. The python harrumphed. Threats from a tiny squirrel shifter who was your mate were one thing. Threats from an otter shifter you weren’t even sleeping with were quite another.
“What seems to be the problem?” ground out Gerry as his muscles twitched.
The otter wagged a finger in his face. Boy, this guy had no sense of self-preservation. “I was promised I would get my revenge and then that bitch backed down and said I wasn’t a ‘suitable candidate’.” He put air quotes around the last two words, and also put the words into a singsong voice. “My bitch wife has to pay!” he growled, as fiercely as an otter could growl. They were just vermin, after all, thought his sneering snake. Not like squirrels, he quickly added. No, they were adorable little creatures, right up there with kittens and puppies – which were definitely not delicious food. Not like some of his den mates thought.
“Sir,” said Gerry, slowly, “perhaps we should talk in an interview room, if you’d like to follow me…”
The otter looked around the room and on seeing various agents watching him, went pale. He let out a garbled cry and ran to the exit with Gerry hurtling after him.
Fuck, who knew otters, could run so damn fast? thought a panting Gerry. Or maybe he was just getting old. That was an even less palatable thought.
The otter was in his car and driving away before Gerry could even get his breath back. At least, his eyesight was still good. He managed to get the license plate before the guy pulled out into traffic and cut up two other drivers. Their maniacal honking did nothing to slow him down.
Revenge thought Gerry. He’d said that a woman offered him revenge on his wife, and then she’d backed down. His gut instinct told him this was the break he’d been waiting for. Then his actual gut gurgled because he hadn’t eaten in hours. Hmmm, maybe Jessie would cook for him. She usually did. She often brought him food to work as well, because she insisted he didn’t eat right. His snake virtually purred as he thought of the ways his mate tried to take care of him. She tried as much as possible without it seeming obvious that they were in a relationship. It was hard work; he knew that.
He was daydreaming again. Something he noticed more and more when he was away from Jessie. How he ever coped before he met her, he did not know. He grabbed his phone and dialed Jessie, hoping she could trace the plate he just got.
Jessie answered with a wobbly sniff.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, his snake on immediate alert as he sensed her unhappiness.
“I’m at the hospital.”
Panic gripped him. “What?!”
*
Gunner was furious, and Jessie didn’t blame him. He was furious with both Erin and Jessie, but given that Erin was pregnant, he had decided to vent his fury on Jessie. Not that she minded. She shouldn’t have asked Erin to go there at all – it wasn’t even her case.
“What the fuck were you thinking going behind my back?” he snapped as he prowled up and down the hospital room. Considering his mood, the hospital insisted on a private room. They knew Gunner; he’d put a fist through their walls a few times before. They thought privacy was the best thing for him. “Erin isn’t cleared for field work.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t…”
“Damn fucking right!”
“Gunner calm down,” said Erin, softly. “The doctor said I would be fine. It was just a bad headache – no lasting damage, and I wanted to help.”
“You could have been seriously hurt,” he said through gritted teeth as he struggled to contain his bad mood.
“I can get hurt running across a street.”
Gunner’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, you’re right, you’d be killed! That’s it, no more walking across streets unless I’m there to help you.”
Erin rolled her eyes. “I’m pregnant, not eighty. And I don’t think all this yelling is good for the baby.” She patted her stomach, which was still pretty flat, but she may as well have been eight months pregnant considering the effect it had on Gunner.
Jessie and her squirrel felt immediate relief as Gerry rushed into the room. His eyes black from his beast found hers and he sighed. “What happened? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“We’re all fine,” said Jessie, reluctantly holding out her hands to stop him from advancing on her and doing something crazy like hugging her. Which would be nice, but probably not something they should do in public.
Gerry breathed in and out a few times before he finally noticed Erin, who was trying to get out of bed, and Gunner was blocking her at every move.
“Erin, are you sure you’re okay? Is the baby okay?”
Erin smiled and opened her mouth, but she cut off by her grouchy mate. “Fucking miracle that they’re both fine. What the fuck were you thinking, Jessie?”
“Don’t you dare speak to her that way,” snarled Gerry vibrating with fury as he stepped between Gunner and Jessie. If looks could kill, the polar bear shifter would already be stone cold on the floor.
Gunner bared his fangs. “Jessie knows she shouldn’t have taken Erin there. I’m just trying to protect my mate.”
“As am I! You speak to Jessica like that again, and I will wring your fucking neck!”
Silence loomed in the room. Gunner took a step away, but Gerry didn’t back down. Gunner and Erin looked at Jessie with a mixture of surprise and interest. Yep, there didn’t seem to be a way to explain away that.
Since there really was no point in pretending now, Jessie stepped toward him and rubbed his arm. “It’s okay, honey, he’s not going to hurt me.”
Eventually, he stopped trembling and dropped his eyes in embarrassment. Jessie gave them an apologetic look and managed to drag him out of the room. Erin made a hand gesture, telling her to give her a call.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, eyes still trained on the floor.
She rubbed her hands over his arms and chest. She’d heard that touching a mate was a sure way to calm them. At least, that’s what her mom said. Her parents were always kind of touchy-feely, though. Probably why they had eight kids.
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” she murmured.
Gerry balled his fists. “I just…”
“I know. Gunner was upset because he thought his mate was in danger, and so were you. I’m the one who’s sorry. It’s my fault. Neither Erin nor I are supposed to be out in the field. I shouldn’t have gone there; I just wanted to help you. Erin thinks it must have been some kind of spell over the house; she said they had a similar thing about a couple of months ago.”
“The department store robbery,” he said almost automatically. “Erin’s team - The Beta Team was looking into it. There was no robbery. The employees staged it and put a spell on the store to stop anyone from finding out. Erin tried to get a vision, and she ended up with a migraine and a nosebleed. I’d be impressed if it didn’t piss me off so much.”
“I know it doesn’t help much, but maybe it shows that something else is going on here. I sincerely doubt Lance would have put the spell on the house and then end up holding the murder weapon over the body anyway.”
“No.”
“But it’s not enough, right?” Her squirrel deflated in disappointment. She’d tried to help and put Erin in danger, and she still hadn’t done any good.
Gerry cupped her cheek and smiled. “No, but it’s a start. Thank you for trying.”
He bent down for a kiss, and she pressed her lips to his. He pushed his tongue at her lips, trying to gain entry, trying to deepen the kiss. Carefully, she repelled him, pushing against his chest. She didn’
t want to hurt him when he was in a delicate – or perhaps dangerous – state of mind, but these were the rules they were living under. One of them had to think clearly.
“Not here,” she whispered, trying to get a handle on her own arousal.
He ran through irritation and disappointment before landing on resignation. “Yes, you’re right.”
Tactfully, she moved away from him. The bulge pressing against her stomach was not helpful when trying to think unsexy thoughts.
Her squirrel wasn’t, but she was grateful when he distracted her by asking her to run a plate for him.
*
Gerry ended the call and squeezed his phone so hard that the screen cracked.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jessie, rubbing her eyes from staring at the case files too much.
“I sent Avery and Wayne to pick up the otter who was ranting and raving at the SEA earlier.”
“And?”
“LLPD were already there - he’s been murdered.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jessie squeaked, and she practically dislocated her jaw as she yawned. It had been a long night.
“Yeesh, I thought you were going to swallow me whole,” laughed Robbie.
“Yeah, sorry late night. I was up all, ah, playing an online RPG.”
Robbie nodded. “Been there.”
Jessie nodded, and they stepped off the elevator together.
“Meeting with Director Sayles.” He shrugged, explaining why he was on that floor.
“Good luck with…”
She froze, and her squirrel chittered in alarm. She was first alerted that something was wrong by the whispering, laughing agents. They suddenly quieted and pointed at her when she arrived. She saw Hester, and Wyatt the liger, and there was Lake from tactical, not to mention her friends from tech support. What was going on?
Then she saw the pictures.
There were photos all over the walls of her and Gerry kissing. There was no way anyone could mistake the fact that it was her and Gerry. Someone had photographed them kissing and plastered the pictures all over the walls.
Oh god!
The urge to shift and run up a tree was almost too much. But no, she had to face this. And there were no trees nearby, so that put the kibosh on that plan.
It was always a possibility that someone would find out, but she didn’t think it would be quite this embarrassing. Everybody knew in the second worst way possible. The first would have been everyone walking in on them having sex. She sometimes made weird squeaking noises when she orgasmed. Gerry insisted it was sexy, but previous boyfriends told her she sounded like a hinge in desperate need of oil.
Jessie snatched one of the photos from the wall. The picture was taken at the hospital. Someone had spied on them!
“Jessie,” said Robbie. He looked at her in distaste. “He’s a married man.” He took a step away from her and her squirrel growled. Thank you, friend!
The gossiping whispers intensified, and someone actually snorted.
Robbie shook his head and walked away from her. She felt her cheeks flame in embarrassment. Did he not know her well enough to know there had to be a good reason?!
Dick.
Her squirrel growled at a familiar scent. She smelled the photo and narrowed her eyes. She’d know that mixture of sweat and cheap cologne anywhere.
Jessie strode towards Barry Sayles, currently leaning against a wall and smirking at her. She thrust the photo at him. “You did this!”
He raised his eyebrows in comic and completely unbelievable surprise. “Me?”
“Don’t bother pretending – you did this!” Her beast hopped about, lividly.
Barry shrugged indifferently. “If you ask me, Sanders is a low, cheating son of a bitch. Everyone has a right to know.”
“He’s a thousand times a better male than you are!”
Barry’s naturally red face seemed to boil in annoyance, and Jessie wasn’t even done yet.
“You’re nothing compared to him, you moronic pig!”
He snapped and slapped her across her face with a resounding crack. She dropped to the floor clutching her cheek. Ow! Just fucking ow! She wasn’t sure she knew pain before then. And that included the time that wild fox got her between it’s teeth when she was first learning to shift to her squirrel. Her cheek burned, and the ringing in her ears almost drowned out the enraged shouts and screams around her.
However, she wasn’t so out of it that she didn’t scent Gerry a second before he roared and threw himself at Barry. She wasn’t proud, but she did feel a thrill at watching him trying to protect her and going after the male who hurt her. Although, she did feel a little concerned that Gerry might get hurt in the process, but her loyal squirrel was confident that the jackass rhino shifter was no match for her python.
Barry tried to block the punches Gerry was aiming at him, but he was too slow. Before the rhino could do anything, Gerry burst out of his clothes and shifted to an enormous python. Think horrors of the deep enormous.
The beast wrapped itself around Barry and squeezed with all it’s might. Barry tried to shift, but the grip of the python was too strong, and his face started turning almost blue.
Jessie was vaguely aware of Cora, who was pulling her to her feet, but she couldn’t take her eyes away from the grappling males.
The agents trying to pull them apart stepped back; it was one thing trying to break up a fight between two males in their human form. Trying to stop a python mid-attack was not something to be taken lightly by anyone. They were, after all, slippery bastards.
However, there was one person unafraid.
Juliet strode forward and easily pulled the two men apart. Her eyes glowed red and fangs grew from her teeth.
“Enough,” she hissed with difficulty through her huge fangs. She didn’t yell, but she was obeyed.
“Gerry, shift,” she ordered.
The snake hissed, but after she told him again, he did. He sneered at the rhino before running to Jessie. He was over six feet of taut, naked flesh trembling with anger.
“Are you okay?” he asked stroking her cheek
Jessie nodded, only shaking slightly.
“What the hell is going on?” snapped Juliet.
*
Jessie gave him a sympathetic look. “Are you sure you want to do this now?”
“Yes, there’s no point in pretending now.” About damn time thought his snake.
Both Gerry and Barry had been suspended indefinitely. Gerry for attacking Barry and Barry for attacking Jessie. Although he suspected that the prank of the photos hadn’t gone unnoticed by Juliet. She tolerated a lot from agents, but attacking a small female and trying to disgrace her was intolerable to Juliet, who had been an advocate for women’s right for well over four hundred years now.
He was on his way to his house for the last time. He was planning on packing up all his things and moving in with Jessie for the time being. Forever corrected his snake.
He’d already spoken to Edith, and she understood. In fact, she already knew what happened at the SEA – because her father told her.
News travels disturbingly fast.
Edith had already spoken to her father and told him they were both seeing other people, and she reported to Gerry that, surprise, surprise, the conversation had not gone well. Her father had already turned up at the house and got into a screaming argument with Bruno. Edith had cried. Grant had threatened. Bruno had yelled. Gerry was glad he missed it.
Gerry had fielded his own phone call from Grant, who expostulated that his family was going to lose the hotel, he was going down, he would never work at the SEA again, yada, yada, yada. Gerry told him to worry about his son and hung up.
He’d have to talk to his parents about the money, but they’d understand. Really, they would. They hadn’t asked him to marry Edith, and they would never have forced him to do so. He was sure they were grateful for the money when they got it, even though they never said so, but they were proud enough to belie
ve that they would have managed without it. They would be adamant that it was their problem, and they would solve it. Which they would have to now.
His eyes flickered to Jessie as she pressed an ice pack against her cheek. His snake rumbled unhappily, encouraging Gerry to turn the car around and hunt down the bastard who did that to her. She’d be okay, but his python wished he could murder Barry for even touching Jessie, never mind, hurting her.
That being said, his beast wasn’t in a terrible mood, like Gerry suspected he would be. No, the snake could, grudgingly, see the upside to the day’s events. For one thing, it meant that he no longer had to pretend they weren’t in a relationship. He could openly show the world that Jessie belonged to him and him alone. Yes, always an upside to every situation.
However, Gerry was concerned about the open cases. But he would brief Gunner about the revenge cases and the murdered otter, and he was sure the polar bear would be able to crack it. He just hoped that Gunner didn’t give up on Lance. But that wasn’t something that Gerry had to worry about anymore. In fact, he didn’t really have anything to worry about anymore. He had an odd feeling of lightness. For the first time in his life, he had nothing to do.
So what was he going to do with his time?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Barry Sayles stared long and hard at Madam. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
“No,” she lied, refraining from rolling her eyes.
He’d seen her virtually every day for over a year, but she wasn’t going to mention that, she preferred to stay anonymous. Meeting him without checking him out or getting his name had clearly been a mistake, but he had been referred to her and she didn’t feel like she could say no to a former client.
But she wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on like this. Yesterday when the damn otter shifter turned up at the SEA, she virtually lost ten years of her life.
The idiot wanted revenge on his wife for leaving him. He had an affair, so she left him and found a new male. And he wanted revenge on her for daring to leave. No, she couldn’t possibly arrange revenge on that woman. There was no justification! The whole point of her helping people was to punish people who deserved it. The woman sounded like a saint for putting up with him as long as he did.