by Amy Star
Dylan rolled his eyes. “Whatever, asshole,” Dylan said, shaking his head. “Let’s track her, and convince her to keep her own hide safe with us, and worry about which one of us is going to bed her later on.”
“Okay, what have you got for us to go on?” Matthew took a deep breath to suppress the last of the laughter bubbling up in his chest and set his mind to work on the problem of tracking a woman they’d both only met briefly in a moment of stress, figuring out where she was with the bare minimum of information they’d been able to get out of her when she was in a less than candid mood.
At least with their usual jobs, Matthew reflected as they both got to work on finding Nadine’s online presence, their clients had done the vast majority of the intelligence-gathering. They had an idea of either where the item had been taken from, or who had done it, or something that would give them a lead on tracking. All they had for Nadine was a name, an apartment complex, an approximate commute, and a scent trail they could follow provided they could find it.
After about an hour, they’d put the pieces together, and found out where their target worked. Dylan had actually managed to sort out a lot of Nadine’s usual haunts, finding her social media presence and tracking the few times she’d posted her location, and Matthew had found her business persona on a few networking sites. Between them, they had a fairly well developed idea of the places to look for their quarry; Matthew only worried that if they were able to find it, it wouldn’t exactly be impossible for the lions to get the same information. Dylan dismissed the concern.
“None of them appear to be investigators of any kind or they’d have already tracked us down,” he pointed out.
“So where do we go first?”
Dylan considered the question. “First we check her apartment, make sure that it’s intact and that she’s not there, and not being staked out yet,” he said slowly. “Then, we go to her job—it’s still business hours there, and she seems like exactly the kind of woman who would go straight back to work as soon as possible. Gotta win those brownie points, you know.”
Matthew grinned slightly at that. “And after that, her stores and shit?”
Dylan nodded. “I can’t imagine she’s going to want to walk around a whole lot with the busted ankle, but she’s stubborn as hell. If she’s got some kind of routine, she’s going to want to stick to it just to prove she can, injuries or no.”
“And you’re over there talking about how much I respect her,” Matthew said, clucking his tongue against his teeth. “You’re practically in love with her already.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Dylan said, shaking his head. “We’re going to get her, we’re going to keep her away from the lions and whatever else is after her, and we’re going to figure a way to run those assholes out of town or get rid of them.”
Matthew nodded slowly. “Let’s not take the van for this,” he suggested. “I doubt she’ll feel like getting in it after what happened to her.”
“The car?”
Matthew nodded. “It’ll seem less like we’re trying to abduct her. She might even come with us willingly if we manage to get across the idea that it’s for her own protection. Who knows—maybe she’ll just agree to it on principle, since we saved her damn life before.”
“I think we’ve played that card,” Dylan said, smirking slightly. “But yeah, the car is a safer bet. Makes us look less like predators.”
They had invested their initial earnings in two vehicles: one—the van—was for jobs, like the one they’d been on when they’d met Nadine, the other was a used sedan, almost completely nondescript. The Honda blended into the scenery anywhere they went. It had the added benefit of a decent amount of trunk space, and it had gotten all of its scheduled maintenance.
Matthew changed into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, and he and Dylan left the house, both of them scenting the air, trying to catch any hint that they were being tailed themselves. He thought about their predicament as they drove across town to where Nadine lived, considering the number of texts they’d both received. They didn’t have any real idea of how many people were involved—there were about a dozen numbers showing up on their phones, but that didn’t mean much.
Alex was involved in drug running, Matthew thought, remembering the information that the client had given them when he’d given them the case. His pals probably have five phones each—buy them weekly, to keep the cops off of them as best as they can. He made a mental note that he and Dylan should probably get some kind of app that would allow them to run their business without giving out their actual phone numbers to their clients.
They arrived at Nadine’s apartment complex and talked their way into getting a key to the unit itself, Dylan flirting with the woman at the front desk until she blushed and giggled and wanted to be as helpful as possible. They had documentation that made them look at least slightly like legitimate investigators; Matthew hinted that there was an issue of something that had been stolen from Nadine’s property, and they were just trying to get as much detail as possible.
There was no sign of Nadine; although Matthew could smell her honey-lavender-lemon scent on everything in her cluttered apartment, she wasn’t in it. He followed her scent outside, and found her parking spot—empty of her car. Dylan took the opportunity of sniffing around the building to try and catch the heavy musk smell of lions, or any sign that their foes had visited the complex, but other than Alex’s scent—watered down after a couple of rains—there was nothing.
As one, Matthew and Dylan went back to their car and started off again, heading to Nadine’s office to wait for her there; by Matthew’s estimate, she would be getting out of work in another two hours—and they wanted time to make sure that there weren’t lions lying in wait for their unwitting bystander there.
“I fucking hate lions,” Matthew commented to Dylan as he drove towards the address he’d found for Nadine’s office.
“Except for the ones who hire us,” Dylan countered.
“Well, yeah, if they’re paying us they’re okay. All other lions can die in a fucking fire, though.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Dylan watched the exit leading into the parking structure where Nadine worked, mentally counting the time remaining before he could reasonably expect for her to emerge. He and Matthew had explored the area around the building as much as they possibly could, sniffing for scent trails until they had not only located the path that Nadine had taken from her car to the entrance into the building, but had also caught the scent of a were-lion; possibly it was nothing, but Dylan couldn’t let himself assume that the scent-mark was innocent. He was too keyed up with the threats he and Matthew were receiving, and the possibility that the lions that had rushed to the desire to avenge their friend might come after the weakest person involved was too strong. He wanted Nadine in his and Matthew’s care as quickly as possible, and he was willing to resort to a number of different persuasive methods to get the result he wanted—although he’d stop just short of knocking her out again.
“What do you think?” Dylan glanced at Matthew, barely tearing his gaze away from the entrance they both watched from a safe distance.
They had decided between them that it would be best for Nadine to not spot them immediately when she stepped out of the building. Better by far to wait until they knew she would be alone, and corner her when she got close to her car; that way they could talk fast, maybe convince her to get into their car before she knew what was going on, and get her on board with the plan for her own protection.
“Another few minutes,” Matthew replied.
Dylan nodded, checking the time on his phone quickly. While he waited, he reflected on the conversations they’d had on the topic of Nadine; it was impossible to miss the interest that Matthew had shown in the woman, and Dylan had to admit that even with the limited exposure he’d had to Nadine, he was more than a little attracted to her. That smell is the problem, he thought, shifting slightly in his spot and glancing around the parking structure to m
ake sure there wasn’t anyone skulking around. She smells like something I want to roll around in all day…something I want to eat every last bite of.
Dylan took a deep breath to steady himself, pushing away the visceral, animal impulses that rose up in response to the memory of the woman they were waiting to confront. Dylan knew Matthew had been seeing one of the members of their clan when they’d left Portland—Alicia had been serious about finding a mate, and while Matthew had fooled around with her, Dylan’s friend hadn’t committed in any way. Dylan himself had let himself go from one partner to another, switching between shifters and regular humans without becoming attached.
But of all the women he’d encountered, Dylan hadn’t found one yet that had the same kind of intoxicating pheromones, the same kind of tantalizing body, as Nadine had. It had taken more self-control than he would ever admit to anyone else to keep from trying to seduce her in the hospital bed. When she’d gotten chilled, he’d seen the outline of her nipples briefly straining at the thin fabric of her gown, and it had nearly ruined him. Dylan took another quick breath, gritting his teeth to push down the rise of lust that came with the thought.
The door opened, and Dylan gave himself a shake, pushing aside all of his lustful thoughts about the woman they needed to convince. Instead of Nadine, a handful of other office workers appeared, and Dylan scrubbed at his face, scowling at them without their knowledge. With the luck we’ve been having, she’s going to come out in a group of like eight people, and they’re going to talk her into getting into one of their cars and going to happy hour, Dylan thought bleakly. He fidgeted slightly, continuing to watch the door from his hidden position.
A few moments later, another group emerged, and Dylan thought about whether it wouldn’t be wiser to send Nadine a text message—he’d managed to talk her into giving him her phone number before she’d left the hospital—and tell her they were waiting for her, to come out alone. But part of the plan was that they wouldn’t give her any warning of their presence; Dylan and Matthew agreed that catching Nadine off-guard and unprepared to meet them would make it easier to persuade her.
“Calm your ass down,” Matthew muttered to him. Dylan glanced at his friend and shrugged off the implied reprimand.
A few more groups of workers emerged and Dylan began to wonder if the scent trail they’d caught was somehow from a person who’d gotten into the building already. Dylan almost suggested to Matthew that they should go into the building itself to see if they could find their quarry; but just when he was at his most apprehensive, he caught sight of her carefully limping out of the building, leaning heavily on a crutch. The tension mounted in Dylan’s body as he watched her make her way slowly from the building across the parking structure. Even at a distance, she looked tired—almost weak, though Dylan knew how deceptive that could be. She was definitely hurting, and Dylan decided she probably hadn’t taken any of the pills Ray had prescribed for her that day.
“All right, she’s getting close,” Dylan told Matthew. “Let’s go—we won’t get a window like this again.”
The parking structure was almost deserted at the level they were on; Nadine was almost at her car. They would have to talk fast and convince her thoroughly if they wanted to get her into their car before more people emerged from the building. While Dylan didn’t want to exactly kidnap Nadine, he didn’t want a whole lot of people seeing her talking to two strangers and then getting into their car; it wouldn’t look good to a random office worker, and it wouldn’t sound good to a police officer they might contact.
Dylan and Matthew emerged from their hiding spot, walking quickly to meet Nadine. She looked up when they were only a few yards away, catching the sound of their feet on the asphalt.
“Hey, Nadine,” Matthew said, and Dylan caught his friend’s charming smile, directed at their quarry.
“What are you two doing here?” Nadine frowned, and Dylan saw the ripple of pain on her face as she shifted on the crutch she was using. “I haven’t told anyone anything.”
“There’s been a little issue,” Dylan said, moving closer to her carefully. “See, the thing is, apparently our friend Alex has some other friends. Ones who aren’t so happy about what happened to him the other day.”
“That sounds like it’s kind of more your problem than mine,” Nadine said, glancing from Dylan to Matthew. “I just want to go home and take one of the pain pills and take a nap,” she added.
“It’s kind of your problem, too,” Matthew explained. “You remember what we told you about being dual natured?”
Dylan raised an eyebrow to emphasize his friend’s point. Even though he couldn’t smell, hear, or see anyone in the structure with them, he didn’t want to take any chances; one person was more than enough to know about his and Matthew’s secret, outside of the community of shifters.
“Sure,” Nadine said, shrugging. “What about it?”
“Your scent was all over Alex—I mean, he grabbed you and held you pressed against him,” Dylan pointed out. “These people who want revenge for their friend…they’re going to come after you before they come after us.”
“Why me? I didn’t kill him.” Nadine glanced around furtively.
“You because they’ll know you’re not one of us right away,” Dylan said firmly. “And they’ll come after you to get to us.”
“Oh, awesome,” Nadine said blandly. “This whole situation just keeps getting better and better every day.”
“So we’re going to need you to come with us,” Matthew said, and Dylan appreciated the slight gentling of his friend’s tone. “Just for your own protection. We’ll take you by your house and let you get some things together for a long stay.”
“I have to work tomorrow,” Nadine said, a whining note coming into her voice. “Guys—I can’t just throw my life aside because some people got pissed off at you killing their friend.”
“You’re going to need to take emergency leave,” Dylan told her. “This isn’t negotiable. There’s a were-lion who’s already been here—I don’t know if they’ve been working here all along, or if they found you, but since Matt and I were able to find your job by researching you online, it’s a fair bet at least one of the members of that group can do it too.”
Nadine brought her hands to her face and rubbed at her temples, shaking her head. “My life has become a complete nightmare,” she said quietly. “I can’t believe this.” Nadine sighed, bringing her hands from her face and opening her eyes to look at Dylan and Matthew in turn. “You’re not just fucking with me on this.” It was not quite a question.
“I swear to you, Nadine, we have way better things to do with our time than harass someone who didn’t even do anything wrong,” Matthew said.
“If we could guarantee your safety any other way, and let you keep everything in your life going the same as normal, we would,” Dylan added. “It’s just not possible. You’re injured, and even if you weren’t injured, you probably wouldn’t be able to deal with more than a couple of lions on your own.”
“Especially not in their lion form,” Matthew finished. “Come on. We promise we’ll give you your pick of whichever bed you want to sleep on, and you can—I don’t know, maybe you can work remotely?”
Nadine’s resolve was crumbling; Dylan could see it in the subtle shift of her body language.
“It just isn’t fair,” Nadine said, sounding both exhausted and resigned. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Trust me, we know that feeling,” Dylan said, remembering how that very same combination had ended up with him and his partner being exiled from their clan on nothing more than the say-so of their clan leader. “We wouldn’t be pushing you to do this if there was another choice that didn’t include you getting killed.”
“Thanks for reminding me of my imminent murder,” Nadine said dryly. She sighed. “Fine. Fine, I’ll come with you, and I’ll stay with you. But I’m not going to make this some kind of open-ended arrangeme
nt. You need to figure out who all is involved in this and how to stop them in—a week, tops. That’s the longest that they’ll let me work remotely before they’ll want me to make an appearance just to prove I’m not…” she shrugged. “I don’t know, doing something illegal.”
“Good,” Dylan said, giving Nadine an approving smile. “I’ll help you get into the car.”
“Is there anything from your car you need?”
Nadine looked at her car in response to Matthew’s question. “Can’t I drive myself?”
“Safest to let us drive you,” Dylan told her quickly. “If your car is here, and this is the only place they’ve tracked you to, they won’t be able to get to your house as easily.”
“I’m not even going to ask how that would work,” Nadine said, shaking her head. “There’s a few things I need to grab.”
Dylan nodded to Matthew to help her and turned away to retrieve their car; he had hidden it deep in the bowels of the parking structure, where it might not be noticed amongst all the other mid-level sedans that populated the garage. He heard Matthew’s voice, pitched in its most charming tones, and Nadine’s slightly querulous responses, and smiled to himself. If nothing else, Dylan thought, they had convinced her to go with them. We can get this taken care of in a week, he thought. We’ll figure out how many of them there are and just…take them out, or drive them away.
Surely we can call on some of the other folks in the area to help us. That thought gave Dylan some trepidation. He and Matthew were not yet well known to the shifter community in South Florida. They had a handful of assignments under their belt, but they were far from established by reputation, even with the mostly-neat job they’d done taking care of Alex. He and Matthew would have to rely on their own skills and abilities rather than calling on support from any of the other shifters—especially since they didn’t know whom Alex’s friends might have as allies in the area.