Bears in Blue Shifter Romance Box Set

by Mia Taylor

  A peculiar sensation twisted in his gut.

  “Where are you going?” Dan demanded as Rhett turned to leave.

  “I need to see Charlotte again,” he said but before he could move, Dan’s hand shot out to stop him.

  “You’re not thinking rationally, partner. You need to sit back and process whatever it is you think you’re doing.”

  Rhett stared at him, his heart pounding.

  He’s right. I can’t go back there.

  Charlotte said she’d be out tomorrow. He could wait that long, couldn’t he?

  Slowly, he nodded and Dan’s face relaxed.

  “All right,” he muttered. “You’re right.”

  “I know you care about her, Lewis, but you have to consider that they wouldn’t have sent her in there if they didn’t have faith in her abilities.”

  Yet Rhett knew the reason they’d sent Charlotte undercover had nothing to do with her capabilities and everything to do with Mia.

  I’m trying to let go of Mia but she just keeps coming back to haunt me.

  “Should we go have that drink now?” Dan suggested and Rhett could see that he didn’t trust the older detective not to go back to Charlotte.

  “Yeah,” Rhett sighed. “We better.”

  The men left the stationhouse, Dan chattering away about something, but Rhett was barely listening.

  He kept envisioning Charlotte in that form-fitting number, returning to an apartment with a detective who didn’t belong there in the first place.

  Tomorrow, he vowed. I’ll go to Intelligence and find out what I can about Rand Simon.

  Chapter Nine

  Lies Upon Lies

  “So we’re not going to tell Kelly that she’s married?” Rand scoffed. “I’d say that’s a blatant breach of protocol, wouldn’t you?”

  “It’s irrelevant,” Charlotte said crisply from the bedroom where she was slipping out of her dress and into a pair of soft cotton pajamas. She lingered in the dress a moment longer than necessary, eyeing herself in the mirror as she recalled the way Rhett had looked at her.

  Has he ever looked at me like that before?

  The memory sent a delicious shiver down her spine but Rand’s voice quickly brought her back to reality.

  “I think you’re making a mistake by withholding that from her.”

  “Like I told you before—my op, my way. No one asked for your opinion.”

  She slipped the shirt over her head and ambled back into the living room.

  “Call it in and tell Kelly we’ll be home tomorrow.”

  “We should stay for a day or two,” Rand insisted, looking at Charlotte with wide, interested eyes. “What happened to the dress?”

  “Does this look like a party to you?” she snapped. “And no, we’re not staying any longer. It’s not like Mia was going to invite me back over for tea. She doesn’t want to see me again, I assure you.”

  “What happened between the two of you anyway? You didn’t say much.”

  “I told you—she’s still collecting information and she’s…” Charlotte felt her breath catch in her chest as she tried to stop herself from spilling to Rand that Charlotte knew the truth about the bears.

  “She’s what?”

  “She’s still happy where she is,” Charlotte finished lamely. “I’m going to bed. Call it in to Kelly.”

  “I think if we’re going to lie to our superior, you should be the one to do it.”

  “I’m not lying!” Charlotte barked at him. “I’m just not telling her irrelevant information.”

  “Are you going to tell her husband?”

  Charlotte’s face went translucent. “Whose husband?”

  Rand grunted as if he knew she was playing dumb.

  “Are you going to tell your partner that his wife married a mobster while undercover?”

  “EX-husband and of course not. Why would I?”

  “That’s what partners do, don’t they? Keep an eye out for one another, tell them when their spouses are cheating—”

  “Rhett doesn’t care what Mia is doing,” Charlotte spat, striding to where the burner was kept hidden.

  “Really? Then what was he doing here?”

  “He was here for me! He wanted to make sure I’m okay. That’s what partners do for one another.”

  “He’s one of us, isn’t he?”

  Charlotte turned and looked at her companion with annoyance but slightly taken aback by the conversation shift.

  “So what if he is?”

  “Married to a mortal? That must have been awkward. Did Mia know about him?”

  “Of course not! That’s against our code.”

  Suddenly, Charlotte was beginning to feel like she was the one being interrogated.

  “Do you have something to ask me, Rand?”

  Rand shrugged nonchalantly and sat back. “Do you ever think it would be so much easier without the mortals in the department?”

  Charlotte blinked, confused by the twists and turns of the conversation. “What?”

  “Never considered it, huh?” he laughed. “I hadn’t either until I started working undercover.”

  “Are you drunk?”

  Rand smiled a half-grin and shook his head. “No,” he laughed. “Go ahead and make your call. I won’t blow your cover.”

  Charlotte grimaced and looked at him for a long moment.

  “What are you really doing here?” she asked. “You weren’t supposed to be here from the start, were you?”

  “Things change.”

  “Hm.”

  Rand rose and sauntered into the bedroom but Charlotte yelled out after him not to fall asleep.

  It was almost midnight and for a moment, she considered waiting until morning to call Sergeant Kelly.

  There was nothing that was going to change between then and the morning, except that Rand might claim the bed if she made the call now.

  I’ll call in the morning, she vowed.

  “You better not be laying—”

  A loud pounding on the door stopped her from saying another word and Rand joined her in the hall, his eyes wide.

  “Your partner?” he mouthed and Charlotte shrugged.

  Surely Rhett wouldn’t come back now… would he?

  A spark of hope lit through her but knowing that the cameras were on in the apartment, she ran to the door before Rand could move.

  “Wait!” he hissed. “You don’t know who—”

  She pulled open the door, her look of secret pleasure fading away to shock as she stared at the barrel of a gun.

  “You need to come with us,” Mia said, cocking the pistol back. If Charlotte had not been so indignant, she would have laughed. A bullet wouldn’t do anything to stop her.

  “Who is us?” Charlotte asked. Rand snorted when he saw her in the doorway.

  “Still think she’s okay to keep working?” he snickered.

  “Shut up!” Mia snarled. “I know a bullet won’t kill you but there is a bomb in this building, encased in silver fragments. If you do anything stupid, it will detonate and that will be the end for you.”

  An ominous silence followed her words.

  “She knows about us?” Rand hissed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Shut up, Rand,” Charlotte snarled.

  “I’m giving you one minute to decide,” Mia insisted but Charlotte could read the desperation in her tone.

  “She’s lying,” Rand snapped. “Take her down.”

  He stepped forward to do it himself but Charlotte raised a hand to stop him.

  “Don’t you think that will raise a lot of questions?” Charlotte asked her softly. “Why are you doing this? I thought we had a deal.”

  “What deal?” Rand yelled. “What the hell did you do?”

  “I just want to ensure you hold up your end of the bargain,” Mia replied. “Come with me. I want to hear you call Kelly.”

  “Why don’t you just come inside?” Rand asked suddenly, his tone shifting pleasantly.

 
“Do I look like an idiot to you? I know there are cams all over the apartment!”

  “There are also audio devices,” Charlotte chimed in. “You fucked yourself by coming here, Mia.”

  Fury colored her eyes and she aimed the gun between Charlotte’s brows.

  “No! They never put audio in safehouses. There’s no point since business is never conducted in them.”

  She’s been at this a lot longer than me, Charlotte thought grimly. She’s onto us.

  “Well, I suppose that’s just a chance you’re going to have to take.”

  Her eyes flashed and she wailed loudly, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “You! You always had it in for me!”

  “Oh, here we go,” Charlotte muttered, waiting for the pity party to ensue.

  Before Mia could speak another word, a flash of fur danced down the hall and she was knocked back ten feet and pinned to the ground.

  Mia began to scream as the massive beast upon her gnashed its teeth and lowered his snout toward her.

  Rhett!

  “No! No, don’t hurt me! I wasn’t going to do anything to them, I swear! I just want to live my life with Theo! Is that so wrong?”

  A sinking sensation hit Charlotte’s gut as she watched Rhett fall back onto his haunches in shock.

  That’s one way to find out your wife was cheating on you.

  “Please! Don’t take that away from me!” Mia screamed. “He’s all I have!”

  Slowly, Rhett regained his mortal form and Mia gaped up at him in shock.

  “Rhett!” she breathed. “Oh God… I didn’t… I didn’t…”

  “Is that why you disappeared? You were having an affair?”

  “No!” Mia protested, looking desperately at Charlotte and Rand as if they were going to help her through the mess she’d found herself in.

  “Why is she looking at me?” Rand demanded. “I kind of wish your partner would eat her.”

  But Charlotte could only watch with a growing feeling of sick in her stomach as if her emotions mirrored exactly what Rhett was feeling. She silently willed him to look at her and not at his ex-wife with so much hurt.

  It’s over. It’s been over forever. Forget about this crazy bitch! she wanted to scream, but of course she didn’t.

  “You called him here, didn’t you?!” Mia yelled, jumping up and pointing accusingly at Charlotte. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted. It’s always you!”

  Charlotte wished Mia would stop blathering but it was the look in Rhett’s eyes when he looked at her that did her in altogether.

  She’d never seen such pain, even when Mia had served him with the papers for divorce.

  “You knew about this?” he demanded, his voice hoarse.

  “We need to take her in,” Rand said urgently. “Someone is going to see us soon.”

  “THE BOMB!” Mia shrieked almost maniacally. “There’s a bomb!”

  “There’s no bomb, Mia,” Charlotte barked. “You can’t even work a microwave, let alone build an explosive device.”

  Mia turned to flee but Rhett reached out to grab her, yanking her back.

  “How long have you known about me?” he demanded but Rand had had enough of the public display of chaos.

  “Bring her in here,” he ordered Rhett.

  “NO!” Charlotte cried. “He can’t be seen in there. Rhett, you need to get out of here.”

  Her partner looked at her with devastated eyes as he pulled his former wife toward her.

  “I’ll call you when I get home,” Charlotte promised but he shook his head.

  “No,” he muttered. “Don’t.”

  “RHETT!”

  He was gone, leaving the hysterical Mia in the care of the two undercover agents.

  “Never mind him right now,” Rand growled. “You can deal with your lover’s quarrel after we figure out what to do with this one.”

  “Just send me back to my husband!” Mia begged. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I panicked.”

  They closed the apartment door and Charlotte pushed Mia to the sofa.

  “Not gonna happen,” she snarled, a new rage toward the hapless brunette forming in her veins. “You say that I ruin everything but it’s always been you!”

  Shock tainted Mia’s face and she visibly swallowed as Charlotte loomed over her.

  “You couldn’t just let him go,” Charlotte continued, her breaths ragged as Rhett’s final gaze burned into her memory.

  “I didn’t have to,” Mia spat back. “He was always in love with you. There was nothing to let go of.”

  “You’re so selfish that you didn’t even know what you had,” Charlotte choked and Rand grunted.

  “Seriously? Are we doing this now? Call Kelly and tell her what happened.”

  “I-I don’t know what to tell her.”

  Rand’s mouth firmed and he glared at Mia.

  “You tell her the truth. That this one married Theo Susi and then attacked you when you confronted her. Right, Mia?”

  “I’ll tell! I’ll tell everyone about you!” Mia threatened. “I know all about all of you!”

  “And I’ll make sure you get released into general pop,” Charlotte countered. “I guarantee that we’ll make it out alive if our secret comes out. Will you?”

  Mia whimpered. “I’m sorry!” she gasped again. “I’m-I’m just scared!”

  “You’re a selfish bitch,” Charlotte corrected. “And I can’t wait to see what they do with you.”

  “You can’t tell Theo the truth about me!” Mia mewled. “He’ll be crushed. He loves me so much!”

  “He loves Stephanie Rizzo,” Rand corrected. “He would never love someone like you, Mia.”

  Charlotte gulped back the lump forming in her throat.

  “Charlotte, are you going to call it in?”

  She nodded slowly, still unsure of what Mia would say to their superior officer, but there was nothing else she could do but call and wait to find out.

  “Charlotte!” Mia pleaded in a last-ditch attempt to make good on her character. “Everything I did, I did for the CPD!”

  “I can’t listen to her anymore,” Rand groaned, snatching the burner from the table and dialing out.

  Mia and Charlotte stared at one another for a long moment. It was Mia who broke the steadfast gaze with a cruel smile.

  “So, I guess you’ll get what you always wanted now, huh?” she sneered.

  “What’s that?” Charlotte replied.

  “Rhett, obviously.”

  Charlotte could see Mia was taunting her and she resisted the urge to punch her squarely in the jaw.

  No, I don’t think that will ever happen, thanks to you, Charlotte thought, gritting her teeth. Yet even as she thought it, she knew that she was as much to blame for what had happened as Mia.

  Maybe Rhett and I were never meant to be together in the first place. Maybe we should be happy just being partners… if I can ever get him to trust me again.

  Chapter Ten

  Reassignments

  There was a shift in the atmosphere, one that Rhett sensed instantly, but he knew what it was, even without raising his head to look.

  “Look who it is! I was beginning to think that you and Lewis were the same person,” Hammerstein laughed. “Never being in the same place at the same time.”

  “Hey, boys,” Charlotte called. The mere sound of her voice caused Rhett to tense but he refused to look at her until she arrived at his side.

  “Uh… hi?” she called. Rhett continued to ignore her, watching LaCroix out of the corner of his eye.

  “Hi,” Dan offered. “Dan LaCroix.”

  “Oh, I don’t give a shit,” she laughed. “You’re at my desk.”

  “Oh…”

  “No, he’s not,” Rhett interjected. “That’s Dan’s desk. You’re with Hammerstein now.”

  Charlotte scoffed and folded her arms under her chest.

  “No,” she said slowly, looking at Rhett with wide eyes. “This has been my desk for the last seven
years—”

  “And now it’s Dan’s,” Rhett growled.

  “Can I have a word with you?” Charlotte demanded and he shook his head.

  “Can’t. We have to head out. Come on, LaCroix.”

  “Come on, LaCroix?” Charlotte echoed in shock. “I’m your partner.”

  Rhett scoffed. “Are you?”

  He didn’t bother waiting for an answer and instead grabbed his jacket from behind his chair before heading to the stairs, but Charlotte’s voice traveled to meet his ears.

  “Well, know that when you come back, LaCroix, your shit is going to be over there.”

  “I don’t mind switching desks—”

  “If you have a problem,” Rhett interrupted Dan from the doorway of the emergency exit, “I suggest you take it up with Kramer. LaCroix, if you take any longer, you’re going on your own.”

  He stormed down the stairs and Dan rushed after him.

  “That was intense,” he muttered. “I can give her desk back. You’re the one who told me to move, remember?”

  “I do remember. We’re partners now. You should be sitting with me.”

  “What the hell happened between you two? Last week, you were committing all kinds of crimes to make sure she was okay, and today—”

  “Actually,” Rhett corrected, “it was you who committed all kinds of crimes. I was an unwitting participant.”

  Dan gaped at him as he ran down the stairs.

  “Seriously? I’m pretty sure interrupting an undercover op is criminal,” he panted.

  “Prove it.”

  They burst out of the station house and into the parking lot. Rhett tossed Dan the keys and he accepted them, surprised.

  “You’re letting me drive?”

  “I’m turning over a new leaf,” he replied. “Letting go of control for a while.”

  “Okay…” Dan seemed uncertain of what to make of that information and instead accepted the honor.

  “Where are we going?” Dan demanded.

  “How about lunch?” Rhett replied.

  “Lunch? It’s nine-thirty!”

  Rhett looked at him sheepishly. “I just wanted to get out of there,” he confessed. “I don’t really have anywhere to be.”

  Dan nodded understandingly and sighed. “Does Pinkerton even know that you’ve asked for a transfer out of the 22nd?”