She opened her eyes. He was smiling at her. His fingers eased from the back of her head, his hand sliding forward. With his thumb, he stroked the corner of her mouth.
“There was a bit of chocolate there. It seemed a shame to waste it.” He licked his thumb and then wiped his hand on a napkin he snagged from the bar.
She cleared her throat. “Er…of course.” Her brain addled and she gave herself a mental shake.
“Coffee?” He held up the pods.
“Right.” She led the way to her office.
“A bit of a disaster in here.” Dante looked around.
“If you don’t like it, don’t look.” She flipped open the top of the coffeemaker, put one of the pods in and jabbed the on button.
“The water reservoir seems to be empty.”
She checked and sure enough Dante was right. Cursing softly, she stalked off to fill it, the sound of his husky laugh following her down the hallway. When she returned, he was standing where she’d left him. His hands were clasped behind his back as he studied the picture on her calendar. It was a half-naked man wearing a kilt; a prank Christmas present from Tina.
“I’m surprised you find that picture so fascinating.” She replaced the reservoir and once again pushed the button to start the coffeemaker.
“The castle in the background. I visited it once.”
“You’ve been to Scotland?”
“As well as England, Wales and Ireland. Apparently, some of my ancestors lived there.”
She made a non-committal sound. Something was off, though she couldn’t think what. A scan of the room showed that, even if he’d done a quick bit of snooping, there was nothing of importance to be seen. Her computer was turned off. There were no private papers sitting about. Just order forms for beer and napkins, next week’s work schedule and two unread newspapers. Another glance his way, showed he was watching the coffee drip. Perhaps she’d been mistaken, her dislike of Lycans having her automatically assuming something was amiss.
“Now that you’re done with me, who’s next on your list?”
“Oh, I’m far from done with you.” He handed her a cup and winked. “Far, far from done.”
“Double entendres and prevarication seem to be your favourite means of communication.”
“Guilty.”
“Not the usual qualities found in a simple employee from the Affiliation Office.”
“I’d hate to be that predictably boring.”
“Definitely not the words I’d associate with you.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because, as I said, I’m not done with you.”
Damn but the man was good at verbal sparring. He enjoyed it too, his eyes twinkling, a crooked smile always hovering nearby. Once again, she had to admit he was very appealing and that was not good. He was getting under her defences. She set down the cup and folded her arms. “No.”
“No?”
She nodded. “I’ve spent enough time answering your questions and helping with…well, whatever it is you’re doing for the Affiliation office.”
“You might want to reconsider. Camille assured us the Coven members would be cooperative. I’d hate to have to lodge a complaint.”
“Threatening me?”
“Pointing out facts. Shall we say nine o’clock tomorrow morning at my hotel? They do a lovely breakfast in the rooftop restaurant and the view is spectacular.” He set a card with the address and room number on the desk.
She glared at him and he smiled at her before giving a mock toast and drinking his espresso.
Lycan Link Headquarters…
Reno eyed the thick manila envelope Brad had set on his desk. “I guess it’s safe to assume the security protocols weren’t quite as secure as they should be.”
“Nope. The guy who designed it was good, but I’m better. I found a hole in the defence and that was all it took.”
“Not modest, are you?”
“I have a healthy self-esteem.” Brad sank down into a chair and propped his feet on Reno’s desk.
Reno stared pointedly at them until Brad put his feet back on the floor.
“Sorry.”
Grunting in reply, he peered into the envelope. “Did you read any of this?”
“Nope. I did a search for any file with Dante’s name and copied it onto a thumb drive then printed a copy for you. It’s all in there including the thumb drive. Hopefully it’s what you need.”
“I’ll check it later.” He set the package aside. “The captain wants a report on the state of the security system. Make sure you write one up and send it to him.”
“Will do. Actually, I did find some pretty sophisticated malware.”
“I thought you had anti-virus programs for that?”
“We do but the damned stuff is almost impossible to keep up with. By the time we identify one, hundreds of new ones have been created.”
“Any idea what this particular malware was trying to get into?”
“No idea. Passwords? It was capturing keystrokes, taking screenshots. And mostly focused on the Affiliation Office though who knows where else it’s lying dormant.”
“Maybe it sees Affiliation as a soft target? Once it gains access there—”
“Exactly. It can spread through the whole system. The bad guys no longer need insiders to leak information. All they need is someone to get careless with their email and everything goes to hell.”
“Well, get on it before that happens.”
“Will do. I’ll send out a memo for everyone to update their passwords, too.”
“Good idea.”
Brad rose to his feet. “Let me know if you need any more information on anyone.”
Reno chuckled. “You really enjoy hacking, don’t you?”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”
“Just keep it legal.”
“Until you want more classified information, you mean?”
Reno rubbed his neck. “Er…yeah, something like that.”
Brad left only to pop his head back in. “Reno?”
“What?”
“Your password is out of date and way too obvious.”
He sat up straight and glared at the man. “Were you trying to hack my account?”
Brad winked and walked away humming to himself.
Muttering under his breath, he logged on and changed his password as well as his security questions. Satisfied his files were secure, he decided to make a pot of coffee to keep him company while reading through the papers Brad had printed for him.
An hour later, the coffee pot was empty. He turned over the last page and then leaned back in his chair stroking his chin. Dante’s psychological profile from his days at the Academy said he was a certified genius, gifted in languages, mathematics, visual-spatial reasoning, you name it. There was also a side note about the man’s girlfriend back in those days. Carlotta. Seems her whole pack was found murdered shortly after Dante graduated. He dropped out of sight about the same time.
Reno made a note to look deeper into the circumstances surrounding the murdered pack. While he wouldn’t put it past Dante—according to Damien he’d steal the teeth from his own mother—it was doubtful Lycan Link would turn a blind-eye to such an event just to avail itself of Dante’s talents.
And avail themselves they did. Black ops, infiltrating the Purists, posing as an organ trafficker; Dante had assumed any number of roles in recent years while on unofficial missions for Lycan Link. From the way the reports read, his methods were questionable, risky and often illegal. And all for a price, of course. The man should be stinking rich by now based on the number of zeros on the papers.
Not all Dante’s activities were sanctioned, though. In fact, most weren’t. The man had been red-flagged as a potentially dangerous rogue several times, only there was never any follow up. Perhaps because he kept disappearing from the face of the earth for long periods of time only to turn up again in a totally different area, engaged in some new disreputable activi
ty. He didn’t seem to care what kind of bottom-feeders he worked for or what the job entailed. Espionage, extortion, theft; the list included most major crimes.
Reno frowned; there had to be some method, some guiding principal behind Dante’s actions. It could be profit, but not all the crimes attributed to him had an obvious payout. And now he was in Chicago, hanging around a member of the Universal Coven. Could it be something to do with the Alliance talks? Maybe, though Reno couldn’t think of a reason why Lycan Link would hire Dante to be part of that.
The witch community was the most resistant to an alliance. It wouldn’t take much to have them pulling out. If Lycan Link wanted something from the witches, they might send Dante in. Should he be discovered, it would be easy to point out his background, claim he was a rogue Lycan and they had nothing to do with him. That still left the question ‘why?’. Maybe it wasn’t information? Perhaps there was an assassination attempt in the air or…
He shook his head and closed the file. Speculating was a waste of time. Hopefully, Brandi would be able to add a few pieces to the puzzle after she chatted up the witches’ delegate.
In the meantime, he’d check deeper into Dante’s background, starting with the girlfriend’s dead pack. He’d see what the local police report had said at the time, if there were any suspects, any witnesses. And—a thought popped into his head—while he was at it, he’d do the research Damien asked him to do. No doubt there’d been a search done when Damien was first found at an orphanage but had it been complete or merely cursory for appearances sake? Lycan Link kept an extensive data base of all packs in Canada and the States. Had anyone checked further south? He’d start from that angle first.
After stretching, he stood and picked up his mug. Research required another pot of coffee.
Chapter 17
Dante drove his rental car toward a wooded area he’d discovered. His wolf wanted a run and he, himself, could do with some down time. Not that he’d likely be able to lose himself completely in the wolf. He had too much to think about, Gwyneth being near the top of the list.
You kissed her. Again. His wolf pointed out the obvious.
“It was part of the plan.”
It was?
“Of course. After this many years, the ways of a con are as natural as breathing.”
Uh-huh. The animal looked at him doubtfully.
He sighed. That was the problem with having an inner animal. You really couldn’t lie to them.
“Fine. It wasn’t just the con.” He frowned as he made the admission. If it had been, ending the kiss would have been easy. Instead, he’d had to force himself not to press closer and delve into the sweetness of her mouth. His body stirred in her presence, their verbal battles an aphrodisiac. She was quick, clever and kept him on his toes. It wasn’t often he met someone who could do that.
The wooded area was ahead. He pulled off the main road and bumped down a pot-holed track, finally parking in a small gravelled clearing. No one was about, the day being misty and cool in contrast to the beautiful weather of the past week. Sensible people were inside.
Then it is a good thing we aren’t sensible. The animal quivered in anticipation of being set free.
“Caution first.” He tested the air then carefully scanned the area for movement or surveillance cameras.
It seems safe. The wolf was prancing now, tail wagging, ears up.
“A minute spent now is better than years of regret,” he murmured. Hands in his pockets, he strolled into the woods, waiting until he was several hundred feet into the tree zone before shifting form and letting his inner animal free.
It yipped its thanks before giving a shake and setting off at a trot to explore. Robins chirped from the branches overhead while bees investigated the early spring wildflowers that poked out of the ground. Deep purple violets contrasted with yellow trout lilies and maroon prairie trilliums. The colourful plants were of little interest to the wolf, though. A squirrel had caught its attention and it gave chase not stopping until the rodent was up a tree.
Tail flashing and chattering insults, the squirrel glared down while the wolf circled below. The game had been over too soon in the wolf’s mind.
“There’ll be more squirrels,” Dante reassured. “Perhaps even a rabbit.”
True, the wolf conceded, giving the squirrel one last look. Nose to the ground, it set off in search of a scent trail.
Dante observed lazily, taking a back seat to the animal. It could roam free while he considered his next move.
He’d managed to hide a small surveillance device in Gwyn’s office between the calendar and filing cabinet; given the clutter in the room it was highly unlikely she’d ever notice it. He needed to discover where the Coven would be meeting and perhaps she’d mention it in a phone conversation or even discuss it with a visiting witch.
Once he knew the location, though, that was when things became tricky. Defeating a member of the Universal Coven would be almost impossible but taking one off guard increased the chances in his favour. And where else would a witch be most likely to let their guard down than when surrounded by their own kind?
If things went as planned, the malefic witch would be eliminated, Lycan Link’s hands would appear squeaky clean, the Alliance meetings would continue undisturbed and the entire incident would be classified as the actions of a rogue wolf. And, if he was lucky, he’d make it out alive. It was dubbed a suicide mission but he’d survived worse odds. Not much worse, of course. Thankfully, he had a knack for finding and successfully using every slim chance there was.
However, none of this would happen until he determined the identity of his target. He had no name but had gathered enough descriptions over the years to have a mental image of the person he was seeking. And the voice; he’d never forget the sound of it. He narrowed his eyes, momentarily lost in dark memories and plans of revenge.
His wolf finally found the scent of a rabbit and was hot on the animal’s trail, leaping over fallen logs, splashing through streams. Dante put his musings away. He might as well settle back and enjoy the run. Who knew when the opportunity would arise again?
It turned into a good chase and, pleasantly tired, his wolf eventually let the rabbit go on its way. Panting, the animal slaked its thirst in a nearby stream, the water refreshingly cool from the spring thaw, and then flopped down on the ground to rest. Eyes half-closed, ears cocked to catch any interesting sounds, it surveyed the surroundings, content to be out of the city and in its natural habitat.
Eventually an irregularity in the growth of the grass caught his eye. An area appearing much more lush and green than the nearby vegetation. After puzzling over the situation, the wolf rose to investigate. It nuzzled the grass, paced the circumference of the space then whined. A circle of green in the middle of the woods made no sense.
Also intrigued, Dante shifted back to human form.
“A burnt circle in the ground would mean black magic,” he told his wolf. “But this isn’t like anything I’ve seen before.” He walked around the circle, studying it from all sides. The air around the circle felt warmer and, still over-heated from the run, he stripped off his shirt, using it to absentmindedly wipe the beads of moisture from his forehead.
A look around the clearing confirmed this was the only circle in the area. He rubbed his chin, then knelt and ran his hand over the grass and an unexpected tingle of energy tickled his skin. He jerked his hand back but not before seeing a ghost-like image of Gwyneth kneeling in the middle of the space.
The witch made the circle? His wolf cocked its head.
“Could be.”
He reached out to touch the circle again but his wolf backed away.
Magic can be dangerous, the animal cautioned. What if it is a trap? The witch’s image could be there as a lure.
As always, his wolf’s advice held some merit. Thinking Roxi might know what he was dealing with, he pulled out his phone. When she answered, he quickly explained what he’d found.
“Yep, I know
what you’ve found. Tell me how much you’ll pay and then I’ll explain.” Roxi cracked her gum, the sound annoyingly loud.
He named an amount.
“We’re not dealing in cash here but you’re a good customer so I’ll trust you this time.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m generous that way, right?” She laughed and then launched into her explanation. “During a full moon, witches will often bathe in the light. The energy given off can cause a growth spurt in nearby plants.”
“I understand.” He looked down at his hand, the tingle almost gone. “It’s not dangerous though, is it?”
“Nah.”
Curious about what he’d seen earlier, he crouched down and touched the circle again. A vague image of Gwyneth appeared once more.
Roxi was still talking. “It might give you a scare, though, if you walk through the circle unawares.”
“A scare? How so?” He answered absentmindedly, his eyes fixed on the hazy figure of the woman in the middle of the circle.
“Depending on the power of the witch, an animated ghost-like image can appear if someone walks through the circle and disturbs the residual energy. Sort of like stirring up dust. When people report seeing ghosts in the woods, it’s often because they’ve disturbed a witch’s circle.”
“Interesting. Thanks for the information.”
“When are you going to pay me? And don’t say the cheque is in the mail.”
He arranged to drop the money off the next day and quickly ended the call, wanting to investigate the phenomenon before him. When he stepped back, the image disappeared and when he touched the circle with the toe of his boot, it reappeared. Boldly, he walked into the circle and the image became even clearer. It still had a ghost-like quality but was much easier to see.
The not quite real Gwyneth was seated on the ground wearing a gossamer thin white shift, her legs tucked neatly beneath her and her head bowed as if meditating. Eyes closed, she was completely still, an ice carving except for the barely perceptible rise and fall of her chest.
Eventually, she looked up and raised her arms, stretching languidly before beginning to unbraid her hair, the red tresses slowly untwining and spilling over her back and shoulders. Unexpectedly, Dante’s mind took a flight of fancy and he imagined himself sitting behind her. He’d run his fingers through the silken strands of her hair, then clench his hands in it and kiss her nape, trailing his lips down the column of her neck, turning her so he could access her mouth. The long tresses would brush over his skin, the whisper-like touch stimulating his nerves…
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