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Evie looked at her watch as Ash sat there stunned into silence. “Listen, I have to go and check in. I also have to finish some paperwork on the takedown last week.” She stood.
“I know we barely get to have lunch together since you’re always on assignment, and I’m sorry that it took a sour turn for you. But that’s why you trust me. I’ll always tell it how it is, and we don’t need to dance around hurt feelings, right?”
Ash nodded, which seemed to be enough for Evie. She smiled. “Good. I’ll see you back at the office.” She gave a little wave as she walked down the street, just as the waiter approached, holding a freshly brewed pot of coffee.
“More coffee?”
“Oh, uh. No. Thanks.”
The waiter gave a small nod and headed to the next table.
I don’t know why Evie has been on my ass lately about finding someone or whatever it is she’s trying to say,Ash thought, rolling her eyes in annoyance as she looked over her scribbled ideas. The more she thought about the truth in her friend’s words, the more agitated she grew.
Unable to focus enough to read her own writing, Ash growled in frustration and shoved the pad away.
“I don’t need someone.Youneed someone,” she grumbled under her breath, unable to come up with anything else.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just talking to myself.”
The busboy gave her a curious look but was smart enough to continue clearing the next table as her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Ash? It’s Maive. Mr. Warren would like to see you in his office as soon as possible.”
Ash checked her watch quickly. “I can be there in twenty minutes. I’ll head there now.”
She slid her phone into the back pocket of her jeans as she stood to gather her things into her worn shoulder bag. She threw a five-dollar bill on the table and started toward the office building, still unable to get Evie’s little call-out out of her head.
See? This is why I belong to no pack. With Evie as a friend, I don’t need anyone else bossing me around.
“Psh,” she snorted, unable to stop her hackles from rising. “I enjoy being a lone wolf. I know who I am, and I don’t needanything or anyone to help me be anything else. I’m not living in the past,” she grumbled quietly to herself.
I’m just trying to take down as many bad or corrupt shifters as possible. It’s not my fault most tend to be worthless, power-hungry alphas.
Ash continued her self-convincing speech about how she worked for the Interspecies Council because she was good at it and loved the job, not because there was a hole inside her to fill. It was her choice to be a lone wolf, and she had never regretted it.
It wasn’t until Ash was almost at her superior’s office that she realized she needed to get her head back in the game. There was only one reason Bruno Warren wanted to see her. He had another assignment.
She pushed her rationalizing debate away and cleared her mind, ready to take in all the information for her new assignment.
“Maive,” she said, greeting Mr. Warren’s secretary, an older woman with a warm smile.
“Hello, Ash. Mr. Warren is in his office waiting for you.”
She gave her elder a brief nod of thanks before going through the office door.
“What, you don’t knock?” a stocky man with a cowboy mustache chided from behind his large mahogany desk.
“Don’t give me that. You knew I was here. Besides, you called for me, remember?” Ash sassed her boss as she sat in a chair across from him.
“Now, I assume you have another case for me?” She hoped that was why she had been beckoned because right now, all she wanted was to take out her frustration on someone who deserved it instead of beating herself up.
“I do, as a matter of fact. And it’s a biggie.” He slid a manilla folder across his desk.
She picked it up and glanced at the file. “Mason Blackmoss?”
