Love? Love left the building a long time ago.
Yet I only grinned. “So you admit I’m pretty.”
A low growl escaped him. “Do you think this is funny?”
“I think you should calm down before that vein in your neck bursts.”
“Watch yourself, Agent Slate.”
The admonishment and murderous face from a superior officer would make others tremble. But a lifetime of thatexact facemeant I’d developed immunity.
“Seriously, I’m already in hot water at work, I don’t need Mom busting me for giving you a coronary."
“Dammit Chase.” Merritt sighed, sinking down in the seat behind his desk as the pacing and yelling portion of the lecture ended.
Having my stickler older brother as my superior officer shouldn’t be a huge adjustment as he’dacted likemy boss for our entire lives. When Merritt chose me to join him at his new department, I thought my days of being his screw up little brother ended and I’d actually earned his respect.
Now I wondered if he’d only wanted to keep an eye on me.
The brothers thing also meant he knew exactly how to push my buttons.
"If your current case is so boring, I’ll remove you."
"No!"Shit, is my only good case really in jeopardy?“I can handle two cases. I’m a senior agent."
"The most junior senior agent."
"Merritt, come on! I had to make a call and changed the plan because I think there’s something going on here. "
“Oh, so you were being professional?” That question wasn’t rhetorical so much as snide. “Professionallybringing a civilian who needs help to your apartment first. Getting him drunkprofessionally.And now you’re desperate for the kind of smalltime case you’d usually complain about? Why do you want this so badly?” he questioned, turning his chair halfway to view the window behind him. “Do you like this Milton guy?"
“No! Of course not." I glared at his profile, sure his senses were honed on me and scenting the air for pheromones or any tell even as he pretended to ignore me.
“What were you doing at the gas station anyway? Why did you even stop?"
I offered a weak, “It seemed important at the time.”
Merritt’s face held no anger when he turned back to me. Only confusion, though not exactly surprise. Like he expected something to go wrong?
“Chase, if you think this is your opening to the Hodge case…”
“Hold on, Merritt—Director Merritt—"
“Wow, you even tried to show respect? Give it up, Chase. Just because you smell foxes here doesn’t mean it’s related.”
"I did smell fox," I insisted.
This leading back to his major case was somewhat unlikely. It was stillsomething.Merritt’s target was a smart bastard. Him keeping tabs on me was a possibility since I was the boss’s brother. As I’d been running late and hadn’t suspected anything at the time, I didn’t check for a tail.
“Let’s look at this guy.” Merritt pulled a file off his desk with some preliminary details. “Lucas Milton, 26, involved in a motor vehicle accident five and a half months ago. He crashed into a tree, possibly avoiding a creature—"
"Like a fox."
"—Oranyother wild animals. Even a regular fox is more likely.”
"He remembers a fox shifter."
"How reliable is his memory? He had a scare last night, two actually. First the fireball and another when he saw you partially shifted. What if he panicked and flashed back to the last time he suffered trauma and the events blurred together? Did this jar free a memory or create one?"
