Stumbling around my living room and trying to restore some order to the mess we made, I cursed myself for screwing up so badly. My usual finesse had left me when turning Lucas down because he blindsided me…and part of me hadn’t wanted to say no.
The attractive color in his cheeks from the alcohol looked much better than him pale and scared. It felt good being able to put a smile on a guy’s face who seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders…
If this did turn out to be a case, there were so many professional red flags on the field, but the alcohol was the real dealbreaker tonight. I tried to limit his consumption and not give him too much, but he was still a human drinking potent shifter alcohol for the first time. That ruled out anything happening between us while under the influence.
Finding my phone, a flood of messages waited for me. Crap. Before bringing Lucas to my place, I sent my partner a quick text to inform him of the change of plans and a suspicious incident I was following up on. Now I saw his response.
Temple: What’s this incident’s name?
Chase: Not like that, he’s a potential witness.
The phone filled with missed calls and angry texts reminded me this whole thing was a distraction from where I should have been.
Merritt: You better have a damn good reason for missing an important meeting.
Stone: Tell me you didn’t blow off work for a chance to blow some strange man. Tell me or I will end you.
Merritt: You better be dying. Are you dying, Chase?
Ugh, it wasn’t even like that. For maybe the first time ever. The other agents weren’t happy because it seemed like that, and Lucas wasn’t happy itwasn’tlike that. Nobody was happy. Not even me. What if I blew off a meeting for nothing? My boss would—shit.
A better question jumped to mind.Who the hell is in my apartment?
The buzz of liquor dulled my keen senses somewhat, but I inhaled a deep breath and concentrated. My ears and nose didn’t pick up the signs of another presence. Yet the prickling hairs on the back of my neck and feeling of being watched told me not to relax.
Needing an extra boost to locate the intruder, I partially shifted, my face transforming into something more wolflike as fur sprouted over my features.
Wrong… intruder in my den… enemy… wrong!
The feeling of unease became stronger even if nothing specific stood out.
I picked items up off the floor, paying attention to where it felt wrong to turn my back like I was showing off my weak point to a predator. Twisting around, I flung a coaster in their direction to throw them off for a second—except the intruder only stood there as I jumped towards him. I stopped abruptly.
“Ah! Frost?”
“Hello Chase. I am in your apartment.” The other agent spoke like a visitor casually dropping by, though I certainly hadn’t let him in through the door. “How are you?”
“Pissed! Jesus Frost, what the hell?"
Stalking away, I tried to lower my raised hackles, body still tense and poised for a fight.
…where the hell did I even get coasters from? Probably a gift from my mom or something. Too bad Lucas hadn’t guessed coasters, he’d totally have had to drink for that.
Frost’s head tilted like, shit, was he reading my mind? His keen violet eyes shined in the darkness. He surveyed the scene with a phone up to one ear, the tinny voice on the other end reaching me.Please tell me it’s not a guy.
"It’s a guy," Frost confirmed gravely.
"No!" I protested immediately.
"Oh really, then who’s that?"
No, no, no. My head twisted to him in slow motion, seeing the accident about to happen and unable to prevent it. He’d already seen my profile, so shifting back didn’t erase what he saw. Lucas’s eyes were so huge they took up his whole head. His heartrate skyrocketed into the stratosphere. He saw it all. He saw too much.
“Uh-uh-us,” Lucas stammered. “Didn’t wanna, wanna leave things how…wha-what?”
He stumbled to the futon and dropped down, doubling over and inhaling rough breaths as he placed his head between his legs. Okay, this life changing, earth shattering revelation required time to process, so I had a moment to think—Lucas looked up at me.
“Werewolves,” he said. “Werewolves are real.”
