Chapter Two
Blake
Blake let Mal and Dexter move him down the street, even as his wolf threw back its head and howled in protest. He glanced back at Krista as she walked back to the coffee shop with her great-aunt shooting him dirty looks over her shoulder. Krista was wearing pale blue slacks and a flower-print shirt that accentuated her generous curves. Her glorious, rebellious red hair was spilling out of her hairband in sexy waves. And she smelled like…his.
Mentally, he smacked himself upside the head. Hard. Damn it, “his” wasn’t a scent… and yet it was the smell he’d come to associate with her.
Why was his wolf going crazy over the sexy red fox? She was an assignment. Nothing more. And if he didn’t get his wolf under control, she’d be the reason he was waiting in the unemployment line.
“Oh man, that was classic.” Mal wiped tears of laughter from his cheeks. “Why didn’t I think to get a video of that? A million hits on YouTube, guaranteed.”
“Uh, because those in the security business like to operate under the radar?” Dexter growled at him. “And Stef would have bounced you out on your furry tail the second she saw the video?”
“Right, right. Of course.” Mal pulled his half-eaten sandwich from his lunch-box and stuffed it in his mouth. “It would have been worth it though,” he mumbled with his mouth full.
Mal had been working at Shifters, Inc. for several years, originally in the California office. A restless soul, he’d moved across the country when the new satellite office had opened a few months ago. Blake secretly suspected the owners had finally got sick of the lion shifter’s practical jokes and decided they’d either have to relocate him or kill him and hush it up.
Dexter and Blake had been army buddies together. Blake was just out, and he needed this job. He needed the work. Needed to keep busy, or his mind started chewing over all the things he’d seen overseas. The people he’d lost. The choices he’d made.
Together with their boss Stef, the hard-headed vegan horse shifter who could cheerfully kick any of their asses into next week, apex predators or no apex predators, they made up the permanent staff of one of three new Shifters, Inc. splinter offices.
They paused and sat down on another bench, finishing up their lunch.
“So, what’s the story on that little vixen? Is she single and ready to mingle?” Mal opened a bag of cheese puffs, tipped his head back, and dumped the little orange balls in.
“How the hell would I know? I’m not a dating agency.” Blake was surprised by the wave of rage that swelled inside him at the thought of Mal and Krista together. His wolf growled softly inside him, and he could feel his hackles bristling just under the skin at the nape of his neck. With an effort, he shook it off—he was just irritable from being pulled away from Krista so abruptly. That was why he should really stay the hell away from her—because coming close to her and then leaving her was weirdly painful.
“You’re supposed to be doing surveillance.” Mal’s lips were coated in orange powder now.
“I am doing surveillance. On her, her family connections, and anything she’s doing that might be helpful to us. Her romantic status is irrelevant.”
Mal shook his head chidingly. “You’re a bad, bad friend.”
“I’ve gotta say, letting her spot you like that isn’t like you,” Dexter observed. “If you knew that she was eating lunch right across the street from us, why did you have us sit where we did?” Dex liked to do things by the book, and their surveillance of Krista was way too casual for his liking. If he’d had his way, it would all have been code phrases and synchronized watches.
So I could keep a closer eye on her. So I could be closer to her, period.Blake didn’t say the words out loud. “Dumb mistake,” he muttered.
“You don’t make mistakes, though,” Mal said with a thoughtful frown. “And you never used to lose your cool like that.” That was the thing about Mal. If you let his clownish exterior fool you, you could forget how insightful he was. That would be a mistake.
“I did not lose my cool,” Blake growled, swallowing the last of his roast beef sandwich.
“Oh, man, did you ever. The look on your face when she came running across the street towards us?” A grin stretched across his face. Then the grin faded, replaced by a thoughtful look. He looked at Dexter and arched an eyebrow questioningly.
Dexter nodded and looked speculatively at Blake. “We need to get back to the office.”
Blake scowled at him. “What’s the rush?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
Blake bit down a sharp reply. Dexter was a stubborn ass, and obviously, he thought protocol demanded that they deal with this, whatever it was, back at the office. Pushing him would just seem like a challenge, which would end up with Dexter and Blake rolling around on the sidewalk, clawing and gouging each other. And Mal in the middle trying to separate them—or giving a running commentary, depending on his mood.
They headed back to the parking lot and piled into Mal’s beat-up old Jeep. Blake’s impatience climbed as they slowly made their way through the heavy lunchtime traffic. Most of the other drivers were human, but not all. Crystal Bay was one of the spots in the country with a higher concentration of shifters, which was why Kenneth, the billionaire owner of Shifters, Inc., had located the new office there.
Mal and Dexter made idle conversation, but Blake tuned them out. He had to figure out a way to deal with whatever he was feeling for Kristaandwork his job at the same time. Why was he so out of control of his reactions and instincts when she was around?
“Holy crap,” Stef said as soon as they stepped into their third-floor office. She flashed her huge white teeth at him. “You smell delicious.”
Blake gave her a smile as they walked into the bullpen. It wasn’t really a bullpen—no bull shifters, for one thing—but the random grouping of desks was reminiscent of the detectives’ office at a cop shop, and it was where they did a lot of their brainstorming.
