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The informal setting should have relaxed her, but his plan backfired. Zirkov tossed a credit chip onto the table as he rose to leave. He’d lost his appetite, and worse, he’d lose Maggie if he didn’t figure out how to protect her. And that scared the hell out of him.
CHAPTERTWELVE
ZIRKOV
“Is Maggie with the witness yet?” Zirkov asked Stenikov who waited on a rooftop across from the witnesses’ apartment. Maggie wouldn’t spot him if he wasn’t tailing her directly.
“Not yet. Still waiting for her to show up. The rain may have slowed her. The land vehicles humans use do not perform well in water.”
“Maintain your post.” Zirkov ended the call. Early this morning, he’d asked Maggie to check on the witness GI5 had returned to Earth a month ago. Alexa Burns had no family or friends and refused to testify on Dal. That made her an ongoing target. Until Zirkov could convince her to testify, she remained under his protection.
Maggie had requested permission, several times, to speak with her, but he’d always told her to keep her distance. He’d feared Maggie would lead the mole to his witness.
That was before he realizedMaggiewas the mole.
But Maggie knew which safehouse he’d taken Burns to. Now, months later, Burns remained unharmed, which made him wonder why.
The situation presented him with the perfect opportunity to search Maggie’s apartment. While he detested invading her privacy, she’d left him no choice. He’d take any measure necessary to protect her. Every part of him said she wasn’t a traitor, but he needed hard evidence before the DAA came to the same conclusion he had. That she was the source of the leaks. He’d erred by demanding Sutherland hand him this case. That had made the assistant director suspicious, but it was the only way of controlling the narrative.
That unique floral and feminine scent of hers pulled at him as he rifled through her dresser. He reached in and felt something incredibly silky. The dark gray garment had tiny straps and a high slit up one side. He’d never seen a dress like this, but he could imagine Maggie wearing it. With how little skin this would cover, this was not clothing he would want her to wear in public. But he’d like to see her wearing it for him… in private.
His cocks hardened at the thought. One day, the doctors on Zyan would find a cure, returning him to the male he once was. Then he would find his sholani, his heartmate.
As Zirkov moved through the kitchen, he found the source of the floral scent. Six yellow roses filled a slim glass vase on the counter. A note lay next to the vase.
Have a sweet day, milady.
Who had given his female flowers?
Drekk. She wasn’t his female, and he had no business getting between her and another male.
Except he couldn’t stop thinking about her. His horns shot forward at the mere thought of another male touching Maggie.
As Zirkov left the kitchen, he noticed another note sticking out of the garbage. He routed around and found four more notes, six in total matching the number of roses. All read the same.Have a sweet day, milady.
The feeling that he’d missed something gnawed at him as he searched her bedroom one last time. When his comm vibrated, he tapped the screen.
“The witness Alexa Burns is leaving. Alone.” Stenikov sounded frustrated. “Should I follow?”
Where the drekk did Maggie go? Was she meeting her contact, handing over information? Drekk, he hoped not.
“Wait a few more minutes to see if she shows up.” Zirkov ran his hand between her mattresses. Nothing. “Then join Konnitch. He’s tailing a male in the Brotherhood known to have sold females to og’dals in the past. And keep your drekking horns down.”
Just as he was about to end the call, Zirkov’s fingers struck something hard in her pillowcase. He reached in and found the diary she’d waved in his face the other day.
The human custom of writing down their feelings mystified him, but if she’d bothered to hide it, it was worth examining. He opened to the middle of the book. The script used English, characters but it wasn’t in English, Common, or any of the half-dozen languages he spoke.
“Change of plans, Stenikov. I’m sending you some scans. Run them through our computers. Let me know which Earth language she’s using and give me a translation.” Zirkov ran his comm over each page, scanning as quickly as he could turn them.
His comm vibrated again. A message flashed across the screen.
Not a language. Code. Trying to decipher.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” Maggie asked, her shock teetering on the edge of anger.
Drekk, he hadn’t heard her unlock her door.
“And how the fuck did you get in?”
