AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Agreed.” I sat down and leaned back in the chair, rubbing my chin. “I’ll send Devon to the tavern tonight. But perhaps we should go too in case anything goes south.”
“I’ll be there,” Axel said.
I nodded. “I think you and I should get there early. It would make me feel better to at least lay eyes on this agent, maybe even sniff out what species she is.”
Axel nodded, then pushed up to standing. “I’ll let Devon know. Until then, I suggest you get some rest.”
I gave him a wan smile. “I think I will. I’ll see you back at the packhouse.”
I took the stairs down to the first floor, grateful to be leaving the office. My great grandfather started the investment firm, Thorn Investments, and grew it into a multimillion-dollar business. The profits supported packs that were in my territory. We had shifter schools, a small hospital, and a few self-sustainable towns.
Going to the office was one of my least favorite things, but I had to keep up the ruse for the humans and other supernaturals. The humans who worked there did a fine job overseeing day-to-day operations with the help of a few higher-placed shifters such as Axel.
Sliding into the driver’s seat of my BMW, I headed for the packhouse—a mansion just outside of town that butted up to twenty-five thousand acres of untouched forest. It gave us the best of both worlds. The pack members could work inside the human city and had protected woods when their wolves wanted to run free.
Chapter 4
Ivy
I slowly blinked open my eyes and rolled toward the window. The last of the sun’s rays were receding from my room. I was anxious to hunt again even though I still didn’t know how Fang kept evading me. It had to be an inside job, that’s the only thing that made any sense. But how? And more importantly,why?
I prided myself on being the best, but Fang made me doubt my skills. Being an agent gave me a purpose when everything else crumbled around me. Mostly, my thoughts of taking a mate or dwelling on this internal power that I couldn’t control. I needed to concentrate on finding and staking the vampire.
I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. It showed one missed call and two messages. Kelly had called two hours ago, and when I listened to the voicemail, she asked if I wanted pizza. That would’ve been delicious. And then I heard her banging around in the kitchen.
Getting out of bed, I didn’t bother dressing as I walked through in my black camisole and gray undies. Taping the message icon, Curt’s name appeared along with a message.
Jackson: Assigning you a partner. Meet him at Gathonia Tavern at 8 pm, back booth.
“That motherfucker!” I shouted, startling Kelly. I almost threw my phone and then saw the other message from him.
Be nice. And don’t be late.
Gritting my teeth, I wanted to punch someone. Curt fucking Jackson was a spineless excuse for a handler. Not that I had officially met him, but I made it my business to know the man who could potentially send me into a shit storm unprepared.
He tried to conceal his species, but I knew what he was. After a lot of digging, I found out that Curt had paid someone to remove his pointed ears so he would look as human as possible. I guess he didn’t like being an elf and let most people assume he was a lesser demon with almost no power.
“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked.
Finally ignoring my phone, I laid it on the end table and made my way to the bar that separated a tiny galley style kitchen and the small living area. “Apparently, Jackson is assigning me a partner.” My stomach growled when the scent of coffee and pizza hit my nose. “I see you brought Pizza anyway.” I gestured to the box.
“I thought we could both use some comfort food after last night.” She grabbed a slice and crammed half of it into her mouth.
“What happened last night?” I asked, grabbing my own slice.
“Me studying for the big ass test. You not catching the vampire.”
“Right. How did it go this morning?” I queried, pouring some coffee and washing the pizza down with a gulp.
“Pizza and coffee? That’s disgusting!”
I shrugged. “Whatever. You fixed it.”
“That’s because I knew you’d want some even though it’s 6 pm.”
I shrugged again and kept eating.
Kelly shook her head, grinning. “I passed with a solid C+.”
