I swallowed my tongue as he stopped in front of me, gorgeous and pissed.
“What the fuck are you doin’ here?” he hissed.
And the image was ruined as soon as he opened his mouth. He might be the hottest thing I’d seen in this realm, but he was a total dick, and probably a murderer to boot. “Minding my own business. Now please, get away from me.”
He narrowed his eyes and grabbed a chair, spinning it, and sitting on it backward. He leaned forward, draping his arms over the back of the chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I noticed he had his gloves on so there was no skin showing except from the neck up. “You can’t have this one, Basil Ellwood.”
I stifled a sigh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play games with me, witch. I know you’re here for the vamp. I’ll tell ya again, this one’s mine.”
“And I’ll remind you that I work for the BCA, and I’m here on official business. I don’t give a shit what you’re here for, I’m going to do my job. Just stay out of it.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re gonna get hurt if you get in my way.”
“I’m sure that’s a great concern of yours, witch killer.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Nothing like letting the enemy know you were onto him. Fuck. This guy had me out of sorts and blurting shit I shouldn’t be sharing.
His eyes narrowed as his head tilted to the side, his brown hair falling over his forehead. “You think I killed that witch up in Owentine.” It wasn’t a question.
“Did you?”
“If I did, you think I’d confess to you?”
“No.”
He stared at me for a few more seconds before saying, “I didn’t kill him.”
I scrutinized his face for a minute. He was either a very good liar or he was telling the truth. Something was telling me he wasn’t lying, but I wasn’t ruling it out.
The guy sighed and leaned back in his chair, tapping the end of it a few times. “If you lose me this bounty, you and I are gonna have a big problem, Ellwood.” He stood and leaned forward so his face was close to mine. “May the best man win.” He patted my cheek, straightened, and strolled away before I could get a word in.
What a fucking asshole.
“I told you I’d only put you on the case if you captured that vamp,” Alec said the next day. We were back in his office with the door shut so he could yell at me. And I could yell back.
“It’s not my fault a hunter got to him first!”
Alec stared at me with that stoic expression I’d come to hate. “The same hunter you think murdered Chilton Morelli?”
“No, well, yes, but I’m not sure he did it.”
Alec sighed and lifted his eyes to the ceiling like he was asking for patience. He did that a lot around me. After a few minutes, he seemed to compose himself and said, “You feel like taking a trip into Brinnswick Forest?”
“Sure, if you won’t let me on the witch murder case.”
He sighed but otherwise ignored me. “You remember that bear shifter that was wanted for arson about six months back?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“She was spotted in Windfell Village, right inside the forest. Can you check that lead and bring her in if you find her?”
“I can do that.”
He nodded. “Get the file from Thompal.”
Since I recognized the dismissal, I left his office, picked up the file, and headed for my truck to look at it. After reviewing the case and memorizing the shifter’s face, I plugged in my destination in the GPS and was off.
It didn’t take long to reach the little town. And it was little. One main street with only a couple of stores and several homes off of it, and of course there was a bar. I parked my truck in front of the bar since that was usually the best place to go for information. It wasn’t late, but there were still a few people inside that eyed me warily when I walked in. A stranger in all black with black hair, black eyes, and some eye makeup. I was quite the sight, I was sure.
The bartender handed me my soda—I didn’t want to drink in case I came across this shifter and had to fight. It was always harder to capture than to kill because I had to be more careful of my power. That sounded terrible, but it was the truth, at least physically. Emotionally, killing wasn’t something I ever wanted to have to do again, but I didn’t exactly live a safe and peaceful life, so I’d have to deal with it when it inevitably happened again.
Since these people were the ones who had called us to come in, I got straight to the point with the bartender. “Someone called BCA about the wanted bear shifter. Do you know who that was or where they saw the shifter?”
She eyed me. “You’re not with that other one with the hood?”
“Other one?”
She gestured toward the door. “That other agent that came looking for the bear. He left maybe twenty minutes ago.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath before refocusing on her. I pulled out my BCA badge, saying, “I’m the only BCA agent on the case. Whoever that was, wasn’t with us.”
She inspected the badge with a nod, then shrugged at me. “Alright.”
“Do you know where he went? What information did you give him about the bear?”
“There’s an old shack down Manor Way at the edge of town. Tara saw the bear hiding out there last night. Everyone’s been warned to stay away, so I don’t know if she’s still out there or not, but I imagine that’s where this other fella went.”
“Thank you.” I threw some cash on the bar to pay for my drink and a hefty tip, and with a nod, I headed back out.
It took me nearly fifteen minutes to find the road she was talking about, but when I did, I parked my truck at the bottom and headed down it on foot. The last thing I needed was to scare the bear shifter off with the sound of my truck on the gravel.
Using my shadow magic, I hid myself from sight easily, then pulled on my magic a little more to cover up any sounds I might be making, like breathing and footsteps. Shifters had enhanced hearing, so I didn’t want to give her a chance to hide or get away.
As I came up to the shack, I heard a lot of cursing, and when I heard another voice answering the curses, I said, “For fuck’s sake,” and dropped my magic.
Pushing the door open with a shield already in front of me, I took in the scene.
The bear shifter I was here for was on the ground, lying on her side with ropes around her torso, and sitting on top of her was none other than Hiro Grimsby. Even with his hood covering his head, I could tell it was him.
He had his gun aimed at me the second I came inside, but when he realized who it was, he lowered it a tad and said, “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”
Then the bastard punched the shifter right in the face, knocking her out in one hit. It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to react for a second. But then my anger ramped up. “What the hell, Grim? You already had her tied up! She was subdued.”
He laughed as he pulled his hood down, apparently no longer caring to hide his face from me. “If you think that sly bear was subdued, be glad I was here to take her down first. She would’ve killed me the second she got the chance.”