No threats yet.
Trent, the IT guy, had an apartment on the first floor. Lana glanced at his exposed balcony, taking inventory of the two lawn chairs and a chipped metal frog sculpture that held a plant in desperate need of water. Lana leaned over the railing poured a bit from her water bottle over the cracked dirt before rapping her knuckles against the apartment door.
“One minute!” Something inside fell with a thump, and Lana heard breathless cursing before the metal jangle of the deadbolt unlocked, and Trent opened the door. “Sorry, I’m in a bit of a rush. Nick called and said you were coming just a bit ago. I didn’t anticipate running for my life when I woke up this morning, or I might have started packing earlier.”
The moment he opened the door, Lana realized that Nick and Meghan left out one extremely important interview question: “What do you do if your client happens to be your mate?”
Because that was exactly what Lana was looking at.
Shit, shit, double-shit.
Trent looked like she’d expected an IT guru to look: intelligent, dark eyes rimmed with a surprising number of black lashes and framed by thick glasses. His brown hair had been neatly trimmed recently, and his shoulders were thin and a bit hunched like he sat in front of a computer every day.
Nothing out of the ordinary, yet her entire being was on fire at the sight of him.
He is absolutely the most attractive man I’ve ever set eyes on. He’s the man made for me… he’s my fated mate…
He’s…Oh, fuck!
My fated mate is a human!
Trent stared at her, and Lana felt her cheeks warm as she realized he’d been studying her as intently as she’d been studying him.
“I, uh, hi… I’m Lana. Nick should have told you to expect me?”
“Yeah… he did…” Trent trailed off, and she felt her body tingle as his eyes trailed from her top to bottom and back again.
“Uh, how about you keep working on packing, okay? I just need to make a phone call to my boss…”
Trent’s eyes widened with surprise, and then he nodded slowly. “Okay…”
When the door shut and Lana heard the locks engage, she stepped back toward her car and dialed Meghan, who answered on the first ring. “What’s up, kid? Did you run into an issue?”
“I’ll say,” Lana sighed. “Look, I don’t want to call you with this, but I also don’t want to mess up this gig by not revealing all. I… I…”
“If you tell me that you met Trent and he’s your fated mate, I’m going to lose my shit!” Meghan exclaimed.
“Huh? I mean, how did you know?” Lana asked in surprise.
Meghan let out a huge sigh. “It’s not the first time it’s happened. In fact, it’s quite common with the shifter protection agents. Nick and I have identified the pattern, and we’re pretty sure that fate is using us as a way to put mates together… but at this point, we’re not sure what to do. If we see an agent candidate and a client candidate and feel they should be paired, who are we to reject it when fate is using us to push them together?”
Lana sighed. “Maybe it’s something you should tell your new agents at the beginning, though, because now you’re going to have to put someone else on the case and waste precious time.”
“Why would we do that?” Meghan asked.
“Because I can’t protect him—”
“Who better to protect than a fated mate?” Meghan countered.
“Look, this is awkward, but…” Lana worked up the courage to say what she needed to. “Well, I’m worried that my attraction to him is going to distract me from my job.”
“Then you’re doubting your bear side, and you shouldn’t because I don’t. I promise you, even in the deepest throes of passion, your bear won’t let its guard down enough to put your mate in danger. Even more so, you’ll be on higher alert because you have to protect that fragile human body.”
“I… uh… but… I’m concerned that my need for, uh, carnal action, will be what is pulling focus,” Lana finally got the words out.
“You can have sex with the client if he wants to,” Meghan answered her unspoken question. “Just… keep him alive, okay? That’s what we’re contracted to do, and if I had more agents to throw to you, I would, but we’re at max capacity. Labor shortage and all that. But honestly, that’s why having mates together works. No one will protect better.”
“Okay…” Lana’s head spun. Her mate… her job… protecting the fragile human… fucking the sexy man…
“Look, you’re right about us needing to discuss this with our agents right at the beginning. I’m going to work on weaving that into the onboarding process, but only after I’ve pulled all the info I can on this case. Can you do this? Can you get Trent out of his apartment and move him to the safe house right now?”
As Meghan asked, Trent opened his door and waved at Lana. I can refuse and let someone else take the mission… that is if Meghan can find someone to. Could I really go home and push Trent out of my mind? Accept that my mate’s well-being was in someone else’s hands?
No… I can’t do that.
“I’m in. I’m on it. I’ve got this,” Lana spoke with confidence in her voice. “I’ll call you when we’re there.”
Lana hung up with Meghan and hurried back to Trent’s apartment. “Don’t open this door like this,” she admonished him. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with, so I’d appreciate if you could take some precautions. Like… starting with you not putting yourself out in the open for anyone looking to take a shot.”
“Oh,” Trent took a step back into his apartment, looking every bit the dog who’d gotten smacked by a newspaper for peeing on the carpet. “Sorry.”
Lana followed him inside. It was nice if a bit sparse. A limp fern sat in the corner of the room. “I think that needs to be next to the window over here, maybe. It’s not getting even light.”
“That? Oh.” He brushed his hair back with one hand. “Right. My sister keeps buying me these plants. It’s cruelty, really. I have no idea what I’m doing with them.”
Lana didn’t mention the plant outside, just nudged the fern closer to the window. “I’m guessing you don’t have anyone to water them for you while you’re gone?”
“Is it really necessary to go through all this?” He waved his arms at the air in front of him with a look of distaste. “It all seems a little dramatic. I told the feds everything I know already.”
That was easy enough for him to say. He didn’t know about the hit order out on him. Lana pressed her lips together while she debated whether or not it would be easier to get him to cooperate if he had all the information. Ultimately she decided the guy had enough on his mind. He looked frazzled enough just trying to sort through his clothing, toiletries, and books while packing his small duffle bag.
“It’s very necessary,” she assured him. “Super necessary. Like, pack a few T-shirts, and let’s leave now even if it dooms your plants sort of necessary.”