Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Epilogue

Other Books by Clara Cody

Connect with Clara Cody

A Note from Clara Cody

All’s Fur in Love and War

An Arcane Affairs Agency Novel

Clara Cody

Copyright

All’s Fur in Love and War

Clara Cody

Copyright 2016- Clara Cody

All Rights Reserved

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Where can you find Clara Cody?

Facebook

Twitter

Author Website

Want to be the first to hear about Clara Cody’s new releases?

Join her Newsletter!

http://eepurl.com/bvQIwv

Arcane Affairs Agency

Amazon Page

Chapter 1

A knock came at Sarah’s door. She saved and closed the file she’d been working on so diligently for the past hour. She hated being interrupted, but there always seemed to be someone waiting, wanting something from her. “Come in,” she called, slipping her glasses off and storing them in the desk drawer.

A man in a dark gray suit opened the door. “Agent Hazelwood?”

She sat up straighter. “Yes. Can I help you?”

“Olson wants to see you, Agent.”

She stood, smoothing out her blazer. “All right. He’s in his office, I trust.” He usually was. Either there or the meeting room.

“No, he isn’t. He’ll meet you at the Shifter Affairs building. He’s en route from lunch right now.”

“What?” she gasped, breaking the calm demeanor she always worked so hard to maintain. “The Shifter…dammit!” The building housing the shifter department was clear across the Arcane Affairs Agency compound. It would take her twenty minutes to walk there. She looked at her watch. “Okay, if we take the cart I can be there in ten.”

He suddenly looked ruffled. “I have better things to do than chauffeur you around to—”

She grabbed him by the cuff of his suit jacket, dragging him from her office. “Oh, yes you are, Brian. You know why? Because I highly doubt that Assistant Chief Olson just informed you of this little meeting. No, I think you forgot to tell me, and now you’re gonna fix it, or I’m going to let him know who told the office about that accident he had with the photocopier and the engorgement spell. Got it?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

They hurried down the hallway, passing several desks and dodging people with papers. She snatched a Starbucks cup off of an agent’s desk as she hurried by, making a mental note to buy her another one once the meeting was over. She had a feeling she’d need the extra energy.

“What’s this about, anyway?” Sarah asked, climbing in the passenger’s seat of the cart.

“I don’t know.” He started up the cart and took off.

She closed her eyes, saying a quick spell to make the cart go faster. She opened them, feeling slightly drained and took another drink of the terribly sweet coffee. “Why Shifter Affairs?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated, sounding annoyed.

“Ugh, never mind.” She took a deep breath. What the hell could this be about? And in the Shifter Affairs, no less. She’d barely left her own witches’ building in the past year unless it was to go to lunch.

The spell worked better than she thought, and they made it there in less than ten minutes. She was feeling it, though. She finished off the syrupy coffee and left it in the cup holder as she got out. “Thanks, Brian.”

“You owe me, Sarah,” he said with a glare as he sped off.

She found her boss, Agent Olson, standing in front of the elevator. She was relieved to see him. Shifters weren’t exactly welcoming to witches, and she was about to walk into the lion’s den. Having a higher up like Olson made it easier.

He stood with his hands clasped in front, wearing a dark black suit and blue tie. His hair was cut short and swept to the side. He wore thin, metal framed glasses and always managed to look proper and business-like. “Oh, good,” he said, somewhat disapprovingly. “You finally made it.” He walked quickly through the door, and she did her best to keep up with his long strides in a pencil skirt and heels.

“Um, yes. I got here as soon as I could. Sorry, sir.”

“It’s fine.” The elevator doors opened, and he gestured for her to pass. Two agents, a man and a woman, stepped in after him. Shifters. The man was tall with massive, broad shoulders and longish, light brown hair. God, he was gorgeous in a dangerous, don’t-tell-your-mother sort of way. Smelled good, too. The woman glared, looking Sarah up and down with obvious contempt. Sarah adjusted her blazer, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Even within the Agency, shifters and witches did not play on the same team.

The woman rolled her eyes, giving the man a smirk.

He grinned back. “Looks like some lonely heart upstairs needs her palm read.”

The woman tittered.

Asshole. Sarah glared at the back of both of their heads. “Looks like someone needs her palms waxed,” she muttered.

The woman sent a tense glare at her through the reflective elevator panel, her mouth pursed. The man, turned, and appraised her. Was that a smirk? Olson just shook his head. Luckily, the pair got off on the next floor.

“You’re really going to have to learn to be more diplomatic, Hazelwood.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” She looked down at her shoes. “You’re right.”

“Forget about it.”

They reached the sixth floor and walked out into the stark, white hallway. It smelled differently to the witches’ building. Not bad. Just…different. It looked different too. It had the same setup, the same paint, even a lot of the same crappy pictures on the wall, but it wasn’t the same.

Sarah followed Olson through the office, forcing her chin high, ignoring all the stares and dirty looks they got from everyone sitting at their desks. Things got quiet. The only sound was Olson and her feet moving across the floor. Out of nowhere, a roar sounded, vibrating through the walls. A lion.

She jumped, despite herself. A chorus of laughter rippled through the Agents on the floor.

She sniffed, tugging at the cuffs of her jacket. Witches were never this rude. That was the thing with shifters, they were so damn proud of themselves. If they came into the witches’ building, they would find nothing but polite, if perhaps restrained, smiles. Witches were dignified in their hatred.

“Forget it,” Olson said, picking up the pace.

“Yes, sir.”

They stopped outside the Supervisor’s door and knocked. Her stomach lurched. Not only were they deep in the middle of shifter agents, but she was about to meet the Supervisor. At least it wasn’t a Council member. That would really have her knees knocking. Cut it out, she told herself. You got this.

A woman with long, full, red hair answered the door. She was older, but it took a minute to realize. The only hint was the fine lines around her eyes and mouth. “Good morning, Olson. Come in.”

“Thank you, Supervisor Kent,” he said. “This is Agent Sarah Hazelwood. She’s one of our best agents.”

“Good, have a seat.” She walked around to the opposite side of the desk and sat down. “I’m afraid we have a bit of a problem on our hands. There’s a town not too far away, Hill Haven. A human and shifter town. Co-existed for generations, not that the humans know anything about it. Anyway, I got a call this morning about Hill Haven at four o’clock. Seems like shifters have been losing their powers down there.”

Sarah’s eyes went wide. “Losing their powers?”

She nodded. “Yes. You can appreciate that we want this case solved quickly and quietly. If there’s something that’s taking away shifter’s powers, we need to know what it is, and make sure no one else gets their hands on it.”

“Yes, ma’am, I understand.” She chewed nervously on her bottom lip. “But, why not send a shifter to take care of it?” she asked. “Why me?”

“The answer is two-fold. One is that we think it may be witchcraft in the first place that’s causing this. A curse, perhaps? I don’t know. I have to admit, I don’t know much about the magical arts.”

Sarah nodded. It wasn’t unusual. She didn’t study up on shifters, vampires or the fae, either. She’d taken some classes in the academy, but that was it.

The Supervisor continued. “We need a witch there to help find out what’s going on. And, secondly, a witch will be less at risk. Any shifters we send will be at risk of losing their own powers. But not a witch.”

“Ah ha.” She folded her hands in her lap. It was a pretty straightforward mission, but it wouldn’t be easy. Not in a town full of shifters. Walking into this office would be a dream compared to Hill Haven.

The phone on the Supervisor’s desk rang. She picked up and answered, gesturing for Sarah and Olson to wait, while she stepped outside to take it.

“This isn’t just a case, Hazelwood,” Olson said, his elbows leaning on the armrest. “This is your chance to prove yourself.”

“Sir?” Her hands were shaking.

“Show me and the other supervisors that you’re ready for more responsibility. I know you were just promoted not that long ago, but I see great things for you, Hazelwood. This is your chance at another promotion. How does Level 3 Special Agent sound?”

She was shocked. She had not expected this, not so soon after her last promotion to Level 2. Before that, she had been the youngest agent in the department to earn the Special Agent badge. “I-I-I…I mean, great, of course. Thank you, sir.”

“Good,” he said clapping his hands together. “Great news. If you pull this case off, you can say goodbye to field work from now on.”

“Oh, really?” It had been months since she’d been in the field, anyway. Her parents were thrilled, of course. Less dangerous sitting at a desk most of the time. The only thing she had to fight off was boredom.

He went on. “You can look forward to lots of long lunches and talking strategy. It’s a bureaucratic nightmare, she’ll tell you that much,” he said, gesturing towards the Supervisor in the hall. “But at least you’re not in the field. Better brush up on your golf swing, Hazelwood.”

“Oh, um, yes, sir. I will do that.” Golf swing? She hated golf, but the rest sounded all right. Strategy was more interesting than what she was doing now, which was mostly running between departments and paperwork.

He lowered his gaze, getting serious a moment. “But you need to show me that you’re ready for this.”

“Of course, sir.”

“You would be leading your own team of agents, so you have to show me that you can handle people and the kinds of conflicts that arise. Are you ready to do that?”

“Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir.”

“Good.”

The door opened and Supervisor Kent came back in. “Very well. Is it settled, then?”

Olson answered with a curt nod.

“Good. Then, let’s meet your partner.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped once again. Partner?

Chapter 2

Worst part of the damn job. Reports. Dane sat at his desk, flicking the end of his pen against the stack of forms in front of him. It was worse this morning. He was even more distracted than usual. Who was she?

He tipped the coffee cup to see only a dribble left in the bottom. Jesus, he thought, rubbing his eyes. I’ve only been here ten minutes and it feels like hours. He was not cut out for riding a desk. At least his empty coffee cup gave him an excuse to get up and take a walk.

He went to the kitchen and poured himself another coffee, stealing some cream from the fridge. Hazelnut. With the name Janice scribbled across the front. Sorry, Janice.

He took a sip, leaning against the fridge.

“Who was she?”

“Huh?” Was it that obvious?

Peter, his partner, came strolling into the kitchen. “The guys said you left early last night with some blond. I take it that’s why you’re looking so haggard this morning.”

“Oh, right. The blond.”

“Who else would I be talking about?”

He shook his head, trying to shake the image of the beautiful, but tightly wound witch he’d seen in the elevator. “No one.” He crossed his arms. “Have fun at your little party?” Peter had gotten a promotion yesterday thanks to the case they’d just closed. Together. But Peter was the one getting the promotion, while Dane was left with the paperwork.

“Yeah, but we missed you. Amy’s still got her heart set on introducing you to her friend.”

“Pass.”

“She just wants to see you settled down. It’s not so bad, you know? Finding your mate.”

“Pass.”

“You’re not pissed, are you? That I got a promotion.”

“Nah, man.” He slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you. You deserve it.”

“I just…” A pained look crossed Peter’s face. “I know how your last two partners were promoted—”

“Let me stop you there,” he said. “I don’t care, really. Actually, I don’t think you’ve thought this whole promotion thing through completely. You’re not going to be making much more money, and you’re going to have longer hours.” He started counting the downsides out on his fingers. “With your increased security clearance, your missions are about to get a lot more dangerous. Try explaining that to Amy. Plus, now they’re going to be expecting a lot more from you. Toeing the line, taking orders. And the paperwork! You’ll be riding a desk more than you’re out in the field, now.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Peter said with a shrug.

“Sorry, man. I don’t mean to take the wind out of your sails. I’m happy for you, really. I’m just not up for that type of responsibility. But hey, you’re the guy with a wife, three kids, and a mortgage. Clearly, responsibility suits you.”

“Think I’m up for it?”

He clapped him on the back. “Brother, I know you are.”

Just then, Dane’s phone buzzed. He took a look at the screen.

Supervisor’s office, now!

Either he’d stepped in shit sometime between yesterday and this morning, or they had another assignment for him. Thank Christ.

“Getting called into the principal’s office?”

“Yup. Looks like you’ll have to take care of the rest of the paperwork, buddy.” He laughed, brushing past him. “Enjoy your new desk job.”

He took the elevator up a few more floors and got out. A couple Special Agents gave him funny looks, wishing him luck.

“Uh, thanks?” Whatever. He crossed the office to the Supervisor’s door and knocked before entering. The air was practically electrified. Even before he had the door completely opened, he noticed it. Everything just buzzed. Then, he saw her. The woman from the elevator. The one with the mouth.

She turned in her chair, sitting next to the Supervisor from Witchcraft Affairs. She had auburn hair, pulled back into a high ponytail. Just the kind that made Dane’s fingers itch, wanting to wrap it around his hand. Big, green eyes and a pouty little mouth. He felt his wolf take notice. Down, boy.

He forced himself to look away and meet his Supervisor’s eye. “You rang?”

The other guy stood up from his chair, buttoning his jacket. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Hazelwood, keep me in the loop, okay?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He liked the sound of that. She had a sexy voice, and though it sounded good when she was lipping off in the elevator, it was even sexier when she was being all obedient. Yes, sir, indeed.

“Have a seat, Agent Landon.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, sending the witch a wink. He could play the good little agent, too.

“This is Special Agent Sarah Hazelwood.”

Special Agent? She was what? Five years younger than him? Hazelwood took a deep breath, not looking at him. Maybe that was the cause of the electrified air. She was pissed about something.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, returning his gaze to his boss.

“There’s an assignment out in Hill Haven. Have you heard of it?”

He shook his head. “Should I have?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s a small town, not very influential. But there’s a problem with shifters down there losing their abilities. You’re going to go down there with Special Agent Hazelwood and find out what’s going on.”

“Wait, what?” He sat forward in his chair. “You want me to go down there? With her?” He looked between them, trying to make out if they were serious. Taking a witch into a shifter town would be like bringing the road-runner to the coyote’s bachelor party. There was no scenario where that was going to work out well.

“I understand there may be some hostility, Agent, and that’s where you come in. We can’t send a witch down there on her own, so you’re going to help keep things civil.”

“Huh? Me? What am I supposed to do? Solve generations of bad blood with my charming wit?” He met the witch’s eye. “What do you think of this?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m ready to do my job.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, Robo-witch is up for it.”

Supervisor Kent cut in. “I understand you’re friends with a certain Lance Brody?”

He blinked. “Brody?” He hadn’t heard that name in years. Not since the academy. “What about him?”

“He’s the local sheriff down there. He’ll be able to help you two out.”

“Ah, so since I’m friends with the local law, you think I’ll be able to smooth things over, huh?”

She folded her hands on the desk. “And you’re our best agent, Landon. You know that.” She leaned back. “Of course, if you don’t want to go, I can always have you finish up the rest of the paperwork that’s cluttering your desk, and maybe get a bit of filing done until another assignment comes along.”

He grinned, rubbing his jaw. She had him there, and they both knew it. He looked between his boss and Hazelwood. “What the hell? Why not?” It was better than being stuck in the office, sitting at his desk, and he’d had worse company than a beautiful woman before. Even if she was a witch. And she was just so prim and proper. Yes, sir. No, ma’am. It would be fun to get under her skin a bit. Maybe get under something else, too.

“Good.” She pulled out two files and slid them across the desk to both him and Hazelwood. “Here is everything you’ll need. Your flight leaves in three hours. Good luck, Agents.”

He grabbed his file and stood, letting Hazelwood out the door first. He was a gentleman, after all.

“So, where do I pick you up, baby?”

She turned around on him, the calm demeanor she’d held in the office gone. “Let get one thing straight, okay? I’m not your baby, your darlin’, or cupcake, or anything else. I am Special Agent Hazelwood to you. Level Two. If I’m not mistaken, you’re Level One, are you not? That means I’m your superior. Act like it.” She turned on her heel, her ponytail whipping around and almost smacking him in the face.

He chuckled. “So, I’ll just meet you at the airport, then.” Fuck, something tells me she isn’t as compliant as I thought.

Dane walked up to the airport doors, duffel bag slung over his shoulder. It had taken him about five minutes to get his stuff together for the trip. The rest of the time he’d spent watching re-runs of Cheers.

The doors pulled open before him, just as he heard a weak groan from behind. He turned to see Agent Hazelwood standing over the open trunk of a taxi, struggling with something in the back. The cabbie just sat in the front, looking annoyed that she wasn’t moving faster.

“Here,” Dane said, sidling up to her.

“I can get it,” she said with a sigh. She gave the large piece of luggage another tug. It didn’t budge.

His hand brushed over hers as he reached for the handle. Her skin was warm and soft. Supple. She pulled her hand away, looking flustered. “Fine. Good luck.”

He gave it a heave, snapping the handle. “Shit,” he swore, looking down at the broken piece of plastic. “Sorry.”

“Way to go.”

“Don’t worry about it, we can get it out. Jesus, are you always this uptight?”

“I’m not uptight,” she said, hands on her hips. “I’m…”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Adequately concerned.”

“Right.” He turned back to the luggage in the trunk. It was stuck. “Okay, let’s try this.” He bent over and reached in behind the luggage, and started working it out, wiggling it bit by bit. “You get the other side,” he said, glancing over his shoulder just in time to catch Hazelwood checking out his ass. He grinned as she looked away, her eyes darting in half a dozen different directions, trying to hide where her gaze had been.

“You can look,” he said, waving his hips at her. “I don’t mind.”

She scoffed and reached for the other side of the bag.

Finally, the suitcase wiggled out, and he dragged it from the trunk. “What does this thing weigh?” he asked, setting it on the ground. She had another smaller piece of luggage at her side. He looked down at the duffel bag he carried. “You realize we’re not moving there permanently, right? You didn’t have to pack your entire wardrobe.”

She feigned a smile. “Let me guess, you packed a pair of boxers and a box of condoms and left it at that.”

“And a toothbrush.”

“I’m impressed. And here I thought you had no concept of personal hygiene.” She turned on her heel with a huff, rolling her bags toward the glass doors. She wore a tight black skirt that showed off the glorious shape of her ass as she walked away. Good God, this case will be the death of me, one way or the other.

Chapter 3

“Hello?” Sarah tried to keep the irritation from her voice, but it had been a long and annoying flight. Coming here, to the police station, first had sparked yet another argument between her and Agent Landon, and now there was no one around. She stood at the counter, drumming her fingers on the faux wood finish. “Hello!”

“I told you we should check into the hotel first.” Dane stood next to her, leaning on the counter, looking as cocky as always.

“I want to get started as soon as possible. The sooner we find out what’s going on, the sooner we get back to headquarters. Checking in can wait.”

“Ha!”

She turned and glared. “Ha, what?”

He touched his hand to his heart. “Your concern for the victims is overwhelming, Hazelwood.”

“I am—”

A short, rotund woman with a frizzy bun appeared, carrying a piece of cake. “Sorry, ‘bout that,” she said. “It’s someone’s birthday, you know how it is.”

“I doubt she does,” Dane answered. “She probably makes everyone miss their birthdays to not interrupt workflow.”

The woman, Officer Smith, gave an uncomfortable chuckle, looking between both of them.

“Ignore him,” Sarah said. “He thinks he’s funny.”

Another uncomfortable chuckle. “What can I do for you folks?”

“We’re looking for Chief Brody,” Dane asked, leaning against the counter and flashing his smile “He around?”

Officer Smith blushed, her pale cheeks turning hot red. She set her cake down and reached for the phone. “Just a second. He should be in his office.”

She called and spoke for a moment on the phone before hanging up. “You can go on back.” She pointed through a set of doors. “It’s straight through and at the back.”

“Thanks, ma’am.”

“Yes, thank you so much,” Sarah added, not to be outdone. They walked through the set of swinging doors and into an office with a dozen or so desks. Most people seemed to be gathered in the break room, laughing and stuffing cake in their mouths.

“Not too many shifters on the force,” he commented. He sniffed at the air. “Maybe only a few.”

“Does that matter?” she asked.

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Before they were even halfway across the room, a man came out of the room they were headed to, a grin on his face. “Dane!” he laughed, catching Dane’s hand in the air for a manly, but affectionate bro-shake. The man was handsome and muscular, with wavy, dirty-blond hair and a bit of scruff around his face. He didn’t even turn his eyes to Sarah.

“How you been, Lance?” Dane asked, clearly glad to see his old friend.

“Good. Fucking great since getting out of the academy. I swear the Agency was on a mission to kill me. The police academy was a piece of cake after the Agency, let me tell ya.”

Sarah was surprised he was saying all this within earshot of the people in the break room eating cake. If they weren’t shifters, they’d have no idea about the Agency or the academy or anything. And it was important to keep it that way. “Maybe we should go into your office before we start talking about such things.”

He seemed to notice her for the first time and did not seem happy about it. “Who’s this?” He was clearly asking Dane, but looking straight at Sarah.

Dane cleared his throat. “This is Agent Hazelwood. She’s working the case with me.”

Lance scoffed. “Lucky you.” He was goading her, she knew it. But like Olson said, she had to try and be diplomatic.

She cleared her throat. “Your office, then?”

“Right.” He gave Dane a look that said he was humoring her. She didn’t see whether or not Dane returned the sentiment or not. Probably, the smug bastard.

They went to the office, which was small and smelled stuffy like they didn’t open the window enough. The place was wall-to-wall, tacky wood paneling. Pictures of wildlife scenes decorated the walls, along with the occasional stuffed duck or mounted trout. Woodland chic.

She took a moment to observe the man. She’d been wrong about her earlier assumption of him being fit. No. He had, at one time, been fit. She could imagine that he’d once looked like Dane. Strong, and hard, with ropey muscles ready to react at the drop of a hat. Not anymore. It was obvious that life out here in the boonies was a little too easy for the shifter. He was going soft, with the makings of a beer belly stretching the buttons on his shirt.

He sat down behind his desk, folding his hands over his stomach. “I assume you’ve read the file.”

Dane and Sarah simultaneously answered; her in the affirmative, and him in the negative.

“What?” she asked, turning on Dane. “You didn’t even read the file?”

He grinned. “What? I was busy.” He sent a wink over to Lance. “A flight attendant.”

“Nice.”

She ground her teeth. She’d had the displeasure of listening to him flirting with that woman throughout the flight. It drove her nuts enough that she stuffed earphones into her ears just to drown it out. But then a part of her, a small but obnoxious part, was curious. What were they saying? Was he just flirting because he was bored, or was it genuine? She’d turned and evaluated the woman. She wasn’t even that pretty. Was she really his type? She’d taken out the earphones after that.

Stop it, Sarah! Why do you even care? “Ugh, can we please try and focus here?”

“All right, all right. It started a month ago with Andrew Turner. He was the first victim. One morning he wakes up, and he can’t shift anymore.”

Dane shook his head. “Poor guy.”

“I know. Anyway, next victim was Melissa Burke. It was different with her, though. She…uh…she couldn’t change back.”

“Now, she’s permanently—”

“A wolf.” He nodded. “She’s living in the forest for the time being, but her family’s worried.”

“Strange that it changes how it affected people like that,” Sarah said to herself. “If it were a curse, it would be the same.”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah, well you would know more about that than me. Can’t say I paid much attention in Magics class.”

“Same,” Dane answered, though with less pride. “What about if it’s the ability to change that’s affected. Once the whatever-it-is kicks in, they’re stuck in the form they’re in.”

Sarah blinked. “Oh. That’s actually…good thinking.”

It was the first time his eyes narrowed at her. “Yeah, that happens from time to time, don’t let it worry you. Do I get a cookie, now Miss Hazelwood?”

Ugh, he just had to ruin it. Besides, it wasn’t like she was a jerk for being surprised. He didn’t exactly broadcast that he was capable of complex thought processes. It was hardly her fault if she thought he was more brawn than brain.

“Yeah, well curse or not,” Lance started, dismissively, “it’s a witch that’s behind this. That’s sure enough.”

Sarah turned her eyes back to Lance. “And what makes you so sure?”

“Just look at it. It’s sneaky and underhanded, and they do it from the shadows. If it were a shifter, or hell even a vampire or fae, we’d know it. But witches, no, they like to do their dirty work from behind closed doors. Mark my words, witch,” he said, stabbing his finger onto the desk. “This is the work of one of your kind.”

She glared, wondering if there was a diplomatic way of scratching his eyes out or cursing him with life-long hiccups.

“Relax, Lance,” Dane cut in before she had a chance to respond. “She’s here to help.”

He sniffed. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

She appreciated Dane’s help, but she just wanted to move on. The less tempted she was to tell this jerk off, the better. “So, are there any witches living in town?”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah, right. Why would they want to?”

She rolled her eyes. “Can’t argue there.”

“That all?”

“Not quite. Do you have any idea who would want to hurt shifters around here?”

“Yeah, I got an idea. Witches.”

She held back a sigh. “But why?”

“No why about it. ‘Cause they’re witches, that’s why. What else do you need?”

She shook her head. This was going nowhere. He was just a small-minded idiot that didn’t know his ass from his elbow when it came to anything that wasn’t shifter-related. She had to play nice, though. As much as she wanted to punch him in his smarmy face, he had a footing in this community. It wouldn’t do any good to go and piss him off just for pride’s sake. She looked at her partner. “You got anything else you’d like to ask?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”

They stood to leave. “You should come around the bar tonight, Dane. I’ll show you around, introduce you. Give us a chance to catch up.”

“Yeah, sounds great. We’re gonna go and get set up at the hotel first, though.”

“We really should talk to the victims first,” Sarah interjected. “They aren’t going to give our rooms away, but the victims might very well forget vital—”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” He was already walking away.

Chief Brody walked them out, talking only to Dane, pretending like Sarah wasn’t even there. Whatever, like I care. It wasn’t the first time she’d have to deal with the boys club that was working with the Agency, and it wouldn’t be the last. Only this boys club was twice as restrictive. You had to be a shifter with a dick, and she was thankfully lacking in both areas.

A couple of men in uniform stood outside the police station, smoking. They gave Dane a look, they recognized something in him. They must have been shifters, too, smelling the scent of shifter on him. She was glad witches didn’t have that issue. It would make her self-conscience if she thought that another witch could smell her from ten feet away. Suddenly, she began to worry what these shifters could smell her. Could they tell she was a witch? What did she smell like?

Dane stopped, cocking his head to the side. “Did you just…smell your armpit?”

“What? No!”

“Uh, okay.”

Lance walked over to the men and said something. They laughed, looking her way. She felt her cheeks grow red, a pit grow in her stomach. She was mad. Mad enough to spit nails.

“Come on,” Dane said. “We should get out of here.”

She took a deep breath. He’s right. Just let it go, Sarah. She turned following him down the steps.

“I got one for ya: Why don’t witches wear underwear?” Lance paused a moment. “To grip the broomstick better.”

She stopped, feeling the heat rise in her chest.

“Don’t,” Dane warned.

No, she thought. I can’t let that stand. It was one thing in the privacy of his office, but now he was standing in front of his men, demeaning her. That wouldn’t do. In public, she needed respect. If these two men saw how easy it was to humiliate her, she’d never get anywhere in this town. She turned on her heel and marched back up the steps.

One of the men nudged the other as she approached and muttered something juvenile.

“I am a Level 2 Special Agent, Officer Brody. I reached that position in record time. Do you know what that means?”

He sniffed. “I have a feeling I’m about to find out.”

“That kind of climb makes people take notice. I have the ear of the Director of Witches. She is who put me on this case.” A small lie, but it was for a good cause.

“Does she wear panties?” one of the other idiots joked. Lance wasn’t laughing anymore, though.

“In the ten minutes I’ve been here, I’ve seen five code violations. Hell, looking at you three geniuses, I can see two more. Now, these little violations could be a big problem for you. Massive, in fact, if I so choose to report them. But if you want to save yourself the headache, I suggest you show the respect that comes with my position.” She lifted her nose in the air, exhaling. Damn, that felt good.

“Sure thing, ma’am,” one answered, sarcastically.

Her relief was short lived. They didn’t suddenly look at her with respect just because she put her foot down. Now, they looked at her with raw contempt, like she was the mean teacher that took their ball away when they played too rough. She’d gained nothing.

“Happy?” Dane asked as she walked past him.

“Shut up. We have work to do.”

Chapter 4

Dane pulled the car into the small hotel parking lot. Sarah was pissed, and fuming so hard that she didn’t even notice where they were going. It wasn’t until he put the car into park that she seemed to snap to.

“Wait, what? I thought we were going to the first victim’s house.”

“Change of plans,” he answered, unbuckling himself before climbing out of the car.

“Ugh,” she scoffed but followed him after him. “Checking in can wait! I want to talk to the families as soon as possible.” She grabbed him by the arm, turning him towards her. Her eyes were blazing, her nostrils flared.

“Yeah, you’re in a real state to be talking to anyone.”

She let go, her hand falling to the hem of her jacket, tugging on the ends. “I’m fine,” she said through a clenched jaw.

“No, you’re not. You need to cool down. I know you want to get on this case as soon as possible, but walking into a victim’s house, guns blazing isn’t exactly a good idea. And I think you know that.”

Her eyes dropped to the ground. Okay, so maybe he isn’t totally wrong. “Fine.”

They walked into the small, low-ceilinged office and up to the desk. The man behind the counter, balding with thick plastic glasses, handed them two sets of room keys. “Second floor. Ice’s over there if you want it.” He pointed to an old, wheezing machine in the corner.

Dane helped Sarah pull her luggage from the back of the rental car. “Jesus,” he groaned. “This is heavy even for me. How many shoes and tight-fitting skirts do you need?”

She raised her eyebrow and looked down at herself. “You think my skirts are tight-fitting?”

“Lady, I’ve seen naughty nurse costumes that are roomier.”

She rolled her eyes, but he caught a smile on her lips just before she turned her head. Damn, she did wear those things well, though. He watched her legs as they walked up the stairs to the second floor. The high heels, the black seam running up the back of her stocking, the skirt, the auburn hair pulled into a bun. She was the sexy librarian from every man’s fantasy.

She wasn’t exactly his usual type. He usually dated women with big, over-processed hair, and questionable morals. Sarah couldn’t be more different with her tight bun and strict work ethic. She was the antithesis of his type. But there was something about her. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He was drawn to her.

“This is me,” she said, arriving at the top of the steps. Number 24. “That means you’re there.” She pointed to the room on the left, 25. She opened the door, and he followed her in, heaving her luggage on to the squeaky bed.

“It’s not too bad,” he said, looking about the room. The Agency was so cheap, he’d been expecting a no-tell motel. Everything in the room from the bedspread to the TV was outdated by at least fifteen years, but it seemed clean. A door stood on the wall that their two rooms shared. “And look, we’re connected.”

“It’ll do.” She went to her luggage and unzipped it. She pulled out a bundle of what looked like dried leaves and lit it on fire before blowing it out again. Smoke drifted from the charred leaves, whirling in the air.

The smell reached his nose. “What the hell is that?”

“Sage,” she answered, simply as though that were all the answer she needed. She started at the corner by the door, waving the bundle in the air.

“And what are you doing?”

“Smudging. It cleanses the room in case there are any spirits or bad vibes.”

“Smudging,” he muttered to himself. “So all the spirits and bad juju will just flee into my room instead.”

“I can do it to your room next if you want.”

“Ha, right.” He hooked his thumb underneath the strap of his bag on his shoulder and started towards the door. “I’d rather sleep with the spirits than that smell.”

“Suit yourself.”

He left her to her sooting or smutting, or whatever it was called, and went to check out his own room and get settled. The room was the same, and settling in was significantly easier for him since he’d only packed a handful of items. Clothes and basic toiletries. She’d been right about the condoms, though. He smiled. He didn’t go anywhere without them. As a shifter, STD’s were a non-issue, but the last thing he needed was a mini-Dane. He couldn’t even be trusted to look after a cactus, let alone another human.

He looked at the door joining their two rooms and felt a stirring in his lower gut. He was antsy. He could feel his wolf pacing within, scratching, yearning to get out. Dane didn’t know if it was the long flight and being cooped up in an airplane, then car, or if it had something to do with being around Sarah, but his blood was up. Way up.

He tore a condom off and put it in his wallet. Just in case. He stuffed the rest back in the bag and tossed it on the floor. With nothing else to do and no more settling in required, he returned to Sarah’s room. He knocked and entered, finding her halfway around the room, her arm still in the air, waving that shit around. The whole room was cloudy and smelled strongly of sage.

“Almost done.”

“Uh huh.” He opened the window. She’d taken off her crisp white blouse, which was now spread out on the bed, looking like some invisible person was waiting to materialize from within it. She wore her tight black skirt and a white, lacy undershirt with thin straps. The kind that just snap right off. He bit his lip, watching her. Fuck, she was sexy as hell and didn’t even know it. Like the way she’d asked if he thought her skirt was tight. That feeling stirred again, but lower now, in his groin.

“Hand me that dish,” she said, pointing to the wooden bowl on the nightstand. He picked it up, feeling how light-weight it was. The center of the bowl was black and charred.

Dane handed the dish over before flopping down on the bed next to her open suitcase. It was packed full of neatly organized books, small vials and other assorted witchcrafty things. He’d assumed that she’d packed like other women. Clothes, three different hair-styling appliances, make-up. But her three-ton bag was full of books and work. “You can’t possibly need all this stuff on this case,” he said, doubtfully.

“I don’t know what I’m going to need. I’d rather pay for an extra bag on a flight than be unprepared.”

He pulled out a small, red leather book. “Love potions?” He chuckled. “If you want to get in my pants, all you have to do is ask, Sweetheart.”

She scoffed, snatching the book from his hands. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

He fought back a grin. He liked the little glimmer in her eye she got when annoyed. He took out a vial. “Bergamot? Like tea?”

“Yes, Dane. I have a vial of bergamot tea in my bag. You know, for later if I feel thirsty.” She snuffed out the bundle of sage just as he went for another bottle that looked interesting. She tossed the sage back into the bag, slapping his hand away. The touch, though neither gentle nor painful, sent a wave of electricity up his skin. He stopped, catching her eye, and he knew she felt it too.

“Just…stop touching my things.” Her voice was weak, her eyes looking anywhere else but at him.

Now it was more than just a simple stirring. His blood boiled, his wolf was snapping, biting. He turned his body to face hers, resisting the overwhelming urge to throw her down on the bed. “So, I can’t touch this?” he said, slipping a finger underneath the thin strap of her shirt. Her breath hitched. Her skin was so soft underneath his finger. So warm and pale. Without waiting for a reply or permission, he slipped the strap off her shoulder. He noticed her breath quicken as he placed his hand on her bare neck. “Shouldn’t touch here, either?” His hand moved to cup the side of her face.

“Umm…” she muttered, helplessly. “No.” She leaned into him, her body defying what her lips spoke.

He pulled her in, pressing his body against hers as he touched her lips with his. Her mouth opened under his, just slightly. He took it, kissing her harder, forcing her lips apart.

His cock grew thick and hard, pushing against his jeans. Oh, god, he thought, imagining how amazing it would feel to bury his member between her legs.

He felt her body sink into his, and a gentle moan escaped her lips.

The small sound was, apparently, enough to pull her out of the stupor she was in. “Stop,” she said, pulling away.

No, his wolf begged. More! Every fiber of his being ached with the need to touch her. He practically shook. “What?”

She turned, replacing the strap of her shirt on her shoulder. “That’s not—” She took a breath, smoothing out her already perfect hair. “We’re here on a mission. We can’t get distracted by…” He noticed her eyes trailing down his body and stopping at the massive bulge between his legs. “Things.”

“And what if those things are exactly what we need?”

“Maybe you do, I’m just fine,” she said, turning away, her cheeks red.

He exhaled, sharply, feeling more than a little disappointed.

She, on the other hand, took a deep breath and slipped her blouse over her shoulders. “We should get going,” she said, turning her back to him as she buttoned up her shirt. “We really should talk to the families as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, that isn’t going to be possible,” he answered, walking towards the door.

“What? Why not?”

“Because now I’m the one that needs to cool down.”

Dane sat across from Sarah in the diner booth trying not to look at her. His cock still throbbed and every inch of her face was a painful reminder that he was not buried inside her.

“Here you are,” chirped the waitress, laying a plate of food in front of him. A thick, juicy hamburger, a pile of fries, and a side of jalepeño poppers. She grinned down at him. “Anything else, sugar?”

“No. Thanks, Candice.”

She giggled for no apparent reason. “No problem.” She slid Sarah’s salad towards her. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Oh, we will,” Sarah answered, sarcastically. “Thank you so much.” When the waitress was gone, she dribbled a bit of dressing over the salad.

Dane would never understand why someone would choose to willingly eat like a rabbit but to each their own. He lifted his hamburger, using two hands and bit into it. His eyes rolled back. There was nothing better than a mouthful of rare beef. Well, there was sex. That was better, but Sarah had shot that down, so a burger would have to do.

“You’re going to die young eating like that.” She glared at his plate of food as she stabbed angrily at her lettuce.

“And you’re going to die bored eating like that.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Maybe that’s why you’re so tightly wound. You might feel better if you had the occasional pizza or piece of cake.”

“I’m not tightly wound! My winding is perfectly fine, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, obviously. That’s why you almost torpedoed the cop shop back there.”

“What was I supposed to do? Bat my eyes and flirt the problem away?”

Dane shrugged, plucking a few fries off his plate. “Don’t let them get to you.” He stuffed the fries in his mouth, noticing Sarah’s envious look.

She shook her head, returning to her salad. “Easy for you to say.”

“You think people don’t crack jokes about shifters? Doesn’t mean I fly off the handle and verbally bitch slap everyone that crosses me.”

“No, I suppose that would require more than a fourth-grade level vocabulary.”

He scoffed. “Just trying to help.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t need help from you, okay? I’m doing just fine on my own, so don’t worry about me.”

“Oh yeah, you’re doing great. You and your salad, and your tight as hell bun. Seriously, how do you not have a splitting headache? And don’t forget your suitcases full of shit you probably never use. No, you’re right, you’re not tightly wound at all.”

“I came prepared. What did you bring?” The last part was more challenge than a question.

He thought of his half empty closet in his hotel room. No, there wasn’t much there. “You know what I need.” He held his hands up. She shrugged. “That’s it. I just need me.” He leaned towards her, over his plate of food. “I don’t need a dozen different books to tell me what to do. I have instinct for that. I don’t need potions and spells to protect me because I protect me. I’m a shifter. Our power doesn’t come from incantations or the air or whatever. It’s in us. I didn’t get through the academy and eight years on this job with my nose in a book. I did it with my fists in the air.”

“Ugh, you shifters are all so egotistical. You’re just like those assholes at the station. You think you’re better than everyone just because you can shift. Well, sorry to break it to you, but there’s more to this job than just brute strength. You have to work, too. You need a brain.”

“Not all of us needed to keep our noses to the grindstone just to get ahead.”

“Yeah, I guess that explains why you’ve gone so far, First-level Special Agent Landon.”

“Ouch, kitty’s got a set of claws.”

She shoved her plate away. “Fuck this. I’d rather wait in the car than sit here with you.”

“Good. Maybe I can actually be allowed to enjoy something for five minutes.” She stormed off, leaving him at the table by himself. It’s not this food that’s going to kill me, it’s her!

Chapter 5

Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it! Sarah tried her damnedest not to even look in Dane’s direction on the way over to the first victim’s house. It was more difficult than she wanted to admit to herself. It was just a kiss! she cursed herself for the millionth time. It wasn’t like she’d never been kissed before. Just never…like that. It was so rough, so raw and unbridled.

She squeezed her knees together, biting her lip. As infuriating as he was, she had to admit he was insanely sexy. God, and he was right next to her, his forearm flexed as his fingers gripped the wheel. Part of her wondered what it would be like to tell him to pull over and jump him. She just needed to get it out of her system. Maybe if she was anyone else, she could. But not Sarah Hazelwood. She forced those thoughts away as they pulled into a short driveway in front of a one story ranch house. A cold shower would do the trick, she promised herself.

Dane got out without a word. She sighed following after him. Okay, so maybe she’d been a bit harsh in the restaurant. She wasn’t normally such a bitch, he just seemed to bring something out in her. Or maybe it was this whole damned town.

“Look,” he said, raising his fist to rap on the door. “I know you like to be in charge, but just let me take the lead in there.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Just…trust me.”

“Yeah, about as far as I can throw you.” She sniffed, thinking of the way his mouth had pressed into hers, forcing her lips apart. She wasn’t going to lie back and let him take over her investigation just because he was a good kisser. Okay, maybe an amazing kisser. Her knees were still knocking together. That didn’t change anything, though. She still had a job to do.

Footsteps approached and the door swung open before he could get a response out. A man answered. He was older, about forty with light brown hair, streaks of gray at the sides. “Yeah?” he said, wiping his hands on a grease-stained cloth. He looked like a man that was accustomed to being in control. Blue-collar but disciplined. A man that, despite his age probably exercised regularly and led a clean life.

“We’re from the Arcane Affairs Agency,” Dane said, flipping his badge at the man. “I’m Agent Landon, this is Agent Hazelwood. Are you Andrew Turner?”

“That’s me. Come on in.” He stepped aside, letting them through. He led them into the living room, where they took seats on either end of the couch. Andrew sat in a stuffed reclining chair closer to Dane.

Great, she thought, now he would naturally take the lead.

“I’m not really sure what more I can tell you guys that I haven’t already told Lance.”

“That’s okay,” Sarah said. “We just want to hear it from you instead of from a report. Makes our job easier.”

Dane gave her a look she wasn’t sure how to interpret. She sent him a glare back, just in case. If he thought that letting him take the lead meant that she’d be his secretary, he had another thing coming.

“I appreciate that,” Andrew said, rubbing his hands together. “Well, as you probably already heard, I can’t…” He shook his head. “I can’t seem to shift anymore. It’s just gone.” He snapped. “Like that.”

“When did you first notice it?” Dane asked.

“Umm, last week. Monday morning. I usually go out for a run in the woods outside Hill Haven. It’s a designated reserve, so we shifters can use it without worrying about being spotted by the humans in town. For now, at least.”

For now? “Can you elaborate—”

Dane cut her off. “Do you know of anyone who might have a grudge against you?”

Sarah huffed at being interrupted.

“Not that I can think of. I don’t know, I mean, I’m not like an important, powerful guy or anything. I don’t go around making enemies of people. I’m just a normal man.”

“Do you have any idea who might have done something? Or what it could be?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to think of some explanation.” He chuckled. “Hell, I even made a list of everything I’d eaten the day before, just in case. How stupid is that? Like bad fish could do something like this.”

“It’s not stupid,” Sarah said. “Actually a lot of things could be put into your food. Potions, powders, poisons. You never know.”

“A potion? What kind of potion?”

Dane cleared his throat. “Agent Hazelwood—” He turned towards her, giving her a shut-up look.

The hell I will! She ignored him turning to Andrew. “There’s no potion that I can think of that might do this, but don’t worry, sir. I’m on it.”

He sat back. “You know a lot about potions, do you?”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Turner.”

“Agent Hazelwood,” Dane urged through gritted teeth.

Again, she ignored him. “I’m the expert on spells in my department. I can assure you, you’re in good hands.”

Andrew Turner’s eyes narrowed. “So, you’re a witch, then?”

She blinked. “Well, yes. But I’m first and foremost an Arcane Affairs agent.”

He looked away, shaking his head. “Well, I can’t say that I like it, but I guess it makes sense. After all, a rat will sniff out another rat before a tiger.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said, feeling less sorry for him by the second.

Dane sighed, returning to his line of questioning. “Have you noticed any new people around town? Anything strange going on?”

“Nope, nothing.”

Sarah crossed her arms, leaning against the armrest of the couch, grinding her teeth. She was a Level 2 Special Agent, she was not used to just sitting back and keeping quiet so that the men could talk. She had her own questions to ask, her own blanks to be filled. They were talking to each other as if she wasn’t there at all. She sat forward, clearing her throat. “And what about you, Mr. Turner? Is it possible you might have done something recently to set someone off?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Yeah, Hazelwood, what exactly are you saying?”

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “I’m just asking. Maybe you made someone mad, maybe you had a run in with some unsavory people?”

“Are you suggesting that I brought this on myself?”

“I’m just asking a simple question.”

Andrew’s nostrils flared. “I’m the victim, here!”

Dane cut in. “Yes, of course, you are. I think what Agent Hazelwood is saying is that—”

“You know what?” Andrew Turner stood from his chair and crossed his arms in front of himself. “I think we’re done here. If you have any other questions, Chief Brody can fill you in.”

Sarah shook her head in disbelief.

Dane sighed and stood. “Thanks for your time.” He turned on her as soon as they were outside. “What the hell was that?”

“What? It was just a question. How was I to know that he’d get all huffy about it?”

“Because you’re a witch! He’s a shifter! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s a bit of a touchy situation.”

“Uh, I’m so sick of this petty witches vs shifters bullshit.”

“Get used to it, sweetheart. People of this town aren’t changing anytime soon. Besides, if I was going to Witchville, USA, do you think I’d be throwing my weight around and advertising I’m a shifter? No.”

“I’m not going to hide who I am because of the stupid, small-town minds around here.”

“I’m not saying—you know what? Nevermind.” He threw his hands in the air. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. I’m sure in a few days you’ll be back at head office, and I can finish this investigation properly. On my own.” He turned on his heel and stormed off toward the car. “Are you coming or not?” he shouted over his shoulder.

The ride over to the next house was tense. “Don’t think I’m just going to sit on my hands and wait for permission to speak,” she said as they waited in front of the door.

“Of course not. I’ll just wait for you to put your foot in your mouth. Should be entertaining.”

The slow sound of shuffling feet traveled through the door before it opened a crack. “Hello?” came a small, weak voice. A woman’s face peeked out at them.

“Uh, hello, ma’am,” Dane started. It surprised Sarah that his voice could be so soft and gentle. “We’re—”

“From the agency, right?”

“Yes. Can we come in and talk to you?”

She opened the door a little wider and nodded. Sarah noticed that the woman wasn’t as old as she had originally thought. She was probably only in her forties, but she looked much older thanks to the disheveled hair and dark circles under her eyes.

The weight of the energy in the house was crushing. The lights were off in the front foyer, leaving them in dim light. In the kitchen, a solitary, yellow light hung above the round table they sat around. Sadness and worry filled every inch of the house.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked, standing in front of the fridge. “Not that I have much at the moment. Haven’t gone shopping in a few days. No time what with going to the woods every day. My son promised he’d drop some things off. He went to visit Melissa.” Her eyes wandered further away with every word she spoke. “It’s getting harder to find her day after day. She’s getting—” She blinked, seemingly noticing them there, listening to her. “I have coffee. Or tea?”

Both of them declined anything. “We just wanted to ask you a few questions about what happened to Melissa. She’s your daughter?”

The woman nodded, sitting down at the table with them. “She’s a student, you know? She just got home from Berkley for the summer. All A’s. That’s my Melissa.”

Dane took his time going through all the questions. Sarah listened, taking notes. Not because Dane told her to, but to make it easier on the poor woman.

Like Andrew Turner, she didn’t think Melissa had any enemies or anyone who might want to hurt her. As far as the mother knew, she wasn’t into anything illicit. But then again, how many mothers did know about that sort of thing. Melissa was a young woman, a little bit wild, but also very hard working and driven.

“As hard as she worked, she liked to let loose and have fun. She and her girlfriends would go out and party all night.” Her lip trembled. “I never said anything because…because who was I to tell her what to do? Even as a teenager she was more responsible than me. I never did my homework at her age or had a job to pay my own way through school. Who was I to say that she couldn’t have fun too? She deserved it.” Heavy tears started rolling down the sides of the woman’s cheeks. “Was I wrong? I keep thinking it was my fault.”

“No,” Sarah said, patting her hand. “You weren’t wrong. I’m sure this didn’t happen just because she liked to go out.”

The woman sucked her bottom lip in, giving a nod. “Thank you.”

They asked a few more follow up questions but didn’t learn much more than they had from the file. Melissa changed a few days ago and had been living in the woods outside of town ever since. But her mother said she was getting wilder. She worried that Melissa’s wolf was taking over and that one day she might wander off, away from the protected woods.

“Do you mind if we take a look at her room?”

The woman shook her head. “It’s up the stairs, first door on the right.”

Melissa’s room was much like any college-aged girl’s. Movie posters on the wall, one of Kurt Cobain, and Rosie the Riveter. A bookcase lined with old paperbacks. A desk with a laptop and disorganized papers.

Dane went to the papers and started looking through them. Sarah went to her nightstand. Lip gloss, pictures of her with her friends, pictures of her with her family, doodles on scraps of paper. At the back, she found a small vial. She held it up to the light. It was green and shimmered in the sun.

“What is it?” Dane asked, squinting at the vial.

She shrugged. “There’s no way to know. Every witch’ and warlock’s spells are a little different. It might do more harm than good trying to find out.”

“Where’d she get it?”

A few minutes later, and they’d done what they came to do.

“Go on,” Dane said, pointing to the car when they’d finished. “I’ll be there in a second.”

She nodded, walking out to the car by herself. She sat in the front seat, turning over the events of the past day. She and Dane had been at each other, in one way or another, since they’d landed in Hill Haven. It couldn’t go on. Meeting with the victims proved that. If they continued going after the other person, there wasn’t going to be anyone left to go after whoever was doing this.

They had to start working together as a team if they were going to get anywhere with this case. She owed it to the victims, to the people she swore to protect, shifter or not, to rise above this petty nonsense.

A moment later, Dane climbed into the car. “She doesn’t know where the vial came from. Says Melissa was never involved in anything like that, she didn’t know any witches or anything.”

“Right.”

“She’s destroyed.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” She cleared her throat, straightening herself in her seat. “Look, Dane, we—we have got to start working together on this.”

He nodded. “Yeah.” He looked back at the house. “A truce? We get off each other’s backs until this thing is finished?”

“Deal.” They shook on it, his massive hand engulfing hers. The touch sent a warm shiver through her. She didn’t pull back, though. Not right away.

Her phone rang. “Shit,” she muttered, letting go of his hand. Her skin still tingled where he’d touched her, as she pulled her phone out. It was Olson, her boss. “I have to take this,” she said, climbing out of the car. “Hello?”

“How’s it going there?”

“Uh…okay. We’ve just met with one of the victims and the other’s family. We’ll have to meet with the other vic—”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great. But what about with your new partner? How’s it going?”

She looked back at Dane, who sat in the car, looking intensely out the window. “Um…fine, I guess.”

“You guess? Look, Hazelwood, I don’t need to tell you that this is an important case for you. That promotion isn’t a done deal, not yet. It’s no coincidence that you got put on this job with this guy.”

Her stomach sank. “It isn’t?”

“No. If you get this promotion, you’re going to be in charge of various lower level field agents. That’s not an easy job. You have to prove to me that you’re up to it, capiche?”

“Yeah—I mean, yes, sir.” She glanced back at Dane who shrugged his shoulders at her.

“Good,” he said. “If not, you can kiss that promotion goodbye.”

Chapter 6

“It’s good to see you, bro.” Lance Brody held up his mug of beer in cheers.

Dane lifted his, hitting the edge against the other. “You too, man.”

“So where’s the battle-ax at?”

Dane felt his wolf growl. Not that he could argue with the sentiment. After all, she had practically called him a low-level loser. “I left Agent Hazelwood at the hotel.”

“Good.”

He ignored Lance and took a drink of his ice cold beer. The bar was semi-busy for such a small town. Night had fallen and all the locals had come out for good music, cold beer, and a baseball game. Dane wasn’t really sure what had brought him here tonight, other than needing to get out of the hotel and away from Sarah. Even just being in the next room was difficult. Knowing that she was just beyond the thin drywall separating them, wondering what she was doing, what she was wearing.

They’d called a truce, which was necessary for the job, but he was still sore about what she’d said. How could he not be?

“Hey, Carl!” Lance shouted across the room to some big burly man with a chest like a barrel and a thick red beard. “Come over here a second.” The man lumbered over. “This is my buddy, Dane. We were at the academy together years ago.”

They shook hands. Dane sniffed at the air. “You’re a bear?”

He nodded. “Welcome to Hill Haven, Dane. The more shifters these days the better.” He sat down at the table with them.

He figured word had spread about Sarah’s presence. The last thing he wanted was to hear more griping about that and let it slide.

“Dane here,” Lance continued, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “He’s the fastest, strongest damn wolf I’ve ever seen.”

Carl chuckled. “Yeah, I bet you’re fierce…for a wolf.”

“Don’t laugh,” warned Lance. “I’ve seen him take down bigger bears than you.” He nudged Dane. “Remember that kid, Johnson? Ha-ha, he was such a little brown-noser, always kissing the instructors’ asses. A big bear of a guy.”

Shit, I forgot all about Johnson. Dane wished Lance would shut up. The prank had been relatively harmless, but still, pinning the kid down and writing all over his face was hardly Dane’s proudest moment. He didn’t like being reminded of it. Johnson was a damned good agent, which was more than he could say for a lot of people. What had been Dane’s problem back then, anyway? So what if the kid was a suck-up?

“We had no idea that he had a date that night, either! So, he had to show up with permanent marker dicks all over his face.” Lance was still yucking it up, slapping Dane on the shoulder. Carl was laughing like it was the best damn story in the world.

“I take it, if you’re here, that means you didn’t flunk out like this guy,” Carl said, nodding to Lance.

“Hey, man I didn’t flunk out! I quit.” He huffed. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time he’d had to make the distinction. “That academy was bullshit, anyway. They made you take all these stupid classes that you weren’t ever going to need. Like Fae Studies and Vampire History. Tell me, Dane, have you ever needed to use that stuff?”

“Not really. Not yet, at least.” He’d hated those classes, too. He and Lance had skipped most of the theoretical classes like that. Luckily, Dane had still scraped by with C’s. Lance hadn’t.

He didn’t feel so lucky now, though. He took another swig of his beer, trying to wash the bitter taste from his mouth. Why did he care what she thought? He didn’t even know her. Sure, she was beautiful, but she was hardly the first beautiful women he’d met. So, then why did it still sting? You don’t need the headache, he told himself, not sure if he was referring to her or the job. That’s how he’d always felt. Climbing the ladder meant more headaches, more responsibility.

“Bah, who needs it?” Lance moaned.

“What?” Dane asked, snapping out of it.

“The academy, the Agency. Fuck it, who needs ‘em?”

Dane leaned back, away from Lance. He shook his head, ignoring him.

“Sons of bitches,” he swore.

“I didn’t even get in,” Carl said. “Trust me, I tried. I didn’t pass the physical.” He patted his belly for emphasis.

Dane laughed.

“Trust me, you’re better off,” Lance said, waving a hand. “It’s never enough for them. You can be the fastest and the best. Look at me and Dane, for instance.”

Dane rolled his eyes.

“We were top of the class in fighting, weapons, all that stuff. But it wasn’t enough. Now, look at us. I’m a small-town cop and Dane here’s only a low-level special agent.”

“I’m doing just fine,” Dane said, feeling his blood start to rise. “I made it through training, so don’t put me in the same group as you.”

Lance raised his hands. “Oh, I’m so sorry, your majesty. I guess a lowly, hick-cop like me should be bowing at your feet.”

“Calm down, Lance. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Whatever. I need another drink.” He stood up from the table and started shuffling towards the bar.

“Don’t worry about him,” Carl said, leaning in. “He gets like this when he’s had a few too many.”

Dane couldn’t say he was surprised. It had been years since he’d seen Lance, but he was always a bit too cocky and full of himself. It seemed getting the boot from the academy had cut him deeper than he let on. Years of nursing that bitterness had left him angry and pissed off at the world, and particular the agency. Dane shook his head.

Lance was standing at the bar, flagging down the bartender. He was cursing about something. Dane was relieved to not hear his name or the agency. He didn’t need Lance getting pissed off at him, too.

A woman stood at the bar close to where Lance was moaning about something or other. She wasn’t paying any attention to Lance, though, she was staring straight at Dane. She turned away, looking shy when he noticed.

She was pretty and petite, with long blond hair. Dane turned his gaze away, just as another woman, this one older with a similar look as Carl sat down. Dane looked between them. “You must be related.”

The woman gave a hearty laugh. “Carl here’s my brother. I’m Ollie.”

“Dane,” he said with a nod.

“Looks like Lance is at it already,” she said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s just pissed off,” Carl answered. “Like the rest of us.”

“Yeah, but bitching about it in a bar isn’t going to do anything. We have to do more.”

“Uh, more of what?” Dane asked. “What’re you guys talking about?”

“The new plan our town mayor has.” Ollie spat out the word mayor like a curse. “He wants to take the woods that we have outside town, the one that’s restricted so that only us shifters can use it—”

“Yeah, so the humans in town don’t notice, and we can shift and hunt from time to time.”

“Protected land,” Dane answered with a nod. Of course, he was familiar with the notion. The agency would sometimes acquire a bit of land and through a deal with the US government, have it declared a nationally protected area. Which meant absolutely no trespassing. It was good for populations of shifters to have a site like that so that they could shift and let their animals out a bit now and then. Otherwise, they ran the risk of getting caught or seen by humans. “What’s he trying to do, then?”

“He wants to take it away from us. A shifter, too! He’s turning his back on his own kind.”

“But why?”

“He’s sucking up to the humans in town,” Ollie said. “To them, it’s just a waste of good land. They want to be able to hunt and fish on it. Can’t say I blame them. There’s a good fishing stream in there.”

Carl nodded. “Best fishing in the world. Me and Ollie go out there every weekend to fish together. How are we going to be able to do that and let our bears out if the damn humans are around?”

“It’s not right,” Ollie said, shaking her head. “Betraying your own kind like that. Not right at all.”

Dane turned that over in his mind. On the surface, it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the case, but it couldn’t hurt to ask around. “Was Andrew Turner as pissed off about all this as you guys are?”

“Andrew?” Ollie asked before giving a shrug. “I don’t know, I didn’t really talk to him about it.”

“Nah, not really. Besides, he didn’t really use the forest as much as some of us.”

Just then, Lance came stumbling back with his arm around a woman with enormous breasts, a short skirt, and big, bottle-blond hair. “Hey, bro,” he started, “sorry about before. I was just being an asshole.”

“Yeah, no worries, man.” He made a mental note to ask Lance more about this mayor guy when he was sober and not thinking with his dick.

“This is Alison.”

“Alicia!” she corrected, slapping him on the chest. By the way, she giggled, Dane doubted she minded very much. She probably didn’t. Dane had been there a million times with women like Alicia. People liked to pretend that women and men were different when it came to things like sex, but that wasn’t the case. Not in Dane’s experience at least. In a bar, on a night like tonight, Alicia had only one thing on her mind, just like Lance. Both of them reeked of arousal.

“Whatever.” Lance tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer and whispered something in her ear. She giggled again. “We’re gonna get out of here.” He waggled his eyebrows at Dane.

“Lucky son-of-a-bitch,” Carl swore as Lance walked away, stumbling with Alicia.

Dane chuffed. Lucky. He caught the blond across the bar looking at him again, her eyes soft in that come-hither look. She pushed off the bar and started towards him.

“Hey,” she said. “Can I sit down?”

“Seat’s free,” Dane answered.

Ollie and Carl exchanged grins. “We’ll, uh, leave you two alone.”

“Thank god!” she said with a chuckle when they were gone. “So…” she said, slipping from her seat and onto his lap with an obvious grin. He saw now how thick her make-up was, how clumsily it was applied. “Want to buy me a drink, sexy?” Clearly, she wasn’t as experienced as Alicia was at bar talk. It was all too obvious, too heavy-handed. Hell, it might have been her first time trying to pick up some guy in a bar.

He thought of Sarah, wishing that it was her on his lap instead of this chick. “Sorry,” he said, gently shifting her onto the chair opposite him. “I’m not really up for company, tonight.” God, had he ever said those words before in his life?

She flinched, clearing not expecting that response. He felt bad at rejecting her, but he just…wasn’t interested.

“Fine,” she said, looking down. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Nevermind.” She stood and slunked away, looking embarrassed.

Dammit, he thought, taking a swig of his beer. What the hell is happening to me? What was it about Sarah that he couldn’t get out of his head? That he couldn’t stop thinking about? He finished off his beer, trying to get her out of his head. No use. She was there. She’d been there since the day he met her, since he set eyes on her in the elevator.

Lucky? If my fated mate just so happens to be a witch that hates my guts, I’m the unluckiest son-of-a-bitch in the world.

Chapter 7

Sarah tossed her heavy textbook aside. If she read another word, she’d go cross-eyed permanently. Walking to the bathroom, she tried to rub the exhaustion from her eyes.

It had been a long day. Not that she wasn’t used to hard work. She was, but this was different. Today, it seemed like every aspect of this case was designed to work against her. Maybe that was the idea. A test. That’s what Olson had called it. He was testing her.

She took her toothbrush from her small, purple toiletries bag and squeezed out a line of toothpaste. She’d changed out of her work attire as soon as she’d closed the door behind her and was in her favorite blue silk pajamas. She brushed her teeth for the allotted three minutes, then flossed and swished with mouth wash. She smiled into the mirror, less to admire and more to inspect. All good.

Her cell phone buzzed. That was unusual. Usually, there were only a few select people who messaged her, but never at this time of night. She picked it up and checked it out. It was from Kelly at work, who shared the desk right next to hers.

-Are you coming to the bar tonight? We’re all here. Would love to hang out!

She pictured everyone in the office hanging out at the bar, laughing it up. All the people she could remember, at least, which wasn’t actually that many. She had to admit, she never made her colleagues a priority. She just didn’t really know what to say other than the small, mind-numbing chit-chat that drove her nuts. But Kelly had thought of her. She even wanted to hang out. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. Isn’t that sweet? She hadn’t really ever talked to Kelly much, other than about weekend plans and the weather. She’d always seemed a little empty-headed to Sarah. Maybe she was wrong.

-I’m on assignment out of town. She wrote, feeling sheepish for some reason. Maybe when I get back?

She waited for the reply.

-Oh…sorry, ma’am, I thought it was Sara from accounting. She even put an awkward face emoji.

So the message wasn’t for her. She felt her shoulders slump. Of course not. The truth was, she hadn’t been invited out much as of late. It hadn’t always been that way. Her first year, she’d been asked out a dozen times. She’d even gone for the occasional drink or office picnic. But work always came first, and slowly, the invitations dwindled. Whatever, she thought, lifting her chin as she tossed her phone aside.

And ma’am? Did she really just call Sarah ma’am? She was only one level above Kelly, she hardly thought that necessitated the term ma’am. Now she really felt like she could use a drink.

Dane said he was going to the bar in town. It was just down the road. She could go as a peace-offering. Have a drink. At least she’d be seen by some of the people in town. They might be more accepting if they were first introduced to her in a friendly, social setting.

She went to the bathroom and fixed her hair, putting it in a sleek ponytail. A little bit of make-up, a little more than usual. It was a bar after all. Dim light. No one would probably even notice. Her stomach fluttered.

Once dressed and ready, she walked from the hotel and down the street. The air was fresh and just a bit cool. It was refreshing after a day walking around in the heat in her jacket and skirt. Tight skirt, Dane had called it. She chewed the side of her lip.

It wasn’t difficult to find the bar. It was the only place where there was any life at this time. Every other location was dark and the parking lots empty, but not the bar. The lot was filled with beat-up looking trucks and sleek SUVS. Nothing smaller than a mid-sized truck in sight. The front of the bar had large windows, semi-obscured by window decals of beer mugs and the name of the bar.

Her heart sped up as she approached. What if he didn’t want to have a drink with her? What if everyone stopped and stared at her, wondering why she was there?

She stopped at the window. Just a peek. If he was there with a lot of people, she’d just leave. She didn’t want to interrupt. Through the glass, she scanned the part of the bar that was visible.

Quickly, as though her eyes were drawn to him and him alone, she found him sitting at a table with two other people, who must have been related. Same red hair, same square builds. They were talking, heads close together. Dane said something, driving the rest into a fit of laughter. The people seemed at ease with Dane, comfortable. She didn’t recognize either of the people at the table, which meant that they hadn’t met them that day. He must have just met them since walking into the bar, then.

It was a gift to be able to walk into any place and automatically make friends like that. Maybe that was Dane’s real talent. She’d surely never possessed it. She started to rethink her plan to go in. The people in there, they weren’t going to accept her, or see her as a friend working on their behalf. If she went in there now, they’d probably just see her as an interloper. Someone trying to sneak in under the cover of darkness. And who knew what kind of information he was getting in there. If she went in now, she could ruin it. He might be better off without her.

Dane leaned back in his chair, turning his head towards her.

She leaped back, away from the window just in time. Her heart thudded. She stood there, hand pressed into her fluttering belly, waiting for a decent amount of time to pass. No, she thought. Better to let him do his thing. Play on his strengths. That’s what a good leader would do. And she had her own abilities to utilize. Things she was good at.

Before she left, she took one more look through the window. Dane was still there, but his friends had left. All she could see of the woman on his lap was her long, blonde hair. Sarah’s eyes narrowed into a glare. Yeah, I bet he’s getting tons of information from her. It was stupid to come down here. What the hell was she thinking? She didn’t even want to have a drink with Dane.

With a huff, she turned on her heel and hurried away, back towards the hotel. There were other things she should be doing than drinking in a bar, anyway. Things that would help the case. She walked into her room, tossing her purse on the bed and mulled it over. What, though? She couldn’t stand to read anymore, and she’d already done everything that she needed to whenever she changed locations. She’d cleansed the room, put wards in place. But she hadn’t done any of those things for Dane. Not that the schmuck deserved it. Part of the responsibility of leadership is being the bigger person, she told herself. It wasn’t like she wanted to go into Dane’s room or anything. It was for his own protection. She nodded, her mind made up.

“But who knows what time he’s going to be back,” she said aloud to herself. She had no intention of waiting around for him to stumble back at God-knows-what time in the morning with some blonde chick on his arm. One tired and cranky Special Agent was enough for one case. And his door was locked. There was the door that separated their rooms, but she couldn’t very well pick the lock. Could she?

On the other hand, if she didn’t do it, he’d be without a ward all night. He could be in danger. After all, there was someone out there going after shifters. That decided it.

Placing her palm over the doorknob, she recited her spell. All her energy, all her focus was on the lock. Most witches wouldn’t need that level of concentration for just a little lock, but she wasn’t most witches. A moment later, it clicked open.

Dane’s room smelled like him. Guilt pricked at her stomach. She was intruding, she knew that, but it was for his own good. He’d understand.

Would you? a small voice asked her.

Oh, shut up, she answered, ignoring that stupid voice.

She took her essentials from her suitcase and carried them inside Dane’s room. She laid them out on the bed. Every witch had her own spell to cast a ward. Magic had to call upon energy from within the conjurer, but how depended on the individual. No two witches cast the same spells. For a ward, Sarah used three candles, green, red and white. When she traveled, she carried small votive candles because they were easier to pack. A small jar of salt, a vial of blessed water, a white feather, and incense. She was all set.

She paused, looking at the empty duffel bag on the floor. Curiosity got the better of her. She peeked inside, finding only a string of condoms. She scoffed, feeling her cheeks grow red and flushed. She had been kidding about that, but apparently, he wasn’t.

Just then, a sound came from outside. Her heart leaped into her throat. She waited, listening carefully. Nothing. She crept to the window, standing next to the door, and looked outside. Again, nothing.

The door flew open and something crashed into her, driving her to the floor. The person forced her hand behind her back.

She screamed.

Chapter 8

Sarah lay on her stomach, vice-like hands around her wrists. She was about to let out another yell, when a familiar voice shushed her.

“Be quiet! What the hell are you doing, Sarah?”

Relief flooded her. It was only Dane. “I’m trying to do you a favor,” she cried, wiggling underneath him.

He flipped her over onto to her back, pinning her arms above her head. His face loomed over hers, the light scent of beer and on his breath mixing deliciously with his cologne.

“It’s just me,” she whined. “Would you get off?” She tried to look him in the eye, tried to keep her voice strong, but her heart wasn’t in it. The way he held her wrists, his weight pressing her into the floor; it made her quiver with excitement.

“Not until you tell me what the hell you’re doing snooping around my room. What favor?” His gorgeous, stubble-covered jaw tensed as his eyes traveled downward, along her neck, and to her cleavage. His nostrils flared as his eyes returned to hers. “You better tell me now, woman.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. She was pinned beneath him, unable to move. “I—I just wanted to give you a ward. A protection spell. Look, there on the bed.”

He glanced over and back at her. “It couldn’t wait?”

“Protection can’t come too early, only too late,” she said, breathlessly.

“Right.” He paused, his face still hovering above hers. His scent enveloped her. For a moment, she thought he might lean down and kiss her. She trembled beneath him, his legs tight around her waist. The pit in her stomach sank lower, stirring warmth between her legs. Her body practically begged for his touch, but she wouldn’t allow herself to writhe under him like she wanted to. The moment seemed to stretch on and on until, in a blink, it was gone.

“Would you get off me?” she snapped.

“Right, sorry.” He climbed off, lifting her off the floor.

Red-hot embarrassment surged through her. She’d practically melted underneath him, and he’d barely been affected. Why else wouldn’t he kiss her? Maybe he hadn’t liked the kiss from before. Maybe she wasn’t a good kisser. It wasn’t like she’d had much practice lately. But she wasn’t one for feeling sorry for herself. No, anger was better. Easier. “I’m surprised you came back alone.”

“Why? Was I supposed to pick someone up? Guess I missed that on the itinerary. I can go back, and try again, if you want, Boss.”

She scoffed, knowing full well he wouldn’t have to try very hard. “Like I care what goes on in your love life. I’m out of here. Do your own god damn ward.”

She went for the door, but he caught her before she got there and spun her towards him. “What’s going on? You broke into my bedroom, and now you’re pissed at me?”

She yanked her arm out of his grip. “If you want someone to man-handle, Dane,” she spat, “you’d have better luck with the blonde at the bar.”

“Is that what this is all about? A woman in a bar. That’s what’s got you all riled up?”

“Ha, I couldn’t care less!”

He took her wrist in his strong hand, pulling her close. “Oh, yeah? Is that so?” He breathed heavy through his nose, towering over her. “I think you’re full of shit.”

“Get your hands off me.” Her wrist burned with electric warmth where he held her. She didn’t even try to pull away.

“Is that what you really want?” He walked her backwards until her back met the door.

She tried to push him away, tried to tell him to piss off, but the words wouldn’t come. She was putty. He pressed her against the door, and she knew she was ready to come undone.

“Say it,” he ordered. His eyes flicked down to her heaving breasts. “Say it, and I’ll never touch you again.”

It felt like an eternity passed while she tried to muster up the words. Every insult and mean thing she could think of passed through her mind, but nothing came out. It was impossible. The truth was, she was desperate to feel his hands on her body. Maybe this was exactly what they needed. Maybe they both just had to get it out of their systems, and then move on to the case.

“I—” she started, but his mouth covered hers and the words got lost somehow.

Warmth, then raging heat burned through her. All resistance, every ounce of anger, simply melted away in the heat of his kiss. His lips, his exploring tongue, his hands in her hair. She didn’t want to talk anymore, she didn’t care about anything else now.

He gripped her ass, lifting her off the ground, pressing her into the door. Her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer. She felt his stiff cock through his jeans, and her mouth went dry.

He groaned, his fingers digging roughly into her ass. “Jesus, Sarah.”

She loved the sound of her name on his lips. “Say it again.”

It escaped from his lips like a prayer. “Sarah.”

Her lips brushed his jaw line, his whiskers scratching her delicate skin. Then his neck. She sucked and nibbled, enjoying the sound of his breath coming faster.

The journey to the bed felt like miles. She wanted him so badly. Her insides were molten lava. Wet, delicious warmth spread through her middle and down between her legs. She whimpered at the need that throbbed there. Dane’s eyes were hungry, no, starving as he lunged on top of her. His weight was heavy, pushing her into the mattress.

The rest of the world, the room, everything was a blur as he kissed her neck, her chest. Down and down he went, pushing the hem of her skirt up around her hips. She felt her own slickness as he pulled aside her panties, his fingers grazing her tight, throbbing bud. She gasped at the touch, a tiny rush of pleasure surging through her.

Then his tongue, oh, his delicious tongue flicked through her wanton folds. One hand was buried in his hair as her head flung back, the other gripped the headboard. “God, yes!” He sucked gently on her clit, his fingers entered her core. She cried out for more. Again and again, his skilled fingers plunged into her, his tongue teasing more pleasure from her, more cries of need.

An orgasm, stronger than she’d ever experienced, crested, washing over her. The ebb and flow of her climax kept her moaning for what seemed like ages. Finally, it waned, drifting away and the world refocused again.

He smiled up at her from between her thighs, his eyes still glowing.

“Get up here,” she said, pulling him towards her.

In moments, their clothes were flung to all corners of the room and they were naked before each other.

“You’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he said, looking her over.

God, he was glorious to look at. She reached out. Taught abs descended to a sexy V that led down to his enormous, steely cock. She slid her palm over his velvety helmet. He sucked air through his teeth, head rolling back. His hand peeled hers away, though. He leaned over, pinning her underneath him. “If I don’t bury myself in you right now, I’m going to explode.”

Hard to argue with that. He grabbed a condom from the nightstand and slipped it over his cock.

Gripping her thighs, he slid between her legs. She opened up to him, feeling his cock at her entrance. The muscles of his back rippled under her fingers as he eased himself inside her, stretching her, filling her. Her breath hitched at his size.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

She nodded. “God, yes.”

With every thrust, he grazed that bundle of nerves deep within. He bucked again, harder this time, angling his hips so that his cock put even greater pressure on her g-spot. She gasped, gripping his shoulders. “Yes,” she cried. “Harder!”

He complied, driving her into the mattress, pushing her towards another climax. She cried out, feeling her whole body taken over once again in ecstasy. In the back of her mind, she was dimly aware of Dane’s own body going rigid as he came with her.

With a grinning curse, he collapsed on top of her. They were both panting, wrapped in each other’s arms. “Holy crap!” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

“I know.” He laughed, in disbelief. “I was not expecting that.”

She scoffed, sitting up. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know.” He rolled to his side, resting his head on his palm. His finger ran up her thigh. “You’re always just so…tight-laced. So serious.”

“And what? You figured I’d be bad in bed? Just lay there and scowl at you?”

He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant.”

She slapped his hand away. Of course he’d thought that. Isn’t that what they all think? Tight-assed Sarah Hazelwood who wouldn’t know a good time if it bit her in the ass. She snatched her clothes off the floor.

“I didn’t—”

She shrugged his hand off her shoulder, and pulled her skirt back on. “It doesn’t matter.” She tried not to look at him, sitting there on the bed, half-naked. “We’ve gotten it out of our systems. Now, we can just focus on the case. No more of this sexual tension nonsense.”

“Nonsense? Get it out of our systems?”

She nodded. Her mind went to the conversation she’d had with Olson. Way to keep the situation under control, Sarah! “I think from now on, we should keep things…professional.”

“Ah, there she is again. I was wondering where the uptight, ice-queen Sarah had gone to. Good to see you back.”

That stung. But she wouldn’t let it show. She lifted her chin, jaw clenched tight. Ice Queen. He had a point. Maybe that’s exactly what she needed to be. “Be ready early tomorrow,” she snapped. “We have work to do.”

Chapter 8

Sunlight blinked through the trees, decorating the forest floor with bright sun spots. The air was fresh, the green vegetation moist with dew. Dane sniffed at the air and shook his head. “She’s not close by.”

“Mmm-hmm,” was all the answer he got from Sarah. That was about as much as he’d gotten all morning. She was sitting on the hood of the car, legs crossed.

“Are you meditating or something?”

She scoffed, opening her eyes. She looked at him with pure, unadulterated disdain. “Don’t you remember anything from the academy?”

He stared at her, blankly.

“Magic takes energy. Like that ward I performed last night? That energy needs to be replaced.” She opened her palms, gesturing to the trees overhead. “Witches absorb energy from nature.” Her eyes hardened at him. “End of lesson.”

He held his hands up in mock defense. She’d been touchy all morning. Ever since leaving his bedroom the night before. What the hell was her problem? She was the one that told him that she’d just had sex with him to get it out of her system. If anyone should be pissed, it was him. If regular women were confusing, a witch was impossible to decipher.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have gone for the jugular with the Ice Queen comment. Especially if his suspicions were correct. If he was right, both him and Sarah were in trouble. Fated to a witch, he thought. The boys at work would get a kick out of that.

“Are you going to find her or not?” Sarah snapped. She closed her eyes and returned to her earlier pose.

He turned to face the forest and stripped off his shirt, then pants. The morning air chilled his skin. He’d be better in a minute, once he was in his wolf. He glanced back, catching Sarah staring at his nakedness. She met his eyes and inhaled sharply, pinching them shut again, her face turning red. Well, if she hadn’t been pissy before, she sure-as-shit was now. Still made him grin.

He let the change come over him, wondering if she was watching again. He forced himself not to look back and see, just in case she called a lightning bolt down upon him.

Once in his wolf, he gave a shake. It felt good to let the animal out now and then. It had been a while. With his thick coat of black fur, the chill was gone. He was warm and his muscles itched to run. But the man within forced him to sniffed at the air one more time. Everything smelled stronger, more intense. Even with his heightened sense of smell, there was no trace of another wolf in the area.

He took off at a run, flying through the forest. Air blew his fur back as his great paws thudded across the ground. Damn, it felt good to run like this. There were few places like this in the city. The shifters in Hill Haven were truly lucky to have this. A place where they could run free, unafraid of being spotted or worse, shot, by humans. A place where they could be one with their primal selves.

He ran for what felt like ages before coming to the river that Carl had mentioned the night before. There was a small waterfall that stretched across the river downstream. Between the bright sunlight beaming off the crystal clean water and the rich, green foliage all around, it was like something out of a fairytale. Beautiful. Untouched by humans. He could perfectly picture Carl and Ollie standing over it, two bears swiping at salmon jumping out of the water. He took a long drink of the cool water to quench his thirst before checking the air again. Still no sign of Melissa or her wolf.

He ran another ten minutes before turning back in the direction of the car.

Sarah was still on the car, looking like she was in deep meditation when he stopped alongside the car and shifted back. He was pulling on his t-shirt when she finally noticed he was there.

“What’d you find?”

“Nothing.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“I couldn’t find her.”

She scoffed, tossing her hands up in the air. “So, you just gave up?” she looked down at her watch. “You were only gone twenty minutes!”

“What do you want me to do? I couldn’t find her. You try running for twenty minutes.”

“Oh, please, you haven’t even broken a sweat. Besides, instead of just running, did you ever think of, oh, I don’t know, coming up with a different plan? There are more ways through a closed door than just breaking it down. Ugh, look who I’m talking to. You know what? Forget it. I’ll just do a tracking spell. It’ll zap the energy I just accumulated, but—” She continued mumbling her displeasure as she slid off the hood of the car and walked around to the back.

Of course, Sarah had to make this into a bigger deal than it was. It couldn’t just be that he couldn’t find Melissa, no it was because he was lazy and not persistent enough. He huffed, crossing his arms. Maybe she just liked feeling superior to him. Well, not this time. “Wait.”

She poked her head out from behind the open trunk. “What?”

“I have an idea.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyebrow arched high.

“Yes. It does happen from time to time.”

She closed the trunk and shrugged. “Okay. Have at it.” She sounded doubtful. But he’d show her. “So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to have her come to us.”

Ten minutes later and he returned to the car, trotting up with a rabbit between his teeth. He dropped it at Sarah’s feet before shifting back into his human form. She looked away, blushing as he pulled on his pants.

“What makes you think she’ll come?”

“I’ve been leaving a trail of blood all around the forest. If she’s the least bit hungry, she’ll find us.” He led Sarah further into the forest, away from the car, and placed the rabbit in the center of a small clearing. They hid behind a large group of bushes and waited.

In the meantime, Sarah pulled out a book from the satchel she carried and started reading.

“What’s that?” he whispered, lifting the corner of the book to read the cover. “Shifters? You’re reading a book on shifters?”

“Of course. It’s called research.”

“Do you ever stop and just relax?”

“I was relaxing for twenty minutes, remember?”

“That wasn’t relaxing. Like you said, you were absorbing energy so that you could do more magic. That’s work. Do you have any hobbies or anything that isn’t related to work?”

“What, like playing volleyball or salsa dancing?”

“Something like that.”

“No.” She returned to her book. “I didn’t get to where I am today by being unprepared.”

“What makes you think you need that book and all the crap in your bags to be prepared? You’re a witch, you’re powerful and strong. And smart. Isn’t that enough?”

She looked up from her book, her face difficult to read. She seemed to be searching his own face, looking for hidden meaning. She probably thinks I’m teasing her. He wasn’t.

“Well,” she said, finally, “it isn’t enough.”

“Why?”

“Just…” She met his eyes, and he could see the inner struggle in her eyes. She was on the precipice of saying something, and he was dying to hear it. Anything that might let him in, get a glimpse into what was going on in her head. “It just isn’t.” She returned to the crisp pages of her book, shutting him out once again.

Just then, he heard heavy sniffing. He pivoted to the side, landing on his hands and feet, ready to launch himself into the clearing. Peering through the leaves, he scanned the area before him until he saw a slight, brown wolf creep into view. He could practically feel her nervousness. She could smell them, he knew that much and she was skittish for some reason. Maybe Melissa’s mother was right, and her wolf was taking over, making her more wary of humans. Only one way to find out.

He stepped out from behind the bush and into the clearing. Melissa stopped, staring up at him with nervous eyes. “It’s okay, Melissa,” he said, keeping a soothing, soft tone to his voice. “We’re here to help you.”

Her lip curled back in a snarl.

Shit. Better try another tactic. He backed away, stripping down for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Is that a good idea?” Sarah whispered from the trees.

“I don’t know. We’re about to find out, though.” With that he let the shift come over him. He changed quickly so as not to give her a chance to flee before she saw him in his wolf form.

Melissa, it’s okay. He sent the thought across to her. I’m a friend. I’m here to help.

A friend? she answered, snarling. I don’t know you. What’s going on? Who’s the woman?

She’s…she’s my partner. We’re from the Agency.

The Agency? Melissa’s black nose went into the air, sniffing at it. She’s not a shifter. She snarled. You better not have brought a witch into our woods. Not after what they did to me.

He could feel the anger pouring off her. Her hackles stood up, her ears back. She’s here to help, too.

She better show herself, Melissa growled. Tell the little witch to come on out.

No.

She growled, leaping forwards. He snapped back, tossing her aside. She was smaller than him, thankfully, but she had the advantage of not caring whether she hurt him or not.

STOP THIS!

Melissa fell away, crouching low to the ground.

He’s an agent, Melissa. They’re here to help you.

Dane turned to see another wolf had joined them. A male with grayish brown fur and hazel eyes.

Who are you? Dane asked.

I’m Melissa’s brother. He turned to her. Sis, you have to try harder to control your animal. Mom’s worried about you. The Agency is going to come and take you away if you can’t. It would kill her.

Dane felt the anguish inside Melissa, saw it in her wolf eyes. I know…I just…I feel so angry sometimes. It’s so unfair.

I know, sis. Just…try, okay? These people are here to help. And I’ll make more of an effort to get out here and spend time with you. I’ll even bring my tablet so you can watch Keeping up the Kardashians.

She laughed. Thanks.

Dane stepped forward. Sorry to interrupt, but I just have a few questions I need to ask Melissa.

She nodded. Go ahead.

What do you remember from before this happened? Was anyone angry with you? Who did you see or talk to?

Nothing. I just went out with some friends to the bar. Had some drinks. I—I don’t remember much.

Were you that drunk, sis?

No…I just don’t really remember much from that night. My memory is foggy.

Okay, don’t worry about it, Melissa. I’ll come and see you if I have any more questions, okay?

“So what did she say?” Sarah asked when they were back at the car.

“Not much,” he answered, shaking his head. “It’s like her mom said. She’s getting wilder, her human self seems to be slipping away. We have to figure this thing out before she loses it completely.”

“How long will that take?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It takes awhile, I think, but being out here, stewing in her anger and all alone in the woods doesn’t help.”

“You think we should call the Agency? Have them pick her up and keep her there?”

“Yeah, maybe. They’ll be able to monitor her, keep her human half engaged with more than just the Kardashians.”

“Please, don’t,” a voice came from behind them. A man stood behind them, pulling a baseball hat down over his shaggy brown hair. Dane recognized him from a picture he’d seen in Melissa’s room. “Don’t take her away. I’ll do more, I promise. But, I don’t think my mom or sister could handle being separated. Please, just wait a little while longer.”

Dane nodded. “Okay. We’ll leave her for now.”

He thanked them profusely before grabbing a stack of magazines from his trunk. “She likes the advice columns,” he said, walking away from them.

As soon as he was gone, Dane climbed into the car. Sarah joined him, slamming the door behind. “You shouldn’t have said that. We should be calling the agency right now.”

“I know. But…she hasn’t hurt anyone yet, and I have to believe that she’s better off with her family than a bunch of doctors in a facility. We just have to find any kind of solution before she goes any deeper.” Or before she hurts someone. He kept that thought to himself.

Chapter 9

It was a long day. Sarah stripped off her clothes, discarding them on the floor and climbed into the shower. The hot water felt magnificent on her skin. God, she wished she could wash away the last eight hours.

They’d driven from this place to that, talking to a dozen people, and they’d gotten nowhere. As the daylight crept away, the atmosphere in the car just grew tenser. They were both anxious, needing desperately to find something to lead them somewhere.

Nothing.

They’d found nothing, learned nothing. They were in exactly the same place as they’d been that morning. Finally, an hour ago, Sarah called it a night. She wanted to get back to her room and do some reading before the next day. At least that might give her some progress. Apparently, Dane didn’t have the same idea. A few minutes after closing her door, she’d heard his open and his footsteps pass by. She’d peeked out the window to see him crossing the parking lot in the direction of the bar. A part of her thought it was a good idea. He’d gotten some information last night about some possible dirty business on the part of the mayor—not that it had much to do with their case—and met some locals. On the other hand, she suspected that with the mood he was in, he was just as likely to make an enemy as a friend.

She stepped out of the shower, feeling renewed. Her skin tingled in the cool, humid air. She grabbed a towel and dried off before pulling on her fluffy, white robe. Settling down on her bed, she pulled out her book on shifters.

She read through the pages, skimming for anything relevant to the case. The chapter was about shifter abilities. There was little that she didn’t already know on the subject. They were stronger and faster, even in human form. They healed faster and had stronger immune systems. She kept reading, just in case. The research part of the job was painstakingly slow and arduous, but it was worth it. In her experience, a bit of research could pay dividends later.

When she finished the chapter on shifter abilities, she looked at the clock beside the bed. It was half past eleven. She rubbed her eyes, closing her book and set it next to the clock.

She lifted the covers on her bed and crawled in. The sheets were cool, just like she liked them. She was about to reach for the light when a loud bang sounded at the door. Gasping, she sat straight up.

Another bang came at the door. No, it was more like a knock but clumsy and a little too loud. It was quickly followed by a deep chortling. Sarah frowned and climbed from the bed.

She went to the door and yanked it open. Dane, who was sitting on the ground, fell backward with the door, spilling into her bedroom. He snickered.

“Ugh, would you get up?”

“Help me.” He reached for her. “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.”

She tried to suppress a smile as she helped him to his feet. He threw his arm around her, smelling strongly of whiskey. She stumbled back, unable to support him on her own. “Whoa, whoa!” She fell against the wall, him pressing against her.

“Sorry.” He pushed himself off, holding his hands up. “Look.” He gestured to the short distance between them. “Look. Space.” Thumbs up. “Professional.”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let’s get you to your room, drunky.” She opened the door on her side that separated the two rooms and held out her hand to him, flicking her fingers. “The key?”

He raised his eyebrows with a sly grin. “Come find them.”

She scoffed, crossing her arms. He must be really drunk. She was in no mood for these games, and if he thought she was going to just blush and turn away, he was wrong.

She stepped up to him and reached a hand down, stuffing it into his pocket. His thigh was hard and muscled through the thin fabric. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. Dane’s grin widened. She could only pray that his thigh was the only part of him she touched. No key. She searched the other pocket and her fingers felt the cold touch of key teeth. She pulled it out and turned her back to him, grateful for the chance to catch her breath away from his observing gaze.

She opened his door and stepped in. “Come on, then.”

“Don’t you want to know what I found out tonight?”

“Okay, what did you find out tonight?”

He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger. “A big fat nothing. Like the rest of the day. Fucking useless.”

“You mean getting drunk didn’t help the case? What a shocker.” She pulled back the sheets on his bed for him.

“Helped me.” He flopped down on the bed, throwing an arm over his eyes.

She sighed. “Don’t think of it like that.” She sat on the edge of his bed, a foot from him. “We may have found several dead-ends, but at least now we know that there’s nothing there. We can move on to more things tomorrow that might be of more use. I was just reading—”

“Boring!” he groaned, pushing himself to a half sitting position and clumsily threw an arm around her.

“Oh!” she gasped as he dragged her towards him. He lay back down on his side, his arm around her waist. She sat in the middle of the bed now, her eyes wide with surprise. He was…hugging her. His hold was firm, but not tight. She could move away if she wanted to.

“I like the way you smell.” He said it softly, almost too softly for her to hear. He took a deep inhale. God, he must be really drunk. A few moments later, and he was snoring gently. He rolled away onto his back, releasing her.

He was a beautiful creature. Everything from his square jaw line to his muscled chest and strong hands was utterly perfect. She leaned over him, admiring the fingers that rested on his chest. She’d never had the opportunity to really look at them before. At him in general. She’d only ever allowed herself fleeting glances, afraid he might catch her staring. He wasn’t going to catch her now that he was passed out, that was for sure. Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t remember it come tomorrow.

There was something incredibly sexy about his hands. They were strong and heavy looking like they could crush stone. But they could also be incredibly gentle. She remembered the way he’d touched her when they’d kissed. Firm, but gentle. That was like him. There was no doubt that he could be a beast when needed, but she’d also seen how he was with Andrew Turner and Melissa’s mother. He cared, he was kind.

As much as she gave him a hard time, if she was honest, she had to admit that he wasn’t the person she thought he was. She wasn’t sure just yet who he was, but he wasn’t the ego-driven shifter she’d pegged him to be.

Her phone rang in the other room. Cursing under her breath, she slipped from the bed and hurried to the phone. It was her boss, Olson. She let loose another curse before answering the phone.

“Sarah, how are things in Hill Haven? Almost there?”

“Uh, not quite, sir.” She chewed her lip. “We’re getting there, though. Making some good progress.”

“And Agent Landon? Are you keeping him in check?”

A snort echoed through the air from the next room, where he’d passed out.

“Umm, yes, actually. Dane is toeing the line. Behaving himself.” She cleared her throat. “As ordered.”

“Dane, huh?” He chuckled at her momentary lapse in etiquette.

“Agent Landon,” she corrected herself, “has…proven himself useful.”

“Yeah, well, let’s wrap this thing up sooner rather than later, shall we? The last thing the agency needs is people finding out there’s some spell or weapon out there that can lose shifters their powers.”

“Yes, sir. Of course.”

“Good girl.”

She cringed. God, she hated when he said that. He genuinely seemed to think it was a compliment. She hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. Okay, so she’d stretched the truth a bit. But it was for her own good, and Dane’s for that matter.

Still, she felt a little bit bad about it. Maybe she could do something nice for Dane to make up for it. Even out her moral scales.

She shut the door that separated the two rooms before pulling out a small trinket from her bag. A necklace she’d found at one of the shops she’d visited today. She’d bought it when he wasn’t looking. Two twisted metal circles were held together with a black leather cord. She didn’t know why she’d bought it at the time, but she was glad she did. It was perfect. It would suit him more than any of her other trinkets or charms. She couldn’t imagine handing Dane a pink stone or a mini vial filled with blessed oil.

If today was any indication, he would need all the help he could get. A simple ward in his bedroom wasn’t going to be enough. She just hoped that he would like it.

Chapter 10

The smell of hot dogs and french fries filled the park. The crowd cheered at the baseball game from behind Sarah.

“Anything else, ma’am?” the sweaty vendor asked, handing over a bottle of Powerade. She looked at hot dogs rotating under the fluorescent light and shook her head. “No, thanks.”

Sarah brought it back to the stands where Dane sat, observing the field. “Here you go. It’s good for a hangover.”

He took it, snapping off the cap. “I told you, shifters don’t get hangovers. I’m just…under the weather.”

“Mmmm-hmm, sure thing. Just drink it.”

It was a charity baseball match. Cops versus firefighters. Most of the town had shown up to watch and cheer on their buddies. It was the one bit of information that Dane had gathered the day before. Sarah didn’t really see the point in going, but Dane thought it would be good to see the whole town altogether. It couldn’t hurt, so she came along.

Her hand went to her pocket, where she kept the necklace she’d placed a ward on the night before. She wove the soft leather strap around her fingers. Just do it, she told herself. Here, Dane, another ward. Casual-like, no eye contact. She should have just done it first thing that morning over breakfast. Now she was going to have to pretend like she’d forgotten about it.

She closed her hand around it and took a breath. “So, I, uh—”

“Notice anything weird?”

“What?” she asked, simultaneously relieved and disappointed.

He took a drink and pointed to the set of stands beside theirs. “Humans are over there, shifters are over here. That’s a pretty serious divide.”

“Oh. Yeah, it is. Maybe the shifters are more paranoid now?”

“That doesn’t explain the tension. Can’t you feel it?”

She looked from stand to stand. The truth was, she hadn’t noticed, but the two groups barely seemed to look at each other. The people on the edges of the stands all turned their bodies away from the other. She turned at looked at the line up at the concession stand. People stood in small groups, with their arms crossed, not looking around at all. There was no small town friendliness going on here. “Okay. But why?”

Before he could answer, Lance came strolling up in his baseball uniform, knees and ass dirt-covered. He’d just finished running the bases for his team. Another cop was up to bat. Sarah recognized him as one of the jerks that laughed at Lance’s joke the other day. He swung and missed. Ha, sucker!

Lance sat on the other side of Dane. “Thanks for coming out. I don’t know about her,” he said, clearly referring to Sarah, “but it’s good for the shifters to see you around.”

The batter hit the next ball and made it to second base. Another cop walked up to the plate. He was showing off, twirling the bat. Laughter erupted from the stands behind them. The other was quiet.

“I got something for you,” Lance said, handing Dane a folded piece of paper.

“What is it?”

“An address. We don’t have any witches or warlocks in town like I said, but I thought I’d look outside. This guy lives in the boonies, about twenty minutes out.” He shook his head. “Right under my nose, and I didn’t even know it.”

“Fredrick Easton. All right, thanks.” Dane stuffed it into his pocket. “We’ll check it out after the game.”

The pitcher threw the ball, a little high. The cop on base didn’t swing. The umpire stood, pulling off his mask. He was handsome enough with his short cut brown hair and square shoulders. Definitely good looking, but in a sleazy way that made her want to take a long, hot shower. “Strike three. You’re out!”

The people around them booed, some humans cheered.

“What’s up with them?” Sarah asked, keeping her voice low. “It’s like a civil war around here.”

“Yeah, things have been tense. You see the umpire? That’s Troy Donovan. He’s the mayor.”

So that’s the man everyone’s pissed at? He looked like a politician. Troy Donovan smiled and waved at some people in the stands. Waved like a politician, too.

“Traitor. Most of the humans love him, of course. They’re all for a new piece of forest to be opened up where they can hike and hunt and swim. It’s not their fault. Not that that matters to most shifters in town.” He scoffed. “The humans just want a place to shoot grouse. Hell, if half those hunters knew what the mayor was up to while they were out drinking with their buddies…”

Dane was rubbing his forehead, pretending to listen.

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.

“He’s a grade-A skirt chaser.” He shook his head. “I’m no angel, Dane can attest to that, but that guy has no scruples. No morals.” He spat on the ground.

The mayor flashed a smile at two young girls, they couldn’t have been more than sixteen, who walked by. He tipped his hat.

Sarah shuddered. “But he’s a shifter, too. Wouldn’t he suffer from the loss just as much as everyone else?”

“You’d think that. But no. His family’s got their own chunk of land behind his house. It’s not that much, but hey, he’s barely even a real shifter. He probably only let’s his wolf out every couple of months. Shit, gotta go,” Lance said, clapping Dane on the shoulder. “I’m shortstop.”

Sarah tried her hardest to pay attention to the game and what was going on outside of the game, but her mind kept returning to the necklace. The longer it took, the more anxious she got about it. Why hadn’t she just gotten it over with that morning? But she knew why. It was the same reason she didn’t just hand it over right now. What if he didn’t like it?

Her mind only stopped ruminating on that one thing when she saw movement in the trees behind the baseball diamond. She sat up, peering beyond the umpire.

There was a man lurking there in the trees. He stood behind a thick trunk, looking out at them. He had wild, shaggy brown hair, and round, bulging eyes. He was thin and lanky. Definitely not a shifter.

Sarah had never seen the man before. What the hell was he doing back there, and who was he looking at? She stood, slipping from the bench. “I’ll be right back.” She whispered. The man hadn’t noticed her yet, and she wanted to keep it that way.

He slunk back into the trees. The occasional shaking of bushes and glimpses of his dark black t-shirt told her he was moving along the tree line. She hurried, hoping to cut him off. If she could at least see his face clearly—

“Where do you think you’re going?” A man stepped in front of her. He was massive, with a big, barrel chest and a scruffy beard.

“Excuse me.” She tried to walk past him, but another man joined him, blocking her way. She looked past their shoulders to see the man disappear into the forest. “Dammit!”

“We asked you a question, witch.” She turned to see another man stepping up behind her.

She swallowed hard. They were between the concession stand—which was currently empty. Perfect!—and the crowd of people watching the game. There was no one watching them. Her heart leaped into her throat. She spoke, praying that her voice wouldn’t betray her. “I am an Agent, please move out of my way.”

The men laughed, nudging each other. “Hear that, she’s an Agent!”

“A scheming witch, more like it.”

It took every ounce of strength she possessed to not shrink before these men. They were massive, she was small. They were three, and she was alone. But she wouldn’t shrivel up before them. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her cowed. She took out her badge, her fingers fumbling lamely, and held it out to the ring-leader. Her fingers shook. “Move.”

He stepped up. “Make me, witch.”

“Trust me, she will.” Dane stood behind her, his eyes seething. Her heart lifted, and the fear drained away. He was here.

“This doesn’t concern you.”

He pulled her behind him. “If you have a problem with my partner, then I’d say it does.”

“Dane, we should just go. Come on. There are other things we need to be doing.” Like finding out who that guy in the trees was.

He just ignored her, staring down the other man.

She scoffed. Fine! You want to be a jackass and fight, fine! She reached into her pocket, pulling out the necklace. Dammit, she should have given it to him before. Like she said, protection could only come too late, never too early. Shit, and now might be too late. She had no time to waste.

Sarah dove between the two men. Merely talking wasn’t going to do the trick. Trying to pull him away might just instigate something. Instead, she grabbed him by the face, and kissed him. His body tensed for a moment, clearly shocked. Then, he relaxed, melting into her, and her into him.

Still holding the necklace in her hand, she slipped it into his back pocket. She released him, her lips still tingling. His touch lingered on her skin as she moved away.

He had a stunned, hot look on his face. “What was that for?”

She shrugged. “For luck.”

“Enough of this bullshit,” she heard from behind her as she was shoved out of the way. The big man came directly at Dane, his fist flying through the air. Dane pivoted, dodging the punch, and landed his own right in the brute’s stomach. But his fist practically bounced off the man’s hard muscles. The guy laughed without so much as a flinch. “Is that all you got?” He looked between his buddies. “Jesus, the Agency must be harder up than we thought.”

Dane looked shocked, his eyes moving between his fist and the man’s stomach. His opponent took advantage, punching him in the face.

Sarah gasped. “Dane!”

He was on the ground, his eyes glowing yellow. He struggled to his knees before another couple of punches rained down on him.

“Dane!”

“What the hell is going on?” Someone brushed past her. It was Lance. He pushed the other guy back, away from Dane. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He gave the guy another shove backward. “Do I have to remind you that they’re here to help us?”

“A witch, Brody?” the man yelled. “You really think a witch is going to help us?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, dumbass, but this town is full of shifters, and no one has any fucking idea what’s going on. So, yeah, maybe a witch is exactly what we need.”

The man’s face was red, but whatever he was going to say, he held back.

“Why don’t you get out of here before I have you arrested?”

He sent a glare in Sarah’s direction before stalking off with his friends, mumbling something.

With the danger past, Sarah fell to her knees at Dane’s side. “Are you okay?”

He groaned. His eye was already swollen, and his jaw red.

Lance stood over them, arms crossed. A crowd had gathered, everyone staring. “Way to keep a low profile,” Lance said, looking at her, blame filling his eyes. He just shook his head and turned on his heel, returning to the baseball game.

“Are you okay?” she repeated, brushing hair out of his face.

He shook his head.

“Does it hurt?”

“I…I couldn’t hit him. There was no power behind it. Like a bullet with no gun powder.” His eyes met hers. He looked more scared than she’d ever seen him before. “My powers…they’re gone.”

Chapter 11

“I can’t shift,” Dane said, staring down at his hands. “I’m weak, I’m slow!” He’d never felt so powerless. All his life, he’d always been the strongest, the fittest, the quickest. Now, he was just normal. Not even average for a shifter, but for a human.

“Just hold still.” She slapped a cold steak over his eye. “Someone must have slipped you something last night. Who did you talk to? Was there anyone acting funny? Did anyone get your drink for you?”

“No.” He held the cold steak on his face and fell back on the bed. She sighed, a look of pity on her face. That only made him feel worse. “Can you just go?”

“Why, so you can sit and feel sorry for yourself in peace? I don’t think so. Moping about isn’t going to do anything.”

He scoffed. “Easy for you to say. You’re still an all-powerful witch.”

“All powerful. Ha! I have some, yeah, I wasn’t born with like you, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Actually, yes!” She threw her hands up in the air. “For your information, I’m not a strong witch, okay? I’m not like you with your natural ability. My powers are weak. And don’t look at me like that. Don’t feel sorry for me. I may have weak abilities, but I’m still the top witch in my department. Want to know why? It’s because I work my ass off. Yeah, I work day and night so I can build up my powers and perfect every spell, ward, and potion that I possibly can.”

“Okay, okay. Look, I wasn’t judging you.”

“Oh yes, you were. Why not? Everyone does. Sarah’s just some uptight, workaholic witch with a stick up her ass. Well, I’m not, okay? I have to work hard or else I might let someone down. Someone like Melissa. Someone like you.” She turned her eyes away.

Something stirred in him. She worried about letting him down? “But you’re smart. Even if you didn’t have your powers, you would’ve been somebody. Anyone can see that. But me? Hell, even with my powers, I’m nobody. Like you said, just a low-level agent.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“You said it yourself!”

“And I was full of shit. You’re not just a low-level agent. You’re smart and charming. People like you, they trust you. That’s not something that you can learn from a book. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“You think I’m charming?” He raised an eyebrow. “Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a tight ass. You do have one, though.”

That got a smirk out of her, along with a shut-up and a playful smack on the arm.

“Be careful, I’m weak,” he said sticking out his bottom lip. “I bruise easier now.”

“Oh, ha-ha. Very funny.” She gently lifted up the corner of the steak, taking a peek underneath. She cringed, sucking in air through her teeth. “There isn’t much witch blood left in my family. I could barely make a decent potion when I first started learning. It took a lot of hard work to get where I am today. A lot of…sacrifices.”

He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of sacrifices she was talking about.

“But I’m lucky,” she said with a smile. “My sister doesn’t have enough power to light a match. Not that it stopped her from trying.” She laughed, the sound bringing a smile to Dane’s face. “She tried to levitate the cat once. Only worked on her tail, though.” She snorted. “So the cat walked around half the morning with its tail straight up in the air, and its back paws an inch off the ground. Pissed her off like nothing else. Bit the hell out of my sister’s ankles for years after.”

Dane snorted, shaking his head.

“Poor Boots. My sister didn’t try magic again after that.”

It was nice to hear her laughing. But it couldn’t distract from the hollowness he felt. He sat up, tossing the steak back on the plate she’d gotten from the hotel kitchen. In sitting back up, he felt something in his back pocket. Something hard. He reached in and pulled out a necklace. “What is this?”

“Oh…ugh…a ward.” She chewed her lip. “I made it last night. I mean, I was going to give it to you, I guess I just forgot.” She laughed, awkwardly. “Stupid me.”

“So, why is it in my pocket?”

“I…uh slipped in there before the fight. That’s when I—”

“When you kissed me?”

She nodded.

And here he’d been thinking that she actually just wanted to kiss him. Idiot. Of course not. Another ward. He was going to need all the wards he could get now that he was powerless. Fuck. “Thanks.”

“Look, I know this is a pretty shitty thing, but you can’t let it get you down.” She pulled him to his feet. “You just have to focus on other things. So, you can’t punch your way through your problems anymore? I say that’s a good thing! You just have to apply yourself.”

She was starting to sound like his high school football coach. She’d probably look better in those little red shorts he used to wear.

“You have to start using your brain instead of your fists. Your perseverance instead of brute strength. Your wit—”

“Okay, I get the point.”

“Good! Because I’ve been trying to get through all these books on shifters and witches and all that, but it’s too much for just me. I think if we split them up, you reading up on witches, and me reading up on shifters, we could find out something we didn’t know before.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You want me to study?”

She scoffed. “I want to do some research.”

“Uh, that sounds lame.” He’d never been one to study, not even in the academy. Sitting down and reading just wasn’t his style. He tried a few times when he’d had big exams, but he’d always gotten distracted. And he wasn’t exactly in the mood for showing Sarah another one of his flaws. No, thanks. He needed something to do. Something proactive.

“Well, of course, it’s lame,” Sarah answered. “But it’s—wait, where are you going?”

He grabbed the car keys, stuffing them in his pocket. “I’m going to go talk to this warlock guy outside of town.”

She followed him, talking about how beneficial good, solid research was. Reading a moldy old book was the last thing he wanted to do.

The place was creepy. The warlock’s house was small and cramped, with small taxidermy animals all around them. There was something distinctly sickened about a stuffed fox staring at Dane from the corner with its glassy eyes. At the same time, there were ferns hanging from every corner of the room, and a potted plant on every surface. He didn’t know how so many plants could survive in such poor light. The house and Fredrick Easton himself smelled stuffy and a bit like stale smoke. Dane noticed Sarah’s body go rigid as soon as she laid eyes on Fredrick.

“Can I bring you folks something?” Fredrick asked.

“No,” Sarah answered almost too quickly. “We’re fine, thanks.”

“Okay, so what can I do for the Arcane Affairs Agency?” He had longish, brown hair that he tucked behind his ears. Small, round glasses sat low on his pointed nose.

“Are you aware of what’s been going on in Hill Haven the past few weeks? Shifters losing their powers.”

“Oh…uh, yeah, I think I heard something about that.”

Dane raised an eyebrow. “You think? Seems like big news to me. Stuff like that doesn’t exactly happen every day, does it? I’d think you’d remember.”

He shrugged, crossing his arms. “Can’t say that shifters are much of a concern to me, to be honest.”

Dane felt anger surge through him. Not much of a concern. “I wonder if it’ll be a concern if we take you in for questioning.”

The man blinked and sat straighter. “What? Am I under arrest?”

“No,” Sarah said, nudging Dane. “Of course not. We’re just here to ask a few questions. Don’t mind Dane, you know how passionate shifters can be. Not like us level-headed witches.” She winked at the man.

Thanks a lot, partner.

“We just need to know if anyone’s come in lately for spells or anything like that?”

“Lots. Lots of people come to me for spells.”

“What kind?”

He shrugged. “Love spells…wish, diet, illusion. All kinds.”

“Anyone from Hill Haven?”

“Not that I know of,” he said, shaking his head. “You want to see my receipts?”

There might be some credit card numbers they could run. “Yeah, hand them over,” Dane answered, roughly. Fredrick nodded and disappeared into the other room. “I don’t trust him.”

“Shh.”

“Why?”

She widened her eyes, giving him a shut up look.

Fredrick came back a few moments later with a stack of receipts. “Here you are. It’s the past couple of weeks. I think that’s all of them. I don’t know how much help they’ll be, but they’re all yours.” Fredrick made it sound like he was giving them a hand, doing them a favor. They could have a warrant here in twenty minutes, he had to know that. So why the act?

Sarah handed the light stack to Dane before laying into her questions again. “Do you know any of the victims? Melissa Burke? Andrew Turner? Do those names ring a bell?” She flashed him pictures.

“Uh, no. Can’t say that I do.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

“That’s fine.” She took out her card and handed it to him. “In case you think of anything else, or you have any questions.” She smiled sweetly.

“Oh, well…” He chuckled. “That was fast.” He stood, looking clearly relieved.

“Hold on,” Dane said, cutting in. “I might have a few questions.”

She put a hand on his wrist, giving him another look. “No, I think we’re good here. Let’s go, Agent Landon.”

He scoffed. “Sure thing…Agent Hazelwood.”

Fredrick showed them to the door. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help anymore. I do feel for those guys over there.”

“Oh, just one more thing,” Sarah said, turning just as she stepped out the door. She tapped herself on the forehead. “Silly me, I almost forgot.”

Fredrick leaned against the door frame. “Yeah?”

“What were you doing at the baseball game yesterday?”

He blinked and straightened, no longer looking as loose and relaxed as he had a minute ago. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

She smiled. “The baseball game in Hill Haven. What were you doing there?”

Dane hadn’t even realized that this guy had been there. And he’d scanned the crowd twenty times. How was it he didn’t recognize him?

“More importantly, what were you doing hiding in the woods?”

Dane suppressed a grin. Clearly, she’d been putting on a nice-guy act to get him to relax before laying this on him. Dane had to admit, he was impressed. He didn’t realize Sarah had it in her.

Fredrick swallowed, hard. “I—uh…”

Sarah just smiled, cocking her head to the side and waiting patiently.

Finally, he tossed his hands back in the air. “Fine. Maybe you should come back in a second.”

They followed him into a back room. There were shelves filled with small, glass vials and black stoppers, dried plants and bottles of glowing liquid. He plucked a vial off the shelf and tossed it to Dane.

“What the hell is this?”

“Truth potion,” Fredrick answered with a sigh. “Melissa Burke was here last week asking for that.”

“Did you sell it to her?”

“Of course. I had no reason not to. If she didn’t trust her boyfriend or best friend or whatever, it’s not my problem.”

“You didn’t mention this before.”

He sighed. “What does it matter? It’s just a truth potion…that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with it. I never fuck up a potion, trust me, and I have no reason to go after shifters. Hell, they’re half my business. Not that they’d ever admit it.”

Dane pulled out the small vial that they’d found in Melissa’s room. They matched perfectly. “All right, then,” he said, taking the top off. He held it towards Fredrick. “Prove it.”

He held his hands up. “Hey, man, I don’t—”

Dane insisted. “Here’s the problem, Freddy. You show up sneaking around a baseball game, and the next thing I know, I lose all my powers. So, now it's personal. Take it, or I’ll shove it down your throat.”

Fredrick looked at Sarah. “Are you just going—”

She crossed her arms. “You heard him.”

“Fuck.” He snatched the vial from his fingers, wiping his brow. “Okay, fine I’ll take it…but…I mean, just stay out of my private stuff, okay? I don’t want to go airing all my dirty laundry to a couple of strangers.” He blew out a puff of air and turned the vial over his mouth, letting the liquid dribble down onto his tongue.

Fredrick blinked once and then again, but more slowly.

Dane leaned towards Sarah. “How long does it take—”

“Not long,” Fredrick answered, looking a little woozy. He fell into a wooden chair, his arms limp.

“Holy shit, that’s some potent stuff.” Dane leaned over Fredrick, whose eyes were dilated. “What did you give Melissa?”

“I told you. Truth potion.”

“What were you really doing at the baseball game then?”

“I just heard the other day about Melissa…I didn’t know what happened. So, I wanted to talk to her friend. Find out what happened and…and protect myself. I didn’t want her bringing me into it. I don’t know if you noticed, but Hill Haven isn’t exactly the most magic-friendly of places.”

“Wait, a friend? Melissa came here with a friend?”

“She came in with some woman. Older, red hair.”

Sarah and Dane’s eyes connected. “Ollie,” he said. “What the hell would they be doing here together?”

“Did they mention what they wanted the potion for?”

Fredrick shook his head. “No. They just got it and got out. Fast. I think they needed it right away. Seemed like they were in a hurry.”

Sarah stood. “We need to talk to this Ollie friend of yours.”

“Yeah, but I just have one more question.”

Fredrick groaned. “What now?”

“What private stuff were you talking about that you didn’t want us to know about?”

“Oh, yeah…I’m into furries.”

“What? Like shifters?”

“No, not shifters. Like people dressing up in furry costumes. I don’t know why, but it really does something for me. I got boxes of stuff if you want to see.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Sarah answered. “We’ll see ourselves out.”

Chapter 12

Sarah’s heart pummeled the inside of her chest. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Of course you can. It’s easy. Just give yourself free reign to be the biggest bitch you can be. Shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Hilarious. I’m serious, though, I’ve never been the bad cop. Or the good cop, for that matter.” Role playing was not her forte. But Dane was already on friendly terms with Ollie, so it made more sense for him to play the good cop. He made it sound so easy. Just be mean and jump on her for any reason, he’d said. Pretend she’s me. Ha, that wasn’t likely to help. Things like this were easy for Dane, though. Like with Fredrick before. She would never have imagined telling him to take the truth potion. It was totally against regulations. Sure, she’d backed him up, but she couldn’t have done it herself. She was going to fail miserably at this.

“You’ll be fine,” Dane said, putting a hand on her shoulder. It was as if he read her mind.

She felt herself soften at his touch. There was something comforting about him, she just wanted to melt right into him, press herself against his body.

He took her by the shoulders, his fingers kneading her tired muscles. “You can do it. Just be the bad bitch we both know you are.”

“Right. Bad bitch.”

“Yeah.” His hands moved down her arms. “You’re the toughest witch in the whole Agency. No one messes with you.”

“No one,” she repeated.

“And why’s that?”

“’Cause I’m a bad bitch.”

“Exactly!” He slapped her on the ass.

She blinked. Bad bitch! Before she knew it, her hand let loose, smacking him across the face. It was his turn to look stunned. Then, he smirked, his eyes raking her body.

“Come on, nice cop.” She turned on her heel, marching up the steps and pounded on the door. “Open up!” she shouted.

“Uh, okay,” Dane said, coming up behind her. “Let’s just try easing into it—”

The door opened up, a square-shouldered, red-haired woman stepping into the light. “Hello?”

“Hi,” Sarah practically shouted, hands on her hips.

The woman blinked, obviously not expecting Sarah’s bad bitchiness. “Dane? What’s going on?”

“Oh,” Sarah started, utilizing a serious neck-roll. “Wouldn’t you like to—”

Dane took her by the elbow and dragged her back. “Hi, Ollie, can we ask you a few questions quickly? Before my partner starts foaming at the mouth?”

“Uh, yeah, okay. Come in.”

“What?” Sarah asked under her breath.

“Take it down a notch. Jesus, you’re scaring me.”

“Right, sorry.”

They followed her to the kitchen where she sat at the round, wooden table. Dane sat down next to her while Sarah remained standing, her arms crossed.

“You want a drink or something?”

“We want answers!”

Dane took her by the wrist and pulled her into a chair. “No, thanks, we’re good.”

“Have I done something wrong, Dane? Your partner here looks like she’s about to curse me into oblivion.”

“No, no, don’t worry about her. You know how touchy and temperamental witches can be.” He gave her a cocky, take-that look. “Not like us level-headed shifters.”

Touche.

“Enough chit-chat,” Sarah said. “We talked to Fredrick Easton. He told us everything.”

Her face went pale. “Wh-what?”

Sarah leaped to her feet to tower over Ollie, placing her hands squaring on the table. “Oh, yeah,” she growled. “We know that you and Melissa went to see him right before she lost her ability. Odd you didn’t see fit to mention that earlier.”

“It’s not what you think—”

“Oh really? What am I thinking, then?”

Dane cut in. “Look, Sarah, I’m sure she didn’t keep it from us on purpose.”

“No,” she whimpered. “Of course not!”

“So, then just be straight with us. What were you doing there?”

“It was Melissa’s idea! She was going to get together with the mayor, have a meeting about this whole forest thing. We’ve been working together, you know? Planning protests and stuff like that. She had it in her head that he was up to something else. Like there was some back-alley deal going on or something. She thought if she could find out what it was, we might have a better chance of stopping it.”

“She was going to slip the mayor the truth potion?”

Ollie nodded. “I told her it wasn’t a good idea, but she was adamant about trying. Fredrick promised that the person would never know they were drugged, they would just feel a bit drunk, so I didn’t see any harm in trying.”

“Why didn’t you mention it to me before? We’ve wasted days here, Ollie. This would’ve helped.”

She nodded, tears springing to her eyes. “I know. I was just…scared, I guess. I thought maybe the mayor had found out and…and—”

“You think the mayor’s behind all this?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Please, you’re not going to arrest me, are you?”

Dane patted her on the shoulder. “No, Ollie, we aren’t.”

“Or are we?” Sarah said, slamming her hands on the table.

“Nope,” Dane said, taking her by the arm. “Thanks for your help. Better late than never.”

“Wait, wait!” Sarah chirped.

“Definitely done here.”

They were outside when he finally released her elbow. “Jesus, remind me to play the bad cop from now on.”

“Oh, my God! That was exhilarating! I was so mean!”

Dane laughed. “Yeah, you were. You did all right, though.”

They climbed into the car and pulled out. She practically buzzed in the seat. Her hands, her legs, every muscle in her body itched for more. For something to do. She didn’t know what had come over her, but she was positively reeling. Confidence and energy just coursed through her veins. God, she hadn’t felt this good in ages. Hell, she didn’t think she’d ever felt this good! “We should go see the mayor next! He seems like someone who could use a little bad-bitching!”

“Slow down, cowgirl.” His forearm flexed as he turned the wheel. She couldn’t help but admire his arms, his hands. Damn, he was sexy as hell. His jeans rode low on his hips, letting the elastic of his boxers peak out. “It’s been a long day, and we’ve barely eaten anything. Even without my abilities, I’m still a wolf, and I’m going to need some serious grub.”

The last thing she wanted was food. A narrow dirt road was coming up on the left. She bit her lip. “Turn there.”

He did but raised an eyebrow. “Because?”

They drove a minute until they were away from the larger road. There were no cars around, trees lined the shoulder. They were hidden. “Pull over.”

“What’s going on? What are we doing out here?”

“Maybe I’m not finished being the bad cop,” she said, taking his face in her hands. Their lips crashed together. His stubble scratched roughly, but she loved it.

His mouth opened under hers, his tongue exploring her mouth. He buried his hands in her hair, his kisses growing rougher. “Sarah.”

She moaned, her hand slipping down from his face. Her fingers grazed his hard chest and crept down between his legs. She inhaled sharply at the sheer size of his rock hard member.

He groaned as she opened his jeans, releasing him. Her mouth went dry as she pulled his enormous cock from his pants. His silky head glistened. She’d never done this before, not in a car, not like this. The idea excited her though. Just the thought of wrapping her lips around his cock made her throb.

She licked her lips, bending her head down. Her hand barely fit around his massive shaft as she took him in her mouth. He sucked a breath in through his teeth, his fingers touching the back of her head. She reached back, taking out her ponytail, letting him burying his fingers in her hair.

She pulled up, sucking him hard, dragging her tongue along every hard ridge. He tensed with deep groan as she stretched her lips, taking even more of him.

“Yes. Jesus, yes!”

It was so deliciously erotic, so lustful, taking him right there in the car when anyone could drive by at any moment. She loved it, though.

“Oh, God, Sarah,” he cried. “I’m gonna come.” His whole body went rigid as streams of hot, sweet come spurted into her mouth. Only when he relaxed again did she stop, swallowing down his seed.

“Mmmm, I like being the bad cop,” she said, reclining against her seat.

“Yeah? Well, now it’s my turn.” He opened his door, doing up his jeans.

“What?”

He walked around the car to her side and rapt on the window with his knuckle. “Step out of the car, ma’am.” His voice was deeper than usual, stern.

She laughed, rolling down the window. “Is there a problem, officer?”

He looked at her, a deep, serious looking furrow in his brow. “I said step out of the car.”

Her pulse quickened under his stern gaze. She swallowed hard, slipping from the car. “Yes, sir.”

He walked closely behind her, breathing on the back of her neck as she moved around to the front of the car. “Put your hands on the hood.”

The highway stretched far in front and behind them, but still. Being out here was different than inside the car where they were partially hidden. “Dane, anyone could—”

“I said hands on the hood.” His voice brooked no argument.

She felt flushed, excited and scared at the same time as she bent over, putting her hands on the hood. He nudged her feet apart, hands firm on her hips.

“I have to search you,” he said.

His hands moved up her hips to her breasts. He squeezed, tearing her shirt open. She gasped but he quickly shushed her. She bit it back, letting his hands roam under her bra. He pinched her nipple, rolling it between his rough fingers. A soft, needy moan escaped her throat. God, she wanted him, wanted him to take her right there.

But he didn’t. Not yet. His hands moved down, over her stomach and around to her hips. He reached down, lifting the hem of her skirt. “Let’s see what you’re hiding here.”

“Yes,” she whimpered. “Touch me.”

His hands gripped her thighs. “Say please.”

The word barely made it out her lips. “Please!”

He reached down, his finger pulling her damp panties aside. His finger lightly grazed her tight, throbbing bud, making her gasp and desperate for more. His finger slid between her slick lips, gently at first, then applying more pressure.

Her fingers pressed into the hot metal of the hood as he fingered her, driving her hard and fast toward climax. “Yes,” she cried, begging for release. “Yes, yes!” She came hard, her orgasm coming in wave after wave. When she’d finally finished, she turned, falling against the hood.

“Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “We got to get back to the hotel.”

She shook her head, coming out of her daze. “Why? What happened?”

He grinned, climbing into the car. “’Cause I have about a hundred different things that I want to do to you, and I want to be able to take my time.”

She wasn’t going to argue with that.

“Holy shit,” she said, collapsing on the bed after Round 2. “Why haven’t I had sex with more shifters?”

He laughed. “Trust me, I’ve had sex with plenty of shifters. That has nothing to do with it.”

“So then what is it?”

“It’s you, Sarah. Me and you.” He stroked a bit of hair from her forehead. “You’re beautiful, and sexy as hell.”

She felt her cheeks blush. Funny that after everything they’d just done, it was a simple compliment that made her redden. God, she was falling for him. Hard. And she didn’t even want to fight it anymore.

Chapter 13

Dane woke up in the morning feeling better than he had in years. His muscles no longer buzzed with twitchy, nervous, frustrated energy. He checked his watch, blinking in the warm morning sun. It was still early, 7 o'clock. Sarah lay beside him, curled up underneath the covers. He turned over putting an arm around her cradling her body against his. He inhaled deeply, breathing in her sweet, delicious scent.

Sarah stirred, turning her face towards his. For a split second, he panicked, wondering if she would regret what happened the night before. But then a sweet, sleepy smile spread across her face and his worry melted away.

"Good morning," she said, stretching her leg over his hip.

He traced a finger along her jaw line, down her neck and hooked it under the sheets, lifting enough just to get a peek underneath. "Good morning, indeed."

She laughed, slapping his hand. "Didn't you get enough of that last night?"

"Never." He nipped at her neck. "Actually, I'd love to go for round… what is it four, now? But I'm starving."

She looked at the floor, where they'd left a dozen crumpled hamburger wrappers and a few empty milkshakes. They'd made the food run last night somewhere between rounds two and three. "Most of those are yours, you know? How can you be hungry?"

"That's a problem with being a shifter. We always want more, and we’re never satisfied."

She slipped from the bed and made her way towards the bathroom. "Yeah, I'm starting to figure that it." He laid back, admiring her body as she made her way across the room.

He felt himself stiffen. It was amazing, just the sight of her round, perky ass got him hard as a rock. No one had ever affected him the way she did.

"I'll be ready in fifteen minutes."

"The hell you will." And he leaped from the bed. “Breakfast can wait. Round four, it is.”

"Do you have an appointment with the Mayor?" asked the mousey secretary with stringy blond hair. There was something familiar about her that Dane couldn’t quite put his finger on. She’d barely looked up at them, paying much more attention to her keyboard. She wore thick, mud-colored glasses and loose-fitting clothes that looked more like curtains than anything else.

"No," answered Sarah. "But I'm sure he'll see us anyway." She flashed the fake FBI badge that they used whenever they were talking to humans. The woman looked up, but only as far as the badge, she'd barely met either their eyes. "Very well. I'll see if I can make a little room for you."

"You're not going to be the bad cop again, are you?" he asked once the woman had disappeared down the hallway.

She giggled. God, he loved the sound of her laugh. "Let's just play it by ear, shall we?"

The woman came back a few minutes later, half of her face hidden behind her blond hair. "The Mayor will see you now," she mumbled. "You can go right in."

They walked into Mayor Donovan’s office to find him sitting at his desk, speaking into the phone. “Just hold on, now. We can discuss this another time. I have to go, I have another meeting.” He hung up without another word. His eyes took Dane in within seconds, but then spent three times that time taking in Sarah. Dane had the sudden urge to slam his grinning face into his keyboard. Donovan stood, buttoning up his suit jacket and extending a hand towards her. “You must be Agent Hazelwood. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you.”

She straightened. “Oh?”

“Don’t be so surprised, Miss Hazelwood.”

Dane noticed her flinch at the title.

“We’re not all mean, pompous shifters around here.”

Dane sniffed. “Speak for yourself.”

The man’s smile faltered. “And you’re the other Agent…” he snapped his fingers in the air, as though calling his name from the ether. “London?”

“Landon.”

“Right, that’s it. Have a seat.” He gestured towards a group of four seats that surrounded a small coffee table next to the bookshelf. Dane sat down, leaving room for Sarah to sit next to him, but she didn’t. She sat across from him. Mayor Donovan sat next to her, grinning like that cat that ate the canary. “What can I do for you, Miss?”

Dane sat forward, palms pressing into his knees. “We’re here, as I’m sure you know, about the recent poisonings of two of your shifters here in Hill Haven.”

“Agent Landon,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “I’m sure he doesn’t need a run down of all that. He’s the mayor for crying out loud. Do you really think he wouldn’t know why we’re here?”

Agent Landon? What happened to Dane? She was acting weird since they stepped foot into this damned room. What the hell was with her?

Her body was turned to Donovan, and—was she pushing her cleavage together? “We heard from a source that you had a meeting with Melissa Burke the night before she lost her abilities.”

That seemed to take him back a step. “I, uh, well, I was supposed to. But she, uh, she didn’t show.”

Dane was about to hit him with another question to keep him off his feet, but Sarah jumped in with a gasp. “What? She stood you up?”

Donovan gave a smirk and shrugged. “Can’t say that it happens often. Out of curiosity, how did such a beautiful girl like you get into the messy business of the Agency.”

He recognized that tight smile and the way her eyes narrowed. Oh, she was about to let him have it. Watching her take someone down was always entertaining—so long as it wasn’t him—but he was going to particularly enjoy this one. Get ready to carry your ass in your hands for the next month, you unlucky son-of-a-bitch.

But she only giggled! Like she was some little girl who just got her hair pulled on the playground! “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, giving a coquettish grin. “I don’t know. I suppose I just sort of fell into it, you know? God knows I didn’t want to sell vials of Luck Potion for five bucks a pop like my father. That’s when he was around, at least.”

Mayor Donovan’s eyes twinkled as he nodded sympathetically. “That’s tough.”

What was this about her father? She’d never mentioned her father in the time they’d been together, but here she was airing her dirty laundry to this schmuck?

She took a deep breath, looking like she was trying to keep her cool. “Some men just aren’t cut out to be fathers.”

He placed a hand over hers. “Some boys aren’t cut out to be real men.” He seemed to be hinting at Dane, who was currently seeing red.

“What the actual fuck is happening?”

Both turned their eyes towards him. “Agent Landon!” Sarah gasped. “We’re conducting an interview. There’s no need for that sort of language.”

“Wh—seriously?”

Donovan just shook his head. “Perhaps it would be better if your partner waits outside, Miss Hazelwood. Give us some privacy and see if we can’t get to the bottom of this.”

Dane launched to his feet, ready to pound his stupid, grinning face in.

“I think that’s a great idea,” Sarah said, quickly, grabbing Dane by the arm and leading him towards the door.

“What the hell are you doing?” he whispered.

“Just wait outside!” she said, sounding annoyed, as she urged him toward the wooden doors. She turned on her heel, returning to her seat. “Please,” she said, her voice soft once again. “Call me Sarah.” The doors swung shut, blocking his view.

Dane stood out in the hallway, alone. What the hell had just happened? She’d kicked him out. He didn’t know what she was up to, but he didn’t like it. Smarmy bastard.

“Just talk to me, Anita, please!”

Dane turned in the direction of the man’s voice.

“You should go,” came a whispered response. “I’m at work!”

He moved down the hall, back toward the staircase, toward the secretary. He peaked out to see Andrew Turner, the first victim, pleading with the secretary. “Why are you being like this? After everything we shared?”

“Just go,” she whimpered, pulling an oversized shawl around herself. “Look, I’ll call you later, okay? But please, just go!” She urged him to the stairs, promising him repeatedly that she would, in fact, call him like she said.

Meanwhile, Dane stood back, watching the whole strange scene play out. Andrew hadn’t struck Dane as the type of guy to go chasing women and begging for attention. And this secretary, Anita, hardly struck him as the type to make men beg. There was something fishy going on. He stepped out from the hallway, just as she was sitting down at her desk. “Man trouble?”

She gave a start, her eyes wide. “What? No.” She looked down at her keyboard, her hair hiding her face.

He crossed the distance between them and sat on the corner of her desk, leaning on the computer. He was invading her space on purpose, forcing her to look up at him. “He’s pretty insistent, huh? Some guys can’t take a hint.”

She cleared her throat. “No, I guess not. Where’s your partner?”

He sniffed. “With your boss. They wanted a little bit of privacy.”

Anita looked up at that, her eyes flashing, her mouth pursed. “Privacy?”

Dane cocked his head to the side. He knew her, but he couldn’t think from where. Her face was so familiar. “Uh, yeah. Your boss seems like a bit of a shit, huh?”

“He is not!” She stood, her eyes blazing now. “He’s a very important man with a lot of things to do.” She huffed, crossing her arms.

Interesting. He held his hands up in mock defense. “You know him better than I do,” he said by way of apology. She sniffed but sat back down. “Being so important, I suppose he has to do that a lot, huh? Have very important meetings with people. Private meetings? Perhaps with women?”

Her nostrils flared, her jaw locked. “Sometimes.”

His instincts were rarely wrong when it came to this sort of thing. Unless he also lost his ability to read people, he was guessing Anita was in love with Mayor Donovan. What a cruel joke that was. He was willing to bet that a guy like Donovan never looked twice at Anita. “And what about Melissa Burke? Did she have a private meeting with Donovan?”

“They were supposed to. We waited, but she never showed.”

There was something in her voice that made him think she wasn’t being totally honest with him. But why? Was she trying to protect Donovan?

Voices came from down the hall just before Sarah and Donovan emerged into the foyer. “Thank you so much for your time, Troy.”

Ugh, he looked like a Troy. Perfect douchey name.

He took her hand, placing a kiss on top. “My pleasure, Sarah. I look forward to dinner.”

Dane saw red. Dinner? The hell? Anita was looking equally as furious. Oh, yeah, she was in love with the cad, all right. No mistaking that look. It was exactly how Dane felt.

Sarah gave a flirty wave as she walked towards a fuming Dane. “See you then!”

“Annette, get me Chief Brody right away.”

Anita forced a tight smile that looked like it was about to break her face. “Yes, sir.”

That smile. He knew that smile! Sarah took him by the arm, dragging him toward the stairs. That’s when it hit him. He remembered where he knew her from. Anita, this shy, mousey woman wearing layers upon layers of over-sized clothes and thick glasses…she was the woman from the bar that first night. She tried to pick him up. No way. It wasn’t possible. He glanced back, just as the door closed behind them and got one more look. She was looking at him, her eyes wide.

It was definitely her! How didn’t he see it before?

“Is it far enough?” Sarah said, moving down the stairs.

“Huh?”

“Are we far enough away? Out of earshot?”

“What? For Donovan? Yes, why?”

“Ugh, thank god!” She groaned, her voice finally dropping to a normal tone. She stopped on the landing between floors and wiped the back of her hand where Donovan’s lips had been on her skirt. She shivered as though spiders were crawling up her back. “God, that was unpleasant.”

He reached the landing and leaned against the wall. “So, it was an act then?”

“What? Of course!” She looked genuinely offended. “You think I’d really be the slightest bit interested in a slimeball like Donovan? Jesus.”

“Then what the hell was all that about your Dad? You never told me he wasn’t around. Why did you open up to him like that?”

“My dad was around. He was great. But guys like Donovan love a girl with Daddy issues.”

“Oh.” His frown disappeared, and he chuckled. “Oh, you’re good. I’m pretty sure I’ve created a monster, but, damn, woman, you are good.”

She gave a cute little curtsey. “Well, I had to do something, and you didn’t want me playing the bad cop anymore.”

“So, that’s what that was? Good cop?”

She waggled her eyebrows at him. “Very good cop. Nice, but maybe-a-little-bit-naughty-too cop.”

“We have to get back to the hotel and play nice/naughty cop, immediately.”

She grinned, leaning into him. “I’ll have to take a raincheck. I gotta get back and get stuff ready for tonight.”

“What’s tonight?”

“My date,” she answered, taking off down the stairs. “I’m getting together with Donovan at his house for dinner. I have to get ready.”

Chapter 14

“Shit, what is that smell?” Dane waved a hand in front of his face.

Sarah shushed him with a grin. She sat on the floor, surrounded by white votive candles. A wooden bowl of water sat before her, and a tall clear bottle beside it. She worked a mixture of rosemary, jasmine, and juniper berries together. Smelled like old lady potpourri to him.

“I hope whatever that stink is, it’s worth it.” He took a seat behind her, his legs cradling her hips.

“Well, we need information from Donovan, don’t we? This will help.”

“Ah, it’s a Truth potion. Like what we got from Fredrick?”

“Hmmm, something like that. It’s really more of an inhibition inhibitor.”

“What does that mean?” He sniffed the bottle. “Is that vodka?”

“Straight up, baby. I’m going to change the appearance and taste. He’ll think it’s whatever his favorite drink is.”

“You’re going to get him drunk?”

“Exactly. Only he won’t really know he’s getting sloshed. I can just go around giving Truth potions to suspects without just cause, but I can give someone a bottle of vodka.”

“Way to think outside the box. But what if his favorite drink is vodka? Or any other hard alcohol?”

“Well, then hopefully my charm and wit can still push him to get drunk.”

“Do you think it’ll be enough?”

She shrugged. “I hope so. To be honest, I’ve never done a spell like this before. That’s why I need to concentrate.”

“Okay, okay.” He motioned that he’d keep his lips shut from now on.

She took a pinch of salt and added it to the mortar before returning to her grinding.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, watching her work. “Did you notice anything weird about Anita? The secretary? She was off. Definitely in love with Donovan.”

“I bet she loves me right about now, then.”

“Think she might have something to do with all this?”

She shook her head. “She’s human, right? Fredrick didn’t mention her, and there was nothing in his books about her. And a human can’t make a potion or cast a spell themselves.”

“Right. Still. Oddball.”

She shrugged. “So, she’s a weirdo. Who isn’t? Now, would you let me focus?”

He slipped a hand under her shirt, to her breast. She sucked in a breath as his fingers rolled her tender nipple. “Who’s stopping you?”

She purred, her eyes slipping closed. She gripped the pestle in her hand, her grinding slow and methodical. His rigid mast pressed against his jeans.

“Are you sure you can’t take a quick break?” His lips traveled down her neck, kissing her with every other word.

She pulled away. “No, really. I can’t.” She grinned at him over her shoulder. “Give me like twenty minutes, and I’m all yours.”

He nipped at her neck. “Damn right you are.” He hopped up on the bed, taking out a book she’d left there. It was a book on witches. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do. Plus, he might learn something about witches that he could use. He was tired of Sarah always having the upper hand because she knew so much about shifters. It was time to level out the playing field.

“Are you actually reading up on witches?”

He shrugged. “Might as well if I’m going to be mated to one.” He stopped. Shit, did I actually just say that? The look on her Sarah’s face meant that yes, he had. Balls.

Her jaw dropped. “Mated?” She put the mortar and pestle down, turning towards him. She moved to her knees on the floor, caught somewhere between going to him and staying where she was. “Seriously?”

“I—uh—” He rubbed the back of his neck, sitting up. “I don’t—come on, don’t get distracted. Like you said, you need to concentrate.”

“Nah-uh. Did you mean that?” She scurried over the bed, and pushed him to the mattress, straddling him. “Tell me.”

He laughed, wiggling underneath. “Get off! You have work to do. Stop shirking your responsibilities!”

“Answer the question, or I’ll use my magic vodka on you.” She pinned his arms over his head.

He was locked between her thighs. “I like this position,” he said, grinding his hips upwards. “Now that you’re taking a break—”

“Stop it!”

She wasn’t going to let it go. He felt the fight leave him. “Okay, you got me.” He shrugged. He’d known it since the moment he’d met her. He tried to ignore it, even fight it, but it was no use. Why deny it now? “What can I say? You’re my mate. If you want me.”

She bit her lip, pausing. He would give anything to know what she was thinking at that very moment. Happiness? Doubt? Fear? Love?

“I know this is fast and that witches don’t really get fated mates, so if you want to take it slowly, I get it.”

“You’re right, we don’t have fated mates. But we know a good thing when we see it.” She kissed his lips.

“I take it you’re not scared off, then?”

“Hmm, not yet. Can I get back to you on the whole mate thing?”

“Of course.” The last thing he wanted was to rush her. “Take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”

She smiled, bending down to kiss him, again. His hands traveled up her back, under her shirt. She tasted so sweet, even sweeter after what they’d said. They made slow, sensual love, staring into each other’s eyes. Their bodies rocked in time, sweating and needy. He held her close as she came, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips.

He smiled, nuzzling her neck. After a few minutes of cuddling, she slipped from the covers. “I have to do this spell,” she said, apologetically.

“I know.” He picked up the book from the floor where it had fallen off the bed. “If you can manage to keep your hands off me for two minutes, maybe I can get some reading done.”

“Ha!” She slipped into her navy blue silk pajamas and sat on the floor amongst the still burning candles. “I’d forgotten about the candles,” she moaned. “Now they’re already half burned.”

“Just be quick,” he said. “The sooner you finish that, the sooner you can come back to bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, in case she’d missed his meaning.

“Yeah, yeah. I just like to take my time and do it slowly, methodically. Make sure I do it right.” She sighed. “But I guess I can’t this time.”

“It’s only vodka.” He flipped a page. “How much could go wrong?”

Reading might be a slightly grandiose term for what he was doing. It was really more like skimming. So far, he hadn’t found out much. Besides, it was hard for him to concentrate with Sarah right at the foot of the bed in her sexy little silk pajamas, murmuring her spell. My mate.

A knock came at the door. Not the one in Sarah’s room, but Dane’s. They’d gotten in the habit of leaving the passage between their two rooms open and the sound of a heavy knock traveled through.

“Can you get that?” Sarah said, interrupting her spell. “And get rid of whoever it is.”

Man, she’s bossy when she’s witch-crafting. “Sure, thing.” He leaped from the bed and closed the door behind him so that she could have her privacy. “Yeah?” he said, just as whoever it was, began to knock again.

He found Lance Brody outside his hotel room. “Hey, man!” He sounded and looked drunk.

“What up, Lance?” He looked around but saw no one else around.

“Come on, why don’t you come down to the bar? I haven’t seen you for a couple of days. Witch keeping a tight leash on you?”

“She’s not like that. Besides, I’m in the middle of a case. I can’t be going to the bar every night of the week.”

“Look, I know about your little problem, okay?”

“Problem?”

“Yeah, that you can’t shift. It’s okay, man. No one’s going to think any less of you. Besides, Andrew’s down at the bar right now, you guys can commiserate together.”

“Andrew’s at the bar?” He thought of the way he’d begged Anita to talk to him. It just didn’t seem like him. He didn’t seem like the type of guy to be spending his Thursday night in a bar, either. This might be a good opportunity to talk to him. “Yeah, all right.” He left a note for Sarah just in case she finished up her spell and came looking for him, and walked with Lance, who stumbled back and forth, to the bar.

It wasn’t difficult to find Andrew, who was sitting on his own at the bar and stood straight up as soon at the door was opened. His eyes landed on Dane and he deflated, returning to his glass of untouched beer. Guess I wasn’t what he was hoping for.

Dane crossed the bar and took the stool next to Andrew. “Rough day?”

“You could say that.”

“Waiting for someone in particular?”

“Anita. The love of my life. I don’t think she’s coming, though.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re waiting for Anita? Here?”

“Yeah. This is where I met her. It’s our spot.”

By that reasoning, this bar was probably a lot of people’s spot. “Were you dating long?”

He gave a humorless guffaw. “No. We just met a few weeks ago, for Christ’s sake. We matched on Tinder if you can believe it.”

He could, actually. As quiet and shy as Anita had seemed, she had a bit of freak in her. It reminded him of Sarah.

“I heard about you losing your ability, too. Sorry.”

“Thanks. I’m doing all right, though.”

“Just wait. It gets worse. In another week, when you haven’t let your wolf out, you’ll start to feel it.” Andrew was gripping his glass, his mouth a hard line.

“We’re trying. We’ve made a lot of progress, you know? We’ll get there.”

Andrew dragged a hand through his hair. “Yeah.” The door opened again and Andrew sat up, his eyes desperate. It was Ollie, who took one look at Dane and turned left, going to the other side of the bar.

Andrew sighed, taking a long swig of his drink.

“What’s your relationship like with the mayor?” Dane asked.

“The mayor?” He pulled a face. “Non-existent. I voted for him and all, but never even talked to the guy.”

“So, there’s no reason he’d have anything against you?”

“Not that I would know.”

Dane scratched his chin, his nails running over his stubble. If Troy Donovan was behind the poisonings for political reasons, what was his motivation to go after Andrew? It all started with him.

Chapter 15

Sarah’s heart pounded against her sternum. Dane’s hand was down the little black dress she wore, fixing a microphone. She looked out the window at the towering house down the street. Donovan’s house. Massive and domineering, just like its owner.

“You sure about this?”

Pressing her lips together, she nodded. “Yeah. Of course.”

“Just be careful in there. If Donovan really is the guy behind this, he could—”

“I know.” She’d been turning that thought over in her mind for the entire drive over here.

“What’s the word?”

It was probably the hundredth time he asked it, but she didn’t mind. “Snuffleupagus.” It made them both feel better. “If I get into trouble, I’ll say Snuffleupagus, and you’ll come and break down the door. Or whatever it is you do.”

“Right.”

“How do I look?”

“Beautiful. But wait, you have something…” He reached for the neckline of her dress and tugged the material up to her neck. He patted it in place, hiding the cleavage she’d work so hard to show off. “There, that’s better.”

“Ha, ha.” She smoothed it back out and took a deep breath before climbing out of the car. It was going to be fine, she told herself. Don’t look back. She carried the bottle of alcohol in a gift bag. To Sarah, the magic vodka smelled like her grandmother’s pink lemonade. To Dane, it had smelled like a beer.

The house was massive and expensive looking. Lance had said that Donovan’s family owned a piece of the forest behind his house. That sounded like he came from old money. The house certain looked like it did, too. She rang the doorbell and was shown in by a petite woman with black hair and shining green eyes.

“Mr. Mayor is in the living room,” she said, gesturing to the right. Sarah slipped through the double doors and into the room. It was dimly lit, with soft romantic music playing in the background. “Hello?” she called.

“Over here,” Donovan called from the side. He poked his head out from behind a bookcase. He left the records he was flipping through and walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek. “Good to see you, Sarah.”

“You, too.” She handed him the gift bag. “Here’s this is for you. I thought you might like it.”

“Oh. He lifted the bottle from the bag. “What is it?”

To her, it looked like a generic glass bottle filled with pink lemonade. She had no idea what it would look like to him. “Try it and see.”

He removed the cork and smelled. “Mmmm. Is this—?” He took a drink, straight from the bottle. “It is! It’s Vanilla Coke. I didn’t think they made this anymore. How did you know?”

She shrugged. “Just a lucky guess.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” He went to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass, adding a shot of rum. “Would you like a drink?”

Sarah cringed, thinking of the unholy mixture he was about to consume. Vodka and rum. Bleh! At least, he wouldn’t know. “Um, just a red wine, thanks.”

“I have just the thing.” He opened a bottle of red and poured a glass, filling it far too much. Apparently, he had similar intentions as she did. He wasn’t going to succeed in getting her drunk, though.

“A toast,” he said. “To breaking barriers and mending fences between our two groups.”

She smiled, raising her glass, wondering how many times he’d practiced saying that.

He smacked his lips. “God, that’s good. I used to drink this all the time in college.”

Oh, no you didn’t.

They sat down on the couch, Donovan sitting a little too close for her liking, while they talked about his interests. Baseball, golf, hunting wild animals for sport. He actually flew to Africa once a year to hunt exotic animals. Dick. She flirted, pretending to be fascinated by his frat boy lifestyle as he downed glass after glass.

She waited until his eyes were glossy and his speech was slurring just a bit to bring up the subject she was really interested in. “Is that why you’re making the forest into a hunting area? I’ve been hearing a lot about it. The shifters seem pretty upset about it.”

He shifted in his seat, giving a sneer. “The shifters.” He huffed. “You probably know as well as anyone. Let me tell you, I’m not like most shifters. Hell, you wouldn’t be here if I was. But here in this town, they’re even worse. Me, me, me. That’s all they think about. Well, I have humans that I have to win votes from too, you know? It can’t just be about shifters all the time. But you make a few little laws and regulations in favor of humans and all of a sudden you’re a traitor. How’s that for loyalty?”

“Mmm-hmm. That doesn’t sound very fair.” She topped off his glass with some more “Vanilla Coke”. “Must make you mad.”

“Oh, it does. Especially that good-for-nothing Lance Brody.”

“What?” Lance? What did he have to do with anything?

“Yeah, Mister Chief of Police Brody. You know he’s the one that started all of this shifters-are-better-than-everyone bullshit? We were a nice, normal town before he came along stirring up trouble.”

“So, you hate Brody?” That wasn’t what she was expecting. If Troy was going after the people against the hunting grounds, then Lance should have been at the top of his list. He was more vocal than anyone. “What about Melissa Burke?”

“Melissa?” Confusion crossed his face. “What about her?” Suddenly, his face twisted into a look of disgust. He went pale.

“Uh, are you okay?”

He nodded, turning away from her. “Yeah, I-uh-” He forced a chuckle. “You sure that Vanilla Coke hasn’t expired?”

Oh no.

He heaved, his cheeks bulging. “Excuse me.” He ran from the room, disappearing behind the door.

Shit, shit, shit! She followed him out. The sound of violent retching brought her to the bathroom door. “Are you okay?”

More puking. Fuck! “Snuffleupagus,” she yelled between her breasts. “Snuffleupagus!”

In moments, Dane came flying through the door. “What? What is it?

“I poisoned the Mayor! I—I must have messed up the spell,” she sobbed. Between all that mate-talk and having just had sex, she’d been tired, distracted. She fucked it all up because she was distracted, and now she’d gone and poisoned an elected official.

“Fuck!”

“I know!”

“A healing spell.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I fucked that thing up because I was unfocused. Trust me, I’m a hell of a lot less focused now.”

“You have to try. We can’t bring him to a hospital. Come on, Sarah. I know you can do it.”

“Okay.” She chewed her lip. “I’ll try. You need to bring me my stuff from the trunk. All of it.”

Chapter 16

Dane carried Sarah from the car. She protested, weakly, saying she could walk just fine, but he knew that was her pride talking. And Dane wanted her to conserve every bit of energy she possibly could.

The healing potion for Donovan had taken a lot out of her. Too much. When they left, the mayor was feeling better and not quite so green-looking. Luckily, he seemed to think the fish he’d made for dinner gave him food poisoning.

Dane felt guilty for letting the misunderstanding go, but it wasn’t as if he could tell Donovan the truth. Sarah’s career would go down the tubes.

He tucked Sarah into bed and left her to recharge her batteries. If only they had more plants around. That would help. He checked his watch. It was too late to go to a shop and buy any. There was only one other place he could think of where he could get a lot of plants.

“I’ll be right back, baby,” he said, kissing her forehead. She was already out.

A short time later, he arrived at Fredrick Easton’s house. As soon as the warlock laid eyes on Dane, he tried to slam the door shut, but Dane was faster and stronger. He shoved the door open.

“What the hell do you want? Gonna make me take another potion? What’ll it be this time? Can’t wait to find out.”

“I need plants. Sarah needs plants. She over did it with the magic and now she needs the energy. I know you have some.”

“Yeah, but they’re mine. You shifters just think you can walk around and take whatever you want because—”

“Shut up.” Dane reached for his wallet. “How much do you want for them?”

He raised an eyebrow, glancing at the open wallet. “How many?”

“All of them.”

“No way, man. Sarah’s not the only person around here that needs plants.”

“How many can you spare?”

He sighed and waved for him to follow. “Come on.”

They walked to a room at the back of the house that was stocked with plants. The walls were lined with pots of vines, succulents, and leafy ferns. In the center of the room was a large beanbag chair and a small knee-high table with a lamp. There was a cheap, metal cart that had a dozen or so pots of houseplants and flowers. “Here’s what I got,” Fredrick said, taking a clipboard off the side of the cart. “There are—”

“I’ll take them all.” There was no way they’d all fit in the hotel. He’d have to put most of them on the floor.

“Well, you can’t have them all,” he said, as though talking to a child.

Dane resisted the urge to ring his neck.

“Some of these are for other customers. Like I said, Sarah’s not the only witch around here.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll pay you double.”

Fredrick blinked. “Double? For some houseplants?” He shrugged. “Wow, she must be really hard up. All right, double it is.”

Dane handed over nearly all of the cash that he carried in his wallet, ignoring the triumphant look on Fredrick’s face. He loaded the plants into the trunk of the car, and the backseat, spilling soil more than a few times. At least it was just a rental.

Driving back, he couldn’t help but wonder if there even was another customer. Either that or Dane was just tricked into paying double for a bunch of rabbit food. Sarah’s not the only witch around here.

There was something about that that bothered him. It caused just a little tickle in the back of his mind. But it persisted. He was halfway back to the hotel when he pulled over and phoned Lance. “Check the Agency database for me,” he asked. “Any witches within fifty miles of Hidden Hills.”

After a minute, Lance answered. “Only a few, but it’s right on the edge. They’re from Wilton, a witch town about an hour away.”

There was no way they were going to drive an hour just to go to Fredrick’s little house and get a few plants. There would be a handful of greenhouses closer by that they could go to. “There’s no one else?”

“No. Why are you asking?”

“Don’t worry about it. I gotta go.”

There were no other witches registered with the Agency. But what if the witch or warlock was unregistered?

He spun the car around and went back to Fredrick’s house. As he climbed from the car, Fredrick came out the door. “Forget something?”

“Who were you talking about?” Dane demanded. “Earlier when you said that you had other customers that needed these plants.”

“I got a woman that comes in every month for plants. I keep telling her if she just waters them, she wouldn’t have to keep buying them. Come to think of it, it’s been awhile since she came in.”

“She’s another witch?”

“Not a real witch. Not enough magic to light a match. But she’s been trying to grow her ability and has tons of plants.”

Not enough magic to light a match. Sarah had said something similar about her sister and the poor cat that the girl pissed off. Maybe not enough to light a match, but it was enough to cause havoc for at least one unfortunate creature. “But there isn’t any other witch in town.”

“Uh, yes there is. She comes in now and then to get books on love potions and things.”

Dane shook his head, insistent. “There is no one registered with the Agency.”

“Like I said, she’s not a real witch.”

Shit. “What did you say her name was?” A feeling in Dane’s gut told him he already knew the answer.

“Anita. Anita Glass.”

Dane raced back to the hotel. This was it, the break they’d been waiting for. Sarah was going to be thrilled. He pulled into the hotel parking lot and filled his arms with the planted pots before climbing the stairs to the second floor.

Before he even took out the key, he knew something was wrong. He sensed it. His wolf growled, scratching, pacing. The pots dropped to the ground, cracking on the hard cement, spilling dirt everywhere.

He threw the door open and found…nothing. The sheets on the bed were thrown back, but the bed was empty. “Sarah?” He ran to the bathroom before searching his own room, praying that she’d merely wandered over there. She hadn’t. He stood between the two rooms, his gut twisting.

Sarah was gone.

Chapter 17

Sarah groaned, stirring. The mattress was hard as a rock underneath her. A deep pain in her neck ached thanks to the awkward angle of her head. Where was her pillow?

“Dane?” she murmured, fighting to open her eyes. God, she felt so damned weak. Her eyes fluttered open, and she found she wasn’t in her hotel room at all. She lay on a hardwood floor, in the middle of a room.

“Rise and shine,” a voice sang. A woman sat in an overstuffed leather chair in front of a large bookshelf. She remembered that chair, that bookshelf. Sarah scanned the room again. It was Donovan’s living room. She was back in Donovan’s house. Even the bottle of enchanted vodka still sat on the coffee table. Hadn’t she left with Dane? She thought she remembered him putting her to bed. “What’s going on? What happened?”

The woman laughed. She had stringy blond hair and wore a large, frumpy sweater with a long, billowy skirt. Anita. “What happened is you and your stupid little were-friend stuck your noses where they didn’t belong. Now, you’ve mussed everything up.”

Sarah noticed the gun that lay in Anita’s lap. She swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?”

Anita shook her head, pushing herself to her feet. “It’s so easy for you people.” The gun swung through the air with Anita’s wild gestures. “Shifters, witches, fae…life must be a bloody cake walk.” She walked the perimeter of the room, stare burrowing into Sarah. “God knows it was for my brothers and sisters, where ever the hell they are now. But what about me? Poor little Anita with no power. What the hell could I do to get his attention?”

Jesus, Dane was right. But Anita wasn’t just an oddball. It had been her all along. And now here Sarah was, weak and incapable of defending herself. And what about Dane? She remembered him tucking her in, but where was he now? She knew there was no way he would have let this psycho take her without a fight. The thought hung heavy in her mind. What if something happened to him? “Where’s Dane?” she asked, her voice weak. The answer terrified her, but she had to know. “Did you hurt him?”

Anita’s eyes narrowed as she leaned across the back of the couch that Sarah had earlier shared with Donovan. “He wasn’t even there,” she answered, with no small amount of glee in her voice. “He ditched you.”

The answer should have given her some relief, but it didn’t. She shook her head. Dane wouldn’t have just left her, not like that. “No. He wouldn’t.”

“He did. He probably went down to the bar with that jackass Lance Brody to pick up some of the local skanks that hang out down there.” She looked away, pacing.

“You’re lying.”

“Ha, I wish. Guys like him, they’re all the same. Shifters are the worst. It’s a cruel and unfortunate thing when a witch falls in love with a shifter. You may think your precious Dane is different, but trust me, he’s just like Troy. Always chasing the next skirt. The only way you can get them to sit up and pay attention is with a love potion.”

“You used a love potion on Troy?”

“No, of course not. Not yet, at least. I’m not a witch like you, I can’t just go around making potions and giving them to the man I love. What if I fucked it up? I gave it to Andrew, and, as it were, I fucked it up.” She sighed. “I don’t know what it was…maybe the wrong herbs, or maybe I didn’t let it sit long enough?”

“You poisoned them! Why?”

She scoffed. “Obviously, I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to make a decent love potion. It worked on two of my rabbits. They hated each other a week ago and now they’re going at it like…well, rabbits. So, I tested it out on Andrew. Didn’t work, though. Not at first, at least. I’m starting to think the effects took awhile to kick in.”

“And Melissa? Why did you poison her? She was just a kid.”

Her eyes flamed. “Just a kid? That kid was going after Troy. First, I just thought she was another little skank who wanted to sleep with him. But no, that little bitch actually bought a Truth potion from Fredrick. She was going to trick him! I couldn’t let that happen. Luckily, Troy was running late. I prepared her a little tea before he even got there and—oops, what do you know? She suddenly felt unwell and left.” A grim smile crossed her face. “I admit, I felt bad about Andrew, but Melissa not so much. She deserved it.”

She was almost too scared to ask. “And Dane? Do you feel bad about poisoning him?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I wanted to. But you guys were always hovering around, asking questions. It was getting really annoying. I was making good headway on the love potion, and I only needed a few more tries to get it right. Then, it all would have just gone away. I just needed you guys to back off a little…or at least slow you down. And hell, you should be thanking me!”

“What?” If this evil bitch thought she was going to thank her for poisoning Dane, she was crazier than she realized. “Why would I thank you?”

Anita gave her a pitying look. “Oh, you poor thing. Did you think he really magically fell in love with you? Just like that?” She snapped her fingers. “Please. It was the potion. Like I said with Andrew, it took a few days to kick in, but boy did it.” She crossed her arms, looking smug. “It’s just a spell, sweetie.”

Sarah felt tears stinging her eyes. No, it couldn’t be true. She bit her lip, trying to hide the quivering. But there was a little voice in the back of her mind that wasn’t so certain. What if it were true? What if he didn’t really love her, and it was all just a trick?

“Awww, poor, little Sarah. Did you love him, too?” Her face hardened into a scowl. “Well, now you know how it feels! Imagine that now you have to spend the next four years of your life watching him flirt and wine and dine every pair of long legs that walks through the office doors.”

She nodded. “You’re right. It would be…terrible.”

Anita pressed her lips together, showing a trace of sadness. “It was. It was a special kind of hell that only a few women ever suffer. And I’m tired of it. I’m tired of him, too. I once thought I loved him more than anyone had ever loved another person. Now, I just hate him.”

That did not sound promising. “What are you going to do?”

“We.” A smirk drove the sadness from Anita’s face. She waggled the gun in the air. “We are going to end them.”

Sarah's stomach lurched. “You want to k-kill them?”

Anita took a breath, contemplating the question. “No, I don’t want to anymore than you probably do. But we’re going to, all the same. It’s not fair that they can run around doing what they want and people like you and me suffer. They have to learn.”

The woman had really lost her mind. But Sarah was too weak to even defend herself, let alone another person. Hell, she could barely stand. But she had to do something. Stall.

“But…I mean, how?” She made her way to the couch, crawling on all fours, closing the distance between them. Being any closer to this woman than she had to be sickened her, but she had to do it. She needed to encourage this kinship that Anita thought they shared. The only way that Sarah might be able to put a stop to the conspiracy was to become a part of it. “We have to think about this. You don’t strike me as a killer, Anita, and neither am I. Donovan’s a shifter. If you want to kill him, it’ll be messy. Horrific. I know I don’t know you or anything, but I don’t think you can do that. Not to the man you love.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She darted around the couch, sitting close to Sarah. “He’s not a shifter. Not anymore.”

The truth dawned on Sarah. “You gave him the potion, too.”

Anita’s grin was all the answer that she needed. “This morning. He should be powerless by now. I’ll just slip a little bit of poison into a bowl of soup for him, and it’ll be done.”

Sarah caught a glimpse of movement in the window behind Anita’s head. It was Dane. Relief flooded her. He was okay! He gestured to her through the window, but it was impossible to answer. His timing couldn’t have been worse. With Anita looking right at her, she didn’t have a chance at communicating with Dane. But if she did nothing, Anita might turn at any minute and see him. Or worse, he might come barging in.

“Oh, Anita,” she said, flinging herself towards the crazed woman, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. “I’m so…grateful to have found a friend like you.” Looking at Dane, she shook her head and gestured for him to wait. “Especially at a time like this.”

Anita patted her back, sympathetically. “You really did think he loved you, didn’t you?” She clicked her tongue, like at a child. “There, there. You’ll feel better once it’s over.”

Once Dane had disappeared back under the window, she pulled away. She noticed the bottle sitting there on the table again, and an idea popped into her mind. “Oh, geez, I’m nervous, though.” She fidgeted, twisting her hands together. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Of course, you can. Just relax.”

Shaking her head, she said, “I just need something to calm my nerves.”

“Here,” Anita said, snatching the bottle off the table and handing it to her. “Take a drink. It’ll help.”

Fuck! She stared down at the bottle spout, the smell of pink lemonade drifting up. She was stuck now, she would have to drink. She closed her eyes and tossed it back, trying to take as little as possible to still be believable. It was delicious, but she could feel it already turning her stomach. It’s just your imagination, she told herself, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “I don’t want to drink alone,” she said, handing the bottle to Anita.

She smiled and took the bottle. “Mmm, Bacardi Breezer. My fav.” She tossed it back, gulping at the liquid. She polished off what was left in the bottle and threw it against the wall. The glass smashed, flying everywhere.

Sarah tittered, nervously. If she was lucky, she could bide her time until the poison took effect and made her sick. Either that or Sarah just gave Anita half a bottle of vodka and destroyed any boundaries that the woman had left.

Scratch, scratch.

Both women looked to the ceiling. “What was that?”

Anita flinched. “There’s only Troy up there.”

“I don’t think that’s Troy anymore.”

Chapter 18

Dane waited outside in the bushes, gun poised. He didn’t know what Sarah’s plan was, but he trusted her enough to stay below the window. It didn’t look good, though. Sarah was clearly still exhausted, the magic from earlier had left her drained. Dark circles hung under her eyes, her body slack. Anita was the opposite. He’d watched her pace, ranting about something he couldn’t quite make out—though he had an idea—and gesturing wildly with a gun in hand. It was that gun that worried him the most. That was the only reason he didn’t go barging in right now.

Sarah has a plan, he told himself. She wouldn’t have gestured for him to wait if she didn’t have something in mind. He just hoped it worked.

A scream rang out. He looked through the window, but Anita and Sarah were gone.

He sprung into action, racing into the house. As he charged through the door, he could hear clearly enough that it wasn’t Sarah screaming. It must be Anita. There was also the familiar sound of savage growling. There was a wolf, ravaging someone, presumably Anita. Better her than Sarah. It was coming from the second floor.

He was taking the steps, two at a time, when a gunshot rang out. His heart leaped into his throat. “Sarah!”

“Dane!” she answered, giving him hope again. She appeared at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide. She nearly stumbled, falling down, but caught herself on the railing. “We have to go! She has a gun.”

“Who was that?” he asked, lifting her off the floor. He moved swiftly down the stairs with her in his arms. It was harder now that he didn’t have his wolf’s strength, but he couldn’t slow himself. He had to protect her, keep her safe.

“Donovan. I think he’s stuck in his wolf. I don’t know, but he attacked Anita.”

Footsteps padded towards him. A low, rough growl. Dane turned to see a massive, gray and black wolf appear at the top of the stairs. Its lips were pulled back in a snarl, ears low. Blood stained his gray muzzle.

He barely had time to put Sarah down and grab his gun before the beast was flying down the stairs. It leaped for him, catching Dane’s forearm in between his powerful jaws. “AHH!” Dane howled, feeling its teeth scratch bone. The wolf shook its head fiercely, and the gun flew from his hand, skidding across the marble floor. He forced the wolf away, pushing with the arm it had in its mouth. He punched with all the strength he had.

Another two shots sounded. The wolf gave a jerk and whimpered, releasing Dane’s bloody arm. He looked down at his torn flesh. Blood pooled in the puncture wounds. He looked up the stairs and saw Anita, holding a gun high in front of her face.

“Sarah!” Anita called, her voice strained with desperation. Her arms and face were bloody. “I think I need a doctor.”

He leaped to his feet and scooped Sarah up again before fleeing the house. He’d parked the car down the block so that he could sneak up without being seen. Now, he was regretting that decision.

“Sarah?” Anita demanded from behind them. She was coming down the stairs. One arm hung limply at her side, the other clutched the gun. “Where are you going?”

“Stop this, Anita,” Sarah answered. “It’s over.”

Hatred blazed in her eyes as she raised the gun. “You bitch.”

Dane dove out of the way before she pulled the trigger. He ran, Sarah clinging to his neck. Not to the car; there wasn’t time for that, and they would be exposed out in the street. They needed cover. The forest. Donovan’s property backed into the forest, which would protect them if he could just get to it.

Luckily, Anita was injured and moved slowly. A bullet whizzed by his head. Fuck! She’s a good shot!

“Just go,” Sarah cried into his ear. “Leave me and go get help. I can talk to her.”

“No…way,” he panted.

“I’m just slowing you down!”

Another bullet flew past, making Sarah scream. They made it to the forest and Dane let her down, shaking out his angry muscles. He glanced behind to see Anita limping behind them twenty meters away. “Can you walk?”

She nodded.

Supporting most of her weight, they moved deeper into the forest. But they moved too slowly, and Anita was gaining on them.

“Leave me,” Sarah murmured. She pushed away from him. “I’ll hide.”

“No. No fucking way I’m leaving you again. You’re mine to protect.”

She took his hand in his. “And you’re mine. I can do a cloaking spell. I have more energy now that we’re in the forest. She won’t find me.”

He didn’t like it, but what choice did he have? “Okay, I’ll lead her away from you.”

She nodded, turning. He watched as she crouched behind a wide tree trunk. He could hear her muttering some spell as he took off in the other direction, making plenty of noise.

“I was going to make it easy,” Anita called. She was close now. His plan to let her catch up to him worked a little too well. He lightened his step as she continued. “I was just going to poison you both and let you drift off. Now, I’m going to make it slow.”

He found himself in a small clearing and pulled to a stop with a curse. Eyes glowed out from the darkness in front of him. Unblinking, green. Melissa. She must have wandered away from their track of land.

Dane’s options were limited. There was Anita behind, wielding a gun and chomping at the bit to blow him away, and Melissa in front, a growl in her throat. She was smelling the blood that dripped from his arm. He could imagine her mouth watering, as her wolf took over.

Melissa’s wolf emerged from the darkness, lunging at him. He leaped for the nearest tree, scampering up despite the throbbing pain in his arm. Melissa snapped at his heels as he pulled himself just out of reach. Another shot fired, hitting the trunk of the tree. Melissa bounded into the trees, disappearing.

Anita laughed, coming into the clearing. She looked right up at him, holding the gun. “There’s a part of me that loves the fact that I chased you up a tree.”

She hadn’t seen Melissa, then. Her human eyes must have just seen a dark shape by the tree which disappeared after she fired and assumed it was him.

“I’m all yours,” he said, jumping down. She stepped back, and he noticed how her hands shook. He imagined she must have lost a lot of blood. How she was still standing was beyond him. “If you leave Sarah alone, I’ll go with you.” He held his hands out in offering. “You can do whatever you want. Torture me, kill me. I don’t care. Just leave Sarah alone.”

Her lip curled. “How noble of you. Do you really think you care for her? You’re under a spell! You don’t love her. I spiked your drink, you moron! That night in the bar, I gave you my special little love potion. She was just the first person you saw once it had taken effect.”

He shook his head. “No. I loved Sarah since the moment I saw her. Your potion did nothing to change that.”

She roared just as something massive and dark flew between them. A blast from her gun. A scream. Anita was on the ground, her wrist between Melissa’s jaws.

“Help me!” she screamed, pulling the trigger rapidly. It was no good. The gun was empty. Then, before Dane could do anything, Melissa disappeared in the woods, dragging Anita by the arm.

A breath he didn’t realize he was holding escaped. Anita’s cries grew quieter the farther away she got. He didn’t have time to waste, though. Melissa could kill and leave Anita at any moment. He had to get back to Sarah.

He went back to where he’d left her but saw nothing. “Sarah?” he whispered.

“Dane? Here!” It was like a veil was dropped, and there she was, crouching on the forest floor. She reached up to him. “What happened?”

He lifted her off the ground.

“Is it over?” she asked, her eyes filled with fear.

“Almost over.” His hand cupped her face. He knew they should go and put as much distance between themselves and Melissa as possible. But he couldn’t resist. His lips touched hers.

She pulled away, looking down.

“Sarah?”

“It was just the potion.” She stepped back. “It was a love potion. That’s why Andrew was crazy for Anita. And then she poisoned you, and the next thing you know, you’re head over heels for me.” A tear glimmered in her eye. She sniffed. “It isn’t real.”

“Not real?” He placed a finger under her chin, turning her face toward his. “Sarah, I wanted you since that first moment in the elevator you said I needed my palms waxed.”

She gave a sniffling chuckle.

“And it wasn’t long after that when I realized you were my mate.”

“Really?”

With his thumb, he wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek. “Really. Right about the time you chewed me out for the first time. It was magic, but not any stupid love spell. It’s fate. I love you, Sarah.”

She laughed. “I love you, too, Dane.” She stood up on her tip-toes to meet his mouth. Every kiss with Sarah was better than the last.

“I know, baby. Come on. We have to go.”

“Okay. I can walk.”

His hand found hers, holding it tight. Together, they walked back to town.

Epilogue

“Are you ready?” Dane stood in her doorway. His arm was wrapped up and held in a sling. “I’m eager to get back to Headquarters.”

“I bet you are,” she said, folding the last of her blouses and laying it on top. She closed her luggage and zipped it up. “I talked to Olson, he said they’re already working on an antidote in the lab.”

He nodded, coming towards her. “Yup. Shouldn’t be long now. Andrew, Melissa, Donovan and me will be good as new in no time.”

She had been so relieved that Donovan hadn’t been fatally wounded by Anita’s gun. She’d only managed to shoot him in his hindquarters. They would have to wait until he was human again to know the extent of the damage, but he was alive, at least and in a good wildlife facility.

The police, thanks to the shifters on the force, had found Anita in time. Melissa had left her by the river, bloodied and with a broken wrist. Almost like she’d wanted her to be found. Lance Brody was keeping watch outside her hospital bedroom until the agency could send a team to extract her along with the Donovan and Melissa. Andrew had left for the Agency that morning.

“So, what else did you and Olson get to chatting about?” Dane asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She smiled. “Oh, you know, just the same old thing.” She sighed. “Good work, here’s another promotion, yadda yadda yadda.”

He lifted her up with his good arm under her ass. “Yes!” He spun her around and let her down. “I knew you’d get it. He’d be an idiot not to promote you.”

“He also told me about another promotion,” she said with a grin.

“Dammit! I wanted to be the one to tell you. Son-of-a-bitch stole my thunder.”

“Don’t worry, baby, no one could steal your thunder.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s a pity, though.”

A furrow appeared on his brow. “What is?”

“That with this promotion, I’d be at headquarters literally all the time. And with yours, they’re going to be sending you out on even more dangerous missions.”

“Trust me, babe, I can handle myself.”

“Oh, yeah? And who’s going to have your back when some blond comes along to spike your drink, huh?”

“You want me to tickle you, is that it?”

She laughed.

“I can do it—”

“I mean it,” she said, slapping his shoulder. She’d given this a lot of thought over the past couple of days. A week ago, this promotion was the only thing in the world she wanted. It was what drove her. Now that she had it, it felt hollow knowing what she was giving up. “I turned it down.”

His face fell. “What?”

“I don’t want the position. I don’t want to be stuck in an office all day, I don’t want to play golf and go to long lunches.” She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I want to have your back. And I want you to have mine.”

“Wait, are you saying—”

“I transferred to Shifter Affairs.” She smiled, imagining returning to that office floor, and the jaws that would drop. “Do you think they’re ready for me?”

He lifted her up. “Babe, I don’t think they’re ready for either of us.” He planted a long, sensuous kiss on her lips. “Damn, woman, do I ever love you.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s give ‘em hell.”

Do you want to find more of Clara Cody’s books?

The Thorne Bears

Her Rogue Bear

Her Alpha Bear

Want to Connect with Clara Cody?

Facebook

Twitter

Author Website

Want to be the first to hear about Clara Cody’s new releases?

Join her Newsletter!

http://eepurl.com/bvQIwv

If you would like to be a part of Clara’s ARC team, sign up here:

http://eepurl.com/co4yV1

A Note from Clara Cody

Dear Lovely Reader,

I would like to thank you and all those who continue to enjoy my work and support what I do. Without you, I couldn’t write the stories that I love so much. If you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, I have done my job.

The best way for a reader to support a writer that they love is to leave a review. An honest review helps not only thee author, but readers like you find what they are looking for. If you have a few moments, please feel free to review All’s Fur in Love and War on whichever site you use.

Thank you so much,

Clara Cody