Bear Claw (13 page)

“Good. What can I do to help?”

“His roommate says he was working on a paper for your class. Victor had intended to spend the evening in the library.”

“Yes, a high percentage of my students are shifters. With the talk from various officials demanding a type of database to monitor the shifters, there was no way the subject could be ignored. This year I assigned a paper to all my students on the long-term effect.”

“Do you know what stance Victor was taking?”

“I do,” she replied. “Victor would have gone far in my class. From what I’ve heard from his other professors, they felt the same way about him. He was very passionate about the subject. He was comparing the current issue with similar ones in the past. Most notably the Germans and Jews through World War Two.”

“Had he seemed different in the days leading up to him leaving? Nervous or distracted?”

“As a matter of fact, no. I had a conference with him a few days prior. He asked my opinion on his research, but he was the same determined young man as always.”

“Any change in his friends? Was he hanging out with anyone you didn’t recognize?”

The thoughtful expression and pause Professor James gave him had Jamie leaning forward.

“Yes. I would always see him with his roommate or a few of the others from class, but about a week, maybe week and a half, before he left, I did spot him a few times with some of the older students on campus. Seniors, and not his usual type of buddies. They were loud and not as studious as he was.”

“Do you know their names?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t. I’ve never had any of them in any of my classes. I’d seen them around. Wait a second, I think one’s first name is Billy and he was a history major, but that’s really all I know.”

Jamie filed that away for later. He’d get Ray to search for him. “Were they shifters?”

“I’m pretty sure they were.”

“That’s good information.”

“It struck me as odd since Victor was such a loner.”

“Have you seen them lately?”

“Huh, now that I think about it, I haven’t.”

“Thank you, Professor James, Talia. Is there anything else you can think of?”

She shook her head. “No, but I do hope you find him and he’s okay.”

Smiling, Jamie stood. He held out his hand. “Me too.”

After they shook, he turned around. Stopping with his hand on the knob, he spoke quietly. “Can I ask a question?”

Nodding, she gave a little laugh. “Why am I teaching a class based on the shifter community if I’m not one?”

Embarrassed, he flushed. “Yeah.”

“I was raised by a shifter after my parents died. I am also mated to a wolf shifter.”

Well, that answered that. “Thank you for your time, Talia.”

“Good luck, Agent.”

Jamie felt the professor had been truthful and as forthcoming as possible. He hadn’t noted a raise in her pulse or any stumbling over her words. It wasn’t scientific but he was pretty good at reading people.

Unless it came to his own situations. How had he ever questioned his connection to Brandy? She’d been right the night before. He’d moved too slowly, afraid that she wouldn’t have accepted him.

He’d thought he’d gotten over some of the issues from not having family and his own self-esteem, but he obviously had more work to do in that department.

Now that he had Brandy, he wasn’t going to let her go.

Deciding to walk around campus and see what else he could dig out, he reached into his back pocket and withdrew his phone. He’d downloaded a picture of Victor. Time to start pounding the pavement.

* * * *

“So we’re going to march on Friday morning. Everything is ready. I received the paperwork for the permit this morning,” Chris told Brandy as they sat talking over coffee and sandwiches during her lunch break.

“You got a permit this time. I’m shocked. That’s actually legal.”

He stuck his tongue out at her then they both laughed. “I’m doing this by the book as much as I can. It is going to be a battle.”

“Do you really think these proposals will really pass? With as many shifters that are out there?”

“Who knows? But people fear what they don’t understand.”

Brandy had heard this same lecture several times. “I know.” Picking up her coffee cup, she took a sip. It was still hot and tasted so damn yummy.

“We have a high number of supporters. We set up a call station and we’re receiving a respectable amount of donations, but we need to do more.”

“What about your parents?” Brandy asked softly.

Chris’ relationship with his family was even more strained than hers. He also challenged his a lot more.

The other night was one of the first times she’d openly defied her parents. She used to let them order her around then disappear for a couple of weeks until they’d moved on to something else. Her usual strategy wasn’t going to work this time.

“I’ve been told to not come around until I’ve gotten over this little rebellious stage of mine. They’re tired of it. It’s time I went back to school, finished my degree and joined the family business. I need to start acting like a man. Until I do, I’m not welcome at home.”

“I’m sorry.” She placed her hand over his.

As much as Chris fought with his parents, it was never easy to hear something like that.

“I didn’t expect them to act any differently,” he said sadly.

“Maybe they’ll come around,” Brandy told him.

They both knew that wasn’t going to happen. The last time Chris had gotten arrested during one of his protests, Brandy had had to bail him out. His parents hadn’t been bothered to answer the phone.

“I won’t hold my breath.”

”Why do you think the family supports the registration so strongly?”

“Oh, my sweet cousin. It’s all about the money.”

“What?”

But Chris wasn’t smiling. “All this humanity talk is bullshit. Sure, there are people who are fanatic about only humans having rights, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. At least not the majority. This is
really
all about the money.”

It sounded even worse to her. “How do you figure?”

“There will be so much green trading hands getting this set up, enforcing the mandate, running the tests, keeping the database. Companies are going to make a killing.”

Sitting back in her chair, Brandy picked up her mug again. Her coffee was cool enough to take a big drink. “That’s not right. This isn’t only about
their
rights.”

“We’ll keep fighting. No matter what, and we
will
win. It matters to a lot of good people.”

Brandy took a good look at her cousin. She could admit in the past that she’d always thought all the causes that Chris had fought for was done to embarrass his family. Or to prove to them that they couldn’t control him.

She was seeing Chris in a different light now.

“If they can’t see what a wonderful man you’ve become, it’s your parents’ problem, not yours.”

Surprise washed over his features then he grinned widely. “Thanks, cuz.”

She laughed with him.

“So how was your night?” he asked.

She refused to blush. “Fine.”

“Uh-huh. Just fine.”

He was poking at her and she knew it.

“Yeah.”

“You usually don’t enjoy dinners with the family.”

Shit, had that only been last night? After her time with Jamie, the horrible evening with her parents and brother—and who could forget Colby—was far from her thoughts. “You won’t believe what they did this time.”

Filling him on everything that had taken place, she watched his face. Chris had always been an open book for her and she could see the disgust and anger in his eyes.

“Jeez, that guy is an asshole. Like you would hook up with him,” Chris said at the end of her story.

“Yeah, the situation took me by surprise.”

“You don’t have to get any more involved. William isn’t going to let this go. And if he pushes your mom and dad, they’ll back him up.”

She shrugged. “There’s not much they can do about it.”

“So you’re in?”

“I’m in,” she confirmed.

“Good, the protest should get us some more publicity then we’ll have a fundraiser. I’m working on that right now. If we’re going to fight this, we need enough cash to go up against some of the supporters.”

Having attended numerous fundraisers with both her parents and Chris, she groaned. “I’m going to have to dress up.”

“Yes, you are.”

She hated it but knew she would do it. They sat in silence finishing their drinks.

“So are you going to tell me?” he asked.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“Where you got that hickey on your neck.”

Without thinking, she snapped her hand up to her neck to cover the mark that Jamie had left earlier that morning. This time she couldn’t stop the blush heating her face.

“I take it Colby didn’t mark you.”

“Ew.” She wrinkled her nose.

“So it had to be Jamie.”

Not meeting his gaze, she nodded.

“You know I’ll get the details out of you sooner or later. Since your break is almost over, you’d better tell me.”

She smiled in spite of herself. “I’m not giving you details.”

“That good, huh?” he teased.

Brandy looked up. “Better.”

He snorted. “Good for you. Did you find out what type of shifter he is?”

Unsure what the protocol was on revealing that information, Brandy didn’t know what to say. But Chris was her family. The person she was closest to. “Black bear.”

“Aw, man, that is so cool.”

“You are such a shifter groupie,” she told him, amused.

Shrugging, Chris didn’t seem bothered by her accusation. “I’m happy for you.”

She knew her cousin was being sincere. “Thanks, I really like him.”

“I know you do. He’s a great guy too. A little intimidating when you first meet him but he has always come across on the up and up.”

“Yeah, he is,” she agreed. She couldn’t wait to see him again. He had a case he was working and they hadn’t made solid plans for later but she wasn’t worried.

The kiss she’d gotten as she’d left his apartment had made her head spin and her knees weak.

“You know you’re going to have to tell him. If you get serious, he’s going to wonder why you lock yourself in your office all the time.”

Not wanting to think about that conversation, she shrugged. “I know.”

Chapter Eleven

It had been a long couple of days. Usually on a Wednesday night, he would still be in the groove of things at work. The case wasn’t going nearly fast enough for him. While things with Brandy were great, being apart from her still took an emotional toll on him.

Walking into his apartment, he could still smell Brandy all around. His cock instantly hardened. Some of the exhaustion seemed to lift from his shoulders. He dropped his bag of files on the coffee table on his way to the kitchen.

He grabbed a beer out of the fridge, twisted the top off before tossing it into the trash then sighed. This was what he needed. He wanted to put in some more hours but at least he could be comfortable.

Draining half his beer as he strolled into the bedroom, he finally started to relax. A few more chugs and he finished the beer.

His erection pushed at the seam of his jeans. The scent of his and Brandy’s lovemaking hung heavily in the bedroom. She’d woken him with her lips wrapped tightly around his cock. Palming himself, he closed his eyes, remembering.

He was unzipping his jeans when his phone pinged to announce a text message. He groaned then released himself to dig into his back pocket for his cell.

Surprised to find a message was from Zak, he quickly swiped his finger over the screen to pull up the text. It was unusual to hear from him again so soon. Normally Zak would be undercover a week or two after which time he would contact Jamie.

2250 Market

That was all, just an address. Worried now, all thought of relaxing quickly left his mind as he rushed from the bedroom. Grabbing his leather jacket, he was out of the door and on his bike minutes after getting the message.

Market Street wasn’t far from his place. Farther downtown in the industrial district, there were a lot of warehouses and old buildings.

Jamie took his motorcycle for the ease of getting through the traffic and in case he needed to make a quick getaway. As he drove, he thought about calling Cody but he didn’t want to worry his friend or Aubrey if Zak needed a meet.

He’d worry about bringing Cody in on things later.

In less than ten minutes, he’d entered the almost dead industry area. At this time of night, there shouldn’t be a lot of activity. He slowed his bike and carefully navigated the streets.

Taking Production, one avenue over from Market, Jamie watched the numbers on the buildings. Carefully, he cut through an alley that he believed would bring him out right in front of the address.

Immediately, he saw the difference. Instead of the abandoned structures he’d passed, there was a lot of activity in front of 2250 Market. Shutting his motorcycle down, he waited, sitting and taking it all in.

There were several younger men standing in front, leaning against the brick and smoking. After climbing off his bike, Jamie slunk into the shadows of the alley to get a better look.

A loud group slammed the door open and exited. To his shock, he recognized Victor Douglas. The college student had his hands deep in his front pockets, shoulders slumped, while the group he was with hooted and hollered.

“That’s one of the boys I’m worried about.”

Jamie jumped up then spun around. “Damn it, Zak.”

Pushing off the wall, Zak strolled over to him. Jamie wasn’t surprised he hadn’t noticed him. Zak was a master of staying hidden when he wanted to.

“What’s going on?” he asked Zak.

“I’m in with a group of shifters that the
powers that be
are worried about striking against both humans and shifters. From what I’ve seen so far, we
should
be worried.”

“That kid, Victor, he’s the one I’ve been searching for.”