Unconditional (2 page)

She smiled, blushing. She didn’t know a whole lot about shifters, but she did know they had an affinity with witches. It wasn’t a blow to her ego, or her libido, to be standing in a lobby bursting with all that earthy magick wolves carried. They were sexy and that they found her sexy? Well that was sexy too.

And interesting. “What does my magick smell like?”

“Always a little vanilla. Like from yellow cake.” He paused and then nodded. “Yes, you smell like yellow cake.”

“I really like yellow cake.”

“Who doesn’t?” He grinned. “If you want to hang on a sec, I can call up to see who is available to meet with you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that very much.”

She moved to the mini-reception area he’d indicated and checked her messages while he did whatever it was he needed to do.

“Do we have a problem here?”

She froze before turning slowly to face none other than Josh Neelan.

Josh tried not to gape at the witch whose ass he’d just been admiring. But it wasn’t her ass that stunned him into long silence as he took her in from the tips of her sensible work boots, up shapely legs, the nip at her waist, the swell of her tits—he remembered those quite well—and into her face.

“
Michelle?
”

She blinked and he scented her blush. His wolf pushed at the human in charge. He’d wanted her back then. More than he should have. Apparently his wolf agreed about wanting her now.

“Josh?”

Well now. A hundred years’ worth of memories fell down all around him at the sound of his name on her lips.

He sucked in a breath and it was filled with her. And with her magick. Fuck. She was a witch?

“I take it you two know each other?” Shaun, one of his wolves who had the door shift that afternoon, spoke, his brow rising.

“Yes. Michelle and I are both from Roseburg. She used to be a cheerleader.” He smiled at
that
memory. Her in tight sweaters and short skirts. Christ.

Shaun looked her over. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Josh did not like it one bit that Shaun looked at his Michelle that way. He gave the other wolf a look, but Shaun wasn’t cowed.

But the amusement he’d expected to see in her features wasn’t there. Just hurt and devastation and most likely
he’d
put it there.

“You’re here because you need our help?” He took her upper arm and moved her toward the elevators, keying in his code.

She nodded and disentangled herself from his hold.

“Let’s go up to my office to talk.” He led her into the elevator and punched his floor number and his code before turning back to her. “Damn, it’s really good to see you.”

He pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. His entire system went wild at her scent as he dragged it in. Her body felt good against his. He’d thought he’d forgotten her, what it was to have her in his arms. But he’d been so, so wrong.

He pulled back as they arrived on his floor, his wolf displeased that she hadn’t relaxed into the embrace.

“This way.” He led her through the halls, finding himself having to stop from touching her. His wolf was agitated, pressing against his human skin, fighting for supremacy because it wanted contact with her.

He was better than this. He shoved the wolf back as he indicated a couch near the windows. “Sit. Do you want something to drink? Are you hungry?”

“Gage Garrity from Clan Owen sent me to ask for your assistance. My best friend was taken from her apartment by mages yesterday. There were signs of a struggle. I followed what little bit of a trail I could find up here. You guys are great trackers. I need your help.”

Mages. Great. He poked his head out of his office, speaking to his assistant. “Can you get us some coffee and sandwiches?”

“I don’t need to eat. I need to find Allie.”

He sat next to her on the couch she perched upon, and she edged away a little, pressing against the arm to keep her distance.

“This is dangerous. More dangerous than you probably know. Of course I’ll help. I need the facts first so we can figure out what’s happening. You’re a witch. You never told me?”

“You weren’t around to tell. And I know it’s dangerous. That’s why I’m so worried.”

“I need to explain. About leaving Roseburg, and you.”

“Don’t bother. That’s long past. Very ancient history and all that jazz. You moved on. Looks like to a far better life. I’m not here for that anyway.”

He didn’t want her to think it was about her. He hated that part. He’d left for his sanity, for the safety and security of those around him. He’d left to step into a new life and he didn’t regret that part. Still, it agitated him that she was upset in any way. And she was. She could say all the right words, but he could feel it in the tension of her body, hear it in the tone of her voice. Could scent the acrid burn of her emotions.

“I was bitten my first semester of school. It’s…difficult to be changed when you’re a nineteen-year-old. I didn’t know how to handle it. The wolf who changed me was out of control and his Alpha came to find me. They brought me back to their pack house. It took a year to learn how to handle the wolf. I
couldn’t
go back to Roseburg. That part of my life was done. We weren’t out then. What was I going to tell you? You were still in high school.” He’d had to leave everything and everyone behind. And in the end, it had been the right choice.

She let out a long sigh and he had to force himself not to push.

He changed the subject. “Tell me about your friend. Were the police called? Why are
you
here instead of the local coven people? Why isn’t Gage here? You’re part of their territory. This is big deal, big bad stuff. You could get hurt. Or worse.”

“I
am
the police. I’ve been a cop for seven years now. And from what I understand, Owen is doing all it can with all the disappearances. Gage sent me here but said to remain in touch and that they’d send help when they could.”

Oh.

The food arrived, and he found himself sort of shocked at the bone-deep need to be sure she ate it.

“How did you know it was mages?” He indicated the food. “You should eat. If we’re going out tracking, you’ll need the energy.”

She frowned slightly, but took a bite and then several more.

“I knew it was mages because Owen did these classes, taught the people in our coven how to detect their energy. Once you see it, the mage energy, you can’t mistake it for anything else.” She shuddered. “Allie—you might remember her—Allison Packer? She’s been my best friend since third grade. Her mother got a call from a neighbor. She went over to Allie’s place, saw the mess and called me.”

“Tell me about what you found at the scene.”

“Tell
me
why you’re so bossy about it.”

He wasn’t the only one who’d changed over the years.
This
Michelle was firmly in charge of herself. So sexy. He shouldn’t be thinking about that. But he couldn’t stop.

“I’m the Enforcer here. I’m a sort of cop too. These mages are a way bigger issue than you know.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to work out how to send her away from the danger.

“You are so not going to convince me to go home like a good little girl.”

“You always could read my mind.”

She could mainly because he wore his emotions on his face so clearly. Not so much now, but she knew, given the way he was talking, that he figured he could take over and send her away and that was
not
going to happen. He was obviously used to being obeyed. Ha. He’d better buckle up because she wasn’t the blind-obedience type.

“So stop dicking me around and tell me what is going on.”

“This is bad, Michelle.”

“Give me details. Help me. Help me find her, damn it.”

He blew out a breath.

Josh had been a big guy in school. Broad shouldered. His honey blond hair had been very short then. But not now. It reached his shoulders and matched the neat goatee he wore. He was sun-kissed. Which only highlighted the pale green eyes. He was still big, but now he was a man.

Ha. A man. He was a freaking
werewolf
. God.

He smelled good. Wore some seriously well-fitting and expensive clothes. Given the size of his office and the view it came with, Josh was
someone
within Pacific. That and the respect she’d seen him given.

Gone was the genial, laid-back football player she’d loved so hard when she was young. He was bossy now. Way bossier than he had been then. She was around bossy men all day, most cops tended to be alpha personalities. She dealt with it, knew how to handle them, how to push back when it was necessary. She was an alpha too after all.

But Josh? He emanated that energy that only his kind of alpha male had. Charismatic. Powerful. He commanded attention simply with his presence.

Josh the man made her tingly in ways she couldn’t have even begun to dream about when she was sixteen. Still, she wasn’t going to be managed or handled, even by a man as searingly sexy as the one next to her was.

“I can scent it, you know.” His voice had gone low, stroking over her senses like a caress.

“Huh?” She knew she blushed.

“Arousal.” He leaned in very close, and she told herself—quite sternly—to get up and move out of his reach. And sat right where she was, fascinated by the way his nostrils flared a little and his eyes had gone an otherworldly shade of green. “I can scent the rush of blood to your skin in your blush. The way you just got all wet.” He paused, breathing deep again, and she nearly moaned. She should be horrified, but that was
not
what was happening at all.

She swallowed the moan back. “I’m in charge of my parts. Tell me about what’s going on.” Her voice was breathy, so not authoritative.

He smiled. A slight tip upward at the corner of his mouth where his dimple showed. She wanted to lick it. The moment stretched between them in a way she couldn’t find the energy to disentangle herself from.

Allie.

She sat back, getting some distance, and his hand shot out, far quicker than she’d anticipated, latching on to her knee. She gulped, her heart thundering as she licked her lips.

“
Allie
,” she said out loud, and he nodded, but kept his hand on her knee.

“The mages have been working with turned witches. In an increasingly organized fashion. All across the country—hell, Canada too—witches have gone missing, only to be found a few days later.” He shut up and she shook her head.

“I
need
to know the details. I’m a cop, Josh. I can’t find her…I can’t protect my people if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“They’re found dead. Totally drained. The numbers have been increasing and they’ve recently begun kidnapping Weres too.”

She knew she’d paled, could feel the blood rush away from her face as shock smacked her. “Good God.”

“Yes. Since you’ve spoken with Gage, you know we’ve got some contacts with them and Clan Gennessee to the south. The witches are aware and working on a unified defense. Back east where this all first started, we’ve created a coordinated effort with the de La Vega Jamboree. Jaguar shifters,” he added when she looked confused. “And of course with National. That’s the sort of united governing pack for all wolves in the United States. Anyway, Cascadia, that’s the big pack in Seattle, they’ve recently lost two of their wolves. The cats have had similar losses in the major cities. We’ve had some stalking, but so far our people have been safe. We think they might be working with human anti-Other hate groups.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

He started and then laughed. “Grown-up, gorgeous woman and she’s got a potty mouth? Be still my heart.”

She sniffed in his direction. “If anything deserved all the big bad cuss words, Josh, it’s this. How long? I mean, I know the longer we don’t find her, the lower our chances are that she’s alive. But tell me what the odds are.”

He swallowed hard and she knew he did not want to say anything.

“The longest case that I know of was five days. And when they found her, she was in very bad shape and spent two weeks in the hospital.”

She stood and began to pace. “Well then, we need to get going.”

“There’s no way I can convince you to stay at your hotel while we track, is there?”

“No. Which would be dumb anyway. I can see the mage energy and you can’t. The last place I saw it was at a rest stop in Aurora, Baldock, northbound.”

“Are the state police looking for the vehicle?”

She nodded. “I sent out an alert yesterday afternoon. Though I had to do some fancy footwork with just why I knew that particular car was of interest. Can’t very well say I followed my othersight up the freeway.”

“Witches really need to come out. It’s awfully hard to hide what you are in the modern world.”

She shrugged. “I’m not in charge of any of that. I only know ten other witches. Well, eleven if you count Gage, and I only know him from one phone call. All those decisions are made far above my pay grade.”

He sighed. “Yeah. I get that too. With these disappearances, well I can’t see how it can go on much longer. It’s come out on your own or get outed.”