Wolf Born (2 page)

Color stained her fair face. In a flash of insight, Max knew what she wanted and was sorry he’d pushed her.

“She wants sex. I smell it.”
The wolf chortled.

“I can’t. She works for me.”

“Who made that rule?”

“Is something wrong, sir?” Audrey looked at him oddly.

“Nothing at all. Why?”

“I don’t know. You just got this faraway look in your eyes for a moment. It was as if part of you wasn’t here anymore.” The color in her face deepened. “Sorry. That didn’t come out quite right. It’s really none of my business.”

“You never did tell me what you wanted to say.” Max softened his voice. She truly was a stunning woman. Single, too, after a long, drawn-out divorce.

“Well.” She dropped her gaze to the carpet embossed with the State Seal. “You have to eat dinner some time. I was thinking we could catch a bite and then come back, and I’ll walk you through what’s in those documents. I wasn’t sure I should read them, but I’d already begun,” she shrugged, looking uncomfortable, “and so, I just finished them.”

“Not a problem. You had to qualify for a top secret security clearance to work as my administrative assistant.”

The edges of her mouth twitched into half a smile. “Funny, but it’s the same thing I told myself.”

“Dinner is an excellent idea.” Max managed a smile. He didn’t really want to take a break but saw the wisdom in an hour away from the unending flow of work. Sitting across a small, intimate table from Audrey had undeniable appeal, too.

He was worried about the underground. No one had messaged him for hours…
Crap! It’s because I had the flags up.
Audrey had blasted through the door within seconds of him taking them down, so he hadn’t had a chance to check the secure feed on his wrist computer. He pushed to his feet. “Tell you what. Just give me a minute to throw some cold water on my face and wash up. I’ll meet you at your desk.”

The smile she shot him could have lit an entire city. “I’ll make us reservations somewhere. Do you have a preference?”

He thought for a moment. “Sure. Call the Schenectady Steakhouse. They have sound-shielded rooms. We can bring your document pile with us and kill two birds with one stone.”

Her smile faded a few lumens. “Of course, sir. I’ll just gather them up—” She took a step toward the file folders.

He waved her away. “Never mind. I’ll bring them with me.”

Max breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her. He hoped she didn’t have ulterior motives, or at least, if she did, that she’d be subtle enough to keep them under wraps. He didn’t want to have to tell Audrey he found her attractive, but—

“If she wants us, we should fuck her,”
his wolf yapped from the sidelines.

“What? You’ve lowered your standards. She’s not a shifter.”

“She has some shifter blood. I scented it.”

“Yes, well so did I, but not enough to turn into anything.”

“So give her some of that serum and see what happens,”
the wolf suggested snidely.

“Hush. Let me see how the rest of us are doing.”
Max clicked buttons on his wrist computer and scanned messages from the safe house he’d left that morning. The group of cops was assimilating well. There’d been some problems with one man’s wife. She wasn’t thrilled to be married to a bear, even one who promised he’d spend as much time in his human form as he could. Kate and Devon thanked him for marrying them. He clicked a quick,
You’re welcome
, still feeling warm and fuzzy from having conducted their mating ceremony. Both mountain lion shifters, they made a strong couple.

In just a few minutes, he set the computer to standby. Thank Christ there weren’t any pressing issues that required his immediate attention.

He trotted to the restroom that opened off the back of his office, splashed water on his face and rinsed his hands. Strands of hair had escaped the queue he habitually wore. Max pulled the elastic band, re-secured his shoulder-length blond hair, and tucked it beneath his suit jacket. The blue eyes that stared back at him in the mirror looked tired. He rubbed them, but it only made them more bloodshot. A quick rummage through a drawer produced eye drops.

By the time he scooped up the stack of paperwork, locked his office, and headed for Audrey’s desk one floor down, he felt downright chipper. Waiting for him, bag slung over a shoulder, she held out her arms. “Here. Give me some of those.”

“Nah. They’re not heavy. Did you get us reservations?”

She nodded. “They weren’t busy. It’s only a couple of blocks; would you like to walk?”

“Not a bad idea—” he began.

“Nope.” The security officer du jour’s voice rang from behind them. “We’re driving you.”

Max turned and raised a curious eyebrow. “Why? I was only gone for a few hours this morning. What the hell happened around here?”

The security officer blew out a tense breath. “Ever since things blew up at the Berkeley cop shop, criminals here have gone wild. Guess they’re anticipating things will go south here, too.”

“Have they?” Max held his breath, secretly rooting for an infusion of more shifters to fight for the cause.

“Not yet, but that whole serum thing could blow up on us just like it did in Berkeley. Law enforcement here was a little behind the eight ball. Didn’t start taking it until about ten days ago—”

“It’s one of the things that’s in all those documents,” Audrey interrupted. “Once we sit down, I can fill you in.”

“Okay. Let’s get moving.” Max met the security officer’s brown gaze. “Sorry—” he eyed the man’s badge, “—O’Hare. You must be new.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where’s the officer working with you?”

The man looked momentarily startled. “Uh, what other officer, sir?”

“Didn’t Loren agree there’d be two of you at all times? I distinctly remember him acquiescing to that plan when he showed up with six of you this morning, and I felt stampeded.”

“If he did, sir, no one told me. Would you like me to ring for another guard?”

Max thought about it. The extent of the security around him was ridiculous. “No. We’re fine. I assume we’re heading for the garage.”

“That would be correct, sir.”

Max gestured at Audrey to go ahead of him. They walked to the elevator, waited, and rode it down several levels to the parking garage. Max’s sensitive nose twitched. The guard smelled…odd. Fear sweat. Surely things weren’t so desperate in downtown Sacramento that the man would be afraid.

Running on instincts that had rarely failed him, Max pushed the
Stop Car
button. He whirled to face O’Hare. The man’s face turned white. “What are you doing, sir?”

“I’m not certain. Hand over your identification.”

The guard patted his back pockets. A frantic look washed over his face, but it was gone in an instant. “Don’t seem to have my wallet with me, sir. I must have left it upstairs. Maybe on your secretary’s desk.” He smiled weakly.

“Fine.” Max pushed the button to return them to the building’s next-to-the-top floor. “You can retrieve it. Audrey, text the security company. Ask them if they’ve ever heard of this guy.”

As they neared the top floor, the odor rolling off the guard intensified: aggression mixed with fear. “I want you in front of me,” Max snapped. “Now.”

O’Hare—if that was really his name—lunged. Max was ready and heaved the stack of papers right at him. Audrey bit back a scream. She sounded like a hissing kettle. O’Hare’s brown eyes blazed hatred. “You’re a shifter,” he snarled. “Dirty, fucking traitor.” He sidestepped the paper blizzard and grabbed his gun.

The elevator door opened. Audrey didn’t wait for instructions. She dove through it and raced for her desk. Max judo chopped O’Hare’s gun hand. The weapon clattered to the elevator’s tile floor, and Max kicked it half way across the room. He engaged the button to close the elevator’s door, trapping them inside. Max needed privacy. This was as good a way as any to get it.

O’Hare threw himself at Max, teeth bared. Max grappled with him and drove a knee into the man’s groin. O’Hare grunted and doubled over with pain. Max linked to his supernatural shifter strength and delivered a blow to the fake security guard’s neck designed to sever his spinal column. Breathing hard, he stood watch over the body until he was certain the man was dead.

It hadn’t been a contest. Not really. He’d never been in any real danger. His identity was a much bigger problem than O’Hare’s feeble attack. Max engaged the elevator to take him back to Audrey’s level. He’d been compromised. The only question was how many people knew about him.

Christ! What the fuck do I do next?

The elevator door whooshed open on Audrey, standing in a shooter’s stance clutching a highly illegal laser stun pistol. Much of her hair had escaped its bun and spots of color rode high on both cheeks. She looked so captivating it took his breath away. He could almost imagine her head thrown back, neck corded with passion as she shrieked her delight at all the things he could do to pleasure her. He blinked hard and refocused. Death was licking at his heels. Now was not the time to indulge in sexual fantasies.

“Put that down,” Max barked, “before you kill me by mistake.”

“I-is he…?” Eyes wide, she looked at O’Hare’s body sprawled on the elevator floor.

“Yes.” Max bent, got a hand under each of the guard’s armpits and dragged him out of the elevator. “Did you call Loren?”

“Uh-huh. On his way.” Her voice held a frantic note he’d never heard before.

Max straightened. “Did Loren have any idea what happened to whoever was supposed to be on duty?”

“I, uh, didn’t think to ask. Sorry, sir.”

Max took a closer look at Audrey. She was shaking, and her eyes had a wild cast. He moved to her side, took one of her arms and guided her to a nearby chair. She fell into it. “Take a few deep breaths, dear.” He held out a hand. “Give me the pistol. Where do you keep it?”

“Bottom drawer of my desk.”

He walked behind her desk. The drawer stood open. He engaged the safety, stuffed the pistol behind a stack of paperwork and a few pots of makeup, and closed the drawer. “Where’d you get that?” She didn’t answer, so he pulled up a chair next to her. “I’m not going to turn you in. I was just curious.”

She shook her head as if to clear it. More strands of red-blonde hair fell out of her bun and curled around her face, softening her austere features. She’d be quite the head-turner if she just let it hang loose. “My brother gave it to me when I got this job. He said I might need it.”

“He’s a cop, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“Simple. Law enforcement are the only ones authorized to carry those. Nice gun, by the way. Do you know how to use it?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but the elevator door slammed open. Loren, flanked by three hatchet-faced men, rushed into the foyer. “Thank the good Lord you’re all right, sir.” Loren kneeled by O’Hare’s side and felt for a neck pulse. “Looks like a clean kill. No blood.” He straightened and eyed his boss speculatively. “What’d you do?”

Max shrugged. “I’ve had martial arts training. I hit him in the neck. Got lucky.”

One of the other guards, a solidly build redhead, whistled. “I’ll say. That’s not an easy blow to get right.”

“Get the body out of here,” Loren growled. “I’ve got to figure out where Brady and Hennet are.”

Two of the guards grabbed O’Hare, while the redhead punched the elevator button and said, “I’ll stay with you, boss, until you can scare up a few more of us.”

Max pushed to his feet and held out a hand to Audrey. “Still think you could manage dinner? Or at least a drink to calm you down?”

She nodded and rose unsteadily. “Sure. That would be nice. We need those files. Should have thought to rescue them when you brought O’Hare’s body in here.”

“Was that what was scattered all over the elevator floor?” Loren asked. When she nodded, he said, “I’ll help you gather them up and drive you to wherever you’re eating. Once I get a couple of guys to watch over you, I’ll come back here and see where my two men are.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Max jabbed his chin toward the elevator. “After you.”

The elevator doors opened. The guards, with O’Hare suspended between them, started forward; Loren held up a hand. “Wait until I get these papers together,” he told his men. “No point in getting any more footprints on them.”

Max eyed the guards and the dead man. “How about if you haul him out via the roof. You could use a hovercraft, and there’d be less chance of anyone seeing anything.”

“Good idea,” Loren said. “I should have thought of it. I’ll radio for a craft.”

“You got it, sir.” The redhead jockeyed the stairwell door open and helped the other guards maneuver O’Hare through it, before moving back to Max’s side.

“I’d like to get my secretary out of here. She’s not used to dead bodies.” Max gave a snort of a laugh. “Neither am I, actually. This whole thing’s been deucedly unsettling.”

“Sorry,” Loren murmured, straightening with his arms full of file folders and loose sheets. He shook his head. “Damn if I know which of these went with what—”

“I do,” Audrey cut in. “I’ll take care of them.”

“You can do that later,” Max said. “For now, let’s just get out of here.” He picked up O’Hare’s gun and handed it to Loren and then hustled Audrey into the elevator.

* * * *

Loren double parked the electric car outside the restaurant and shadowed them inside, along with the redheaded guard. “Looks pretty good.” Loren eyed the private, sound-shielded room. “I’ll be right outside, and John will be here, too, just as soon as he takes care of the car.”

“Once reinforcements arrive, feel free to go hunt for your men,” Max said. “You must be worried about them.”

“Thanks, boss. I am. Go sit down. I’ll scare up a waiter to at least get you a bottle of wine or something. John’s going off-shift in an hour, so there will be two new guards outside when you’re done eating.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Max pulled the door shut and walked to the table. Audrey had already seated herself and was sorting through the stack of papers, arranging them into piles. “It’s all right if you don’t work for a few moments,” he said, taking a seat across from her.