Savage Betrayal: Savage, Book 2 (20 page)

But she hadn’t, which kind of blew his mind. It was also a confirmation that she didn’t want him for anything serious. That Grace was perfectly fine with it being a temporary, sexual relationship.

Just like every other woman.

It bugged him, more than it should have. Some men would’ve killed for his situation. Being able to bed any woman he wanted without worrying about commitment.

Closing out the email he wasn’t reading, Darrius tried to ignore the hollow feeling inside him.

He was in his early thirties, the fact that he was unmated and childless was beginning to weigh heavily. Sure, he could sleep with unmated shifter women, and human women, all he wanted. But the shifter women would soon need to settle down with unmated shifters, and marrying a human was forbidden to him.

Soon he would need to start thinking about having children. Only, it wouldn’t be in a loving, mated relationship. His best bet would be to find a windowed shifter woman who was within childbearing years and form the type of relationship that was more common to humans. Attraction. Respect. Maybe a marriage, maybe not.

But he would never know what it was like to grow old with a mate. With the one destined to be at your side.

He lifted a stress ball from his desk, a Christmas gag gift because everyone knew how laid-back he was, and squeezed it in one hand.

Grace was the first woman he’d ever confided in about Jenny. Lord help him, the sympathy in her eyes had almost ripped his conscience a new one.

What would Grace think if she knew the truth? That he’d never mourned his mate’s death, and struggled to feel any kind of emotion for the woman he’d known for such a short time.

With a low growl, he hurled the stress ball against the wall of his cubicle and placed his elbows on his desk, hiding his head in his hands.

He was an anomaly and didn’t deserve to have anyone as his mate.

“Wake your ass up, Hilliard.”

The approach of Larson had him jerking his thoughts back to work, and lifting his head to stare at his alpha.

“I’m awake. On my third cup of coffee, matter of fact.” Darrius grinned and reached for his mug.

Larson stared at him. “How was your night?”

“It was all right.” All right meaning amazing. And this morning had been pretty damn fantastic too.

Shit. He still couldn’t quite believe it had happened. Couldn’t believe that Grace had just dropped to her knees and taken him completely as if
he
were breakfast.

Dark heat gathered in him, and a wave of intense need to be with her again. Alone. Tonight seemed too damn far away.

He never would’ve taken her for the type to be so sensual, though he should’ve. She was a fierce agent at work, and there was no reason she wouldn’t have been equally fierce sexually.

“Hmm. So how was Masterson?” Larson asked.

For a moment, Darrius almost thought his alpha was asking about something else entirely. Maybe Larson had figured out that they were getting pretty hot and heavy, but then he remembered the attack at The Doornail and grew somber.

“She seems okay. I think she pushed it from her mind and tried to keep busy.”
And I helped keep her distracted by going down on her until she was nearly crying.

Last night his thoughts might’ve been partly occupied by Grace and the discussion about his past, but even still he’d always been alert to the possibility of another attack on her.

Someone was out to intimidate Grace, no doubt about it.

“Good. And look, whatever happens between you two, just remember that you don’t need to add your name to the list of people out to hurt her.”

Darrius’s gut clenched at the alpha’s warning, because it was something he feared as well.

“Masterson,” Larson turned his head to shout. “Get over here.”

What the hell? Alarm raced through him. Surely Larson wasn’t about to give Grace a lecture on safe sex?

It only took a moment before Grace had abandoned her desk and arrived next to Darrius and Larson.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

She didn’t look at him, Darrius noticed, but kept her gaze firmly on their alpha. She was all business at the office. But then that was who Grace was—a determined, career driven female shifter. Not to mention a fucking a goddess at giving head.

Don’t go there.

“I called you both here, because I wanted to let you know I sent SWAT out to Wesley Parker’s house this morning to execute a search warrant.”

Grace’s eyes lit up and she took another step forward, gripping the wall between his desk and the agent’s on the other side. “Really? What did they find?”

Larson glanced at her, his brows drawn together. “Lots of interesting stuff. Some being a piece of paper with Jocelyn Feloray’s name and number on it, lots of drugs, and a glass vial full of liquid and hypodermic needles.”

Darrius grunted softly. “Let me guess. It wasn’t insulin?”

“No, it doesn’t appear our POI was a diabetic,” Larson agreed with a hard smile.

Grace tilted her head. “Wait a minute, you said ‘was’.”

“Perceptive as always, Masterson.” Larson picked up a stapler from Darrius’s desk and began to take it apart. “Along with various items taken into evidence, we also found a deceased POI.”

Now that certainly was a game changer. Darrius pursed his lips and absorbed the info, his mind spinning with the news.

Grace looked equally shell-shocked. “Don’t tell me he died of carbon monoxide poisoning? It would be too much of a coincidence.”

Larson tilted his head. “No. It looks like a drug overdose, actually.”

Darrius nodded. That would’ve been his first guess. Their surveillance had indicated the guy was likely on something. “So you think the needles were for heroin?”

“Maybe. Though we didn’t find any in the house. Which is why we’re having tests run on the vials we found right now.”

Darrius slid a glance to Grace and saw her staring down the hall to where the P.I.A. lab was located. The way her hands were curled into balls and she shifted her weight, he knew where she’d be heading the first chance she got.

“The body is being brought down to the shifter morgue on First Avenue for the required burning.” Larson’s attention shifted to Grace as well. “Would you feel comfortable viewing it, Masterson? Think there’s a possibility you’d recognize the scent of your attacker from last night if you saw him?”

Agitation flashed across her face before she gave a slight shrug. “It was dark and they were masked. Plus it was clear they’d tried to hide their scent with bleach. I really doubt it.”

“Sometimes instinct alone might tell you.” Larson stood up and set down the stapler. “But I’ll leave that up to you. Any loved ones of the deceased would’ve been notified by now, so he’ll probably be cremated by tomorrow morning. Let me know if you decide to go and we’ll take you down there.”

Darrius didn’t miss the slight shiver that moved through her body, even if her expression remained neutral now.

“Yes, sir.”

“What about an autopsy?” Darrius asked.

“Being done currently, but no reason to suspect it wasn’t an overdose.” Larson gave them a sharp nod and moved away. “Good work, guys. Stay in the office today unless I give you word otherwise.”

“Will do.”

“Of course,” Grace echoed.

Their alpha strode off, leaving them alone.

“I should get back to my desk.” Grace avoided his gaze as her fingers twisted together.

“Any plans for lunch, Masterson? I was thinking we could walk down to the waterfront and grab—”

“I have a few things I need to take care of around here.” She jerked her gaze back to him, and there was a warning there.
Don’t mix business with pleasure.

His brow quirked and irritation slid through him.

“Really?”

Going to lunch together or with any of the other agents had been common practice before. What had changed? Besides the fact she’d sucked his dick this morning.

A flush stained her cheeks and she shook her head. “Yes, really.”

“Just don’t head out on your own, Masterson. You know you’re a potential target at the moment.”

“I know. I’ll be staying in.” Once again she glanced away, but not before he saw something flicker in her eyes that gave him pause.

Son of a bitch, she was going to try and sneak out of here alone. He’d bet on it.

“Good.” Instead of tipping his hand and letting on he knew she was feeding him bullshit, he just nodded. “Now that I think about it, I did mention to Donovan that we’d check out a new barbeque join in Pioneer Square.”

“Enjoy that. I’ll catch up with you later.”

He watched as she turned and walked away. The black slacks she wore couldn’t hide the enticing swish of her pretty little ass.

Her saying no to lunch ran deeper than not wanting others at work to get suspicious. He sensed that.

Which meant come lunchtime, he was going to be discreetly keeping tabs on her. The last thing he needed was Grace getting in any more trouble than she already was.

Darrius slipped away from his desk shortly before twelve thirty and made his way to the security room.

“Horton, how the hell are you?” He clapped hands with his friend working the room.

Horton had been around longer than Hilliard at the agency and was close to retirement. His white hair was almost gone and his dark face wrinkled when he grinned. He might’ve been getting up there in years, but Horton had a sharp eye and did a fine job keeping tabs on the inside of the P.I.A.

“How you doing, Hilliard?”

“Not bad,” he murmured, his gaze sliding to the monitors on one side of the room. Monitors that showed every room in the building. “Do you mind if I hang out here during my lunch? Haven’t seen you for a bit and figured we could catch up.”

“Hell, you know I don’t care. But looks like you’re more interested in keeping an eye on someone than catching up.”

The older man never missed a thing, did he?

“Well, I may be a little bit guilty as charged.” Darrius grabbed one of the black chairs and wheeled it around. He sat down on it backward, folding his arms across the back. “I’m just making sure a friend isn’t getting herself into trouble…”

He trailed off as Grace left her desk and made her way through the building. Was she going to try and sneak out? If she did, he’d be on her tail. Or he’d have another agent do it, but no way was he letting her out without protection.

“Agent Masterson, huh?” Horton made a murmur of interest. “She’s a pretty thing. You two an item?”

An item. That was a quaint way of putting in.

“We’re good friends,” he murmured vaguely.

Grace glanced behind her as she made her way up to the floor where the P.I.A. held their lab. Hmm. Maybe she wasn’t trying to slip out of the building, but was going to see Sienna instead.

Once inside the lab, the two women appeared to get into a deep conversation. Grace slipped on a pair of latex gloves and then picked up a glass vial from the metal table.

No doubt it was the same vial from the POI’s house.

She held it up to the light, turned it this way and that, and then set it back down. She said something more to Sienna, who nodded, and then Grace slipped back out of the lab.

Interesting. Maybe she was just getting details on what was in it?

“Anything look suspicious?” Horton asked. “I see agents coming and going from that lab all day. Nothing strikes me as out of the ordinary.”

Maybe not, but he and Grace were working on this as a team. If she suspected something, she’d better damn well share that intel.

He watched her make her way from the lab and then pluck her cell phone from her purse. A moment later she’d dialed someone and was in a heated discussion.

She paused in the hallway, shook her head fiercely and then snarled something into her phone before shoving it back into her purse.

“Hmm. She looks a little feisty today,” Horton murmured. “I’ve gotta say, I wouldn’t have figured Agent Masterson for your type, buddy.”

Him either. At least not when she’d first started at the agency. But things had changed in a way neither of them had seen coming.

His trained gaze followed her on screen as she strode down the hall back toward their department.

Good. She was going back to her desk and he wouldn’t have to worry about—
Son of a bitch!
She’d slipped out a side door as quickly as it took him to blink.

“Shit, I need to go after her. I promise we’ll catch up for real, Horton. Drinks in the next couple weeks.” He didn’t wait for the other man to reply, but had already sprinted out of the room.

He thundered down the staircase as he hoped to beat her out front. But then, maybe if he could catch up with her he could figure out what was so important that she’d blatantly disobey his order—not to mention their alpha’s—that she not be left alone.

Hell, he knew she liked to prove she was independent, but this was taking it too far.