The Bear and the Unicorn (Supernatural Enforcers Agency Book 6) (10 page)

Chapter Sixteen

“You don’t have to be here,” said Sky.

Mercy rolled a shapely shoulder.  “I do, if I didn’t Zane would be here and we actually have a paying client.  That fancy rat-infested office we work out of doesn’t pay for itself.”

“Yes I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.  Zane ignores me when I try to say anything about my fee.”

They had quite the argument about money earlier.

She awoke in the morning to find Wayne gone and Zane snoring on her couch looking like a giant, drooling angel. 
Unicorn sigh
.  Which was like a regular sigh but more mystical.

She cooked him tofu sausages and eggs, which he assured her he loved –
a sentiment she didn’t believe for a second
- and then they had a polite but long argument about her not going anywhere alone.

In truth it made her antsy – having people constantly hovering around her was the reason she left Montana.  Having your older brother looming over you like giant bat as you try to buy tampons is super annoying.  Although a part of her – particularly her unicorn – couldn’t deny that having Zane hover around her didn’t bother her at all.  Plus, she didn’t want Zane to be unhappy so she allowed him to sic Mercy on her. It didn’t hurt that Mercy was easy to get along with.  Having her in class wasn’t as fun as Zane being there, but then Mercy’s ass wasn’t as nice as his.

Nobody’s was.

*

Gunner and Cutter surveyed the dead bodies.  Thirteen in total –
lucky thirteen
.  All shifters of one variety or another, and all shredded.  They were found in the harbor, weighted down.  They dredged up after a boat took a wrong turn and managed to take out a small dock.

Rick was moving between one table and another as Lucie came in – a hedgehog shifter at the SEA and a nurse who helped Rick on occasion.  Also Cutter’s put-upon yet insufferably chirpy mate.

“Lucie, don’t look,” growled Cutter, crowding her and trying to block her view.

Lucie tsked at him.  “I’ve already seen everything.  And I’ve seen worse than this before.”

“Think of the baby!” he blurted before turning bright red.

“What?” came the twin replies as Gunner and Rick looked up from the bodies.

Lucie blushed as she gently pushed past her mate.  “I’m pregnant.”

“Congratulations,” cried Rick moving towards her.

“No hugs,” snarled Cutter.

Gunner chuckled at Cutter.  “That why you’ve been practically catatonic the last week?”

Lucie beamed and stroked her mate’s chest.  “It was a surprise for both of us.”

“We’ll celebrate later, but for now, doctor?”  Gunner nodded at the corpses as Cutter tried to argue silently with Lucie.  Given that she just stepped around him, he lost that one.

“Ripped apart by a large mammal.”  Rick measured another couple of wounds.  “Judging by the shape and size of the claw marks, I’d probably guess tiger. 
Really
large tiger.  Maybe liger - those guys get pretty big.  Any DNA will have washed away so I can’t say for definite.”

“Lucky that tourist boat got stuck there, otherwise who knows how long they’d be down there.  Although I can’t imagine it was much fun for the tourists seeing those bodies bobbing around.”

Rick snorted.  “Are you kidding?  They’ve all posted pics online, hashtag best vacation ever.”

“Freaks,” grumbled Cutter.

“We did manage to get most of the identities already,” said Lucie.  “Most of them are ex-military – and their time in the military was very brief - they were court-martialed and kicked out.  All of them have violent records.”

“What the fuck is happening in this city?” groused Cutter.

Lucie rubbed his arm.  “Maybe it was a wild tiger.”

Gunner looked at the corpses.  “Maybe.”  But he doubted it.  This looked like a shifter’s handiwork.  A very dangerous shifter.

Chapter Seventeen

Zane picked Sky up after work.  It was like having a boyfriend.  A sexy, growly, angry boyfriend.  Oh, she could feel herself slipping.  Her unicorn was already half way there.  What was that about not falling for that sort of guy again?  Yet she was already picking out names for their kids – Lara, Peter, and Owen.

“Hey,” she trilled, almost leaning in for a kiss.  She caught herself and cleared her throat.

“How was work?”  His face tightened.  “No problems?”

Sky beamed.  “Nope, not unless a fart outbreak in my beginners’ class counted.”  One did it while bending over and then they all started. 
Gross but funny
.

As for Erik…  He regarded her sullenly but kept his distance.  She noticed he had fading bruises but did not say anything.  She had no doubt where they came from and was a little surprised at how pleased it made her.  She did not approve of violence.  Nope, no way, nuh-uh. 
Well, unless it was totally justified and the guy in question was a complete tool.

Whatever ill will Erik had towards her was forgotten the moment he sighted Mercy.  Curvy, perfect blondes will do that to some men.  She was a hit at the classes, a natural talent, more so than Zane, finding that her years of pole dancing made her very lissome.

Erik almost tripped over his big, sloppy, wet tongue when he caught sight of her.  Of course, he hit on her, trying to charm her in his charmless way, even going so far as to suggest she teach her own pole dancing class.  In spite of Mercy’s disinterest in the man, she was intrigued by the idea of teaching a class.  Sky told Zane as much.

“You told me you wanted to return to the SEA.  What will Mercy do if you get your job back?”

A small amount of guilt entered his expression.  “I hadn’t thought about it.”

She shrugged, doubting Mercy was the type to cry over anything for long.  She’d land on her feet – you didn’t see birds falling on their asses… unless it was happy hour, and in which case go to the Red Moon Bar, and you will see dozens of birds falling on their asses.

“How was your day?  You make any progress on your new case?”

Zane grunted.  “No.  Spent the day following this wife around to see if she was cheating.  All she did was shop, lunch and get her nails done – tedious.”

“I take it we’re going back to my place?”

A disappointed look crossed his features.  “Actually, I kind of need to work some more.  My client, some manager at a snow globe factory is out of town tonight at some snow globe convention.”

“They exist?” asked Sky mildly.  Although given that she may be guilty of attending a snuggle bear convention – or three – in her youth, she could hardly judge.

“Yeah, you find out some real scary stuff in my line of work.  I didn’t get anything today, so I want to hang around her house tonight while he’s gone.”

“Creepy.”

Zane’s mouth hung open, and she playfully punched his shoulder.  “You’re so easy.”

He grumbled and groused a little, but he couldn’t hide how his lips curled upwards at her teasing. 

“I have some friends I can drop you off with – they’ll look after you.”

Sky arched an eyebrow.  “Were all the daycares full?”

Zane blinked at her.  “Well, technically it’s night time and…”

“My point is that I’m not actually a child.”

“No, but…”

“I don’t need looking after.”

“You need protecting,” he said as his voice took on a low, throaty quality and his chin set in a stubborn tilt.

That may be true; her unicorn definitely wouldn’t argue with that.  She didn’t know what she was expecting when she turned up at Zane’s office the other day.  But she knew she didn’t want to spend the evening with someone other than him hovering over her.

“Then why don’t I come with you?”

He looked at her blankly for a moment before his forehead creased.  A myriad of emotions flitted across his face as he tried to think of a reason to say no.  He was searching for an excuse not to let her.

“It might be dangerous,” he said slowly.

She fluttered her eyelashes, only cringing slightly.  Her unicorn had no problem with flirting to get what she wanted –
heck, the flighty beast encouraged it
– but Sky didn’t like it.  There were plenty of trainers at the gym who smiled and flashed their cleavages to get the better clients, but that wasn’t her.  She just didn’t feel bad doing it to Zane because he had actually – sort of – been flirting with her too.  At least, she could scent his arousal and damn was it sweet.  Plus, there was the whole wrist kissing thing – wrists should not be that erotic.

“But won’t you protect me?”

Zane puffed out his chest, momentarily affronted.  “Of course.”

“Well then.”  Sky folded her hands in her lap like the matter was settled.  Truthfully, she did want to see what he did for a living.

“It’ll be really boring,” he tried, still uncertain.

“Good job I’ll be there to keep you company then.”

“It may take all night.”

“I have no other plans.”

“There may not be time for bathroom breaks and…”

Sky held up a hand.  “I’d like to come with you, but I won’t force the matter.  I do feel safe with you, though.  But if you’re sure I can’t, then I guess if your friend Wayne is free…”

“You can come!” he snapped as he violently started driving away.

Again, jealously was not a tactic she liked to use, but hell, it was effective!

*

Booker scowled as he listened to the police report – they’d already found the bodies of his dead men.

Fucking A
.  He should have incinerated them.  But that meant driving thirteen bodies across town and knowing his luck, he’d be picked up for a faulty brake light.  Not a risk he wanted to take.  Dumping them in the harbor was easier, but not permanent.  Though, he had thought he had at least a few months. 
Stupid tourist boat
.  Who the fuck wants to go dolphin watching?  Visit one of the beachfront restaurants – they’re full of dolphin shifters!

Fucking sabre-tooth tiger
.  He’d been a nightmare since they caught him.  He’d killed two of Booker’s men on his capture, another who made the mistake of getting too close to his cage at feeding time, and now thirteen more.  Thirteen!  They were all armed with weapons and body armor while the sabre-tooth was naked and groggy from the drugs they’d been pumping into him.  Booker shook his head, still unable to believe it.  Even on his tours, he’d never come across a shifter with half as much ferocity.  The damn tiger took nine bullets to slow him down.  Six of them at close range by Hawk.  And he popped them out like they were nothing within an hour.

The guy was chained up twenty-four seven with silver chains from now on.  Booker didn’t care whether the silver left a mark on his skin.  He was running out of men!  The tiger wasn’t allowed out of them even to take a piss.  If the tiger wanted to do that one of his men could hold it for him.

Even worse than the thirteen men, one of their specimens – a Cuban red macaw - was hit with some stray bullets during the escape attempt.  They came from one of the men who died – so at least it spared Booker the aggravation of having to kill him for his rank stupidity.  Behavior like that didn’t do unpunished, particularly as the macaw would have been a popular attraction.  Quite a newly extinct species, but a pretty species always sold well.  Now he had to find something to replace him.

Hawk assured him the SEA wasn’t overly concerned about the amount of people they’d abducted, but thirteen dead bodies were something else.

His gorilla rumbled. 
Shit
.

Chapter Eighteen

“Didn’t I warn you it would be boring?”

Sky giggled at Zane as he huffed and puffed impatiently.  They’d been camped out in front of Mrs. Snow Globe’s house for ten minutes.  She was home and reading a book, and she had been for the past ten minutes, and probably would be for a while longer.

“I actually quite like it.  It’s quiet, and it gives me a chance to meditate.”

Or at least it would, were it not for the fidgeting bear shifter next to her.  He fiddled with the radio, finished his Slurpee with a long slurping sound, counted all the coins in the ashtray, checked his e-mails and…. It was fifty seconds later.

He started drumming his fingers on the wheel, and Sky showed him a little mercy.

“So, what’s been your most interesting case so far?”

He perked up at the question, and her unicorn neighed happily at the visible change in him.  “Saw a lot of crazy shit at the SEA, but the funniest had to be a vampire who was eating all the local bats.”

“How bizarre.”

“Yeah, this animal conservation society hired me to figure out why all the bats were going missing.  Honestly, I didn’t think I’d get anywhere, but it led me to Count Freakula.  Course, they couldn’t actually afford to pay me, so I am now a lifelong member of the Los Lobos Animal Lovers Society.”  He pulled out the card from his wallet and handed it to her with a scowl.  It was a small card with a picture of a giraffe and a lion hugging, lots of hearts and his name in flourishing writing.

“Awww, that’s adorable.”

“That’s enough lip out of you.”

Sky snorted.  “Okay, so most boring case?”

“I had to follow a tortoise shifter.  The company he worked for thought he was stealing from them.  The guy moved more slowly than a glacier, and I had to go through mountains of financial documents – or at least I had to watch Mercy going through mountains of financial documents.  Damn, it’s boring just talking about it.” 

Mrs. Snow Globe put down her book and walked into the kitchen.  They watched as she poured a glass of wine and then resumed reading, thankful for the fact that she didn’t bother shutting her drapes.

“Why does her husband think she’s cheating?” asked Sky, munching on a few raisins.

They stocked up on munchables before arriving.  He had screwed up his face in disgust when she chose raisins – nature’s candy – and pita chips for her snacks, but given that he had already eaten all his chips and candy bars, he was now staring hungrily at the raisins.  She relented and offered him some – he took a huge handful.

“Few things,” he said between mouthfuls.  “She’s been taking phone calls out of the room, not at home when she said she would be and lies about where she’s going.  He says he keeps asking her if something’s wrong, but she says no.”

“Why didn’t he just ask her if she’s seeing someone?”

Zane gave her a look.

“Okay, yeah, that’s probably the worst question you can ask a spouse.”

“Especially if they’re innocent.”

“You think she is?”

“No,” he scoffed.

That earned him a double eyebrow raise.  “Is it
that
unlikely?”

“I’ve done quite a few of these cases – all of them were cheating.”

“But there’s lots of couples out there who don’t cheat.”

Zane’s mouth tightened.  “Sure.”

“My parents have been together for forty years, and they’re still embarrassingly touchy-feely with each other.  Honestly, I can barely be in the same room with them.  Drove me mad when I was a teenager, but now I’m pleased that they’re so in love with one another.”

“Hmmm.”

“What about your parents?” she asked tentatively sensing some kind of issue.  “Are they still together?  You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.”

“Yeah, they’re still together,” he said tightly.

She could sense his swirling emotions and her unicorn mewled in sympathy.  Sky placed her hand on his and his lips twitched.

“My mom worships my dad and he… lets her.  He always backs her up when it comes to me, but he treats her like a doormat.  He’s cheated on her again and again and every time it breaks her heart, and she just takes it.”

Zane’s eyes blackened and claws pushed at his fingers.  His beast was close to the surface.  This wasn’t something he liked talking about.  She pressed her fingers to his hot cheek, trying to soothe him.  Then patted his head and called him a good boy.  He frowned at her.

“Sorry, I grew up around horses.”

“You gonna offer me a sugar cube next?” he quipped.

“How about we get some ice cream on the way home?”

His eyes lit up before they took on a wary glint.  “Real ice cream?  Or frozen yogurt or ice water or sherbet or…”

“Real ice cream – the sugariest, creamiest, fattiest variety we can find.”

“Deal.”

He held still as a car pulled into the drive ahead of them.

They watched eagerly as a skinny man in his early thirties got out and strode toward the front door of Mrs. Snow Globe’s house.  He wasn’t making any pains about not being seen.

“Who’s that?” asked Sky in a whisper.

“Don’t know, and he can’t hear us.”

“Oh, right.”

Mrs. Snow Globe opened the door, smiled and gave the stranger a hug.

“Probably not selling Pretty Betty Cosmetics,” Sky teased.

Zane grunted.

“But he could still be her brother.”

Zane grunted again before reaching in the back seat to grab his camera.

“I’m going to go get a few pictures through the window.  Stay here.”

“Okay.”

He gave her a meaningful look.  “Stay here.”

“I will – I don’t want to jeopardize your case.”

“Fuck the case.  I don’t want you to get hurt.  You see anyone lurking around honk the damn horn.  I’ll come running.”

“I shall honk like my life depends on it.”

“Atta girl.”

She laughed as she watched him leave, her eyes lingering on his extremely taut backside. 
Honestly – the thing was a work of art.
  Her heart stuttered a little as he walked away.  Oh, this was bad.  Mild flirtation was quickly becoming more –
a lot more
.

*

“Lake,” purred Juliet.

The arctic wolf shifter stood to attention, and she smiled.

It was 4 am, and the building was all but dead.  There was a night shift, but it was generally made up of nocturnal shifters and vampires – the quieter, sneakier species - unlike the wilder day shift workers.  Lake led one of the tactical teams and was generally quiet, but he could be relied upon in any situation.  The two of them went on a couple of dates a few years ago.  There was nothing there but it quenched each’s natural curiosity about dating different species.

“Working late?” he asked.

“It’s quite early for me.  You, on the other hand, are here late.”

He smiled.  “I’m early.”

Four hours early.

“I was wondering if you could do something for me.”

His eyebrow arched just the tiniest sliver of an inch indicating he was listening and quite possibly interested.

“I’d like you to watch Christian Hawk.”

“Watch?”

“Watch, tail, stalk, paw through his garbage – anything like that.  Call it women’s intuition, vampire’s nose, but I don’t trust him.”