The Bear and the Unicorn (Supernatural Enforcers Agency Book 6) (8 page)

“No hard feelings, huh?”

Emily glared at him, but Danny quickly took the sandwich and actually said thank you.  The young woman harrumphed and marched her fiancé away.  His bear grumbled about bossy women, but Zane tensed, worrying about Sky’s reaction to his
overreaction
.

He needn’t have.

Sky just tinkled with laughter.  “At least they’ll have a funny story to tell their grandkids.”

Zane let out a breath and chuckled too.  “Yeah, I actually did them a favor.”

She tapped his arm playfully, and he beamed at her, his body tensing for a completely different reason as her eyes shone with happiness.  Her face was so perfectly symmetrical it was startling, and those pink lips…
gah
.  Drool, again.

He cleared his throat as he realized he was staring.  “You know I should probably check your workplace for bugs too.”

Sky nodded as they walked back to her apartment.  “Good idea.  If it is Erik, then he could easily bug that place.  Although I hate to think of him being in my home, maybe going through my underwear drawer.”

Zane almost offered to check it out to make sure her panties were safe, but he caught himself.

“You don’t seem convinced it is either Ethel or Edith.”

She didn’t bother to correct him about the names this time.  “I’m not.  Bugging my apartment, hiring a van to watch me, it all seems like a lot of effort for them.  And they don’t strike me as guys who are willing to make much effort.  Oh sure, Erik would climb onto a roof to watch topless sunbathers, and Ethan would fake going into work just to avoid lunch with my parents, but there are limits.  They do things for themselves, and I don’t see what they’re getting out of following me.”

Zane narrowed his eyes.  “Can you think of another reason someone might be following you?”

“I’m not sure,” she said slowly, but she couldn’t entirely meet his eyes.  To avoid the silence, she quickly added, “But, isn’t it best to eliminate the most obvious suspects first?”

He nodded.  Yes, she was right.  More than likely it was someone she knew.  Someone who didn’t understand the danger they were in yet.

*

“I have a call for you,” trilled Juliet’s young and negligibly efficient assistant.  “Some guy called Christmas Walk or something like that.  I don’t know; I’ll put him through.”

The vampire rolled her eyes.  She’d left strict instructions that she was not to be disturbed, but yeah, sure, put anyone and their grandmother through by all means!  How could it be so hard to find a decent assistant?  This was the third in six months.  The girl’s telephone skills were atrocious, and Juliet wasn’t even going to think about how many files she accidentally deleted last week while flirting with the water cooler guy.

Juliet was half tempted to steal Gerry’s assistant – Norma.  The woman was terrifying, earning the nickname ‘door bitch’.  Just the type of woman Juliet needed. 
Sigh
.

She picked up the phone and tried not to growl as she realized who Christmas Walk was –
Christian Hawk
.  Really should have put that one together.

“Juliet,” he purred.

“Christian.”

“I was wondering if you’d care to join me for dinner tomorrow night?”

Juliet opened her mouth to decline; she was quite content that they had spent more than enough time together at the fundraiser when he tried to grope her all night.  Sadly, he cut her off.

“I had a meeting with some council members earlier, and I was discussing my contribution to the SEA widows and orphans fund.  Perhaps we could discuss that at dinner, among other things.”

She allowed one of her fangs to pierce her tongue to stop her irritated response.  Casually mentioning the Council of Supernaturals – her bosses - and the fund was surely a heavily veiled threat.  Would he refuse them more donations if she said no? 
Yes, he probably would.

“That sounds lovely.”

“I will pick you up at nine.”

He hung up before she could reply.  The receiver creaked under the pressure from her hand.  It had been a long time since a male tried to take control of her. 
Dick
.  If he thought she was going to roll over for him, he was sorely mistaken.

Chapter Twelve

“Guys, this is Zane, he’ll be joining us today.”

The huge bear shifter gave everyone a chilly smile - that noticeably heated up for her.  Sky blushed instinctively and pretended to busy herself arranging her mat.  Why she was embarrassed she couldn’t say – they’d certainly not done anything for her to be embarrassed about. 
Sigh
.

Zane seemed to be appointing himself as her personal protector.  Not something she had any complaints about.  No, she and her unicorn were very happy bunnies – figuratively speaking.

He decided it would be a good idea for him to come to work with her - to check for bugs, to check out Erik.  She hadn’t expected him actually to join her yoga classes.  But then she hadn’t expected him to spend the night sleeping in his car, watching her building all night.  He said he was going home to sleep, yet when she woke that morning, she noticed his car still parked outside.  It was…
nice
.  A good feeling knowing he was watching over her.

Sure, she’d rebelled against her overprotective parents when she was younger – sneaking out at every turn.  She chafed against their need to watch over her every second of the day.  But With Zane, it wasn’t the same.  Not even close.  She welcomed the thought of the bear being near.  So did her unicorn - which was even stranger.  The beast was usually shy around any males Sky took an interest in.  The fight they had about shifting and showing Ethan her animal form was lengthy and annoying. 
Perhaps one she wished the unicorn had now won.

Even stranger, Zane didn’t seem to want anything in return.  She could scent his desire for her, and he’d been nothing but respectful.  So unlike the men she’d dated.  It was so refreshing, so… It was starting to wear a little.  Okay, so they’d only known each other a day, but would it kill him to flirt a little?  Or did he really think of her as just a job?  Ugh – depressing.

Even more depressing was just how many women in her class were checking him out.  Yep, allowing him to wear shorts and a tight t-shirt was clearly a mistake.  The females were not discreet in their lusty looks.  Especially Shira.  Her unicorn stomped the ground.  Yep, she’d forgotten the man-eating tigress would be here.  And she didn’t mean man-eating in the old fashioned sense.

Sky came disturbingly close to letting out a whinny before she centered herself.  Calm.  Easy.  Relaxed.  There was nothing to be upset about.  Zane was there to protect her, and she would give her class a damn good workout so none of them – Shira – would have time to do anything dangerous like hit on him or slip him their phone numbers.  Because even a peace-loving unicorn shifter only had so much tolerance.

*

Zane limped slightly as he made his way through the gym.  His laughing bear was no damned comfort.  Wasn’t yoga supposed to be all about breathing and slow moving and shit like that?  He felt like his limbs had been stretched on a rack and then covered in fire ants just to make sure that he was definitely in pain.  Joining the advanced class was maybe a little presumptuous.  But as he recalled, his bear – the traitor – had sniffed and declared that yoga was a workout for pussies, and anyone could do it. 
Fucking bear.

Although, he couldn’t deny that seeing Sky flex her supple body into poses he hadn’t thought possible was pretty damn incredible.  Certainly worth the pain he was in.  She was so… bendy.  He was almost freaking drooling the whole time.  Yoga with a near-constant hard-on? 
Torture
.

He’d also found five more bugs in the gym, one in all the various studios Sky used for her classes.  Sky was checking out the locker room.  He’d tried to go in, but the look on the jujitsu instructor’s face made it very clear that was a bad – nay, suicidal – idea.

Zane growled as he found the vending machine – it was filled with health shakes.  What a fucking waste of a good vending machine!  He was about to go loco on the unfortunate vending machine when he stopped and patted the machine.  “Not your fault, buddy.  Maybe in your next life, you’ll get candy.”

His bear grouched, but Zane was proud of his restraint.  He was cranky from spending the night in his car – he had to do it to make sure Sky was safe.  Going home was not an option.  Horny from watching Sky stretch herself into a few impossibly bendy positions.  Pissed that Erik and Ethan’s background checks didn’t bring up anything unusual.  Was it too much to ask that the cops could want them for bank robbery or something?  Nope, clean as a whistle.  But Zane was okay.  He would be okay.  Even better if he hadn’t just spotted Erik talking to a couple of 'roid ragers who looked a lot like him.

The three males were slicked up with baby oil and squeezed into some cringe-worthy shorts.  Jeez, they looked like strippers. 
Prissy posers
groused his beast.

Zane allowed a moment more to enjoy his contempt and then started walking away in the other direction. 
Temptation and all that
.  His knuckles were kind of itching from not planting themselves in anyone’s face in at least a week.  He’d talk to Erik later, on his own.

Course, his resolved faltered when he heard the name Sky rolling out of the elk shifter’s mouth.

The bear stilled, every muscle tensing as he heard Erik boasting about just what he was going to do to her.  It involved his poor excuse for a dick and Sky’s mouth.

Zane’s vision blurred as a red haze fell before his eyes.  He cracked his knuckles and allowed his beast a little bit more control.

Second thought, maybe it was time to talk now.

*

Booker growled.  “All the fucking bugs are down?”

Jones nodded.  “Someone must have found them.”

“For fucks…”  He pounded a massive fist against the wall.

The unicorn shifter wasn’t making this as easy as he thought it would be.  And now she seemed to have a fucking bear shifter hanging around her.  Possibly a new boyfriend and maybe he’d found the bugs.  Great, now she’d be on her guard.

Damnit, the day of the auction was creeping closer.

In spite of his earlier objections, he considered just taking her and torturing her into shifting.  If she really weren't a unicorn and just some useless horse shifter, he’d dispose of her.  Not something he considered lightly.  It wouldn’t be easy to grab her with the bear around.  The guy spent all night outside her apartment.  The last thing he wanted was a witness – another person to kill.

His gorilla huffed. 
Fuck her.

“Call and get the plane ready,” he ordered Jones.  “We’re going to New York.  Tell Vargas to put the damn doctor down and meet us at the airstrip.”

He was going after the gigantopithecus shifter.  Giant apes weren’t exactly cute, but King Kong was always a popular movie.  Course this one was female, so it would be Queen Kong, but no matter.  Most of their buyers were male, so females tended to sell better anyway.

He’d leave a guy on Sky.  Jones probably – he was a wolf shifter with a lot of patience.  He would hang around just in case she did do something interesting, but she wasn’t worth much more at that moment.

Chapter Thirteen

Zane eased himself into his car, groaning internally as every muscle cried out for mercy.

“Are you okay?” asked Sky, her lips turned down in concern.

“Four yoga classes were a bit much for me,” he admitted, only feeling a touch less manly.

Sky patted his shoulder.  “You managed very well.  You have an excellent form, your body is…  Well, it’s…”  Her cheeks bloomed pink.  “With practice, you could be excellent.”

The reply, ‘no way in hell am I ever doing yoga again’ died, and instead, he just grinned cockily.  “Thanks.”

“Your knuckles are a little red,” she commented, lifting one of his hands close to her face to inspect it.  A low sound emanated from his throat as he felt her breath caressing his skin.

“Just a scrape,” he breathed. 
Against Erik’s fat jaw
added his bear smugly.

Fucking elk shifter’s muscles weren’t just for show - the guy was like a stone wall.  He would have made a pretty impressive opponent were it not for the fact that he didn’t know how to use his muscles for anything more than preening at females.

When Zane approached him – or more like bellowed his name and charged at him – the two friends scattered, leaving the Elk wide open.  His bear thoroughly enjoyed hauling the elk against a wall and growling at him, telling him to stay away from Sky.  Then it got a bid sad when Erik started sobbing that he was sorry.  That diminished Zane’s enjoyment a little, but only a little.  Squeezing Erik’s neck ‘til his eyes bulged still felt good.

Course, he completely perked back up again when he let Erik go, and the idiot started jeering at him and actually had the nerve to call him a pussy.  That was only something his bear did.  And also Melanie used to do it – something that completely pissed him off. 
Rawr
.

The punch to the face and the wedgie Erik got?  Totally deserved.  Felt like he was in high school again, teaching other bears that it wasn’t okay to pick on hedgehog shifters.  But he was pretty sure Erik wouldn’t be bothering his female again.

Sky gave him a pretty smile and brushed her lips over his reddened skin.  It was soft and quick and tender and good for a week-long boner. 
Fuck
.

He stilled as a husky rattle sounded in his throat.

She lowered her eyelashes, cheeks turning pink, but lips turning up in satisfaction.  “I take it we’re spending the evening together.”

“I think it would be irresponsible of me to leave you alone.  How could I live with myself if something happened?”  How could he live with himself if another man hit on her when he wasn’t around to scare them off?

“That’s so handsome of you – good!  Good of you.”  Her cheeks now resembled two apples.  “How about dinner?” she added quickly.

“Sure.”

He could think of something he would like to feast on. 
Some sweet pie
.  His bear licked his lips.  Given his imaginings, the next couple of hours turned out to be very disappointing.

*

“Isn’t this nice?”  Christian smiled at her.

Juliet slared at him.  Yep,
slared
.  It was something she’d mastered – the art of the slare.  Smile-glare.  On first glance, the person was smiling, but really they were glaring.  Took a special talent.

Christian perused the menu.  She didn’t bother.  She wanted blood; nothing else would do.  Other vampires ate now and again, trying to recapture the joy of eating the same food they did when alive.  It was never the same.  Juliet had spent most of her human life hungry; she didn’t have many good memories of food.  None good enough to tempt her to undergo the agony of trying to push some chocolate out of a colon that no longer worked. 
Yeuch
.  She would order blood and hope that maybe watching her drink it would freak him out.  Sadly, she expected it might turn him on. 
Again, yeuch
. 

It was a nice restaurant; she’d give him that.  Upscale and one smart enough to realize that vampires tended to be a wealthy bunch – building their fortunes over centuries – and catered to them as well as humans.

When the waiter arrived, Christian ordered for both of them and Juliet bit her tongue.  Okay, yes, she did want blood, but she could order for herself.  His high-handed manner was just another example of how he was trying to control her.  Like the way he took hold of her elbow and escorted her through the restaurant.  She could snap his neck like a twig, and yet he was trying to control her.

“So, how did you make your money?” she asked.  Page one of how to annoy rich dicks.

But no, he laughed a rich chuckle. 
Dick
.  “The old fashioned way.  I inherited it.”

Juliet pursed her lips. 
Worthless rich boy
.  She didn’t consider that there wasn’t actually an answer to her question that would make her happy.

Christian gave her a lazy look.  “You don’t want to date me, do you?”

“I don’t want to date anyone,” she answered honestly.  She left off the ‘especially you’ part.

“Nobody wants to be alone.”

“You get used to it.”  She gave him a peevish look.  “I thought you wanted to talk about the SEA.”

The amusement never left him.  “Yes, I’d like to donate money for… well, actually whatever you want.  New computers, new body armor, new guns – whatever you like.  I’ll leave it in your very capable hands.”  His eyes traveled up and down her body.

“That’s very generous,” she said grudgingly, struggling to find fault with him.

Christian smiled in a way that was supposed to be modest – he missed it by a mile and hit arrogant instead.  “In times like these, people like myself are obligated to help as much as they can.”

“I’ve seen worse times – a lot worse.”  Living through plagues would do that.

“I thought crime was at an all-time high.”

“I don’t believe so.  It’s just that more people report crimes – the police forces are more robust than they’ve ever been. Compared to when I grew up, these are very good times.”  People sure smelled better – that was a big plus.  Deodorant was one invention she loved.

His eyes twinkled.  “And when was that?”

Juliet narrowed her eyes.  “I’ll never tell.”

“I like older women.”  He waggled his eyebrows, and she regretted the fact that she no longer had the ability to retch.

“Aha.”

“I thought your missing person department was overworked.”

She looked at him sharply, but before she could probe him further, he changed the subject, and her blood arrived.

Hmmm
.