Bear Claw (18 page)

Surprised by Colby’s change of heart, she waved him forward.

“That doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying to win you, though. But at least it will be because I’m actually interested now.”

Great, just what she needed. “Zero chance, Colby.”

He followed as she dug her keys out of her bag.

“I enjoy a challenge,” he added.

William paced in front of her door. She shouldered him out of the way, wishing she could slam the door in both their faces. Instead, she slipped the key into its hole, unlocking and entering her home with them on her heels.

Her brother was at her back as she dropped her bag and made her way to the kitchen. She went immediately to the coffee pot and started to fill the carafe with water.

“Mom is pissed,” William told her.

“She’ll get over it, and so will Dad—and you.”

“Why are you doing this?”

She turned around, surprised that his voice had softened and it actually sounded like he wanted an answer.

“I tried to tell you the other night. Are you ready to listen now?”

As though he had grown suddenly tired, William sagged his shoulders and sat on one of the stools.

“I’m not doing this to hurt you,” she answered. “I didn’t know you were involved until Mom told me. I believe the shifters deserve the same rights as everyone else. They didn’t have to come out at all. And this is how we treat them?”

“Is this because of your boyfriend? Do you even know anything about him? I suppose you think because you’re interested in a guy that you can turn your back on your family?”

Keeping a handle on her anger, she realized that William truly believed what he’d said.

“I thought this way before I got involved with Jamie.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“You have to stop seeing shifters as non-human. Two years ago, you didn’t know the difference and now all of a sudden you do. I heard your firm fired all shifters that came out.”

“Well…yes.”

“Why? Did their work change?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“It really
is
, William.” Brandy glanced over at Colby, who leaned against the kitchen doorway. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Okay, no help from him. “All of a sudden guys who have been your friends for years no longer are?”

He looked down.

“The shifters didn’t change. We did.”

“That’s not what we were talking about.”

“But it is. You want me to do the same thing your firm did. Cast out all the shifters and make them feel like they’re not as good as the rest of us?”

“You’ve always been soft.” William stood.

Brandy had really hoped that her brother was starting to come around. She’d felt like they were finally connecting.

“I need you to think about what you’re doing. It’s not too late, William.”

“Try to stay out of the headlines. There is already one crazy Brooks. We don’t need another one.”

“Have you wondered why you and Chris never got along?” she asked him. He’d already decided that they were wrong so she was going to go all in the one time he was actually listening.

“No,” he said flatly.

“I always thought you were jealous of him.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Chris does whatever he wants. He doesn’t let what other people think about him decide how he should act. Instead of doing what is expected of him, he goes his own way.”

“Chris needs to grow up and so do you,” William said as he spun on his heel.

Colby waited until he was out of the kitchen before taking a step forward. “That was a nice speech. Total bullshit, but the part about Chris was a nice touch.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not going to change people’s minds. They believe what they believe.”

“Just get out,” she told him, exhausted with the entire conversation.

“Sure, I’ll tell your mom
maybe
for brunch Sunday.”

“I’m not going, with or without you,” she told him.

“We’ll see.”

She waited to move from her spot until she heard the front door close and they were gone. Sitting in the place where William had been, she grimaced, her heart aching for the relationship she would never have with her brother. She didn’t understand why everything had to be so difficult and strained between them. And she had no clue how to fix the mess her life always seemed to be with her entire family. Maybe she needed a vacation, a few days away from everything to reboot her mind and calm her nerves. Maybe she could talk Jamie into going with her.

Chapter Fifteen

Spending the day before and all morning noting the details of information Victor gave them kept Jamie, Cody and Ryder busy. Since he didn’t have anywhere to stash Victor, he’d taken him back to his apartment, so Jamie hadn’t even been able to see Brandy the previous night.

It wasn’t unusual for him to work weekends. He’d hoped to stop by the library to see the kids’ reading circle Brandy was sponsoring. One glance at his watch told him that wasn’t going to happen.

He would be seeing her later. Aubrey had texted the details of Cody’s birthday party and he had called Brandy. It was his job to get Cody to the venue but Brandy had promised to meet him there.

Both excited and nervous, Jaime couldn’t wait to spend time with Brandy. The quick greeting at the library for the meeting hadn’t given Brandy much time to talk with his friends. Tonight would be different.

His friends were the only family that he had. Cody and Zak, and now Aubrey, were the people he cared about the most. It was so important that Brandy got along with them.

Since Zak wouldn’t be able to attend, he only had to worry about Cody and Aubrey. With the party for Cody, he would probably be distracted.

So he felt good that Brandy would get a nice introduction to his friends and not be overwhelmed.

“I think we have pretty much everything we’re going to get out of Victor,” he told Cody.

Ryder had taken the kid out to lunch to let him get away for a few minutes. They were working in Jamie’s team’s room this afternoon.

“I agree.”

A loud knock sounded at the door.

Commander Green opened the door and walked in, his presence urging both Jamie and Cody to rise from their seats. Their boss was a powerful shifter who oversaw all of the divisions. It wasn’t always easy for different species to follow one another—too many Alpha type personalities. But their commander was a good man and Jamie had never had an issue working for him.

“Hey, boss,” Cody greeted.

“Gentlemen, I received your updated reports. How much more do you have?”

“I think we’re about done. I’ll have the final notes turned into today,” Jamie informed him.

“So we’re done with Mr Douglas?”

“He’s been very helpful,” Jamie said. He was worried about where Victor would go once they didn’t need him anymore.

“I understand. It can’t be easy on him. The information he has provided will be very valuable and will help Zak greatly.”

“About that,” Jamie said. “We can’t send Victor back to college and he doesn’t really have a place to go. Until Zak wraps up his case, Victor will still be in danger.”

Commander Green smiled. “I know. I have no intention of kicking him out. What kind of organization would we be if we don’t help those who truly need us?”

Relief flooded Jamie.

“I actually have an idea about Victor. It would mean relocating for a little while but I’ve spoken to my counterpoint in Colorado and we think we have some work he can help with.”

“That’s great,” Jamie exclaimed.

“Send him up to my assistant when you’re done and we’ll get him all settled.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You did good work getting him out. I hope we will be able to save more young men and women before they get in too deep,” Commander Green stated.

“Me too.”

“I know you want to stay on this case but we don’t really have the grounds now that we have retrieved Victor.”

“I understand.” He did understand, even if he didn’t like it.

“But we still need to finish going through the rest of the dated missing person cases. Since you don’t have any active cases, make that a priority for your team. Let’s see if we can find more of these kids.”

Jamie liked the sound of that. Since he’d left the Phoenix PD he hadn’t worked missing persons but he did enjoy reuniting people with their loved ones. He knew it was probably because he had always felt so alone. However, he tried not to think about it. He was good at his job, which was enough.

After his boss had left, Jamie glanced at Cody. “Let’s finish this paperwork. I think we deserve to go out for a drink.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Jamie bent back over his laptop while Cody shuffled around the papers that they needed. Well, that had been easy.

* * * *

Brandy was more than a little nervous. After pulling up to the bar where Jamie’s best friend’s surprise birthday party was being held, she sat in her vehicle for a few minutes.

When she’d spoken with Jamie earlier, he had been so sweet inviting her to meet him that there was no way she could have said no.

Despite her uncertainties, she wanted to get to know the people closest to Jamie. Ever since he’d first starting coming to the library, he’d talked about Cody and Zak. And he’d spoken a lot about how Cody had gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend Aubrey. Brandy could tell by Jamie’s face and the tone of his voice that he had been happy for both his friends.

She felt like she knew these people through Jamie’s stories, so it was a strange feeling to realize that she didn’t really know them yet.

Here was her chance.

Opening the car door, she grabbed her bag then headed for the bar’s front door. A dozen vehicles sat in the parking lot. Brandy wasn’t sure if their drivers were there for the party.

As she entered the building, the smell of cigarette smoke and beer washed over her. Not entirely unpleasant, but she wondered how Jamie could stand it. Wasn’t one of the most well-known aspects of being a shifter their superior sense of smell? She would have to ask him about that.

“Hey, Brandy. I’m so glad you could make it.”

Surprised, she glanced up. She knew it was Aubrey since she recognized her from the meeting at the library but she’d also seen her somewhere else.

Brandy didn’t have time to think too hard on it. Aubrey threaded her arm through hers.

“Jamie texted,” Aubrey said brightly. “He and Cody are leaving the office right now. Let’s get you a drink before they get here.”

“Great, thanks.” Brandy opted for a beer. It was easiest and she actually preferred the beverage to heavy alcohol or wine.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Brandy said to Aubrey.

“Of course. After hearing about you for so long, it is so good to see you and Jamie working things out. I didn’t think that boy was ever going to man up.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shit, I probably wasn’t supposed to say that. Please don’t tell Jamie.”

Brandy laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ve talked about how much time we wasted and how one of us should have made a move.”

“Oh, good. I want him to be happy.”

“Me too,” Brandy replied sincerely. “So you work as a private investigator?”

“Yeah, I used to work security at my Cast, but after Cody and I got together, I decided to leave and join his Flock. I left the Cast, so I needed another job and my partner was ready for a change.”

“Uh, you lost me on the Cast part.”

“Oh, sorry. Well, the simplest explanation is that Cody and I are both falcon shifters. A group of all falcons is called a Cast. But not all bird shifters stay within their own species. So in a Flock, as we belong to, there are falcons, hawks and all kinds. Flocks also tend to be larger.”

That made sense. “Cool. So does Jamie belong to a group like that?” She wasn’t certain if she should ask Aubrey instead of him but she figured there would be only one way to learn anything. Hopefully she wouldn’t offend anyone.

“Actually, there are some bear shifter groups. But Jamie has been on his own since he was eighteen.”

“Oh.” Come to think of it, Jamie had never spoken about his family. Not even after Brandy had informed him of her current issues. Thinking about all the conversations in the past year, she couldn’t remember him ever mentioning anyone but his friends.

“Bear shifters are different than falcons. I don’t understand it all myself. But I think that’s one of the reasons that Jamie is so loyal to the people he cares about. His loved ones are his family.”

“That was one of the first things I noticed about him. His love for his friends.”

“Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

“Incoming!” someone yelled from the front of the bar.

“Come on,” Aubrey urged.

Brandy followed her to the entrance. Cody walked in and everyone yelled “Surprise!” A look of pure shock crossed Cody’s face. It was the first time Brandy had actually seen someone that astonished at a party.

Aubrey laughed until tears leaked from her eyes. “I got him!”

“Son of a bitch!” Cody muttered.

Brandy could easily read his lips and smiled to herself.

Aubrey launched herself at her man, and Brandy found herself laughing at them.

“You made it.”

She turned and grinned up at Jamie. “Of course.”

Almost shyly, he wrapped his arm around her waist.

Brandy wasn’t going to have that. Gripping his shoulders, she lifted up on her tiptoes. “No hello kiss?”

“I’d hoped so, but didn’t know if you would be comfortable.”

She leaned closer. “You can always assume I want a kiss from you.”

Jamie pulled her close and lowered his mouth to hers.

After they’d parted, Jamie stroked her hair. “That’s better.”

“Yes, it was,” she readily agreed.

“Come on. Let’s go give the birthday boy a hard time.”

He kept his arm over her shoulder. They walked over to the table where Cody had Aubrey in his lap. She could hear Cody bitching as they approached.

“I told you no birthday party.”

“Oh, get over it. You’re another year older, boo hoo.”