Shifting the Night Away (37 page)

Behind me, the balcony door flew open. I teetered forward, almost falling on the birds—they weren’t there. The balcony was empty.

“Mara? Are you okay?” Riker looked at me with concern, his eyes still bleary with sleep. “I heard you knocking at the door. Your heart is pounding so fast.”

It was all I could do not to laugh hysterically. “I came out here for air and got stuck. I thought I saw—” I shook my head, dismissing it. “It must’ve been a dream. There were ravens. A whole flock of them—almost a hundred.”

He smiled at me, banishing all my dark thoughts. “Ravens? You must be seeing things in the dark. Adult ravens form pairs, not flocks.” Riker kissed my forehead, his lips soothing my fears. As he laced his arms around me, I knew that come what may, we were in it together. “Come back to bed, princess. I’ll make the dreams go away.”

“You’re right. It was just a dream. Let’s go to bed.”

Taking my hand, he led me back indoors, where safety and comfort awaited us. Lying next to him in bed, I let myself forget my troubles. Nothing could get to me as long as my protector held me close.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Federal Agent

“Hey. Heeey!” The voice was young, irritated, and incredibly loud. “I think I’m going into anaphylactic shock. There weren’t any peanuts in my dinner, were there? I’m allergic.” There was a long pause as the officers on duty all pretended they couldn’t hear him. “Hellooo? I might be dying.”

The kid didn’t make for a very good prisoner.
I hate the night shift,
Reynolds reflected, as he and his partner exchanged loaded glances.

“It’s your turn,” she said, like a newlywed sending her husband to take care of the baby—only this was no baby, but a delusional drug dealer with anger issues.

“Thanks,” he told Hernandez, his voice loaded with irritated sarcasm. They weren’t getting along too well now that they’d both been demoted to desk duty and glorified babysitting on the night shift at the jail. She blamed him, he was tired of being blamed, and they both despised feeling useless at work.

The sooner this shift is over, the better,
he reflected as he strode towards the secure holding cells.

“Alright, Danny boy,” he said, “you don’t look like you’re dying.” He inspected the dumb idiot from between the bars; an evening in prison hadn’t been good to the greasy fool.

“There’s someone after me.” His eyes were wide with paranoia as he clasped on to the cell bars. “I need out of here, right now. I can’t go to prison.”

“This isn’t prison. It’s
jail.
Though the difference may be inconsequential to you. And I don’t decide if you go to prison or not—that’s for a judge to say. Though considering the amount of illegal narcotics we found in your hotel room and apartment, I wouldn’t plan anything for the next six months. Now shut up and go to sleep.”

“Please. You have to protect me. It’s coming for me.”

There was real fear in the kid’s voice. Reynolds didn’t get it; he hadn’t seemed high when they booked him, but he was bugging out like any tweaker would.
Maybe it’s drug withdrawal.

“Whoever you think is coming for you, you’re safer here than you would be anywhere else.” He patted his sidearm for emphasis. “Dry out in the tank like any other addict. It’ll all be over with before you know it.”

“You don’t get it. That thing isn’t
human.
” Danny paced back and forth, running trembling fingers through his unwashed hair. “It’ll slip in here like smoke. It only
looks
like a panther. Really it’s a beast, black as night and angry as hell.”

His voice had fallen to whispered tones, but Reynolds heard him clear as day. “A panther, you said? Not human?”

Danny’s head snapped over to look at him. “Yes. Not human. A
beast.
A—a demon, or a…”

“Shapeshifter?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The officer considered his options for a few moments.
Something in the water.
Reaching into his pocket, he fingered the shiny black business card he’d kept for days. It was embossed with the words “Federal Agency of Inexplicable Crimes” on the front, with the initials J.S. and a phone number on the back.

“We may be able to get you out of here after all,” he mused to Danny, an idea beginning in his head. “I have a feeling I know someone who wants the information you have.”

If he played his cards right, Reynolds wouldn’t be on desk duty again anytime soon.

About the Author - Lucy Auburn

Lucy Auburn is a paranormal romance writer who lives in the Southwest.

She loves writing about supernatural shifters in the fictional town of Belmont City.

Catch up with her online at
www.lucyauburn.com
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Shifter Undercover

By

Wednesday Raven

Chapter One

Linc Bryan looked around his new office. Recently made the new CEO of Bryan Logistics, he was now head of one of the largest shipping and receiving centers in the world. A month ago he was doing surfboard rentals and parasailing supplies on a small inlet off the coast when he got the call about an inheritance. Estranged from his father for many years, Linc never dreamed the old man would leave him the company. Now, here he was, hoping not to make too many mistakes and ruin a billion dollar industry that his family had spent their lives creating.

"Ms. Baker, call a meeting of all the staff. I've a few ideas I'd like to go over with them. Say, three hours from now?" he said to his receptionist as he was still trying to get over the overwhelming feeling of drowning. His anxiety levels rose every time he thought about what was expected of him, making the wolf within him restless. Linc could feel him pace and knew that he needed to take a moment away from the office to relax. He left the glass walls of his penthouse suite and went to the staircase. Walking always helped, no matter the location. Once a sense of calmness started over him, he took the same stairs back up two at a time.

"Ah there you are Mr. Bryan. The meeting is scheduled and everyone will be in the conference room at noon."

"Thank you, Angela."

The company was a well-oiled machine and didn't need refining; Linc knew this to be true.
However, if they could implement just a few of my ideas with the board's approval, who knows where Bryan Logistics could be in five years.
 

The conference room was filled by 11:45. Everyone wanted to hear what the young new CEO had to say. At only 30, Linc was by far the youngest that had ever been at the helm, with his father taking it over at age 43. The company had evolved through many different advances and tried to stay as up to the minute on technology. Still, Linc thought he had some old-school techniques that could work in their favor.

He looked around the room at the older men and women seated at the table, cleared his throat, and went for it. "Hello everyone, I'm Linc Bryan as you know. I'm sure you all are a bit apprehensive about me taking over the reins but I assure you, things will only improve."
I hope
. "What I'd like to talk about today is a few ideas I have.
 

Specifically, I'd like to implement a week where I go and interact with members of our workers. Undercover, of course." He paused amid whispers and rumblings in the group. "Get out there and see how they're training people, how they work, what they think about the company, and what they think about me. I think this would be a great way to get the real truth and use that to help further the company in the right direction, from the workers up."

He surveyed the room again, a few nodded, some shook their heads.
 

"Can we see about getting this done?" he asked the group.

"So you want to go undercover for a week and find out what the common man and woman thinks about us as a company and you as a leader?" Ned Pritchett, head of payroll, spoke up.

"Yes. Precisely."

A hearty laugh escaped him as he replied, "Linc, more power to you. Approved. Next?"

Over the next hour he offered up several more ideas with none taking flight. Dejected but still hopeful, he went back to his office to busy himself before heading home. His week of undercover operations was scheduled next month and he tried to busy himself with learning more about the company. He read as much as he could with inner-office files and then went to see what he could find on the internet. There was much being said there, he found. From cast off crew members to fired workers, there was much being said.
 

Unfortunately, most all of it wasn't very kind.

It was nearly 6PM when he next looked at the clock. He switched off his computer, apologized to Angela for keeping her so long, and took the long elevator ride back to the parking deck. Housing was another thing he would have to get figured out. In the weeks since becoming an "overnight billionaire" as the papers put it, he still hadn't looked at proper housing, staying instead at a local bed and breakfast that had some of the best homemade cinnamon rolls he'd ever ate.

As Scarlet would say, I'll think about that tomorrow.

Chapter Two

Katie Graves came home to her one bedroom third floor walkup and assessed what still needed to be done. There were at least three loads of laundry, last night's dishes, and vacuuming that needed to be done before she went to sleep. Not to mention finding something to eat. By the time she got off work at 7pm, it didn't leave much time to get everything done. Couple that with having to get up in the mornings at 5am to be dressed and on the warehouse floor of Bryan Logistics by 7am, it didn't leave time for anything at all resembling a life. Katie was used to it. The penny pinching ways of BL corporate were legendary. Workers were made to work twelve hour shifts for a set salary wage.
A barely livable wage, if you can call this living.