The Alphas Game - Complete Set (11 page)

“Are you hungry?”

“Not really, I can go to the store later.”

“By store, I am absolutely certain that you mean the dollar menu at a fast food joint, or to pick up pizza so you can pick up enough for several meals.” He smiled at her. It felt so nice to share his home with the woman and since Kevin and he had fought it out, they seemed to be on better terms anyway. Rosie didn’t need to know that he had won that fight. He looked at her; her hair shimmered in the light, almost blinding him. Her eyes held the smile that was on her lips and her skin seemed to contrast perfectly with his white counter top. “I’m going to kiss you.” He warned her and she didn’t seem to turn away or resist, so he lowered his lips down onto hers and seemed to pour his essence into the moment. Their tongues jostled for dominance, sometimes sweetly coexisting other times they would be hotly tangling up, making the intensity change moment by moment.

When he pulled away from her she exhaled loudly and ran her hands through her hair. “Whoa.” She looked down and realized that at some point during the kiss he had lifted her up and sat her on the counter.

“Are you alright?” He was a little sheepish about having given in to his baser instincts, but he hoped that she enjoyed it.

“I thought we weren’t going to do that anymore because of Kevin.” Rosie noted, trying to think about a man who felt like he had been pushed to the side, even though he held no fault in it.

“Kevin and I kinda worked it out.” His words held something behind them, but she couldn’t determine what it was. She shrugged, suddenly realizing that she really didn’t want to know how they had handled it, partially because she was afraid that they had fought over her like a couple of animals fighting over a mate and partially because she didn’t know what they might have said about her. “I can’t keep you out of my head. You’re driving me crazy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be; don’t ever be sorry for driving me crazy.” He rubbed both his hands on his face trying to pull himself together.

Rosie smiled and tugged his shirt down. He had said the right things, and while the way he had gone about telling her these things didn’t matter, it was exciting and new. Maybe that was why both of the partners seemed to occupy her mind so much of the time. Staying with Grey was only strengthening the attraction. She knew this, but it was hard to keep her mind at her house, sitting there by herself. They looked at each other and a small sigh escaped her lips. He stepped forward. “Are you alright?”

“I’ve been better. This is a pretty confusing situation, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think that I’ve ever worked a worse case.” He admitted to her.

Chapter9

It was more than uncomfortable sitting there staring at Grey. He was so close. I could feel the warmth of his skin on my body, and I have to say that it felt good. The problem was the fact that my feelings were so conflicted about this entire situation. It had been a while since I had really been attracted to anyone, but now it seems like I was attracted to two of the most frustratingly handsome men I had ever met. I can’t say that some part of me didn’t like the shifters vying for my attention, but honestly I would have been happier if this situation would have been a little better. All in all, I’ve had better months in my life.

Grey and Rosie were still pulling themselves together when the doorbell rang. It surprised both of them. “Are you expecting someone?” Grey asked.

“No, were you?”

“It must be Kevin.” Grey shrugged and headed for the door, opening it without looking through the peephole. He would later regret this decision. Looking at the man in front of him, he immediately realized that he didn’t recognize him.

“Is Rosie Zuckerman here?” The man looked around inside the house, looking a little confused.

The detective moved up to the door, realizing who was there. “Joe, it’s good to see you again.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to see me again. I didn’t know you moved.”

“I haven’t,  I’m just staying with a friend.” She didn’t say the reason why.

“Yeah, the cops talked to me about that. I wouldn’t want to be alone after that. I’m real sorry about that.” He looked down.

“It wasn’t your fault. No one told you what was in the package.” Rosie waved off the apology. She couldn’t blame the man for what had happened.

“Well, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t bring you another head this time. It’s an envelope.”

“That sounds much better.” Rosie smiled at him.

Grey finally spoke. “Do you know him?” It wasn’t a jealous tone, merely a curious one.

“Yeah, he makes deliveries for me all the time.” Rosie explained to the werewolf. “I get a lot of deliveries through them because they’re known for discretion. In fact if people have things shipped to me through them they don’t even have to know my address. They can just walk in and send me stuff.”

“Can I get you to sign this paper? You know the drill.”

“Sure.” Rosie grabbed the clipboard and signed with the attached pen. “This is Joe; he’s brought me a lot of packages over the years.”

“What’s this one?” Grey asked.

“It looks like it’s just a letter. We all wanted to let you know how sorry we are.” He stated it once again.

“Everything’s fine now, don’t worry about it.” She smiled at him and handed him her standard tip. After he left she turned to Grey. “I wonder how anyone knew to find me here?”

“Could it have been Hope or Kevin?”

“Why would they send me stuff like this? I don’t understand.” Her heart started to race. She looked at the envelope in her hands and the fear started to well up in her throat. The handwriting was exactly the same as the handwriting on the box that contained the head. “Look.” She pointed and showed the werewolf that was with her.

“Seriously?” He growled and pick up the phone. “Put it down. I’m going to call this in.”

“Shouldn’t I open it?”

“No, we’ll wait to see if we can get any clues off of it.”

“It might say something important.”

“It’s probably another threat or game she wants to play with us. I don’t understand,  she should be gone. Why would she continue this?”

“I don’t know.” Rosie felt a little numb and waited patiently while the letter was bagged up and shipped to the lab to check for everything.

The werewolf and the witch were joined by Kevin, he waited with them at the office for the news. The first thing they did was open the envelope, carefully testing what was inside. They brought the news to her and it made her nothing but angry. She wanted revenge and was actually feeling really violent about it. The note wasn’t a threat; it was a slight, a mocking offer of peace.

“I’ve gotten what I wanted, leave me alone and you’ll keep what you want.” She read it out loud. “I can’t believe this. Why would they send me something like this?”

“I think they’re just trying to get under your skin. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Grey forced a weak smile.

THE SAGA CONTINUES

THE ALPHAS GAME

EPISODE 4

Alfi has managed to escape from captivity and now the unlikely trio face a race against time to track him down. However, it seems like there are many things conspiring against them.

On top of everything else Rosie is finding herself torn between the two alphas...

Chapter1

If I had to be honest I would have to say how angry I am. I can’t believe that I let the man escape. The special prisons that we keep for supernatural creatures that can’t keep themselves out of trouble are supposed to be impenetrable. I can’t believe that I walked right into their trap, right through the door that let the man get away. I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I’ve spent the last couple of days pondering and wondering about what went wrong. The only thing that I can think of is the fact that it must be because of the men that have walked right into my life. They’ve distracted me, I should get back to business, but I just can’t get them out of my mind. I know that I need to make a decision and the best decision would be to cut them both out of my life, but I don’t know how, not when we’re working a case as intense as this one is.

“What are we going to do about this? They seem to be one step ahead of us the entire way.” Grey was moaning on the couch, his head in his hands. He was stuck in his moment of self-pity  and Rosie was letting him have it. Sometimes everyone needed those moments and then they would pull themselves out of it and go on as strong as or even stronger than they were before. “We don’t seem to have anything to help us out.”

Rosie looked over at him. “We’ll figure it out as quickly as we can. I’m ready for all of this to be over too.” She sighed and looked over at the handsome dark haired man who  was sitting on her sofa. She was supposed to be picking up a fresh change of clothes or two for staying at his house, but instead they were pulled into this conversation.

“I think that you should get off the case.” He grimaced as he said it, preparing himself for the verbal assault to come. They had tried this before, and it had never worked. He didn’t have much hope that this was going to work either.

She saw him grimace and didn’t know how to respond to it. She didn’t want to upset him so she worked hard to reign in her notorious temper. Her teeth gritted and the words came out as a harsh whisper. “What are you talking about?” The tone in her voice wasn’t much better than yelling, but she still prided herself on her restraint. “You need me right now. I can solve this. I know I can.”

“I’m more worried about you surviving this than you solving this. They aren’t going to stay in the area, and I’m afraid that we’re getting a little too close to this entire investigation. It’s gotten personal.” Grey raised his head; his dark hair was unkempt but it was normal for him.

“If I solve it and we take them in, this will all be over.” She promised then added a concern that was starting to grow in her mind. She tried to make it sound like a joke. “Are you sure that you’re you, and not Ysella trying to get me off the case?”

Grey shuddered, but he noticed the worry behind the laughter. He tried to make her feel a little more comfortable by telling how it was making him feel. “I hate the sound of that name.”

“I do too, but I refuse to let her control me.” Rosie stood proud in her assertion. As she rose he noticed that her legs flexed with a hidden strength. “We don’t have to like the name. She’s hurt a lot of people to get her brother out of prison, but with any luck we’ll have her locked away in no time.”

“I hope so.” Grey didn’t look very hopeful. “We haven’t been very lucky lately.”

“I think that means that we’re due for a break sometime soon.”

“I think that they’re just too good for us. We aren’t going to be able to stop them, but we have to try.”

“Don’t you dare just give up on me now!”  Rosie walked over to Grey. “Let’s get your mind off it for now. There’s got to be something that we can do.”

“I’m not sure that there’s much that we can do right now to pull me out of this.” He was being honest about himself and the sheer despair that he was feeling. He blamed himself, and whether that was deserved or not, it didn’t matter much. He felt helpless, in a way that only failure can make someone feel, and he felt like this defeat would never end.

“There has to be something that we can do.”

“I don’t think that there is.” He looked upset.

Rosie thought hard. “I think I’ve got a deck of cards somewhere around here. We could go back to your place and play cards. What do ya say?” She smiled.

“That might be nice.” There was no enthusiasm in his voice, only a dull vague interest.

“Hey, we’re going to close this case, I promise.”

He became contemplative. “But how much is that going to cost us, and is it worth it?”

She got serious, knowing that what she said next was important and her voice conveyed that. “Alfi is a sadist and a killer. He won’t hesitate to start killing again. More people are going to die the longer we let him stay out of prison. We need to stop him and there is no one who knows this case better than we do.”

“You’re probably right.” He admitted it even if he didn’t like her having such a good excuse for staying involved in this fight.

“Did the Director give you a lot of grief?” Rosie didn’t know what else to talk about, so she bought some time by trying to find out what had happened in the meeting with the Director.

“He doesn’t blame us, but he wasn’t exactly happy.” He was understating the rage that his boss had been in.

“I saw his face, it was red and he was yelling. Why would you lie about that?”

He laughed. “He was pretty pissed off. I was surprised that he didn’t pass out. All of his blood was in his face and I could see several veins under his skin. It was probably one of the most frightening situations I’ve ever been in.” He was exaggerating, but it seemed to make the psychic detective smile. Her dark hair shimmered in the light from the light bulb. Her brown eyes glittered with the temporary amusement and her sweet laughter seemed to flow out of her mouth, like a diamond studded wine. He was entranced and didn’t notice that she was speaking at first. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I was just saying that we could see his veins popping out of his head from fifty yards away. I was all the way across the room and looking through the window and I could see it. It sure was a sight to see.”

“I don’t think that I’ve ever seen him that mad.”

“Oh he’s been that mad before, just never at me.” He was laughing, actually smiling and that made her happy. “I remember this one time, Agent Peterson messed up so bad that we were taking bets on how long it would take the Director to pass out. He was about the same color as your shirt.” He pointed at the bright red sleeves that were on her multicolored shirt.

She started to laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever met Peterson.” She was going through a mental list of all of the agents that she had been working with.

“He didn’t last that long.”

“Do you think you might lose your job?”

“No, I don’t think so. We’ve never had something like this happen to us before. I think that we won’t come out of it shiny, but we’ll come out of it with our careers intact. It might slow us down a little bit however, but I don’t think either of us will complain too much, we like being field agents.”

“I’m glad.”

“Let’s get on the road,” Grey told her, indicating her bag.

She reached down to grab the duffel bag that she had retrieved from the closet, but noticed that it was empty. “I’m going to go get my stuff packed up.”

“I thought that you were packing? What were you doing back there for all that time?”

“I-uh-I” She searched her mind for a way to avoid answering the question, but then straightened, realizing that she had a reason to be paranoid at that point. “I was checking to see if anyone had broken into my home.” At the end she was standing proudly, unashamed of her actions. She didn’t give him a chance to respond, still worried that he was going to make fun of her. She rushed into her bedroom and started to pick through her closet, carefully choosing several more days worth of clothes. “I should just do laundry while I’m here. It would mean I’d have to come here less.”

“I know.” Grey shouted into the bedroom from the hallway. “It would make a lot more sense for you to do it this way, but from the way you keep remembering things that you forgot back here, I don’t see it making much of a difference.”

“You don’t have a washer and dryer do you?” She asked, even though the witch detective already knew the answer to the question. It hadn’t been the first time she had given him a hard time about it. 

He smiled gently. He knew the joke and knew what his next line was going to be. It was a practiced song and dance, a typical complaint and a special moment between the two. He was reminded of a movie he had watched as a child, one where the lady would call the man she loved ‘farm boy’ and he knew that she was saying that she loved him every time she gave him an order. It was that way with Rosie’s complaint. He was tempted to answer ‘as you wish’ but decided against it. “No, I don’t, but there’s some in the basement of my building.”

“Ugh, why would I want to use ill-maintained and never cleaned equipment?” She moaned about it, but didn’t have much of a problem with it. After all she’d been stuck in worse situations even in the course of the past couple of weeks.

“Oh, it’s not that bad.” He was moving away because someone had knocked on the door. She could hear him shuffle the chain above the door and let someone in. Whoever had entered started talking to Grey, but Rosie had normal ears and couldn’t understand what they were saying. She groaned and walked out of the bedroom.

Kevin was there. “Did you check him?” She asked, hoping that they would include her in the conversation. Her voice had the edge of irritation behind it, but she was trying to be polite.

“Yep, it’s him.” Grey asserted. “I asked him the questions.” He smiled at Rosie, knowing that she was perturbed by some action that he had taken, even though he had no idea what it was. He was trying to lessen a blow but he didn’t know what direction it was coming from.

“That’s nice. Remind me to have a nice long talk with you later.” She smiled, but it was obvious that something had irked her. “When we’re alone.” It was a pointed remark, one that held implications of a great argument brewing on the horizon.

“About what?” He wanted to get this over with while there were witnesses. Even if he wasn’t sure that Kevin was going to step in to save him, he was positive that it might help her control her temper.

“Oh, I don’t know, I thought we would talk about the fact that you let someone into my house without permission. You just opened up the door and let him into my house. You didn’t even talk to me or tell me who was at the door.” She pointed to Kevin. It was a useless gesture, but she was upset enough to feel the need to move her hands. “I would like to be informed before you just invite someone in.

Grey looked down at his feet. He moved one of his feet, pivoting it on the toe like he was putting out a cigarette. His hands crossed defensively over his chest. “I didn’t even think about that, I’m sorry.” He turned to Kevin. “What do you need?”

“Nothing, I’m just checking on things. Do you guys have any ideas on what we should do next?” Kevin did his best not to look Rosie in the eye. He was still a little embarrassed about what he had done to her. With some time having past and his embarrassed gaze she found that it was a little easier to forgive him, but she would be lying if she said that she didn’t pity the position that he was in.

Grey looked around nervously, he didn’t like being the middle man and he wanted out of the room so that they would be able to talk to each other and get all of the tension out of the room. “I’m gonna go, you two need to talk.” He wasn’t good at making excuses, but he walked out, eager for them to work out their problems, even if that meant he was going to lose the small relationship that he had developed with Rosie.

Kevin looked at Rosie carefully; he didn’t want to offend her at all. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about what I did to you. I should have had more control. I shouldn’t have let her control me.” He was raging at himself while he spoke and the words tripped and stumbled over each other. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You’ve already apologized to me. I’ve forgiven you. Everything is just fine now.” She walked over to him and placed her hand on his arm. He smiled at her.