The Shifter's Conspiracy (Paranormal BBW Werewolf Romance Novella) (10 page)

He thought about this as he eyed her from across the table, steadfastly doing her work, scrolling through document after document looking for answers, every now and again going up to the map on the other side of the room and placing a new thumb tack. There was something charming in her dedication to the job, to the innocence under which she worked.

How would she react to the truth about things? She seemed like a strong spirit, but how strong? Would she cower in fear knowing that she could be the next victim? Would she faint at the mere suggestion that there was such a thing as shifters, or werewolves as she more likely knew the term? How would she respond to the fact that one was sitting across from her right now?

Elias sighed. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t right now. He tried reading her thoughts, trying to determine how she might react to these revelations. But he couldn’t get anything right now. Something about him felt off. Was he just tired? Maybe. He needed rest.

But he would have to tell her something. Eventually, she would want to go home for the night, and he’d have to find a way to protect her. He could stand guard outside her apartment all night; that was always a possibility. But without sleep, he’d hardly be able to function the following day, and that certainly wouldn’t be helpful to the case.

Perhaps he could ask her to come back to his hotel with him. But wouldn’t she find that presumptuous? He would be doing it to protect her, but she might interpret it the wrong way. He thought about this, long and hard, staring off into space.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked him.

“Oh, nothing,” said Elias. “Just the case is all.”

She looked back down to her laptop and Elias watched her, working calmly in front of him. The truth was, he didn’t even know if he could trust himself if he brought her back to the hotel room. Yes, he wanted to protect her, but there was no denying he wanted her body, that he wanted to ravage her, taking them both to the heights of ecstasy.

No
, he said to himself.
You can’t think of that right now. You cannot lose your focus
. But the pull of this woman was hard to resist, and his tired mind drifted back to her again and again. How would it feel to be with her? His imagination ran wild, playing with this thought, his mind toying and teasing him with his own desires.

Perhaps she could want him, too. This wasn’t wishful thinking. He knew by human standards that he was attractive. Women adored him, but he’d never met one that affected him like this. Just sitting across from her was maddening, her scent filling his nostrils, her body looking supple and voluptuous. He wanted to undress her, to have her body for his pleasure.

But for now this was just idle daydreaming. Elias tried to force his mind back to his work. What a hard battle he was fighting just sitting there—if Tess could only know.

Elias got up and walked over to the map. I watched interestedly as I saw him place another tack up on the board. Somewhere in Midtown. After he’d done so, he stayed there for a long moment, studying the map, noting all the locations we’d identified across the city.

I averted my eyes as he turned around and walked back to the table, sitting down quietly and going back to work.

“What was the location you just marked?” I asked quietly, almost absent-mindedly.

I was just trying to make a little conversation. I’d hit a wall in my own research and was feeling bored. I wanted to go home, but didn’t want to have to ask permission to leave.

“Some bar in Midtown. Some kind of trendy name. Forty-one or something like that. It’s a play on the address.”

My ears perked up and looked over at him, watching him closely as his eyes remained on his computer screen.

“41X?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes, that’s the one,” he said, still focused on the laptop screen.

“Elias. I came across that place in my preliminary research. Remember? You said it could just be coincidence. Are you telling me that the mob owns this place?”

Elias looked up at me and I saw his eyes light up, their shade of cool blue gaining in brightness and vibrancy. I could practically feel energy flowing from his body. His eyes locked with mine and we stared at each other a few seconds before he spoke.

“I told you we were close to something.
This
is that something,” he said, reaching across the table and touching my hand.

I shied away slightly, blushing. He was absolutely magnetic right now, teeming with life. It was only then that I realized how much this case meant to him, how much his happiness hinged on solving it before another girl went missing. But the more I looked into his eyes, the more I saw something else, too, some other emotion I couldn’t quite read. There was something passing between us, something without a name, deep and incomprehensible, but very,
very
real.

Part of me wanted to make a move at that moment. I’d fantasized about him before. I knew that I wanted him. And right now I felt like he would be receptive, that he wanted it, too. But I held back, knowing I had to remain professional. Just then a change came over his face, a new seriousness that changed the entire tone of our exchange. It appeared that he had something to say to me and I had no idea what that might be.

“Tess, there’s something you should know.”

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice quivering slightly.

His eyes had changed now, exuding a new seriousness, expressing some previously unknown danger.

“You’re not safe anymore.”

“What? Why? Elias, you’re scaring me.”

“Tess, you’re a target now. They saw you in Arturo’s. You know you’re their type. You’re on their radar now.”

“You think I’m going to be kidnapped? You’re crazy,” I said, disputing his claim, and trying to reassure myself in the process.

“No, this is real. Now that we know they’re active at 41X, we know this isn’t coincidence.”

“Elias, I’m fine. I can fend for myself. I’ve got a good head on my shoulders, I’ll be on the lookout.”

“You don’t know these people. You don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“What am I supposed to do? Lock myself away until the case is solved? You can’t expect me to do that.”

“I don’t expect you to do that, but I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’re sleeping at my hotel room tonight. I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” said Elias.

I paused. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I found this proposition slightly tantalizing. Not that I thought anything would happen between us necessarily, that anything
could
happen between us. But sharing a hotel room, that increased the odds, didn’t it?

“OK,” I said. I decided I wouldn’t fight him on this.

“Good. I’m glad you see things my way.”

“Can we go now? I’m so damn tired.”

“Sure. Let’s get some rest. We can get back to this in the morning.”

The next day I woke up as the early morning sun streamed in through the window of the hotel room. I blinked my eyes and looked over to find Elias sleeping peacefully next to me. Well, not exactly right next to me. He was sound asleep in the other bed a few feet away.

When we’d gotten in late last night, we were both exhausted and had fallen immediately asleep. Nothing had happened between us. And despite whatever secret fantasies I nurtured inside myself, this fact wasn’t surprising to me. Sure, I thought I’d seen a sign of his affection in the looks he gave me, but what reason did I
really
have for believing him to be interested in a girl like me? He was gorgeous, after all, and could probably get any woman he wanted. Besides, we were coworkers and I knew he was a professional; he wouldn’t want to jeopardize the investigation with some quick fling.

After getting up I headed into the bathroom and had a quick shower. It was then that I realized I didn’t have a change of clothes; I’d have to let Elias know we had to stop by apartment so I could change. I didn’t want it to look like I’d been out on a one-night stand or something.

I came out of the shower dripping wet only to be greeted by Elias. I saw his eyes widen, surprised to see me like this. I felt desire rise up inside me, but I did all I could to force it back down; I knew he didn’t feel the same and it was for the best that I just kept quiet instead of expressing my feelings and looking like a fool in front of him.

While I waited for him to shower, I couldn’t help thinking about the new developments in the case. We finally had a substantial lead, but I was new to this and didn’t know the next steps. I figured we’d brief Agent Henderson and Dr. Geiss. After that, what else? We’d probably need to go down to 41X and talk with the owner and employees. But if they were anything like the crew at Arturo’s we knew they wouldn’t let us in without a warrant, and probably wouldn’t even say a single word until they were subpoenaed.

We still didn’t have any substantial evidence, nothing that would directly link the Giordano crime family with the various abductions. I’d have to follow Elias’s lead; I only hoped that he had some sort of plan for working this all out.

After a quick detour to my apartment to change, we arrived at the station an hour later. Elias came in a few seconds after me and we pretended to bump into each other in the lobby so as not to arouse suspicion. Even though nothing had happened between us, we knew we had to make it obvious that this was the case.

In the elevator, Elias turned to me, a serious look making its way across his face.

“Tess, we’re going to 41X today. But it’s strictly off-book.”

“Off-book? What do you mean?”

“I mean no one can know about it except for you and me.”

“But why? I mean, shouldn’t Dr. Geiss and Agent Henderson know about the connection between 41X and Arturo’s? It’s the most substantial lead we have.”

“Of course, of course. I’m going to tell them, obviously. Listen, I’ve got an idea for an operation, one that will really let us nail those bastards, but it’s a bit unorthodox and I know Dr. Geiss would be against it. But I think it’s the only chance we have, so we need to keep it private between us.”

“What kind of operation do you have in mind?” I asked, very curious given the secretive element involved. Was it some sort of sting? A trap for the Mafia?

“I’ll tell you later. We don’t have the time to discuss it now,” said Elias as the doors opened on the eighteenth floor.

We walked down the hallway to the task force work room where we found both Agent Henderson and Dr. Geiss already busy at work.

“Listen up, guys,” said Elias. “I think we’ve got a bit of a break in the case.”

“Let’s hear it, we’re all ears,” said Agent Henderson.

“Last night we stumbled upon another property owned by the Giordano family. This one too, not coincidentally, happens to be owned by Paul Cipriano. 41X, a club in Midtown. Anyone heard of it?”

“Doesn’t register,” said Dr. Geiss.

“Well, if you’ll recall, about eighty percent of the girls who went missing checked into this club not more than three weeks prior to their individual dates of disappearance,” said Elias confidently, giving me a knowing look in a quick side glance.