Betrayed: Days of the Rogue (22 page)

Grabbing the tea cup from the
counter, she began to wash it, while searching for a way to
distract him from his intense contemplation of her.

“So…what’s your real problem with
Damien? I can’t believe you’re jealous of me spending time with
him.”

He seemed about to protest the
sudden change of topic, tightening his mouth in obvious
frustration, but then followed her lead. “I don’t want you hurt.
He’s not exactly what he might appear to be.”

“Well, he seems perfectly harmless
to me. Gorgeous, yet sad and lonely. I feel sorry for him.”

“And is that why you were hugging
him?” His voice cooled noticeably.

Eve paused, her brows bunching
together. Why
had
she hugged Damien? It had felt like the
right thing to do at the time. And it wasn’t like she had feelings
for him, was it? No, of course not. After all, she’d had great
steamy sex with Rafe not even twenty-four hours ago. So, what had
the hug been about? She pondered the question a second longer
before answering.

“I was offering sympathy. He told
me how his wife died.”

“He did?” Rafe sounded surprised,
and then his eyes got a distant look about them. He appeared to be
mulling something over, and Eve wondered if he’d forgotten she was
there.

“Rafe?”

“Hmm?” He gave his head a little
shake. “Sorry. Listen, I’ve got some things I have to do. I’ll be
in my room working on the computer most of the day if you need me.”
Even before he was done speaking, he’d begun to leave the room.

Eve blinked, wondering what had
just happened. Something was going on with Rafe and Damien and it
seemed to be a lot more than repair work.

Chapter 18

“Smith, I want to know what this is
about!” Adrian Somerset entered Captain Fielding’s office, which
Reno was temporarily using. The man hadn’t bothered to knock and
Reno bit back a growl of annoyance.

“What ‘this’ are you talking
about?” Reno swivelled his chair away from the computer so he was
facing the head of the Rogue Retrieval unit.

“This
investigation
.”
Somerset threw the memo down on the desk.

Reno flicked a glance at the page.
He knew the contents well and was, in fact, heading up the probe
until Captain Fielding returned. “Seems clear enough to me. High
Council wants to review why so many of the rogues your people have
been sent to retrieve have died. There’s been a sharp increase
recently.”

“And all are easily explained. Look
at this case.” Somerset pulled a page out of the file he was
holding and placed it on the desk before sitting down. “In Florida,
there were multiple sightings of a wolf and several pets were found
mauled. Tracking records showed a rogue was in the area. My men
were sent to investigate, and it quickly became clear the rogue was
responsible. I ordered them to retrieve it. Before they did a woman
died at his hand. When they cornered him, he resisted violently.
End of story.”

“That’s one case, Adrian.” Reno
studied the paper briefly before setting it aside.

“But each incident is almost
identical. Wolf sightings. Locals terrorized. Animals killed. Open
and shut cases. Any idiot can see that!” He tossed the entire file
on the desk.

Reno leaned back in his chair and
steepled his fingers. “Are you calling the members of High Council
‘idiots’?”

Somerset sputtered and shifted in
his seat. “Of course not! What I mean is that the evidence speaks
for itself.”

“Hmm.” Reno made a non-committal
sound, picked up the file and flicked through the pages. He knew
some of these cases in detail because Brandi had served as the DC
for them. Others he was only now becoming more familiar with. “And
in each case, the rogue killed a human less than twenty-four hours
prior to their encounter with your men.”

“Are you implying that my team
doesn’t work fast enough?” Somerset sat up straighter and narrowed
his eyes.

“Just stating the obvious.” Reno
closed the file and slid it towards the other man. “Any idea as to
the motives the rogues might have had?”

“Motives? A rogue doesn’t have a
motive
for what it does. They’re rogues for God’s sake!”

“Very few killers murder randomly.
They have their reasoning, though it might make no logical sense to
us.”

Somerset snorted. “You sound like
that bleeding heart doctor.”

“Dr. McRae?”

“That’s the one. He tried to sell
me some crap about talking to the rogues, as if they’d understand.
They’re all crazy, everyone knows that. It’s probably McRae’s fault
that there’s even an investigation!”

Reno kept his face impassive while
wondering how the hell the man had ever gained the position he was
in. “Your feelings will be duly noted in my report.” He held back
the grimace he wanted to make at the politically correct response
he’d just mouthed. Calling the man a bastard was what he’d really
like to say.

“Good. I knew you’d see sense,
Smith.” Somerset nodded and stood up.

“Oh, by the way, did you notice any
correlation between the victims of the rogues?” Reno tossed out the
question.

“No, but then again I never looked.
That’s not my department. I just bring ‘em back dead or alive.” He
barely glanced up from the papers he was tucking neatly into the
file folder.

No, you wouldn’t look would you,
you ass, Reno said to himself.

“Thank you for your time.” Somerset
stuck out his hand as if they’d just completed a business meeting.
Had he forgotten that he’d barged in uninvited?

Reno grunted and couldn’t resist
giving the man’s hand an extra hard squeeze. Somerset winced and
surreptitiously flexed his fingers afterwards.

Just as he was turning to go, he
stopped and nodded towards the chair he’d been in. “You might want
to leave a message for Captain Fielding. That’s an extremely
uncomfortable chair.”

“I’ll be sure to let him know.” As
soon as the man left, Reno grinned. Maybe Captain Fielding wasn’t
so crazy after all for not replacing that damned chair. Who knew
how long Somerset might have hung around without it!

His cell phone vibrated and he
checked the caller ID. It was Rafe McRae. Sighing, he wondered how
much longer he could hold the man off. Taking a deep breath, he
pressed talk.

Chapter 19

Rafe growled as he ended the call.
His conversation with Reno had been less than satisfactory. Damien
was too interested in Eve, and Rafe wanted him gone. It wasn’t
jealousy—at least not completely. Based on research, Damien was
showing classic signs of fixating on her, and an obsessive rogue
posed significant danger.

Reno said to hang on for a few more
days, but he’d said that last time, too. If Somerset wasn’t such an
ass, Rafe would be tempted to ignore Reno’s request and call Rogue
Retrieval.

A few more days. A few more days of
watching Damien like hawk, of guarding Eve by keeping her at his
home and trying to resist the temptation to touch her.

He glanced at the pile of muddy
clothes in the hamper in the corner. It hadn’t been easy to stay in
his room last night. Hearing the water running and imagining her in
his shower, thinking of her padding to her room wrapped in a towel.
He’d paced his room for over an hour, listing all the reasons why
it wasn’t a good idea to seek her out and have a repeat
performance. When he’d finally gone to bed, his dreams had been of
her, of burying himself in her warm, wet depths and hearing her
panting her need in his ear. The memory had his body hardening.

Would it really be so wrong to
repeat last night? For a brief moment, he tried to convince himself
otherwise but the plain truth was, yes, it would. Sex between
Empaths was much more intimate than sex with a human. The bridging
of minds allowed access to the most hidden emotions and, once a
bridge was made, faint remnants of it could remain for years after,
like a seed waiting for the right conditions to germinate. And each
successive bridge with an individual became stronger, more stable
and permanent, harder to eradicate. Until Eve was aware of the
fact, and until he was sure he wanted to have a more permanent
relationship with her, he needed to keep his dick in his pants and
his hands off her body.

He still had no inkling as to what
she actually knew about being Fae; he suspected it wasn’t much.
This morning when he’d tried to give her a hint that he was also
empathic, she’d been too nervous to question the faint probing
sensation; instead she’d slammed her mental wall into place and
tried to distract him by mentioning Damian. Apparently, he’d have
to be blunt and simply tell her, though it wasn’t as simple as it
sounded. Being part werewolf, he was bound by The Keeping and was
already hedging about his professional life. How much could he keep
from her while still giving her sufficient access to himself so
that she’d believe he was also Fae?

A frustrated growl escaped him.
Animal shifters had things so much easier, their scent allowing
them to identify each other without saying a word. But Fae were
undetectable from normal humans and had to take a leap of faith in
order to identify another of their own kind.

Well, if he was going to be baring
his soul to her, he’d prefer to do it armed with some background
information. It was an approach that had served him well in his
clinical life, researching clients before meeting them. Surely it
should be equally successful in his dealing with Eve. Turning to
the computer, he logged on.

The newly formed Affiliation Office
was compiling data on the Fae so there was a chance Eve was already
listed. Connecting to Lycan Link, he scrolled down to the
department he wanted, quickly typed in his password, only to pause.
A red screen sporting the words ‘access denied’ flashed in front of
him. For some reason his clearance must have been downgraded. When
had that happened?

With a sigh, he picked up his phone
and called Annette. He’d have preferred to have done this himself
but since there seemed to be a hiccup in the system, he really had
no other choice.

“Annette?”

“Dr. McRae!” Can you hold a minute?
I have someone on another line.” There was slight pause and then
the woman returned. “You’re calling again? Are you that anxious to
return to work?” Amusement laced the woman’s voice.

“It’s you I’m pining away for,” he
teased.

“Rafe, you know full well that I’m
above flattery. A fine bottle of wine, some perfume and a set of
concert tickets to a show in Vegas however…” She left the
suggestion hanging and when he didn’t respond, she sighed. “All
right. Fine. It was worth a try. How can I help you?”

He laughed softly before stating
his purpose. “Apparently there’s been some glitch in the computer
system and my security clearance has been downgraded. I’m trying to
look at the Affiliation Office files and can’t get in.”

“Now that’s odd, though I’m not
completely surprised. Brad Owen, head of IT, has been going over
the entire Lycan Link computer system with a fine toothed comb
lately. All the branch offices, the Academy, and even pack data
banks are being affected.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially.
“He says he’s tightening system security, but personally, I think
he’s just trying to look busy.”

Rafe grinned knowing Annette had no
love for the IT department. Anyone who touched her computer was
immediately under suspicion. “That may be. I was wondering if you
still had access.”

“Well, it would be strange if I did
and you didn’t since you outrank me, but I’m willing to try. What
do you need?”

“I’m looking for a list of known
Fae and their locations. There’s a local woman I’m curious about
and—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she interrupted
before he finished. “I won’t be able to help you with that. The Fae
have been kicking up a fuss and want all their records purged from
the Lycan Link system. They’re even talking about severing all
ties. It’s little wonder you were denied access. Fae records are
now considered classified and only available to those with direct
permission from the Fae ambassador.”

Rafe frowned at this new
development. “Sounds serious. Any idea what the problem is?

“No, not really. But with the Fae,
who can tell? They’re such flighty creatures, it’s almost
impossible to deal with them, no offense intended. You’re more
Lycan, of course.”

“Of course.” He bit his tongue at
the unintended slight. While he never hid the fact that he was Fae,
in the early years he hadn’t advertised it either and even those
who knew, tended to forget the fact after a while. Annette had a
heart of gold but was a product of her upbringing. Most Lycans had
some prejudicial throwaway phrases in their oral language bank;
there was no real malicious intent, or so he told himself. “All
right, thanks anyway.”

“So you think a local woman is a
Fae?”

“Perhaps.” He didn’t want to
elaborate. Annette was such a mother hen, she’d question him to
death about Eve. Instead he changed the topic. “Is everything all
right at the clinic? No problems I need to deal with?”

“Everything is fine. The only thing
of interest is that they’re starting that investigation you asked
for. You know, the one into Rogue Retrieval’s performance?”

“Excellent. Keep me apprised on how
it’s going.”

“Of course. Now go and rest!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rafe made a mock
salute before hanging up.

Annette disconnected the line and
then pressed another button to resume the call she had on hold.

“What did McRae want?” The man’s
voice indicated his suspicion.

“He was looking for a list of Fae
in his area.”

“Any idea why?”

“Not really. He mentioned something
about a girl, but it could be idle curiosity. Dr. McRae has what
you might call an ‘inquiring mind’ and is always researching one
topic or another.”