Bite (Bloodlines Book 1) (13 page)

“What?” She placed her hands over his heart.

“I’m leaving,” he repeated.

“You’re going back to your hotel?” she questioned, but the way her voice wavered Kieran was sure she already knew his answer.

“No,” he said softly.

“You can’t leave me,” Dakota said. “We’re not done yet.”

Kieran gripped her wrists. “We are now.” He moved her out of the way before he pushed open the stairwell door and walked through it.

He heard her breath catch. As much as it tore at him, he didn’t have a choice. Kieran would make it up to her but first he needed answers. If Dakota were with him, he’d be putting her at risk.

It was one thing to trust her with her own people. The Organization wouldn’t kill her. He couldn’t say the same about the Walkers or whatever Caspar had gotten himself into.

If Kieran ended up working with her, then he’d be able to really have something with her. They still had hurdles to overcome, her shifter status being the biggest, but if he was going to go all in, he’d have to accept every part of her.

She’d been right when she’d accused him of trying to forget that she was a shifter. Seeing her every day at work would be a constant reminder since she’d either have to use her senses around him or even shift into her jaguar.

He stomped down the stairs, not caring to be quiet like he normally would. He needed to find food then get back to his suite. The best option would be to check out but that would take him away from the Walkers. As long as Remy stayed off their radar, he might be better off where he could keep an eye on them. Changing hotels wasn’t the right move, he was sure now.

As he jogged down the stairs, he heard the door above him slam open.

“Kieran!” Dakota shouted.

He sped up and was down the last couple of floors before she’d cleared the landing. Kieran ended up in the parking garage. He leaped over a car then hopped the concrete barrier. His power was waning but he could lose her.

The morning was too bright and he wished he’d brought his sunglasses. He needed to feed.

Kieran stopped a block away to gather himself. Being in a crowded area would work to his advantage. He would hunt.

Chapter Seven

Dakota leaned closer to her monitor as she clicked out of one file and opened another. She was still steaming from her encounter with Kieran earlier so when she pressed her mouse a little harder than normal, her nail broke.

“Son of a bitch,” she cursed under her breath.

If she’d only caught up to him, Dakota would have given Kieran a piece of her mind before letting him know she knew what he was trying to do. He was pushing her away and Dakota was not going to allow it.

She understood that he’d had a rough morning but that was no reason to push her away. Dakota wasn’t weak, and he was going to finally have to accept that. If he thought he needed to protect her, he was going to have to learn how it was going to be between them. She was just as strong as he was and wouldn’t back down from a fight.

When she’d first met Kieran, she’d known he was stubborn but she had been certain the connection they’d shared had changed things.
Oh how wrong I am.

Not finding the report she wanted in the file she’d chosen, she moved onto the next one. If Kieran was going to act like a jackass, she’d give him time to cool down before she went searching for him.

In the meantime she wasn’t needed in the field, so she was going to do a little digging around to find out more about Walkers. The more intel she had, she was hoping the better understanding she’d get about how to handle her man.

“Ah,” she murmured. Here was a case from back in the seventies. As she read through she grew more and more frustrated. It was obvious that key details had been deleted from the dossier. How was she going to learn anything if the secrets around the Walkers remained?

“Hey.”

Dakota jerked her head up as she heard her partner’s voice. “Oh, hi,” she said as she leaned back in her chair. “Finally done with your secret meetings?”

Their boss had called Dean into his office as soon as Kieran and the wolf shifter had left. Dakota hadn’t even known that Kieran’s partner, Remy, was in town but Dean seemed pretty knowledgeable about everything going on. She felt very left out.

“Mind if I shut the door?” he asked.

Dakota lifted her eyebrow. “If I say no, are you going to take me to one of the cells?”

“That’s not fair,” Dean argued. “I had nothing to do with Kieran getting locked up. He attacked our boss.” He went ahead and closed her door before he strolled to one of her guest chairs.

“What was he doing in your office in the first place?” she questioned.

“I don’t know for sure,” Dean replied.

“But you have an idea,” she guessed.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dean said. “That’s not what I came to talk to you about.”

Dakota scoffed. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird before Kieran even got here.”

“I know,” he agreed. “And I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you before now.”

The seriousness in his voice was not what she’d expected. Dean was usually lighthearted and loved to joke around. “What is it?”

He took a deep breath before he spoke. “About six months ago, I called my uncle to talk about my future with the Organization.”

“Why?” she asked. “We don’t have a choice in our service.”

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t change where I serve,” Dean said.

“You want out of the field,” she said for him. She’d always known that Dean’s heart hadn’t been in the same place as hers but he was good at his job.

“I never wanted in it,” he confessed.

Damn it, Dakota didn’t want to lose her partner but Dean was also her friend. “What can I do to help?”

He smiled. “You’re already doing it.”

“What do you mean?” she questioned. She hadn’t even known he was trying to get reassigned.

“The reason Caspar sent Kieran here and wanted me to watch out for him is because Caspar will be taking a short-term job in the field. He needs to find a place for Kieran that he’ll fit in. Kieran won’t work for anyone other than Caspar and hopefully Sparro. I guess it hasn’t been easy to place him.”

Dakota snorted. “He does seem to enjoy pissing people off.”

“Yeah.” Dean nodded. “If he’d attacked anyone other than Sparro, they’d be dead. But since Sparro has dealt with some of the most dangerous agents, Caspar sent Kieran here.”

“They want to transfer Kieran?” she asked.

“Yes, and his partner. Not only can Sparro handle them but with the Walkers in the city organizing, we need more of their kind.”

“Organizing?” Dakota jumped to her feet. “What do you know about that?”

“Sparro was contacted by a Walker that lives here and has several others in his employment. They’ve stayed in the shadows for the past several years but they’ve been more active lately,” Dean said.

“So we need Walkers on our team. And Kieran will be the first,” Dakota said. “Does he know?”

Dean nodded. “Sparro told him today.”

And right after that, he’d told Dakota he was leaving. “Did he accept?”

“He wasn’t given a choice. Monday morning they report for duty here.”

She wasn’t so sure that Kieran was on the same page as her boss and Dean. She grabbed her bag from beside her desk. “I have to go.”

“Wait!” Dean rose and placed his hand on her arm.

“What? I need to talk to Kieran.”

“We need to talk about you and him,” Dean told her. “Sit back down.”

“Why?” She pulled her arm from his.

“I know you have feelings for him,” he said. “I’m worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to be worried about,” she assured him.

“You’re falling for a guy that you know nothing about,” Dean said. “He’s dangerous, Dakota.”

“I know what I’m doing,” she said. “Kieran is a good man.”

“Who suffers from PTSD from years of torture,” Dean argued.

“How do you know about that?” she asked. Since her chair was there, she went ahead and dropped into it.

“I was given his folder so that I could give my opinion on whether or not he’d be helpful with the other Walkers,” Dean explained.

“And how would you know that?” she asked.

“Because for the past month, I’ve been their contact within the Organization.”

She stiffened. “Just how many secrets are you keeping, Dean?” she accused.

“It’s not like that,” Dean said as he held up his hands. “I had to find a replacement and the only way I could was to dig into the only agent who isn’t here by a blood bond. I was doing what I was ordered.”

“So that’s just supposed to make everything better?” she asked.

“I’m just trying to tell you why I’ve done the things I have,” Dean said.

“All I’ve gotten from this conversation is that you didn’t trust me and worked behind my back to get what you wanted. Well, congratulations.” Dakota stood. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a few errands to run.”

She picked her bag back up before she stormed out of her office. This was such bullshit! After all the years that she and Dean had been partners and friends, he was just pushing her aside to get what he wanted.

Dean had to know that she would have supported him every step of the way. Or maybe he hadn’t since confiding in her wasn’t a step he’d taken.

Her partner had also found out things about Kieran that she wanted to know. She wouldn’t ask him, though. If she had to wait for the rest of her life, one day Kieran would tell her what had happened himself.

Instead of taking the elevator like she normally did, Dakota pushed the stairway door hard, letting it slam against the wall. She thundered down the stairs as her mind whirled.

Dean was leaving her. Kieran might or might not be staying. No matter how she looked at what the morning had brought, changes were happening and she had no control of any of it.

Her jaguar was closer to the surface than it’d been in months. She needed to get out into the wild so she could let her animal loose and hopefully gain some clarity. There was nothing like shifting then running.

Just letting the world around her revolve for the time being. Until she came up with a plan, Dakota was at a loss for what to do.

She wished she was back in Kieran’s comfortable bed with his arms tight around her. She had gone to sleep in heaven and woken up in hell. Dakota really needed someone to talk to. Too bad the only person who she really wanted to see had already taken off on her.

After her run she was going to hunt him down. If she wasn’t in a better mood, he might just regret her having to find him.

* * * *

Kieran strolled through his hotel entrance, feeling once again revived and ready to battle. He wasn’t going to let Caspar go off on his own without knowing exactly what he was up to.

His boss had been out of the field for far too long. There was no way Lettie would have access to a case that Caspar was involved in so he needed his boss to tell him what was going on himself.

Also he had to decide what to do about the Las Vegas boss, Sparro. Kieran had the beginnings of respect for the man. He’d fought well when Kieran had attacked him but that didn’t mean he wanted to transfer.

Then there was Remy. His partner had been hiding something as well, but now that Kieran had had time to cool down, he felt guilty for doubting his friend. Remy had proven that Kieran could trust him, and no matter what Remy had to say Kieran would support his buddy.

Last, there were the Walkers in the city who he was still suspicious of. They had contacted him for a reason, and Kieran had never met a Walker not involved with the Organization that didn’t hurt people.

He searched for Alex in the throng of tourists and guests. If his bad luck was holding, he should run into the Walker at any time. Prepared or not.

“Mr. Smith.”

Right on schedule.
He stopped before he turned and faced the Walker. “Good morning,” he greeted.

“I see you’re just arriving but if now is a convenient time, my boss would like to speak to you,” Alex said.

Kieran wondered how the conversation would go if he refused. If he had more time to spare, maybe he’d try it but he really wanted to get to the bottom of what Alex and his boss were up to.

“Sure,” Kieran agreed.

“Follow me, please.” Alex waved his hand before he led the way through the casino floor.

Around the main floor, away from the tables, was a narrow dark hallway that Kieran had noticed but hadn’t had the opportunity to explore yet. As Alex strode ahead of him, Kieran saw more security personnel in the area. So this had to be where the big boss kept his office.

As the noise of slots and people shouting filtered away, Kieran was grateful. He really didn’t like being surrounded by so many possible threats. The door they passed was closed and he didn’t pick up any sounds coming from inside.

“This is where he keeps some of the staff’s offices as well as a few meeting rooms,” Alex said as they walked.

At the end of the hall was an elevator. Kieran glanced around in confusion. Alex pulled out a key card from his pocket. “This is a private elevator that will lead us to the boss’s floor. You can’t access his area any other way.”

“Warning?” Kieran asked.

“Your reputation precedes you,” Alex said with a smile.

“Then why show me this?” he questioned.

“My boss doesn’t think that you’ll trust us until you know everything. I’ve been ordered to answer all your questions honestly and to the best of my ability,” Alex said.

“That answer just makes me more suspicious,” Kieran told him.

Alex laughed. “That’s what I said. But Jackson said once the two of you met that you’d understand.”

The elevator arrived, and Kieran stepped inside in front of Alex. The interior was sleek even in the small space. There was only one button on the wall next to another card swipe. Alex slid the same card through then pressed the button. There were no floor numbers to tell Kieran where they were headed. He picked up the faint mechanical hum of a security camera. Kieran raised his head and stared right into a camera. He would show strength.