Enemies and Lovers Amongst Us (3 page)

good linebacker.” He paused and added, “And she’s gorgeous, too.”

18

Jessica Frost

“That she is. That she is.” Jake sighed, and then checked his

watch. “What time were we supposed to meet Thorak?”

Sam also glanced at his watch, noting it was 2:42 in the afternoon,

and darted for the stairs. “We’re really late. Come on, follow me.”

He headed into the building, remembering Thorak’s private room

was situated not that far away from the Council’s quarters where they

had their meetings. Yeah, everything came back to him now, the

marbled floors and how his steps echoed around him as he walked in

a swift gait, the piers and columns, and the dark, framed paintings that

dressed the walls all around.

Even the air was cold and slightly damp. Perhaps it had to do with

the weather outside. Heating such a huge place must have been hard.

At the end of the long and wide hallway, Sam turned to the right

while Jake was closely on his tail. Thorak’s room was just around the

corner. The elder Voyeur stood in the door’s curved archway, smiling.

“We’re sorry we’re late, Thorak,” Sam said as he greeted him by

shaking his extended hand. “We had a flat tire, and when we finally

got here, we had a run- in with one of your Voyeurs.” The image of

the beautiful red-haired vixen appeared in his mind. Her beauty and

each feature of her perfect face had been etched permanently in his

mind, it seemed.

Coughing to clear his distracting thoughts and dry throat, he

turned around to introduce Jake. “This is my partner, Jake, who I told

you would be joining me on this assignment.”

Jake bowed to shake the Voyeur’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet

you, Thorak.”

Thorak nodded. “As it is for me, too, Jake.” He moved to the side

to make room for them to enter his room and gestured with his hand.

“Please, both of you come in.” As he closed the door behind their

entry, he said, “Please sit down. The Voyeur Scout who will be

working with you still isn’t here.”

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19

Sam didn’t like the sound of that. He thought they’d be working

this job on their own. He didn’t work well with others, especially if

the operatives were inexperienced. They only got in the way.

Sam stared at Thorak. “I didn’t know you wanted a Voyeur to

work with us on this assignment. Frankly, Jake and I always only

work alone.”

Thorak walked slowly to a chair next to theirs as they all sat down

around an oblong table in the center of the room. He placed his hand

on the solid oak table and smiled.

“It is not just a Voyeur who will be accompanying you on this

mission, Sam. It’ll be a Voyeur Scout, Triala Barns, who is trained in

battle. She, along with all Voyeur Scouts, patrols the cities and

surrounding areas protecting humans from Rogue werewolves.”

“Okay, she may be trained in battle, but she isn’t trained in

detective work. She could jeopardize our whole undercover

operation,” Jake added, obviously agreeing with his partner.

“That’s why you will be giving her orders. She will be under your

command, Sam,” Thorak said.

Just as Sam was about to add another reason why that still wasn’t

a good idea, a knock came at the door.

Thorak didn’t get up, but said, “Come in, Triala, we’ve been

waiting for you.”

The second the door opened, mesmerizing deep green eyes locked

with Sam’s and that very important reason why it wasn’t a good idea

having Triala Barns working under him suddenly flew out the

window.

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Jessica Frost

Chapter 2

Damn it!

Triala certainly didn’t expect this when she opened the door to

Thorak’s private quarters. Yes, this day was definitely full of

surprises. First, her watch stopped working and she didn’t realize it

until she passed the clock in the gardens outside and noted she was

late for her meeting with the ancient Voyeur. Then when she was

darting to her room to put away her things, she encountered the most

obtuse males she’d ever met just outside the building.

And now this. No, not a good day at all.

Closing the door behind her, she said, “I’m sorry, sire, for being

so late. I hadn’t realized my watch stopped.”

And I got detained further by two bungling, obnoxious male

humans
. She so wanted to add those words. But after further thought,

it was best she held her tongue on the comment.

Thorak motioned with his hand. “It’s all right. Here, come sit.”

Once she did as he asked, he continued, “This here is Sam

Wethers and Jake Reynolds. And this is Triala Barns.”

The one named Sam bowed his head, smiling. “N ice to officially

meet you, Triala.”

Thorak’s brow lifted, and his eyes denoted curiosity. “Oh, you’ve

met before?”

Without breaking his gaze from her eyes, Sam replied, “You

could say that. We had a ‘run- in’ of sorts outside.”

“Run- in?” Thorak asked.

“Yes, in the literal sense. Triala accidentally ran into me.” Sam’s

smile widened in mischief.

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21

Heat built in Triala’s veins as her temper rose. She tightened her

lips so the curse words she dared not speak remained contained.

“Oh, I see.” Thorak laughed.

Sam broke his stare and looked at the ancient Voyeur. “So you

were saying…”

Thorak nodded. “Yes.” He turned his attention to Triala. “Since

you came in late, I haven’t had a chance to brief you on what this

meeting is about before Sam and Jake arrived. So let me start now.”

He took a deep breath to continue. “I have another assignment for

you.”

Triala’s heart lifted. “I thought I was still on temporary leave for

my error in judgment on the last assignment?”

Thorak shook his head. “No, just on a short hiatus, which has

ended. O n this assignment you will be working with Sam and Jake.”

A lump of air got stuck in her throat, and she gasped. She couldn’t

have heard right. “What, sire?”

“You will be working with Sam and Jake,” Thorak repeated.

“But, sire, they are humans. What do they know about Rogue

werewolves?”

“Nothing. That’s why I’m assigning you to work under them.

You’ll be taking orders from them.”

Her voice rose with her temper as she repeated, “But, sire, they

are humans.” She knew it was a sign of disrespect to raise her voice to

Thorak, but right at that moment she had lost all facets of reason.

Thorak’s brow lifted as a warning she should lower her voice.

“Precisely.”

She waited until her voice calmed and said, “I don’t understand.”

“You will be going undercover in the human underground world

to search for any information on this new group of Rogues. Sam and

Jake are ex-policemen who worked in narcotics. They have the

contacts and are our best chance to find anything.”

“But…”

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Jessica Frost

Before she could think of a rebuttal, Thorak lifted his index finger

in forewarning. “Triala, it is an order.”

She gazed at Sam and Jake, expecting to see smug smiles. Instead

they stared back at her with blank expressions, which told her nothing

of what they were thinking. She didn’t like not being able to read

them.

Returning her gaze to Thorak, she nodded. “O f course, sire. I will

do whatever you ask of me.”

He grinned slightly as he leaned forward in his chair. “Good.

Good.” He opened a file and handed them all stapled pages. “These

here are the recorded human deaths by these new Rogues that have

been happening in this area these past couple of months. As you can

see they have doubled in less than a month and are continuing to

rise.”

“You guys are Voyeurs. Why can’t you see any of the killings

before they happen?” Jake asked.

“Now that is the question plaguing all of us at this time. This new

group must be using some sort of black magic cloaking spell that is

blocking them entirely from our visions. Unfortunately, we are

unfamiliar with any type of cloaking spell that can make an entire

group of werewolves completely invisible like this.”

Triala stated, “They may be cloaking themselves from us, but they

can’t possibly cloak everyone they are in contact with. Sooner or later

we will have a vision of someone who has had contact with them.

That is where we will find our clues.”

Thorak smiled. “Very good, Triala. Very good. There is no doubt

in my mind I made the right decision assigning you to this mission.”

Another lump formed in her throat at the powerful emotions

surging through her. After her parents died, and she was left an

orphan, Thorak had always been there for her. Always taking care of

her from afar. He was like a grandfather to her, and she knew she had

disappointed him in her last mission five months ago, before this new

group of phantom Rogues ever emerged.

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23

She hadn’t followed her superior’s orders on that mission and

almost got the whole unit killed. She had been so sure the area they

were patrolling was free of danger and didn’t think to check the

perimeter before entering, as ordered. There was a trigger planted not

that far from the entrance, and when she made contact with it, a bomb

exploded not that far away from the rest of the unit.

Thank God no one got badly injured, but it was all her fault it

happened because she didn’t follow her superior’s orders. The guilt

she had been carrying these past months plagued her constantly. But

now hearing Thorak say such praises got her all choked up. Perhaps

she’d now be able to correct the wrong she had committed.

“Maybe you’ll have a vision of someone who has had contact with

one of these Rogues when we go undercover,” Sam said, staring at

her.

She turned to him to reply, “Yes, hopefully, I will.”

“Well, that’s all the information I can give you. Now the rest is up

to you three.” Thorak closed the empty file.

Sam got up, walked over to the Voyeur’s chair, and held his hand

out. “That’s all we’ll need, Thorak. We’ll go now and check with our

contacts, see if they can set up a front for us.”

“You do what you have to do, Sam.” Thorak shook his hand.

“Your father always told me how smart you are and how good you

were at your job.”

“He was always proud of me,” Sam said, and Triala could see his

features soften as though he were trying to hold back deep emotions.

Jake got up and shook Thorak’s hand, as well. “It was a pleasure

meeting you, Thorak. We’ll do our best to find some clues, any clue

on these new Rogues for you.”

“Thank you, Jake. I hope you will.” Thorak got up and headed for

the door, opening it to let them out.

Triala remained seated, but when Thorak motioned she must leave

as well, she got up.

“I won’t disappoint you, sire,” she said, heading for the door.

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Jessica Frost

Sincerity shone in the Voyeur’s eyes. “I know you won’t, Triala.”

He turned his attention to all three of them and added, “Goodbye and

good luck.” Then he closed the door, leaving Triala alone with the

humans standing in the corridor.

They stared at her in silence, which irritated the hell out of her.

Sam’s face broke into a smile as he got closer to her and said

while staring deep into her eyes, “I bet you never expected we’d all be

working together, right, Triala?”

Triala beheld his beautiful chocolate-brown eyes and full lips, and

her heartbeat quickened in excitement. She diverted her gaze but

couldn’t ignore her sexual werewolf instincts rising as she sniffed his

masculine, virile scent.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she looked back into his face

and replied, “No, no, I certainly never expected this.”

She noted his eyes were focused on her bosom then. Yes, a highly

distractible male, he was. But she had to admit his attentive, pleased

eyes made her heartbeat quicken and her nipples taut with pleasure.

She waved her hand in front of his eyes. “Hello! My face is over

here.” She pointed upward.

He laughed, obviously realizing he was gawking, and she had

caught him. “I like that sweater a lot. I think my sister would, as well.

I was wondering where you got it. Maybe I’d buy it for her, too.”

She couldn’t help the cackle that escaped her lips. “You have got

to be joking. Do I look like a moron to you?”

He leaned in closer so his face was just a few inches away from

hers. “No, my dear. You are far from that. And I look forward to

working with you on this assignment.”

“I’m sure you are.” She chuckled and then sneered. “And don’t

call me ‘my dear.’”

“Sorry. But seriously, I think my sister would like a sweater like

that. She loves earth tones, and cashmere is her favorite. I think you

are even the same size. She’s an eight.”

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