New Species 06 Wrath (15 page)

“Let’s go.” He stood, dropped the brush and walked to the door.

He opened it and waved Lauren to step out into the hallway. Wrath gripped her hand in his and stayed at her side until they reached the main room. Lauren hesitated when she saw two of the men from last night seated at a table. Vengeance wasn’t one of them.

“He’s gone,” Wrath said softly, as if he could read her mind. “Vengeance was sent back to Reservation early this morning.”

Lauren felt relief. The two men at the table stared at them as they approached. Shadow was the one to speak.

“You both overslept and missed breakfast. I put your plates in the refrigerator for you.”

Wrath nodded. “Thank you.” He showed Lauren to a seat. “I’ll warm them. You relax. You’re a guest.”

Lauren glanced at the two men to discover Brass openly staring at her hair. It was still wet from the shower. She watched the large man until his gaze flicked to hers.

“It is beautiful hair. I imagine when it is dry it is breathtaking.”

“Thank you.” She smiled.

“How are you today?” Shadow drew her attention next.

“Better.”

“Vengeance caused you no injury?”

“I have a few bruises but I’m fine. Wrath said he’s gone now.”

Brass nodded. “Yes. A helicopter and some of our people came to take him home. We apologize again for what he tried to do to you. Forced mating is forbidden and so is forced breeding.”

“Wrath explained the difference to me.”

Shadow blinked. “He did?”

She nodded. “I was curious and asked him. I didn’t understand what Vengeance was talking about.”

Shadow glanced at Wrath before meeting her gaze again. “I wondered how the subject came up.”

Brass shook his head and the two men frowned at each other. Shadow turned back to Lauren.

“We would like to ask you a favor.”

“What do you need?”

Brass spoke. “We would like you to take one of us into your work and see if you can find out where Bill is.”

Lauren was stunned at that request. “You plan to just grab him if he’s at work?”

“We have the right to arrest him for his crimes against New Species,” Brass assured her softly. “I doubt he will be there but he’s made friends at work, hasn’t he? Perhaps you could find out from them where he is.”

Lauren glanced at their black clothing. “I guess I could do that but one of you would definitely have to change clothes and wear…” She studied their eyes. “Sunglasses. Otherwise if Bill is there he’s going to spot you right away. The black clothing will draw attention and if Bill worked for Mercile Industries he’s going to be alarmed to see a New Species.”

“We’re sure he’s the correct human male. We thought of this already.” Brass hesitated. “We thought we’d have Wrath dress up however you think he should. He could pretend to be a client of yours and walk inside the building with you. Would it be appropriate for you to take a client to work?”

“Sure. I’m due in to work at ten today.” She glanced down at her clothes. “Could we stop by my apartment first? I can’t go to the office wearing this and my boss would have my ass.”

Brass shrugged. “That would be fine. What would be appropriate for Wrath to wear?”

Wrath sat a plate of warmed scrambled eggs, bacon and toast in front of her. She gave him a smile and picked up her fork. She glanced at Wrath, who took the seat next to her and noticed he had two large steaks on his plate. That was all he had. He didn’t reach for his silverware.

“You may not want to watch him eat,” Shadow suggested softly. “We enjoy our meat barely seared on the outside and raw on the inside. We find it easier to eat with our fingers than with your utensils.”

Lauren glanced at Shadow before purposely smiling at Wrath. “Eat up.”

Wrath shrugged and dug into his food. He grabbed hold of one of the steaks with both hands and bit into it. His dark eyes met hers as he tore a section of the meat off. Lauren wasn’t horrified but she was more than a bit curious. Blood dripped onto the plate and the interior of the steak was raw, red meat. She wasn’t repulsed in the least. She glanced back at Shadow.

“Have you ever seen kids eat? I am from a large family. At least you guys don’t shove peas up your nose and shoot them out.”

Brass laughed. “No. We don’t.”

Shadow laughed. “Did you do that as a child?”

She shook her head. “No. But I used to gross my cousins out by telling them my spaghetti was worms and sucking them up. I was always kind of a tomboy.”

Brass smiled at her and asked, “What should Wrath wear to your job?”

Nothing.
That was her first thought but she didn’t say it aloud. She’d love for Wrath not to wear a single thing ever again since he looked so good naked. “Nice jeans and maybe a casual dress shirt. Good shoes. Realtors notice those things right off the bat to judge if a client can really afford to buy a home. It’s how we try to root out the looky-loos from the real buyers.”

“What are good shoes?” Shadow questioned.

“Real-leather, casual dress shoes would work nicely. Do you happen to have any around?”

“No.” Shadow shrugged his broad shoulders. “We have military boots and running shoes.”

“Military will work. I could tell my boss that Wrath is in the service. We sell homes to them all the time. They always have good credit and the ability to get financing. I don’t suppose you could get your hands on a military uniform of some sort, could you?”

Brass stood. “That we can do.” He left the room.

Shadow continued to watch Wrath. “Brass and I had some time this morning to make plans while we waited for you to come out here.”

Wrath finally looked up from his food to meet his friend’s stare. “Good.”

Shadow and Wrath seemed to be having a stare down as the silence in the room lengthened. Lauren darted her gaze between them, watching their facial expressions change just slightly.

“You two are doing that silent mind communication thing again.”

Wrath turned his head, winked, and gave his full attention on his remaining steak.

“Eat quickly, Lauren,” Shadow ordered softly. “We want to leave here soon since you need to get clothing from your apartment.”

Lauren dug into her food. It wasn’t good but she was starving. Reheated scrambled eggs tasted rubbery, the bacon was greasy and the toast a bit soggy. She ate it all anyway since she wasn’t sure where her next meal would come from. The thought of Brent actually being at work when they arrived wasn’t a good one. Wrath and his friend would grab her coworker and set her free. She wouldn’t have a reason to spend more time with Wrath and that concept left her depressed.

Wrath excused himself to go change his clothing and left her with Shadow at the table. The blond one waited until his friend was out of sight before he spoke.

“He likes you.”

Lauren knew which him he was talking about. Wrath. “I like him too.”

Shadow’s blue eyes were intense and he frowned.

“What?”

“We are not similar to the males you know. I just want you to understand that.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

“I’m just warning you. You’re playing with fire with Wrath.”

“I’m not playing anything.”

His blue eyes narrowed. “It was just a warning. Wrath is very intense and we have had difficult lives.” He stood. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Eight

Lauren got to her feet, wanted to ask Shadow what he meant by that, or why he’d accuse her of playing some kind of game with Wrath but he didn’t give her the chance. His long legs moved fast as he crossed the room and stopped at the elevator. She had to scramble to catch up with him as the doors opened after he punched in a code on a keypad.

“Aren’t we waiting for Brass and Wrath?”

“They are either already upstairs or will be along shortly. This isn’t the only elevator.”

“I don’t have keys to my apartment. They were in my purse.”

“Your car and your possessions are being stored above. We had them moved here last night. Your purse is in your car.”

“Someone drove my car?”

Shadow nodded, stepped into the elevator and pressed a button. She followed him before the doors closed.

“Yes. We were not going to leave it in the parking lot to draw suspicion. We weren’t sure if you were Bill’s girlfriend or not. We wanted him to find nothing wrong if he sent someone looking for you. Finding your abandoned car would have been suspicious.”

Lauren couldn’t fault the logic. “I can see that.”

Shadow smiled. “We know what we are doing. This isn’t our first hunt and capture.”

“You didn’t know I wasn’t Brent’s girlfriend. Sorry—Bill. You thought I was that jerk’s lover. No offense but you were way off the mark on that one.”

He shrugged. “You are the one who came in his place and you smelled of the perfume he gifts females he shares sex with. We have interviewed many of them as we’ve tracked him.”

Shock tore through her. “You have more women locked up down here?”

He shook his head. “We knew he had abandoned the females we spoke to before we reached them. They had all filed criminal charges against him for stealing from them and that’s how we were able to track him. He uses their money to fund his living but victimized women in this area recently. We used their photographs of him—ran them through the driver’s license database—and his false new name showed up.”

“He’s a thief too? What a loser.”

“He is a bad male.” Shadow sighed. “We told the women he had deserted the Army when he was younger and that he would serve many years in prison for this. Those females were very willing to give us any information we asked for to help track him down. Most of them were very pleased to learn he was wanted by us.”

“I bet. He’s batting a thousand for winning the scum-of-the-decade award.”

A comical look passed Shadow’s face as he gawked at her when the elevator doors opened. “There is such a thing?”

“No.” She laughed. “It’s a saying but it gets the point across. He’d win, wouldn’t he? I’ve only been around him three months and I know I could live with him being locked up for a while. The man is a first-rate creep.”

“That is what most of them said about him. They had other names for him as well but none were flattering.”

“I can imagine.”

He motioned that she leave the elevator first and she hesitantly entered a parking structure. It was dimly lit and had concrete walls. Her car sat within sight about twenty spaces away from the elevator and half a dozen black SUVs were parked with it.

“We did not damage your car.”

The elevator closed behind them and Lauren didn’t see Wrath as her gaze continued to study her surroundings. She started to feel nervous about being alone with Shadow. She knew he and Wrath were close but after Vengeance, the only one of them she trusted was Wrath. The driver’s-side door opened on an SUV and a guy dressed in all black climbed out. He approached them quickly, his gaze locked on Lauren.

She tensed but immediately identified him as human since his face wasn’t covered by sunglasses, and his features were clearly shown. He had short brown hair, brown eyes and was almost as big as the New Species she’d met, minus a few inches in height. The uniform was the same that Brass and Shadow wore.

“Who’s the woman?” He glanced at Shadow.

“She’s helping us track our target.”

The man grinned and offered his hand. “I’m Brian. How are you?”

Lauren shook his hand firmly. “I’m Lauren. I’m fine.”

The elevator doors opened and Lauren turned to see who entered the parking level. Wrath and Brass stepped out of the elevator. Brass was dressed in black like Brian and Shadow but Wrath had changed into green fatigues. Wrath growled suddenly and lunged at Lauren.

She gasped as his arm hooked around her waist. He jerked her off her feet and spun her until his body blocked her from Brian. Another snarl came from him as he eased her back to her feet but kept his arm anchored around her middle. She twisted her head to look up at him but he glared at Brian with a scary expression.

Brian stepped back and put his hands up. “What’s wrong?”

Shadow sighed. “You touched her and were standing too close. He’s protective.”

Brian put more distance between him and the angry New Species. “Sorry, man. I didn’t know it would upset you. I was just introducing myself. It’s a normal human interaction.”

“Don’t get near her,” Wrath warned. “Are we clear, Brian?”

“Perfectly clear, sir.”

Wrath relaxed. “You know my name is Wrath. Don’t call me sir.”

The man nodded. “Sorry. It’s just that you’re the boss when I’m assigned to escort you guys. You’ve got the rank. ‘Sir’ is what I usually call the team leader. It’s just how Tim runs the ranks.” He paused. “What’s our game plan today?”

Brass stepped forward, taking charge. “We are driving the female to her apartment for her to change her clothing. She’s going to be taking Wrath into the target’s workplace while we monitor them from a distance. The female will talk to Bill’s coworkers and see if she can locate him.”