The Alphas Game - Complete Set (8 page)

Chapter4

I woke up and told Grey everything that I had seen. His face was wrinkled with worry and concern, but there wasn’t much that I could do about that. I had much more important things to do. I was pretty sure that my vision was a trap, but it was the only real lead that we had. Traditional police work wasn’t working on this case and I felt the need to help as much as I could. I can’t say that I had innocent intentions, either. I had been toyed with and attacked, kidnapped and my secretary had been forced to confront death in the face, and I wasn’t happy. Not in the slightest. I felt the need for revenge in my entire being and it wasn’t a feeling that I would have normally. I don’t typically have a great desire for revenge. I can’t say that the changes these feelings stirred in me necessarily made me happy either.

“Are you sure this vision was planned.” Grey’s hand was on hers. It was obvious that he was worried about what this could mean.

“I think that she wants to use us to get close to him. I think that she’s playing a long game and she wants to back us into a corner.” Rosie couldn’t think of anything else. “I think she wants to use us to get close to this guy, whoever he is.”

“Or she could be distracting us, trying to get us to go somewhere else.” Grey tried to bring some other possibilities into the conversation. He didn’t like this, but like her, he realized that they really didn’t have any other place to go.

Rosie didn’t look like she really believed it. “I don’t think so. I think that she wants this guy. We should check him out.”

Grey walked over to his computer. Logging into the FBI database,  he was able to determine that Alfi had a sister who they believed had a name that started with ‘Y’, but he had never really been willing to talk about his family. His heart raced as he read over the file. He was drawn in so much that he didn’t notice the woman reading over his shoulder at first. “This looks good.” He murmured to himself.

“Yep, I think that we’re looking for him. Where is he?” She read much faster than he did, thanks to her profession and natural talents, so she had been waiting patiently for him to catch up to her so that he would scroll down the page. She knew that he wasn’t supposed to be showing her that information, but she still didn’t think that he would mind her sneaking a peek.

Grey jumped when she spoke, not expecting her to be so close to his ear. He flew backwards, knocking the chair down as he turned to face her. “I’m sorry.” He looked embarrassed by the entire situation. He hadn’t meant to react so strongly to her presence.

“No, I’m sorry that I startled you.” Her hands were held up, trying to show him that she wasn’t a threat.

His shoulders sagged again and he looked at her carefully, studying her face, realizing just how capable she was of molding it to whatever emotion she wanted it to show. At that moment she wanted to seem as nonthreatening as possible. “I shouldn’t have jumped like that.”

“I just figured that you knew I was there, what with your  amazing shifter senses and all.” She was teasing him and he knew it. There was a wide smile on her face, trying to seem less threatening.

He started to smile at her, feeling a little better about the mishap. “I’ve just been kind of nervous lately, ever since…” He let the sentence trail off.

She knew what he was talking about and nodded. “I know, I haven’t exactly felt like myself lately either.”

“So when are you and Kevin going to make it official?” He was trying to change the subject to something less rife with danger, but he had no idea that he had just gone from disarming a pipe bomb to walking into a mine field.

“We’re not going to make anything official.” She knew that he was fishing for information and didn’t exactly know how she felt about telling the truth. “We aren’t together.”

“You do know that it doesn’t work that way with our kind, right?” Grey was trying to help, but he quickly realized that he had made a mistake when her face started to contort into an angered glare.

“Well,  I’m not a shifter.” Her back straightened and she stood her ground, fists clenched by her side. “I don’t have to be his mate because we slept together a couple of times. I’m human, not one of you.” She was accusatory, seeming to blame his kind on the problems between her and Kevin.

“I don’t think that’s how he sees it.” Grey was trying to help her understand how the man worked, but he thought that she understood all too well, but was unwilling to accept the way of his people.

“It doesn’t matter how he sees it, I don’t belong to him. I don’t belong to anyone.” The thought of it seemed to have her all riled up, needing to separate herself from the shifter that might try to claim her.

“I don’t think that he’s going to push the issue.” Grey tried to comfort her. “He wasn’t very comfortable with the way his tribe did things. That’s why he left.”

“Are you sure he doesn’t consider me his mate or anything like that?” Rosie calmed down a bit and seemed a little more willing to listen.

“No, but I think that he’s really interested in you. He gets a strange, sort of sad, look on his face whenever he talks about you.”

“I don’t think that I could be with him again. Last time we were together…” It was her turn to leave the sentence trailing, knowing that she just couldn’t bring herself to explain the reason why she didn’t trust that man right now.

“That’s got to be hard.” Grey reached out, touching her shoulder. “I couldn’t even picture it.”

“I don’t want to blame him, it’s not his fault. He wasn’t in control, but that doesn’t change the fact that every time I see him I think that I’m going to wake up in that dark basement again.”

“That would put a damper on a relationship.” Grey cracked the joke, hoping that it would land and break some of the tension. It didn’t seem to work, so he walked over to the woman. Rosie was rubbing her arms, looking like she was hugging herself. He wrapped his arms around her, giving her the comfort that she would never admit that she needed. “It’ll be OK, we’ll stop this monster. I promise.”

She sniffled and wiped her face. “I’m the one supposed to be saying that.”

“You don’t have to be strong all the time.” He whispered the words as he brushed her hair out of her eyes. “You can accept help.”

“No, I don’t need help.”

He rolled his eyes at the stubborn absurdity of it all. “Everyone needs help. You just barely got over the fact that you were kidnapped by a man you trusted, someone that was controlled, so it wasn’t even his fault. It doesn’t change the fact that he frightens you a bit, except for adding the fact that you feel guilty about it now because you shouldn’t blame him.” He explained her feelings perfectly, looking down into her eyes. “It’s OK to feel that way. Somebody needed to tell you that. It’s OK to be afraid; it’s OK to be hurt and to not want to be around him anymore.”

She sniffled. The tears were going to flow no matter what she did. Grey had stepped up and told her the things that she needed to hear, even if she didn’t want to show the affected emotions. “Stop it.” She spoke through the tears that were running down her face.

“I’m sorry; I’m just trying to help.” He didn’t move away, his voice grew more subdued and she could sense a small throaty growl in the back of his throat. The sound took her mind off the problems that she was having at the moment. She bit her lip and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. He realized in that moment that something was about to happen and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that, instead of just seeing where it was going to go, he stepped back. “Let me get you a tissue.”

She smiled; it was one of those gentle smiles that will generally accompany a sad sort of inside joke. “I think I’m going to need more than one.” She motioned to her face; there were tears on her lips causing the light to dance on them.

“Of course.” He walked into the other room, cursing himself mentally for not being able to keep it together. He picked up the tissues and brought them back, handing the young woman the box, knowing that she would use as many as she needed. “Are you feeling any better?” He was trying to make conversation.

She wiped her nose first, eager to get the dripping snot out of the way. “I’ll be better soon. Have you thought about how you’re going to convince them to go talk to Alfi?”

“Not yet, I know that it’s not going to be easy.” He exhaled heavily, knowing that it could result in him losing his job.

“I don’t envy that conversation. I know that Kevin’s probably going to come yell at me for getting involved in this mess.”

“I’m going to do my best to keep you out of it. They don’t need to know that you knew I stole it.”

“Nobody’s going to believe that.”

“Doesn’t matter if they believe it, they won’t be able to prove that you know if you don’t say anything.”

“I might be able to help you out of this if I go in with you. The director actually kind of likes my style.” She was going to try to save everything that the man had fought for.

He reached across to her, touching her arm. The sparks that flew made him forget about what he was going to say as he felt the warmth of her skin. The detective looked up at him and he noticed the way her tears shimmered on her cheeks.  In a sad way, it was absolutely beautiful and he wanted to know more, more of her, more of her past, more of everything that she was.

He shook his head. It was complicated enough to deal with Kevin now, if he was to fall for the same girl they would lose their friendship forever. He had to stop himself. “How’s Hope doing?”

“Last I heard she was starting to recover, but it’s going to take a while.” The detective was happy for the distraction. No matter how handsome Grey was, the last thing she needed was another entanglement with a shifter.

“Is she?” He didn’t know how to ask, knowing that it wasn’t really any of his business.

“Is she what?”

“Does she like women more than men?” He tried to skate around the question.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

He didn’t want to answer. He didn’t know how Rosie would take the fact that her secretary was in love with her. That would be another entanglement. “There’s just something off about her pheromones.”

“Oh, you’re talking about her being attracted to me.” Rosie smiled at him.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He was nervous talking about this. He didn’t know why, it shouldn’t have been a problem, but he was pretty sure that his upbringing made the subject uncomfortable for him, but if he fought against it long enough that ingrained nervousness would fade in time.

She was getting nervous too, the man was sitting so close to her. It was impossible not to smell his cologne, not to feel the warmth of his body, not to want to take comfort in another broken soul, another injured party. She shook her head, hoping that it wouldn’t happen, not then. “I’m gonna go.”

“OK” He tried not to sound broken hearted as he walked her to the door. Before she opened it, he gave in to his instincts and wrapped his arms around her. “You can come here if you ever just need to get away.”

“Unless you want me to move into your guest room, that’s just not going to work.”

“You can stay with me.” He made the promise with full sincerity. “Get your stuff, take my extra key and I’ll go talk to the office.”

Chapter5

When he walked out, leaving her alone in his apartment she couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that they had managed to talk themselves out of a passionate night together. Respect for him swelled in her bosom and she started to wonder what was happening to her. “Pull yourself together. Men are nothing but trouble.” She demanded it, but knew that she wouldn’t listen to herself. Chapter 5

Grey had to go explain to his superiors as to why he had taken evidence. It was going to be hard to get clearance for the trip that we  wanted to take. He knew how much he risked by taking the evidence and having me work with it, but he didn’t care. He wanted to stop the monster that had caused so much pain in our lives. He wanted to know why we had been targeted. He wanted to be able to sleep again, rest without worrying about if he would be in his own mind in the morning. He needed these things and I can’t say that I blamed  him. 

“What were you thinking?” The director’s bald head had flushed red. He was standing with his hands flat on his desk and yelling, it was obvious to anyone passing, but he didn’t seem to care. “You could have ruined this entire investigation.” The man was shouting so loud that people passing by felt compelled to stare into the room trying to figure out what this was about. The glass walls betrayed Director Schmidt’s rage to the world, showing everyone that the shifter had pushed him too far to be easily forgiven.

Grey tried to change the subject from his indiscretion. “Look, Alfi’s in a prison in Texas. We need to go talk to him. He might be able to point us in the right direction.”

“You already told me that there was something strange going on with this, why should I believe it.”

“We think that she was leading us to him, hoping that we would give her a way to get in. If she’s after him, the man is a mass murderer; we can’t let him out into public.”

“He can stay right where he is.” The director asserted, calming down enough to sit back down. The problem with his moods was how quickly they shifted. The man was a consummate actor, someone who you never knew if you could believe or not. It was how he kept his power in a room full of shifters that always seemed to be twice his size. His secrecy helped maintain his strength, because no one really knew what he was. “He’s fine there.”

“We should at least go talk to him.” Grey was insisting that they do something with this information, but his words seemed to be falling on deaf ears. “I did it, I know I did. I know it was wrong, but I don’t really care. This woman has hurt people, killed people, entire families just trying to enjoy a nice meal out with their kids. We have to stop her and I’m willing to put my career on the line to get it done.”

“Are you sure that this is the right thing to do?”

“Absolutely, we need to at least go check him out.” He was still stuck on the fact that the clue he had risked everything to get might just be ignored because the director was so angry with him for breaking protocol. “We weren’t getting anywhere using traditional methods.”

“I know that we weren’t. Why didn’t you ask me?”

Director Schmidt startled Grey with his words. “What are you talking about?”

“I was about to  release the note to her. I had already signed the paperwork when we noticed that it was gone from Evidence.”

Grey dropped his head. He didn’t know what to say because the embarrassment was beyond extreme. “I want to bring this woman in. I need to stop her.”

“I understand that, but we have rules for a reason,  damn it.” The older man cursed at his wayward agent, knowing that he was going to let him get away with this one breach due to the fact that he had already signed the paperwork to allow the woman to work with the note by the time that the werewolf had stolen it. “Go pick her up. You guys are heading to Texas.” He waved him away. “I’ll call Agent Leonard and get him to meet you here.”

The three met at the office, all three of them had a small bag on hand, ready to go for a day or two. “How’s Hope doing? Is someone going to stay with her?”

Rosie looked down at her feet, still feeling entirely unneeded. “She’s got a lot of family; she’s got people staying with her all the time.”

“I’m sure she’s going to miss you.” Kevin made a move toward her and she couldn’t  help but shift away nervously.

“Let’s get going.” They walked out of the building and threw their small luggage into the back of the government issue classic black SUV, one that Grey had been assigned for this mission. “I’ll drive.” He climbed into the driver’s seat and Agent Leonard climbed in beside him. Rosie shifted herself to the center seat in the back so that she could be part of any conversation that she wanted to be in, but conversation wasn’t forthcoming, what had once been a dynamic and amazing powerful team seemed to be fractured by this case.

It took a few minutes for Agent Randolph to realize the problem. “I think we’re being followed.”

“Are you sure?” Rosie turned her head and started examining the traffic that was following them. There were several cars that seemed to be acting a little erratically.

“I can’t say it’s a hundred percent, but I would say ninety percent sure that the big yellow Hummer  is following us.”

“You would think they’d pick a better option. A bright yellow Hummer  is just too identifiable.” Kevin blew off the idea, scoffing at his partner’s  claim.

Rosie was looking at the car. She squinted. “The guy in the driver’s seat does look a little strange.”

“What are you talking about?” Kevin still didn’t believe that anything was happening.

Nobody had a chance to respond to his question. The detective in the back seat started to scream. “Watch out!” She brought her head down, shielding it with her hands.

“Crap!” Grey bellowed the word as he tried to lessen the impact by pulling onto the median. The lion didn’t speak; instead he was getting ready for a fight. They all braced for impact. When it happened no one was surprised by the shuddering crash that echoed through the cabin. The vehicle spun in a circle, ending up behind the other vehicle. “They’re trying to kill us.”

Kevin looked up. “No they’re not, they moved at the last second to minimize the damage.” The car rolled to a stop. “Take the car and go, she won’t be able to fight this fight.” He motioned toward the human in the back seat, thinking that he was doing the right thing.

“You’re not leaving this car. They’re turning around and coming back. We need to get moving.” Grey informed his partner. Kevin agreed and pulled out his gun getting ready to fire from the window of a moving car. He hadn’t exactly trained for this, and knew that it was going to be challenging to aim, but there weren’t many other options.

“MOVE!” The detective yelled at the arguing FBI agents, knowing that there was going to be trouble if they didn’t get to safety soon. The road was crowded, with a lot of people heading to the airport on a hot summer day. Grey responded by forcing the wheel to the side and slamming his foot on the gas pedal. They had to get to the airport.

They started to weave through traffic with great care and accuracy, but the speed made it terrifying. There was a grinding noise as they drove. “What the hell happened?” Kevin tried to look behind them but all he saw was a shower of sparks.

Rosie squinted behind the seat she was sitting in. It was hard to see any car that might be behind them. “Do you see the Hummer?” The shower of sparks was like a heavy fog of fire out of the back window. She indicated the side mirrors, but no one was looking in  her direction.

Grey checked the side mirrors,  knowing what the detective was referring to. “Nope, I think we managed to lose it.”

She unbuckled and placed half of her body over the back seat in order to look out of the back window a little better. Looking down she could identify the problem. “I see it. The bumper did its job; it’s just hanging down now.”

“We need to pull over, can you call this in?” The driver asked Kevin, knowing that the man already had his phone out and was dialing. The smart phone flashed in the growing twilight.

“Doing it now.” Kevin put the phone over his ear and started to talk to the director, telling him what had happened on the way while Grey found a gas station to pull into. He found one and managed to make his way into the parking lot. He stepped out of the car and walked around to the back, checking on the damage.

When he saw what had happened to the bumper,  he sighed. “Any news?”

“None yet.” Kevin shouted back at his partner as he stepped out of the car himself. “How bad is the damage?”

“The bumper fell off.” The werelion repeated the information through the phone as he noticed three men walking toward them. The scent hit his nose immediately. They smelled like death. “Damn it!” He cursed as he looked up, realizing that the sun was just starting to go down.

“Vampires.” Grey had noticed them as well and knew that it wasn’t going to end well. The men stepped between the aggressors and the car, getting ready for a fight. They hadn’t shifted yet, hoping that this was all a misunderstanding.

It didn’t turn out to be a misunderstanding however, because the men burst into movement just as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. Both men immediately shifted, concentrating to make the effect come sooner, but they couldn’t stop the first blow, it was too fast. Both men took a punch in the gut while the door got ripped off of the hinges. “Where are you?” The creature of the night taunted. “I smell you in there.”

Rosie had hidden in the back of the car, behind the back seat in the area where the hatchback covered. In the back, she managed to find the gun safe and was trying to pick it. She needed something to defend herself.

The two shifters reacted as quickly as they could, knowing that they weren’t as fast as the blood sucking creatures they were facing. Both men turned to the vampire who was climbing into the vehicle. Their animalistic eyes glanced at each other, and that was all of the communication that was needed. The other two vampires hit them as they each gripped an arm and forced him out of the car, throwing with unified force and he landed almost a block away. 

They were both ready to fight and the combat seemed to happen too  quickly for human eyes to be able to see, but the detective was able to determine that most of the blood flowing down the windows and into the backseat belonged to the vampires who must have recently fed. She recognized the smell of vampire blood, it always smelled old, like the blood that had been left to sit on the floor for days. Her eyes started to water from the sheer stench of it as she saw the dirty blond fur of a lion in his hybrid form hit the window in front of her face. She noticed that his mane was matted with blood, even in the back. The sheer amount of the sticky red substance made her shudder and remember painful memories. “Let this be over soon.” She wanted to curse and yell, she wanted it to end, but she knew that she had to keep it together. She continued to struggle with the gun safe, but she didn’t have her tools on her so it seemed to be pretty futile. She knew that she could have yelled at the men, gotten their attention so that they could toss her the key, but the fight looked pretty even, if she stuck her nose into the combat it might go poorly for the men that were defending her.

She heard the sirens before she saw the lights of the officers coming to their aid. They were the special cops, the ones that dealt with problem supernatural creatures. The vampires must have heard it too  because they took off, quickly disappearing into the darkness and moving with lightning speed that the shifters didn’t stand a chance to be able to chase. The growling voice was almost unintelligible. “They got away.” The lion shifted on his feet, but he wasn’t eager to chase them at this point.

An elongated snout made its way into the backseat of the car. The wolfish face sniffed a few times before he looked over into the trunk area. Once he laid eyes on the witch he nodded and stepped out of the car, moving his way to the back hatch. Rosie did her best not to laugh as she saw him fumble with the keys trying to get it into the lock. His hands had formed giant claws covered in gray fur that were meant for fighting or hunting, but not for gripping. The large hairy knuckles weren’t made for fine manual dexterity and she could hear the deep gravelly voice starting to curse as he changed back. The shift was dramatic and strange as the hair started to retract into his body. His shape changed in what must have been the most uncomfortable fashion, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

Finally able to unlock the back he opened it and looked at the woman. “Are you doing alright?” The question was laced with concern.

“I’ve been a little less squished in my life.” She smiled up at him. “Where’s Kevin?”

“He’s talking to the cops, clearing everything so that we can get to the airport.”

“Great, help me up and we’ll go.” She noticed that his cheap suit was still in one piece, after seemingly disappearing while he was shifted. She turned on her senses, carefully watching the fabric and noticed that it was enchanted for the first time. She chose not to speak, remembering the fact that there were probably normal humans around, but they would only see what they wanted to see, five humans facing off with little realization about how powerful the creatures they were watching are. He helped lift her up, carefully placing her onto her feet.

The three made their statements and then another agent gave them a ride over to the airport. They climbed out of the car, knowing that they had made the first leg of their journey successfully.