CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

TRAVIS STIFLED A groan at the sight of Eden’s curvy hips swaying in front of him as he followed her up the stairs to Brandon’s third-floor apartment. In addition to being supermodel gorgeous, with long, silky hair and big, blue eyes that turned the most brilliant green he’d ever seen when she did the whole cat-thing, she had an absolutely killer body.

He’d woken up this morning with her taste on his tongue and a hard-on in his boxer briefs that could have cut glass. Not that he was complaining. Eden was amazing. He’d kissed a few women in his time, but none had gotten to him like she had. One kiss and he’d been transported to a heaven he hadn’t even known existed. It sounded crazy, but he couldn’t think of any other way to describe the effect she had on him.

And okay, yeah, he’d been a little shocked to find out she was a feline shifter. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have called bullshit. But last night he’d discovered the world was far more complicated than he’d ever thought. No way in hell did he think Eden was a freak, though. Even when the fangs and claws came out, she was beautiful. Nothing she’d told him changed that.

Travis was so lost in thoughts of Eden, he didn’t even consider how they were going to get into Brandon’s apartment until they were at the guy’s door. He could kick it in, but that would probably attract a lot more attention than they wanted.

He was about to ask Eden if she had any special kitty-cat skills that would get them inside when she pulled out a lock pick set and dropped to one knee in front of the door. Well, damn.

“You sure you work for the good guys?” he asked as he followed her into the apartment and quietly closed the door behind them. “Because you do bad really well.”

She laughed as she switched on the overhead light, illuminating the living room. “I’m sure. But thanks for the compliment.”

Travis glanced around. Other than the sweet television that took up almost the whole wall opposite the couch, the place could have been his apartment. Unlike Brandon, he’d never splurged for a TV the size of a movie screen because he was never home long enough to watch it. Then again, Brandon probably wasn’t, either.

“What are we hoping to find?” Travis asked.

“I’m not sure,” Eden admitted. “Something indicating why those guys went after Brandon—if he was their intended target. Just look for anything suspicious. I’ll take the bedrooms.”

Suspicious could be a broad definition, Travis thought as he snooped around the living room. He was used to kicking in doors and taking down terrorists, not tossing an apartment. He could pass right by something important and never know it. Luckily, Brandon didn’t have a lot of places to hide stuff unless you counted the toilet bowl tank in the small bathroom off the main living area, and there wasn’t anything in there.

Wondering if Eden had better luck, Travis walked into the guest room-slash-home office. She was leaning over a laptop computer on the desk near the window.

“You said you’re good with computers, right?” she asked. “Any chance you can hack into this one?”

He grinned. Now they were talking. “There isn’t a computer I can’t hack.”

Eden stepped aside so he could sit down, then watched as he typed in the security password a few seconds later.

“Damn,” she said. “You are good. How’d you figure out his password so fast?”

“Because his password is password.”

“Seriously?”

Travis chuckled. “You’d be surprised how many people use it.”

She folded her arms and leaned her hip against the desk. “Huh.”

Travis ran his finger over the touchpad, clicking on the document folders and scanning the titles. He’d barely gotten anywhere when Eden’s phone rang. She frowned a little when she saw the name on the call screen.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“It’s Emily.” She thumbed the button and held the phone to her ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

Whatever Emily said must have alarmed the hell out of Eden because her eyes widened as she threw a quick glance at him.

“What a coincidence,” Eden said into the phone. “I’m at a coffee shop right down the street from Brandon’s place. Why don’t I meet you in the parking lot and you can show me what you’ve come up with for the DJ’s playlist?”

Eden hung up and shoved the phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “Emily and Brandon just pulled into the parking lot. I’m going to run down there and stall them. Wrap up as fast as you can then get out of here. I’ll meet you at the side door with the car.”

Travis opened his mouth to ask how the hell she was going to make it downstairs without them seeing her come out the front door of the apartment building, but Eden was already opening the sliding glass door that led onto a balcony. He didn’t even have time to ask what the hell she was doing before she leaped over the railing.

What the hell?

He raced onto the balcony just in time to watch her hit the ground. The force of the landing dropped her to one knee, but then she was up and running for the front of the complex like she was some kind of frigging superhero.

Shit.

Eden had forgotten to tell him about the part where she could jump off a third-floor balcony and land on her feet. Thank God it was nighttime and no one was around or she’d be on every social media site right now.

Travis slid the door closed then locked it before going back over to the desk. He quickly searched through the folders, looking for anything unusual. That was hard when he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for. A picture of Eden’s future brother-in-law cheating on Emily? A file with photos of the man accepting a bribe from a Mexican drug lord?

Luckily, Brandon was organized to the anal-retentive degree. He had perfectly labeled folders for his military, medical, and tax records, his various insurance policies, personal photos, and even one for the upcoming wedding and honeymoon to Hawaii. None of it was even remotely suspicious.

Travis glanced at his watch. Two minutes left. Just enough time to check Brandon’s Internet browsing history, including the sites that couldn’t be deleted and only a hacker could find. A quick glance confirmed Brandon was boring as hell.

Sure, he’d looked at a few porn sites—the guy wasn’t a monk—but it was dull, kink-free stuff, and there wasn’t much of it. The only other places he regularly visited were news and sports media outlets, wedding and honeymoon sites, and he made frequent checks to the couple’s gift registry at a fancy store. No dives into the dark web, no searches for explosives or drugs, nothing indicating the man had ever been involved in anything to get him beaten up by hired professionals.

Travis took a quick second to skim through Brandon’s emails, but there was nothing of any interest in those, either. Most of it was work stuff, and the rest lots of back and forth conversations with either Emily or Tim.

Shaking his head, Travis logged off the computer and shut it down then did a fast circuit of the apartment to make sure everything was back in its place before he bolted for the door. He turned right going out, heading for the emergency stairwell at the end of the building instead of the main one he and Eden had used earlier. He pushed open the heavy metal door at the end of the hall when he heard a man and woman in the midst of conversation at the other end of the corridor.

Eden pulled up in his rental car the moment he stepped outside. He opened the passenger door and got in as if they’d done this a hundred times.

“Anything?” she asked as she drove out of the parking lot.

He shook his head. “Nothing. As far as I can tell, your sister’s fiancé is clean. The guy barely even looks at porn, much less anything sinister on the Internet. I didn’t see anything in his email, either.”

She sighed. “That’s good, I guess.”

“But you still think Brandon’s involved in something.”

Eden chewed on her lower lip a moment before answering. “Call it feline instinct, but yeah.” She pulled into the lot of her hotel and found a space then glanced at him. “Do you want to come in so we can regroup and figure out where to go next? Or do you have other plans?”

He grinned. “I’m all yours.”

Eden smiled back and for a second, he thought he caught a flash of green in her eyes, but she turned away to open her door before he could be sure.

They just walked into her room when her cell phone rang. She dug it out of her pocket and held it to her ear.

“Hey, Kendra,” she said. “Hang on. I’m going to put you on speaker phone so Travis can hear, too.”

Eden thumbed the speaker button, then set her iPhone on the small, circular table to one side of the room and sat down.

“First off,” Kendra said after Eden made the introductions, “I still haven’t ID’ed the other three guys from the alley, but at least I have something to go on. We got lucky when they ran a red light a few blocks from the restaurant. The photo is pretty grainy because it’s designed to focus mostly on the license plate and not so much the occupants of the vehicle, but tech is working to clear up the picture enough for facial recognition. I’m hoping to have something soon.”

“You’re telling me you can’t ID a six-foot-four wolf shifter without facial recognition?” Eden asked. “How many of them can there be?”

There was silence on the other end of the speaker. “Are we really going to have this conversation in front of Travis?”

Eden gave him a smile. “We are.”

More silence, then, “O-kay. Well, in that case, I’m still working through a few different angles. But the bottom line is that he’s almost certainly from outside the US and he’s not in our shifter database. The only way a shifter like him can stay off our radar is if he’s actively hiding from us, probably with the help of some very powerful people.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Eden said.

“It isn’t,” Kendra agreed. “But for what it’s worth, I’m thinking Brandon wasn’t the target of that beatdown. It was Tim.”

Eden frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“Because while both guys are similar on the surface—officers at the Naval Operation Center at Norfolk with good military records—when you dig a little deeper, you realize that’s where the similarities end. Brandon is seriously squared away while Tim is broke and in debt up to his eyeballs. He’s using credit cards to pay for everything, including his other credit cards. My guess is he either has a substance abuse issue or a gambling problem. Considering his military record is still clean, I’m leaning toward the latter. Regardless, he’s close to everything blowing up in his face.”

“How the hell has he kept his security clearance if he’s in debt and has a gambling problem?” Travis asked. “Those things are red flags to the investigators when they do periodic background checks.”

“Usually they are,” Kendra agreed. “It’s probably just a matter of time until they catch him.”

Eden considered that. “If it’s gambling, do you think you can find out who his bookie is?”

“Yeah, I can probably find that out,” Kendra said. “But if it’s Tim and not Brandon, why do you care?”

“Because Brandon and Tim are best friends and crap like this has a way of seeping into the lives of everyone around the person with the actual problem. I want to make sure none of this gets within ten miles of my sister.”

Kendra hung up a little while later, promising to find out who Tim’s bookie was—assuming they were right and he had one—then get back to them as quickly as she could.

“Since it looks like we’re on hold until Kendra comes through with some more info for us, do you want to go grab dinner?” Eden asked.

“Dinner sounds good,” he said. “But I’m fine if you want to stay here and order room service.”

Travis didn’t mind going out, but he’d much prefer to hang out with Eden alone.

She smiled. “I’ve eaten off the room service menu a couple times already. It’s not very good.”

He didn’t really care what they ate—or if they ate at all. He grinned. “That’s okay. The company will make up for it.”

Travis expected her to laugh at what probably sounded like a really cheesy come-on line, but instead she regarded him seriously. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

He wondered where this was going but nodded nonetheless.

“Why aren’t you bothered by knowing what I am?” she asked quietly.

Of all the things he’d expected her to come out with, this hadn’t been one of them. “What do you mean, knowing what you are? You’re a beautiful, fearless woman who knows how to kick ass. Why would any of that bother me? Is there some other aspect to your shifter nature you haven’t told me about yet? Do you get all furry during a full moon and shed all over the couch?”

Eden laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t get furry, thank God. And as far as other aspects of my shifter nature, you’ve seen the obvious stuff. I can run fast and jump from heights regular humans can’t. And as you probably figured out when I was fighting that other shifter, I’m pretty strong for my size.”

Yeah, he’d definitely figured that out. “What about the not-so-obvious stuff?”

“Well, I heal from wounds quickly. I can see in the dark. And I can hear a person’s heart beating from across the room. But none of those things really matter that much. For most people who learn my secret, it’s all about the claws and fangs.” She gave him a sad smile. “Those are the things that tend to freak them out.”

Damn. He couldn’t believe Eden was insecure about her unique gifts, especially since she was so amazing. Although, now he thought about it, he supposed it wasn’t so difficult to believe. It had to suck not being able to tell anyone about a secret like the one she was carrying around. Hell, she hadn’t even told her family. And while society as a whole liked to think they were accepting of those who were different, there were people in the world who’d treat Eden like shit. The thought alone was enough to piss the hell out of him.

“You know what?” he said. “If your claws and fangs freak people out, screw ’em. They’re stupid and you don’t need them.”

She eyed him skeptically. “So, you’re telling me that my claws and fangs don’t bother you even a little?”

Travis took Eden’s hand and pulled her out of her seat then tugged her forward until she was sitting astride his thighs. “Your claws and fangs don’t bother me even a little. Is that so hard to believe?”

She wiggled until she got comfortable in his lap then draped her arms around his neck. Her gyrating went a long way toward making him uncomfortable, but he’d survive.

“Actually, it is a little hard to believe,” she admitted softly. “You’re the first man who has ever kissed me after knowing what I look like when I shift. The only other people who even know what I am are the people I work with and most of them never look at me the same after the fact.”

He grasped her hips and tugged her higher up on his lap until she was pressing against his hard-on. “I’m looking at you the same.” He slid his hand in her long, dark hair. “And if you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m interested in doing a lot more than kissing you.”

Eden’s lips curved into a sexy smile. “I noticed. Kind of hard not to.” She rotated her hips, grinding against him and doing crazy things to his cock. “Is all of that for me?”

“And then some.”

Tightening his hand in her hair, Travis tugged her forward for a kiss. He wasn’t sure if it was her shifter nature or because he’d simply never kissed a woman this beautiful before, but either way, Eden’s tongue was sweeter than anything he’d ever tasted. And if she was worried earlier about whether he was seriously into her, she must have figured out just how into her he was because now she didn’t hold back. She grabbed a handful of his hair, letting out what sure sounded like a purr as she kissed him.

The hand he had on her hip took it upon itself to reach around to grab her ass. Her curves flexed teasingly beneath his fingers as she did her little wiggle dance on his lap. She had one tight ass, that was for sure, and he couldn’t wait to see it without all these damn clothes getting in the way.

Travis groaned and yanked her against him even harder, but Eden didn’t seem to mind. She simply moaned softly and lifted her feet from the floor to hook them around the back of the chair, pressing every ounce of her weight completely down on him.

Suddenly, she lifted her head to look at him, her breathing ragged, a hungry expression on her face, her eyes glowing a clear, vivid green that shone bright even in the well-lit room. His gaze traveled down to her lips, and he saw that her fangs were peeking out. They must do that when she got aroused. And they were damn sexy, just like the rest of her.

Eden leaned closer until her forehead was pressed to his, her beautiful green eyes mere inches away from his.

“Are you completely sure you’re okay with this?” she whispered.

She was testing him, he realized, trying to see if he’d get squeamish at the last second. He slipped the hand he had in her hair along her jaw to cup her chin, pulling her down to kiss her softly and carefully. He might think her fangs were sexy, but he was also smart enough to recognize they were sharp. A little danger added spice to the bedroom. A trip to the emergency room, not so much.

He gently ran his tongue over the tips of her fangs, feeling a little quiver of excitement pass through her as he did. He groaned in appreciation, wanting to make sure Eden knew how much he was enjoying it, too.

Travis pushed up the bottom of her T-shirt and was moving up her perfectly toned stomach when Eden’s cell phone rang.

She pulled her mouth away from his with a growl of frustration. “I’d better get that. It could be Kendra.”

She twisted around on his lap—practically killing him in the process—and snatched the phone off the table. “Hey, Emily. Everything okay?”

Travis stopped toying with the buttons on Eden’s jeans when he felt her tense. A moment later, she frowned.

“Emily, calm down,” she said. “I’ll be over there in a few minutes. Just don’t do anything crazy until I get to your place, okay?”

Travis tensed, too. He’d only heard Eden’s end of the conversation, but it didn’t sound good.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when she hung up.

She ran her hand through her hair. “I’m not sure. I’m hoping this is pre-wedding jitters, but Emily is in full-on freak-out mode about marrying Brandon. I’m sorry to put this,” she pointed down between their bodies, “on hold, but I need to go talk to her.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said as Eden climbed off. “Something tells me this” —he pointed down at the bulge in his jeans— “isn’t going anywhere for a while.”

She smiled and leaned over to pick up her phone, giving him a quick kiss at the same time. “Good. A girl likes to know she’s wanted.”

Oh, he definitely wanted her.

Eden darted for her car the moment they got to the parking lot, giving him a wave and saying she’d call as soon as she could. Then she jumped in her car and sped away like a whirlwind.

It was a pretty apt description, he supposed. She certainly had blown into his life out of nowhere and tossed him around like nothing he’d ever felt. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be leaving him lying on the ground afterward with a mouth full of dirt for his troubles.