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The day had gone to hell in a handbasket. He hadn’t really chosen her. According to him, it was just something that happened.
Whatever, she thought as she raced down the street on her bike with the wind whipping at her clothes.
She wasn’t his. Just because they’d fucked didn’t make it so either. She should’ve stayed with her first impulse and avoided any kind of physical relationship with Lajos. At least things would’ve stayed the same and been less muddled.
The sex had been amazing, the best she’d ever had. And afterward, after he’d come, there’d been a sense of euphoric joy in the air. Like this was it. She’d finally found the one for her.
Could it have been the imprinting?
She didn’t know.
Why did he have to go and imprint on me?
Why couldn’t they just have kept fucking until they had to go their separate ways?
Lajos wouldn’t fit into her world any more than she would be able to fit into his. What would her parents think about all this? They had their own troubles worrying about the Yaruzi coming after them. And what would the other wolves in his Pack think of her if she let Lajos trail after her and the Yaruzi got to him? She couldn’t spend the rest of her days running from the Yaruzi, the Russian Shifters and Lajos’ Pack.
In no time at all, he would forget all about her and move on. She didn’t need his help or protection. She would show him. She would find out the information on the Shifters that he’d failed to get last night.
He’d said she’d been lucky when she’d brought down the Shifter at Trudy’s business. No, it had been calculating smarts. She’d used it before and she could use it again. It wasn’t as if these guys were the smartest kids on the block. Hell, neither was Lajos as far as she was concerned. It had taken a few quick movements to lose his tail on Ocean Drive.
After their big blow-up, she’d gone and done the second thing she’d wanted to do since coming to Miami. She’d hit Collins Avenue. Of course he’d followed her, staying a safe distance away. She’d ignored him while she’d perused some of the local boutiques. She hadn’t intended to buy anything, but that hadn’t stopped her from going from store to store, wearing Lajos down enough for him to drop his guard and, when he had, she’d gotten rid of him.
She’d gotten on her bike and she was on her way. Lajos would spend some time searching for her in the shops. Then, he might even go back to the room hoping to find her there. When he finally realized that she’d left, he would try to follow her, only to find that his bike wouldn’t budge. She’d pulled enough wiring out of his console and thrown it away to ensure that. Now, he would be the one waiting for her to come back with information.
She smirked at that. She’d heard him on the phone explaining to his brother that he was afraid to get any closer to the Shifter house for fear of being found out. That was one thing she wasn’t—afraid. She could go to their house, get inside and find more information to help Lajos and his team bring them down. They may not have been hired by the Yaruzi, but they had targeted her best friend. They had to pay.
But most of all she wanted to prove herself to Lajos. She was strong. She was competent. She wasn’t weak.
She would get in, find out the Shifters’ habits, where they stashed their weapons and what weapons they had. She would then get out and tell Lajos everything she’d found out. She would walk away, leaving him to stare at her back, dumbfounded that she had done exactly what he thought she couldn’t do.
After that, she would go her own way, leave Lajos to finish this out on his own. Her stake in this would be over.
A stab seemed to spread across her heart.
I don’t want to leave Lajos.
I have to. It’s for his and my own good.
She made a left at the light and took the long road through the affluent neighborhood. If this had been a leisurely trip, she would’ve decreased her speed and taken the time to appreciate the tropical-appearing houses that had been painted in an array of bright colors. They didn’t have houses like these in Japan. These were peach, pink and green that had been beautifully decorated with stonework. When she’d first moved to the States she’d known she wanted a home of her own, but that dream was long gone. She had to work two online teaching jobs to make ends meet and to stash a nice sum away for her ‘getaway’ fund.
She’d been a child then, thinking she could have what normal people had. Getting a house meant putting down roots, and that was one thing her dad had warned her against. She could never get complacent about staying in Jacksonville.
It was sad when she really thought about it. She’d have to leave her best friend in the world and the kids at the Boys and Girls Club, but, in reality, if she was dead she would be lost to them anyway. And a boyfriend, even marriage and kids was out of the question. Now that would be putting down some serious roots. What man in his right mind would want to marry a woman with that kind of baggage?
Maybe one that could protect me.
She snorted at the intrusive thought and made a right at the next street.
Lajos might think he can protect me, but he can’t. Not against the Yaruzi.
It didn’t matter what he was on the inside. The Yaruzi were evil inside and out and there were more of them than there were of Lajos.
She drove down the street, noticing the houses on this one were far less nice than the others she’d been ogling just moments before. She spotted the one where she and Lajos had stopped two nights before and kept going. She crossed over to the next block, noting every one she passed.
There it is.
Just as Lajos had described it, a blue two-story house. A light shone through the bottom floor windows, while the top floor windows were dark. She also noted two cars in the driveway and a truck parked on the street. She kept driving past and on to the next block. When she got there, she searched for somewhere to hide her bike. She spotted a restaurant, turned into the parking lot and parked in an empty space between two cars. She wanted her bike to blend in with the patrons’ vehicles and not stand out in any way.
She took her helmet and stored it, but kept her gloves on. She didn’t want to leave any fingerprints behind in the house. It would’ve been just her luck they were doing all types of illegal shit, and when the feds came to bust them and dusted the place for prints, hers would be all over it, mixed with theirs. No thank you. Part of being in the witness protection plan meant she had to stay out of trouble and keep her nose clean, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do.
She jogged up the block toward the house, making sure to keep to the shadows and close to the other buildings When she reached the house that was next to her target, she crept around to the backyard. It was dark and quiet, no dogs to bark and alert the entire neighborhood of her presence. She inched along the back, not wanting to activate motion sensor lights if there were any. When she reached the six-foot wooden privacy fence, she put her ear to it, listening for any sounds coming from next door. Hearing none, she jumped and grabbed the top of the fence. She slowly hauled herself up to peer into the backyard.
Empty.
From her position, she could see light peeking through dark curtains on the inside of the double glass doors. The second-floor windows in the back were just as dark as the front windows. A curtain in one of the windows blew in the light breeze. No screen.
If she played this right, she could get upstairs and look for any information that would lead to whoever was behind the hit on Trudy, and also any information that Lajos and his security team could use to bring these Shifters down.
She hauled the rest of her body over the fence and dropped down on the other side, landing as softly as possible. The sounds of the ruckus going on in the living room, boisterous talking and laughing, a television blaring and music playing the background came from the house. She held still and waited for any sign that they’d heard her, the music to stop or the voices to hush.
When the party raged on she let out her breath. They didn’t know she was here. She scanned the back of the house for motion sensor lights. There were two, but the sockets were empty. She guessed that if any of the Shifters came back here to change they didn’t want the neighbors to see wolves lurking in a residential backyard.
She crossed the yard quickly and reached the house. She tried her grip on the stone surface. She could do this. There were plenty of grooves, nooks and crannies to grab. Without wasting any more time, she scaled the wall and made it to the second-story window. She paused there, listening again. The sound from the living room was right below her but silence reigned on the second floor. She poked her head through and scanned the room. No one was there.
She pulled herself up and slowly crawled over the threshold. When her hands were on the floor, she dragged the rest of her body fully inside.
Her heart slammed in her chest. She had made it. Now the real work was about to begin.