She heard voices in the distance and hurriedly pushed buttons to clear the screen. The computer was still acting wacky, the screen changing colors then going back to the Internet page she’d been searching in the first place. When the voices grew closer, she simply hit ESCAPE and watched as the power died before closing the laptop.
Just as the door opened she stood. Rome walked in with two other men behind him, one his partner from the firm, Nick Delgado. She didn’t know the other man and felt wary because of that fact.
Rome’s gaze found hers. No matter where they were or who else was in the room with them, they found each other instantly. Moving from behind the desk, she tried for a smile but didn’t really know if it worked. Her mind was tossing with all the new information she had and she wasn’t quite sure how to act around Rome and his friends. Were they shifters, too?
“X thought it might be good to go over everything you know about the DEA’s investigation of me and the firm,” Rome said, still staring at her strangely but talking as if nothing was wrong.
She shrugged, not really comfortable telling them all she knew. Even though she didn’t think Rome was guilty, there was definitely a reason he was being investigated. Seeing the name Cortez in that file sealed that deal for her. “I don’t know much really. They just pulled me in, told me to trace the money and find out who he was dealing with.” She wondered if she’d said enough to get herself fired. Technically her job was already on the line if her superiors found out she was telling them anything.
“Who hired you?” the one who looked like a fullback said. He was a few inches taller than Rome with a much thicker build, bald head, and fierce-looking eyes.
“I work for the MPD,” she said straightening her back. No way was she letting them intimidate her.
“But the MPD aren’t the ones looking at us, are they?” This was from Nick, the too-handsome playboy with smiling eyes that held a hint of danger.
“The MPD and the DEA,” she offered. “I should be the one asking why. I mean, here I am trying to do my job and you turn the tables by doing an investigation on me. Who are you people?” she asked and received the pleasure of three intense gazes drilling her at once. She felt like she was displayed for sale—and that really shouldn’t have made her hot.
“Nick and X are shifters, like me,” Rome said.
She swallowed and looked at each man, somehow knowing Rome’s words were true. They were all shifters, a species unlike any she’d ever known or read about. Now the differences were clear. The muscular builds didn’t look gym-made but naturally acquired. And their stance—it was predatory. They were ready for anything, always watching, always waiting. Suddenly Rome’s master suite felt just a little smaller.
“How many of you are here? In the States, I mean?”
“More than you can imagine” was Nick’s reply.
“But we don’t mean anybody any harm,” Rome added, quickly tossing Nick an annoyed glance.
And then as if what they were saying just clicked in her head, Kalina gasped.
“What is it?” Rome asked moving closer to her.
“The murders,” she said slowly. “Brutal murders, now four of them. It’s all over the news.”
Every step she took back he took one forward, coming closer to her until her back hit the wall.
“It’s not us, Kalina. We do not kill.”
“But you did,” she whispered. “That night in the alley you did. You killed that man. They thought I did it. I let them think that because I didn’t want to … to…”
“To what? Admit that you’d seen a man change into a cat? That’s what you saw that night. A man shifting into a cat and that cat protecting the woman that was being hurt. To protect you, Kalina, I’d kill any man or cat. Believe me when I say that.”
Oh, she did believe him. She looked into his eyes, saw the bunch of his shoulders, and knew he was perfectly capable of killing.
“Shadow Shifters do not kill needlessly. We are a peaceful species.”
Nick smirked. “Until you piss us off.”
“Think about it, Kalina,” Rome said, ignoring Nick’s comment and keeping his eyes on her. “Think about who I am, all that I’ve told you, and all that you’ve learned about me. Do you think I’m a killer?”
She didn’t know what to think. Her brain was on information overload and her stomach was twisting and churning at the sight of three live shifters in the room with her. What if they all shifted at this very moment? Would they attack her? Would they kill her?
Then Rome touched her. His hand lightly cupping her cheek.
“Trust me, Kalina,” Rome said.
He kept saying that, kept asking that of her. Why? How could she trust a man she barely knew? But she did know him, knew him in a way that wasn’t conventional, wasn’t scripted, and wasn’t actually explainable. But did she trust him?
“The police are linking the murders by the method of the killings. They believe the brutality spells serial killer. What do you know about them?” she asked Rome, searching his eyes, his facial features, for any semblance of untruth. There was none. And she was relieved.
“I know who might be responsible.”
“Like X said, Rogues,” Nick put in, reminding Kalina they weren’t alone, although Rome was still cupping her cheek and staring into her eyes as if they were.
A muscle clenched in his jaw and he turned from her. The loss of contact had her gasping again, and before she could stop herself she was leaning into him, her front touching his back.
“We need to pull everyone together while Elder Alamar is still here,” Rome said. “Nick, you call the Faction Leaders, see what their availability is. X, you find out from that bastard Rogue you’ve got locked up who his boss is, tell him I’m not bullshitting with him on this. He can talk or he can…” Rome’s words trailed off.
She heard him speaking, felt the rise in his body temperature, but couldn’t tell if it was because she was touching him or if it was a reaction to his own words.
“Right,” X said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“What about her?” Nick asked.
Kalina knew exactly what “her” he was talking about. Reluctantly breaking her contact with Rome, she stepped from behind him. “I have to go back to work.”
“No.”
All the men echoed in unison.
“I’m not just going to sit around here twiddling my thumbs. I still have a job.” At least she hoped she did.
“You cannot go back to the station. Your investigation is over.”
“Excuse me, but that’s not your decision to make,” she argued with Rome.
“Kalina,” he said, turning to look at her. “Do you think I’m funding a drug cartel?”
“No,” she answered without qualm. “But that’s not the point. There are drug cartels out there and if the FBI thought you were funding them, then somebody’s putting your name in the mix. Wouldn’t you rather I be the one to find that information?”
“She’s got a point, Rome,” X said.
Rome’s head snapped in the other man’s direction so fast Kalina thought he was going to attack him. “She’s not going to that office.”
“She doesn’t have to. She can set up an office and work from here,” X offered.
“That’s ridiculous. I need to get out into the field,” Kalina argued.
“You cannot take what you know now into the field,” Rome told her.
“I wasn’t planning to. I mean, I’m not going to talk about you and the others. I just want to find out who’s trying to frame you.”
“You think it’s someone other than Rogues?” Nick asked.