“Get what?” James took his cup back and headed toward the kitchen.
I followed. “Ever since Ray Hart zeroed in on me like a bloodhound, I’ve been trying to puzzle out the real catalyst. One day I was living my life, and the next he was dogging my every move. He just inadvertently revealed what set him off. It was Milo Curtis. I don’t know why I never put that together before now.” I stopped at the kitchen doorway. James had his hand on the fridge door, the muscles in his back flexing. I was momentarily lost.
“And who is this Milo Curtis bloke?” James set food on the counter.
“Um.” I cleared my throat. “Milo Curtis was Ray’s first big case, that’s who.” I walked over and started helping James with breakfast. “Milo was a big-time cat burglar doing all these huge heists around town. He stole millions. All these rich people with lots of power were getting hit, and subsequently putting pressure on the mayor and police department to find him. Everyone in the precinct was on edge. Evidentially, and unbeknownst to me at the time, he must’ve been Ray’s ticket to the top.”
James grabbed a pan off my hanging rack. “And let me guess, you got this Milo Curtis fellow your first time out, and in the process made the good detective look like a wanker who couldn’t find his own arse with both hands.”
“That about covers it.” I chuckled. “I found out later Milo was a shifter of some kind. He disappeared soon after his arraignment, which is why I thought Ray never cared too much about the case, because it remained unsolved with the suspect on the loose. But the robberies stopped altogether, and it turned out that was all that had mattered to the chief. They didn’t care about an arrest, they just wanted the hits to stop. And they did.”
“Ray Hart is a bloody idiot.” James started to whip the pancake batter. “He could stand to learn a lesson or two.”
I needed a shower. Watching James make pancakes with no shirt on was going to ensure it was a cold one. I headed for the bathroom, calling over my shoulder, “Yes, but now that same idiot wants payback, and by the looks of it, preferably in the form of my personal demise. He’s going to do everything in his power to get me.”
I heard an egg crack against the pan. “Let him try.”
12
The phone rang while I was in the shower. We were set to meet my father, brother, and the other wolves who’d made it into town in my office conference room in an hour.
Not using my place of business as the meeting location had apparently been discussed briefly, because a truckload of wolves descending on the premises would be a screaming beacon announcing to the world I’d changed. But if a werewolf had already found me in two days, my secret was already out. There was no stopping the train now, even though I would’ve loved to derail it completely.
We stood in the kitchen eating breakfast, because there was no furniture for sitting. I watched James eat, his powerful body up against the counter. A small pang surfaced in my chest about what we did last night. I didn’t feel in any way attached to him, even though he was an unbelievable specimen, but it was kind of weird to be slutty and okay with it.
Do you feel any flutters? I asked my wolf.
She yawned at me and closed her eyes.
I didn’t want it to be strange between James and I, so I tried to clear the air. “Um, James, about last night … I hope that was … you know … okay with you …”
James let out a throaty laugh. “No need to worry yourself. My wolf couldn’t have denied your wolf anything in the world last night. I don’t regret our little tryst one bit.”
“I don’t either,” I admitted truthfully. “It was a nice way to end an extremely stressful evening. I felt better immediately.” I had to ask one more thing. “James, do I … I smell different to you? Not just because I’m a wolf now, but I mean, different than other human females?” I shifted uneasily. It was totally embarrassing having this conversation in my kitchen. “I’m asking because it sort of seemed like … I don’t know, I was giving off some weird hormonal thing last night I had no control over.”
“Jessica, last night you smelled like nothing I’d ever come across before. It set me right off the moment I entered your apartment. It sent my wolf into a bloody frenzy. It was actually hard for me to get you out of my mind so I could sort out the rogue. My wolf paced with a constant need to satisfy you, to comfort you, to enjoy you thoroughly. It was all I could do to keep a rein on things. By the time we had the place to ourselves, your scent intensified by three hundredfold. There was no stopping it.”