The Alphas Game - Complete Set (3 page)

Chapter3

My office isn’t anything special, but it’s the place that I feel the safest, or at least I used to feel perfectly safe within these walls. I did feel like this was the place where  I belonged until it was broken into twice. Now I’m not quite sure where I feel safe anymore, but you would be insane if you think that I would let anyone else know that. The men, ex-partners that had a gigantic wedge thrust between them, are sitting right here in my office. It’s not easy to explain how beautiful both of these men look. Kevin is a little more wild and untamed than his wolf partner, he doesn’t put the same care into his appearance. That’s what makes him a dangerous type of safe, but his partner is broken, vulnerable. Together they encompass my weaknesses in men. Their differences are what make them both so appealing. Kevin has his dark blond hair with magnificent volume that doesn’t like to be controlled and Grey’s hair is nearly black and well maintained, carefully styled. The lion’s eyes are hazel and change like the ocean while the wolf has steady black eyes; both men carry mystery and pain deep in their soul. Agent Leonard is a little taller than Agent Randolph, but both men stand over six feet tall with magnificently powerful statures. Randolph has a bit more of a muscular build, but then again neither of them have any lack of physical power. It’s almost enough to make any red-blooded woman swoon to be in the same room as both of them in their working men suits, with ties a little loose, jackets off and sleeves rolled up, working hard at solving a seemingly impossible mystery.

“Ysella, is that how I say it?” The lion had to ask, interrupting the silence as the three people in the detective's office poured over files and statements, drawing and depositions. He pronounced it ‘E-cell-a’.

“Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s her name.” Rosie’s voice was a little higher pitched than it usually was. Both shifters took careful note of it, but chose not to ask any questions, they could figure it out anyway. It happened a lot when he and Grey were alone with a woman.

“Now what do we do with this information?” Kevin was leafing through the carefully constructed time line that was still missing huge chunks of time that relied on Grey’s still spotty memory, he was positive that things were out of order, but didn’t know what else he could do about it.

“I don’t know yet.” Grey chewed on his lip as he looked at crime scene photographs; he was looking at the pool of blood on the ground outside of a motel room, the one where Kevin and he had fought. It was a photo that would haunt him for the rest of his life. The thought that he might have killed the man made him fidgety.

Rosie yawned; she had gone over this time and time again. “We have a first name, no last name. What else do we know?” She pulled out a piece of paper and started to make a list. By the time they were finished it was as sparse and unpopulated as the time-line they had already worked on, even if the time-line was a part of the list. The woman might be a fairy of some sort, but they had no idea what kind she was. She might be able to change her appearance, and she was after something having to do with the prisons full of supernatural creatures. The three of them stared at the list, neatly transcribed from paper to a whiteboard. “Maybe we should check out the prison populations again, checking out anyone with fairy connections.”

“We’ve already done that.” It wasn’t a whine, but could easily have turned into one. The wolf was just as frustrated as the other two were. “It just seems like there is nothing to go on. Whoever’s behind this, they’re good.”

“I’ll second that, but I’m gonna find her.” Rosie sat back and put her feet up on her desk, picking up the sandwich that they had ordered for lunch and taking a large bite out of it. She was chewing carefully when all hell broke loose.

The popping sound called everyone to attention, but it wasn’t just some cap gun or an engine backfiring. Everyone in law enforcement automatically understands the sound and the terror that follows it. Someone was firing a gun. The shattering glass that immediately followed the noises told them how close it was. “Hope!” Rosie screamed as she rushed for the door, heading out into the glass windowed front office.

She hit the ground before she could get to the door. The bullets were still flying, it sounded like automatic weapons fire, and she would probably be killed before she could get to the secretary. Grey looked down into her face, brown eyes brimming with concern for the best friend that she had ever known and found himself taking comfort in her closeness. They were staring at each other, in this slightly familiar situation, except that the  last time she had tackled him. A flash of that memory rushed into his mind, he remembered how warm her body had been and he noticed that the heat was still there. Hope was in danger, that much was a deadly fact. “Stay in here.” The rapid thumping of the bullets flying into her office weren’t slowing down.

“Hope’s in trouble.”

“You’ll get shot if you go out.” The shooting stopped for a moment.

“It’s clear, let me go.” It wasn’t clear however. As soon as she finished speaking the bullets started to fly again, this time into the windows of the office. Whoever was attacking them had just taken the time to shift position, firing into the smaller windows of her office. Luckily they were up high, placed that way in order to keep the privacy in the back. The front windows were only one-way as well, showing a mirrored wall to anyone who looked in from the outside. If Hope was lucky they would have missed her at first, giving her time to run for cover, but there was no way to know until the shooting stopped. It wasn’t safe to look in on the fairy granddaughter.

Everyone was on the ground; there was a sense of fear that had pervaded the building. The attack was less than ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. A growl sounded from the corner of the room. Grey was still holding Rosie and the action must have angered the lion, because he was low, crawling toward the wolf and the witch. Grey rolled off  the woman. “Hope’s out there.” Rosie was nearly in tears. She wanted to help her friend and employee to see what had happened.

“Let me make sure it’s safe.” Kevin puffed out his chest; he wanted to prove himself because he hadn’t brought the detective down fast enough when she was about to run into the line of fire. He cracked the door, peeking out into the front room. It looked clear so he widened the door a little more. Whoever had been shooting seemed to be long gone.

The glass in the front room was almost destroyed, only slivers remained on the edges of the glass wall. Bright light from the Florida sun poured into the reception area, unshielded by the tinted windows that had just been violently gunned down. Hope wasn’t sitting at her desk; instead a small pool of blood shimmered in the bright summer sun on top of a pile of paperwork that had been made necessary by her work with the federal government and the numerous agencies that she had to report expenses to. Rosie’s eyes didn’t wander over the rest of the devastation, instead she focused on the desk as she rushed to see what was behind it. Was Hope alive?

The woman was pale and shaking behind the desk. She held her arm and the blood flow was already starting to slow down. “Hey,” Rosie’s voice was gentle. “How are you doing?”

Hope smiled weakly. It was always a little better to keep your sense of humor in moments like this. “I’m pretty sure it’s just a flesh wound and workman’s comp won’t be too bad.”

Rosie hugged her friend. “I’m just glad you’re not dead yet.”

“Would you let go, you’re hurting me.” The part fairy was making the face that indicated a pressure on her wound.

“Call 9-1-1.” Rosie ordered the men who didn’t need the frantic command; both of them were already on the phone, knowing that there were more people that needed to be called than just paramedics. Rosie ducked her head back down behind the desk. “Can you tell me what happened? Did you see anything?” It was an important question because the witch was starting to think about revenge.

“There was a man. I didn’t see much about him.” She shrugged her shoulders and then winced because she moved her arm. “I got hit by one of the first bullets, and didn’t have much chance to look as I was dodging.” She peeked around the edge of the desk, taking in the devastation that had conquered the previous orderliness of the room. “They made an awful mess, didn’t they?”

“They did, but it’s not important. Everyone’s safe and you’re the only one that got shot.”

“I’m glad that nobody else got hit.”

Rosie knew she couldn’t let the joke pass. “Nobody got shot, but I did get hit.”

Hope looked up at her, she was already expecting some crazy story, but bit anyway. “What hit you?”

“A flying shifter that just happened to be intent on saving my life.”

“Why did he think that he had to save your life?”

“I’m not sure, but I think that it had something to do with the fact that I was going to run out here and get myself in trouble to try to save you.”

“Why would you do something stupid like that?”

“Because I don’t know how this business would run without you to do all that paperwork that I hate.” Hope listened, knowing that the words only shielded the truth that Rosie didn’t like to lose people; she had lost too many in her life already. “I was horrified by the idea that I might have to do it myself or train someone new. So, you’re not allowed to die on me, got it?”

“I got it.”

“Do you need something? Can I get you a drink or something?”

“No, I’ll be fine and I should be able to stitch this up myself.”

“Don’t make me turn into a mom before I have kids. You got shot; you’re going to the hospital.”

“I hate that place.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll bribe all of the doctors.” Rosie smiled knowing that Hope didn’t have the energy to fight this. She was going to the hospital to get checked out whether the woman wanted it or not.

The police arrived first, eager to secure the scene and assess the damage. The flashing lights on the tops of their cars were blue and red, casting purple shadows and strobes in through where the glass should have been. It covered their faces, making everything glow eerily in the constantly changing light.

The men poured in after determining that everything was secure. They started to snoop around, checking on everyone in the process. Other than some scrapes from moving the broken glass away from Hope everyone was uninjured. Hope had a grazing wound in her arm. They called for paramedics, but they were already on their way. Kevin had already made the call when he assessed how badly Hope was injured.

They started to ask questions and the answers were a blur of vague impressions and hazy memories that were based  on adrenaline-fueled  actions and ‘I don’t know’. Nobody was very happy about it, but no matter what happened to the office, Rosie was the least happy of all.

The EMTs  arrived and started to look at Hope’s injuries. It was hard to determine at first, and they helped brush the debris off her body, careful not to move her too much. They didn’t know if she had sustained a back injury from the rushed dive to stay out of the way of the flying bullets.

The fairy-blooded secretary wasn’t allowed to move as they strapped her on to a back board and carried her out to the ambulance. A cop stopped Rosie on the way out of the office. “You can’t go yet ma’am. We still need to get a statement.”

“I can’t let Hope go to the hospital alone.”

“Are you family?” The officer was certain that the two weren’t related, they looked nothing alike.

“Not by blood, but she’s the closest thing to family that I have.” Rosie tried to remain calm, carefully picking her words. She knew that if she made this man mad it would be impossible to get out of the building before they were completely sure that she wasn’t involved in this incident.

“Ma’am, I can’t let you go yet.”

Rosie was close to tears. Kevin motioned for the cop to listen to him, pulling him out of earshot and explaining very carefully that the man should let her go. “Her entire family was murdered. That woman is the only person she has in the world.”

“So are they married or just dating?” The cop seemed to be understanding, but he was mistaken.

“More like sisters by choice rather than blood. Let her go. She won’t be much use to you here.”

The officer walked up to the young woman. “You can go, I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“About your family.”

“How did you find out about that?”

“Agent Leonard told me.” The cop explained.

As Rosie climbed into the ambulance next to her friend, she couldn’t help but ask herself. “How did he know about my family?” She asked herself whether or not she had been specific when she talked about the vision she had been trapped in. It seemed like it was an eternity ago, but in reality, it wasn’t that long, two weeks at most since she had been pulled into this case.

Chapter4

Hope was tucked away  in the hospital, recovering safely. I had to go back to the office and clean up as much of the mess as I could. I walked into the room, uselessly unlocking the door when I could have just stepped through a broken window, and saw the mess for the first time in the light of a new day. It was horrifying and didn’t seem like we could ever clean it. I couldn’t help but  sigh as I carefully stepped around the largest chunks of glass that littered the floor. The  splinters and slivers were something that I couldn’t avoid. They crunched under my feet. The furniture was destroyed, pieces of paper that had been destroyed by bullets had settled onto the floor like a light snow and stuffing from chairs made small piles. It looked like a hillside from one of those fake winter towns my mother would make on the table every holiday season before she was brutally taken from me by the same instrument of destruction that had caused this damage.

Grey looked up from the dustpan and broom that he was working with. “Do you need some time?” Rosie imagined a little apron on him while he worked and she couldn’t help but smile a little.

“No, I’m fine. I just have to get this done. I have to get this all cleaned up.” Her smile faded as she talked. This was going to be a long day; they had so much work to do. Kevin had gone to the office first thing in the morning to finish all of the paperwork that came with any tragedy of this type, especially when there are two FBI agents in the office of one of their consultants.

“I think that we could hire someone to do it.” Grey brushed his hair back while he worked. The summer sun beating through the broken windows had made the room swelter, but they couldn’t turn the air conditioner on, because the cold air would just rush outside as soon as possible. He couldn’t stop the sweat from pouring into his eyes, and the reflections off of the broken glass from blinding him for a second at a time,  several times a minute.

Rosie would have loved for someone to be there to do it for her, but she wasn’t sure that she would be comfortable with another intrusion like that. “I would love to hire a professional but I can’t risk someone going through my files. The work I do for the government has to be kept secret.” She tried to make it look like she was shrugging the suggestion off; trying to make it seem like that was just it. She was shaking as she reached down and picked up a ragged piece of glass the size of her head.

Grey looked at her. He knew that she was lying, but didn’t know what he could do to make her feel a little better. “What do you need me to do?”

Rosie rose again and surveyed the room. She looked over everything. “We’re going to have to sort through everything by hand. I can’t just throw out sensitive documents. Let’s start by getting all of the glass cleaned up and piling up everything else over there.” She pointed to a corner of the room. “Then I can sort through it as I need to.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” He was trying to be understanding, but his words just came out as slightly insulting.

Rosie was quick to pick up the unintended meaning of his words. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s what I want to do. What would you have me do, just throw everything out so every criminal that digs through the trash can get a hold of stuff that I don’t want to get out.”

“I didn’t mean it that way-“

She cut him off before he could continue. “Of course you didn’t mean it that way. I’ve already informed your partner of this, so now I’m going to tell you. I know what type of work I’m in. I understand it and get the danger part of it. I’m not an idiot, or some sort of princess looking for a savior to come and make me a stay at home mom. I’m happy, and if the people around me can’t be happy for me they’re welcome to leave.” Her hands were on her hips. She wasn’t shouting, but her voice was firm and strong, demanding respect.

“I wasn’t trying to protect you. I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t want to call someone about the window first.”

“Don’t you think I’ve already called them? They’re coming at noon.” She was frustrated at being made to feel like she had made a mistake, so her voice was a little strained as she answered him. She was getting defensive.

“I’m sorry. It looks like you’ve got this under control. Just shout orders and I’ll do whatever needs to be done.” Grey was taunting her now with an aggravatingly sneaky smile on his face as he spoke to her.

Rosie caught the joke. “Let’s just get to work.” They started to sort through the mess that littered the floor, carefully checking and double checking every piece of paper before it was thrown in the trash. The silence was overwhelming when the glass company arrived, ready to replace the missing panels.

The men finished within a few hours, clearing out the shards that were still in place and placing beautifully tinted brand new glass in the office. They moved to the other room to replace the small windows in there. “It looks nice.” Grey commented on the big window.

“I know.” The detective was smiling as she surveyed it. Her hands were on her hips. “I’ve needed to replace these windows for a while. It’s just bad that it took this to make me do it.”

“Be grateful, if you would have replaced it before you would have just had to replace it again after they shot it up.”

“You’re probably right.” Rosie turned and started to clean some more glass off of the floor. It was a drawn-out    process that involved a lot of mindless sorting. It was easy to start to head into ‘zombie’ mode and make mistakes that could get you cut. In fact,  Rosie already had several cuts to show how much attention was needed; the glass had snaked above her gloves, cutting her forearm. “It doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything.”

“I don’t know. You’ve manage to clean up a good chunk of the floor. You’ve got a place to kneel now at the very least.”

“It’s not enough.” Rosie groaned. “I hate this.”

“Cleaning sucks.”

“This is why I have a cleaning lady come to my apartment once every couple weeks. I can pick up after myself, but I don’t deep clean.”

“This isn’t deep cleaning. This is spot cleaning.” The FBI agent commented; his dark brown hair was almost black in the newly shaded light. “It’s just like wiping up a spill.”

The witch scoffed at Grey. “This is one hell of a spill. Who spills broken glass everywhere?” She looked at her hand. “Cut myself again.”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure that someone does. Are you alright?”

“It’s just a small cut, nothing serious, but you might need some help, you’re the same special kind of crazy that Kevin is.”

“Who are you calling crazy.” He was baiting her and they both knew it.

She took the bait. “I’m calling you crazy.” She rose and started to walk towards him, carefully placing her feet so that she ground as little of the glass into the carpet as possible on the way through the giant mess.

Grey looked at her, a smile forming on his face. He stood to face her. “What do you think you’re going to do?” The question was taunting, teasing her, seeing how far she was going to go, what she was going to do about his teasing.

She got over to him, standing directly in front of him, craning her neck upwards because otherwise she would be looking at his chest. Her hands were on her hips. “I don’t know what is wrong with you. You just don’t stop, do you?”

“Nope, not at all.” Grey was still smiling. “I’m quite good at egging people on.”

“Why are you messing with me?”

“Because it’s pretty obvious that you need to take your mind off of some stuff and I thought that it would help. You aren’t thinking about your problems right now, are you?”

Rosie realized that he was right and she didn’t like that at all. Still she enjoyed the challenge he presented. She placed her forefinger in the center of his chest, poking at him. “You are a jerk.”

“Why yes, yes I am.” He was smiling down at her, feeling how close she was and he felt a little drunk at the sight of her. That was when he did something he never thought he would do. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, lowering his lips down to hers.

She didn’t resist, it was a pleasant surprise and she gave in to his embrace and moved her lips against his. Her lips parted and his tongue snaked into her mouth, tangling with her tongue. It was a mystical moment in which time seemed to stop, confusing and clarifying at the same time. It was in that moment that the phone jangled on the desk. It was Rosie’s cell phone.

The pair pulled themselves apart reluctantly. Picking her way through the shattered glass she checked the message. “It’s from Hope. She wants to see me in the hospital. Apparently even getting shot isn’t an excuse for her to stop working.”

“You two seem to be constantly looking for clues. She didn’t even stop when she got shot.” Grey was trying to stop the uncomfortable moments that normally seem to follow kisses like the one that they had shared.

“That’s why we’re so good at our job.” Rosie was proud and it was evident in her voice. She didn’t know how to answer the kiss. As a result she was happy that Hope’s call had allowed her to change the subject. “I’m gonna go. I’ve got to get to the hospital.”

“I’ll take you. I can run the lights and we can get there faster.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s against the rules.” Rosie laughed as she walked toward the door.

“Like you care.” Grey scoffed at the thought, knowing that the reason she wasn’t an agent was because she didn’t like the rules that much. She liked skirting the edge of acceptable behavior and starting to shock people.

“Of that, you are absolutely right.”

They drove with the lights on, hurrying through city streets and making their way through red lights when everyone stopped for them to go past. They laughed as they weaved through traffic, without anyone seeming to think there was anything wrong with what they were doing. It was fun, Rosie had to admit it. The hospital was a towering structure, brightly white. Rosie’s eyes followed the blocky form up. It had large glass windows in every wall, giving the people who were forced to stay there something to look out of, even if all they could see was the dirty city rising above the shoreline. Of course that depends on what part of the building you happen to be in. “I hate hospitals.”

“Anybody with any semblance of sanity hates them too.” Grey told her, feeling the frustration. The pair walked through the door and made their way up several flights. There was a police officer waiting outside of Hope’s room and just like always he asked to see their ID’s. They were permitted entrance and Rosie sat at her friend’s side. “Are they ever going to get rid of that cop?”

“Apparently they’ve had some suspicious people hanging around and don’t’ think that I’ll be very safe if I’m left alone.”

“What happened?”

“They won’t tell me, but I might have let them think that Tobias is a threat. He came over and started being all kinds of creepy, so they made him leave. I might have let them believe that his loyalties can be bought easily.” Hope’s smile was bright and vibrant. She was happy to see her friend, even if the detective was accompanied by the ex-traitor who made everything seem just a little bit more uncomfortable with his presence. “Where’s Kevin?”

“He had to go to the office and finish up the paperwork about the shooting.”

“Why isn’t he doing paperwork too?” The injured woman indicated the other shifter, the wolf that had accompanied Rosie to the hospital.

“He’s technically not supposed to be on full duty yet, so he offered to help me clean up the office. He offered to run the siren so that I could get here a little faster.” Rosie didn’t want to have this conversation yet, but she didn’t see much choice. Still she tried to get out of it as quickly as possible. “What’s going on?”

“My grandfather came by to visit.” She started. “You know the special one.” The hint was there, and Rosie immediately knew what the woman was talking about, but they couldn’t go any deeper into it without giving secrets away to people who didn’t need the answers.

“How’s he doing?” Rosie asked, her and the old man had been on friendly terms, even if he was always eager to seduce the mortal woman. She didn’t blame him; however, it was in the nature of his kind. Fairies are known to want human women.

“He’s doing fine. After I got shot he started to ask some questions about what we’re dealing with. There are some bad ones working in the area, however,  he has no idea what they want.”

“Now the man decides to help us. I wonder why that is.”

“I think that when I got shot he realized how serious this entire thing is.” The secretary pursed her lips, looking thoughtful, but they knew that it was the nature of fairies to be unconcerned by human problems, only helping when one of their own is in danger.

“Are you sure this is what’s going on?”

“He’s positive.”

“Thanks, how long till they say you can get out of here?” Rosie was hoping that she wouldn’t have to spend too much more time in the hospital comforting her friend. This was not a place that she liked being.

“They say that I should be free tonight.” The entire time the FBI agent stayed as quiet as possible. He didn’t want to interfere with the friend’s happy conversation.

“I’ll pick you up, we’ll go get dinner and hang out tonight, but for right now I’ve got to go finish cleaning the office. We need to be able to get back to work as soon as possible.”

“Are you sure that we don’t just want to replace the entire building.” Hope was joking of course, but the detective had already considered it, even going as far to look into the accounts.