Page 10 of Fury

He swallowed hard and forced himself to cooperate. Just like Agent Bishop, he had a job to do here.

"I was in the hallway that leads to the back of the building."

Again, she wrote something. "Were you near the offices or the backstage area?"

"Neither. I was headed backstage and about equidistant to both." Since he'd just left Creed out in the parking lot, he'd had Dani on his mind. And since his stubborn pack mate was still keeping his distance from the woman who drove him crazy, Sawyer felt obligated to check in on the human woman on his behalf.

"What were you on your way to do?" Her questions continued while she still had her head bent over the paper taking notes.

"I work security for the club owners. I was on duty that night and wanted to make sure everything was clear in the back."

"Do you often have trouble backstage? Is that why you were checking?"

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here, Agent Bishop. How about you answer more of my questions and then we can talk more about yours? I'm not sure I trust you yet." He smiled, despite the pit developing in his stomach. This line of questioning did not bode well for either of them.

She set down her pen and stared up at him. Long seconds ticked by where neither of them spoke. He didn't know what she was trying to accomplish with their latest stare down, but he preferred her like this. There was a certain amount of defiance stamped across her face, but she was smart enough to keep it in check. That was better than when she’d twisted the napkin to tatters only moments ago, making his protective instincts flare to life. She didn't know it, but the more aggression she showed, the more the wolf would fight for control.

Finally, she smiled. "Okaaay. What else would you like to know?"

"Something easy. Your first name." He snagged her pen and held it over his hand, mocking her fixation with her notepad.

"Penelope."

He started to write it on his hand and stopped. "Seriously? That's your real name?"

She sat a little straighter when her back stiffened. "Of course it's my real name. I have no reason to give you a fake one."

Again, he held back the laugh that threatened to break free. Instead he fed her an expression that said he didn't believe her. He really liked it when she got riled.

"Oh my God. Fine." She reached into her suit jacket and pulled out a slim black leather case. "Here. See for yourself."

He took the offering, making sure he made contact with her fingers when he did. Again, that low level of electricity surged up his arm. Made him wonder what would happen if he got a handful of her in his hands. Or if they brushed against each other fully naked.

Whoa.

No.

Absolutely not.

He ordered the wolf to stand down. No thoughts of Penelope Bishop naked and under him were allowed. Ever.

He shook his head, desperately trying to relieve his brain of those images.

He flipped open the case and stared down at her official identification. Spelled out in black and white next to a cute, non-smiling picture of an especially buttoned up version of her was her full legal name, job title and specific location. Special Agent Penelope A. Bishop. Seattle Division.

He closed the wallet and handed it back to her. "Okay Special Agent. Your name is really Penelope. It's cute."

She rolled her eyes and placed her ID back in her jacket. "Great. Just what every woman wants to hear. How cute she is."

"I thought cute was a good thing? I like cute." What the hell? Human women had the strangest hang ups. I'm too fat. Or I'm too skinny. Now apparently being cute was bad too.

Agent Bishop sighed. "I'm not here to be cute or to entertain you, Mr. Black, I have an investigation to run."

Fine. She wanted to get down to business? He could do that too. "Why?" he asked. "We already had the Feds come through here and last I heard there were still no suspects in our case. Has something new developed?"

She shook her head. "I can't divulge any particulars at the moment, but we did and still do consider this an ongoing investigation. I've been asked to come here and provide a fresh perspective. Sometimes the first agent comes through and at the height of the emotional damage of such an event, small details can be missed. He got the first impressions, now it's my job to dig deeper."

"I'm not sure there is much deeper to dig. This island is small and it wasn't tourist season when it happened. As you can imagine with such a tiny community, we tend to notice strangers."

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