Page 23 of Hellcat

"Ian!" she beamed. "Your PA came through. No more insults or threats on my profile."

He'd made poor Walter work through the night on this for him, instead of chilling on a Friday night. The guy probably deserved a bonus.

"I know."

He guessed she wanted news about her issue, so he explained, "We have a team assessing the situation. You didn't tag any of us and there aren't that many people on your profile. For everything to blow up so fast, someone who saw your post was an extremist. If we can pinpoint who it was, we can figure out where your information was posted and have it deleted."

It wasn't that simple, of course. Unfortunately, Tania was too smart for her own good.

"And then what? They could have taken screenshots; they might just repost my information again after it's gone."

Ian winced.

"Shall I drive you to work?" he offered, pointing to his truck.

A poor attempt at a change of subject.

"Thank you," she replied. He opened her door and she slid in the passenger seat. The moment he'd sat down behind the wheel, she was repeating, "So, what then?"

Ian sighed. "There's a high probability that we'll have to use some violence. Shake them up a bit. At least, threaten them."

Tania gasped. "I thought the law—"

"Yep," said Ian, interrupting her.

The American government didn't presume to rule over sups, but it did forbid them from hurting regular humans.That was the very reason behind the existence of the Paranormal Investigation Agency. Never mind that their head office had been blown up and they'd barely acted over the last year or so.

"Let's hope it won't come to that," he said carefully, "but if it does, we'll let them come to us first, and record the whole thing to protect our asses. Anti-shifters are easily manipulated."

To her credit, Tania swallowed that without any protest.

"You know, the more I think about it, the more I think my dad could have shared my post." She lowered her eyes to her hands. Shame.

Ian wouldn't have any of that.

"Chin up," he told her, letting go of the wheel with his right hand long enough to squeeze her fingers, folded on her lap.

There it was again. That strong electric current.

"We've already established that you're not the only person who has a shitty parent. We'll look into it."

Having a direction would speed up their investigation.

They arrived at the practice too quickly; Ian would never have guessed fifteen minutes had passed. Her smell was sweet and spicy, taking over the whole truck. He didn't want to let go.

"So, are you going to watch the practice?"

He nodded. "From a healthy distance, yes. Don't stress out. Just concentrate on work."

She chuckled. "Yeah, that's gonna be easy."

On that note, Tania opened her door and slid out of his truck.

“Don’t get too bored!” she called out.

Chapter 15

The practice closed early on Saturdays, and Kenneth was taking the emergency shift, which meant that she was officially off for the weekend. A prospect that might have delighted her any other time, but considering the target on her back, and the fact that she had no real place of her own, she actually might have preferred working, if only for the distraction it provided her.

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