Page 591 of Love Bites

CHAPTER7

The agency was on Main Street next to the cozy used bookstore that I had practically lived in as a kid. The sense of home I felt in this little sleepy town made my heart thump painfully. However, this was no longer my home. I had left by choice and I would leave again. Glancing around, I zeroed in on the modeling agency. Damn, it was ugly. Models Mania was sleek and modern and didn’t fit into my charming town at all. The name was beyond stupid too. I let go of my attitude, hunkered down in my smelly car and reviewed what I knew.

It was run by three human males from New York: Peter Pyre, Paul Tinder and Puck Flare. The names were bizarre and slightly unfortunate. I had concluded that they were aliases since we couldn’t trace them. They clearly thought they were hot, considering they all had forms of fire as their surnames. I bit back a groan and read on.

There was no indication that the Three Ps knew that shifters existed, but I didn’t buy it. No human women had gone missing and I didn’t believe it was a coincidence. It was risky to imply that the Council, since they had backed the agency, had let the humans in on our secret, but the evidence was pointing that way.

It appeared that the missing girls had been recruited. Did the humans recruit them or did the Council? I flipped through the file and found nothing. I quickly texted Granny and told her to call around and find out the buzz on the recruiting. She texted back that she would get on it after she and Dwayne finished a round of paintball. She promised to have some info at lunch. I hoped to hell they’d at least gone out to the deserted beach to shoot each other with paint, but my expectation was that they were attacking each other in broad daylight in the quaint confines of her neighborhood. So much for no arrests…

The agency looked empty, but I had an appointment in five minutes. I grabbed a cup and filled it with water from a bottle I found under the seat. I hoped to come out of there with some fingerprints on it.

Checking my makeup in the rearview mirror, I was satisfied. The fact that I could pass for a model didn’t thrill me. My looks were inherited. Actually, most Shifters were pretty people. While being attractive had gotten in the way occasionally during training, it certainly came in handy today. I pushed up my boobs, hiked up my skirt, checked my wire and went into battle.

“Hello,” I called out in the darkened office. It was obsessively neat and smelled odd. I couldn’t place it. I wandered to the counter and examined the stack of beauty products. I found the culprit—self tanner. It had the strangest odor. I slipped one in my purse and took a seat on the white leather settee.

“Be right with you,” a rough male voice called from the back.

The sound of a woman giggling in the back room made my stomach lurch. I recognized the laugh and I had to breathe deeply to keep my claws from coming out. Literally. I despised the owner of the laugh. Damn it, if one of them was back there, I’d bet money all three were. Of course they were here. They were beautiful on the outside, even if they were nasty evil home wreckers.Whoa, Nelly. Hank had a choice. It took two to tango, or in their case, four. I might hate them, but if it hadn’t been them, he would have most certainly fooled around with someone else. Maybe I should thank them…nope, that was never going to happen. I could have mated with him and found out what a cheating dog he was after the fact. As much as I wanted to shift into my wolf and tear those girls apart, they had actually done me a favor.

“What’s she doing here?” a nasal voice demanded. “I didn’t give her an appointment.”

I was right, it was Tina #1 and she was not pleased to see me. She was one of three. They were all named Tina and they had all had a hand in ruining my life. She’d clearly moved on from Hank because she was draped over a large attractive man like a barnacle.

Large Man shoved Tina #1 off of him and stepped forward with his hand extended and a slick smile on his pretty face. “Please excuse the help — it’s difficult to find subordinates with manners these days. I’m Puck Flare, owner and talent coordinator of the agency. It’s lovely to meet you. You must be Essie McGee.”

Tina #1 positively seethed. As delighted as I was with the way he shot her down, it was also appalling. Not to mention it stymied me why she would let a mere human treat her so poorly. She was a Werewolf and we rarely mixed with humans in a romantic or sexual way.

“I am.” An unexplainable feeling of uneasiness shot through me as I extended my hand. I plastered on a smile that I prayed didn’t look fake and took his hand in mine. He felt a bit cool for a human, but he was definitely human.

“I do believe we could book you on some very big jobs.” He circled me like I was a car he was considering.

“Great. That’s great,” I masked my unease and jumped up and down a bit to appear as vapid as possible. Tina #1 hissed and narrowed her eyes.

“Tina, don’t you have work to do?” Puck snapped.

She nodded meekly and went to the back room.

“Sorry about that, my dear,” he said. “She wants to model, but she’s a bit too short. Let’s have you fill out some paperwork and then we’ll take some Polaroids for your file. Do you have a head shot or a portfolio?”

“Um, no…I’ve just always thought this might be fun and I’m into travel and being in magazines,” I gushed.

“That’s wonderful. You’re available to travel? No jealous boyfriends or silly little day jobs to speak of?”

“Nope. Free and clear. No job and definitely no boyfriend,” I said, and wondered what Hank thought about my answer. I knew he was listening through an earpiece at the station. “Can I ask a few questions, Mr. Flare?”

“Of course, and please call me Puck.”

“Sure, um…Puck. What kind of jobs could I book with you? And what’s the pay?”

“Dear girl, for someone with your looks and body, the sky is the limit.”

He made me feel dirty and I was positive he was involved with the missing girls, but I had no clue how or why. I giggled and searched my repertoire for something girlie and flirty…I unconsciously did the Dwayne hair flick over my shoulder and almost burst out laughing. Concentrating hard, I held back my eye roll and the strong need to call Puck something that rhymed with his name and ended in “er”.

“Wow,” I cooed and did a little shimmy. “That’s the total bomb! When do I start?”

He chuckled and bought my vapid enthusiasm hook, line, and sinker. “We’ll start tomorrow. However, you’re a bit pale,” he said as he walked to the mountain of beauty products on the counter. “How about you do a little self tanner tonight so your shots tomorrow will be as sexy as you are.”

“Oh Puck,” I gasped and tossed my hair like an imbecile. “You’re such a charmer.”

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