Page 28 of Romeo

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“What doyou mean you couldn’t get any information on the tigers?” Brent raged. He slammed his hand on the desk, and Ashley jumped despite her attempts to keep her cool.

Brent was furious. Not only that she hadn’t checked in until nearly lunchtime, but that she’d failed to get any good information on the tigers. She’d been so distracted by what happened with Romeo that she couldn’t even remember anything that she’d observed from the mating ceremony that would be new information.

Brent knew the tigers had a large security force that patrolled their territory. He knew the ambush met at Midas’s home for monthly shift-and-hunts and ceremonies. He hadn’t known about the mating ceremony, but he didn’t really care about that because he’d known Midas and Maya were mates, so a ceremony wasn’t new news. He was pissed that all the shifter leaders had been in attendance and she hadn’t called to let him know so he could mobilize an army to get them that night.

The Humans Against Shifters army coming into Whisper Creek to fight the leaders, plus every tiger in the ambush? That would have been a bloodbath of epic proportions with several vampires in attendance, as well as the dragons, bears, lions, falcons, and wolves. It would be just like Brent to do something brash like that without thinking. He considered the army to be cannon fodder; if they died, they died, and he’d find more fanatics to replace them. Half the guys who volunteered to fight shifters just wanted to fight anything, not only shifters.

“I’m sorry, Brent.”

She’d reminded him she’d been busted and escaped. It was a good reason to explain why her surveillance had been cut short. She hadn’t explained the situation with Romeo or him letting her go.Orher going to his house earlier and the knowledge that they were truemates.

If Brent knew that she was attracted to Romeo, he’d tell her to seduce him, to use him to get what he needed to take them out, just like she’d done with that one alpha wolf. It would be ten times worse if Brent knew Romeo was her truemate.

She wasn’t even really sure what that word meant, but she could feel it. Feel in her bones that they were meant to be together, drawn across the country together by a twist of fate involving a psychotic anti-shifter leader.

And make no mistake, Brent was psychotic. He was like a shark, single focused and unable to change course once he zeroed in on a target. He’d picked the tigers and he’d looped her into this fight.

Her heart panged sharply as she thought about the wolf alpha she’d helped take out and the people her actions had displaced. The families she’d uprooted and destroyed.

She’d never really felt guilty before, but she did now, and she knew it was because of Romeo. He knew she was lying, or at best was withholding things from him. He’d wanted to talk and she’d bolted the moment she had a chance.

She’d expected him to chase after her, but she’d made it to her car and driven away, and she hadn’t seen him even come out of his house before she turned the corner and headed out of Whisper Creek. He didn’t know where she lived or how to get in touch with her, which meant if she was going to see him again, she would have to bridge the distance between them.

But not before she got her head on straight and figured things out.

She’d first thought she could keep Romeo out of things with Brent, that she could tell her boss about the tigers and save Romeo from being in danger, but that simply wouldn’t work. Brent wanted all the tigers gone, starting with Midas. In his mind, they had to die or leave town, and she didn’t think Romeo was the sort of guy who’d just leave his people defenseless, even to leave Ohio with her.

“Why are you doing that?” Brent asked irritably.

“What?” she asked.

“Rubbing your chest. Stop it.”

She glanced down and saw her fingers rubbing over her heart. It was because it hurt.Shehurt. She wanted Romeo, and she hadn’t realized how much she’d been affected by him until she ran like a scared rabbit out of his house.

She was far too impulsive for her own good.

“Look,” she said, dropping her hand and gripping the chair arm to center herself, “I will get you information on the tigers, but I need more time. Your deadline was too soon, anyway. You know how long it took me to get to the alpha wolf for you, and the tigers are more security-savvy because of the bomb at the job site and the vehicle attacks at the bar.” Which was dumb on a hundred levels. The bomb she could get, but it should have been set off once everyone was there working, not just randomly timed. Slashing the tires of everyone in the shifter bar? Ridiculous and it did nothing but put everyone on alert.

“I saw nothing of note,” she said. “Give me time to get you what you need.”

His upper lip curled. “What do you think I need?”

“The security schedule for starters, and Midas’s personal schedule.”

“I already know his schedule. I’ve been following him for a while.” He exhaled loudly. “Fine. Get back to town and nail down the security schedule. I’ll expect some kind of report from you on a plan of action soon.”

“Okay.”

She rose to her feet and tried very hard to stop from trembling. She wasn’t scared of Brent or any of the guys who were glaring at her because she’d pissed off their boss, who would definitely be taking it out on them, but she was nervous in a way she couldn’t really articulate.

Nervous that she’d brought a viper into the tiger town and endangered Romeo, who had nestled his way into her heart, which she’d thought was all but blackened stone at this point.

She turned and left, head held high, and didn’t dare to even breathe until she was out the door and within sight of her vehicle. Exhaling sharply, she climbed behind the wheel and backed away from the building. Brent had said it was their temporary headquarters, but they’d seemed to be settling in.

She looked in the rearview until she was sure she wasn’t being followed, and then she drove to the rental home. She needed time to think.

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