Chapter 3: Ground Rules

Glancing at the clock on my desk, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. It was almost four in the morning. I was definitely more of a night person but now it was almost morning. Now, I didn’t need a lot of sleep to function but after last night’s revelation at the police station, I needed a break before starting this new case.

“I think I’ve got everything I need from you. I can start my search after I get some rest,” I said, standing up and stretching until my spine popped deliciously.

“Not so fast,” Loki said. He rose in a fluid motion, way too graceful for a man of his size, and I couldn’t keep my eyes from following the curves of his taught muscles.

Loki grabbed his leather coat and slipped his arms through the sleeves as graceful as any ballerina prancing across a stage.

I shook my head and dropped my eyes to the notepad on my desk. Was I seriously comparing Loki Everette, Alpha of the Crimson Moon pack, to a ballerina? I was a lot more tired than I thought.

“I want to work on this with you. Persephone is my twin sister. I’m not leaving anything up to chance.” His voice was hard and firm, almost opposite of that smooth, delicate velvet he’d spewed earlier.

Narrowing my eyes, I slowly sank into my chair, fingertips resting on the surface of the table. Loki just stood there, looking at me expectantly. He wasn’t used to anyone defying him; that was clear. He just expected me to roll over and show him my belly. That wasn’t about to happen.

“I’m not a team player,” I stated.

“Look, Genevieve, I’m hiring you to do a job. I expect results, and I want to be a part of this,” he laid out flatly.

“Okay, I’m going to make this as painfully dull as possible…” I sighed heavily, meeting his eyes directly and holding those black, smoldering coals in place. “I am the tracker. You are the client. You pay me to find your sister and I do the job. Got it?”

“I’m not going to be sidelined in this!” Loki snarled, flashing white, sharp teeth at me.

I sniffed and tilted my chin to the ceiling slightly. “You had your chance and you failed. Now it is my turn. If your track record is any indication, you’ll only get in my way,” I argued.

“You can’t just take my money and expect me to trust you to get the job done,” he pointed out, crossing his bulging arms, his leather jacket creaking.

It annoyed me that he looked so deliciously lickable while menacing me. That hot, piercing glare should have felt like a stabbing knife. Instead, it just made my skin shiver feverishly and my breathing slow.

“I only collect payment once I deliver,” I said, smiling dryly.

Loki growled, teeth grinding together audibly. A vein in his forehead popped. “That’s not the point,” he ground out, lips hardly moving as he spoke.

“Look, if you really feel like you need to be involved, you can tag along under one condition,” I said.

Typical Alpha. There was no way I was going to get rid of him unless I gave him what he wanted. Or, at least, made him think he was getting what he wanted.

“Name it,” Loki said quickly.

I smirked. “You do not speak to any of my contacts, or touch them. I take the lead, I call the shots, and you follow. If you step out of line or try to take things into your own hands, I will drop your case and you’ll be on your own,” I explained.

Loki’s eyes widened until I thought they might actually explode. His face contorted like he was trying to hold back some explosion of emotion, or words. For a few minutes, his entire body trembled.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy for any Alpha to accept a submissive role. Especially to a female. Well, he’d have to get used to it. My network of contacts was used to working with me. We had a good relationship. If Loki did anything to mess that up, I’d have a hard time rebuilding my reputation to keep my business going. I’d rather risk Loki’s wrath than lose the business I’d worked so hard to build.

“Those are my conditions. Can you manage that?” I asked, tilting my head to the side slightly.

Loki snarled, then sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly. The tension melted from him and he gave a curt nod. “I’ll manage,” he grumbled.

“Good. Now, I really need to get some rest or I’ll be useless on this case,” I said, tapping the notepad. “Meet me back here tomorrow at sundown.”

“I’ll be here,” Loki promised.

I had no doubt about that. Waving dismissively towards the door, I looked away from the Alpha. Every time his eyes were on me, I felt more wolf than human. Like I could burst out of my skin at any moment and run off on four legs.

Once Loki was gone, I released a deep breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. His very presence had been a weight on my chest. I guess I hadn’t done myself any favors trying to stay as far away from other wolves as possible. It was the first time a hot male crossed my path and here I was, practically panting in his wake.

I locked up and headed home, hands in my pockets, head down as I walked the familiar streets. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I stopped walking and glanced around. Feeling like I was being watched was nothing new.

When I’d first left Nightshade, I had felt like I was being watched all the time. I’d learned that it was just my paranoid mind worrying about what would happen when they came for me. They never had, though, and I’d started to ignore that nagging, aching tickle in my mind that said I was being followed.

This was different.

It wasn’t just a fabricated feeling in the back of my mind. I felt it on my skin, an uncomfortable wriggle, on the fine hairs of my neck and arms as they stood on end. Someone really was watching me.

I bowed my head again and kept walking. They couldn’t know I was onto them. When it came down to it, I’d be the one surprising them, not the other way around.

Home was a fifth-floor walk-up with rickety stairs, flickering lights in the hallways, and funny health code violations throughout the building. In the years I’d lived there, I never met my neighbors. Whenever we passed each other in the halls, by mutual consent, we kept our eyes averted.

A studio apartment that was barely big enough for my double bed and love seat wasn’t the same luxury I’d grown up with. Sometimes, when I turned on the shower or sink, the pipes rumbled and the water came out brown. It wasn’t at all glamorous, but it was all mine.

I didn’t even change into pajamas, just flopped down on my bed and closed my eyes, asleep almost instantly.

The buzz of my phone woke me up. Groaning, I grabbed the device and prepared to hurl it across the room. Eyes blurred with sleep, I still made out Zinnia’s name on the screen. I blinked the blurriness away and read her message.

Another wild animal attack, body left on the corner where I’d felt someone watching me.