Uncertain Claim Read online

  Chapter Three

  Diana paused the video and sat back to rub her eyes. Her back ached and she’d passed exhausted hours ago. It had been a long night already. Almost everything irritated her at this point. Her dress felt constricting, the chair too hard and the light was too bright. A warm shower and ten or twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep sounded like heaven. On top of that, worry for Gavin nagged at her whenever her concentration slipped.

  She knew stretching and walking would help, but she wanted to try to track these people a little more. The very short nap she’d taken on one of the couches had eased a little of the tiredness. She could at least focus. Tracking the people hadn’t been too hard, but it had taken up the last two hours of her time. She didn’t know if they’d forgotten about the closed circuit cameras all around the park. Maybe they simply hadn’t cared.

  She’d traced them to the precise place they sat and to the main road as they fled. If they’d driven there in a car, they hadn’t left in it. They’d fled down the street on foot. She’d traced them as far as she could by using the public cameras around the park, but private businesses and homes surrounded the area and some parts weren’t covered by video.

  The footage from the businesses would be gathered in the morning. Now she tried to track their movements before the attack. They’d been hyper-vigilant there. They hadn’t come together or sat together. In fact, they’d each come to the concert from a different path.

  “Need some coffee?” Gail Davis asked from the seat to her right.

  The monitors and built in desk had been set up in almost a complete U. Two couches had been placed against one wall. It wasn’t normal, but there had been times when they were so short-handed that double shifts were required. The couches provided a spot to rest if needed. A small cabinet took up the little extra space and was used to secure personal belongs.

  “It might help. I can get it if you’re in the middle of something now.” Diana stretched her arms over her head.

  “No, I have to get a note. You weren’t scheduled to come in until early this morning as I got off and the receptionist wouldn’t be here. She gave it to me since she knew we’re friends and the subject is already something I know about.” Gail stood and walked over to the cabinet. She pulled open the second of four drawers in it.

  Diana raised an eyebrow, but went back to watching the video for a little while. She was curious about the note, but her worry for Gavin gnawed at her. She wanted to see him and touch him, but knew it could be close to a month before that happened. Her jaw clenched. They better not let anything happen to him. She could already tell waiting and wondering about what was happening with Gavin was going to drive her crazy.

  “Here, black with only a little sugar, like you like it. And here’s your message.” Gail handed Diana the cup and then placed the note on the desk.

  Diana put her cup on a part of the desk farthest away from the sensitive equipment. She read the note and rolled her eyes before putting the slip into the recycling basket. That was definitely a wasted message.

  “Yeah, I thought that’s what you’d do, but even if it was only to warn you, you needed to read the message.” Gail took a sip of her coffee.

  Warn was definitely the right word. If she could, she was going to duck and avoid until Donald moved on to someone else. Everyone in the office knew about him. The man was annoying, but relatively harmless. Still, she didn’t think she could be polite to him right now or anytime soon. She knew why he wanted to get in touch with her. It was the only reason he tried to contact her since they’d broken up over two years ago.

  “If I’d known before I started dating him even a little of what I know now, I’d never have said yes to that first date.” Diana shook her head. Who would have thought that someone as normal-looking as Donald Jameson would be that creepy?

  “Yep, Donald was one of your mistakes, but we all have to go through them. It’s just bad luck that he’s one of those who try to recycle old girlfriends when he’s in the middle of a breakup.” Gail shook her head. “I saw on the video that the hunk you’re dating now got cut. How bad is he and how did Steven pry you away from him?”

  “Gavin’s better than I thought he’d be after he lost all that blood. They transfused him and he was walking around by the time I arrived at the hospital. I would have loved to stay with him, but our relationship isn’t like that. I know it’s only dates for him.” Diana grimaced. “They’ll be putting him in protective custody, so I wouldn’t get to see him anyway.”

  “But you were there. They saw you too and know you saw them.” Gail frowned.

  “Yeah, but he’s the principal target. If they can’t get rid of him, there’s no use risking exposing themselves coming after me. Aside from that, they don’t have any idea who I am.” Diana shrugged. She wasn’t quite as sure as she tried to sound about them not knowing who she was. Those people were prepared and surveilled their targets for a long time before attacking. If they’d followed Gavin, they knew the apartment complex where she lived, what she looked like and where she worked.

  “You’re going to find yourself in a safe house anyway. I’ll bet you a hundred on that.” Gail held out her hand, inviting Diana to shake on the wager.

  “Not taking it. I’ve seen Steven in action when there’s only a tiny possibility someone’s in danger. I realize that I’ll be escorted to and from work and have guards when I’m not here.” Diana grinned. She turned her attention back to the monitor.

  Gail chuckled. “Nice to see you’re not completely delusional.”

  “What do you mean?” Diana paused the playback and turned to glare at her friend. She wasn’t delusional.

  “Your gorgeous, muscular sidekick. I saw the way he looked at you on that video and the few times I’ve seen you together. That definitely wasn’t tolerance in his eyes.” Gail shook her head and chuckled. “That man is so fascinated by you.”

  Diana blinked and looked at her friend blankly. She’d seen the same scenes that Gail had. She definitely hadn’t seen fascination. Maybe Gail was the one imagining things or had seen how deep Diana’s feelings were and simply read too much into Gavin’s attention.

  Diana had seen her own desire for him as well as his hunger for her. She hadn’t ever been able to look at him and not want him. That may be because she knew that her time with him was limited. She had to grab the pleasure and make as many memories as possible.

  “Don’t call him my sidekick in front of him, okay. The guy can bench press me. If anyone’s the sidekick, it’s me. He wants me, but we’d all know if it was something more to him.” Diana wasn’t going to try to fool herself. Reminding herself of the hard truth had been necessary since the first day she met him. She’d fallen hard for him and wished that he felt something similar for her. She definitely had dreams where he was concerned. Impossible dreams. Living in a fantasy world would only lead to pain later.

  Gail bit her lip. “Maybe he’s a subtle werewolf.”

  “I don’t think subtle is in their genetics.” Diana knew it wasn’t entirely true, but in some things, they definitely didn’t fight their instincts.

  Diana went back to her work. After a while, something caused her to turn toward the door. She didn’t hear anything, but a feeling of anticipation danced through her stomach. She felt like she was standing on the edge of the cliff. Any minute the ground was going to fall out from under her feet or she’d soar away. The temptation to go over and look out into the hallway gnawed at her. The sensation didn’t fade. She decided it was probably still worry over Gavin. Her time with him had been much too short.

  Those few minutes alone with him hadn’t been enough to assure herself that his wounds were as minor as he wanted her to believe. Knowing she wasn’t going to be able to see him made it worse. She shook her head. If she didn’t get a hold on her emotions, she’d turn into one of those simpering females whose life centered on a male. Much as she liked Gavin, that wasn’t happening. She focused on her work and tried to forget abou
t the feeling that something was going to happen.

  She slowly scanned the replay of the camera along one of the trails, looking for one of the men who’d been with the female attacker. She knew he should come along that path. He simply wasn’t there. She’d tracked him as far as the last camera would go. He must have gone off the path in one of the spots the cameras didn’t cover.

  Frustrated, she switched to a perimeter camera, hoping to catch sight of him going into the park. She paused it as a group of people headed into the park. Zooming in, she looked for the now familiar faces of the three attackers. The door opened behind her, but she didn’t look back.

  She would find out how they’d gotten into the park. Maybe then they’d be able to trace them back to a car or cab. She wanted to find something to help. If they could catch these people, they’d not only keep Gavin safe, but hopefully find a way to stop the group from targeting anyone else. This radical group most likely had targeted more people than they’d found so far.

  She jumped as a hand landed on her shoulder. Her fingers skittered across the keyboard. The video began fast-forwarding. Fucking hell. She hit the stop key even as she turned to look over her shoulder, a curse on her lips. It died as she looked up into Gavin’s eyes.

  Muscles twitched along his jaw line, defining his cheekbones more than normal. He spun the chair around and leaned down until he stared into her eyes. The heated look wasn’t desire. She’d never seen him more than annoyed. Seething anger glowed in his green eyes. She had no idea why he was so furious. Leaving him a note had seemed reasonable. Irritation, that she could understand. Gavin had experience with situations like this and should know what to expect.

  “Um, hi, Gavin. Is something wrong?” She put her hands in her lap because his hands braced on the arm of the chair, caging her.

  His right hand lifted and dug in his pocket. He dropped a balled-up piece of paper onto her lap. “You had Steven bring me this and you left. And you ask if there’s something wrong? What did you think you were doing?”

  “Trying to help in the only way I could. You’ll be going into protective custody. I’m not a field agent, so I can’t go out there and hunt them down, but here I can at least try to track them a little.” She looked up at him through her lashes. She’d never seen or even imagined this side of him. He was usually so easygoing.

  “Not what you’re doing now.” His lips pulled back in a snarl. “When you left, did you think that I wouldn’t worry about you or that you could just go on with your life as normal? They saw you with me. Even though they’re after me, it won’t take them long to try to get to me through you.”

  “I knew Steven would be putting me into protective custody for a while.” She shrugged. It seemed pretty obvious to her. “I could identify them, so I needed to come help search. I was doing my job.”

  She thought she heard him growl low. Before she could say anything, his hands clamped on her arms and hauled her out of the chair. He set her on her feet in front of him, but didn’t let her go.

  “You’re going into protective custody, but you’ll be going with me.” Gavin took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

  She didn’t buy the sudden change. She could see the tension in his muscles and around his mouth. The reasons behind it were still a mystery to her. Why did they bring him here? They were putting him at risk unnecessarily. It worried her, but simply being near him lightened her mood.

  “Wouldn’t that be against the type of protection needed?” She bit her lip. As much as she wanted to be with him, she would hate to place him in greater danger. “I mean, they’ll want her to find you and hopefully catch her when she tries again, but don’t they want to keep me out of sight.”

  She heard a chuckle from behind Gavin. For the first time, she realized that there were other people there with him. She felt warmth rush up her neck and cheeks.

  “Do you think I can’t protect my mate?” Gavin cupped her chin and forced her to meet his eyes.

  If his hand hadn’t been under her chin, her jaw would have hit the floor. Mate? Since when? He’d never said anything about being with her next month or even implied she was his mate. Maybe she hadn’t heard right. She didn’t know what other word he could have meant though. He couldn’t have said “mate.” No matter how much she wished to hear it.

  Chapter Four

  “Mate?” Licking her lips, she glanced up at him. She knew her eyes were wide. Maybe she had lost her mind. She’d dreamed of hearing words like that. A big part of her heart already belonged to him. She’d already wondered how she was going to handle the breakup with him. As much as she thought about him and felt for him, it was going to hurt and hurt badly.

  “Mate.” His voice hardened. “Do you doubt for a moment that I’ll protect you with my life?”

  “I know you’d protect me, Gavin, but I didn’t think we’d be together.” She shook her head. Her mind locked onto the word “mate”. She felt kind of shocked and she wondered if it was true. He hadn’t ever acted like she was his mate. The very fact that he hadn’t been more aggressive in his pursuit of her made her doubt it. He hadn’t pushed for bigger steps in their relationship and he’d seemed happy moving at her pace.

  “No one’s going to take you away from me. You’re my mate.” He pulled her close and lowered his head as his arms folded around her.

  “But I didn’t know you thought I was your mate,” she said slowly, aware that it probably wasn’t the wisest answer. Still, she hadn’t had a clue.

  “Thought? I don’t think you’re my mate. I know you are. It’s not going to change tomorrow, although if you keep this up, I’m definitely going to consider the merits of bending your ass over my knee and spanking you.” Gavin’s fingers closed around her arms and pushed her away from his body and held her there while he glowered at her.

  “This is what happens when you try to date like a human. They don’t expect a werewolf to deny what he already knows and hide the truth. She probably thought that you were simply dating her until you found someone you liked better or until you met your mate,” a deep voice filled with humor announced. She recognized it as that of the Alpha wolf, Evan Connors.

  He was right, even though she wasn’t sure what he was talking about entirely. She hated feeling left out of the loop. Gavin had been dating her. Although she’d dreamed of more and certainly wanted it, she hadn’t thought that he’d ever be able to give it to her. He’d have said something if she was his mate. At least, he’d make a verbal claim if not try to pull her fully into his life.

  “Yes, because weres recognize their mates.” Steven’s voice sounded like he was trying to hold back a laugh. She didn’t know for sure because Gavin held her right in front of him. She couldn’t see either of them. Gavin’s strange behavior concerned her a little more than getting a good look at the others in the room.

  Gavin growled and pulled her against him. She thought she saw a hint of red sweeping up his cheeks before her face was pressed against his chest. She snuggled against him for a moment, content to savor his warmth, the firm press of his muscles and the enticing scent that always made her want to come back for more. It was a little spicy with an undertone of male musk. She’d never been able to identify what it was, but it reminded her of some of the Eastern and Asian spices.

  “We’ll need to get going, Gav. There’s food, the basic toiletries and clothing that need to be picked up while you two are settling into the house.” Evan’s voice rumbled, but that soft drawl was definitely an order.

  Diana wondered why he thought settling in would take so much time with just the two of them. She didn’t even have a change of clothing here. All she had was her purse. Gavin slowly released her. She stepped back and to the side. Gavin’s hand fastened around her wrist before she could get any farther from him, as if he thought she was going to make a run for it. She looked over to Steven. He was her boss and had the say over her relocation in spite of Gavin’s assertions.

  Steven nodded. “Go with them. I’ll
have a detail for you in place by tonight. We’ll make arrangements to get you to work. If there comes a point when it’s dangerous for you to leave the safe house, we’ll get your work to you. You two can settle the question of whether he is your mate or he isn’t among yourselves.”

  “There isn’t any question.” Gavin turned and glared at Steven.

  Gavin might not have any doubts. Diana couldn’t be sure of that, but she had plenty of doubts for both of them. Mentally weighing protective custody with him or without him, she didn’t take too much time to decide. She’d choose him any time, even if she did wonder about a few things.

  It didn’t seem right that he suddenly decided to blurt out that she was his mate. Even now, he wasn’t acting like she thought he would if the mating drive was as strong as she’d heard it was. She simply didn’t understand why he’d hide it or why he’d say he was her mate now.

  If he wanted to protect her, that was fine, great even, but she didn’t need him lying to her to get her to go with him. She wanted to be with him. If she hadn’t thought she could be of more use here, she’d have stayed at that hospital. Gavin seemed intense right now though. What was at the heart of it? Was it guilt, shifter protectiveness or something more?

  “Let me get my purse.” Diana took a deep breath.

  She could ask him all these questions when they were alone, even though she was half afraid of the answers. In spite of her doubts, hope rose and those hopes could be dashed in a few words. He might mean to ensure she was safe, but this wasn’t the way to do it. Hell, he could have simply asked her to stay with him while he was in protective custody. She’d take that risk without any supposed tie other than her feelings for him.