It went well for the first week. I cut off communication with Roman, and I spied on him.
Nothing was off, and I was just hoping that he would do something—anything—fishy to get Ryker off my back so I could breathe and complete this mission. I wanted nothing more than for him to trust me again. Jane and Raj were in trouble, and, if my suspicions were correct, IneededRyker to trust me.
That’s the only way any of this would work.
Ryker appeared at my door, dressed in a tight grey spandex training shirt. “You ready?”
Outside it was dark and the moonlight flooded in through the window. I pushed a few pieces of paper into my desk drawer. “I need to go over a few pieces of paperwork. I’ll meet you there?”
Ryker nodded his head, lips curling into a smirk. “I can do a sweep of his property by myself. Finish your work.”
I stood up and placed my hand on his hard chest, curling my fingers into the thick muscle. “No. When I finish, I’ll be there.” I smiled up at him, my gaze travelling down the scar on his neck. So large, so prominent, so sexy. “I promise.”
He paused for a few moments, then nodded his head. I could hear the quickened pace of his heartbeat, and my gaze drifted down his body for a moment—a mere moment—unintentionally. He tensed, his biceps flexing under his shirt.
My cheeks flushed, and I looked away. I shouldn’t be feeling this way. I didn’t want to feel this way. “I’ll be there,” I said.
When he left, I sat in my room. I didn’t have work to do, and I didn’t have papers to read. I had something else that I needed done, something that I needed Ryker to leave in order for me to do.
I picked up my phone and called Derek. After the third ring, he answered. “Izzy, what’s up?”
“I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“Get me Roman’s journal. It’s on his desk. Meet me at the Night Raider’s Café in a half hour.”
He scoffed. “You want me to steal Roman’s journal?” I could hear the confusion in his voice. “Why? Do you think he has something to do with this?”
“Please, Derek,” I said, tapping my fingers on my wooden desk. After a few moments, he sighed, and I knew that I had him. “See you there.”
~~~
Derek stood at the entrance of the Night Raider’s café with a notebook stuffed under his shirt. “I can’t believe that I stole his fucking notebook for you. You better have a reason—”
“Is it the right one?”
He furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”
I grabbed it and flipped through the pages, sighing when it was his actual journal and not the one with sketches of me. If he brought that one, I’d be screwed. Though I didn’t need the notebook for any particular reason, I needed it to distract Ryker for a bit longer. Maybe it’d even help me get entry into his guarded office.
After pressing my lips to his cheek, I thanked him, shifted back into my wolf, and ran through the woods.
“Hey! You know he’s going to be looking for that!” Derek shouted after me. I howled in reply with the notebook between my teeth and raced toward Ryker’s scent.
When I found him at Roman’s borders, I shifted into my human—standing bare and naked in front of him. He looked at me with furrowed brows. “What’s that?”
“Roman’s notebook.”
His eyes widened. “How’d you get it?”
“Vanessa—that bitch who was living with Roman—gave it to one of the Lycans when they met at the Night Raider’s Café earlier this evening. She gave it to me just as I was about to leave.”
He took the notebook from me. “What’s it say in it?”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. “Let’s read it at home.” I gazed at Roman’s property, knowing thathewas in these woods, probably watching us. “If we find anything important, we can confront Roman about it tomorrow.”
Ryker nodded his head in agreement. Once we did a throughout sweep of Roman’s property, Ryker led me back to the Lycans and to his office.
