“So, where are we at with the Mexicans?” Carter asked.
“I’m going to go back to the area tonight,” Max said. “I don’t know if they’ll show up again, but Ethan Johnson is the only link we have to them so it’s worth a shot.”
Carter nodded. “I’ll come with you.”
“Me too,” Logan said.
“And me,” Arlo chimed in.
“I’m in,” Seb added.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Toby said.
Ezra shrugged. “I’ll be there.”
Max frowned, glancing at them all. “I was planning to goalone.”
Carter snorted. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”
“I mean, you can’t fight four fully shifted jaguars on your own again,” Logan said.
Seb nodded. “He’s right. And what if there’s more of them this time?”
“Let us help you,” Ezra said. “That’s what friends do.”
Max blinked. Friends. He’d never had friends before, well other than Liam, a boy he’d known in high school. Liam had let Max crash in his father’s unused tool shed after Max had left home. His father hadn’t told anyone that he’d moved out because he was still claiming money for him. After high school, though, Liam had gone off to college and Max had joined the police force and they had lost touch. Max hadn’t spoken to him in years. He’d told himself it was better that way.
“Yeah, we’re coming with you. No arguments,” Ezra said.
Max frowned. It didn’t appear that he was going to change any of their minds. “Okay fine,” he agreed. We’ll all go.”
“Done deal,” Arlo said with a grin that made Max shiver again.
As they all peeled away to their respective desks, Max sighed. He liked to work alone, but it looked as if he was going to have to get used to being part of a team, at least for the time being.
He spent the day researching everything he could about Ethan Johnson to try to determine why Mia would have chosen to go back home, but for the life of him, he was no closer to understanding her reasoning. Max was usually adept at understanding a person’s motivations, but with Mia, he didn’thave the first clue what made her tick, or why she would choose that course of action. Could Max have been wrong about her? Was she a bigger part of her father’s organization than she had led him to believe? Would she have gone running back to her father to tell him that the CIA was sniffing around?
Max leaned back in his chair and frowned. He didn’t want to believe that his mate could be as cold and calculating as that, and his tiger was raging at the mere suggestion, but could he really be certain? Because he didn’t know her at all, and there was a lot at stake. He was working hard to ensure the safety of all Americans and yet his mate’s father was part of the problem—a criminal kingpin who dealt in drugs, and arms, and flesh. How could Max and his fellow CIA officers keep America safe from outside threat, when there were citizens who were like a cancer, eating away at the country from the inside. And what would Max tell his superiors? How could he justify fighting to bring down criminal organizations when his mate essentially belonged to one? How could Max justify being in a relationship with her when he had no idea where her loyalties really lay?
With us,his tiger insisted.
He just wished he could believe that.
From what Max had been able to find out, Ethan Johnson had been under investigation by the police and the FBI for years, but they had never been able to find any concrete evidence or eye-witness testimonies to make any of the charges stick. What they needed was a person on the inside. Max would never dream of asking his mate to do something like that. For one thing it was far too dangerous, but more importantly, he would never want her to betray her father like that—even if it was true that she didn’t like him. The man might have done a lot of bad things, but he was still her father.
But what if there was another way? What if Max could be the inside man. Wouldn’t her father have to welcome him into the organization when he learned that he was mated to his daughter? At first glance, it sounded like the perfect opportunity tear down Ethan’s organization and bring the man to justice, but would Mia ever forgive Max for betraying her?
He heaved a sigh. No, she wouldn’t, not that Max would blame her, and he would never put her in that position in the first place. A relationship between them would never work unless they both stopped with all the secrets and the intrigue.
Max glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. With more questions than answers tumbling around in his mind, he got to feet and went in search of his fellow officers.
Max drove himself and three of the others to the affluent neighborhood, just down the street from where Max had intercepted the jaguar shifters stalking Mia, while the other three of their numbers followed along in Carter’s car. They all started walking together for a short distance, but after two cars slowed down to get a good look at them, they agreed to split up. It hadn’t occurred to Max earlier, but now it was glaringly obvious, a group of seven men strolling through such a neighborhood was bound to draw unwanted attention. They swapped cell phone numbers then split up into three groups.
Max, Carter, and Arlo peeled off together. The night air was cool against their skin, and the faint glow of the moon cast elongated shadows on the ground. Carter moved with the grace and silence of his mountain lion relatives, while Max, even in his human form, had the quiet yet assertive demeanor of a tiger stalking his prey.
For a long time, they found nothing, the night air quiet except for their synchronized footsteps on the pavement. Butthen Arlo stopped abruptly, his nose wrinkling as he sniffed the air.
“Blood,” he murmured.
