“And what?” Alina knew exactly what Kathy was asking but figured she should make her friend work for it a little bit.
Kathy glared at her. “Don’t even try it. You know exactly what I’m talking about. What’s he like? Is he nice, good-looking, well built…married?”
Alina shook her head. “Kathy, he’s my partner.”
Her friend made a face. “Seriously? I sit at home all day looking at socks on the Internet, and you think I’m going to let you get away with that nonanswer? I’m not buying it. Spill!”
Alina laughed. “Okay, okay. I admit, I may have noticed that Trevor is attractive. He has dark hair that seems permanently tousled and dark eyes. He’s maybe a year or two older than I am, isn’t married that I know of, and is funny in that sarcastic, dry-wit sort of way. Oh, and he’s definitely tall and well built.”
“How tall and how built?” Kathy asked.
Alina shrugged. “Six four, two hundred and twenty pounds maybe.”
“Whoa.” Kathy’s brows rose. “He sounds hot.”
Alina didn’t say anything as she spooned cereal into her mouth. She couldn’t help wondering what her friend would think if she knew Trevor had claws and fangs.
“So I’m guessing you two hit it right off?”
Alina grimaced. “Unfortunately, no.”
“Really? Why not? Did you get into a fight or something?”
Alina shook her head. “I wish it was as simple as that. But I don’t think you can consider a complete lack of trust in each other a fight.”
In between eating, Alina described her first day at the DCO, starting with the meeting she’d had with her boss.
“The man flat-out told me Trevor was involved with the murder of the organization’s previous director,” she said. “He as much as said the reason he hired me was because he thought I’d be able to dig out the traitors behind the conspiracy—Trevor being at the top of the list of suspects. My boss wants me to spy on my own partner the first day on the job.”
Kathy didn’t bat an eye at the mention of murder and spying. She’d listened to Alina talk for so long that stuff like this was old hat to her. But she did grimace at the fact that the DCO was asking Alina to do the very thing that had made her quit the Agency.
“I don’t remember you mentioning this as part of the job description when I suggested you take this job,” Kathy muttered.
Alina shook her head. “I think this falls under the category of ‘additional duties as assigned.’ The worst part is that it’s obvious Trevor knows I’ve been assigned as his partner simply to keep an eye on him. He’ll barely talk to me.”
“Okay, that sucks,” Kathy said. “Do you think your boss is right? Is Trevor involved in murder? Do you trust him?”
Alina considered that. “I want to trust him.”
“You know that’s not really an answer, right?” Kathy pointed out. “To any of the questions I asked.”
Alina sighed. “I know, but the reality is I don’t know what to think of Trevor. He’s my partner, and working with him is going to be tough if we can’t trust each other. But after what happened with Wade, I’m not as quick to trust people as I used to be.”
“That’s understandable,” Kathy said. “Let me ask you something. Besides your boss’s suspicions about Trevor being involved, is there anything you’ve personally seen or heard that has you doubting him?”
Alina wondered if her friend had been a shrink in a previous life, because Kathy was definitely good at getting her to look at situations from a completely different perspective. But after replaying the day’s events in her head, she realized Trevor had actually given her a few reasons to trust him, first by opening up about shifters, then telling her why they were going to see Seth Larson. Despite that, there was still one thing hanging over their partnership that made her reluctant to have faith in him.
“I suppose the thing that’s bothering me the most is this gut instinct I have that Trevor is hiding something from me,” she told Kathy. “I have no idea exactly what it is or why he’s doing it, but I’m having a hard time putting my faith in someone when I know they’re keeping secrets from me.”
Kathy nodded. “What are you going to do?”
Alina didn’t have to think about it very long. There was no way she was going back to the Agency, and she wasn’t yet ready to walk away from the DCO. She wasn’t sure why, but the same instincts warning her that Trevor was keeping stuff from her were also screaming that she couldn’t bail on her new job.
Alina shrugged and set her empty bowl on the coffee table. “I’m not making any decisions one way or the other right now. Not until I have more information to work with.”
Kathy’s brow creased with worry. “What if you and Trevor have to walk into a dangerous situation? How do you do that if you don’t trust him? Isn’t that begging for trouble?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.” Alina flopped back on the couch. “But right now, I don’t have any other options. Until I know who the good guys are in this situation, I’m going to have to cover my own back.”
