* * *
Shit, he was tired.
Not surprising, Trevor thought as he walked upstairs to his Woodbridge apartment. Between Dick putting him back out in the field with Alina and discovering the Seth Larson lead wasn’t likely to go anywhere, things definitely hadn’t gone the way he imagined when he’d woken up that morning.
Which was probably why he didn’t realize there was someone in his apartment until he unlocked the door and pushed it open. Normally, someone breaking into his apartment would have had him reaching for his weapon, but in this case, he knew who his visitor was. The steady heartbeat combined with a complete and total lack of scent meant it could only be one person—Adam.
Closing the door, Trevor tossed his keys on the table inside the entryway. Adam stood in front of the big window in the living room, gazing out at the jogging path behind the building. He turned as Trevor flicked on the light, his hazel eyes quickly adjusting to the sudden brightness. Tall, with dark-blond hair and angular features, he wore a long duster even in the heat of summer. Considering it was August, Trevor should have been able to pick up the smell of sweat coming off the shifter from across the room, but he couldn’t.
After the secretive shifter had shown up at his place for the first time weeks ago, Trevor quickly figured out the man wore some kind of cloaking spray that made it nearly impossible for him—or any other shifter—to pick up his natural scent. The only way Trevor could smell Adam’s odor was if he got really, really close to him.
Not that it helped much. Adam didn’t smell like any other shifter Trevor had ever been around. He smelled like a lizard. Thing was, Trevor had never heard of a reptile-based shifter. Then again, Trevor had seen the man’s eyes shift once, and the pupils had been slitted.
Freakiest crap he had ever seen.
“You know, if you’re going to break into my apartment, you could at least make dinner,” Trevor said drily as he walked around the peninsula that separated the living room from the kitchen.
Adam lifted a brow. “Would you really eat anything I cooked?”
Considering Adam had been an assassin in his former life, probably not. “Good point.”
Opening the fridge, Trevor grabbed two bottles of beer, then gestured at Adam. When the other shifter shook his head, Trevor shrugged and put one back.
“How was your trip down to Bowling Green?” Adam asked.
Trevor unscrewed the cap and swigged his beer. How the hell had Adam known where he and Alina had been earlier that day? He hadn’t even known he was going down there until after lunch, and as far as anyone else knew, they’d been in Fredericksburg, not Bowling Green.
He didn’t bother asking, knowing Adam wouldn’t say. Besides, he was more concerned with other things—like the fact that Dick had bugged his apartment. He motioned around the room, then pointed to his ear.
“I’ve intercepted the audio going to our friends on the other end of the wires,” Adam said casually. “They think you’re watching ESPN while you make dinner.”
Of course. Trevor wasn’t sure why he worried. Adam had known his apartment was bugged before he had.
Adam had first shown up three days after John’s murder, letting Trevor know Landon, Ivy, and the others were safe, then asking him to be his eyes and ears in the DCO. The other shifter had said he and the former director were friends, and that they’d devoted the past decade to putting Thorn in prison. Trevor had spent most of his adult life catching spies and traitors, so he was good at knowing when people were lying to him, and his gut told him Adam was on the level.
“It wasn’t a complete loss,” Trevor said. “The man I went down there to see—Seth Larson—isn’t the one who brought the bomb onto the DCO complex, but he saw several people around the main building right before the explosion. I’m sending him photos from the DCO personnel records to look through. If we’re lucky, we might get an ID on the person who set the device.”
“Seems like a long shot,” Adam said.
Trevor couldn’t disagree with that. But until he had a chance to look into a few other leads he’d been working, it was the only shot he had to go on.
“Any word on Kendra?” Trevor asked.
“Tanner saw her a few days ago and said she’s close to having her twins,” Adam said, and Trevor could have sworn he saw a smile tug at his lips. “Declan is terrified he’ll have to deliver the babies.”
Trevor chuckled. He could just imagine the big bear shifter trying to deliver the twins while worrying about protecting Kendra at the same time. He was glad Tanner was in a position to help. The big lion hybrid might have control issues now and then, but there was absolutely no one else in the DCO who possessed his heart and compassion when it came to helping people in trouble.
But then the seriousness of that situation struck him. If Kendra went into labor suddenly, Tanner wouldn’t be able to help with that. “All humor aside, she isn’t going to have to have her kids in that B&B where they’re staying, is she?”
Adam shrugged. “She’ll have to. I’m trying to bring in a doctor and a nurse to take care of her, but I have to be careful. Thorn knows Kendra is close to giving birth, too, and I’m afraid if I use anyone in the area, he’ll catch wind of it.”
Shit. Being in the middle of giving birth to twins while worrying about Thorn’s goons finding you had to be scary as hell. No wonder Declan was freaking out.
“How was your first day with your new partner?” Adam asked.
Trevor frowned. “You knew I was getting a new partner? And you didn’t think that was something you might have mentioned to me?”
That slight smile crossed Adam’s face again. “I didn’t want to put you in the position of having to fake your emotions during your first meeting with Agent Bosch. You know what they say—you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
