He was anything but normal, though. It was about time for him to accept that and move on with his so-called life, so Zarina could move on with hers. And he needed to do it sooner rather than later.
He was still considering that when he heard footsteps outside his door. For a crazy half second, he thought it was Zarina. His heart beat faster at the possibility, but then his hybrid instincts took over, calculating the weight of the person from the heavy thud of their footfalls and their height by the interval in between strides. It was a tall man, wearing dress shoes. A moment later, he picked up Trevor’s scent.
Tanner was off the couch and across the room before Trevor could even knock. As he opened the door, he was about to point out it wasn’t a good idea for people to see them together, but one glance at the coyote shifter’s face, and he changed his mind. The guy looked like shit.
He took in the suit Trevor wore, his nose wrinkling at the whiff of fresh blood coupled with the subtle flowery scent of a woman’s perfume.
“Nice fashion statement, dude,” Tanner remarked as Trevor walked in. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wear a suit without a shirt. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to catch on.”
Trevor didn’t answer but simply flopped down on the couch.
“I’d offer you something alcoholic, because you sure as hell look like you could use it,” Tanner said, closing the door. “But Zarina thinks it’s a bad idea to mix hybrid and booze. So the best I can do is a Mountain Dew.”
“That’s fine,” Trevor said.
Tanner grabbed two bottles of soda from the fridge, then handed one to Trevor before taking a seat on the other couch. When he’d first come to the DCO, he and Trevor rarely crossed paths, mostly because Trevor and his counterespionage team had always been on missions. Since John’s death, they’d both committed themselves to helping their friends who’d been implicated in his murder as well as finding the real killer, so they’d become friends in addition to allies.
“Shitty night?” Tanner asked.
He knew Trevor had gone to Baltimore to look for a person who might have info on the bomb that killed John but not much more than that.
“You could say that.” Trevor opened the bottle of soda and downed half of it in a few big gulps. “I had the guy who made the bomb right in my hands. He came out and admitted Thorn paid him to make the device and deliver it to the visitor’s center at the main gate of the DCO on the morning of the explosion.”
“Which confirms our worst fears, that someone who works with us picked up that device and put it in John’s office.”
Trevor shrugged. “Yeah. Unfortunately, a bunch of muscle-headed bouncers from the club came out and thought we were robbing the guy. The idiots got trigger-happy and killed him before he got a chance to tell anyone.” He shoved a hand through his dark hair and let out a growl of frustration. “I had Thorn’s balls right in my fucking hand, then it all went to shit.”
“Is that how you got shot?” Tanner asked.
Trevor nodded. “Yeah. I got distracted at the wrong time, and one of the d-bags creased my ribs. It’s nothing.”
Distracted wasn’t a word Tanner would usually associate with his friend. Trevor was the kind of man who seemed to be able to focus on the details in the middle of the biggest shit storm.
“Alina okay?” Tanner prompted.
“Oh yeah, she’s wonderful. Peachy, in fact.”
Tanner wasn’t the most perceptive guy on the planet when it came to picking up nonverbal cues, but even he figured out something was going on here.
When he asked, Trevor was silent for so long, Tanner thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, his friend took a deep breath and took the plunge.
“Alina isn’t turning out to be the person I thought she was.”
Tanner wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“I thought she was supposed to spy on me and tell them everything I’m doing,” Trevor continued.
“Now you don’t think so?”
Trevor let out a short laugh. “Oh, she’s almost certainly reporting back to Dick. Two days after we talked to Seth Larson, Dick sent someone to rough him up and find out what he knew. The only way Dick could have known about Larson is if Alina told him.”
Tanner frowned. “Okay, so you’ve confirmed that she’s a spy for Dick.”
Trevor shook his head. “Yeah, but you should have seen the look on her face when she realized I’d figured out what she’d done. She seemed genuinely contrite, like she knew she’d made a mistake.”
Tanner lifted a brow.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Trevor held up his hands. “That she’s playing me. I admit, the thought has crossed my mind more than a few times. But I do this spy-versus-spy thing for a living. I usually know when people are playing me. I’m telling you, something else is going on with Alina. Sometimes it seems like she’s actually on our side.”
