Page 191 of Red Marked

Phew.

If he recognized me, it would be a disaster. That was careless, and I don’t get to be careless.

I circle wide and come in over the industrial park, my heart beating wildly. I can’t do something like that again.

Flint is walking out of the rental office with the keys in his hand when I land near the rental building.

I shift. Then I pull on jeans and a T-shirt with my back to the wall, dig the blond wig out from under everything, and push my hair up inside it. It’s shoulder-length with blunt bangs; it’s nothing like me. I shove on dark glasses. Then I walk around the front with my bag over my shoulder.

He’s standing by the car with his arms folded.

“Where did you get to?”

“I took the scenic route.” I open the back door and toss my bag in. “I didn’t want Razor seeing us.”

He nods and gets into the car.

It’s a ten-minute drive. This time the hotel is quiet.

“Two rooms, please,” Flint tells the clerk. “On the same floor, if possible.”

I feel disappointed for a few seconds.

I stand there with my hands in my back pockets. Flint told me that having sex couldn’t happen again. He was very clear about it the times before that too. Maybe that was why I had hope.

What can I say? The sex is great. Beyond great. I think he may have broken me for other males.

It’s probably for the best, since we aren’t here for that. We’re here to find the male who did this. I worked my way down that list last night. Every male shifter on Veridian’s payroll at the time of the raid. I’ve found photos and compared faces, and so far, not one of them is him. There are three I can’t find a single picture of anywhere. There are another twelve I haven’t gotten to yet.

Fifteen names. That’s what stands between us and this being over.

At least I hope so.

I really do.

Flint hands me a key card.

“Keep the receipt,” I tell him. “I must owe you a fortune by now.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are.” He picks up his bag. “I’m keeping the receipts.”

“Good.”

We take the elevator up.

The doors open, and he checks the cards. “Four-twelve and four-fifteen.”

We’re on the same floor as last time and across the hall from one another.

He stops at his door and looks at me over his shoulder.

“Do you want to meet in the restaurant for lunch? We can get through those last twelve names together. I’ll take six, and you take six. We can work while we eat. In the meantime, Magma is getting us more info on the three males we don’t have anything on. Hopefully, I’ll have addresses for both work and home. We can check them out later.”

“Sounds good. Let’s meet out here in ten minutes?”