A smile flashed across his face as he was politely rebuked.
"Let me guess, that would be against your job description?" he teased, getting back to his original question.
"Actually, as a matter of fact, it would be," she said. "I'm pretty sure it's against yours as well."
Dammit! Why did I have to go and say that? Now he's going to be reminded of that stupid clause in the job contract. Idiot.
"Indeed," he said, his tone much more serious than before. He probably thought that she truly wasn't interested now with the way his entire body demeanor changed. "So, how much longer is Marcus going to be today?"
Shit. He didn't even want to be around her anymore now that she had brought the formality of their work back into it. Real smooth.
"Actually, Marcus is unavailable today," she told him with a small sigh, taking a thick manila envelope from the drawer on the right-hand side of her desk. It was sealed, but he broke it expertly as she handed it over, removing the contents in a smooth motion.
"What's this?" he asked, beginning to scan the documents. He wanted a summarized version, which was understandable.
"In short, that is the outline for the new project you and I will be heading up.
"What?" The surprise in his voice couldn't have been more genuine. "That can't be. I'm a Stone Bear. That is my job. We don't take projects." He stressed the word, as if to indicate it was something beneath him. "We help out where we can, but nothing that will take away from our duties. They are too important."
"Calm down, tiger," she told him, trying to inject some of that "command" into her own voice. "Marcus said you wouldn't be happy about it. He told me to tell you, and I quote, ‘This takes top priority, Gabriel. Raphael can take command in your absence. Recovery of the stones will proceed without a problem. Make it happen.'" She sat back and let him absorb those words for a moment.
Marcus had also told her something else. Something that would be absolutely essential. When dealing with bear shifters, she needed to show no fear, and to be completely confident in any decision if she thought the shifter might not agree with it completely. That was easy now, she thought, since she had exact words from Marcus to back up what was about to happen.
When they were busy completing the project, however, she knew it would become a lot harder to convince him to side with her. But Marcus had laid it out. Gabriel was great at many things, but he was a little too hard-charging for this task. It needed a more delicate and planned touch. That was where she came in.
To her surprise, Gabriel calmed down quickly and began to intensely scan the pages in front of him.
"Give me the gist of it," he prompted.
At least he was willing to hear her out. "Mining crews currently have liaisons to oversee them, and ensure they don't harm the human populace. While that seemed to work for a while, recent events have shown that perhaps another level is needed."
"Another level?"
"Indeed. So you and I are in charge of the startup of the Sentinel program."
Gabriel choked back what sounded suspiciously like laughter. "Sentinel?" he managed to get out between coughing fits.
"Yes. That is the name of the new position, and congratulations on being the first to achieve it. You are now officially a Sentinel of Genesis Valley."
"You have got to be kidding me," he said, looking at her in outright disbelief, no longer bothering to try and contain it. "This is like a bad superhero movie, right?"
Caia speared him with a glare. "If you went into Origin and told someone you were a Stone Bear, what would their reaction be?"
Origin was the town within Genesis Valley, where the human population had arisen to help serve the Lionshead Mining Corporation and the shifters themselves. The LMC employed a number of people, and they had well over a hundred shifters who worked the mines as well. All in all, nobody had been surprised when a town began to grow up around the operation. The scale of it had surprised some. But even now, two hundred years since the project started, it wasn't home to more than a few thousand people, including all the employees.
"They would look at me with respect, admiration, or if they were a shifter, most likely disdain, or perhaps fear. Few of them like dealing with us."
"Now, go out into one of the large cities in the world and tell someone that you're a Stone Bear. What are they likely to do?"
Gabriel didn't have to think about it. He responded instantly, though she saw him grimace slightly as he realized where she was going. "They would look at me like I was stupid, or perhaps outright laugh at me."
She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand politely, admitting defeat.
"Okay, okay I get it. You made your point. It may sound stupid to me, but it won't to others."
She nodded. "Especially the humans in Origin who are getting antsy over the antics of a number of shifters lately."
"Is it that bad?" he asked, frowning with concern.
"I'm not sure, but that's part of my end of the project. To go and find out what they're feeling."
"That makes sense," he agreed. "What is it that Marcus wants me to do?"
"The Kedyns," she responded, noticing the way his eyes focused even further as he realized that Valen had gotten involved, which was rare when it came to the humans who resided in Origin. "They want you to track down the Opal crew."
"Marcus already told me to do that," he said. "I've been using all my spare time to do that, without success. I have a meeting with someone tomorrow that might be able to help, but I'm not counting on it."
"The major difference is that this is now your primary job. The other Stone Bears will continue on in your absence, but you will spend your days working on the Sentinel project now."
"That's not a good idea," he warned.
"Why not?" Caia only had the vaguest notion of exactly what went on in the mountains and what the miners were searching for. She hadn't needed to know, so the Kedyns hadn't told her. Perhaps she could pry some information out of Gabriel without him realizing it.
He looked at her. "If you knew what we do, then you would know why."
It was her turn to frown. "They haven't told me anything," she admitted. Whatever it was that the bears mined for was a closely held secret, at least among non-shifters. Every shifter seemed to know it, at least from the few she had talked to, but none of them were going to share.
Caia wasn't sure where the conversation was going to go, but she steeled herself for a confrontation with Gabriel. Marcus had been very stern with her orders-that she was to ensure that he took this task seriously, and turned over the Stone Bears to Raphael for the time being. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, but that didn't mean the presence of a colossal human who became extremely irate with her sounded appealing either.
"Is this going to be a problem?" she asked, using her best stern voice.
"No."
Caia fought not to blink in surprise. She failed. His response had caught her utterly off guard.
"I get to work hand-in-hand with you every day now. How could that be a problem?"
She smiled demurely. "Oh, I could think of a few ways, but I'm sure we'll be able to get over any issues."
Caia, you have got to rein yourself in! You shouldn't flirt quite so unashamedly with him. A little bit is fine, but do not give him your sex eyes. Don't do it. Don't.
She didn't, but it was a close thing. He had that sort of effect on her. She would have to be very careful. Like Gabriel had just said, they were going to be working very closely with each other for the foreseeable future. It would be so tempting and easy to allow herself to succumb to his charms.
But she wanted this job, and to keep it, she would have to keep her hands to herself. And also ensure that Gabriel kept his hands to himself. One thing that Marcus had been rather stern on during the hiring process was not allowing herself to be seduced by the shifters. At the time, a rather naïve Caia had told her boss that that wouldn't be an issue. Now that she had spent several days working in close proximity to the tall, ripped, and uniformly gorgeous bears of Genesis Valley, she already felt her willpower slipping. She wasn't a virgin, but she hadn't slept around a lot either.
Yet with all the delectable man meat practically being served up on a platter, she was having a hard time ignoring it. She was a woman, and she had needs too. Needs that she had denied for too long.
"So who's in charge?" he asked.
"We are. Team effort." She made sure to say it without hesitation and without any sarcasm, so that he understood she was serious.
"Really?"
"Absolutely. You're too hard-charging, I'm too meticulous. They want us to even each other out."
"Hard-charging? What?" He looked almost hurt by the accusation.