Wicked Bite (Realm Enforcers #5)(42)

Garrett shrugged. "He's the king. Dage pretty much knows everything, and he really hates it when people seem surprised by that."

Logan snorted. "Isn't that the truth?"

She faltered. King Dage Kayrs was the ruler of the Realm, which was a coalition of all immortal species except for the Kurjans, who were off licking their wounds after getting their asses kicked in the last war. Just what else did Dage Kayrs know? "I see."

"Get . . . out," Bear continued.

Garrett looked beyond him at the mess. "Whoa. What kind of party did you have?"

"The DEA dropped by," Nessa said. What was Bear's problem?

Lucas remained silent and just watched the exchange, his gaze resigned.

Garrett nodded at him. "Hey, Lucas."

"Boys," Lucas finally said. "Please don't tell me-"

"Yep," Logan replied cheerfully. "We're new Grizzly prospects. Isn't it great? I love watching games on that big television over there."

Bear growled low and long and hard. "No."

Nessa rubbed an aching bruise on her shoulder. Must've been from the dart. She mentally ran through her files on the Apollo op. Hadn't there been something about those boys being undercover as prospects at Titans of Fire? She hadn't paid much attention to Titans of Fire. Of course, the Titans' clubhouse had been blown up. So now the boys must want to go undercover with the Grizzlies, considering it was the only game left in town. "You boys are here on behalf of the king to figure out who is manufacturing Apollo," she said slowly, putting the puzzle pieces together.




       
         
       
        
"No," Bear said shortly.

Garrett strode into the room and righted the pool table with one hand. "You don't have to let us stay, Bear."

"I agree," Bear snapped.

"But my uncle would like to call in a favor." Garrett's grin was cheerful, but a clear predator gleamed in his metallic eyes. "I believe you owe him?"

Tension rolled from Bear, but he didn't answer.

"For what?" Lucas asked quietly.

Nessa cleared her throat. "I may have heard something about Bear being kidnapped by the Council and the king interceding and getting him home quickly. Maybe. Didn't something like that happen recently?" Of course, she knew all about it. It felt wrong to keep facts from Bear now. She'd just slept with the shifter. What had she been thinking?

"Yes," Bear said through gritted teeth.

"So we're staying," Logan said, moving toward the bar to start putting bottles back into their places.

Garrett sighed. "Listen, Bear. Logan and I have been on this case since the beginning, and we really want to see it through to the end. You're missing three of your board members, and you could use backup for now. Logan is a genius at tracking people. We'll get right on it."

"You are missing members?" Nessa asked Bear, her thighs still tingling from his touch. She needed to calm down, and now.

"They've been recalled," he said, looking at Garrett. "I knew owing Dage would bite me in the ass. All right. Here's the deal. You can stay, but you do what I tell you, when I tell you. The last thing I need is for one of you to get dead."

"We love you too, man." Logan continued with the bottles.

Bear turned on him. "I don't even like you two idiots. But if you die, then I have either the vampire or the demon nation on my ass. Probably both." He righted a chair that had been overturned. "You two can't even go on vacation without ending up in trouble and forcing the king to put your asses to work."

Garrett's mouth twisted. "Fair enough."

"We are never gonna live that down," Logan groused, pushing a drawer closed. "One wild week on a beach-that's all it was."

Garrett's watch dinged, and he glanced down to read the face. "Oh. Uncle Dage wants to have a conference call. Is that cool with you?"

Bear looked like he'd chewed and swallowed shards of glass. "Your uncle is now setting up my calls?"

Garrett shrugged. "I figure he probably just wants to share his intel on the case. We've had the computer guys working the issue around the clock for the last month, ever since the drug reappeared on the streets of Seattle." 

Bear sighed loud enough to stir the air. "Fine. Let's go to the conference room and see what the king knows." He turned and took Nessa's hand.

Electricity jolted up her arm.

"This way." Bear maneuvered through the demolished room to a door to the storage room behind the bar.

Nessa followed, her curiosity buzzing. "We're going back into the storage area?" The room was black and sooty from the fire.