Gently but firmly, I extracted my arm from her grip. “Right. The old ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line. I get it. I’m just a filthy lone wolf. A drifter. I have nothing and no one. I could never competeagainst some rich asshole. Maybe the next one you find won’t be such a psycho.”
Cameron’s face fell. She even started shaking her head, but who knew what she was thinking. Maybe she was cursing herself for getting too close to a man like me.
Turning on my heel, I stalked off, taking a shortcut back to the apartment and my bike. I’d only gone a few yards when I realized she wasn’t following. Stopping, I sighed in frustration. Regardless of what had just happened, I couldn’t leave her unprotected. I still had a job to do, and I’d be damned if I failed.
“Come on!” I shouted. “Can’t stay here alone.”
She trudged down the path. “Nate, I’m?—”
“I need to make a call,” I said, pulling my phone from the zippered pocket of my shorts. “It’s important.”
I dialed Ollie, then picked up my pace. I didn’t leave her behind, but I put enough space between us so she wouldn’t hear the conversation. Besides, I didn’t want to hear her apologize a hundred times.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“You know it’s Saturday, right, Nate? Not all of us workeveryday like some people.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I muttered. “Listen, we need to change up the police detail watching Cameron. I need you to swap out whatever guys you have for some shifters. Shifter cops if you have any.”
“I do,” Ollie said with a yawn. “Why, though? What’s changed?”
“We just need more eyes. Guys who can protect her from the feral if he shows up again. Shifters can deal with him better than humans. She knows the truth. I told her last night so she won’t freak out if one of them moves too fast or needs to shift. I just trust them over humans to take on this feral if he appears again.”
“Damn,” Ollie remarked. “How’d she take it?”
“Fine,” I grunted.
“I have to be honest, it’s getting tough to arrange this kind of coverage without my bosses asking questions. These hours have to be coded somewhere. Sometimes police work comes down to bookkeeping. I’ll get my ass handed to me if I pull guys from an assignment to watch her. I may call JC and see if he has a few enforcers who can come down to handle it. That’ll be a long shot, though.”
“Why?” I gripped the phone harder, the plastic of the case creaking under my grip.
“You know why, Nate,” Ollie said with a sigh. “You’re a lone wolf here on contract work. Your words mean fuck all, and you know it. Cameron isn’t an official member of the pack yet. Until she’s fully shifted and swears allegiance to the alpha, she’s an outsider. JC has no obligation to put his own men in danger for a lone wolf or a stranger. I hate to be blunt, but those are the facts.”
“That’s fucking bullshit,” I hissed, my anger rising to a swirling storm in my chest.
Cameron and I stepped out of the forest. With my bike in sight, I felt a little better. Knowing I could escape soon was a blessing.
“What do you want from me?” Ollie asked.
“Here’s what I want,” I snapped, unable to control myself any longer. “You’ve got until nightfall to find someone you trust to watch over Cameron because I can’t do it anymore.”
I did my best to lower my voice for the last bit, but when I looked back, she had a look of dejected horror on her face. She knew she’d hurt me. No hiding that now. Part of me was happy that she felt bad about how things had gone down. The other part was more pissed at myself for losing my cool. Usually, I could handle anything coming at me, but for some reason, it was different when Cameron was involved. And I had no clue why.
“Jesus Christ, Nate, calm down,” Ollie said. “I’ll see what I can do. Hell, if I have to,I’llfucking do it.”
“Fine, I’ll take whatever you got. Like I said, by nightfall.”
“Damn, man. Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”
Ollie hung up before I could respond.
I glared at my phone. I could see images of Rick Masters in my mind. For a few seconds, I imagined slamming my elbow into his face again and again until he was nothing but bloody pulp. I’d almost done that the night before, but I’d held off, thinking of Cameron and what she’d say. I wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, but I would do what I needed to when the time came.
“Nate?” Cameron said.
She looked absolutely miserable, which was exactly how I felt. Whateverthiswas between us had to stop before I felt even worse. It was time to go back to pounding the pavement in search of the feral. Whoever Ollie got to watch her would be more than enough to keep her safe without me around, I was sure.
“Nate, can we talk about this?” she asked. “I don’t want to leave things this way.”
