The next day …

Natasha threw her toothbrush into her toiletry bag and grabbed her hairbrush. She ran the thing through her hair a couple of times before sweeping her mop into an untidy ponytail. She’d overslept. Unbelievable!

Then again, she’d had so much on her mind after all that had gone down yesterday that she’d set the clock for pm instead of am. Titan was waiting for her downstairs. Natasha looked at her watch. Damn, she was already ten minutes late. She’d sent him a text and could see that he had read it. Of course he hadn’t responded, which told her volumes. She pulled on some low heels and dug in her purse for some tinted lip gloss. She gave herself a once over in the mirror. Messy hair. Slightly creased blouse. Natasha sighed, it would have to do.

Then she stuffed her iPad into her purse, grabbed her laptop bag and headed out. Natasha gasped as she turned back to pull the door closed. There was writing scrawled across the wood in ugly red paint.

The brush strokes were broad and rushed. Who had done this? Surely the fascist group hadn’t found them out this quickly. Then she felt the back of her neck prickle. She quickly put a finger to the paint and turned, taking in her surroundings. There was nothing to see. No one else was in the hall. There was the sound of a shower running and dishes clanging together. Nothing out of the ordinary. She lifted her finger. It was clean so the paint was dry. This had happened hours ago. A shiver ran down her spine. She had been none the wiser. Natasha hadn’t slept well, she’d tossed and turned, but she’d been none the wiser. She hadn’t heard a darned thing.

The fascists knew that she was here and based on the message, they knew why. She had known that they would find out sooner or later but this was insane. It was too soon. Far too damned soon. It could only mean one thing.

She pulled her phone out of her purse. Her finger hovered over Titan’s number. If he came up here he’d know her room number.

She rolled her eyes and pushed dial. It wasn’t like he couldn’t find out which room she was in if he really wanted to. She was done driving herself crazy about what had happened yesterday. Things weren’t adding up. In the end, she could only trust two things: her gut and her Glock. It felt good resting in its holster at her side. Her gut told her that Titan was lying through his ass about a lot of things. Despite this, she felt that she could trust him with her wellbeing.

The phone rang once. “What’s taking so long?” A deep rasp.

Good morning to you too, Sunshine! “I need you to come up to the third floor.”

He sighed. “I don’t have time for this.”

“We,” she raised her voice, “you need to start saying we.”

“Natasha.” She was not going to enjoy how her name sounded on his lips. No damned way.

“Um … I … you need to come up. It’s important. I’m in room 304.”

Titan made a growling noise and ended the call.

It felt like seconds later and he rounded the corner, striding down the hallway with a determined look on his face. He was in a full suit, wearing a powder blue tie this time. It brought out his eyes … Not going there! What the hell was wrong with her?

“What is so—?” he sniffed, looking at the door. “Fuck!” he muttered under his breath.

“We need to get forensics out. They should dust for prints and …”

“They won’t find any but you’re right, we should try.”

Natasha kept her eyes on his for a few beats. “This is because of an inside leak. Someone at the sheriff’s office. It’s that, or someone from my team. There is no way this group could have been onto us so quickly unless there was a mole.”

“They probably spotted us going in and out of the castle yesterday.” He shrugged. “They could have followed us.”

“There wasn’t anyone around yesterday.” She frowned.

Titan raised his brows. “They could have used a drone.”

“I thought that vampires used scramblers to prevent drones from flying over your territory.”

“We do, but we can’t put a stop to what happens outside our fences. They could’ve been watching the sheriff’s office.”

It was possible, but Natasha didn’t buy it. She had done extensive research on the vampires and their territory, and drones were not able to fly anywhere near them. A drone wouldn’t have gotten close enough. It was possible that someone had spotted them but she didn’t think that was the case either. She was trained to monitor her surroundings. It was easy to spot a tail if you knew what to look for. “A mole shouldn’t be excluded.” It made the most sense. It felt right dammit.

“Agreed, but we’re sticking to our plan. Members’ family and friends should be able to shed some light on this group.”

“Vampires killed their loved ones. You saw how things went yesterday with Liam’s mother.” The older woman had gone from crying to hurling insults and then back to sobbing her heart out again. “It was the same with his brother.” Even worse, they hadn’t gotten two words out of the pimple-faced youth. He was in his early twenties and didn’t work. Natasha noticed that he was wearing brand clothing and new expensive sneakers. The kid was getting money from somewhere. It would be worth taking a closer look at him. They hadn’t talked to law enforcement before, she didn’t expect things to be different this time around.

“We’ll work our way through that list and identify those who need closer consideration, like the Stevenson male. We can trail them and see where it leads.”

“Okay.” Natasha could tell that she wasn’t going to get through to him. Why was he so adamant about how things needed to run? Starting out with a plan was imperative but said plan needed to be malleable based on how the investigation proceeded. There was no give when it came to Titan. Zero lateral thinking. She’d go along, for now.

“You need to pack. I’ll go to reception,” Titan said. “Once forensic is done, this,” he pointed to the door, “needs to be cleaned up, and I’m going to ask them to assign you a new room.”

“Yeah … not a bad idea. On second thought though, maybe we should find somewhere else to stay.”

Titan squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. She noticed that they looked a bit bloodshot. Then he shook his head. “No point!” He sounded tired. “We just have to be more vigilant.”

Titan was right. These guys had found them once, they would find them again no matter where they went. She would need to be even more vigilant. Natasha nodded, feeling tired herself.

* * *

It was tiresome going through the motions of interviewing all the dead fascist members’ familes. It felt like a waste of time. He needed to ensure that they kept up the ruse though. No one could find out what was really going on behind the scenes.

Titan had worked until late reviewing the camera footage. He then listened to all of the telephone conversations from the previous day. Luckily the devices only started recording when someone actually spoke. Still, where the sheriff was concerned, it was a ton of footage. Especially considering he spoke to someone he referred to as his ‘Honey Bunny’ fifteen, if not twenty, times a day. The female called him her ‘Teddy Bear’ and in an annoying voice that was supposed to be sexy. All of the lovie dovie talk was nauseating, not to mention the dirty sex talk, which he could do without overhearing.

Anyhow, he had to listen to each and every one of those conversations and try to look for hidden messages or meanings. The human, Natasha, was spot on, there was a mole in the sheriff’s department and Titan was going to find the son of a bitch. It wouldn’t take much to get them to talk. He’d find this group. He wasn’t about to take the direct route though. If the mole knew he was onto them, his whole plan would be shot to hell and the SOB would go into hiding. He needed to stop Natasha from snooping around. The female needed to stay in the dark.

His thoughts moved back to the bugging devices; the Sheriff also spoke regularly with his deputies. So far, the male looked to be clean. As did lab tech James Dawson. The Jail department and Admin departments were all clean as well. It was early days though. Titan didn’t expect the answers to fall from the sky. He was going to have to work on it. If it meant running around pretending to be on a wild goose chase by day and pouring through surveillance footage by night, then so be it. Plus, there were still a couple of the deputies’ phones that needed to be bugged, and Milly from reception also needed a device placed in her handset. It was a work in progress. Titan needed to tread carefully, he didn’t plan on getting busted. It would be better if Natasha believed the ruse. The sheriff’s office was bugged, he’d found devices scattered all over the various departments. So far, his and Natasha’s office was clean. He’d set up a camera so that if the asshole tried to plant a bug, he’d have them red-handed. Point was, the fuckers had ears everywhere, if the human made one slip up they’d be busted. He liked the idea of tackling this thing from both angles. Digging deep was never a bad thing.

Natasha walked in. “James is processing the prints as we speak. They lifted fourteen full sets and nine partials. He’ll call if anything comes in.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath.” Which was exactly what he felt like doing right now. Her scent was driving him to distraction. Titan was thirsty. He’d eaten two days ago, so he shouldn’t need to drink so soon. Especially since his fridge was stocked with blood. The only thing was that blood out of a bag wasn’t nearly as satisfying as blood from a vein. Still, he’d taken blood from Drago just two days ago so he shouldn’t need blood until later in the week at the earliest.

Just thinking about the male made him feel guilty. He’d reacted harshly when Drago had flirted with Natasha. The asshole should have known better than to pull a move like that and especially in front of him. Although Lance was filling in for him, Titan was still officially in charge of the division that looked after humans while on vampire territory. Fucking around with human females was a complete and utter no-no. It didn’t matter that Drago was one of the ten and that he’d already been tested for bloodlust. What mattered was that Natasha was not one of The Program females. The asshole had been rude to her on top of that. It was something he wouldn’t tolerate.

The female in question moved closer. The scent of wild roses and candy filled his nostrils. It was all he could do to keep from taking her scent deep, of sniffing the air. His stomach growled. She gave him a sad looking smile. “If you need to take a food break I can fill in that report for you.”

“No,” he said too quickly. The report was to his king, detailing all the steps taken thus far. It had nothing to with the incident from this morning like he’d told her. “I’m fine,” he added, softer this time.

“Okay. What would you like me to do?” She folded her arms.

“You can work on the reports from yesterday’s interviews and prepare a list of questions for the ones scheduled this afternoon.”

Her jaw tightened but she nodded. “Next on the list is Earl Fish’s grandmother as well as his father. Mother is listed as deceased. The guy’s grandmother is in a home for the elderly. She’s in frail condition.” Natasha pulled a face. “I’m not sure how much information we’ll be able to get out of her.”

“No stone left unturned.”

“Okay. If you say so.” She huffed out a breath. The female was smart.

Titan watched as she got to work, doing as he asked. There had been no small talk this morning. Her easy smiles had dried up as well. Good! It was better that she knew exactly who he was and what he was capable of. He wasn’t nice or sweet or kind or any of the other bullshit adjectives she had used to describe him. He’d admit that he enjoyed hearing her say them. That something in him had warmed, but he didn’t deserve such praise. He was nowhere near worthy. It was better this way. Best she thought the worst of him. They could never be friends, let alone anything more. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temple. He just wished that she didn’t have to hate him. It felt good to have someone see him in such a good light. To have a female believe in him and enjoy his company for a change. It was a lie. This was for the best.

The female continued to type away on her laptop. Her lips moved as she reread something that she’d just written. Titan watched in fascination as she traced the tip of her tongue across her lip in a slow, easy glide. She pulled her lower lip into her mouth and sucked lightly.

He could just picture those lips wrapped around his cock. She sucked again and he swore he could feel it on his cock. His sacs pulled up.

Fuck!

Titan just knew that her blood would be thick and hot and so fucking sweet. It would be delicious rapture. He could hear each beat of her heart, could hear the blood coursing through her veins, he longed for a taste. Longed for so much more. Titan had jacked off five times last night and twice again this morning. You wouldn’t think so if you took a look at his cock right now. Hard and throbbing. He was the biggest dick alive. Natasha was afraid of him and with good reason.

His stomach rumbled. Hunger gnawed at him. He hadn’t had breakfast so it was understandable. Although they needed regular bursts of blood to maintain their metabolisms, like humans, vampires still needed to eat food as well. The bigger the vampire, the more they needed to consume. Both in terms of blood and food. Males needed more blood and calories than females. Their higher metabolic rates demanded it.

“Do you need something from the vending machine?” he asked.

“Um …” She looked up from her laptop and shook her head. “I’m good, thanks.” Then she went back to work.

He headed out into the main open area and went towards the vending machine. There wasn’t much of a selection. Titan was just about to slide some coins into the slot when a familiar voice sounded behind him. “You really shouldn’t eat that rubbish.”

He pulled himself upright and turned around. The female scented of lavender. She smiled widely. “You must be the new guy.” She winked but Titan could tell that she wasn’t flirting so much as trying to be friendly. “I’m Tessa.”

Tessa, or as the Sheriff liked to call her, Honey Bunny, reached into the basket on her arm and pulled out a wrapped up sandwich. He could scent that it was turkey with lettuce, tomato, mayo and a hint of mustard. The bread was white and crusty, most likely baked that morning.

Titan took the sandwich from her. “Thank you!”

“So, you’re the undercover guy.” She said ‘undercover’ behind her hand and glanced around the room. “I’m Tessa,” she said again, holding out her hand; Titan shook it. “Big Bear said that you’re here on top secret business. That you FBI people are in town. Don’t worry though, he wouldn’t say anything else. I have no idea what this is all about. Exciting though, isn’t it?” Her eyes were wide and sparkled with excitement.

Titan nodded. “Thank you for this.” He lifted the sandwich in his hand.

“Honey,” the sheriff said, from across the room. “I thought I heard your voice.”

“Thought I would bring lunch for you and Emmett. Excuse me.” The female made her way over to the Sheriff and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek. It was hard to believe that Big Bear Bill allowed himself to be tied up by this tiny female and beaten with a whip. Humans were strange. He didn’t understand them.

Milly sniffed. Her gaze was firmly on the couple. Her eyes were narrowed and her shoulders tense. “I don’t like that woman,” she said under her breath, finally looking at Titan. “I don’t trust her.”

“Why do you say that?”

Milly shrugged. “I don’t know. Can’t put my finger on it.” She shook her head. Titan caught a noseful of her scent. Milly was sad. There was a bitter edge which told him that she was also jealous. The female possibly had feelings for her boss. It could be why she didn’t trust Tessa.

“How long have the two of them been seeing each other?”

“Just over a year. They celebrated their anniversary about a month ago.” Her eyes clouded for a second. “They got engaged.”

“You don’t look too happy.”

Milly shrugged. “Don’t mind me. I care about the old lug, that’s all. I’ve known Bill for years. Ed and I used to go to Bill and Jeans’ house for dinner and vice versa. Our spouses died only two months apart. We helped and supported one another during a real dark time. Then he met Tessa.” She pursed her lips. “Oh well! I wish them all the best, I do … but—” The phone rang. Milly smiled. “Excuse me, will you?”

Titan nodded.

Yup, the female was jealous. There was nothing more to it but it did make him think of another angle. He headed back to the office. There were also those who had access to the Sheriff’s office on a regular basis. He might have this all wrong. The mole might not be on the inside, they just needed to be here regularly enough.

Titan pulled out his phone. He texted Lance. The male was a whizz with computers and apps and technology in general. Maybe he could hack the system. Titan needed a list of suppliers. Aside from continuing to monitor what was going on on the inside, it was a good place to start.