Once he dropped Rachel off, Chris had nothing to distract him from the thoughts, which wouldn't stop circling his mind. His mother was alive. He had a brother. His brother was a shifter. His mother was alive. Whoever was controlling Kyle was some-where near Reno. His mother was alive. He made the drive back to the Obsession on autopilot, only realizing once he'd handed the keys over to the valet that he had no memory of the drive.

Chris didn't know why he was obsessed with the idea that his mother was alive. He'd never been told she was dead, just that she had abandoned him. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was because he had been lied to. If his father had lied to Chris about his mother, what else had he lied about?

In his suite, Chris kicked off his shoes at the door and paced the length of his living room while he tried to remember every detail his father had ever said about his mother. She had been pretty, his father had told him that when Chris had been five or six. A few years later, the subject of his mother had come up again, and he had said she had been dis-gusted when he'd been born a were. Chris's being a were was something she couldn't handle, and she had left, leaving him behind. At the time, Chris had taken his father at his word, now though, he was second guessing it all.

Chris shoved one hand through his hair as he struggled to come to terms with it all. Frustrated, he headed for the bedroom where he stripped out of his clothes and went straight for the shower. As the steaming water cascaded over him, his mind flashed to a picture of Rachel in the shower, and he wished he were with her. He'd wanted to stay with her earlier, but now he understood why she wanted him to go home.

––––––––

AFTER HIS SHOWER, CHRIS was pulling on a clean pair of jeans when the in-house phone rang.

“This is Walters.” He picked up the extension next to his bed.

“Mr. Walters, this is Evan at the front desk. I have a man here with a delivery for you. He wanted to deliver it to your office, but I knew you weren't in today.”

“Send him up to the office, Evan. I'll meet him there.”

“Yes, sir. Right away.”

Chris dropped the handset back on the receiver and finished dressing, skipping shoes and heading down stairs to the office floor barefooted. The other man was a shifter, he wouldn’t think twice about bare feet.

On the office floor, Chris went to the waiting area where the elevator stopped, turned on lights, and waited for the visitor. The elevator doors slid open to reveal an older looking man, though with the way shifters age, he couldn't be sure just how old. The man scowled.

“Thanks for coming.” Chris held out one hand. The man stared at it a moment then finally shook it. “I’m Chris, Christopher Walters.”

“I'm Dennis.”

“It's good to meet you, Dennis. If you'll come this way, we can sit down in my office and talk.” Chris led the wolf shifter down the hall. “In here.” He opened the door and propped it open. There was no one else on the floor, and he wasn't worried about being overheard. “Have a seat.” Chris waved one hand toward the seating area on the opposite side of the room from his desk and sat in one of the two leather chairs.

Dennis sat nearly on the end of the matching sofa and held out a folder. “I was told to give this to only you. My Alpha also said only when you were alone or with a dragon woman. No one else.”

Chris took the folder and opened it. “Thank you.” He looked at the first few pages then glanced up at Dennis. “You know what's in here?”

“I do. I assisted in some of the work to put it together.”

“Good. Give me a few minutes to look it over, and I may have a couple questions.”

“Not a problem.”

Chris paged through the folder, seeing some of the same things his own investigation team had turned up and others they hadn't. He wondered why they had found so much more, and asked Dennis as much.

“I'm not sure, sir. It could be any number of rea-sons. More experience, more or better contacts, more trusted by those underground, or simply not known by them, while those in your Fraction will likely know who is close to you, who you trust, and who you don't.”

Chris stared at Dennis for a couple moments then closed the folder. “What would you suggest then? Should I ask people I don't trust to get me information?”

“Not precisely, sir, but maybe use someone out-side your Fraction. You've got alliances, other Fractions you are friendly with, use them to your ad-vantage.”

“Thank you.” Chris glanced down at the folder in his lap, then looked back to Dennis. “Did you have anything else for me? Another message perhaps?”

“No, sir, the folder and answering your questions about it is all I was told about. Were you expecting something more?”

“No.” Chris looked away, then stood. “Let me walk you out. Thank you for coming today. I know it's not a normal business day.”

“There are no normal business days in my line of work. You work when there's a job and don't when there's not.”

Chris walked beside Dennis to the elevator, said goodbye, and watched the doors close before taking the folder back upstairs with him. He was trying to decide whether he should take it with him to Rachel's or put it in the safe. The safe for now, as he didn’t want to leave it lying around, even while he was at home.