It was for the best. The look of hurt that had appeared in her eyes had almost made him want to set the record straight. It was a load of bull. He’d done the right thing. He didn’t owe the female a damned thing. He’d keep her at that desk and out of his way. If she didn’t like him, it was a bonus. He wasn’t here to make friends and most definitely not to partner with a human. Certainly not a beautiful female one.

Not a fuck!

Let Natasha think he had to be talked into taking her on. It pissed him off that Kimberly Stewart had lied. It didn’t surprise him though. The female was bad news.

After sending Natasha a quick message which included the Wi-Fi code and his email address, he put away his phone and sucked in a deep breath.

Most of the human police officers were gone. Off patrolling the streets or whatever it was that they did. Milly was on the phone. Her attention momentarily on the notepad next to the device as she took a message. It was now or never. He slipped into the sheriff’s office and paused for a few seconds. When no one came in after him, he assumed he hadn’t been seen and began his search. It was getting out of here in a few minutes’ time that would pose the greatest risk. He’d already planned how he would handle it if he was busted.

He had to be quiet. There was a multitude of hiding places. He lifted another picture frame off the wall and looked carefully behind it. He scanned the walls looking for a hole. Titan glanced at the sheriff’s desk. His eyes zoned in on the wireless phone. Nah! Surely that was too obvious. Though, obvious was very often the right way to go.

He unsheathed the knife strapped to his thigh and got to work dismantling the device. He carefully cracked the shell open and there it was. A bug. The phone was being tapped by a miniature, wireless radio transmitter. This was a very basic model. Untraceable but effective. It astounded him that this law enforcement agency didn’t sweep for this type of device on a regular basis. They had all sorts of protocols in place at the castle. Especially now that there were humans onsite. One could never be too careful, and this was evidence of that. His gut had been right.

The sheriff was more than likely innocent. This proved it. No one put a tap on themselves, unless of course they were trying to divert attention. Everyone was fair game at this point. Titan put the phone down carefully. He removed his wallet and the tiny transmitter inside it. He placed a bug of his own next to the one already inside the phone. He worked quickly, careful not to disturb the device. He didn’t want to alert the fucker who had placed it there. He did, however, want to know everything that they were privy to. This way, he might be able to be a step or two ahead of the game. He might just be able to guess their next move. The only problem would be sweeping this entire office block for more such devices without being detected. There were a couple of places he could start with and then slowly try to cover all the areas.

Titan finished securing his own bug and closed the phone back up. Next, he completed his check of the Sheriff’s office. The desk, each drawer, the chair as well as the file cabinet in the corner. He even checked the trophies and picture frames on the male’s desk, but came up empty-handed. Sure that the transmitter in the phone was the only device, he moved to the door and stopped to listen for sounds of anyone close by. Milly was on the phone again. This time she spoke with her son; she was asking about her grandchildren and his wife. Making general small-talk. He could hear the sound of someone shuffling papers on a desk. If that person so much as glanced to the left, he would be busted. Someone else was walking but the footfalls were receding. This was as good a time as any.

Titan walked out. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he’d been in the sheriff’s office. He closed the door and shook his head. Titan was no actor, he hoped that anyone seeing him right now would believe that he’d accidentally walked into the wrong office. It was plausible since he’d only arrived onsite this morning. It seemed that many humans believed vampires to be idiots so he’d cash in on that kind of thinking.

Next, Titan walked over to his own office and walked in, keeping his outward appearance casual. He closed the door behind him holding back a sigh. It seemed like no one had noticed him, and if they did, they’d bought the whole wrong office act.

The female had several files open on her desk. She was making notes in a flip folder, also open on her desk. Natasha looked up as he entered but quickly looked back down at the work in front of her.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Just dandy.” Short and curt. The sinewy muscles on either side of her neck stood up. Still pissed at him. Perfect!

“I just stopped by to check on you but since you’re okay, I need to go back out.” He pointed at the door behind him.

“Sure. Just let me know if you head out. I’m technically your backup so if anything happens to you it’s my ass.”

Happens to him. This female was a riot. “I’m hard to kill so I wouldn’t worry if I were you, besides, I plan on staying under the radar. The fewer people in Sweetwater who know I’m here the better.”

The female laughed. “I’m sorry.” She waved a hand. “It’s just that …” She laughed some more. “Under the radar,” she repeated his words, “that’s so funny.” She put a hand on her belly, she was laughing so hard.

Titan frowned. “What’s so funny? The part about being hard to kill? Because it’s almost impossible to kill a non-human.”

The female sobered in an instant. “Firstly, you might be hard to kill but it’s not impossible. You’ve already lost two vampire lives to this group. Many of your men have been injured. I believe the attempt on Zane’s life was almost successful.”

Fuck! She had done her homework. He couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Then secondly …” A smile toyed with the edges of her lush mouth. “I’m not sure how you plan on staying under the radar looking like that.”

Titan looked down, taking his appearance in. He was dressed in his full leathers. The same outfit he wore every day. He was a warrior, one of the elite. One of the best.

Natasha got up from behind her desk and walked around him, slowly. She looked him over. Stand your ground! The appraisal was strictly for professional reasons. “Humans don’t dress like that. Don’t get me wrong, I like the whole knife look you have going on, but …” She shook her head, finally allowing herself to smile. “A human would never have so many blades strapped to their person, especially that beautiful curved sword at your back.”

“It’s not a sword, it’s a scimitar”

“Well your scimitar is quite lovely.” Titan noticed how her eyes tracked the entire length of his blade. They flared with excitement for a moment. It’s not for you, he reminded himself. The female likes weapons, that’s it. She raised her brows. “But it will elicit a whole lot of stares if you go into town dressed like that.”

The female was right. He hadn’t planned this as well as he had thought. “Noted,” he growled. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

“Right.” She frowned. “I’m hoping you’re going to brief me on the details of our mission at some point. I can’t be of any use to you if I don’t know what our angle is.”

“I already briefed you.” He narrowed his eyes, willing the female to shut it. “Finish working through those. I will start interviewing the family and friends of those involved tomorrow. Someone must know something.”

“I doubt you’ll get anything from any of them. Local authorities already tried. It’s good that you’re retracing the steps, but you need to—”

“I can be persuasive,” he cut her off, curling back his lip and showing one of his fangs. The female didn’t flinch back or gasp or any of the other things humans normally did.

If anything, he was sure he saw interest flare in her dark eyes. Her chest seemed to expand a little further, a little quicker. She liked his fangs. Not a fuck! He was reading this all wrong. Titan reminded himself that although he worked with human females, he had very little understanding of them. Make that, he had no understanding. They very rarely said what they meant. Mixed signals were commonplace. He’d seen it daily in his dealings with the creatures. They would say that they weren’t interested in a male when their bodies were clearly aroused. Or they would declare that they had no feelings whatsoever. and yet he could scent hurt or anger on them. It happened more often than he cared to think about. It boggled his mind. Besides, he hadn’t repented nearly enough for his actions. He pushed down the wayward emotions as memories flooded his mind, shaming him.

“Nice gnashers.” Natasha’s gaze was firmly on his lips. “Makes me wonder why you need to carry so many weapons.”

“I like my blades.” He put his hand to the hilt of the knife on his thigh and gave it a rub. Natasha followed the movement.

She licked her lips. “I can relate.” She unbuttoned her loose-fitting jacket, pulled it open at one side and palmed the gun that was strapped under her arm.

Fuck!

Air seized in his lungs and his dick decided it was time to come out and play. Thank fuck he was wearing tight pants. Her breasts were … they were … mag-fucking-nificent. So big for such a small female. He forced his gaze to move to her hand which still caressed the gun. All he could think of was her hand on his … Not a chance that was happening. Not ever! Titan gave a tight smile as he looked her in the eye. “I prefer hand-to-hand combat. Guns are not my thing.”

She narrowed her eyes for a moment. It was like she was angry with him or something. Why would his comment make her angry? One small conversation and he was already fucking this up. What had he said? Maybe it was something he hadn’t said.

* * *

Hand-to-hand combat.

Right! She waited for him to invite her for a quick sparring session, one that would involve his dick inside her. She also waited for the familiar feel of anger to tighten her throat. The surge of adrenaline that came with it. There was a surge alright, only it wasn’t adrenaline, it was lust. It was all the muscle, the weapons strapped to his honed body. It was definitely the tiny cleft in his jaw and those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes. She stared into those eyes right now; the guy had a sad, lost look about him. It brought out things in her she never thought she had. Like the need to nurture and the need to rescue, which was a crock of shit. He did not need rescuing. Besides, the guy didn’t like her and he was a sexist as well. He was no better than any of the other assholes she’d been forced to work with. What she needed was to shoot something, namely a couple of targets or better yet, some clay pigeons. Moving targets were so much more fun. “You shouldn’t knock it till you try it,” she finally said. Breaking the moment. What moment? That hadn’t been a moment.

Titan cleared his throat. “What?” He gave a small shake of the head.

Okay, maybe it had been a moment. She buttoned up her jacket. Oh, that was it, she’d had the girls out. No wonder he couldn’t think straight. Trust a pair of triple Ds to do that to a man every time, despite wearing two sports bras.

Thank you, Oprah, for that little tip. Two bras, the second one a size too small. Only, he had barely even looked. A tiny glance and then his eyes had gone straight to her gun before locking back on her face. Wow! A first for sure. “You shouldn’t knock shooting until you try it. I think you’d like it.”

He shook his head. “Doubtful. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Right. Fine.” She sat back down and picked up the file she had been busy with. Natasha watched him leave. She noted that he didn’t take his car keys, which were still lying on his desk. She could relax and get back to work. For now, Titan wasn’t going anywhere.

There had been a total of six incidents. Only three of those had been serious. The others were all petty and possibly unrelated. Things like throwing a bloody carcass at the entrance of the vampire-owned club, Aorta. Someone spray-painted one of the walls at the main castle gate. They had written things like ‘Vampires must all die’ and ‘Abominations’. A vampire vehicle had been vandalized in much the same way when a group of non-humans had entered Sweetwater, which happened from time to time. The vehicle had been scratched and the tires deflated. Otherwise, groups of people sometimes gathered outside the castle gates. There were those who loved the vampires and those who wanted them gone. So far, none of the campaigns had escalated. There was chanting and sign holding, but that’s where it ended.

The three main attacks were all spread over a fourteen-month period. They were all planned and had to have been the work of someone with either military or Special Forces background. The first was on a helicopter carrying one of the vampire kings ‒ Zane. The chopper had been shot from the sky, killing the pilot. Zane had survived the crash but it had been touch and go. Titan was right, non-humans were hardcore. They almost succeeded in killing the king. Since that incident, security surrounding the vampire royals had been tight.

The second incident had occurred when one of the human women picked for The Program had been abducted from a bus stop after being dropped off by two vampire guards. The fascists had been monitoring the gate and had followed and taken the woman. It was opportunistic. After interviewing the abductee, Jenna, it was clear that the assailants were not operating alone. There was a higher power at work. Although Jenna had been retrieved, further information was never obtained because all those involved had been killed. Three of the men by one of their own and the ring leader by one of the vampires while rescuing the human.

Then there was an attack on a convoy carrying a human woman back to Sweetwater. She too had been one of the participants in The Program. A vehicle carrying vampire guards was blown up by an assault rifle. Ballistics had later concluded that the artillery used was from an M20 Rocket Launcher.

Two vampires had died in the attack, which left a third badly injured. The taxi carrying the woman was attacked as well. The taxi driver was murdered, execution style, and the human abducted. The plan was to kill her and frame the vampires for her death. A vampire guard had given chase and had eventually, single-handedly rescued the woman, but again, none of the humans were left to interrogate. It turned out that vampires weren’t big on leaving survivors. At least she had something in common with the non-humans.

That was a couple of months ago. It seemed that the castle was being watched. Movements outside the castle walls were being tracked. It stood to reason that this group already knew that Titan was in Sweetwater. So far, regular vampires had not been targeted. It was human women and the royals, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a giant target on his back. He needed her as his backup whether he cared to admit it or not.

Natasha glanced at her watch. She needed to report to her supervisor. The Ballbreaker expected a daily written report. Some things didn’t change, despite her location and assignment.

Natasha opened up her email and typed a bullet point memo listing all of her movements for the day. It was something she was used to, considering she’d written a daily report for the last two months. She read through the email twice to make sure there were no typos and that she’d included everything and she pushed ‘send’. Nothing happened. No, that wasn’t true, the email saved to draft instead of sending.

Shit!

It didn’t make sense. She had internet connection so it wasn’t her Wi-Fi that was a problem, it was the email function itself.

Natasha tried closing her email and reopening. She resent the draft mail and the same thing happened. Next, she tried rebooting her whole computer but that didn’t help either.

Double shit!

Her supervisor would be waiting for that email. Kimberly would serve her her ass if it was even a few minutes late. Just to be safe, she liked to get the thing in early because one more strike and she was out. It wouldn’t surprise her if Stewart used something as trivial as this to get her booted. She didn’t buy the whole ‘I’m giving you another chance’ routine. She wasn’t taking any chances.

Titan had mentioned a guy from IT. There was someone in this building who could help her. Worst case scenario, she would be forced to call her supervisor and explain the situation, give her a report telephonically. Natasha didn’t like it. There was one thing all new recruits were taught: when it comes to the paperwork side of things, cover your backside. Cover that baby up. That meant, put everything in writing. Reports, follow-ups, meetings, all of it. The field was all about team and having their backs. The office was about having your own back. The pen was indeed mightier than the sword in some instances.

Natasha straightened up her desk. She closed her laptop and pushed it into its bag before slinging it on her back. She went straight to the front desk. Milly’s whole face brightened up. “Done for the day?”

Natasha tried to hide her surprise. It had only just turned three. Her day was far from over. “No, I’m having computer trouble.” She tapped the side of her laptop bag.

Milly smiled. “I wouldn’t even know the first thing about switching one of those things on,” she whispered as if divulging a trade secret. “Big Bear keeps threatening to get me one and making me take a fancy course but I’m going to resist as long as humanly possible.”

Natasha smiled back. “I understand that it can be daunting. You should give it a try though.”

Milly shook her head, looking fearful.

Natasha laughed. “Where is the IT department?”

“Oh, we don’t have an IT department, dear.”

“I thought Titan said that there was one.”

“James Dawson runs our little lab, he also doubles as our IT support.” Milly raised her eyebrows.

“Where would I find the lab?” Natasha asked when it was apparent that Milly wasn’t going to offer up the information.

“Just go down the hall, James is the last door on the right.”

Natasha nodded.

“I know you missed out on the tour earlier.” The older woman blushed. She was thinking about Titan again. Natasha could see the telltale signs. Milly had a faraway look as well as rosy cheeks. There was a smile playing with the edges of her lips. “You got called away by that beautiful specimen of a man,” she gushed.

Natasha had to try not to laugh. Milly had a little crush on the vampire and although she hated to admit it, she couldn’t blame the woman. “Yeah, he isn’t bad on the eyes.”

“Not bad!” Milly looked shocked. “Did you see the muscles on him? It’s not just that, he’s pretty too. Long lashes and those eyes.” She pretended to swoon, clutching the edge of her desk dramatically. “Hells bells! He gives me hot flushes and it’s not the menopause talking.”

Natasha laughed. “He’s a bit of a Neanderthal though.”

“He gets straight to the point. No small talk nonsense. I think he’d be the same in the sack.”

Don’t think about it. “I’d better get going.” Natasha could feel how her own cheeks had heated. Titan wasn’t the best conversationalist but she knew the older woman was right. The sheets would burn up with him between them. Stop!

Milly pursed her lips for a second. She pulled in a breath through her nose and made eye contact with Natasha. The receptionist’s cheeks were still flushed. “Just so you know, the bathrooms are over there, if you need to go and splash your face.” She winked and pointed to the other side of the room. “The kitchen is about halfway down the hall on the left. You’ll pass it when you go through to the lab. Let me know if you need anything else. You’re lucky to be sharing an office with that sexy man. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She winked.

Natasha rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help laughing. “Thanks for the directions.” She ignored the comments and headed for the hallway. There were several doors on either side. They were all closed. There was an opening on the left. The kitchen was bigger than she expected. It had two tables in the middle. A guy sat with his back to the entrance, he looked like he was eating. She kept moving.

The last door on the right was closed as well. Natasha knocked once. Nothing. She tried a second time before opening the door. “Hello.” She peered inside, expecting to find an empty room.

Titan leaned up against one of the work benches. His arms were folded at his chest. He raised a brow.

“Oh!” It came out in a huff of air. “It’s you.” What a stupid thing to say. “What are you doing here?” she quickly added.

“Waiting,” was his one-worded response.

Natasha narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“We both need access to the printer. What are you doing here? I told you I would organize everything. You can’t be finished reading through those files,” he narrowed his eyes and his voice deepened. For just a second it felt like he was accusing her of something. Not doing her work? Then he looked away and when he looked back whatever had been in his eyes was gone.

“My email isn’t working.” She could hear the slight irritation in her voice. “I need to send something as a matter of urgency, so here I am.”

Although he looked completely relaxed, she couldn’t help but notice how his muscles stood out. Who was she kidding? Muscles like that always bulged. They couldn’t help themselves. There was something else that bugged her but she couldn’t put her finger on what that was exactly.

Natasha had just been about to ask how long he planned on hanging around when the guy from the kitchen walked in. He wore the same navy, collared shirt and tan chinos. The biggest giveaway was his hair. It was blonde and thinning heavily on the top. “Oh! Um … hi.” He narrowed his eyes and pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t realize I had people waiting. I had to take a quick lunch break, although …” He glanced at his watch. “It’s hardly lunch time anymore. I’m James Dawson. How can I help you both?”

Titan introduced Natasha to James and they shook hands.

“We both need to have our computers added to the printer,” Titan said.

James nodded. “Easily done.” Both he and Titan continued to talk but Natasha was too busy trying to figure out what the nagging feeling was.

Titan would have passed James to get to the lab. Why would he pass the man eating his lunch and continue anyway? Titan introduced her to James so it stood to reason that he had met the guy and would recognize him. He was a vampire for Christ’s sake so he had superior senses. She refused to believe that Titan would walk right by him and keep going. Then again, James may have been in the bathroom. What was it? Why did this whole thing feel off somehow? It was probably because Titan was a bit rude to her, insinuating that she wasn’t doing her job. It wasn’t something that should bug her though. He didn’t want to work with her and she was used to attitudes like his.

“What did you say the problem was?” James repeated. Natasha realized that he had directed the question at her. Shit!

“I … I can’t send emails,” she blurted, unzipping the bag on her shoulder and handing her laptop to James. Natasha glanced at Titan who was still leaning against the work table, his eyes focused on James. She was just being an idiot. The nagging feeling was still there though, along with the feeling that she was being kept in the dark. Natasha didn’t like it.