CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Life back at headquarters was just the same as before after every grueling mission Simon had ever been on—comfortable, peaceful, with enough fun in between training and resting that he was rarely bored. He had friends back here, and it was good to just chill and hang out while eating whatever he could get his hands on and not having to worry about anything other than when he was going to get his next mission.
But the sameness affected Simon differently this time—particularly, the one factor that was glaringly absent when he got back.
She had gone with Red right away for a fresh report and full healing. She hadn’t properly healed inside that cave, and Red will take care of her.
That was the statement that greeted him when he stepped in Dylan’s office to state his version of the mission, fully expecting Robin and Jake to be there. But to his shock, he’d been the only one in the office, with Dylan explaining that Jake had already stated his part and Robin would just send hers over. Emotions surged inside him at the thought of her leaving so abruptly—hell, of her not stepping inside headquarters at all with him none the wiser—but he pushed it down and did his best to be as professional as possible. Then, when he got out of the office, he immediately went to the training room to vent whatever energy he had left until exhaustion took over and had him crashing right into bed for a deep, undisturbed sleep.
He did his best to mingle. He did his best to get back into routine, knowing calling Robin to ask how she was was out of the question. He even visited his sister, Francesca, when his routine at headquarters threatened to make him go insane—and when it came to his sister, he had to handle her incessant worry over him with a joke and a grin. She worried too much, which was why he never visited her right after a mission when she was bound to coddle him.
“I don’t want my brother almost dying because he acts before he thinks,” was Francesca’s latest speech to him as she served him takeout Chinese food, the scent wafting in the air and making his mouth water. “I want my brother to be cool-thinking and rational and all those qualities that could save his life one day.”
He almost pointed out that Francesca had actually been the reckless one in the family for running away years before, but her case was different. Besides, he didn’t think she’d appreciate the barb. Instead, he turned his gaze towards Charlie, who was eating his portion of vegetables and trying not to smile.
“Is she like this to you, too, after every mission?” he grumbled.
Charlie’s mouth quirked, a smirk more than a smile. “I’m always coolheaded on missions, so no.”
Simon shot the man an accusatory look, but the twinkle in Charlie’s eyes showed his humor in the matter. Simon wasn’t even sure he’d seen humor in the man before he met Simon’s sister, and as for Francesca…well, his sister had always had an unstable life, only for Charlie to give it reason. Their father had been a cruel man, and Simon was glad he was out of that life. They may have come from a wealthy family, but he’d gladly traded it all when he was at the proper age to leave because wealth was nothing if there was no happiness.
And shifter life and shifter missions gave him happiness. It made him feel fulfilled, somehow.
Francesca and Charlie were complete opposites when it came to personality, but they meshed perfectly, and Simon had to admit that he couldn’t see Francesca with anyone else. He’d have thought Charlie would go for a fellow shifter or a quiet woman considering how he was. Instead, he fell for Francesca, who was as loud and bubbly as they came.
Unable to help it, he thought of Robin. He and Robin had different personalities, too, but they meshed together as well. He wouldn’t exactly call them complete opposites, and he couldn’t call the bond they had as falling in love. They were friends who cared about each other, had sex because of too much unresolved tension…and now it was over, and they were both trying to move on. She mattered to him more than any other woman had ever mattered to him, and he was going to do his best to salvage whatever friendship they had left because it was too precious to lose.
Not even sex could change that.
But the sex had been so good—mind-blowing, in fact—that sometimes, when he wasn’t too exhausted at night, it was all he could think about. His thoughts would often drift to how she kissed him so sweetly, before it all turned urgent and hot and had him losing every bit of control he had inside that cave. Hell, even when he was tired, he would dream about it—and in his dream, she was naked and moaning out his name as he drove into her and touched her at the same time. It was glorious, and he would wake up with the scent of lemons and honey fresh in his mind and a hard-on that would stay inside his pants all day long.
He deduced this was just a phase—this sexual frustration for a woman he had once and still wanted, but couldn’t have anymore. Maybe time would make him forget how good it was with her, how intense, or maybe another woman could help ease it off. But he wasn’t even in the mood for any other woman, and he’d rather leave that alone than hurt someone else in the process. Time was his only ally now, and he was going to wait it out so that when he saw her again, everything would be good and comfortable between them.
In a few years to come, he was going to mate with a fellow shifter, and that was that.
A week after their mission, Dylan called him into the office again to ask if he wanted to volunteer for a standard checkup mission, mostly involving cleanup of some rowdy doings of shifters that drank too much booze and got away with their control. Simon had done this a hundred times before, and usually, it really was more of a cover-up so as not to alert the police and keep the shifter community still secret. He couldn’t figure out why some shifters were too reckless for their own good, but he supposed that’s just how it was. Simon tuned Dylan out for most of the briefing, already intending to take it. It would help him get his mind off things, and he knew the change of environment would be good for him.
Then Dylan mentioned something about the previous mission that had Simon’s attention snapping back up.
“I was wondering if you met someone in the compound other than Jin and his guards or his servants? I have intel here that says Jin had a younger sister—a child, really, who’d been missing for a while now. We tried to interrogate Yugoshi about it, but all he could tell us was that his daughter went missing around the time Jin had taken a trip abroad. The witch who helped with the interrogation confirmed he was speaking the truth, and we deduced that Jin’s trip was also the time he was probably replaced by a demon.”
Simon’s senses instantly went on alert. “We haven’t seen anyone.”
“Hmm, that’s too bad. I’m going to have to look into it further.” Dylan eyed Simon. “So are you in for the checkup mission?”
He was going to say yes. He was about to. But Simon remembered the demon Robin had summoned, and the demon’s words about how there were others in that compound like him—not just one. He supposed Dylan had already been informed about this and would look into it, but at the moment, it wasn’t their priority.
And instinct was telling Simon that it should be.
He shook his head. “I think Jake would fit this mission better.”
Dylan raised a brow. “What makes you say so?”
“He’s hardworking, and he handled the mission with us well. Another shifter could keep him in line, too, if he gets too impatient. The kid’s not bad, but he does need more experience.”
“Hmm. Alright. I’ll check on him, then.”
Simon nodded. “If it’s not much problem, I would like to request another mission.”
Now Dylan raised two brows. It wasn’t exactly common to request missions that weren’t created yet, but it wasn’t that rare, either. Still, Simon had always been the obedient kind who said yes to everything he was handed, so this was a new thing. “Yes?”
“I would like to trail Robin Chesley on her next mission.”
There was a beat of silence before Dylan finally asked, “Why?”
Simon looked at him grimly. “Because I have a feeling this demon thing isn’t over yet, and she may be the next target.”
Actually, it wasn’t just a feeling.
Somehow, in some way, he was pretty sure of it.