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You’re too sweet, too honorable and too decent for this world.

Tess couldn’t breathe.

Cole Cavanaugh had once said that to her.

How would this Colin know that? She refused to believe in coincidences. If not for Colin being a shifter, she’d think that was Cole, but it couldn’t be. Cole was human.

That shifter was screwing with her mind. Maybe he could read minds and found that in her thoughts.

Why?

She had no use for people jerking her chain. With that in mind, she rounded on Brantley.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that transport?” Tess asked, not hiding her anger from anyone. She’d probably regret it later when she received sideways looks from the staff, but they needed to know she would not tolerate being unpleasantly surprised when dealing with a prisoner’s life.

Brantley sliced a look around to where staff stood listening and opened his mouth as if to issue an order.

Oh, hell no.

Tess turned to the group and calmly announced, “Everyone, please go back to your jobs.” 

They glanced at Brantley, then Tess, and headed back to the house where they could access the elevator to their underground facility.

In ten seconds, it was only the two of them under a blazing sun and gentle breeze that would normally lift her spirits.

Not today.

Swatting a blunt look of irritation at her, he said, “I go along with pretty much everything you say even when I don’t agree. I do that out of respect for our working together. You have your duties and I have mine, which include developing better security standards at every opportunity. That new armored vehicle is a step toward protecting our people who have to transport dangerous shifters. What’s your problem with it?”

She couldn’t face Colin ending up ripped into pieces.

Admitting that about a shifter who had almost killed two jackals would reach the chief before dark, for starters.

Anyone she worked with going forward would judge her as unable to make the hard choices when it came to shifters.

Would they be right?

She’d never had a problem following through with any other shifter, but she’d also not had to send a man to his death. Colin believed he was not going to survive this.

Something inside her agreed.

What had happened from the moment they’d brought him in?

She was almost getting used to the damn buzzing her internal energy was causing.

She needed to take the time off that everyone kept trying to push on her, including Brantley. Was she being unfair to criticize him when he was clearly doing his job?

“I’m sorry, Brantley, I just ... want to be fair to everyone and I guess that isn’t always possible.”

His face softened and his tone carried understanding. “You are fair. You’re what gives this program balance, but we offered that man a chance to tell his side. He clammed up. No, he tried to play us against each other. I’m never going to allow a prisoner to do that. I trust your decisions and hope you trust mine.”

“I do.” She wished that had been the truth, but it was what Brantley needed to hear right now.

“Thank you. Here’s what you don’t realize. That shifter will be very still the entire way to SNR-4.”

That would be the Southeastern Nonhuman Rehabilitation facility two hours away.

Brantley continued explaining, “The ride alone will exhaust a shifter, which will allow the guards to put him into his cell without him or anyone else getting injured. In the past, we’ve had shifters rested during a drive and they attacked once they were pulled out. This also starts O’Donnell toward rethinking his position sooner. By the time he spends a week in a hole, he’ll be willing to negotiate a deal. That’s when we’ll gain intel on the bombing and the Black River pack.” He smiled, Mr. Charming coming out to play.

He added in a joking, self-deprecating tone, “There is a method to my madness.”

She suffered a moment of guilt over her lack of faith in a man who had been at her side during the Black River pack investigation for months, even if he was vying for the same position she wanted.

Forcing a smile she didn’t feel, she nodded in agreement. “Good points. Maybe next time, give me a tour of your new security so I won’t be surprised.”

He looked chagrined. “You’re right. I should have thought to do that, but so much has been going on that it didn’t dawn on me. Consider me chastised.”

She rolled her eyes. “As if.”

“Now, let’s go grab lunch and look over our case files.”

Her stomach had no interest in food. A group of carnival performers were doing nonstop stunts that had started the minute the truck pulled away.

She had the unreasonable urge to get in her car and follow.

But she didn’t.

Walking inside with Brantley, she decided to put in for time off. She had to get her head on straight before the upcoming congressional meeting. She had to be spot-on during the questioning.

Any hint of weakness and someone who opposed SCIS would go for blood, regardless of how much pull her father had.

He would not be at this meeting, and to be honest, she was glad for that since they did not agree on anything to do with shifters. Still, she could not walk into the meeting unprepared.

If Brantley was right and Colin O’Donnell decided to play ball once he got a look at his new home, then she’d have something really strong to share at the meeting.

That didn’t appease the sick churning in her stomach.

Colin still hadn’t been proven guilty of belonging to the Black River pack.

She’d give Colin a couple of days, then she’d make a trip to the SNR facility and push him for answers. That would help her with the committee and put her in a position to get him out of that hole, as long as Brantley didn’t buck her.

They had to look united when she gave her report since he’d be sitting next to her.

All these years she’d worked toward the moment where she could turn SCIS from a law enforcement support agency to a bigger operation. One capable of managing shifter investigations and human-shifter relations.

That might be what it took to find answers she needed on her mother’s case. Her father refused to even discuss her mother’s death and if Tess guessed right, he’d been instrumental in getting that case sealed.

But Tess had her own resources now.

As she walked into the farmhouse, she opened the door to the elevator that would take her back underground.

Colin’s words still echoed in her mind.

You’re too sweet, too honorable and too decent for this world.