Chapter Five
The minute the door opened, Ana was dragged into a hurricane of hugs and kisses. Her mother pinched her cheeks, declared her too thin and demanded to know how long it had been since she ate. Ana smiled, letting her mother fawn over her while answering the questions the best she could.
Her mother was an excitable woman, who pretty much lived in her own dream world where nothing could go wrong, but when Ana embraced her father, she could tell by the tension in his shoulders that he had seen the news. She sighed. He was going to want to talk about it, but she wasn't sure what to say.
"Where's Sophie?" Ana glanced around, looking for her sister. "I thought she had moved back home until work picked up."
"Pfft!" Her mother threw her hands into the air. "That sister of yours. She's decided to move to Hollywood!"
"She got a part on a TV show there," her father added.
"When she comes back pregnant and homeless, you'll see I was right." Mrs. Medina glared at her husband for a moment before turning to Joseph, who was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. Ana's mother looked him up and down for a long moment, a frown on her face. "Well, I can certainly see why my Ana finds you sexy."
Ana felt blood rush to her face and she ducked her head. "Mama!"
"When was the last time you ate? A big man like you needs proper food." Ana's mother shook her head and tutted. "You should have told me he was a giant, Ana. I'll have to cook twice as much food!"
But the little woman still threw her arms around Joseph and kissed his cheek. The detective's eyes widened. They bugged out a little more when Ana's father also embraced him. Ana couldn't help but think it was adorable, the way such a big strong man would look so awkward from getting hugs. But her family was very hands-on and not everybody was used to that.
Ana intended to have a private word with her father about the shooting, to reassure him that she was fine, but her mother never left her alone long enough. Fortunately, she also insisted that Ana spend most of the time off her feet (because she looked like she was about to fall over due to hunger, apparently) and so her injured leg didn't give her any problems. The cut was stiff and painful, but she had adjusted to it quickly. Better than a gunshot.
After a long day, Ana and Joseph were hustled off to bed while her mother continued puttering around the house. Given the events of the past few days, Ana was grateful. She was exhausted and wasn't sure how much more of her mother's energy she could take.
"Why are we sharing a room?" Joseph asked stiffly when they were alone.
Ana's heart sunk a little, though she tried to remind herself that she wasn't interested in Joseph and so had no reason to be upset because he didn't want to go to bed with her.
"My family isn't prudish," she told him. "And we're supposed to be a couple, remember? It's a big bed, we'll be fine as long as you stay on your side."
He shoved his hands into his pockets and scowled.
"So what do we do now? Not even my father would be able to hide it from Mama if Seth was found dead, so there is a chance he's still alive."
"There may be," Joseph admitted. "But we are doing nothing. You are staying here where you will be safe and I am going to find out who in the precinct wants the senator dead. A conspiracy isn't the place for a PA, no matter how smart she is."
Ana's eyes narrowed. He was trying to get rid of her again? Well, that wasn't going to happen. At least he wasn't pretending she was too stupid for the job. "We can start with the threat groups, see if there are any connections to the police in your precinct."
"There is no we," he snarled.
She ignored his attitude and walked to the computer on the far side of the room. She didn't get home very often, but when she did, she always used the desktop PC. The keyboard fit her fingers better. She booted up the computer, glad that she had had the sense to keep it updated to the newest models on the market.
"What are you doing?" Joseph asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. He pulled off his shoes, tossing them aside.
"Pick those up," she ordered. "Mama will trip over them tomorrow."
"Why would she be coming into the room before we're dressed again?"
"Because she has boundary issues."
Joseph groaned.
Ana stared at the loading screen, trying not to notice how her pulse was beating or how dry her mouth was. Or the fact that she could hear the whisper of fabric against skin as Joseph took off his shirt. Maybe sharing a bed wasn't such a good idea after all… Clearing her throat, she pulled up the internet as soon as she could and began typing furiously.
"What are you doing?"
"I keep detailed records about all the threats the senator gets on my work computer. I'm just hacking into it so we can have an idea of who to look for."
"How many times—"
"Fine. So I have an idea of who to look for."
A brief pause. "You aren't planning on going after them on your own."
"You aren't going to help me," Ana replied coolly.
"These people killed my partner. I'm not going to let them kill you, too."
"I'm not going to give up on Seth, not when he might still be alive."
Joseph made a strangled noise. He shook his head, but joined her at the computer, pulling over a stuffed chair so he could sit beside her. "Fine. We will go after them, but I will be the one to confront them and try to retrieve Seth. If–and I do mean if–we can find out who it is, I want you to stay out of this, understood? You're a PA, not a cop."
Ana scowled but nodded, understanding that he had a point. She continued typing. "Seth asked for your captain personally," she mentioned, having just remembered. "After the shooting at the office. So if Seth trusted him, maybe we should as well."
"Maybe."
She had managed to hack into her work computer by that time and quickly brought up her files. She had them organized by most to least credible already, so they had a good starting point. There were several powerful groups out there that wanted to destroy shifters or, at the very least, didn't think they deserved to be treated as human.
With Joseph sitting beside her, she closed the hack into her work computer and turned to the internet. She ran a few searches about the various members of the anti-shifter organizations. Eventually, they stumbled into a chat room that held gold. The cop that killed Buck had been there, plainly stating that he was part of the precinct investigating the attempted assassination of Senator Fischer. He disclosed enough personal information for Joseph to identify him.
"If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him," he muttered, eyes dark. "But there's nothing else to do about him, is there? At least not now."
Ana put her hand on his arm, trying to comfort him.
The detective took over the computer then. Ana read over his shoulder for a moment, but the sheer level of hatred and violence in the chatroom had her shivering and she retreated to the bed. Eventually, Joseph yawned and turned off the computer.
He dropped his pants so he had only boxers on, and Ana’s mouth watered at the sight of his perfect abs and, when he turned to the window, his glutes. Her body urged her to drop her own pants. He retreated to the bed and laid down beside her, holding himself as stiffly as she was holding herself.
"I have a starting point at least."
Feeling his weight on the mattress had Ana's hands itching to reach over to him. There was a tightness between her legs and she clenched her thighs together to try to make it go away. Of course, that only made it worse… She rolled over, her back towards him.
"Good," she whispered in a strangled voice. "Where do we go from here?"
"I have some contacts I'll speak with tomorrow."
Joseph reach across her–why did his sweat have to smell so good?–and turned off the light. Ana tensed. She felt the detective pull back a little further from her. It was ridiculous, after nearly dying, that the dark would still frighten her.
"I can sleep on the floor," Joseph said as she shivered.
"It's not that," she was quick to say, not wanting to lose his warmth beside her. Somehow feeling him near made her feel safer. "I'm just… I sleep better when there is a light on. But it's fine. I'll be fine."
There was a brief moment of silence, then one of Joseph's huge hands began stroking her hair. His touch sent a tingling down her spine… with a sigh she moved closer, fitting herself right against his body. Safe in his arms, her eyes drifted closed.