Chapter 13 Cassie
Cassie
“Why don’t you join us instead of watching?”
I glanced over as the yoga teacher the team contracted with waved her hand at me.
“It kind of ruins the Zen if someone is watching class,” she continued, stepping closer. “Besides, you look tense.”
She touched my shoulder, gently pushing it downward from where it had crept up near my ears. I heard an irritated little huff, making my eyes go right to my mate. Ruby was glaring at the hand on my shoulder.
Aww, my little mate was jealous. That made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy.
“Okay, I could use some relaxation,” I agreed. “I’ll stay in the back, so I don’t disturb the team.”
“Perfect,” the teacher practically purred.
Subtly I inhaled, verifying that she was a feline. Probably a tiger shifter, I guessed.
“My name’s Jeannie, give me a wave if you need anything. Anything at all.”
“Yeah okay, thanks.”
I positioned my yoga mat behind my mate, not at all sad that the position gave me a prime view of her ass with every downward dog.
Despite her slightly aggressive personality, the teacher was actually really good.
She led us through a relatively challenging flow before shifting to extended stretching focused on the legs, hips, and core -- the perfect workout for professional soccer players – her voice smooth and calm.
I had to admit that by the time we got to the resting pose at the end I was feeling significantly more relaxed.
I’d forgotten how much I liked yoga. At Sapphic Security we did a lot of strength and cardio, but we’d all benefit from some gentler practices as well.
Maybe I’d suggest that when I got back to the office after this job wrapped up.
“How was your stretching?” Jeannie asked, coming right over to me after she wrapped up class. She arched her back slightly, giving me a better view of her ample cleavage. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear she’d pulled her leotard down lower on her chest.
“It was good, really good, thank you.”
Her hand came to my forearm, and I couldn’t help but notice that her long fingernails looked like talons. Inside my vampire shrieked in outrage, not liking that another unmated woman was touching me with such familiarity.
“Come join us anytime. Maybe we can grab dinner next time.”
Suddenly Ruby was beside us, looking distinctly tense for someone who’d spent the last ninety minutes doing yoga.
“Cassie’s not available,” she whisper-shouted. “Back off.”
She pulled my hand away from Jeannie, and it took everything in me not to laugh. She might not be sure about us being mates, but she seemed sure about not wanting any other woman getting too close.
After yoga the team assembled in a large classroom to watch game tape of their last game with tonight’s opponent.
I sat at the back of the room with my laptop, reading the reports Wanda had sent over this morning.
She’d compiled a thorough write up not only on every player and coach on the soccer team that the United States sent to Paris for the International Games, but also all the players who were in contention and didn’t get chosen for the team, and every player on the teams the U.S. team beat.
Unfortunately nothing really stood out to me.
Or to Wanda, because if she had a theory, she would have shared it.
I looked over to where Ruby was sitting next to her friend Eleanor.
The wolf leaned close to whisper something in her ear, making my mate laugh.
I didn’t make a sound, but Eleanor must have sensed my animosity because she turned around and gave me a big smile.
The team was in the locker room suiting up for their game when I got the message to call Lois. Since I was alone in the hallway I called her right back.
“What’s up, boss?”
“The stalker hit another player. Someone from the Vancouver team had someone waiting for them in their hotel room here in Seattle. The player started screaming her head off and the perp ran off.”
“How do we know it’s the stalker and not some other rando?” I asked.
“Asshole was in the middle of spreading pictures on the bed, along with dead rose petals and another threatening message. Still trying to terrorize them more than hurt them it seems.”
“Did they get a description?”
“They were wearing a ski mask of course. But we pulled the security camera and saw that they scaled a downspout on the way up and jumped from the balcony to make their escape. From the seventh floor. Ran away completely unscathed.”
“Seventh floor?” The implication of that hit me fast. “So it’s a supe. Cat shifter I’m guessing.”
“That’s my thought too, Weatherby. Any supe could make that jump, but not with as much grace and ease as we saw on the video.
Definitely feline. And it’s the first damned break we’ve had in this case,” Lois said.
“We’ve made an arrangement with the League, there’s a Sapphic Security agent on every human player who also went to the International Games. ”
“But not the shifters.”
“Well we both know they don’t need it. That damned feline isn’t going to take on another shifter unless they’re completely crazy. Besides, no self-respecting shifter is gonna agree to be babysat.”
“Yeah. Well, I’ll try to keep an eye on Ruby’s wolf friend at least.”
“Don’t let her catch on, she’ll rip out your throat,” Lois boomed. “Any wolf worth her salt won’t appreciate that.”
“Unless I tear out hers first. Besides, I can be stealthy.”
“Yeah, sure Weatherby,” my boss said skeptically.
“You do that. Martha and Teresa are watching the Vancouver team’s locker room, and they’ll go back to the hotel with them.
We’re spread kind of thin this week, so I called in a favor with the bears.
Alexei is available and should be there in five minutes.
I’ll let you two idiots figure out what the cover story is. ”
Alexei was the youngest of three bear shifter brothers we occasionally worked with.
Trained by the Belarusian military, they’d worked in their home country for years before being recruited by the CIA.
They’d retired a few years ago to open a restaurant here in Seattle, just up the street from Angie’s mate’s bakery, but they did contract work for Sapphic Security as well as some unnamed government agencies.
We’d all pretty much adopted them as brothers.
“Okay, thanks Boss.”
I slid my phone back in my pocket with a sigh.
“Was that the big wolf?”
I looked up at the sound of a familiar accented voice.
“Alexei!” I said, pulling the giant bear shifter into a hug. “It’s been a minute.”
He frowned. “A minute since what?”
The bears didn’t always catch American idioms.
“I mean I haven’t seen you for a while. How have you been?”
“I am doing much work,” he said in a serious voice. “Boris stays with his cubs to help mate, and Yuri tries hard to make a cub of his own.”
Boris and Yuri had both met their fated mates while on the job with us. Boris met a badass bear shifter named Elana while working undercover at a kindergarten with Bella. Yuri had fallen for a human working at a hospital while helping Darla on the case where she’d met Kathryn.
Now that I thought about it, I could almost understand why Lois was so disgruntled about the number of her agents – and contractors – who fell in love on the job.
“Well, I’m glad to have you help, Alexei. But I need to tell you something--.”
“You have found mate here,” he interrupted. “Wolf boss tells me this. I am very happy for you, but of course I do not say this to Lois. She is very angry about news, even though it is supposed to be joyful.”
The Belarusian brothers were massive, as wide as they were tall, tough as nails, trained killers who had faced some of the toughest bad guys in the world. But even they were as terrified of Lois as the rest of us.
“It must be weird for you with both of your brothers mated now,” I said sympathetically. “Y’all have always done everything together.”
“Yes, we join military, work on covert missions, retire and start restaurant, all together,” he said, his accent deepening with emotion. “I am very happy for brothers, and I like very much their mates, but now I worry there is no one for me and I will be alone always.”
“You’ll find someone Alexei,” I said, patting his shoulder. “The right lady for you is out there somewhere.”
He shrugged. “Many shifters marry for companionship. Maybe I do this. Too bad all the women I know are liesbijanka.”
“You’ve gotta stop hanging out around Sapphic Security then, buddy.”
We stood in companionable silence for several minutes until the team came out of the locker room, suited up for the game. Ruby gave me a smile as she walked out, her wolf friend at her side.
“Are you ready to play?” I asked her.
Ruby opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a low growl.
“Mine!”
My head snapped to the side, ready to fight my friend if he was trying to claim my mate, but Alexei’s attention was fixed right on Eleanor. He took a step closer.
“Mine,” he repeated.
Eleanor gave him a disdainful glare and growled low and deep in her throat.
“Step back, bear. I don’t have time for nonsense right now, we have a game to play.”
Ruby’s gaze swung between them, trying to figure out what was happening. I stepped in the middle of Alexei and the two women, not wanting my mate to get caught between two irritated shifters.
“You two better get on the field before one of the coaches come looking for you,” I said.
Ruby and Eleanor exchanged a look, then took off at a jog down the tunnel towards the field.
“Easy big guy.”
I put my hand on Alexei’s arm, holding him back as we fast walked after our mates. I could see his prey instinct kicking in, wanting to chase Eleanor, but this wasn’t the time or the place.
“Come to dinner with us after the game, you’ll get a chance to get to know your mate. Right now we all need to work.”
Alexei took a shuddering breath.
“Okay, yes. You are right.”