Page 21 of Fated Surrender

“She sure is a hot piece. You sharing?” Another laughed.

He clenched his fists and looked down at his mate. He didn’t want to assume she couldn’t handle herself, but he didn’t want to let this shit go unchecked either. She looked up at him and her eyes softened. He knew he had made the correct decision.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Madison Claybourne-Arkadion. You may have heard of my last visit to the New York office, though I find it hard to believe that you two have gone through the sexual harassment training I recommended. I’m sure the council will be interested to hear that,” she said, her voice taking on a sarcastic, hard edge.

“Claybourne?” one asked.

“Arkadion?” The other stared at her.

“Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my mate. I’m sure there won’t be any problems going forward, will there?” he asked,letting a low growl rumble through the large open office. All conversations stopped and everyone turned to stare at him.

“Arkadion, is that you? Who pissed the bear off?” an older man’s voice asked.

Connor watched as Griffin stepped out of a side room and looked around until he saw him.

“Get your ass in here boy. Bring your mate.” Griffin turned and went back into a large conference room.

Connor turned to Madison.

“We have been summoned,” he said, grinning. He took her hand and walked to the conference room.

He held the door open and closed it behind them. There were two other men besides Griffin seated around a large table. Connor eyed Gary Wendall wearily. He had dealt with the Agency director before, and didn’t like the man.

The second man was Jeffrey Davidson, the council’s most trusted representative to appear when they could not. He had their complete trust to speak on matters. Connor had met Davidson before in passing, so he had no idea why the man was with them now.

Gracefully, Madison took a seat and Connor sat beside her.

“First off, congratulations on your mating. I’m sorry to call you away, but we had another body pop up, this one practically on our front door step. It was Stanton. The bastard took out one of our own,” Griffin said, and Connor clenched his fists.

He had worked with Stanton. He was a laid-back lion who had been lucky enough to mate with a rare female lion shifter. They had three cubs.

“Stacy?” he asked.

“Grieving. She wanted to know who was working the case and was shocked when your name wasn’t mentioned. She seems to have the opinion that if you had been there her mate would still be alive.” Griffin said watching Connor closely.

“I’ve worked with Stanton before, we got along well together. She’s right. If you had called me in before this, he may still be alive. So, let’s cut the shit, gentlemen. Why in the fuck did you wait nearly four months before calling me? Not a high enough body count?” Connor asked bitterly.

“There is reason to believe that the killer is a vampire. Your loyalties would have been divided, seeing as how you are living with the blood suckers.” The wolf shifter sitting across from Connor spat.

“Fuck you, Wendall. Gabriel and his coven saved Arkadia this summer by freely donating their own blood so that shifters would live. My loyalties lie where they have always been, in finding the truth and stopping monsters,” Connor said, barely holding his anger in check.

“Maybe that is how they have gained control of you,” Wendall said.

“You want to say that again?” Connor growled, standing to his full height.

“I must say that I am extremely underwhelmed by your associates, Connor,” Madison said, sounding bored. She looked at Wendall and Connor could see disgust fill her eyes. She continued.

“It’s no wonder this case hasn’t been solved with him heading up the investigation. He is blinded by his racism and fear. I could send your statements to the council. I could also recommend they call every single one of your cases up for review. I’m sure they would be curious to see how many of the cases you have solved had a convenientvampireperpetrator. That being said, my own brother, Dr. Maddox Claybourne, created and administered the cure to the shifter virus in Arkadia. He and Elder Lachlan Lewenhart have reported that there were no side effects in using the vampire blood so generously donated by Prince Gabriel’s coven. Now, it sounds to me like you have aproblem with my mate, my brother and my elder. I’d like to know why,” Madison said coldly.

Connor felt like hugging his mate but knew that would be counterproductive to the professional image she wanted to portray. He stayed standing and crossed his arms. He glared at Wendall, who looked mad enough to spit nails.

“I would be interested to know why as well.” Connor growled.

“Connor, Wendall is a jackass, but he may be right about this being a vampire,” Griffin said, trying to diffuse the situation.

“What evidence do you have? Because I have been keeping tabs on this case for months and didn’t see any indication that made me think this was a vampire,” Connor said, taking his seat.

“I suppose you have all of the crime scene photos?” Wendall asked with a sneer.

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