Page 3 of The Eagle and the Shrew

“What look?” he asked, keeping the defensiveness out of his voice this time. He let a facade of innocence slide across his face, the one a puppy would give its owner when it didn’t want them to know it had just rooted through the trash. He didn’t like the idea of her reading his thoughts. He liked even less the smug look on her face when she felt she knew better than he did.

They’re all like that, he thought to himself. He’d heard Grimm griping about FUC enough times to know they had a reputation for arrogance and superiority complexes. Nari also liked to bemoan the shaggy agents, but Anson found it ironic because she was no more humble than they were. It was clear Nari thought she knew everything. FUC or ASS, the agents he met all had that air about them. Anson stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the thought. Her eagle eyes would catch the gesture and jump on him for it, and though he bet she’d look really cute when angry, Anson decided not to test her patience for the time being.

“The look that means you have a lot on your mind. It might help you to talk about it,” Nari said with a shrug that he thought meant to convey indifference. His ears prickled at the slight change in the tone of her voice, as though her pretense of friendliness was slipping. He kept his face impassive, but suspicion swirled inside of him.

Is this an interrogation tactic? Anson’s mental wall slid back up to protect him. He’d rather share his deep and dark thoughts with an actual snake. He redirected the conversation. “It would help if I could eat.”

“I know, I know, you said it enough times. ‘As a shrew shifter, I need lots of calories a day.’” She pulled out a silver-foil-wrapped burger and handed it over. The delicious scent wafted over to him, and his stomach growled in response. Without another word, he snatched the burger.

“There’s four more where that came from and some fries too…” Her voice trailed off as Anson focused fully on unwrapping the burger and chowing down.

He’d finished in a few bites before returning to his senses. Nari had apparently been watching him as she sipped from the straw of the fountain drink, making her best duck face, before pulling another silver wrapper from the bag. She unwrapped the hamburger and took a bite.

Nari’s eyes hardly left his face, as if searching for what he wasn’t saying. She said nothing, yet kept her eyes on him as she dug into her food. She looked every bit the bird of prey nibbling on a carcass in her talons.

Anxious for her to stop looking at him like she was trying to read his thoughts, he threw out the first excuse that came to mind. “What is the plan here? Are you expecting me to take you to Grimm’s lair? Because I gotta be honest. Firstly, I don’t have any idea where he’s moved to, and secondly, I think it would be a really bad idea for you to go up against him on your own. At any time, he could have a ton of people working for him, ready to take down agents like you.” Anson riffled through the paper bag, ignoring the dark patches of grease spreading on its surface like a rash. He pulled out a container filled with yellow fries. Their salty scent made his mouth water.

“How about I worry about me, and you worry about finding Grimm. You don’t know where he moved to, but word has it that you’re good at tracking. So track.”

“Rumors of my prowess may have been overexaggerated,” he admitted before stuffing a handful of fries into his mouth. His stomach grumbled its approval. High-calorie food was heaven to him. Especially when he was starving.

“Good to know.” Her delicate chin tilted toward the ceiling. She looked deep in thought. Her face was the perfect size for Anson to cup it with his hands, to hold her close and...

He banished the thought as quickly as it popped into his brain. If she noted the change coming across his face, she didn’t let on. Anson unwrapped his second burger and took a large bite. He couldn’t possibly think of how cute Nari looked if he was busy focusing on his food.

“I should go back to my house,” he finally suggested. “If I have access to my encrypted network, I can see if Grimm has sent me any messages.” Grimm hadn’t reached out to Anson via cell phone, most likely staying silent to avoid giving FUC any possibility of tracking him.

“Not alone, you’re not. I’m not letting you give me the slip.”

“Fine.” The butterflies in his stomach coalesced into a ball of heavy concrete. Nari wasn’t exactly his friend, and if he took her back to his place, there would be no turning back. What if he gave up too much? What would Dr. Grimm do to Ariel if he found out Anson was working with an ASS agent? The thought made him nauseous.

“Where is it?” she asked.

“It’s a few towns over, maybe an hour or two from here.” Sharing that much felt like he was giving up too much information. Though, if he told Nari about his house, he had to tell her where it was. Still, he hung his head. It was a step he couldn’t turn back from, and one that had him feeling like he betrayed Dr. Grimm. Would his sister still be safe if the evil scientist knew he was providing an ASS agent with real information? Or was he playing with fire, risking Ariel’s life? He’d seen some of Grimm’s experiments. They were messed up, some of them unable to be a part of regular society again. If he did that to Ariel… Anson realized Nari was looking at him as if waiting for a response. “Did you say something?”

She snorted out a laugh. “I said we’ll head there tomorrow morning. That gives us the night to lay low here in hopes of not running into any FUC when we get back on the road.” She polished off the rest of her hamburger before pulling out her container of fries.

“Yeah, the sooner, the better.” Anson put his food down. Thoughts of his sister becoming one of the doctor’s mutated experiments had him losing his appetite. The ball of anxiety in his stomach weighed heavily, feeling more like he’d eaten concrete. He started wiping unseen dirt off his pants, hardly noticing he was doing it.

Dr. Grimm had taken Ariel over three months ago. What shape would she be in when Anson found her?

If he found her.

3

“Are you okay?” Nari asked her passenger in their “stolen” car. Anson bounced his knees so vigorously next to her that she swore the whole sports car was shaking. This was her first mission as an ASS agent where she was practically on her own, yet instead of feeling free, she felt like a babysitter. She wanted to trust Anson. But if he ran off, she’d never hear the end of it from both ASS and FUC.

“Shouldn’t you slow down?” His green eyes widened as she flew down the highway. A grimace marred his pretty face. That was a word Nari didn’t use often about men, but she couldn’t deny that Anson met the definition. His eyebrows looked freshly plucked and not at all bushy like some men with darker hair. Freckles smattered his tan skin—tanned, not from working long days in the sun but from lying in a tanning bed. And not a brown hair on his head was out of place. His facial features held a manly toughness to them, with a strong jaw line and slightly pronounced brow ridge. Dark lashes lined green eyes that whispered of trouble, but the fun kind of “out all night” trouble. And even though they were “on the run,” Anson looked like he had just stepped out of a clothing catalogue. Fashionable and well-put together. Yes. Anson was a beautiful man.

“I’m hardly speeding.” Her voice had a slight sarcastic edge to it as a shadow of defensiveness crept in. She’d have to try harder to keep her emotions in check. And try even harder to not toy with Anson. Like the other agents, she understood why he had helped Dr. Grimm: he’d wanted nothing more than to rescue his sister. Nari just wished Anson had gone to the authorities instead of letting Grimm string him along, kidnapping who knew how many victims along the way. She shook the thoughts away, trying to focus on her main objective—finding Grimm.

The car glided across the pavement, smooth as sliding across ice. Going 100 kilometers per hour felt the same as doing fifty. No wonder Cass loved this car. It felt like you were flying behind the wheel. Nari had been surprised Cass had offered it up, but it was a great idea. Pretending to steal the vehicle was the cherry on the sundae. And pretty freaking fun.

“This car is bright red. We might as well have a bull’s-eye for the authorities on the trunk.” Anson grabbed the oh-shit-handle on the ceiling as she swerved into the left lane to pass a slower vehicle. He uttered a shrew-like squeak before closing his eyes.

Deciding he looked about to curl up in a fetal position, Nari eased up on the gas. It would be a shame to give away the game because she was joyriding. Plus, if she scratched the paint, Cass would pluck her bald. While the peahen shifter had become more laid back since being in a relationship with FUC Agent Grayson Stone, Nari doubted she was that docile when it came to the vehicle. The red sports car was practically her baby. It was a miracle she offered it up for use on the mission.

“Better?” Nari slowed the car down to the posted limit. She glanced at Anson from the corner of her eye. The rigidness of his shoulders melted a little as he eased back into the bucket seat. Nari smiled. She couldn’t help it. Unraveling him a bit was fun.

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