Hidden Crimes by Emma Holly Page A

into Irish blue. He rolled onto
the balls of his feet and tucked in his shoulders, clearly
preparing to pounce into an attack. Laughing silently to himself,
Nate thought: here, kitty! Then the tiger did the last thing
he expected. Rather than spring, he blinked twice and backed off.
Nate’s game-for-anything attitude had averted fights before, but
guys this big didn’t generally give up so fast.
    “Huh,” the fireman said, the sound of
dismissal at least half cat. He narrowed his eyes at Nate, as if
suspecting the wolf had played a trick on him. “Don’t be planning
to park there long.”
    “I won’t,” Nate promised, his meekness almost
sincere. “Is your boss around?”
    The tiger’s eyes slitted more. “Evina is in
her office.”
    Though Evina was this pride’s alpha, as a
female she’d be considered a pride possession—one they’d
instinctively do anything to defend. Nate walked through the garage
bay with the awareness that hostile eyes followed him. It didn’t
seem wise to challenge his watchers by staring directly, but he
couldn’t help noticing every cat he passed was as massive as the
first guy.
    Evidently, when it came to the RFD, runts of
the litter need not apply. Females weren’t barred from serving if
they could pass the physical, but except for her, Evina’s crew was
male.
    He was a bit surprised when he completed
their gauntlet without trouble.
    Well , he thought, passing into an
empty sitting area. That was interesting .
    Inhabited as it was by felines, the
building’s smell caused Nate’s wolfish nose to twitch. The aroma
wasn’t unpleasant—musky, he guessed—and not what he was used to.
The lounge-type furniture wasn’t bad. Secondhand and worn out by
large bodies, heaps of colorful pillows brightened it. Nate’s inner
neat freak approved of how clean the place was underneath its
slight messiness. Rick and Tony were way bigger slobs than
this.
    A station house run by cats did have its
upside.
    He ascended a set of wooden stairs within the
big open space. The steps led to an enclosed office, or maybe perch was a better word. Like Nate’s boss Adam, Evina worked
with her door open. Metal support columns were the only barrier
between the lounge space and the garage. From her big square
window, she could view everything.
    She didn’t seem to have watched him run her
men’s gauntlet. She was on the phone leaning on one elbow, her
graceful hand shielding her pretty eyes. Knowing she must have
heard him by then, Nate waited politely outside the door.
    She ended the call soon after and looked at
him. Although she seemed curious about his presence, she gestured
him to a guest chair whose seat had been repaired with bright blue
duct tape. Patch job notwithstanding, it was more comfortable than
Adam’s.
    “That was the hospital,” she said. “One of my
men suffered third degree burns yesterday. The doctors are trying
to adjust his pain meds so that he’s not too drugged to change.
He’s expected to make a good recovery, once he can manage
that.”
    “I’m sorry,” Nate said, wincing at the
thought of not being able to heal such serious injuries. “Is there
anything I can do?”
    The question came out automatically. Nate saw
it surprised Evina. She widened her lustrous eyes at him. “Not
unless you can compel another shifter to change form. I’m afraid
that’s not among my gifts.”
    “My alpha can do it sometimes,” Nate said,
“but as far as I know, his influence only works on wolves.”
    “Your alpha . . .”
    Nate smiled, glad redressing her earlier
misconception had been easy. “Yes. As it happens, I have a beta
too.”
    “I thought . . .” She trailed off.
    “I know. I realized last night. Believe me,
I’m flattered.”
    She shifted in her swiveling chair, her eyes
considering him in a similar fashion to her hulking Irish guard
cat. “I’m surprised. You give off quite the aura of
confidence.”
    “I’m confident about a lot of things,” Nate
said, not