The Paranormal Council: Boxed Set 11-15

Chapter 5

Baxter

Baxter was fuming, and from the expressions on his fellow dryads" faces, they were too.

"Good morning everyone," Bradshaw said, plonking himself in the chair at the head of the meeting table and avoiding everyone"s eyes.

Baxter did his best not to roll his in response. How could this man be in charge of them all when he clearly didn"t care about what was going on in the slightest.

"I"ve invited Ms Sunangel to join us so she"s aware of the overnight developments," he said, gesturing vaguely in Jenna"s direction.

She flashed him a tight-lipped smile, but otherwise remained silent. It seemed that as the investigator, she was as frustrated as they were that there had been more thefts overnight.

Baxter tried to ignore the delightful smell of the woman sitting next to him. It wasn"t that she smelled of anything unusual, far from it. There was a scent of sunshine and flowers, both something he was used to from his job here, and yet somehow, it was different. Intoxicating almost.

"What"s missing?" Bradshaw asked, bringing him back to the matter at hand. He wasn"t going to manage to get anything done if he was focusing on Jenna constantly. "There"s a full inventory on this list," Sharon said, thrusting a piece of paper towards their boss with an expression of tense disgust to go along with it. She was even more frustrated than he was about the whole situation.

"May I have a copy too, please?" Jenna asked. "And if anyone has anything they think will help in my investigation, no matter how small it may seem, please don"t hesitate to tell me. I want the most complete picture I can get so I can help you better."

Several of the dryads grumbled under their breath, probably disliking the idea that someone who wasn"t one of them was investigating.

"Yes, yes. All help Ms Sunangel," Bradshaw muttered. "In fact, why doesn"t one of you become her liaison. That will make it easier."

Stunned silence fell over the room as his words sunk in. Baxter tried not to let annoyance become his motivator, but couldn"t help but be frustrated. Why was Bradshaw passing off his responsibility onto one of them?

Next to him, Jenna hung her head, no doubt uncomfortable with the silence and believing that it meant no one wanted to work with her, when it was actually far from the truth.

"I can do it," Baxter said, drawing everyone"s attention to him.

But he didn"t care about what the others were thinking, all he cared about were the grateful brown eyes that felt like they could peer into his soul without even trying.

"Everything is going well in my sector, other than the thefts. I can spare the time for Ms Sunangel to make sure she"s up to speed on everything she needs to be."

"Thank you, I appreciate it," she said.

Beneath the table, her leg brushed against his, sending a jolt of want through him. He didn"t know whether or not she"d done it on purpose, but he liked it all the same.

Feeling brave, he pushed his own against hers.

Jenna looked away and bit her lip.

He tried not to let the satisfaction enter his expression lest the others wonder what was going on, and if there was something more to his offer of being the liaison.

They didn"t need to know that he did have an ulterior motive. The more time he got to spend with the delightful woman next to him, the more certain he could be about whether or not she was his mate.

And the more chances he had to act on it if she was.

"Excellent. If that"s all, then I have work to attend to," Bradshaw said, rising to his feet and leaving the meeting room before anyone could stop him.

"Is he always like that?" Jenna asked him.

Baxter shrugged.

"He didn"t used to be," Sharon answered for him. "I remember a time when he was as involved with the work here as any of the rest of us. But he lost someone close to him and nothing seemed to matter any more. His complacency is frustrating, but it"s not coming from a bad place." She softened a little as she spoke.

"Is that why you don"t report him?" Jenna asked.

Baxter nodded. "He can be infuriating at times, but he does normally still do right by us all eventually. I think we"re all hoping that something will change for him and he"ll return to the man he used to be."

Simon, the dryad on his left snorted. "I don"t see that happening. Witches can be the worst for holding on to their emotions."

"You shouldn"t be so quick to judge an entire species," Jenna responded tartly.

"Because we"re not judged for what we are?" Simon retorted.

"That"s also inexcusable," she responded evenly. "But I"ve seen more than one workplace destroyed by species prejudice and I"d rather like that to stop being the case."

A small smile twisted at Baxter"s lips to see Simon called out on his ridiculousness. He"d been this way since school, and while several people had tried to call him out on it, none of them had managed as succinctly as Jenna had managed.

"I have work to do. Don"t expect my cooperation." Simon scraped back his chair and stormed out of the room.

"Ignore him," Sharon said. "He"ll help."

"It doesn"t matter if he does," Jenna responded. "I"m going to get to the bottom of the thefts whether he wants my help or not. It"s my job, and I"m going to do it."

"Thank you." She smiled at the other woman. "If you don"t need me for anything, I"m going to go back to my tree."

Jenna nodded. "That"s fine by me. I"ll pop by if I need to ask you anything."

Sharon left the meeting room followed by the other dryads who had been in attendance at the meeting.

"That went well," Jenna muttered.

Baxter chuckled. "Did you expect it to?"

"Not really. I"ve seen enough problems like this to know how it goes. Everyone is on edge because there"s a problem, not realising that opening up a little bit can solve it faster."

"Doesn"t that make your job harder?" He turned so he was facing her more fully, barely resisting the urge to shuffle closer still.

"Of course, but I"m good at my job, even when people are being difficult."

"Do you think it"s one of them?" he asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"Hmm." She pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "I don"t think so, but it"s not impossible. I"ve seen it happen before, normally when an employee is unhappy about something in the workplace and they want to draw attention to it. This case doesn"t seem to be like that, though."

"How can you be so sure?"

"The list." She tapped the piece of paper. "Every one of you here has suffered the exact same amount of thefts. That doesn"t speak of someone wanting to draw attention to a problem. Whether they mean to or not, people like that don"t consider themselves, or their friends, equally and will always damage other people"s property more than their own. I find it much more likely that the thief is coming from outside the greenhouses. Or at the very least, outside the department."

"But why?" he asked, desperate to understand the reason why his tether-plant had been harmed so badly.

"I"m not sure. But I hope we can find out."

"I hate not knowing," he admitted. "I think it"s the worst part."

She placed a hand on his arm, comfort radiating from the spot where they touched.

"There might not be a reason," she warned him. "There is a chance that whoever is doing this is just trying to make you uncomfortable, I"ve seen it happen before."

He laughed uncomfortably. "You"re not filling me with confidence."

"I"m sorry, I"m not very good at lying." She glanced away as if she couldn"t look at him as she said as much.

He longed to reach out and touch her, but resisted. He needed to ask her on a date, but was worried about the answer. What if she didn"t feel the same bond that he could? It was hard to tell what someone else was thinking, even if they were acting like they were interested.

"We should get going," she muttered. "There"s a lot to do."

Baxter nodded, his words stuck in his throat as she tidied up her things.

Perhaps now wasn"t the right time, but by the end of the day, he was going to have found a way to ask her on a date. Then, he"d know the answer to how she was feeling about the bond between them.