The Space Between

Brendan 3

Brendan

           I walked to my office up front to wait for Nathan. I would give him a couple minutes. At some point today I would also have to check the books and bank deposit. Not that I didn’t trust the goblins, but they would be offended if I didn’t check their work. I sighed. Sometimes it was too much, keeping up on all the different magical personalities. I took it seriously though. A lot of beings depended on me.

           Which brought me back around to the shapeshifter currently making his way to my office. He didn’t depend on me, and I wanted to know, once and for all, why he was still hanging around. I had my suspicions, but I was done with the waiting and guessing. I flipped open the pizza box when I heard Nathan outside my office. I’d left the door open since we were the only two in the building today.

           “Come in. Sit down. Grab a slice.”

           I watched the man prowl towards my desk, his steps light. I’ve never seen his wolf, but I bet it’s impressive. I have, however, seen Nathan take down an aggressive customer a few times and he’s fast and strong. I’ll be sad when he leaves.

           Anyway, I grab a slice of pizza and sit back in my chair while Nathan sits and grabs a piece. “Thanks,” he says, holding it up to me. I’ve never asked him to join me for lunch before and I’m not sure why.

           “Were you on club security last night?” I asked him.

           “Yes, with Jon and Bill.” Both also shapeshifters.

           “Did you happen to see Zak at any point during the night?”

           I watched Nathan take a bite and look over my shoulder at the wall, clearly thinking of his entire shift last night. “No, I don’t really recall seeing him on the main floor last night.”

           f*****g asshole. I don’t know what’s been up with him lately. Ever since Brittany disappeared, Zak’s been getting sloppy. “Ok, next question. Did you see a female last night?” Nathan c****d an eyebrow at me. Of course, he f*****g did. He saw females all night, every night, circling the club, working security. He probably had about five females a night throwing themselves at him, trying to climb on his d**k. I’ve never seen or heard of him accepting. Maybe it was the whole mate thing. “Obviously, I’m talking about a specific female. About six foot tall, came up to my shoulder. Slender, like a dancer. Straight, shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a white crop top and a pair of low-rise, hip-hugging jeans.”

           “I’m sorry, she doesn’t sound familiar.”

           “f**k,” I said, leaning back in my chair. If Nathan didn’t see her, then I probably really was the only one who did. But it still didn’t answer the question of how she got in and out of the club. “Has there been anything odd going on during off hours? Anything different? Feelings even?”

           “Aside from the brownies imbibing a bit too much, nothing different.”

           “What? Those little shits are getting drunk on my dime?”

           Nathan shrugged. “I thought you knew, that’s why I never said anything.”

           I waved a hand, “It’s whatever, what’s a few beers between friends.” Honestly, brownies were like a foot tall, how much could they drink? On second thought, they could mess up two extra-large pizzas and sweet breadsticks. I shook my head, nope, it didn’t matter. “Listen, Nathan, about the female. No one saw her come in and no one saw her leave and it seems I’m the only one who saw her, period.”

           Nathan sat back in the leather chair, his brows coming together. “How is that even possible? Security is tight, even tighter since Brittany was… taken.”

           I noticed the pause in his words, we’d get to that later. “Yeah, that’s the problem. But listen, if you happen to see a female that looks like that, I want you to get ahold of me directly, ok? Not Zak, me. Take a picture, call me, text me, email, smoke signal, I don’t f*****g care. Are we clear?”

           “Clear.”

           I leaned back in my chair again and steepled my fingers and put them on my lips, like the mob bosses in movies. Cheesy, I know. Nathan sat there, waiting, almost as still as Zak used to be able to wait. “So,” I said, “tell me why you’re still here.”

           Nathan stared into my eyes, and I saw shifting in his. “I told you, I’m here to find my mate.”

           “It’s been a couple of months, Nathan. If you haven’t found her yet, then you aren’t going to.”

           “Yes, I am. I’m going to find her.”

I was surprised by the vehemence in his voice. Now was apparently the right time to talk about this. “I have a feeling, Nathan, that we could have been working together all this time. So, how about you explain it to me.”

“Explain what to you.”

I sighed as I leaned back in my chair, slowly turning it as I did last night. When I made it back around, I made sure to look him in the eye. “Did you know Brittany went on a trip to Colorado last November? I don’t know why her friend would choose somewhere colder than where she lives, but whatever, she’s human. Anyway, that’s not the point. When Brittany got back, she seemed different, lost even.” I saw his eyes soften even though his face remained unreadable.

Interesting. Different tactic.

“You know, Brittany is a very good witch. But she forgets that I’m a better one. With that being said, her glamours don’t fool me…”

“Brittany is my mate.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“We met when we were both in Denver. I knew she was my mate the second I smelled her.”

“Hold it, what do you mean you smelled her?”

“Not the way you’re obviously thinking. For a shapeshifter, our mate has a certain scent to us. To me, Brittany smells like jasmine. Sweet. Pure. Delicate.”

“We’re talking about my sister, right? Because she’s everything but those things.”

“She’s all of those things to me. Now, do you want the whole story or the edited version?”

I looked into Nathan’s eyes and saw something in them I probably didn’t want to know about. And it had to do with s*x and passion and nakedness and my little sister. “Better edit it for me.”

“Lots of stuff happened…”

“Lots of stuff?”

“You know, Brendan, your sister is a grown woman. She can do as she pleases, and I wasn’t her first, so…”

“Don’t make me punch you.” If she ever told me who it was, I’d commit murder.

“Do you want the damn story or not?” I clamped my lips shut and nodded. “We ended up amazingly drunk the second night and all good sense went out the window. I ended up marking her.” He stopped here to look at me, probably expecting me to ask what the hell that was. Jokes on him, I know about marking. When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “The bigger surprise came in when Brittany marked me.”