Free Southern Shifters: Pryde and Precious (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Heather Long Page A

another. He repeated the phrases, some of it mumbling, some of it aloud, but it didn’t change.
    “The only thing this whole project has gotten me is your attention.” At her statement, he stopped cold and jerked around to face her.
    “Not just my attention…all of ours. We’re investigating your work, your life, pulling apart your apartment…dammit.” Fury turned his eyes almost incandescent. “Do you know anyone who would be more suited to the task than you?”
    “A dozen people, but none of them are Darcy Ashwood. Science is still a relatively small community, so exceptional people stand out. They stand out even more among the Psi as they would in your community.”
    “Names.” He stalked over to retrieve a pad of paper and pen, they landed on the table in front of her. “Write down all their names.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I think you were the bait.” His words left her mystified, but he didn’t explain himself. Instead he pulled out his phone and made a call. “It’s Brandon. Finish with her things and start sifting the intelligence reports. She was a red herring. They had her on this project so we’d waste time on her and not look for the real scientist.”
    Ouch. The words battered at her. He’d wasted his time on her and she wasn’t a real scientist. Hung out to dry by her clan and dismissed by him. The sting left her pride bleeding. Asshole. She picked up the pen and began to write all the names she could think of—the sooner she gave him what he needed, the sooner she could get the hell away from all of them and back to her life.

    T hey’d been played . He set Carter and Daniel onto learning what Inferon had as well as to sifting through their information gathering tools. Someone else—or several someones—had been assigned to work on Project Pryde. Arianna Ferrars had been set up to attract their attention, something they succeeded at admirably. Using her list of names as a starting point, he provided the clan with the information they needed to begin tracking their other possible targets.
    Arianna disappeared during his phone calls, but he heard her in the kitchen. When he entered to make coffee, she sat in the dining nook with her tablet. She’d inserted a thumb drive into the side of it and showed him the files being transferred. Not ending his call, he nodded at her then motioned to the coffee pot. At her nod, he added a second cup to sit next to his while his assistant reviewed the search terms he’d listed. Abby asked him no questions, just recited the different subject lines of emails and other purloined information.
    When the coffee finished brewing he filled both cups, then pointed to the fridge and the sugar container for Arianna before leaving her to doctor her cup. Two hours on the phone and all he had to show for it were minimal leads plus a headache. Empty cup in hand, he checked the living room. Not finding Arianna, he returned to the kitchen. It, too, was empty.
    Her abandoned coffee cup sat on the table. Pivoting, he looked in the laundry room. The dryer stood open. Crossing to it in three strides, he glanced inside. His clothes were there, alone. Hers were missing.
    “Arianna?” He called, nostrils flared as he checked for her scent. It was still strong enough to indicate her recent presence, yet he didn’t hear her in the house. It took him a couple of minutes to do a sweep. She was gone, along with her clothes and her devices.
    Worry ballooned into irritation. Where had she fled? Why did she flee? Outside, he scanned the horizon. His vehicle remained where he’d parked it, but he’d had his keys, so she couldn’t have taken it. From everything Arianna told him, she didn’t get out much and she certainly wouldn’t have much in the way of survival skills.
    If she told me the truth… The moment the thought took root, he ripped it out. Nothing about Arianna had been a lie. Not her fear. Not her panic. Not her frustration. She’d been used. No escaping the fact,