Free Fighting the Inevitable by J C Gordon Page B

“She hadn’t been with a man in a very long time. There was
no male scent on her.” He felt his temper spark at the thought of
another man sleeping with the girl even though he knew of her
relative inexperience of other men. He was quite certain that if he
learned she had been with another man after their night together,
he would walk the fine line of the killing edge. This was
irrational because she didn’t belong to him in any way and he
didn’t want her to.
    “ Maybe she’d
just lost her job?” Demetri tried again but Caleb shook his head in
the negative once more.
    “ There was
pain and sadness. She wouldn’t have been that upset about losing a
job.” Not with the level of pain he had witnessed. Something tugged
at his heart at that memory, some primal instinct deep within him
that sought to comfort the woman who had captured his
interest.
    “ Perhaps
someone she cared for had just died? Humans are so fragile. They’re
always dying,” Demetri sighed dramatically, waving one large hand
gracefully in the air.
    Caleb blinked slowly at
him, feeling instinctively that his friend was on the right track.
“You might be onto something there, Demetri. Something like a death
could have explained her sadness.” He picked up his phone and
dialled Beth Hollis, his PA.
    “ Beth, can
you check all obituaries in the last six weeks. I’m looking for any
mention of a woman named Rhianna.” He hung up and wondered if he
should have given her slightly better information to work with.
She’d probably be checking for a woman dying called
Rhianna.
    He sighed and left it to
her. Beth was very good at finding out information. He was sure
she’d check every death notice for any mention of the name Rhianna.
He turned his gaze back to his friend. “Did the deal go through?”
he asked quietly, and saw his friend nod.
    “ You just
need to sign both copies of the agreements and courier Belmont’s
over to him,” Demetri answered with a slight smile.
    “ Fine, get
them to me and I’ll get it done,” Caleb said with a bit more life
in him at having a new avenue to pursue in his quest to find
Rhianna. “Sorry I left you with the meeting. I was mentally
thinking of how many different ways I could kill Belmont so he’d
stop talking. I thought it was more prudent to leave.”
    Demetri laughed loudly,
amusement dancing in his eyes. “How many did you come up with?” He
could understand the other man’s irritation. Belmont was
challenging to have to deal with, but the deal was
lucrative.
    “ Too many.”
Caleb’s response was clipped, cold and decidedly unfriendly. “Maybe
you should deal with him for a while until I get my loathing for
him under control?”
    The request wiped the
amusement from Demetri’s face. Out of all of them, Caleb was the
most civilised, the one least likely to give into his feral side.
The cold, hard edge to his words was surprising.
    Demetri watched him
shrewdly for a long moment. His friend’s reaction to Rhianna was an
anomaly. If the girl proved to be a danger to Caleb then he would
have no qualms in making sure she disappeared for real. He
protected Caleb from everything, including himself.
    He uncurled his big body
from the chair and stood up to leave. “I hope you find your girl
soon, Caleb. You’re driving me insane at the moment.” He headed out
of the office deep in thought. If Caleb’s behaviour became too
erratic he would consider his options, until then he would keep his
own council.
    Beth Hollis stepped into
Caleb’s office just before four pm. She was a pretty woman, tall
and lithe standing at five foot nine with blonde hair and green
eyes. She’d been Caleb’s PA for four years and probably knew him
almost as well as Demetri. She didn’t know his true nature because
she was human, but she knew everything else about him.
    “ I couldn’t
find anything about a woman called Rhianna passing away, but I did
find one obituary about a Rafe Armand who was killed while on a
camping