Free A Dangerous Business by Lorelei Moone

computer in an attempt to find out what she had been working on.
    Before Jamie even turned up, Aidan had read through various messages between what he assumed was Heidi's ID on the message board, and some of the regular members. They had been very chatty, much more so than they had been with him when he first joined.
    "What the fuck where you thinking?" Aidan shouted, as soon as Jamie finally came through the door. "She hasn't been here a week and you let her meet with these people? She wasn't ready!"
    "Watch your tone!" Jamie responded. "She seemed capable enough, and the job was simple: go meet a couple of people for drinks in a public place. Nothing more than that. Perhaps she's just hungover and..."
    "I'll use whatever tone I see fit!" Aidan slammed his fist down on the desk, making it shake dangerously in the process. "She hasn't even slept in her bed! Whatever happened last night, she never made it out of there."
    "Don't talk to me like it wasn't my call to make. In case you forgot, I'm the team leader. And you weren't even around!" Jamie responded.
    Aidan took a couple of deep breaths and tried to control the rage that had bubbled up into his chest. He balled his fists and released them a few times, but he couldn't calm down. Jamie was right, though. Aidan had gone off on his own before even training Heidi properly. He'd had good reason to, of course, but still... How could he not feel responsible for what had happened?
    "Okay, let's think about this. The last thing the Alliance needs right now is to make enemies of the Wolves of Rannoch." Jamie slowly wandered over to his desk and sat down and rested his head on his hands.
    "What?" Aidan looked up again in confusion.
    "Rannoch. That's where she's from."
    "What the- You're telling me she's wolf?" Aidan couldn't believe his ears. This was a disaster. The woman fate had selected for him was gone. In his haste to run after ghosts from his past, he hadn't even realized the most basic details about her. He hadn't noticed she was a completely different species, and from Rannoch, no less!
    He'd heard about that place, a secretive community of wolves living deep in the woods, far removed from human society. She wouldn't know the first thing about how the world worked, and probably jumped head-first into a dangerous situation with the bloody Sons of Domnall! He should have known. This was all his fault.
    "Jesus Christ, Jamie. Would it have hurt you to let me know?" Aidan asked at last.
    "You already weren't thrilled about her coming here, it seemed unnecessary to complicate matters further. Plus I figured you'd have noticed from her scent."
    "Her scent..." Aidan shook his head. "How the fuck do I know what a wolf smells like? Fuck."
    "Anyway, enough of this. Rather than continue to blame each other, let's figure out how to fix this," Jamie suggested. He looked terrified, as though there was something else he wasn't sharing, but Aidan decided to let it go for now.
    Perhaps there was still time to sort this out. The one thing he did know was that he couldn't trust Jamie with this, not fully, anyway. And if by chance Lee Campbell was involved in Heidi's disappearance as well, Aidan really needed help he could rely on to ensure he'd get the chance to capture the man himself. There was only one other person he would entrust Heidi's life with: Derek.

    By the time evening came around, Jamie had pulled fellow Alliance team member Kyle back from his vacation, and Aidan had managed to get in touch with Derek, who was on his way as well.
    The office was buzzing with activity, and eerily quiet at the same time. All three of them - Aidan, Jamie, and Kyle, were each completely absorbed in their work, so they barely spoke to one another.
    "I've got it!" Kyle finally broke the silence.
    Aidan looked up, his eyes burning from staring at his screen for so long.
    "What is it?" Jamie asked, who had gotten up to take a look at what Kyle had found.
    "I've managed to hack into the phone company's