Shifter's Claim (The Shadow Shifters) Read Free Page A

then, an amused grin on his face—amused and way too cocky for her, but still sexy as hell.
    “Good, because I don’t sleep with reporters. I do, however, take beautiful women to bed and give them a night they’ll never forget. Tonight, however, I’ll settle for a glass of wine.”
    Rebuffed and not sure whether or not she disliked it or felt relief, Priya kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t an easy task since she’d always been inclined to ask questions, always searching for answers. Sometimes, however, the answers she found were more than she’d bargained for. That was part of the reason she was here tonight, on this foolhardy mission to uncover something she wasn’t sure she believed herself.
    Still, it was apparent that this man knew Reynolds personally. In the last two weeks Priya had interviewed everyone from a receptionist in Reynolds’s office to the manager of the detail shop where his SUV was dropped off every Friday afternoon. Her file on the man was almost an inch thick with one glowing remark after another. He appeared so squeaky clean she’d felt sick each time she flipped through her notes. So, if having a glass of wine with this new person she’d seen with Reynolds could help get this task completed sooner, rather than later, she’d do it, and whatever else she had to, if it would save her family’s life.

 
    Chapter 2
    She took another sip of her wine, her glass almost empty. Bas was on his second glass, sitting in the circular booth toward the back of the hotel’s bar at well past midnight.
    He should be upstairs in his room, probably in bed since he knew there would be meetings tomorrow before his scheduled return to Sedona. All of the Faction Leaders had come for the meetings, to talk about what the Assembly’s plan of action would be against the rogues and the killer drug they were filtering through the streets. Since that drug had claimed its first human lives here in D.C. and this was where the Assembly Leader lived, it was logical that they start here. The beginning was always a good place to start, he thought as he watched her take yet another sip, looking out the window toward the fading D.C. nightlife.
    “How long have you been a reporter?” he asked her.
    She’d already told him her name was Priya Drake and that she’d lived in D.C. all her life. Bas admitted, even if only to himself, he wanted to know more.
    “A while,” was her roundabout answer. “How long have you worked for Reynolds?”
    So this was what they were going to do. He almost chuckled. Asking her to come down here for drinks had been a twofold mission for Bas. She’d admitted that she’d been coming to see Rome, but Bas hadn’t believed her reason why. The stale stench of lies in the hallway as she’d spoken was the first giveaway and the way her eyes kept darting between him and the door to Rome’s room was another. She needed to speak to Rome, like Bas had felt he needed to touch her, to get just a sample taste of her. That was a strong need that he figured went beyond wanting to know who a man was backing politically.
    “I’ve known him for the better part of twenty years,” Bas replied.
    “I hear he’s a bitch to work for, a perfectionist with a quick temper.” She’d set her glass down on the black napkin, sitting back and letting her hands fall into her lap.
    “On the contrary, he has a very mild temperament as long as you stay on his good side.” As did some of the shifters who lived among the humans. They almost had no other choice but to be that way, it helped to keep their secret.
    “And you stay on his good side, don’t you?”
    “I stay on my side,” was Bas’s instant response. “Why do you care who he backs politically? He’s in the private sector so it doesn’t matter who he decides to put his money behind.”
    “It matters,” she said quickly, too quickly for this to be a simple political story, as he’d already surmised. There was a passion behind her words, an urgency