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“What if I need it?”

“You don’t.”

“Perhaps we could work together.”

His eyes flicked over, and she thought she saw something clear pass over his irises from the side. “I fail to see that you have anything to offer.”

Feeling the hair on her neck starting to stand up, Astrid leaned forward. “If you want to know my name, it’s Astrid Lynnox. I’m a freelancer, and my sole purpose for being up here is to find out what happened to my brother.”

It was as if her words flipped a switch. His fingers stopped, and Phoenix turned his head slowly to look at her. His eyes moved over her, assessing her. Finally, he turned his whole body to face her. Placing his elbows on his knees, he asked, “What are you offering me for my help?”

“I thought that you were willing to help those in need.”

“You made it clear that that doesn’t apply to you.”

Frustrated, she growled as she dug her nails into her hands. “Why have you done a full 180? Is this some kind of reverse psychology?”

“You’ve been nothing but rude, starting with soaking Mabel’s café – I paid for repairs since no one is likely to believe that you did that on purpose.”

Astrid’s mouth felt dry. “What makes you think I did it on purpose?”

The withering look he gave her made Astrid incredibly uncomfortable. As she squirmed a little in her seat, he said, “You literally sent columns of water at me with fists at the endof them. There’s no chance that the sprinklers going off at that moment was an accident.”

“Your boyfriend looked at me and tried to get into my head. I had to do something before… before you guys noticed me.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “First, as soon as I walked into the place, I smelled you. Second, the moment Elliot’s eyes landed on you, contact was made. Third, you still didn’t care enough about a poor, innocent woman to actually help despite the fact that you did serious damage to her place of business. Given all of these experiences and your continued rudeness, you seem to be far more of a liability than an asset.”

She gave him a sly smile, “So much for you being in this to help people. Your mask is slipping.”

He leaned forward a little. “As you pointed out, I’m not good at sales, and since you are clearly one of those women who isn’t helpless and doesn’t need saving, I have no business with you.”

“Ah, so you aren’t actually interested in helping if there’s nothing in it for you. It’s just a business that you have to coldly manage.”

He let out a heavy sigh, then stood up and headed toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Astrid stood up and followed him out the now-open door. “Hey, Phoenix, you…”

Several people turned and began to hush her as she left the room. Phoenix looked back at her, then ushered Astrid back into the room. His voice was a low hiss as he said, “Go back to your computer and do whatever it is you are doing. You do not need me, and I have people who canactuallybenefit from my support.”

He left the room, leaving Astrid staring at the door, wondering why she was suddenly so interested in his help.

Perhaps because he actually seemed to be interested in helping, and I couldn’t see any reason why he should. Why do I even care that he’s suddenly not interested in answering my questions? I’m not here to be saved or to make connections. All I need is to find out what happened to Evander.

She sat down, ignoring the fact that the shifter had just walked off without any of his stuff. Not her problem. After pulling her headphones out of her bag, Astrid played some background music and became engrossed in her research. She didn’t even notice when he returned as she switched between the library computer and her own. When she felt that she needed a bit more, Astrid pulled out a much older, cheaper computer and set it on the opposite side of her work laptop. Her head was on a swivel as she looked between the three computers.

While looking over a couple of older articles, Astrid noticed a few discrepancies in the stories, even two written by the same author.

She leaned forward to look at a picture when something touched the desk near her, startling her. She jolted back, her knee hitting one of her computers. Phoenix reacted quickly, catching the device before it toppled to the floor.

“Sorry,” he said, repositioning it on the desk slightly farther from the edge. Then he shifted the bag on his shoulder and headed toward the door.

Astrid moved the computer back to where it had been before she had knocked it. When she did, something fell to the floor. Not sure why he bothered to approach her just to startle her and leave, Astrid looked back at the door as she leaned over to pick up whatever had fallen. It was a piece of paper with some notes on it. She flipped it over and saw that there were notes on the back, and there was still something on the floor. Leaning over again, she picked up his card. It was clearly one of the ones that had been in his pocket when she had hit him with oceanwater. Unable to help it, she smiled and put the card in the side pocket of her bag. Then she read the note, which ended with something she could not have expected…

While I hope this helps you, you should reconsider what you are doing. If you continue, you must be far more careful. There are several organizations that use people like you, and they will quickly learn that you will not be missed.

Gritting her teeth, Astrid looked at the door.

Is that a threat or a warning?