Page 6 of Bruised MC Bear

“He can have the whole lot of them, for all I care,” Axe replied. He got to his feet and stepped around the meeting room table, ready to leave. “Anyhow, about tonight, you could say I’m following a wolf shifter lead.”

“Whoa, what lead? You of all people know that the wolf and panther MCs are both off limits right now. We don’t need Death Adder on our case right now.”

“I won’t go starting trouble. I just can’t get into all the details with you right now.” Axe snatched up the background check document and waved it around. “Because I’ll be busy for half the day filling out this shit.”

Silas groaned out a chuckle and gathered up his things. “Get the fuck out of here.”

“I’ll update you on everything tomorrow. So, we’re cool?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

Axe slapped palms with his president and left with the papers. Stepping outside, he put the documents into the satchel on one side of his Harley, already dreading the time he would waste filling it out. A text came in from Vincent, inviting him to head on over. Perfect. He could get both tasks out of the way at Vincent’s place, and use the rest of the day doing some intel on Angel.

* * *

Axe had beenat Vincent’s mansion for over two hours. They had used one of the security vans to drive around the twelve-mile perimeter of the over five thousand acre estate, stopping at several points to walk the higher risk areas. Of course, as they were long-time friends, the topic of his security clearance dilemma came up. Vincent had offered to help him with the forms. He was probably the only person who knew everything there was to know about him, so Axe agreed.

With the physical survey completed and the security enhancements discussion over, they relaxed in Vincent’s main floor sitting room over glasses of whiskey.

Vincent unbuttoned his black suit jacket and took a seat at his desk. He took some time to look over the blank security clearance forms. “I don’t see why you’re so worried about this, Axe,” he said after some time flipping through the pages. “You’re applying for the lowest clearance level that the Department of Defense issues.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about getting it done? There are over a hundred questions. Talk about thorough and exhaustive. I started filling it out, but just couldn’t get into it.”

Vincent had an amused expression on his face as he looked up from the pages. “You filled out your name, social security number, and date of birth. That’s all.”

“But that’s what I mean!” Axe shouted, getting up to refill his glass. “I didn’t even feel comfortable giving them that much.”

“Relax.”

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to subject yourself to this crap.”

“I have a valid security clearance,” Vincent informed him with a blank stare.

“What? How the fuck did you pull that off? You’d think the mid-sixteen hundreds date of birth would have raised some red flags,” he joked.

Vincent flashed him a half-smile and raised his eyebrows. “Try passing a polygraph test with no pulse.”

“Good point.”

“Listen. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Try me,” Axe answered, downing the rest of the whiskey in two full gulps.

Vincent swiveled his chair to look at Axe this time. “What?”

“Ask me a question from the form,” Axe told him. “A tough one.”

Vincent returned his gaze to the document and flipped through a few pages. “Have you ever been arrested?”

“Arrested, yes, a few times. Charged or convicted of a crime, no.”

“What were the arrest dates and locations?” Vincent asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! How the fuck would I know? Who walks around adding their arrest dates into a calendar? Ask me something else.”

“Have you or anyone you associate with ever been a member of a cult, a secret society, or a group-awareness program?”

“I’d say the fact that I’m a bear shifter is a pretty fucking secret society. So how do I answer that?”