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“Are you okay?” Nari asked her passenger in their “stolen” car.

Anson bounced his knees so vigorously next to her that she swore the whole sports car was shaking.

This was her first mission as an ASS agent where she was practically on her own, yet instead of feeling free, she felt like a babysitter.

She wanted to trust Anson. But if he ran off, she’d never hear the end of it from both ASS and FUC.

“Shouldn’t you slow down?” His green eyes widened as she flew down the highway.

A grimace marred his pretty face. That was a word Nari didn’t use often about men, but she couldn’t deny that Anson met the definition.

His eyebrows looked freshly plucked and not at all bushy like some men with darker hair.

Freckles smattered his tan skin—tanned, not from working long days in the sun but from lying in a tanning bed.

And not a brown hair on his head was out of place.

His facial features held a manly toughness to them, with a strong jaw line and slightly pronounced brow ridge.

Dark lashes lined green eyes that whispered of trouble, but the fun kind of “out all night” trouble.

And even though they were “on the run,” Anson looked like he had just stepped out of a clothing catalogue.

Fashionable and well-put together. Yes. Anson was a beautiful man.

“I’m hardly speeding.” Her voice had a slight sarcastic edge to it as a shadow of defensiveness crept in.

She’d have to try harder to keep her emotions in check.

And try even harder to not toy with Anson.

Like the other agents, she understood why he had helped Dr. Grimm: he’d wanted nothing more than to rescue his sister.

Nari just wished Anson had gone to the authorities instead of letting Grimm string him along, kidnapping who knew how many victims along the way.

She shook the thoughts away, trying to focus on her main objective—finding Grimm.

“This car is bright red. We might as well have a bull’s-eye for the authorities on the trunk.” Anson grabbed the oh-shit-handle on the ceiling as she swerved into the left lane to pass a slower vehicle. He uttered a shrew-like squeak before closing his eyes.

Deciding he looked about to curl up in a fetal position, Nari eased up on the gas.

It would be a shame to give away the game because she was joyriding.

Plus, if she scratched the paint, Cass would pluck her bald.

While the peahen shifter had become more laid back since being in a relationship with FUC Agent Grayson Stone, Nari doubted she was that docile when it came to the vehicle.

The red sports car was practically her baby.

It was a miracle she offered it up for use on the mission.

“Better?” Nari slowed the car down to the posted limit. She glanced at Anson from the corner of her eye. The rigidness of his shoulders melted a little as he eased back into the bucket seat. Nari smiled. She couldn’t help it. Unraveling him a bit was fun.

“Much,” he said with a sigh, more tension deflating from his body.

He ran a hand through his hair, and the lines of worry relaxed back to his regular, smooth, handsome face.

Nari thought he looked more car salesman than bad-boy henchman.

Though, was one still considered a henchman if working under duress because the real bad guy had his sister?

Nari’s heart went out to him—if it was true.

She hoped it wasn’t a lie made up to save his hide when FUC and ASS apprehended him.

If it was a fabrication, she’d peck his eyes out.

“I thought shrews liked it fast?” Nari joked. She made it a point to research all shifters she worked with, whether they be other agents, bad guys, or people of the community who were assisting with the case. It made it easier to know what their quirks were in advance.

“We move fast. Unsafe driving is a completely different category.”

“I wasn’t driving unsafe,” she said with a snort, feeling offended by the judgment about her driving. Nari wasn’t one to take someone’s words too personally, so why was she now? Did she care what Anson thought of her?

“Whatever.” His tone was flatter than snippy, sounding more apathetic than sulky. “We’re almost there. Turn left down that street up ahead.” He pointed for clarification.

She turned down a narrow street lined with nice homes and apartment buildings.

Each walkway was flanked by gardens in full bloom.

This was not what she was expecting. Most of the labs FUC and ASS infiltrated were in abandoned buildings or run-down areas.

“Are you sure? This street screams soccer mom, not shifter henchman.” A woman with beautiful blonde hair jogged down the sidewalk wearing a matching tracksuit.

This neighborhood seemed like one of the cookie-cutter ones where dinner was always on the table by six p.m., and if the couples had children, they were in every sport imaginable.

It wasn’t a spot where Nari thought a henchman would have his home base.

“Well, it might not be a place for an evil scientist’s assistant to hang out, but I might remind you that working for Grimm wasn’t exactly my choice, and also wasn’t something I did for very long. I had this place before Grimm had Ariel.” He shrugged as if this were the most normal conversation.

“Right.” Regardless, Nari had to admit it was a great idea to hide in the open like this, though it felt dirty admiring Anson’s choice in location for what amounted to his hideout.

It was like admiring an assassin for his stealth and forgetting about all the people he'd killed.

And while Anson may not have killed anyone—that she knew of—he supported Grimm in his experiments.

But did being an unwilling participant make any difference? Nari was still deciding.

“That one there.” Anson pointed to a cute Cape Cod home half covered in ivy.

It looked like a cozy cottage out of a fairy tale, except that it was trimmed in whitewashed cedar shakes and not made of stone.

She did admire Anson’s sense of taste. The house’s well-manicured lawn and weedless garden—she assumed he must have a landscaper taking care of it, considering how long he’d been in FUC custody—made it feel like she was entering a magazine shoot for best-kept yard.

She wondered if the inside looked as good as the outside.

Nari assumed it did. Anson seemed the type who hated things out of order.

That was probably why he blended in so well in this perfect-looking neighborhood.

She eased Cass’ car into the driveway, wary of any potential booby traps. The place looked innocent enough, but you couldn’t be too careful. She scanned the outside of the home, but her eagle eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary. Still, that didn’t exactly ease her mind.

Anson popped off his seatbelt, apparently noting nothing of concern either. Nari figured he’d be the one to know, as it was his place.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” She decided to outright ask him.

In her experience, you couldn’t be too careful.

When he gave her a blank look, she explained, “What if Dr. Grimm sabotaged this place, thinking FUC would show up next, instead of you?” Who knew what the doctor was capable of?

It seemed he barely batted an eye at kidnapping people and shifters and experimenting on them without their consent.

Anson scratched at his smooth jaw. He appeared to be considering her concern. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. “There would be no reason for him to go out of his way and do that. There’s nothing here that could jeopardize his business.”

It wasn’t enough for Nari. “Does he know that?” Grimm seemed like the type of person who left no loose ends. If he was paranoid about being caught, who knew what steps he would take? And if Anson thought some information of use was in his home, Dr. Grimm could assume the same.

“If he thought that, he would’ve burned this place down already.”

Anson had a good point. The place would have been cleaned out or burned down if Dr. Grimm were worried about what was inside.

He cleaned out all other labs that they were tipped off about.

FUC found nothing of use left behind—if the buildings were even still standing.

A few were razed. It left them desperate for clues as to where Grimm’s new hideout was, and where the other captives were being held.

Desperate enough to let Nari try out her crazy plan.

“I’m still going to keep an eye out for anything strange.

” It was better to be safe than sorry, in her opinion.

She wasn’t lying when she’d told Anson she didn’t trust him.

She wouldn’t let her guard down just for him to walk her into a trap and give her the slip.

At least FUC should be following them and keeping a close eye out if she needed backup.

“How would you know what’s strange if you’ve never been here before?

” He raised a well-manicured eyebrow at her, giving her his best know-it-all smile.

Nari wanted to wipe the smug grin off his face.

She loved doling out sarcasm but hated when it came back her way.

That was something else she’d have to get better at if she wanted to excel as an agent.

“You know what I mean.” Smartass. Though she was eyeing up the garden gnomes as if they were Grimm’s surveillance equipment.

Maybe they really were Anson’s decorations if he didn’t note anything out of the ordinary.

She decided to continue to be wary of them just in case. One couldn’t be too careful.

“I thought you’d be more worried about FUC.

” He stepped into the sun. It brought out the freckles on his tanned face.

His green eyes seemed to be studying her, looking her up and down as if trying to figure out if she was some sort of trap.

She wondered if he suspected she was putting on a show, playing former agent on the run.

She gave him her best winning grin. “Why would they know where your secret lair is when you only told me about it?” She left out the part that her agency friends were able to access the GPS on her phone, and that they were keeping tabs on them.

They were also smart enough to not be seen—in human form, anyway.

As if reading her mind, Anson glanced around, eyeing up the squirrel on a nearby maple tree and a cardinal camped on the eaves of his small house.

The squirrel squeaked before running and jumping to the nearby eavestrough.

“What about her?” Anson pointed to the rodent as if this were evidence they were being watched by FUC.

“That’s not an agent.” Nari gave a chuckle to ease the tension. “And before you ask, neither is that bird.”

“How can you be so sure?” He narrowed his eyes at the bird. It stared at him sideways before blinking.

“Because if they were, they’d be arresting us, not observing us,” she stated.

“Plus, I knew the agents assigned to your sister’s case.

None of them were cardinal or squirrel shifters.

” She tied her hair back into a low ponytail.

Just because Anson was convinced Dr. Grimm wasn’t about to set traps in the place didn’t mean she couldn’t be prepared for anything.

She didn’t need her long hair in her eyes if shit got real.

Anson didn’t look entirely satisfied, but he nodded all the same. He still glanced around from the corner of his eye, seemingly inspecting every creature or insect in sight. Dang. This was going to be a tougher mark than she’d thought. It was going to take longer to build his faith in her.

Just be yourself , the voice of reason whispered in her mind. Nari thought about how she’d feel if one of her little cousins were kidnapped. Especially if Nari was working with someone she didn’t trust. She’d be wary of everyone and anything.

“You know, you have no reason to trust me, but I’m going to prove to you that I’ll do everything in my power to get your sister back.

” It wasn’t a lie. No one deserved to be experimented on, especially by Dr. Grimm, and whether Anson believed her or not, she’d vowed to do everything in her power to bring back Ariel.