Pixie The Lion Tamer (Shifters, Inc.) by Georgette St. Clair Read Free Book Online

burn up and die.”
    Then there was a click. “Wait!” Pixie yelled. “God damn it…”
                  “I have a location,” Tyler said.  “I’ve locked on to the phone that he used to call you.”  He looked at the computer screen.  “Hmm. It looks as if he’s at the Gilded Swan Hotel.  Give me a minute…” He tapped on the computer for a while, and then looked up.
                  “An anonymous party booked the penthouse suite and the entire top floor of the hotel.  There’s literally no name in the hotel register, and it says the room was paid for in cash.  Thirty thousand dollars a day.”
                  Pixie nodded.  “We can disguise ourselves as bellhops, go up to his floor.  Tell him the management is sending up a complimentary bottle of champagne.   Once we get in, we can play it by ear.  My hope is we can grab him, drag him out of there, and force him to talk.  If there’s too much security in there, we can at least plant a bug so we can gather some more intel, and have men planted outside the hotel who can follow him if he leaves.”
                  “I’ll come with you,” Tyler said. 
                  “No, you need to stay here and keep doing whatever research you can, and keep running Shifters Inc.,” Dominick said. “Coordinate with all of the firm’s connections and resources.  You’re much better at that than either of us would be.”
                  “Yeah, you need to be here when Anastasia calls back, too,” Pixie said. “And by the way, for the love of God, don’t tell Hillary where we’re going.  Tell her we went out for a drive.  I can’t deal with any more of her nagging.”
                  Tyler grimaced, but nodded.  “All right.  I just feel like I’m sitting here on my ass while our friends are-”  he glanced at Pixie, then glanced away.  “While our friends are getting excellent medical care.”
                  Pixie pictured all her friends lying on hospital beds, burning with fever as the virus overwhelmed their systems, their organs straining and failing, and she realized that she was actually, literally, about to cry.   She turned away from him and Dominick and blinked furiously, desperate not to shed tears in front of him.  Where she’d grown up, showing weakness got you killed.
                  To her surprise, Dominick grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and didn’t say a word.  He stood there for a moment, his big, strong hand wrapped around hers, and she felt an odd calm flowing into her.
                  “I’m fine,” she said finally.  She should have let go of his hand, but she found herself enjoying his comforting warmth far too much.
                  “You better be,” he growled. “If you cry, I’m going to have to smack you around some, and you might like it too much.”
                  Pixie burst out laughing.
                  With newfound strength and resolve flowing into her, she squeezed his hand and then let go.
                  “Let’s get this party started,” she said.

     
     

Chapter Six
                               
    Pixie paused outside the penthouse room on the 15 th floor and turned to look at Dominick,  annoyance rippling through her.  She had enough to worry about; she didn’t need Dominick freaking out on her right now.
    “Dominick, seriously, what is wrong with you?” she asked.
    He was still breathing hard, clenching and unclenching his fists, and he couldn’t look Pixie in the eye.  What was his problem? Pixie knew she annoyed the hell out of him with the way she needled him, and he’d threatened her with dire consequences more than once, but she’d always assumed  that she and he were mostly joking around.  Apparently not. Apparently he really couldn’t stand her.
    She’d never been