Edge of Night (Shadow Security #2)- Ramona Gray Page 0,1

him.

It was true. He’d lost control and almost shifted in front of Daisy and that was enough for him to lose her forever.

She was never ours.

His lion whimpered again at his inner voice. Normally it would have been angry and lashing out, and the whimpering and depression was setting Cooper’s nerves on edge.

We’ll go into the office tomorrow so you can see her, okay? he said to his lion.

It was too soon to go into the office. His arm was still throbbing and aching. Trying to work on the report from home today had exhausted him, but his lion going insane wasn’t exactly an option.

When his lion made a listless growl in response, Cooper’s unease intensified.

“Snap out of it!” he growled to the empty room. “Stop being such a fucking baby about it. She’s not our goddamn mate.”

Shit. Now his lion was giving him the silent treatment. In frustration, Cooper slammed his hand on the desk, making the picture to the left of the laptop fall off the desk. It hit the hardwood, the telltale sounds of glass breaking made him pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes in defeat.

He pushed back from the desk, grabbed the small trash can under it, and walked to the front of the desk. He squatted and flipped the frame over. Jagged pieces of glass littered the floor and he picked them up with his left hand, tossing them into the trash can.

Jesus, he was having a fuck of a day and if –

The front doorbell rang, making him jerk and then hiss with pain when the piece of glass he was reaching for sliced his finger. Blood dripped out of his finger, and he growled at the sharp pain.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he muttered. “Jesus Christ, Wes, you have a goddamn key. Let yourself in.”

Shit, the blood was really flowing now. Holding his hand over the garbage can to try and minimize the mess, he made another low growl when the doorbell rang again.

“Use your key!” he shouted as he stood and grabbed some tissues off the desk. He used the fingers of his right hand to wrap the tissue around his left fingers, muttering a curse when even that small movement made his injured shoulder throb. Leaving the mess of glass and blood on the floor, he left the office. He needed to get the goddamn first-aid kit before he got blood all over his fucking office.

The doorbell rang a third time as he was headed toward the bathroom. With an irritated snarl, he turned around and stomped toward the front door. He flipped the lock, ignoring the pain in his finger and the blood smeared on the lock, and turned the handle, yanking the door open.

“For fuck’s sake, Wes, why aren’t you using your…”

His breath caught in his throat. His lion sat up and busted out an excited roar before purring so loudly, Cooper could barely hear the traffic going by on the street.

He stared silently at the small auburn-haired woman standing on his front porch with the scent of her fear rolling off of her in heavy waves.

Cooper swallowed hard. “Daisy? What are you doing here?”

* * *

Okay, so volunteering to check on Cooper tonight after Wes got sidetracked at a job, was the worst mistake of her life. Her very short life, if the anger in Cooper’s eyes was any indication.

Daisy told herself to flee, told herself to haul ass back to her car, but, like always when she was confronted with an angry shifter, she was immediately paralyzed with fear.

“Daisy? What are you doing here?”

The anger in Cooper’s gaze had already faded. He sniffed the air, his face twisted like he’d eaten a lemon, and he took a step back. The added space gave her the confidence to breathe again. She sucked in a breath, hoping she didn’t look like she was about two minutes away from wetting her pants.

“It’s okay, Daisy,” Cooper said in that low and cautious voice he often used with her. The one that said, this chick be straight up crazy.

“It’s okay,” he repeated. “I won’t hurt you.”

“I… I know,” she said even though that was a bold-faced lie. The way her entire body was trembling made it more than obvious she was lying.

“Is there a problem at the office?” Cooper said.

He did that a lot. Changed the subject from her obvious fear, pretended like he couldn’t smell her terror or see the way she was on the verge of