“Will you stop showing up in my apartment ?”Michael asked with a slow exhale. Jesse pushed past him and tossed the plastic bag on the small kitchen table of his place.He closed the door behind him and glanced at the numerous candy bars, spilling from the bag Jesse had brought.The blond wolf fished one chocolate bar out from the plastic and opened it.“What?”“You’re unbelievable. “Michael shook his head.“What, I brought those as a pay back that I ate yours the other night. ““They weren’t mine and I asked what the hell are you doing here? Again.”Michael was already getting frustrated. On top of everything he hadn’t spent last night sleeping. Instead, he’d been searching anything he could possibly find on the mayor and what his connection to Richard and the gang might be.And just as he'd expected he found nothing.He couldn’t find anything on them, there weren’t even photos of the two men together at galas or other official events where they mi

Oh, shitMichael thought.You don’t just want to, or can in any possible universe, touch Killian on a whim, that much he’d learned for the past weeks.The outstretched hand hung empty in the air.The guy- perhaps the leader of the gang dropped it eventually and took a retreating step.“Do you...do you want to see what we have for you?”He waved at two of the guys and they opened the van. What they took out from it was a big, heavy case.Michael realized with dread very well what this was. He’s seen similar cases get traded all the time between the Mexican cartels.Only this one looked bigger and better done. Which meant more deadly.The men placed the box in front of Killian and they opened it for him. Michael took a protective step closer to Killian.He was much faster than anyone here, and he could kill them all in a few practiced moves.Michael had done it. When he was still learning to control

"Yes, " Garrey said, "He was with the Bureau. His father was killed and he had been in the CIA too."Richard's face didn't betray anything and Garrey went on."He was killed not long ago during a mission."He explained."Family?""Mother works as an accountant, two younger sisters in college.""Your best American boy, isn't he?"Richard said, a slight sting to his tone and Garrey preferred not to answer.In moments like those Garrey remembered where Killian had learned how to turn into the embodiment of indifference in seconds. Only the student had surpassed the teacher."Out for revenge?" Richard asked, "He gets thrown out of the Bureau for blaming them for his father death?""Yes. While almost killing a few people in the meantime."This time Richard laughed."He looks quite impatient," Garrey explained. "he broke that casino owner's hand when he was sent out to pick up the money that one time.""It's what you hired him for.""Yes,

The strong stench of alcohol, cheap perfumes and cigarettes hit him the moment he stopped the car at the address they were given.It was still a late afternoon, but Mike was sure there were people in here who hadn't left the table since yesterday.As usual, the front was some Chinese or Indian restaurant, in their case it was a Chinese one- and on the outside it was a relatively busy place where people went to have a few more shots after everything else closed and didn't want to go home yet or straight back to their wives after work.On the inside and what was somewhere on the back- was the biggest illegal casino in London and of course -that was the place where most of the money from this business was laundered.It had been obvious Richard was laundering money, but now Michael was seeing it wasn't only with art and antiques. Casinos were less profitable sometimes, luckily- also more easier to deal with. It was one thing having to break the nose of a casino owner who

The butler tipped his head at Michael as he saw him enter the main part of the house. Then it looked like the man recognised who Michael was so the man simply walked away, ignoring him.Perhaps Christopher was finally getting used to the idea he'd be seeing more from Michael, or it was obvious he didn't deserve the butler’s attention in the slightest.Michael hadn't seen Killian since the accident in the casino. Nowhere.Two of the maids passing by greeted him."Hi, Michael," the taller blond one smiled and he saw the colour climb on her face."Uhh, yeah," he managed, but they were already walking away. She glanced back at him over her shoulder and Michael wondered how she knew his name.He went down the corridor when he heard footsteps behind him.Michael didn't need to turn around to know it was Jesse."Mike, I was just wondering…"He turned around and Jesse gasped."Woah!,""What?"Michael ran his hand instinctively over his closely cut hair. H