I'm An Assassin, Not Your Mate. (UNFINISHED)

chapter 4

It was the weekend before classes started and I was hanging out with Stacey in her room. That had become my new "normal." The pack members were beginning to warm up and accept me in the pack, even though I technically didn't renounce my status as a rogue. My typical day consisted of "casually" bumping into Jace on his morning runs and me tagging along in silence. Then Stacey and I would hang out for a few hours before I made an excuse to go home and continue my search for the identity of the threat.  

While I had a newfound friendship with Stacey and Jace, I couldn't say the same for Tristan and I. Turns out that hanging around his house did not in fact help our relationship, just the opposite. Our personalities clashed because we both wanted to be right and in charge. That conveniently led to us arguing about random things from the best smelling trees to how to run a company. It was an annoyance because neither of us compromised, and the further annoyance was that people in the pack thought our arguments were "cute lover quarrels." Tristan upheld his end of the deal and only told his family and advisors that we were mates, which I was thankful for, but that didn't stop other people from speculating there was something going on.

Anytime someone got too suspicious about our relationship I immediately added them to the suspect category. My leads on the threat were scarce suffice to say. His human employees came out clean, the werewolves I checked passed the background check, even the handful of vampires I interrogated led to nothing. The most I uncovered was an employee stealing office supplies. 

Three weeks into an assignment and I typically had the suspect identified and a plan, but right now I was up creek without a paddle. Despite trying to hide it, my annoyance at the lack of progress was bleeding through. 

"Why do you look like you're about to punch a hole in the wall?" Stacey glanced up from painting her nails. 

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to hold back my irritation. It wouldn't help to lash out at her. What I really needed was a lead in the case, or a new assignment. 

"You've been clenching that magazine for ten minutes and haven't flipped a page." She said staring pointedly at me.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." I loudly flipped a page to signal I was reading it again. 

"Did you get into another fight with Tristan?" She asked casually but I knew she wanted to know. 

"No, it has nothing to do with Tristan." I ignored her gaze and focused on the magazine which conveniently was about home decor. Maybe I could redo the house with some of these ideas, would need a decorator though, the prior one obviously cannot be trusted.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me but just know that you can." She sat up on the bed and waved her hands around to dry her nails faster. "Are you free tonight? Want to see if anyone wants to catch a movie?" 

I really needed to work on the case so I was leaning towards turning her down, but getting to know some of the pack in a social setting would help lower their guard for future questioning. I agreed to the movie and followed her down stairs. She accidentally hit her hand against a pillar and scrunched her face in annoyance when she realized she messed up the polish. She pouted on the way to the kitchen where a few people were hanging out. Stacey walked up to Jace and shoved her hand in his face, complaining about what just transpired. Nate was throwing an orange back and forth with his mate Nina, and Brent was pouring his mate Laura a class of wine. Everyone was in the kitchen save for one person.

"Where's Tristan?" I asked glancing down the hallway. 

"He's in his office doing some paperwork. Probably won't see him all nig- never mind." Nate paused when Tristan walked into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow when he noticed me. He probably didn't expect me to come around for a while after our last fight about the best holiday turned into a screaming death match.