Resisting the Moon (Royal Shifters #2)(29)

“You do, huh? You’re not going to take it all and run are you?”

“Depends on how much you got.” She laughed. Her gray eyes twinkled, making me smile.

“I’ve lived a long time, Tyla. And so had my parents. I’m not going to lie, they did leave me with a fortune, but that’s because they were around for over three hundred years. However, I do have my own money as well.”

“What did you do?”

Grinning, I thought back to when I was a boy. “My first job was ice fishing. I went out there with my dad every morning. Since the cold didn’t bother us, we were able to withstand the freezing temperatures all day long. We kept some of the fish we caught, but sold the rest to the local markets. There wasn’t a lot of money in it, but my father and I enjoyed doing it. Years later, I jumped on the gold mining craze. There’s a mine up in Alaska I worked in, but it’s abandoned now. Made some good money doing that.”

She gazed at me in awe. “That sounds like so much fun. I’ve always wanted to pan for gold. I can’t imagine what it was like to live during that time.”

“It had its perks, but I also endured great losses as well. Due to lack of medicine, the majority of my friends died young. It’s something I had to get used to.”

Tyla grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I know how you feel.”

It was hard not to get attached to humans. Most of them were my good friends, especially when it came to my most profitable investment. “But a large chunk of my money comes from an investment I made many years ago. A friend of mine had owned an oil company but didn’t have the money to buy the right equipment. I gave him the money and became his partner. When he passed on, I bought it outright and have owned the whole company ever since. It’s one of the main suppliers of oil to both Canada and the United States.”

“Wow.” Her mouth gaped and she shook her head. “I don’t think I can say any more than that.”

“Good. Because it’s show time. I think our guy just arrived.” We both got up and the short, balding man who approached us held out his hand. He reeked of too much cologne and his beady gaze lingered on Tyla’s chest.

She squeezed my hand. “No hurting him,” she warned. “He probably doesn’t see perky breasts at home.”

“I don’t give a shit if he’s never touched a boob. If he stares at either one of my girls again, I’ll rip his goddamn eyes out.”

“You must be the Michaelson’s. My name’s Jeff Roberts. I believe you spoke with me on the phone,” he announced. Tyla shook his hand and he beamed, but when it came to my turn, I made sure to squeeze it extra hard. He winced and pulled away. “Got a strong hold there, don’t you, son?”

I clenched my jaw and showed my teeth in a forced smile. “We’d like to see the apartment you have available.”

Pulling out a set of keys, he nodded toward the stairs. “Follow me, please.” We got up to the apartment and he opened the door, walking in first. “The carpets have all been cleaned and the walls freshly painted. Our last tenant moved out about two weeks ago.”

Here we go. “Why did they move? There’s nothing wrong with the apartment is there?” I asked.

“No, not at all. He’d finally found a house and decided to move when the one year lease was up.”

Tyla cleared her throat and he turned to her. “So everything’s ready for us to move in?”

He nodded. “I can draw up the papers whenever you’re ready.”

“Sounds good,” I said, grabbing Tyla’s hand. “Just give us a day to think on it and we’ll get back to you.”

Jeff smiled. “As you wish. I look forward to speaking with you again.”

I pulled Tyla in front of me so he couldn’t watch her ass as we walked out the door. Fucking cocksucker. When we got to the car, Tyla reached for her phone. “You calling Blake?” I asked.

“Yep. I’m going to see if he can get a list of people who rented an apartment at this place over the past year.”

It was a good move. Blake had access to all sorts of government programs, so finding the list of renters should be easy. Or at least I hoped. Time was running out.





Tyla

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Blake asked. “You’ve never asked me to do this kind of stuff before.”

“I know. Just please trust me when I say I can’t really explain it right now. Maybe one day I will.”

He sighed. “I don’t mind helping you, Tyla. When do you think you’ll be coming back?”

“Hopefully soon. Call me when you find out something.”

“Will do. Stay safe out there.”

We hung up and I prayed he found something soon. Our options were running low.

“He’s starting to ask a lot of questions,” Sebastian said.

I slid my phone in my purse. “He’s a cop, of course he’s going to ask. The thing is, I know he’d keep our secret if I told him what we are.”

“But you can’t. Humans don’t have the capability of understanding what we truly are. They see werewolves in the movies and in books, and would jump to conclusions. It’s best we keep our secrets.”

The reason I wanted to tell him was so I could stay at the ranch and work. I didn’t want to have to move on somewhere else.