countless similar packages. There was a stomach-churning odor in the small office, and I immediately blocked my nose.
Whatever was in the box, it wasn't flowers and chocolates.
"Addressed to me this time?" Steele murmured, coming closer to the box to read the label scrawled across the top. "I take it you've already looked inside?"
Dave grimaced. "I wish we hadn't."
Sampson huffed an annoyed sound. "Be glad you weren't here to deal with the human heart before Christmas, then. You can head back to the gate now."
The gate-guard didn't protest as he hurried out of the office, leaving us alone with Sampson and the box.
"Weak-stomached fuck," Sampson grumbled. "Gonna have to fix that if he wants to keep working here."
Steele just raised a brow, then reached out to flip the lid off the box and reveal its contents. I was still breathing through my mouth, but I could tell by the way Steele blanched the smell had gotten worse.
"Sick fuck," he muttered, peering into the box with a scowl. "Is there a note?"
"Underneath," Archer replied. "We didn't want to disturb things until you'd seen it as is."
I took a step forward, needing to see what my stalker had decided to send to Steele directly. If it was a Ken doll, I might die laughing.
"Oh, come on," I groaned, seeing what was causing the smell. Inside the gift box was a very dead cat. A gray one, wearing a name tag and collar. This was someone's pet. Fucking hell.
Sampson held out a pair of latex gloves to Steele, who placed his coffee down, then pulled them onto his hands. Gingerly, he reached into the box and moved the dead cat until we could read the name tag. Max.
Somehow, my stalker had managed to find someone's pet cat called Max with fur in a soft shade of gray all too similar to Steele's eyes. Or his name.
Carefully, Steele extracted the note from under the cat and laid it on the desk, then he pulled a bullet casing from the box to lay beside the note.
Welcome home, Max Steele. You must be almost out of lives by now.
Then, on the bullet casing: LUCKY CAT.
"Well, someone's pissed that he's a lousy shot," Kody murmured.
Archer and Steele were all but vibrating with anger, though, and I got the distinct impression I was missing something important.
"You guys know something more," I accused. "Spill it."
The two of them exchanged a long look, then Steele snapped his latex gloves off with a heavy sigh and an angry headshake.
"Cat," Archer replied, his voice a furious rumble, "is what Steele used to call you."
I frowned, confused. "What? No, I've always been Hellcat to him."
Archer gave a grim laugh, shaking his head. "Not now. Back when we first met, when you were eleven. He changed it to Hellcat when he started thinking about your nails dragging down his back during sex."
"Shut up," Steele snapped, glaring. "Sex had nothing to do with it."
Kody snorted a laugh. "Sure it didn't."
I held my hands up, my brain whirling. "Wait. Hold up. You're saying my stalker knew what you called me almost eight years ago when we hung out for three weeks?"
Steele just shrugged. "It could be a coincidence."
"Nothing about this sick fuck is a coincidence," Sampson commented, folding his thick arms over his chest and scowling down at the dead cat. "He was stalking your mom back then, Madison Kate. He would have known, and this is a deliberate message to Steele."
"So what does the message say?" Kody looked to Steele and Archer. It was pointless to ask me; I remembered nothing of meeting them prior to Riot Night.
Archer looked to Steele, who just gave a shrug.
"No idea," he muttered. "Sampson, can you document this and dispose of it?"
Our head of security assured us he would, then Steele exited the office without making eye contact with me. When he was gone, no one else made any move to follow him.
I frowned in the direction Steele had disappeared. "Why do I get the feeling he just lied to us?"
Archer let out a heavy sigh. "Because he did." My brows shot up, and he scrubbed a hand over his short beard. "Let me talk to him."
Before leaving the security office, he pressed a quick kiss against my hair, his arm tight around my waist.
"Stay with Kody. I don't trust anyone." His words were whispered in my ear, and my eyes widened. I gave him a small nod of understanding, though, and he left the office to track down Steele.
Sampson