“Never better.” His young voice was flat, his face blank. It hurt to see him that way. Whatever he had seen, whatever he had been through today, had already done more harm to the boy than she liked. Her heart squeezed, but she let her mind cling to Alex rather than what she’d been through herself.
Cavalli caught up with me before the werewolves did, though it was a close call. Alex sent his private thoughts to her telepathical y, a gift of only the werewolf and vampire races, so Chloe couldn’t respond in public other than with a smal nod of acknowledgment. She would definitely be talking to him about what happened and how he was real y doing later, but this wasn’t a good time for it.
“Hey, Detective? This woman says she’s a friend of Dr. Standish’s.”
Chloe swung around to see a police officer with slightly pointed ears trailed by Tess. Keeping her hands firmly tucked in her pockets, Chloe nodded to them both. “Yeah, I know her.”
“Thanks, Patterson.” Merek jerked his chin at the onlookers gathered beyond the police line. “Let’s get everyone cleared out of here.”
The elf officer nodded, what looked almost like dazed awe on his face while he spoke to Merek. “You got it, sir.”
The group stood in silence, each staring at the others for long, strained moments. Tess propped a hand on her hip, her body language resuming that lazy, casual pose that Chloe knew was a complete sham. Tess was unhappy, and they were al about to hear about it. “So. Does someone want to tel me what the hell is going on? I’m pretty sure my supervisor is not happy to have gotten a cal from the police to confirm my identity. And his level of pissed off is nothing compared to mine. So, who wants to go first, hm? Alex?
Chloe? Detective Whatever? Tal , Dark, and Agently?”
Luca lifted a sculpted brow. “You can tel I’m an agent just by looking?”
Tess flipped her sheet of long auburn hair over her shoulder, her gold eyes narrowed, and she wrinkled her pert nose. “You have that stench about you, yeah.”
The big vampire’s even white teeth flashed in a smile, his eyes lighting with chal enge as he looked over Tess with slow, unmistakable deliberation. “And you are?”
Her lips twitched, but her gaze cooled as she gave him just as thorough a once-over. Her expression said she wasn’t impressed with what she saw. “Dr. Tess Jones. You?”
“Special Agent Luca Caval i. FBI.” Taking a step toward her, he held his hand out for her to shake.
She sniffed dismissively. “Never heard of you.”
“Good.” His hand remained extended, a dare to see how she’d react. “My work isn’t supposed to be broadcast on al stations.”
Her amber eyes narrowed to slits, and she shoved her hand into his grip, giving two brisk pumps and pul ing back. Or she tried to. Luca’s fingers tightened, and he ran a thumb over the back of her hand. A visible shiver passed through her, and her eyes widened in what might have been alarm as she jerked her hand from his grasp.
Mating rituals for the vamp-human crossover. Chloe rol ed her eyes. “Okay, focus, people. Seriously.”
“Sorry, hon.” Tess broke eye contact with Luca, and he scowled. Chloe tried not to grin. She’d bet he was trying a little vampiric mesmerizing on her friend, but the subtle stuff only worked on the weak-wil ed, and Tess was anything but weak, Normal or not.
“What happened, Chloe?” Alex’s gaze locked on her, and he ignored everyone else.
“Later.” She gave Tess a pointed look to remind Alex that they had a Normal in their midst, offered a weak smile, and nodded in Merek’s direction. “Everyone, this is Detective Merek Kingston, Seattle PD.”
She didn’t mention he was on the Magickal Task Force—Alex would already have guessed, and Tess didn’t need to know. A few more men joined their group, and the way they looked at Luca said he was speaking to them telepathical y and that they were on his team.
Chloe shifted her weight to try to get more comfortable, but instead sent a sharp throb of agony ricocheting through her body. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and when she final y refocused, she found that Luca had introduced the agents to everyone.
Alex shoved a hand through his dark hair and offered Merek and the new agents a solemn nod. His nostrils flared a bit as he caught their scent, his bril iant green gaze moving from one to the next as if marking their faces and scents in his memory. A few of the men shifted uncomfortably, and Chloe tried not to smirk.
A smal smile crossed Luca’s face, but before he could say anything, Tess ignored al the law enforcement officials and made an impatient gesture at Chloe. “So. Forget the ‘later’ business. Tel us what happened. Why are al these people here? That’s a hel of a lot bigger response than someone gets for setting off a home alarm.” She waved a vague hand in Luca’s direction. “FBI agents don’t make house cal s.” She flapped the same hand at Merek. “Detectives aren’t usual y first responders either.”
Chloe sighed, shifted on her sore feet—and why the hel were her feet sore?—and bit back a gasp of pain. As much as she wanted to be in denial about what had happened, her body was going to make that impossible very soon. “Damien and his fiancée were murdered. They thought I did it, then they realized Ivan was missing, and it may have had more to do with stuff at work.”
Tess tilted her head, keen intel igence transforming her face from merely beautiful to stunning. “Industrial espionage?”
“Yeah.” Chloe scrunched her shoulders in a short shrug that stil managed to make pain shoot up her neck and down her back. She fisted her shaking hands in her pockets. Beads of sweat began to form under her hair. “You know how product development can be. That stuff is guarded like Fort Knox.”
Tess took a step toward her, and it was al Chloe could do not to cringe away from possible physical contact. “If Damien and Ivan—”
“Yeah, I’m in danger.” She tilted her head at the silent teen, who watched her far too closely for her peace of mind. “Alex, too, since they don’t seem to have a problem hurting family members.” Damien’s pregnant fiancée came to mind, and Chloe’s gorge rose. Yes, family members were definitely in danger, and she was suddenly grateful Aunt Mil ie kept a personal bodyguard.
“We’l take good care of them.” Luca gave Tess his most engaging smile. She arched an eyebrow and gave him another dismissive sniff.
They’d take good care of her? Chloe snorted, tears burning her eyes. Yeah, right. She felt total y safe with the FBI. Merek’s body was a rigid line of rage as he moved closer to wrap a protective arm around her waist, and she hated that she did feel safer, even if the touch hurt. A lot. Three sets of eyes took in the gesture. Luca’s gaze narrowed, Tess’s mouth quirked, and Alex’s eyebrows rose.
A wave of exhaustion she couldn’t hold off any longer crashed through her system. The entire day swirled through her mind, and the street in front of her cartwheeled before her eyes. She closed them tight and set her hand on Merek’s brawny forearm. “Wil you do something for me?”
“Anything.” His warm breath brushed against her temple, and she shuddered.
“Keep an eye on my godson.” She swal owed, feeling unconsciousness creeping in to claim her. She welcomed it, letting her breath sigh out. “And catch me.”
Then her knees buckled, and she was caught, safe in his embrace.
4
“Water,” she said softly.
Her desperate thirst, and the croaky sound of her own voice, startled her awake.
A straw touched her lips, and she sucked down the cool liquid until she was replete. She was shaking a little when she relaxed back, the intensity of her thirst a shock to her system. A soothing murmur of voices in her head told her al was wel . It looked like now that her clairaudience had woken up, it wasn’t going dormant again. Before now, she could have counted on one hand the number of times her precognition had piped up. Every Magickal had different skil s he or she excel ed at, and this had never been one of hers. The last time she’d had a clairaudient episode had been almost ten years ago when she’d almost been mugged by a couple of Fae. Unseelie asshats.