“So Susie gets the men tied up, gets them horny,” Colin murmured, “then our incubus comes in. He gives them a touch and kills the poor bastards.”
“As he takes their power and lives— yes!” It made sense. Every bit of it made sense. “This guy, whoever he is, I think he chose Susan Dobbs because she looked like Cara. He dumped Cara’s purse at the third crime scene so we’d pick her up, and he’s been choosing men that are all linked to her.”
“Except for Monroe.” Colin straightened. “We can’t find any link to him and Cara—”
The pieces fell into place. “Because that guy was Susan’s kill, hers alone. Think about it.” He paused a moment, then lifted his fingers as he counted off the reasons, saying, “She stabbed him. She’s got a long history with knives, we all know that. She left the room a wreck, left evidence behind—”
“The scene was nothing like the others,” McNeal agreed grimly.
“Because the killer was different.” Todd knew it with every cell in his body. “She killed him. I bet if we dig, we’ll find a connection between her and Monroe, something personal.” The woman had snapped—killed in an undeniable fit of rage. There had been so many knife wounds in the guy’s chest…
“Shit. So what, we had some damn team killing together—” McNeal began.
“Until Susan broke the rules.” He thought about the cold, quick death Susan had received. “Then she had to be punished.” But just who had punished her? The lady had tried to lead him to Niol, but the demon appeared to be clean.
Though appearances could sure as hell be deceiving. He was learning more about the truth of that old saying every day.
“If Monroe wasn’t a planned kill—”
“Then our guy probably got real pissed at Susan.” Because she’d broken his control. Destroyed the layout of his nice, neat little game. “So pissed that the lady wound up with a broken neck.”
“But if we’re dealing with an incubus, why didn’t he just drain her?” Colin shook his head. “He could have gotten her energy and—
”
“She fought him.” Todd could still see the blood staining the walls of the phone booth. “Maybe he intended to use the touch on her, but Susan had her knife, and once she started stabbing, he snapped her neck.”
McNeal sighed. “Damn it, I’m tired of this shit in my city. What ever happened to keeping a low profile? Why does this asshole want to stir things up?”
“Why is he going after Cara?” Todd fired back.
Colin rolled his shoulders, a ripple of movement. “Gotta be personal.”
Yeah, that was what he figured, and what scared him.
“Niol was clean?”
He nodded curtly at the captain’s question. “Doubt I’d ever say that, but there weren’t any wounds.”
Colin lifted a brow. “And the guy’s not a sex demon.”
“Incubus,” he corrected, almost automatically. “Just what the hell is that guy?”
“Someone who could fry this town if he wanted,” McNeal said, voice rough. “A level-ten who likes to play on the dark side.”
Niol was definitely cold enough to kill, but he wasn’t an incubus. And there’d been no knife wounds on his body.
So, as much as he wanted to put the demon away, he wasn’t looking like the killer.
Which meant the bastard was still out there, somewhere. “We’ve been looking at this all wrong.” They’d thought the woman was the primary, but Susan Dobbs had just been a pawn.
The real serial was still out there.
“I’m keeping Cara in protective custody until we catch the bastard.” Probably should have asked permission from the captain first, but screw that, his woman was in danger, and he would be keeping her safe.
Colin cleared his throat. “Ah, how does she feel about that?”
“Doesn’t matter.” His stare was on the captain. “I think she’s in danger.” Those instincts of his were screaming at him. Cara would have said his sensitivity was charging up — hell, whatever it was, he knew that the lady was in danger.
And he was going to keep her safe.
The captain gave him an almost imperceptible nod. “Do we need to take her to a safe house?”
He walked over to the captain’s door. Peeked through the blinds. Cara was still sitting in his chair. Mark was stationed at her side.
“Yeah, I think so.” He’d like to keep her at his place, but he knew someone could have already staked out his home.
No, better to take her someplace secret.
Even if she raged at him, and he was certain she would.
He reached for the knob. “I’d better go break the news to the lady—”
“Hey, Brooks!”
He glanced back at Colin’s call, opening the door just a few inches. The rumble of voices from the bull pen drifted in to him.
“What?”
“Before I came in here, I called the phone company, pulled a few strings.” One brow lifted. “The last call Susan Dobbs made wasn’t to your place.”
Now that got his attention. “What? No, she called—”
“I know—I know—but the call to your place wasn’t the last one she made.” Colin stood, stepped toward him. “I got the number and guess who answered on the second ring?”
“Who?” Not Niol, it couldn’t be—
“The newswoman. Holly Storm.”
What?
“I sent a squad car after her. Ms. Storm should be here any minute for a little interrogation.”
“Good.” He was curious as all hell to learn just why Susan had contacted the reporter. Had she been offering Storm a tell-all interview? A scoop on the killer that the cops were trying so hard to keep under wraps?
Damn. Just how much did the reporter know? And how deep was she involved in this mess?
“She could—”
The silence hit him then. The absolute and complete silence from the bull pen.
The rumble of voices had quieted now. He saw Colin stiffen, and Todd turned back toward the door, peering through the crack he’d made.
Then he heard words that chilled his soul. “Put the gun down and we can talk.”
What the fuck? He pulled the door open another two inches. Caught sight of a kid with long, greasy hair. As Todd watched, the kid turned in wide circles, a gun clutched in his trembling hands.
No, not a kid. The guy looked like he was in his early twenties. Too old to be pulling something stupid like this.
“What is it?” The captain’s voice. McNeal had sidled across the room. He peered over Todd’s shoulder and hissed out a breath.
“I’m going to fucking nail some bastard to the wall for this!”
Because someone had left an unsecured weapon out in the open and now they were all in serious shit.
Then the punk with the gun made the mistake of lunging forward and grabbing Cara.
Todd’s hand went to his holster as he ran out of the room.
Well, damn if her day didn’t just suck.
She’d been watching the rumpled human male with half an eye, her mind on the murders, when the guy suddenly lunged for the desk on the far left.
He’d come up with a gun and every cop in the area had frozen.
Now he had a too-tight grip on her arm. The scent of fear and unwashed skin flooded her nostrils.
The barrel of the gun came dangerously close to her face.
No, not a damn good day.
“Stay back or I’ll fucking kill her!”
The arm he’d looped around her neck tightened.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Todd. He was advancing on the man, on them, eyes narrowed, face hard with rage. He had his gun out.
Cara realized if she didn’t do something, fast, her day was about to go from bad to sheer hell.
Because she sure wasn’t just going to stand there, be strangled, threatened, and then watch her cop get hurt.
Not when she could so easily stop the jerk who held her.
Todd might not like the methods she was about to use, but there wasn’t much of an option.
Besides, perhaps it was time for him to see that she truly wasn’t the helpless damsel that he thought she was.
“I goin’ out of here, and I’m takin’ this bitch with me!” The guy snarled, spittle flying from his mouth.
Her hands lifted, yanked on the arm and freed her throat. “No,” she told him softly, “you’re not.” Breathing deeply, she dropped her control and let her pheromones fill the air.
The guy was so close to her that he got a direct hit. He spun her around to face him, eyes wide, mouth open.
She smiled at him. Pitched her voice low and poured on the compulsion as she said, “Kiss me.”
The gun hit the floor with a clatter as he locked his lips on hers.
The air pulsed with his sexual energy. It was an energy much darker than Todd’s. And weaker. So much weaker.
But energy was energy—and the little bastard had threatened her.
So she’d take a bit of his power for herself.
Asshole.
Her hand rose. Touched his chest, and, with her kiss and touch, she pulled the man’s lust and power right out of him.
The sweet rush heated her blood. Oh, but it had been so long since she’d just let herself go. Just let herself take and take and take.
His body trembled against hers. A strangled moan bubbled in his throat and the heart that thumped beneath her hand began to slow.
Then to skip beats.
She pulled her mouth from his. Watched his bleary green eyes drift closed.
And then man fell backward, landing on the floor with a thud.
Cara inhaled deeply and caught the power still floating in the air. A faint shine lit her skin.
Sweet, sweet power.
Her head turned. She saw the stares then. The slack expressions on many of the male officers’ faces. Her gaze darted past them, caught sight of—
Smith. The ME stood near the elevator, hands fisted, mouth open, and eyes wide with horror.
Just great.
And a few feet away from Smith stood—
Another woman. A redhead. She waited between two cops, just a little past Smith. She stared right back at Cara. Not with the horror that Smith had, but with a kind of stark curiosity on her face.
As she focused on the woman’s face, the flare of her hunger and rage began to fade, and reality slowly raised its head.
Hell.
But there was no going back now.
“What the fuck were you doing?” The roar came from Todd as he grabbed the gun, then secured the weapon. He caught her arms, pulling her close to him. “Cara?”
She blinked. Forced herself to meet his dark stare. Anger. No, fury. Jealousy.
Fear?
She could see it all. Swirling in those eyes.
She could feel the emotions beating at her.
“This is who I am.” Gyth was on the floor next to the still man, checking for a pulse. “I told you, I can take care of myself.” And punish those who threatened her.
Or those she cared for in this world.
“He’s alive,” Gyth said, jaw tight.
“Of course, he is!” She snapped. Did they think she had no control? “I wasn’t trying to kill him.” Jeez. If she had wanted the idiot dead, the guy would have been at hell’s gate. “I was just trying to stop him from hurting anyone.”
“Pull it back.” Todd’s whisper was laced with steel.
“I don’t—”
“The scent…” He swallowed. “Pull it back before I have to start beating sense into this pack.”
“I—it’s not that easy. It’ll take some time—”
“Then I’m getting you the hell out of here, baby.” He grabbed her wrist, yanked her through the crowd, and took her down a long, winding corridor.
Glancing back over her shoulder, the last person she saw was Gyth. He watched her with the sharp eyes of a shifter.
One predator, measuring another.
He pushed Cara into the old interrogation room, the one that hadn’t been used for anything but storage during the last six months.
The door slammed closed behind them, then he pounced.
His hands locked around her upper arms as he held her against the mirrored glass on the left wall. “What the hell were you doing?”
God, but the woman was beautiful. Skin seeming to fucking glow. Eyes sparkling. Mouth wet and red—
From another man’s mouth.
He growled, and, not giving her time to answer, he crushed his mouth to hers. Took her lips. Drove his tongue deep inside in an act of possession.
No one else. No one.
She moaned, the sound making his fully erect cock twitch with hunger.
His hands tightened on her arms, fingers digging into her flesh.
The woman was making him crazy.
His mouth lifted as he dragged in a desperate gulp of air. God, but her scent was everywhere. Driving him wild.
Pushing him to the absolute edge of his control. Not that he’d ever had much to begin with, not with her.
“Why?” A stark demand ripped from him. She hadn’t been forced to confront the perp. To use her powers. Damn it, why—
“I’m not weak. Not human.” She licked her lips, her tongue snaking out in a quick move. “I am…what you saw. You have to un-understand that.” Her voice was shook just a bit. Husky.
God but he wanted her naked.
The pheromones? Her magic?
Or just the woman?
“I know what you are.” No question in his mind.
“I’ve walked this earth a long time.” Her eyes faded to black. “Seen things, done things, that most wouldn’t accept.”
