He dug deeper and hit it. Only gently, but it felt like he was driving a red-hot poker deeper into my flesh. I just about jumped through the roof, and sweat popped out across my forehead as my breathing became short, sharp gasps.
So much for the wound being numb.
"Meaning I've hit it," he commented. "Hang on hard to something and try not to move."
If I gripped the arms of the chair any tighter, I'd fucking shatter them. And the damn things were metal.
The bullet moved again. Heat flashed, white hot, through my muscles and nausea rose thick and fast. I swallowed heavily and closed my eyes, hoping that not watching would make me less aware.
It didn't.
I felt every inch of the bullet's journey upward. Felt it when his grip slipped and the bullet fell back into my flesh. Sweat dripped from my forehead and ran in rivers down my back, and bile rose so fast it took all of my control not to vomit on his shoes.
Then the heat was gone and Harris was holding up the tweezers with the bloody bullet clamped firmly between its jaws.
"Done," he said. "But you need to change to stop the bleeding."
"Thanks." I rolled out of the chair and reached for the shifting magic, instinctively calling to my wolf rather than the seagull.
There was no hesitation, no pain, this time. Just a surge of power that swept through my body, numbing and reshaping my body, until what stood there was wolf rather than human. I stayed in her form for several seconds, simply enjoying the feel of her, then, somewhat reluctantly, shifted back. The wound was nowhere near healed, but at least the bleeding had stopped.
Harris closed the first aid kit then put the bloody tweezers and scissors into a plastic bag. "What now?"
"Well, the vamp has proven capable of getting past the nanowire and controlling Benny, so our first order of business is to get him contained. And Evin's waiting outside in the car for an all-clear, so we need to bring him in."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why is he outside?"
"Because I knew something was wrong the minute we pulled up. I'm used to dealing with vamps. He's not." I shrugged. "I was simply keeping him safe."
"Given the vamp is injured but telepathically unrestrained, how safe would it be to bring him within range?"
"With the silver out of my leg, I'll be able to protect him."
I said it with more assurance than I felt, but Harris didn't seem to notice. He pushed away from the bench and moved toward the front door.
"I thought you suspected him of being a fake brother and connected to the evil plot surrounding you?"
"He is a fake, but he's not willingly connected to the machinations."
"Meaning you've unraveled more clues?"
"I certainly have." And some of them he wasn't going to like.
He opened the front door and waved Evin in, then walked across to Benny and squatted down beside him. He pressed his fingers against the side of his neck, then gave a slight nod. "His pulse is steady, but his nose will be mighty sore when he wakes."
There wasn't much I could say to that, so I didn't say anything.
He glanced around as the door opened and Evin stepped inside. His gaze quickly swept Harris, Benny, and then me, taking in the blood on my pants and around the chair. "What the fuck has been happening?"
"Long story," Harris said. "Grab Benny's feet. We need to get him into a cell."
Evin did as ordered, and the two lifted the young man with ease. "He looks as if he needs a doctor, not a cell."
"He's susceptible to vampire suggestion, so he goes into the cell," I said, connecting just enough to his mind to feel if the vampire tried to control him. "And we can't risk a doctor for the very same reason."
"Oh."
For someone who didn't have much to do with either cops or vampires, Evin seemed to be handling it all amazingly calmly. The two men disappeared through the door. A few seconds later, the cell door slammed shut and footsteps echoed as they returned.
"So why are you two here?" Harris asked as he walked into the reception area. Evin followed him out and propped his butt on the reception desk.
"It's not that I don't appreciate the intervention," Harris continued, "but I ordered you to stay away."
"And we know how well ordering me to stay away in the past has worked, don't we?" He rolled his eyes. I smiled and added, "I needed to ask you some questions."
"Then fire away." He strolled across to a percolator and flicked a switch. The rich aroma of brewing coffee soon filled the air, making my taste buds water.
I crossed my arms and said, "How well do you know Mike West?"
He gave me what I could only call a "cop look" and said, voice flat, "Mike West isn't involved in any nefarious plot against you."
"Then do you know why he was driving toward the whaling station just over an hour ago?"
Harris shrugged. "Why is that even important?"
I sidestepped the question with another. "Then do you know what Denny and his friends have been up to over the last few hours?"
"No. Not only have I been out of contact with Mike, Denny, and any of his friends, but I was with you, chasing a killer and then getting locked in a cell. How the fuck would I know what anyone has been up to?"
"Then no one has reported anything to you?" I persisted.
"No. And if anyone had reported it to Mike, I would have heard it. Emergency calls get routed to both cell phones when we're out of the office." He glanced at Evin. "How do you take your coffee?"
"White and one."
Harris nodded, made the coffee, then carried over three cups, handing one to Evin and one to me before sitting on the chair I'd propped my foot on earlier. "What are you getting at, Hanna?"
"I'm not Hanna."
"Well, until you remember your name, I need to call you something. Now answer the damn question."
"While you and I were hunting your prisoners, Denny and his friends kidnapped Evin."
"What?" He glanced sharply at Evin, eyebrow raised in query.
"It's true," Evin said. "I have the bruises and rope and silver burns to prove it."
"And I have the ransom note." I took the piece of plastic out of my pocket and handed it over. He read it silently and shook his head.
"Why would the damn fool do something this stupid?"
It was a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway. "It was a ploy to get me out to the whaling station alone, where dearest Denny intended to exact his revenge. Except they were expecting me to drive out there and, as it turns out, I have an alternate shape - a seagull. That ability allowed me to get there ahead of time and get the jump on them. I disabled their trucks, rescued Evin, and we both got the hell out of there."
Harris raised an eyebrow. "Did Denny and his friends survive the encounter?"
He didn't actually sound like he'd mind if they hadn't. "Of course they did."
"Good." His tone wasn't convincing. "But I'm not seeing the connection to Mike."
"When we were driving back, we saw West coming in the opposite direction. He was almost at the old whaling station, and the only way he could have gotten there so fast would be by leaving soon after I did."
"Which means someone told him what was happening."
"Or he was watching my place, saw me leave, and maybe even saw one of Denny's friends go in to try to retrieve the ransom note."
He digested this for a moment, then simply said, "No."
"Someone else - someone other than Evin - has been reporting back to the people behind all this. I can think of no better person than a cop who is dissatisfied with where he is and what he is doing."
"Mike is a good cop." It was stubbornly said.
"I'm not saying he isn't. I'm just saying he's a cop who may have taken on a little outside work."
"I can't believe he'd do something like that - "
"You worked your way up through the ranks in Sydney. You know that being a cop isn't always black and white, but mostly shades of gray. I'm not saying Mike's gone bad, I'm just saying he might be providing information in return for something he wants - a transfer out of here."
Hell, he'd all but said that the first time I'd met him. I took a sip of coffee and watched Harris's expression. Or, rather, the lack of it. He was a hard man to read, and I had no idea whether he believed me or not. Even his body language was giving nothing away.
I tried another angle. "Who sent the request for information about me to the Directorate?"
He hesitated fractionally, then said, "Mike."
"And do you know for certain that he sent it?"
"Why the hell wouldn't he send it?"
"Because I'm Directorate. I don't just work there. I'm a guardian."
"What?" His expression was incredulous. "You can't be. You're a werewolf."
"Exactly what I said," Evin murmured.
"I'm a dhampire - werewolf and vampire. I work in the daytime division in Melbourne."
"But how - "
"Long story," I cut in. "And it's really not important right now. The point is, if Directorate staff suddenly disappear, an alert goes out to all divisions."
"And if some cop in a godforsaken town suddenly starts asking for information about someone who matches the description of that missing personnel," Harris said heavily, "all hell should break loose."
"And it hasn't. Which to my way of thinking means the request never went through."
"Unless they're just a slack outfit over in Perth. I sent the information to them about the murders, and I haven't had a response back from those, either." He took a sip of coffee then added, "And according to you, these types of murders would have been red-flagged as a priority."
"They should have been." So why had no one contacted Harris? That's what I couldn't understand. I took another drink of coffee, then added, "It might be a good idea to actually phone them again."
"You mean, right now?"
"Why not? We have a dangerous vamp who's connected to an organization that's hiring out killers for revenge purposes. The Perth staff don't know I'm here or that I'm Directorate, so they should be getting their butts out here ASAP."
"True."
He reached sideways, pressing the speaker button on the phone before punching in a series of numbers. The phone began to ring, the sound echoing across the brief silence.
But before it could be answered, the line went dead.
"What the fuck?" Harris picked up the receiver and pressed several buttons, then glanced at me. "Nothing. It's as dead as a doornail."
Evin rose and walked across to another desk. "So's this one." He put the receiver back down. "Christ, you don't think Denny and his friends would be stupid enough to try to attack us?"
"Intelligence was never his strong suit, but even Denny and his friends aren't that stupid." Harris glanced at me. At that moment, the lights went out.
"Down, get down," I hissed, dropping out of the chair and hitting the floor on hands and knees. My coffee went flying, spilling across the carpet as the cup rolled even farther away from my fingertips.
Then I felt it.
An energy, a presence, that sang to my heart, wrapping me in warmth and passion and making me feel safer than I'd felt since I'd woken in the desert.
I couldn't recall his name, but I knew him. Loved him.
I scrambled to my feet and ran for the door. It opened, revealing only the darkness of the night. But he was there, hidden in the shadows, and I launched myself at him.
The darkness wrapped me in a hug that was fierce and joyous, pressing me against a body that was so very real.
"Thank God," he whispered, his cheek pressing against mine as he hugged me ferociously. "I really thought I'd lost you for a while there."
"You almost did." As the shadows hiding his body began to dissipate, I kissed him, with every ounce of the love and relief that was surging through me.
Only to be practically torn out of his arms and into the arms of another. A man who wore the masculine version of my face and who was the other half of me. The brother that Evin wasn't.
"Oh, thank Christ," he said, his hug every bit as fierce as my vampire's. "I was going crazy with worry."
"I take it," Harris drawled from behind us, "that you know both of these men and that I should drop my weapon."
"If you don't," another voice said from the very back of the room, "you might just get shot yourself."
I twisted out of my brother's grip and saw another vampire standing in the cell block doorway. I knew his face, knew he was my boss, and was both relieved and surprised to see him here. But I couldn't damn well name him, and that was frustrating.
He was holding a laser aimed straight at Harris, and the whine of the weapon firing up indicated he was very close to pressing the trigger.
"Everyone, relax. Harris is the cop here, and Evin is a friend. They're both on our side."
The whine of the laser shut down. Rich green eyes met mine. "What the hell is going on here, Riley?"
Riley. The name fit. It felt right. Riley Jenson. That was my name. I wanted to dance with the joy of finally knowing me.
But right now, there were more important things to concentrate on. Celebrations could happen later, when the mess surrounding me and Evin had been cleaned up.
