Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) (13 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Alice caught sight of Ezra as she passed through the glass doors of VLO headquarters not twenty minutes after she’d called him. He was as striking as always, tall, broad, and heavily muscled under his close-fitting, all-black ensemble. Ezra always kept his body well covered, and tonight was no exception, although instead of his usual turtleneck, he’d substituted a crisp, elegant button-up fastened to the very top. The hem of his matte-black leather jacket brushed around boot-covered ankles as his long strides ate the distance between them. Her gaze skated over his shoulder toward the sidewalk behind him.

“Who are we looking for, little sprite?”

Ezra’s harsh voice brought her gaze back to him. His wide grin took him from conquering Viking warrior status to guy-next-door, the sweet, hot guy you’d trust alone with your slutty, big-boobed sister. Her instincts urged her to sink into his unspoken invitation to confide, but she knew him better than that by now. Inspiring such trust was intentional, a considerably effective ploy to disarm.

“I’m not looking for anyone.”

“Of course not.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed. He offered his arm and then led her to the car waiting at the curb. The driver already held the door open. They sat in silence for several minutes. Sitting across from her, Ezra did nothing more than study her, but his expression didn’t give away his thoughts.

“I haven’t seen him tonight,” he said at last.

He was talking about Ian. No use pretending she didn’t understand. She’d assumed Ian would have gone to his friends, but he hadn’t. Where was he then? His car was still parked at the curb across from her building. Regardless of what Ian had admitted to doing, she was out-of-her-mind worried about him.

Her decision to call Ezra hadn’t been calculated, but in hindsight, she’d needed to know Ian was okay. When he’d walked out, she’d been too frozen with shock to stop him. She had no idea he’d be executed for Hes’s murder. That news had squeezed the breath out of her, no matter that Hes hadn’t been guilty.

She hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to see him go until he was gone. Telling him she didn’t care had been a monstrous lie. Oh, she cared. The moment the door closed, it hit her just how much she cared—to the point of making herself crazy. The absence of Ian felt like a prison sentence binding her until the moment she could be with him again, to touch him and feel him warm, breathing, and alive. She closed her eyes, fighting against the burn behind them, and a dizzy spell washed over her.

But it was her own fault her heart huddled into a pulpy mass at the floor of her rib cage. She’d not only expelled Ian from her life, but she’d gone out of her way to deny feelings for him. Used his body and his comfort only to give him judgment in return. No doubt he should have done things differently with Hes, but he couldn’t do anything to change the past. All he could do was take responsibility for what he’d done, and what good would come of that now?

Alice opened her eyes and glanced at Ezra, waiting for him to elaborate but the godlike vampire took his time. He was strangely blank, and something about that scared the hell out of her, making her stomach churn.

“What did you do to him?” Ezra asked. Dead, cold, a void of endless depth, his gravel-voice pebbled her skin at every follicle down to her toes.

“I…found out some things he should have told me. I didn’t take it as well as I should have.” Saying it aloud dampened her reaction to Ezra’s predatory watchfulness and replaced it with something even less desirable. “Ezra, I—” The threat of impending tears strangled the words in her throat, and she swallowed against the lump forming there.

Ezra leaned forward abruptly, his friendly grin appearing as if someone had flipped a switch. Somehow that grin didn’t put her at ease as it normally did, not after seeing his mode set for sociopathic. Whatever reset him to guy-next-door, she welcomed the reprieve.

“There’s one thing you should understand about Killian, little sprite. That man would rescue a fly from his soup.”

“Are you saying you know about—”

“I’d bet my life on his honor. That’s what I’m saying.”

What point was he making? His annoying tendency toward cryptic speech aside, he clearly knew about the situation with Hes, yet had taken no action on it. In fact, he spoke of Ian as if the Tracker were a shining knight of virtue.

“I don’t know what to think. I want to believe he was right, but what if he wasn’t? Everything points to these being the same killers.”

He shrugged and ran his hand over his head, pushing his long, golden hair behind his shoulders. “Do
you
believe he would act if there was even a chance he was wrong?”

That’s when Ezra’s words began to make sense. She’d known Ian had killed because he’d unequivocally believed in Hes’s guilt. Perhaps she would agree with him if she had seen the evidence or if the murders hadn’t continued after the man’s death.

But that wasn’t what Ezra was getting at. In his weird way, he was telling her if she trusted Ian, she didn’t need to see the evidence to be sure of him. Ezra had been sure enough to ignore that Hes’s death wasn’t accidental. He believed Ian wasn’t the kind of man to chance hurting someone who wasn’t guilty. But how far could she trust him?

She thought of the short time she’d spent with Ian, about the man he was. Justice wasn’t a game to him, but a serious business he’d dedicated his life to. He lived as a Tracker and would die as one someday. The loss of innocent life mattered to him. She hadn’t even talked to him about Mr. Keeler’s assault in favor of holding her suspicions inside, expecting him to lie again. Maybe she should have given him a better opening to explain himself before she’d shut him out so hastily.

“Ezra, would you mind terribly if we wait to check out Otsana’s lead? I need to find Ian. God, what if he’s turned himself in already? Will he really be executed?”

“Yes, he will. There’s no evidence, but I doubt Ian would defend himself.” With a sober expression, he watched her face. She tried to hide her escalating panic at the thought of yet another person she cared about facing execution. And then he laughed. “We’re already heading to my place at Pioneer Square.”

“Why your place?”

He rubbed her knee and sent her a lecherous wink. “To get you alone, of course.” Her eyes widened, but it only made his grin appear. “Ian’s there.”

Glowering, she shoved his hand away from her knee where it’d settled. “Why the hell didn’t you say so? You know I was worried.” He seemed pleased with her reaction, however.

“What? Tell you and put an end to this enlightening conversation?”

She huffed her exasperation. “You’re an assclown, and I hate you.”

With the thought of Ian safely at Ezra’s loft, she virtually melted onto the seat, her pulse returning to a normal cadence. Until they neared Pioneer Square. What could she say to Ian? She had more questions than anything, ones she should have asked before she’d lashed out. It would be wrong to blame the case for that. He’d wounded her like no man had ever done. Her eyes misting again, she blinked against the painful memory.

She’d given him the truth, shared personal things she’d never shared with anyone but Val and Piper, things that made her feel closer to him than the clothes on his body. He acted as if she had kept the wall between them when he could have torn it down at any time so damned easily. One little opening, one moment of trust. Yet she’d had to learn from the Internet and then again from a skeletal murderer that she wasn’t worthy of his honesty.

The car pulled up in front of Ezra’s building, the most unassuming square hunk of red brick and tacky green awnings she’d ever seen. Even the low fog couldn’t hide how painfully plain the structure was. She would have pictured something quite a lot more artsy for him. His humor-filled glance begged her to say something so she kept her mouth shut. He sidled next to her, sliding his hand from the center of her spine to dangerously low near her backside.

“Ezra,” she warned. The innocence he bore would have fooled a con artist. Hell, she wanted to berate herself as if she’d slapped at a child. “I know what you’re doing, but Ian’s not here for you to aggravate.”

He chuckled. “Just practicing.”

He led her inside and toward the stairwell. After three flights of stairs, he unlocked and opened the wood-planked door to his penthouse. The room screamed Ezra. Concrete, ducting, heavy timber, ironwork, antique lighting fixtures, and high-arched windows. Somehow the odd mix of industrial and medieval fit him.

There was no sign of Ian, but two other men rose from the couches near the windows. “Alice,” Ezra said, guiding her forward. “I know you’ve met once before, but since they’re unremarkable, I’ll refresh your memory. This is Guns with the Washington State Police.” Guns nodded to her, his face somber. With that expression, chiseled features, and dark hair, he could have been Declan’s brother, the leaner, slightly shorter version in more casual clothing. “And this is Lucca with the FBI.”

Lucca gave her a sunny smile and a slight bow. Definite hot blond, underwear model material, but buff. She hated to think it, but he was more built than Ian. “Just Luc, but it’s good to see you again, Alice. I heard you moved up in the world.”

She shrugged. “More like a step back unless you consider the pay raise.”

Luc’s smile widened. The agent could work for Rembrandt with a smile like that. “I wouldn’t disagree. I don’t know exactly what’s going on with your case, though. Haven’t seen much of Ian these days.”

“Speaking of the mick,” Ezra said. “Dec texted they were here.”

“Passed them on the way out. Luc and I took their key to wait for you here,” Guns said.

“If you’re here, it means you found something.” Ezra took a spot on one of the couches facing the windows and patted the cushion next to him.

Her hands slid to her hips. “As if I’m dumb enough to sit by you.”

“I’d rather have you in my lap, little sprite, but I’m afraid Ian might hurt himself trying to punish me for such liberties.”

“I’ll sit in your lap,” Luc said. Instead, he rolled up the sleeves of his sky blue button-up as he dropped his heavily muscled body onto the seat where Ezra had tried to coax her. “Hope Ian realizes I just saved his life.”

Ezra’s booming laugh echoed along the high ceiling. “Let’s hear the goods then.” Guns shot Alice a nervous glance, but Ezra waved away his friend’s discomfort. “Whatever it is, you can trust her.”

“All right.” Taking a lean against the windowsill, Guns tucked his hands into the back pocket of his jeans. “We tracked down the financials on the last three properties where the Slavers holed up.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Chimera Corporation.”

“What you don’t know is we’ve found the head honcho behind the corporation.”

Loud, insistent pounding on the door cut off the conversation. While Guns headed to answer it, Alice peeked at Ezra. Somehow he didn’t seem surprised by the interruption. Only a vampire or a Guinness World Records bodybuilder could knock that much sound through such a heavy wooden door.

Ian
.

Her pulse took off faster than one of his cars.

But it wasn’t Ian striding through the doorway as if he owned the world.

“Why are you pussies hanging out here? The sun’s not up yet, and you have shit to do.” Kade passed everyone and sat on the arm of the sofa next to Ezra before nailing each of the men with a piercing glare that would melt steel. With such an impressive collection of masculinity in the room, it would be hard for anyone to stand out as alpha, but the
Immortalis
prince pulled it off effortlessly.

Being born and bred to lead the
Immortalis
had honed him into the baddest of the bad, but despite the initial intimidation, he’d grown on her right away. He’d say anything, anywhere, anytime to anyone so there was no mistaking where one stood with him. Weird to picture petite, buttoned-up Val with him. She was a business suit kind of woman while he wouldn’t be caught dead in one. True to form, he wore his typical faded jeans and his broad shoulders stretched the fabric of a midnight blue T-shirt.

“Ah, the master doth grace us with his presence.” Though worded sardonically, Ezra’s rasping tone was pure amusement, and he didn’t appear the least bit concerned. “Let us trade places. I have a mind to experience your idea of work.”

Kade growled like an animal, his dark eyebrows drawing together. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t spend my nights bumping uglies.”

“Well then. In that case, forget I offered, oh foul-tempered brother.”

After a short burst of unexpected laughter, Kade grinned. “I save the bumping for the daylight hours. Too late to put your offer back on the table, cocknugget.”

“Like you could reach past her belly,” Luc said.

Kade grunted. “She’s not that far along.” And then he muttered, “Thank fuck.”

“Not in a hurry for fatherhood?
You
?”

The
Dominorum
prince rose and paced next to the sofa. “It’s not that, Luc. She’s just bossy already.” He ran a hand through his short, dark hair. “Can you imagine when she gets cravings? I’ll have to deal with crap like…food.”

“Ah, and so it begins.” With a course laugh, Ezra patted Kade’s hand when he again settled on the armrest. “What brings you away from such a difficult tasking, junior?”

“Where’s Ian? He’s the reason I’m here. Got a call from him about Graham the Douchebag.” His gaze fell on Alice. “This involves you, Alice, so it’s good you’re here. Forgive my manners. It’s nice to see you again. Val said to tell you she’s sorry she’s such a bitch. Whatever the hell that means.”

Alice let out an exasperated huff. “It means she conveniently lost her friend card and won’t be getting it back for a while.” The fact that someone of Kade’s position had arrived to intervene with Graham didn’t give her warm fuzzies about the whole situation. Her belly impersonated a bowl of gelatin.

“Ian left with Dec a while ago. I can—” Luc was interrupted yet again, this time by the buzzer.

“Uh, I may have forgotten to mention Izel’s on her way here.”

Ezra scowled at Kade. “You donkey ball sucking—”