Bad Cop (Entangled Covet) (14 page)

“Don’t say something you’ll regret in the two seconds it takes to put my boot up your ass, Ezra.”

“I don’t want
her
in my house, and you damned well know it.”

“What is she, yesterday’s compost?” Luc asked.

“Pretty much,” Ezra answered. “And you’d better tell me now who’s funding Chimera before she comes in.”

“That would be Ander,” Guns said. While Luc got the door, Alice watched the stone-drop silence sheet the other men after that piece of information hit. Looked like Ander had his fingers in everything. Why would a powerful
Dominus
like Ander get involved with a group who victimized vampires?

The door swung open and a woman tall enough to be an Amazon swept through in much the same manner as Kade. Izel was clearly a woman of great power and influence, one who expected obedience. She stopped between the two sofas and inclined her head toward Kade with a stately grace.

“My lord.”

God, she would kill for Izel’s husky, sex-me-all-night voice. And that lithe, athletic body and thick, red hair falling in waves nearly to her ass. She dressed like a battle-ready biker chick encased in skin-hugging leather. Yep, Alice definitely might develop a girl-crush on this woman.

“Izel, I’m glad you could make it.” Kade gave Izel a rather evil grin.

“Nice of you to say that as if I had a choice.” Her words no longer held the deference in her earlier greeting. They practically dripped acid.

Kade paid no attention to her caustic attitude. He gestured toward the men. “This is—”

“Yes, I know.” She barely glanced in their direction, and she entirely ignored Ezra. “Lucca and Gunner.”

Guns stood abruptly from the spot he’d taken on the couch. “Would you like a seat?”

Izel faced him with the air of one about to dispense with a pest, and then Alice swore the woman froze up like a computer hitting a blue screen. Gunner’s hunter green eyes sparked with something akin to life and an entirely male appreciation for the Legion Commander. Izel had made an impression on more than Alice alone. Luc, the blond giant, might start drooling any minute.

“I’m fine.” The striking woman turned back to Kade. “What do you want?”

Kade folded his arms and waited.

“My lord,” she sighed. “What do you want,
my lord
?”

He chuckled, not bothering to hide his enjoyment of her irritation. “You are here to approve Graham’s entry into the Trackers. And then you will train him.
You
, Izel, will train him. You’re aware of Graham’s situation?”

“Of course I’m aware. But no. I’ll not accept him.”

Kade rose from his seat. “Your reasoning?”

“I need no reasoning beyond the fact he hasn’t issued a challenge much less won a place into the Trackers.”

“He’s issuing a challenge.”

“Oh, really? Why haven’t I received it?” She raised one gorgeous red eyebrow. Alice could only dream of getting that perfect arch into her eyebrow.

“He’s in VLO detainment.”

Shit
. She really needed to talk to Graham about this. Did the guy even know he was going to be a Tracker yet? Given that his life depended on it, she was sure he’d jump at the chance. Pretty sure.

“It’s not your place to tell me who joins the Trackers. We have no seats open.”

“You’ll have one when Revenant dies,” Kade said.

“So this man will challenge Rev and face him in battle from detainment?”

“You know damned well, Izel, that if Revenant dies after a challenge is issued but not executed in the challenge battle itself, the loophole is there for Graham to take the seat without the fight.”

“Rev isn’t dead.”

“Oh, he will be,” Ezra said. “He won’t be taken alive, Izel. You’re wearing blinders if you believe that.”

She addressed Kade as if Ezra hadn’t spoken. “The human was a lawyer. You expect him to be skilled enough to become a Tracker with no background in combat?”

“Have more faith in your training ability, Commander.” Kade didn’t smile this time. This was an outright command and a damned insulting one.

She bristled at the directive, even flashing her fangs. The hiss was implied. “Then it will be done, my lord.
If
Rev is recovered dead before the challenge battle.” Wow, this was not a woman Alice would want to piss off. “The VLO needs to release him to me. Now.”

Izel’s snap of authority made Alice instinctively jump up to do the commander’s bidding before she caught herself.

“I’ll have to go to the office to take care of the release,” she told Kade. “But you can collect him. I’ll have an order in by the time they bring him out to you.”

Besides, she had more work to do since she hadn’t followed up with Otsana yet. And she still needed to see Ian. God, she wished all this garbage was over with so she could hunt him down.
Oh, Ian, you adorable genius
. He’d pulled through for her without violating any laws, found the loophole they would use to save Graham. It was pure providence Revenant wasn’t likely to survive his own capture. It didn’t even cross her mind the Trackers would deliberately kill Revenant. After all, she’d met the man. Despite his words, she’d known what kind of vampire he was. He would die before he went into custody.

“Are you all right?” Luc whispered.

She shook herself from her thoughts. “Yeah. Just thinking about everything I have to do. Did you call Ian?”

“No time. He’ll report in whenever they finish up what they’re doing. Nothing to worry about, Alice. The man’s like clockwork. Steady as they come.”

She laughed. “So I’ve heard. You’re in the fan club, too, huh?”

“If he had a fan club, I’d be the president.” His gaze slid toward Ezra. “Don’t tell him, though.”

Ezra flipped Luc off. Of course, the Viking would have heard a pin hitting the floor at twenty feet away. He rose and stalked to where Alice stood.

“My driver will take you to the VLO.”

“Thank you, Ezra.”

“Anytime, little sprite.” He rubbed her arms in light, sizzling brushes. “Sure you don’t want to upgrade on the boy for a grown up like me?”

Luc laughed. “Is that what you call yourself?”

Ezra seemed affronted, but Alice cut off his response.

“He’s kind of grown on me, Ezra.”

His grin reappeared. “Good.”

On the way to the office, she caught the message from Denton in her voice mail. There’d been another murder, but this time the body never left the grounds. They’d found it in one of the small outbuildings on Ander’s Capitol Hill estate. Where was Ian when she needed him? Oh, right. She’d exiled him from the case. God, she was such an asshole.

Chapter Nineteen

As per Alice’s instructions, Denton waited in her office when she arrived. He sat on the edge of her desk with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Holy crap, you look just like—”

“Don’t say it,” he grumbled.

“I guess you hear it a lot then.”

“Every damned day. ‘Hey, aren’t you that guy from the Avengers?
’
Yeah. All the time.” He cocked his head. “Though I do get a lot of action that way.”

“What was his name?”

“Jeremy Renner. I must have been the twin who was stolen.”

“Heh. What a kick. You should sign autographs.”

“I do if they’re on breasts.”

She tossed her jacket and purse over the back of her chair and grabbed her own cup of coffee. The sight of the cream and sugar made her want to cry. Ian would have teased her about how much she used.

“Tell me what’s going on, and don’t mind me typing while you talk. I’ve got a pressing issue to clear up while you report.”

Denton sat in the chair across from her and leaned on the desk. “A little over two hours ago, we got a missing infa—
persons
report. It was one of Ander’s newly turned. We found the body shortly after at the rear of Ander’s estate in an outbuilding meant for landscaping equipment. No sign of a ritual this time, but the body was in the same condition as the others. Whatever happened, the perp had no time to complete whatever his messed-up procedure is. Not sure what interrupted him tonight.”

Alice processed the release paperwork for Graham while mulling over Denton’s words. “Who reported the victim missing?”

“Ander. He had his subjugates monitoring the aftercare. Of course, that bastard, Kenji, didn’t care for that when he found out. As spoiled and whiny as he is, it’s surprising to know he’s one of the older adjuvants.”

“Spoiled and whiny? He didn’t come across that way when I met him.”

“I’m telling you, he was acting like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum.” He sat back and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Now here’s a kicker. I followed up with Otsana after I saw your message. Sorry about not getting back to you, by the way. Had some connectivity issues most of the night.”

“It’s all right. What did Otsana have to say? She actually talked to you?”

“Yes. No problems there. Now that I think about it, that was strange.” He rubbed his chin. “Turns out she wanted to tattle on Revenant.”

Alice hit her send button and sat back. “She knows Revenant’s location?”

“Not exactly at the moment, but she gave up Ander as the one who’s been housing him during daylight hours.”

Obviously Ander was a primary suspect, but some pieces weren’t fitting. Alice paced to her exterior window and checked the light outside. Still plenty of time left in the night. Maybe they could set something up to catch Revenant and get some answers from him.

Ander had a solid alibi for at least one of the murders, and he’d called in tonight’s murder before the body had even been discovered. Could he have done it to throw off suspicion? It could have been Revenant committing the murder the night Ander had been occupied, giving the
Dominus
a way to clear himself from the investigation. And did any of this have something to do with Ander’s ties to Chimera and the Slavers?

“I have some calls to make,” she said. She studied him a moment. His sandy hair was rumpled and his dark navy suit wrinkled and dusty. The man worked the day shift so he’d likely been at it over fifteen hours. “Go home and get some sleep. We’ll pick this up in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He sighed and stretched as he stood. “Ring me if anything more happens, though. I’m a light sleeper. Not like Campbell, that silly bastard. Never picked up his phone.”

“I wondered why you were solo tonight.”

“I blame old age. His, of course.” He grabbed his suit coat and lifted his cup. “I’ll just, uh, return this tomorrow.”

After he’d gone, she palmed her cell phone, smoothing over the buttons several times before hitting Ian’s speed-dial number. Adrenaline cranked on the shakes, but it was for nothing. The call went straight to voice mail. After his parting words, he deserved better than a recorded message from her. Guess she was on her own. Ander may not speak to her, despite her status with the VLO, but she had to give it a try. She scooped up her belongings and headed to her car.

When she arrived in Capitol Hill, she parked a block from Ander’s and made it half the distance before stopping short. What the hell was she doing? Brave she could be at times, but she wasn’t stupid. Interviewing Ander would require vampire representation. In the middle of dialing Ezra’s number, she caught sight of a familiar car across the street—the time machine.

She could barely bring herself to approach the vehicle. He probably wasn’t even in it. He’d be inside the mansion, getting in Ander’s face in his usual vigilante fashion. Maybe she’d leave him a note. Or not. She stopped a few yards away, indecision digging sharp claws into her. A moment later, the door opened and Ian unfolded his lanky body from the vehicle.

A man that tall and broad shouldn’t own cars that small. It had to be bad for the posture. She wanted to laugh at her inane inner dialogue, but her heart was too bruised yet hungry at the sight of him. He’d pushed up the sleeves of his dark red Henley, and even the sight of his bare forearms made her tingly.

“Ian—”

“We may as well go in. They already know we’re here, thanks to you.” He gestured toward the mansion. When she couldn’t force any words out, he leaned against the car and folded his arms, his expression guarded. “I decided not to turn myself in. If you want me under the gun, Alice, you’ll have to pull the trigger yourself.”

“No!” She shook her head vigorously. “I don’t. Want that, I mean.”

He straightened and took a step toward her. “Then what do you want? I can’t go back and change what I did.”

God, how could she answer him? She didn’t know what she wanted. “I know that. I shouldn’t have…”
Doubted you?
Is that what she meant to say? It wouldn’t be true. She couldn’t help that little part of herself with one foot in the past that questioned whether he’d had no other choice. And whether it mattered to him if he had. The way he’d kept it from her implied he didn’t want to know.

He pushed a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but I was lying to myself. No punishment from the
Immortalis
could be worse than believing I killed an innocent man. But the cases aren’t the same, and these are different killers. Should have told you that when I had the chance.” He stepped in front of her and cupped her face, directing her straying gaze to him. “I wasn’t wrong. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, fucked things up, especially with you. But I wasn’t wrong that time, Alice.”

There was something in his eyes, a small trace of shining hope she wanted to cling to. She wanted to cling to him, put her arms around him and accept the comfort he was so damned good at giving.

He let his arms drop away from her, the shine in his eyes dimming. “I’m a Tracker. I’ve been a Tracker most of my life. We kill in the line of duty. I’ve killed more than I can count, and it never gets easier. Never. Don’t take that fact lightly because I don’t. I remember every one of them. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing there was no other choice. If there had been another way, I would have found it. Trust me.” He took her hands, his long fingers firm around hers. “Trust me, Alice.”

Resisting him was impossible. Whether she held her doubts or not, she couldn’t deny the impulse to touch him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. A hesitation before returning her embrace said he’d noticed her lack of response.

If she started fresh with him like she yearned to do, would he keep going down the same road? After the resourceful and virtuous way he’d handled Graham’s situation, she might be willing to risk that. Maybe after all of this, he would trust her enough to open up so she could return that trust.

He mumbled words she couldn’t catch, but it sounded like, “At least it’s something.” With a deep breath, she absorbed the heady, masculine sandalwood scent of him and relaxed inside the circle of his arms. Amazing how intensely intoxicating a man’s scent could be, but that was how she felt when he was near. Drunk and fuzzy-headed.

“Ready to get this show on the road?” He reluctantly released his hold.

“
I
sure as fuck am.” Dec stood on the other side of the car staring a Death Star-worthy beam of angst at them. She hadn’t noticed him get out of the passenger’s side.

“Sounds like
someone
needs to get laid.” Ian motioned in his direction and then led the way toward Ander’s estate.

“I hit it more than you do.” Dec matched Ian’s long stride, and they made quite a delicious pair, one dark half and one light, as their pace ate up the sidewalk toward the entrance. She had to speed walk just to keep up.

“You must be loads of fun on a date,” Ian said. He didn’t crack a grin, but the humor was there in his voice.

“You finally got the balls to ask me out? I always had a suspicion about you.”

Alice kept her thoughts to herself, but she was in a bit of shock. She’d never heard Dec talk so much. He obviously had a close bond with Ian.

“It’s not a suspicion when I tell you to your face, and don’t think I didn’t notice all that eye contact. Anything more than three seconds is an eye-fucking.” Ian stopped at the door and gave Dec a shove. “Now stop flirting with me in front of my woman.”

My woman
. The possessive words reverberated through her, sending an electrifying hum through all the right hidden places at the worst possible time. They were about to question one of the most powerful
Dominorum
of the
Immortalis
, and her mind went straight to shedding her panties and doing a hell of a lot more than eye-fucking Ian.

Her favorite caveman pressed the bell, and it seemed an eternity passed before a dour subjugate answered the door, a different man from when she’d first visited the mansion but cut from the same pattern. Ian gave him a rather disgusted frown and pushed past him into the foyer.

“Can I
help
you?” The affronted subjugate scrambled to block their path and made the mistake of grabbing Ian’s arm. “Stop right there.”

Ian rounded on him. “Is that the proper way to address a Tracker, mate?” The bright red flare of his eyes was plenty more than enough to make the human release him. He nearly growled as he flashed fang at the man. “Get Ander. Now.”

The subjugate scurried toward a stairway near the rear of the foyer. Dec took a step after him, but hesitated and turned to Ian. “We’re burning moonlight,” he said.

After a short wave from Ian, Dec loped after the subjugate and disappeared up the stairs.

“What was that about?” she asked. When he shot her a grin, her stomach flipped like a ride at the fair. It had to be a totally inappropriate thought, but she wanted to kiss the rims of his ears. They stuck out just the teeniest bit. So cute. He’d probably throttle her if he knew what she was thinking.

“For one,” he said, “we really are losing time here. But aside from that, it’s a Tracker thing, and it’s multipurpose. He’s gone to make sure they aren’t setting a trap or ambush, he’s doing something they won’t anticipate, and he’s splitting the target if they do intend to do something incredibly stupid.”

“All planned without speaking.”

“Could have used telepathy, but we don’t need it. I’ve partnered with Dec a long time.”

“That’s a good sign.”

He cocked his head. She loved it when he did that. Made her go all swoony. “Why do you say that?”

She tried to hide her smile, but he cupped her shoulders and wouldn’t let her turn away. Finally, she met his gaze. “It means you’re not afraid of commitment.”

His expression grew serious. “Alice—”

A shout from the stairway broke the moment, and Ian headed toward the commotion coming from the next floor up. What the hell was going on? That was Dec cursing as if it were his first language. She took a step to follow and then arms like steel bands came around her, jerking her roughly backward. At her scream, Ian whipped around and froze.

“Don’t even think about it, Killian.” Revenant’s deep voice rumbled against her back. “I’ll clean her like a fish.”

That’s when she felt the cold blade against her throat. She stiffened and fear stabbed into her as if the knife were already there. Her limbs going cold, she fought a bout of hyperventilation. Ian’s expression went blank, but he continued his forward movement, though very, very slowly.

“I mean it.” Rev pressed the knife just to the point of discomfort. Physical discomfort. Her emotional discomfort climbed off the charts. And she’d left her purse in her car. She had no way to defend herself, not that it would be smart to try.

“You can leave, Rev. Release her, and you can go free and clear.”

“I know better than that. You’ll only follow.” Revenant laughed a nasty, sickening kind of laugh. “But I have a solution for that.”

With no warning, the knife bit deep into her and slid across her throat. Agony like nothing she’d ever known roared through her, sending fire all the way to her toes. And then she choked around the fluid in her throat. Revenant dropped her and vanished from her narrowed realm of sensation. Her legs weakened.

No!
It wasn’t fair.

God, she couldn’t die yet. Her eyes met Ian’s. In the moment it took to slump toward the floor, none of her doubts about him mattered. He’d been it for her since day two.