Bound to Shadows (6 page)

“Riley, this will be
your
child, and it’ll be as close as I’ll ever
get to having one of my own. That makes the difference.” He smiled. It was such a sweet, warm
smile that my heart just about melted. “And you are wearing far too many clothes for my
liking.”
“This from the man wearing a suit,” I said, tackling his shirt buttons. When they were all
undone, I pressed my hands lightly against his skin, letting them rest on the hard planes of his
stomach, reveling in the pleasure of simply touching him. Then I slowly slid my fingers upward,
enjoying the firmness of his toned body, luxuriating in the way his muscles quivered and jumped
at my caress.
My hands slid under the material at his shoulders, my thumbs hooking both shirt and coat and
slowly sliding them down his arms. Only to come to a dead halt at his wrists.
“Damn,” I said, raising my gaze to his, laughter bubbling through me. “I forgot about the shirt
cuffs.”
“It never happens in the movies, does it?” he said, amusement touching his lips as he undid the
problematic cuffs.
“It’s the magic of the big screen,” I said, watching the play of his muscles as he pulled off his
jacket and shirt. Loving the way his gaze held mine, full of promises, full of desire.
“Bet you’ve never seen this done on the big screen.” He bent and, in one smooth motion, scooped
me up into his arms.
I grinned and flung my arms lightly around his neck. “The hero carries his heroine to the bed and
ravishes her senseless in all the best romances.”
He arched an eyebrow, bedevilment dancing in his dark gaze. “But does he do this?”
And with that, he tossed me. I yelped as I flew through the air, then laughed in delight as I hit
the bed and bounced several times. “I don’t think there are many human males who could throw
their women with such ease.”
“And there aren’t many human females who have an appetite as strong as yours.”
“Know this for a fact, do you?”
“Yes. I’ve been around a long time, remember.”
“A very, very long time,” I agreed solemnly. “I’m amazed you can still manage to get it
up.”
He took a swipe at me, but I rolled away from it with a laugh. “And there I was about to add
something very nice.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Like?”
“Like every day I thank fate for putting such a stubborn, sexy, and altogether wonderful werewolf
in my life.”
Something inside me went mushy. “I might just let you bite my neck for that.”
“I might just hold you to that.” He bent over the end of the bed and reached for my jeans. I
arched my hips to make the zipper easier to reach and his smile grew.
“Such an eager pup,” he murmured, hooking the waist of my jeans and panties and pulling them
swiftly down my legs.
“Well, I can’t have you fumbling around taking forever to get down to business. I do have to go
to work soon, remember.”
“After being on this earth for twelve hundred years, I’d like to think I’m beyond mere
fumbling.”
He dropped my clothes to the floor then tackled his own. My grin grew as his body was revealed,
my gaze drifting up the lean muscular planes of his legs to the rampant hardness of his
erection.
This man was desire personified, and it was all I could do not to jump his bones right there and
then.
“Every man fumbles,” I commented dryly, “because every man sometimes lets the little head think
for the big one.”
On hands and knees, he walked up the bed, straddling my body but not actually touching my flesh.
His scent, his desire, filled every breath, making my body burn and my heart ache.
“There have only been two times in my life that I’ve allowed the desire for sex to overrule my
better judgment,” he said softly, his dark gaze burning into my mine and his expression serious.
“And in the second case, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Then his lips dropped to mine and he kissed me. But it was more than just a kiss, more than just
a meeting of lips and desire. It was heart if not soul, and the only place I wanted to be, now
and forever.
There was no more talking from that moment on, just caressing and kissing and pleasuring. I
explored his body as fully as he enjoyed mine, taking my time, letting the pleasure build and
build, until it felt like every part of me was wound so tight it would surely break. Then he
entered me, and everything
did
shatter, the power of my orgasm
tossing me about like a leaf in the storm. When his teeth entered my neck, I came a second time,
the pleasure of that one action sweeping through me like a tide.
And later, when I could think again, I realized that for me, it would never be
just
about the bite. It was this—the hot and sweaty aftermath, lying replete and
exhausted in his arms—that was the most addictive moment.
The blood whores had no idea just how much they were truly missing.

W
here the hell is your report?” Jack bellowed the minute I
walked through the door of the day division’s rather cramped Directorate quarters.
Of course, calling ourselves the day division was something of a misnomer, given we seemed to
work all hours of the clock, not just the daylight ones.
“I sent it in before I left home,” I said, plucking a coffee from the cardboard tray I was
holding and handing it to him.
He sniffed the coffee and looked somewhat mollified. I’d learned some time ago that while Jack
could drink any sort of coffee—good or bad—it paid to get the good stuff from Beans when I was in
his bad books.
“You were supposed to send it in by five,” he said, slightly less loudly. “This one could get
nasty, Riley. We need to keep on top of it.”
“I know.” I gave Kade a grin of greeting as I handed him his coffee, then plucked my own free and
tossed the cardboard tray in the trash. “Did Cole come up with anything unusual in the
autopsy?”
“No. The body and the saw are clean.”
I frowned as I walked around my desk and sat down. “That almost suggests a professional
hit.”
“If we have three men beheaded in the same way, then yes, I do think we are dealing with
professionals.”
“So Henry Gateway’s death is connected to Haven’s?”
“You know, you could read the report and find out for yourself,” Jack noted dryly. “But yes,
Gateway was killed by the same method as Haven, although it wasn’t the same saw, and we haven’t
yet found the one that was used on Gateway.”
“It’s a particularly brutal way to murder someone,” Kade commented. “It seems to me that the
killers are intent on attracting attention more than merely killing.”
I glanced at him. The harsh fluorescent lighting gave his normally warm red-brown skin a sallow
look, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. Amusement bubbled through me. Several more
mares from his herd had given birth recently—meaning he now had a grand total of nine kids—but it
looked as if having that many youngsters in one household was beginning to take its
toll.
“If we’re dealing with a gang intent on stirring up trouble between the vampires and the humans,”
I said, “then it’s highly likely they
do
want attention.”
“Which is why I’ve put a lock on the press for the moment.” Jack took a sip of his coffee, then
added, “And why I want this murder solved as soon as possible.”
“Hard to track down a killer who leaves no clues,” I muttered, logging on to the computer and
leaning forward for the system to scan my retina. “I don’t suppose you’d know if there’s a
connection between the three murdered men?”
I glanced at him as I said it and saw the slight hesitation. Meaning there was a connection, all
right, but he wasn’t revealing it. Which made me wonder if the vampire council was somehow
involved. Jack might answer to his sister, but
she
answered to the
council. She was on it.
“We’re still checking into that possibility,” he said eventually. Meaning he was still getting
clearance to discuss it with the plebs.
“The sooner we know the better.”
If only because, if we knew the connection, we had a chance of stopping the next murder. But Jack
knew all that—he’d been at this game a lot longer than I.
Jack grunted. “Did you get anything useful from the witness?”
I restrained the urge to point out that it was in my report, and said, “Well, she wasn’t really a
witness, more a relayer of information. And the man who paid her to call was apparently
disguised, so that’s not much help.”
“Did you check the security recordings?” Kade asked. “They might show something.”
“Starke said he didn’t use electronic security.”
“Then the bastard is lying,” Jack said. “Clubs like that must have full-scale security by law.
Requisition the tapes.”
“Requisitioning them might not be wise,” Kade said. “If he wanted the Directorate to see them, he
would have mentioned them. Asking for them through official channels merely gives him time to
dispose of them.”
I gave Kade a somewhat dirty look, which only made him raise his eyebrows and look amused. I
suppose he wasn’t to know that confronting Starke—or rather, confronting his overt sexuality—was
not
something I wanted right now. Not after barely escaping his
presence the first time with my dignity intact.
“That’s certainly possible. Go view those tapes, Riley,” Jack ordered. “And if Starke tries to
deny their existence, tell him I’m ready and willing to conduct a little interview with
him.”
“That makes it sound like there’s a whole lot of history between you and Starke, boss.”
“Let’s just say we’ve had a few run-ins over the years, and leave it at that.” He pushed away
from the desk he’d been leaning against and added, “But before you talk to Starke, I want you and
Kade to head over to Keilor. A woman named Renatta Bailey was found dead in her home a couple of
days ago, and the police have called us in.”
“So they suspect nonhuman involvement?” Kade asked, suddenly looking far more interested in the
proceedings. Maybe it was the office work that was getting him down—something I totally
understood, and the reason I tended to avoid it whenever possible.
“They have no idea what to suspect,” Jack said. “They fast-tracked the autopsy and found no
external or internal causes. She just died.”
“People don’t usually just up and die,” I said. “There has to be a reason, even if it’s as simple
as old age.”
“She was twenty and in good health, so old age and organ failure are out, as are drugs or other
substances. As I said, there was no obvious reason for her death.”
“So why has it been fast-tracked to us?” I asked. “And why has it suddenly got priority over the
beheadings? If the autopsy couldn’t find a cause of death, and the police couldn’t find anything
suspicious, why do they think we can solve the case?”
“It’s been fast-tracked to us because the woman who died is the niece of the governor, and he
wants us on it.”
“Political clout is a wonderful thing when it’s abused,” Kade muttered, echoing my sentiments
exactly.
“Abuse or not, we’ll look into it. And you, dear Riley, are on the case because you’re the only
one who can see souls. If she’s hanging about and feeling talkative, it might be a quick way to
solve this one and get back to the important crimes.”
As if things were
ever
that simple. I glanced at Kade as Jack walked
out of the room. “You got time to head over there now?”
“Hell yeah,” he said, standing and stretching. “Some fresh air would be good.”
My gaze traveled up the long length of him, pausing briefly on the washboard abs his hiked-up
shirt revealed before moving on past his broad shoulders and muscular arms. Arms that could hold
a girl just right, although they hadn’t held me for quite a while now. Jack’s no-fraternizing
rule and my own commitment to my relationship with Quinn had seen to that.
“What case has Jack got you working on right now?” I pulled my gaze away from his magnificent
form and called up Cole’s autopsy report. I didn’t bother looking at it, just redirected to my
car’s onboard so I could check it out later.
“Some stupid vamp is feeding on kids at Luna Park.” Which was one of the local amusement parks.
Kade walked around the desk and offered me his arm. “Jack wants him stopped before it goes too
far. I’ve spent the whole fucking day going through witness reports.”
I smiled and hooked my arm through his, letting him escort me to the elevator. His scent spun
around me, rich and fresh, reminding me of sunshine and freshly cut grass. “Like the new
aftershave,” I said, then added, “So why aren’t you out there talking to the witnesses
yourself?”
“It’d take too long, and it’s only repeating work the cops have already done.”
“If the reports didn’t give the cops anything, then they’re unlikely to give you
anything.”
He shrugged. “Jack said read them, so read them I am.”
Fair enough. “So this vampire hasn’t killed yet?”
“No, but he’s come close. Last week he attacked a couple of nine-year-olds who’d just come out of
the ghost train ride and dragged one into the shadows to feed on him. The other kid’s screams
attracted help, but the vamp had escaped by then.”
Which explained why there was a kill order out on a vampire who hadn’t actually killed yet. Any
vamp stupid enough to attack little kids deserved to die.
“If all the attacks have been at Luna Park, then maybe he’s holed up somewhere near
there.”
“I’ve done a thorough search of the area, and I can’t find anything remotely resembling a vamp
den.”
“Yeah,” I said, pressing the garage button as the door swished closed and zoomed us upward. “But
you’re running on regular senses—”
“Well, no,” he interrupted. “I’m an empath, remember? I couldn’t feel him, though.”
“But someone has to actually be emoting for you to sense them, don’t they? And if he was asleep
and not emoting, you wouldn’t sense him.”
“True.” He glanced at me. “I’m sure you’re working up to some point with these questions, but I’m
damned if I can figure out what.”
I grinned. “It’s easy. I’ll help you find your attacker, and you help me find the moron hacking
heads off vampires.”
“Deal—though Jack may not approve.”
“Jack wants this case solved fast. I doubt he’s going to quibble.”
“You haven’t seen the backlog of cases we have, obviously.”
“I try to avoid backlogs,” I said, voice solemn but amusement twitching my lips. “They’re bad for
the health.”
“Your health will be on a downward spiral if Jack hears that.”
I patted his hand lightly. “But he won’t hear, will he? Because otherwise I’ll have to tell Sable
you’ve been flirting with the secretary on the ninth floor again.”
“It’s a stallion’s job to flirt,” he said with a twinkle in his eye as he opened the
driver’s-side door and ushered me in.
“Not when you’ve agreed to hold herd numbers at fifteen.”
“Who said anything about adding to the herd?” His grin was mischievous. “I was merely offering to
show her the advantages of being with a stallion.”
Having tasted those delights myself, I couldn’t help feeling a little envious. I might have
Quinn, and I might have my soul mate, but that didn’t stop the wolf from occasionally hungering
for the pleasures to be found in the arms of others. I could have chosen to follow those desires
had I wished, but only because I hadn’t yet sworn my love to the moon for either man. Although
there was only
one
man with whom I’d take that step, and it sure as
hell wasn’t my soul mate.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“That’s why you all love me so much,” he agreed, slamming the door shut and walking around to the
passenger side. “And anytime you want to revisit past pleasures, just say the word.”
“Jack would kill us.” I started up the car and reversed out. “And no amount of sex—no matter how
brilliant—is worth facing his fury.”
“He’ll be even more furious if you crash the damn car again. I should be driving, you
know.”
“I haven’t had an accident for over a month. You’re perfectly safe.”
He gave me a look of complete disbelief, then leaned forward and switched the onboard on. After
identifying himself, he called up the police reports on Renatta Bailey. “Okay, she lives at 13
Hope Street. Head onto the freeway, and I’ll direct you once we get there.”
I nodded. “Nothing illuminating in the report?”
“Nothing much more than what Jack’s already told us.” He frowned. “They interviewed her
workmates, who said she hadn’t been sleeping properly for the last week. Apparently she looked
tired and run-down as a result, but nothing more than that.”
“So if she wasn’t sick, maybe she was enjoying a little too much sex.”
“Totally possible, if she’d had a lover. But according to the report, her last relationship ended
six months ago and she wasn’t seeing anyone.”
Which didn’t mean she wasn’t having sex. Although I guess the report would have mentioned it if
she’d tumbled anyone recently. “If she’d run herself to the ground, the autopsy would have picked
it up, wouldn’t it?”
“I would have thought so.” He leaned back in the seat and shrugged. “Sometimes people just die.
It happens.”
“Yeah, but apparently it shouldn’t happen to the niece of the governor.”
We drove on in silence and quickly reached Hope Street. I parked in the driveway and climbed out.
The air was fresh and filled with the scent of the nearby wattle trees. The house itself was
nondescript—just another large, brown-brick, double-fronted house in a street filled with them.
The only differences seemed to be the color of the roof tiles.
“She died four days ago,” Kade said, walking up the steps and opening the screen door. “I can’t
see how us coming here now is going to help solve the case.”
“I think the point is more us being seen. Jack may hate politicians using the Directorate like
this, but those men sign the paychecks, so he does what he has to.”
I held the screen door open as he got out what looked like a small black box from his pocket and
pressed it against the door lock. A second later, there was a beep and the door clicked
open.
“Still carrying illegal electronic lock pickers in your pocket, I see,” I said, voice
deadpan.
“Unlike you, I prefer not to break down doors.” He stood to one side and waved me on. “After you,
sweet cheeks.”
I snorted and stepped past him. The hallway was dark, and the air had that slightly musty odor of
rooms locked up for too long. Which was odd considering Renatta had only been dead for four
days.
I looked through the first doorway. It was a bedroom, but obviously not the main one, unless
Renatta slept in a single bed. Which I doubted, because it didn’t smell used. I walked
on.
“Her bedroom is the next on the left,” Kade said.
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “How can you tell?”
“There’s an echo of ecstasy coming from it.”
“Ecstasy? So she
did
have sex before she died?”
“From what I’m sensing, yes.”
I walked into the room and stopped near the end of the bed. The pale sheets were rumpled and the
lingering scent of humanity and death emanated from them. I couldn’t smell anything
else—certainly not sex or even ecstasy.
“Renatta was alone in the bed when she died. I’d smell it if it were otherwise.” I looked around
the room. It wasn’t plush or girlie in design, but more what I’d term “beachy.” Her furniture was
simple and classic, in sun-bleached hues paired with natural, neutral textures. On her dresser
were several stands that were full of earrings and rings, and a jewelry case was open, revealing
a goodly quantity of gold chains and pendants. Whatever had happened here, it certainly hadn’t
involved robbery. White fingerprint dust lay over everything, even the many perfume bottles. The
police had given the room a good going over.