Smoke & Mirrors

  denying it. Fine. Next time, I expect a fucking answer. Right now, I’d rather know why the hell you didn’t tell me about the seizure.”

  “I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily.”

  “Well, congratulations. You fucked that one up royally because I just had the ever-loving fuck scared out of me. I thought he was going to die.”

  “He was not going to die. Austen assured you as much.”

  “That’s why you sent him. Because you knew I’d trust him.”

  “I wouldn’t have sent him if it weren’t the truth. For all of Austen’s… skill, he would never betray your confidence. Withholding information is one thing, but Austen would never be a part of something which would bring harm to someone you love.”

  “What’s wrong with Dex?”

  “We don’t know yet.”

  Sloane shook his head. Yeah, right. “What about the tests?”

  “They were inconclusive.”

  “All of them? You’re telling me all those tests your people ran on Dex have come back inconclusive?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you expect me to fucking believe that? Are you out of your goddamn mind?” he hissed, mindful not to let the volume get too high despite how thoroughly pissed off he was right now. “I could have lost him!”

  “If we believed that, we would have brought him in.”

  “Brought him in? He’s not one of your operatives!” Sloane’s grip on his feral half was slipping. Did they think they could just swoop in whenever they felt like it and take Dex from him? That they could do whatever the hell they wanted and Sloane would go along with it? “I don’t care who you are. You lay one finger on him without his consent, without mine, and I will expose you. Do you hear me?”

  “Your threats mean little to us.”

  “Yeah? How much does your job mean to you? Because if you think I won’t testify against you, that I won’t spill everything I’ve seen, everything you’ve done, then you don’t know me.”

  “You would betray your government?”

  “For him? In a heartbeat.”

  “Understandable. We’ve given you no reason to be loyal to us.”

  “I don’t know anything about you or who you work for. For years you and your agency have toyed with us, using us like pawns, hiding behind smoke and mirrors, running us around in circles until we don’t know which way is up. This is our lives you’re playing with. I’m getting sick and tired of it. You want our help? You get us some goddamn answers or leave us the hell alone.”

  “You want your white knight, your castle, and your happily ever after. I get it, Sloane. I do. Unfortunately it’s not up to me, so your fairy tale will have to wait for a little while longer. Dex needs to see this through, and without you at his side, he might not make it.”

  The line went quiet, and for a moment, Sloane thought she’d hung up. He was about to do the same when she spoke.

  “Despite what you may think of me, I do care. I shouldn’t, but I do.”

  “You’ll have to forgive me for being a little skeptical.”

  “It wasn’t intentional. Believe me. My directive was to be your team’s lieutenant, to train you, keep an eye on you, not get too close to you. Any of you. I promise. I am trying to get to the bottom of this. We’re dealing with events spanning over thirty years, involving government agencies and officials, Sloane. Getting to the truth is like trying to find a grain of salt in the sand. Even then, the truth is never the end of it. There’s more at play here than you could possibly imagine. For now, you and Dex must remain strong.”

  With that she hung up, and Sloane was left with more questions than ever, and that’s what he hated most. It wasn’t so much the fight that wore at Sloane. It was the not knowing. Being purposefully kept in the dark. Whatever they were dealing with, it was big, and they’d been thrown right into the middle of it. He didn’t for one second believe that TIN didn’t know what was going on. Sloane had his theories, but he’d wait until Dex was well enough to share them with him.

  Sloane stepped out of the bathroom, his heart squeezing in his chest at the sight of Dex curled up on his side, hugging Sloane’s pillow, facing Sloane’s side of the bed. In a couple of months, it would be their anniversary and just six months shy of two years that they’d officially been dating. He still couldn’t believe how much had changed in that time. With a smile, he walked to the bed and turned off the lamp before climbing into bed. He grabbed one of the spare pillows near the headboard and pulled it under his head. He lay next to Dex and studied his beautiful face. How was it possible to love someone so completely in such a short amount of time? Especially since Sloane had spent a good portion of their time together trying to figure himself out. His heart and Felid half had known far before his stubborn brain. Now he couldn’t picture his life without Dex.

  “We’ll figure this out, sweetheart. I promise.” He leaned in and placed a kiss to Dex’s brow. As soon as Dex was feeling well enough, they’d sit down and talk about this. Dex couldn’t go on avoiding his past. No one knew that better than Sloane. They’d both lost enough. It was time for them to work toward the future.

  Chapter 6

  DEX’S RETURN to work had been met with cheers, hugs, and pats on the back. A few of their Therian teammates stood a little closer to Dex than Sloane thought was necessary, but his presence was enough of a reminder of who Dex was mated to. No one at work would challenge him. They were good agents, and the majority of them Sloane had known for years. The only one Sloane watched carefully was Taylor. The way he moved around Dex, the intensity in his eyes, had Sloane on high alert. Taylor had never been one to deny himself what he wanted.

  The rumors of the supposed ambush had spread through the department like wildfire, and Sloane prepared himself. As cocky as his partner was, he would never take credit for something he hadn’t done. As Sloane suspected, Dex was less than thrilled by the story Sparks had concocted, especially the part concerning the heroics that had resulted in Dex saving several Therian citizens at the cost of personal injury. Dex confronted Sparks in her office with Sloane silently tagging along in case his partner went off on her. It was difficult to predict Dex’s behavior these days, even for Sloane.

  The office went into privacy mode, and Dex thrust a finger at Sparks. “No. I am not taking credit for this. I refuse.” He threw a hand up. “I mean, come on. Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”

  Sparks simply sat back in her chair, her gaze unwavering. “Had such an incident occurred, I have no doubt the outcome would have remained the same.”

  “But it didn’t occur,” Dex hissed.

  “It’s nothing you haven’t done countless times since joining the THIRDS, Dex. How many lives have you helped save? How many criminals brought to justice? The only difference is that you’re being commended for it now.”

  Dex let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t have a choice, do I? Fine.” He headed for the door, then paused. His expression was hard as he faced Sparks. “Oh, and if you really want to earn our trust, how about not injecting me with shit to make me forget.”

  Sparks looked to Sloane and back. “Very well.”

  With that, they left the office. Had Sparks actually believed Sloane wouldn’t tell Dex what happened to him? That she’d had him injected with something so he wouldn’t remember his seizure. Dex had been pissed. Was still pissed.

  Sloane had been hoping for a quiet day, but just their luck, mere hours after starting their shift, Destructive Delta was called out on a Therian domestic disturbance. Unlike Human domestic disturbances where an HPF officer or two were called out to investigate, a Therian one required a tactical team. There was no telling if the disturbance would escalate into a feral Therian. It wasn’t uncommon. By the time the team arrived on scene, one or more of the parties could have shifted, and in most cases, at least one did.

  Hobbs drove the BearCat through the city, sirens blaring, lights flashing as they sped through heavy traffic. If it had been anyone el
se driving the gigantic tactical vehicle at these speeds through the busy streets of New York City, Sloane would have been saying a prayer so that they would arrive in one piece, but no one knew these streets or this truck like Hobbs. Sloane was starting to believe Dex was right, that Hobbs had been a NASCAR driver in a former life.

  Dex sat on the bench beside Sloane in the BearCat, suited up in full tactical gear just like the rest of the team. It was good to have him back. Sloane had missed seeing his smiling face across from him in their office. So much that he had spent very little time in his office, preferring not to face Dex’s empty desk.

  “So what have we got?” Sloane asked Maddock. It was time he got his head back in the game.

  “Neighbors called in, hearing roars and screams coming from next door. It’s a quiet neighborhood, no record of disturbances from this residence. House belongs to a Mr. Dylan Reynolds, a tiger Therian, and his Human wife, Alicia Reynolds. Newlyweds. Neither has any priors or any history of violence. According to the neighbor who called it in, they were very much in love and seemed happy.”

  “Until the honeymoon ends and the claws come out,” Ash said, readying his tranq rifle.

  They arrived on scene within minutes, and the team hurried out of the truck, with Calvin staying behind to help Hobbs change into his Therian form. With Reynolds being a tiger Therian, they’d need to match his strength. The rest of them would use their tranq rifles.

  Sloane quickly surveyed the area before turning to the rest of his team. “Cael, Rosa, secure the street. I don’t want anyone coming through here in case Dylan is in his Therian form. Sarge is in the truck running surveillance. Dex, Ash, Letty, you’re with me. We’re going in.”

  Calvin and Hobbs joined them, with Hobbs coming to sit at Sloane’s feet. Sloane rubbed the back of his ears, receiving an appreciative chuff in response.

  “All right, buddy. You know what to do.”

  Hobbs hissed and padded toward the house with the rest of them close behind. He stopped by the front door, and Sloane held a fist up. He moved aside and signaled for Ash to approach. Placing the barrel of the breaching gun to the door’s lock, he pulled the trigger.

  “Go, go, go!” Sloane ordered into his com, rushing into the house with his team on his heels. They fanned out, tranq guns at the ready as they surveyed the living room. Hobbs sniffed the air and took off. Sloane followed with Dex close behind, followed by Calvin, Letty, and Ash bringing up the rear. Hobbs led them through the house, stopping just outside the kitchen, his tail twitching.

  Sloane held a fist up to bring his team to a halt. There was blood on the floor. He patted his side, and Hobbs was immediately beside him. Sloane signaled for them to slowly advance, and together they moved into the kitchen, following Hobbs and the trail of blood through to the dining room. Hobbs sniffed the air and huffed. Dylan Reynolds was in the next room. Giving the signal for his team to get ready, Sloane raised his tranq gun and followed Hobbs into the room.

  There were no orders to get on the ground, no warnings or talking. There never was when dealing with a feral Therian standing over the mauled body of what had once been a person. Reynolds roared, the windows rattling. His ears were flattened against his head, his fur covered in blood. His fangs were bared, his claws out.

  “Fire!” With the order given, the team fired their tranqs into Reynolds, but it would take time before the tiger Therian would be out, enough time for him to cause some serious damage. No other Felid took as long to go down as tiger Therians. Reynolds roared, and Sloane knew what was coming next.

  “Formation!”

  Sloane braced himself, and Ash was quickly at his side, raising his shield along with Sloane. Slowly they retreated, drawing Reynolds out of the dining room and away from the body. In the living room, Reynolds hissed, a strangled sound soon following. He leaped forward, and Hobbs met him halfway, hissing and spitting, swiping his giant paws at Reynolds, sharp claws catching fur. The two tiger Therians lifted onto their back paws as they batted at each other, roars echoing through the house, the sound deafening. All Hobbs had to do was keep Reynolds busy until the tranqs knocked him out, and within five minutes, Reynolds was swaying on his paws. Seconds later he was on his side, a low groan escaping him. His breathing steadied, and then he was out.

  Sloane crouched down in front of Hobbs and scratched him under his chin before ruffling his fur. “Good job, buddy. Go ahead and head back to the truck with your partner.”

  Hobbs chuffed and trotted off with Calvin close behind. Sloane tapped his earpiece.

  “Sarge, area’s secure. We have Reynolds.”

  “Good work. Hudson and Nina are going in.”

  “Copy that.” Sloane turned to his team. “Let’s secure Reynolds in the truck. Letty, bring the stretcher.”

  Letty nodded and ran off. It took Sloane, Ash, and Dex to lift an unconscious Reynolds onto the Therian-sized stretcher. Letty stayed behind securing the crime scene while Sloane, Ash, and Dex carried Reynolds out to the BearCat and secured him in the cage. Hobbs was already in his Human form, sitting on the bench and receiving PSTC from his partner. When Sloane turned, Hudson and Nina were approaching.

  “Hey, guys. Ready?”

  The two medical examiners nodded, and Hudson walked beside Sloane.

  “How bad is it?”

  “From what I could see, really bad.” Sloane shook his head sadly as he led them back into the house. He looked over his shoulder at Ash and motioned to the door. His best friend knew the drill. Ash took position in front of the front door after Sloane, Hudson, Nina, and Dex went in. No one was getting past Ash without the right credentials. These days the press would climb over you to get footage or pictures of the crime scene. The last thing they needed was another media frenzy. Cases with Human-Therian couples always brought out the bigots and zealots. Any excuse to condemn the couple or spout hate in an attempt to justify why the two should have never been together in the first place. Mrs. Reynolds deserved better than that. Whatever Dylan Reynolds’s reason for performing such a heinous act, the fact one was a Human and the other a Therian played no part in it.

  Sloane showed Hudson and Nina to the body, or what was left of it. While they performed their preliminary assessment, Sloane joined Dex in the living room, where his partner was standing in front of the fireplace. Dex stood staring down at the framed photo in his gloved hand. It was a wedding photo of Dylan Reynolds and his blushing bride. They were embracing and laughing.

  “They look so happy,” Dex said quietly. “I don’t get it. I mean, I get it. I’ve been a cop long enough to have heard it all, but a part of me still doesn’t understand.” He returned the picture to the mantle and motioned to the dozens of other captured moments displayed with pride. “Look at them. They clearly loved each other. He loved her. You can see it in his eyes. How could he tear her to shreds like that?”

  Dex turned to Sloane, his visor up, making it so Sloane could see Dex’s pale blue eyes and the pain in them. They grew glassy, and Sloane put a hand to Dex’s shoulder. It wasn’t like Dex to get emotional at a crime scene.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I, uh….” Dex blinked the tears from his eyes and laughed. “Don’t know what the hell’s gotten into me.”

  “It’s okay. Not exactly a great first day back on the job. Why don’t you head back to the truck?”

  Dex looked like he wanted to protest, but looking around the house, he nodded instead.

  “Thanks.”

  Sloane watched him walk off. Usually Dex was cheerful, cracking jokes, teasing Ash, bugging his brother. He never got emotional unless it was anger. There had been times Dex was furious when faced with injustice, but emotional like this? Never. There were occasions where a case had hit them hard, and one or more of their teammates had shed tears, but it was never out in the field. Everyone lost their shit back at HQ, in private, surrounded by their brethren. They all had their way of dealing with death, of coping with the unspeakable things they came across while o
n the job. Sloane walked to the front door and spoke quietly to Ash.

  “Hey, can you keep an eye on Dex?”

  Ash nodded. “Yeah, of course. Everything okay?”

  “I don’t know. I’m worried about him. He’s not been himself since you know what.”

  “Sure. No problem.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Sloane gave him a pat on the chest before heading back inside. Hudson called him from the dining room, and Sloane approached.

  “What have you got?”

  “Obviously we’ll have to return the body to the lab for further analysis and confirmation, but the victim is most certainly female, early thirties. The tears and bite marks are consistent with that of a tiger Therian. We’ve found tiger fur, along with foreign fibers, on the victim. We’ll need blood samples from Mr. Reynolds and to run a DNA comparison against what we find on Mrs. Reynolds. I’ll let you know as soon as we get a hit.”

  “Thanks, Hudson.”

  Sloane thanked Nina as he walked by, greeting the CSAs and Recon agents who’d arrived to process the crime scene and begin the investigation. Two Recon agents took over for Ash, and he and his best friend headed back to the BearCat. It was time to return to HQ and get some answers from Dylan Reynolds.

  While Reynolds was processed, examined, and administered PSTC, Sloane got to work on the case file. He used his security clearance to create a new case file on Themis, adding his notes and descriptions of the incident, along with digital maps of the area, including location of the incident. Across from him, Dex sat at his desk, a deep frown on his face as he typed away at his report. At one point he stopped typing, but he was still staring down at his desk.

  “Okay.” Sloane stood and walked over to the door. He placed his palm against the security panel and entered his security clearance, setting the room to privacy mode. Dex didn’t even notice. With a sigh, he took his chair and moved it over to Dex. He sat down, grabbed his partner’s chair, and wheeled him over to face him. Dex blinked at him. It was only then that he noticed the room was in privacy mode.

  “What’s going on?” Dex asked, his head cocked to one side as he studied Sloane.

  “Babe, I need you to talk to me.”

  “About what?”

  Sloane’s brows shot up. Really? Was Dex that oblivious to what was happening, or was he purposefully trying to avoid talking about it? Leaning forward, Sloane took Dex’s hands in his.

  “We need to talk about what’s going on with you. Have you even thought about seeing Dr. Winters?” As expected, that earned him a frown.

  “I don’t need to talk to a shrink. If I need to talk about my feelings, I’ll just talk to you.”

  “And you know I’ll always be right here to listen, except you’re not talking to me, sweetheart. You’re doing everything but talking.”

  “What is there to talk about?” Dex shrugged. He pulled his hands out of Sloane’s and rubbed at his thighs, his gaze off across the room.

  “Dex, you were tortured. You’ve been having seizures. You found out your parents were murdered. What do you mean ‘what is there to talk about?’ Lots, baby. There’s lots to talk about.”

  Dex slowly turned his gaze back to Sloane, his eyes narrowed. “Did you just call me baby?”

  “I did.”

  “It’s weird. Makes me think of Dirty Dancing.”

  “Of course it does.” Sloane held back a smile. “What would you like me to call you, then?”

  “Batman.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “It was worth a try.” Dex’s smile faded. He swallowed hard. “I’ve had a few nightmares. Sometimes it’s a replay of exactly what happened. The worst ones are when it changes. When it’s not me in that chair, but you, or Cael, and I’m helpless to stop it.”

  Sloane wheeled himself closer to Dex. He took Dex’s hands in his again but didn’t speak, simply offered his strength.

  Dex dropped his gaze to their hands, his brows drawn together. “I’ve been trying to process it. Not what Wolf wanted, but what he did… to me. And I don’t just mean the torture, I mean the uncertainty. The fear. I hate jumping at shadows or noise. Hate that I find myself looking over my shoulder. He messed with my head, and I hate it so much.” With jaw set, he lifted his chin, and Sloane’s heart squeezed at the determination in those pale blue eyes. “But fuck it if I’m going to let him win. It’s going to be hard, but I’m working through it. I’ll get through it like I’ve gotten through all the other messed-up situations I’ve found myself in since I became a cop. I won’t let it get the better of me. Fuck Wolf. If I ever see him again, he’s getting kicked in the nads.”

  Sloane couldn’t help his chuckle. Now that sounded like his Dex.

  “The seizures, they’re scaring the shit out of me. I won’t lie about that. But I think Austen’s right. I think I need to play this out.”

  Sloane rubbed his hands over his face and got to his feet. “That’s insane, Dex. Who knows what’s causing them, and you refuse to seek medical attention?” Sloane knelt down beside Dex, hoping he’d listen to reason. “You need to see a doctor. Don’t you want to know what’s causing them?”

  “Of course I do, but we need to figure out a way to do that without me going to the hospital. My gut tells me it would be a bad idea.”

  “No, Austen said it would be a bad idea, and last time I checked, neither you nor him are doctors.”

  “There’s a reason he said it. I might not trust TIN, but I trust Austen not to lie to you. Not about something like this. He might be a lot of things, but he would never betray you.”

  Dex was right about that. They didn’t know a whole lot about what Austen did working for TIN, but Sloane had watched the kid grow up. Austen wouldn’t deceive him.