A great deal of his agitation smoothed once he’d locked the door behind them and she was safely in his space.
“I’m going to put the kettle on to make some tea to take with us, all right? You probably don’t need more caffeine but some tea will warm you up.”
She moved to the windows and stared out, her shoulders slumping slightly. He forced himself to get the water on and headed into his bedroom. The need to comfort her built inside as he moved, changing from his suit into more casual clothes. If he had to shift, it’d be a lot easier to shuck jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt than a button-down shirt and a tie.
She’d grown into a woman worth getting to know. Damn it. He knew she wanted him to walk away. Or that she said so. But there was something between them. Flavored with what they’d been to one another before, but certainly it was more now. They were grown-ups now.
His life was radically different than he’d ever imagined growing up in that shithole house with his craptastic parents. It hadn’t been hard to walk away from that, not really. What he faced if he’d have stayed there was most likely a dead-end where high school would have been the high point of his life.
Like it had been for his father.
Because of a stupid freak-of-nature moment, Josh had risen in the ranks of Pacific. Now he was a leader. He had nice things. An excellent job. People looked to him for advice. He was strong and fast and feared as well as respected. He’d fought hard for the life he had, and he did not regret leaving Roseburg, and the limited options it had presented him behind.
He didn’t even regret that it meant leaving her behind. He couldn’t be the man he was now if he hadn’t cut all ties. But he did regret hurting her. It had been careless and irresponsible. That he’d been nineteen really wasn’t the point.
He could make it up to her. His wolf certainly wanted to. Which was interesting and most likely connected to his former relationship with her.
She was on edge. Frayed. Exhaustion ringed her eyes and he ached to fix it. Ached that most likely Allie was dead, or on her way to dead, and there was probably nothing they could do to save her.
With a sigh he went back out, and she stood at his windows still, her phone in her hand.
“I’m just checking messages. Looks like we have a sighting on the SUV here in the Portland area. So I want to go there first.” She rattled off an address.
“That’s northwest of downtown. There are some parks and wilderness areas out that way. We run out there sometimes. We’ll go there and then back to the rest stops. I want to compare the scents.”
She nodded absently. “Yes, good idea. Do you need to be in wolf form? Is that the right term? Form?”
He poured hot water into two travel mugs over the teabags. Just a small amount of black tea with some other things that would probably help.
“Form is fine. I think on it like my skin. Right now I’m wearing my human skin. When I change, my wolf is in charge and I’m wearing my wolf skin. I can get a scent without changing, but if I can shift, my senses are even better. Not always possible in public though. At least not during daylight hours. We’ll head over and see what it looks like. GiGi is really good at tracking. She and Damon both. He’s mated to a witch, by the way. I think it’s good to have him involved.”
“I feel like it’s my first day of school.” She took the travel cup, wrapping her fingers around it. “I don’t know anything really, about this world of werewolves and witches and cat shifters.”
He brushed a loose tendril of her hair back from her face. “It’s all right. I do. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”
Her gaze flicked up from where it had been at her feet, locking with his and everything stilled, even his wolf who’d been pacing, urging him to protect her. She swallowed hard and licked her lips.
“I’m so afraid I’m going to fail her.”
He sighed, slowly taking her free hand and squeezing. “I will help you in any way I can.” She might fail. Not because of anything she did, but this enemy...
His phone buzzed, and he knew Damon and GiGi were waiting downstairs. He wanted to kiss her so badly it was all he could do to step back and grab his keys. “Ready?”
She nodded.
“Drink your tea and I’ll be way happier. Think of it as keeping the wolf happy.”
“The wolf? Why would it, he, whatever, why would the wolf care?”
He guided her out and then into the elevator. “What I do, who I am now is all about protection. An Enforcer is more than just a cop. It’s my job to be sure everyone I’m responsible for is safe and in line.”
“I’m not a werewolf. I’m responsible for my own self.”
The set of her mouth screamed out for him to kiss it softer, to ease the stress lines there. She could think whatever she wanted, but his wolf believed otherwise. And frankly, so did he.
He lifted a hand to Damon, who ambled over and filled him and GiGi in on the newest developments. “We’ll go to the address, looks like a gas station, to get a scent.”
“I’ll do a quick canvass while you guys do that.” Michelle slid sunglasses on, and he watched as she pulled her cop around herself like a coat.
They headed over, but it was already three and traffic made it slow going. She sipped her tea and stared out the window.
“When did you become a cop?”
“Seven years now. I was twenty and I’d gotten my BA but I didn’t want to live in Eugene and I couldn’t see myself in marketing, which is what I got my degree in.” She chuckled.
“Twenty and you got your BA?”
“I graduated early from high school and headed off to college. I just ended up taking a really heavy load to stay busy, summer courses too, and I finished early there as well. I was rushing off to do something but once I finished I just didn’t know what.” She leaned her head back against the seat, and the sun, pale though it was, hit her just right and she seemed to glow.
“I was working as an admin person at city hall, and I started hanging out with a cop.” The smile on her face told him hanging out might have been of the naked, horizontal nature. “He was satisfied with his life. He liked his job. He and I had started working out, and I ended up taking the exam because Allie dared me. I did really well and so I got the job, and thank God Mark, my friend, had been working out with me because the physical part was hard. I guess it was meant to be because they had an opening and I had great scores so I got the job.”
“And the friend?” He would hate it if she was with someone. Not that it would necessarily stop him from pursuing her. His wolf wasn’t that noble.
“He moved to Seattle. He’s engaged to be married next summer. He asked me to move up there with him. But... I’m a witch. It was hard to hide that from him, and I never felt like it was something I could share. I’m not sure how he would have taken it.”
“Ah. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was sixteen when you went away to school. I had planned on telling you when you came back at summer. I believed you loved me in only a way a sixteen-year-old girl can. But I felt like I needed to be sure. I guess it was a good thing I waited. Because you never came back.”
He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. Not that I left. It was the best decision. My parents don’t know and they sure as hell wouldn’t understand. It took years for me to get my shit together, but once I did, I was something else. It wasn’t about you and I was a dick for not at least telling you goodbye.”
“We were young. It’s over and done with.”
The gulf remained between them. But it felt a little smaller.
“It’s up here on the left.” He indicated the small gas station as he turned into the drive and pulled into a parking space.
“I’ll walk with you. Use my othersight to see if I can sense any of the mage energy. Then you let me talk to the peopl
e inside, please.”
“Will you let me watch if you get rough?”
She snorted as she got out. “Maybe. If you’re good.”
* * *
A breeze sent cold air over her face as she stood, throwing open her othersight and taking in the area. She noted the way the wolves looked, their magick deep green with hints of earth and sunshine.
The paler blues and reds of human energy. The deep azure of witches. She paused, moving closer.
Allie had been here. Michelle’s heartbeat picked up as she eased her way around the side of the building, and a wave of nausea hit from the mage energy hanging thick in the air.
“They were here.”
Josh stepped in front of her, Damon and GiGi to either side. He wrinkled his nose. “I can scent her magick. Just a hint. Yours is rich and powerful. Hers...”
“She’s weak.” Michelle tamped her panic down.
“I can scent the difference between the witch magick and the mage. The mage smells like rotting things.” Damon’s lip curled.
“Stolen magick is perishable,” Michelle murmured.
“What do you mean?” Josh stuck close, and she could far more easily sense his dual nature now. His wolf seemed to press against the human skin.
“Witches, Weres—our magick is natural. It comes from what we are. In the case of witches, from the earth, the air, all the energy from natural things. For you I’m told it’s the magick of the shift. Of the way you hold your forms. I guess vampires have it too in their own way. Anyway, it’s inborn. We use it, we get more. It’s part of us like our blood. Mages steal it, but it’s not natural for them. That’s why it’s magick with a k when it’s ours and what they have is magic. Mages use it to feed their own power but it doesn’t renew like ours does. So they need more. And the turned witches? Well they’re like junkies. They use the stolen magick so often that it eventually burns out their connection to the earth. To their own magick. They have been working with the mages to get a hit of the witches they’ve been kidnapping. What they steal can’t be kept around. It will eventually, for want of a better word, evaporate. That’s probably why you smell rotting things.”
“I didn’t really know all that background. I mean I knew this was happening, but not all the details.”
“There’s more detail I’m sure. But I’m a coven witch, we aren’t a clan, and we don’t really know a whole lot about all the rest of the Others. Gage told me some, and when we got some training from Clan Owen about this stuff, they did a brief history lesson. There’s a whole world of information I need to know.”
“I’ll help however I can.”
She caught movement out of the corner of her eye, a guy running out the back door of the convenience store.
“Shit.” She took off after him. “Stop! Police, stop and put your hands up,” she called.
Adrenaline pumped through her system as her feet hit the pavement. He led her away from the main road and through a stand of trees. In the distance she caught the scent of water.
She heard the pounding of feet behind her. “Don’t leave that gas station! I need to know if someone else tries to run away.”
Josh pulled next to her, running easily as her lungs began to burn. “Damon and GiGi are keeping watch.”
She indicated he head to the right and she’d go left. He nodded and peeled away. She drew on her reserves and sped. He was so close. She ordered him to stop one last time and he ignored her.
Drawing a deep breath, she gathered her strength and her power in the soles of her feet and sprang, leaping forward, grabbing a handful of him and taking him down just as Josh sped out of the trees from the right, his teeth bared in a snarl, eyes narrowed.
The guy beneath her tried to buck her off so she dug her knee into his back and bent his arm up, pinioning his wrist enough that if he continued, he’d break something. He shrieked and stilled.
“God. I don’t know why you guys always do this. This is the eventuality. I will get you, and if you make me run, I’m going to be cranky.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“I told you to stop. I identified myself. You kept running. Now, back to my earlier point about eventualities.” She managed to cuff him before getting to her feet and toeing him to his back. “Hi. I’m Officer Slattery and I’d very much like to ask you some questions.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“We’ve covered that. I want to ask you some questions.”
“Fuck off, bitch.”
Josh growled. Honest to goodness growled and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. The guy on the ground stilled and she got to her haunches.
“That’s officer bitch to you. Now, what’s your name?”
He didn’t answer so she patted him down and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open. “Charlie Hixton.” She pulled out her phone. She really should have checked in with Portland PD when she arrived in town, but it was too late for that now so she’d go through her own people first and then do the checking in. Easier to apologize than to ask permission.
The dispatcher had her hold on while she ran a check on him.
Very quietly, Josh leaned in and told her they had a contact in the police department and gave her a name.
“You work here at the gas station, Charlie?” She hauled him to his feet and nudged him to walk back.
“Priors. Armed robbery. Reduced sentence because you testified. A few assault raps. Did some time for that.” She kept listening as dispatch continued to fill her in. “Car theft. Check forging. You sure do like getting arrested, Charlie. Burglary. Felons aren’t supposed to be carrying weapons, and here you are with a handgun and a knife. Tsk tsk.”
Damon and GiGi waited, as Josh had said they would, in the parking lot. She instructed dispatch to call Portland PD, giving them the name Josh had told her, and get them out to pick Charlie up. He was in violation of his parole, and if he was in jail, she’d know where he was.
“So, while we wait, you want to answer my questions so I can say you were helpful? Probably knock some time off for you.”
“Fine. No I don’t work here. I do odd jobs for my brother-in-law. I was visiting Bobby, the owner of this place.”
“Why’d you run out the back door and do not waste my time telling me you were just on your way home and you like running.”
“Just stopping by. I looked out the window and saw you get out. You got cop written all over you. I didn’t need the hassle. Bobby’s a felon too.”
A double parole violation with the weapons too.
“You ever see this woman?” She held out a picture of Allie. He shook his head.
“I’d remember her. I like blondes.”
She curled her lip, barely restraining the urge to shake him.
“Know anyone with a blue SUV? Jeep Cherokee.”
That he did know. She saw recognition in his features even as he tried to school it. Christ, no wonder he got arrested so many times. He was a dumbass.
“Everyone and their brother has an SUV. Hell you drove up in one.”
“Sure I did. But we both know you know exactly which SUV I mean.”
“I really don’t. I know at least ten people with SUVs. Can’t say I notice the colors much.”
“I think I need to talk to Bobby about this whole thing.” She stepped away, her hand still at his back, and he leapt at her, knocking her down, snarling as he tried to bite her.
Her head cracked against the asphalt so hard she saw stars, and the edges of her vision grayed slightly.
Josh hauled him off and slammed him against the car hard enough she heard the air burst from his lips. “I should gut you for that,” he growled low, the words laced with menace enough to bring a little fear even to Michelle.
She got up, embarrassed she’d let him get
the jump on her like that. “See, stuff like that just means you’re not being helpful and it makes me wonder just what you’re so afraid of you’d rather do time than reveal.”
“Damon, watch this piece of shit.”
The Were glowered and nodded, his gaze never leaving Charlie. “Boss, you smell that?” He said this quietly.
Josh lifted his head, closed his eyes and breathed in. Moments later his nose wrinkled.
“How long?”
“You ran after this piece of shit, and we hung around, out of sight to be sure no one entered or left. When you brought him back and we got a little closer, the wind changed a bit and I got the first whiff.”
“Mind sharing?” Michelle gave Josh a look.
“Something smells dead.”
She glanced down at Charlie. “Really now? You make something dead, Charlie?”
He shook really hard, and she sighed. They weren’t going to get anything from him right then.
Standing straighter, she tipped her chin toward the store.
Josh tried to get ahead of her, and she grabbed the waistband of his jeans, the backs of her fingers brushing against the bare, hot skin of his lower back. It sent little shocks through her, awakening all sorts of things she had to push away.
“Me first,” she hissed.
“What? No.”
“It’s not a request. I’m the cop. You’re a civilian. Get back or I won’t let you come with me at all.”
“You can’t stop me.” The green in his eyes deepened at the challenge, the air between them nearly crackling.
“I will shoot you. Don’t think I won’t. This is my friend and my case.”
He sighed. “Fine. Not because I think you’d shoot me.”
Whatever. The hair on her arms stood up and she paused again. “Think I know where the something dead is. Stay behind me. I’m going in low.”
She pulled her piece out, thumbing off the safety.