Page 18 of Almost Midnight

“Right,” he muttered.

The agent must have triggered something with his headset right then.

The cuffs around Nick’s wrists retracted, leaving them bare, naked-feeling.

His skin was slightly redder where the metal had been, since they deliberately treated vampire restraints with chemicals that hurt their skin. That, in addition to the electric shocks also built into the cuffs, were meant to discourage any captive vampires from struggling.

Nick doubted it worked in a lot of cases, given what went on in these rooms.

But it hurt them unnecessarily, which was probably their real purpose.

Nick waited for the agent to rise to his feet.

The man did so, adjusted his jacket, and smirked down at Nick.

“You are dismissed, Detective Midnight. But I’d keep your nose clean for a while, if I were you. Make your human employers happy for a change, why don’t you?”

He waited for Nick to rise to his feet as well, maybe to see what he would do, or maybe just to make a point of showing Nick how untouchable he knew himself to be.

“Stay out of trouble, Detective.”

The agent smirked again.

Before Nick could force his face into a semi-friendly look in return, given his instinct was immediately to bare his fangs at the man, and snarl at him with a significant amount of thrall in his voice, the agent adjusted his jacket again, then turned on his heel and walked out of the metal interrogation room.

Nick forced himself to stand there a few seconds longer.

Then he turned and followed him to the door.

CHAPTER5

CHAPERONED

Lara St.Maarten had a car waiting for him out front.

Nick couldn’t even pretend to be surprised.

He’d known exactly which one of his three “employers” had offered to chaperone him and house him in the probationary period after his second arrest in as many weeks. There’d never been a question in his mind about who would have agreed to such a thing.

Hell, he assumed it was her idea.

He didn’t bother to say a word to the obviously-vampire driver with the crystal-colored eyes, or ask where they’d be going.

He knew where they were going.

He just hoped it wouldn’t only be Lara St. Maarten herself who’d be waiting for him. She either had his wife, Malek, and Tai, with her, and also staying at her building in the Golden River, or else she knew where they were. If she had them housed somewhere else, Nick had no doubt she’d use that as leverage over him, too.

Either way, she held the cards.

Nick had nothing in mind to try until he knew where Wynter and the kids were, and what St. Maarten intended for the four of them now.

The only other person whomighthave picked him up would have been one of Farlucci’s people, but that wouldn’t have been to come and live with him, much less for Farlucci to act as Nick’s personal chaperone. Wherever the fuck Farlucci had his undoubtedly palatial private lair, there’s no way Nick would be getting an invitation to live there, not now, and likely not anytime in the near or distant future.

Farlucci would only pick him up to bring him in to work.

That possibility had crossed Nick’s mind, as well, given how smug the I.S.F. agent had been about Nick being cleared for work in the vampire fighting cages. Clearly, that I.S.F. prick wanted Nick to know that the official notification of his fitness had gone directly to his human employer, without Nick himself being consulted.

The agent wanted Nick to know Farlucci could order Nick back into the ring to fatten his wallet, pretty much whenever he snapped his fingers.

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