Page 19 of Tested
Chapter Six
Connor
I pull my rental car into the driveway even though I know David’ll give me shit for it. The sun is mostly set but none of the lights on the main floor have been turned on. Even if Trajan hadn’t risen yet, I can’t imagine David sitting around in the dark.
He’s not. I find a note on the side table in the foyer, the same place I’d left a note for him.
Kidnapped by Sheena. Be in touch soon.
I scratch my head at that one.Sheena?I suppose if I don’t hear from him by midnight, I’ll know who to call.
I crumple up David’s note along with the one I left him and head for the kitchen. Smith and I had spent most of the afternoon interviewing various Nosakas. David’s sense of smell might have been useful, but Sheena must have made him a better offer.
Though I can’t quite imagine what that could be.
Poking through the cupboards, I find the coffee maker. If I’m going to spend the night retracing Adaline Nosaka’s last steps, I need a boost.
The coffee maker burbles along, spreading its heavenly scent, and Trajan’s footsteps thump down the stairs. His eyes are heavy with sleep and his hair, which is never completely tame, threatens to revolt.
“What’s up?” His voice is raspy, as if he really has just risen.
“Making coffee so I can work all night.”
He comes up behind me and wraps an arm around my waist. I lean into him, grateful for his strength. We’d been an odd match from the beginning, both of us secretive and neither one of us particularly demonstrative, but this – his cool presence with its essence of death – had always bolstered me.
“Where’s David?” he murmurs, lips against the skin behind my ear.
He flicks me with his tongue and I gasp. “Dunno.”
“Hmm.” He drifts down, nuzzling along the side of my throat. “Odd of him to take off.”
“Yeah.” I say the word on a sigh. “Said Sheena kidnapped him.”
Trajan stills, then snorts a laugh. “Do I want to know the details?”
He eases away from me, and I worry that I killed the mood. “I don’t know any more than that. I left him a note asking if he was willing to help me and Smith, and he said he’d text me later.”
“So I guess it’s just you and me, then,” he purrs in my ear.
The mood is definitely not dead until the coffee maker gives one final, exultant gurgle and goes silent. I pour myself a cup and reluctantly turn so I can lean against the counter. “Part of me feels bad for pushing him into the investigator thing, if that’s not something he wants to do, but damn. We could really use his help.”
“Cops don’t have another wolf on staff?”
“Not one who was present at the crime scene and not one who’s as powerful as David.” I sigh into my coffee mug and we stand silent for a moment. It’s comfortable, being here with Trajan, and not something I want to lose.
“Didn’t you say you could take the form of a dog?”
I inhale a tense breath, frustrated that I hadn’t told Trajan the truth from the beginning. I’d kept my nature secret out of a lifetime of habit, but now I have to admit that if we’re going to make this work, I need to open up, at least a little. “Yeah, but it’s not the same thing. David has two natures. It’s natural for him to go from one to the other. For me it’s more of a process.”Something I’d rather not get into in any detail.
“He’s said he relies on us to hold himself together when he shifts.”
I smile to lighten the mood. “Glad to know we’re good for something.”
“He got pissed at me last night, too.” Trajan rakes a hand through his hair as if he’s going to be able to calm it down without some water and product. The vampire’s aura is hard for me to read, but there are flickers I take to mean frustration. “He took offense at the fact that I’d made arrangements to view a possible restaurant rental without asking him if he’d like to be the manager first.”
“But if you wanted to open a restaurant, you wouldn’t necessarily need him, would you? I mean, The Club runs without you sleeping with the manager.”
“Sure, but I guess I phrased it badly. Anyway…” He gives up on his hair and braces himself against the counter with his hands. His latent power is so apparent, even when he’s as relaxed as he is right now, and I’m drawn to it.
