Page 18 of Blood Bearon
“Of course not. How dumb do you think I am? If I’d done that, then he’d know we had met already. Considering I didn’t include you in my report, that would be awkward, at best.” She pushed aside several papers on her desk and pulled a folder from her inbox tray, then began sifting through the contents, ignoring him.
“What’s the plan then?” he asked, forced to cover a huge yawn as he spoke. “I need something to wake me up.”
Rachel’s head snapped up. “Seriously? You’re complaining about being tired? I worked until nearly eight-thirty. Home, showered, slept for a few hours and in here for noon. Don’t complain about being tired. You got to go home and sleep it off.”
“My sincere apologies, Detective,” he drawled, declining to mention that he hadn’t, in fact, gotten any sleep.
“I thought you would have had enough adventure last night,” she continued. “But yet you had to go and meddle in an active police investigation, getting yourself inserted into it asmypartner.” She frowned. “Speaking of which, how did you convince the Sheriff to assign you to me? You have no qualifications.”
Khove snorted. As much as he enjoyed watching the various expressions cross Rachel’s face, he was getting a bit tired of her near-constant disdain for him. Perhaps it was time he disabused her of the notion that he was unqualified to assist her.
“That’s notentirelyaccurate,” he said, waiting until he had her attention before continuing. “I am a trained and certified expert marksman with more types of weaponry than any of the officers in the Sheriff’s department, including you, Detective. Everything from pistols to sniper rifles and anti-tank weaponry.”
She didn’t flinch, though her pupils did dilate, blending into that stunning azure blue that seemed so unnatural. He had her attention.
“I have not only taken but I’ve been a trainer in advanced vehicular warfare classes and can pilot just about any sort of ground vehicle you can name, both civilian and military. I’m working on airborne vehicles and expect to have my helicopter license shortly. Fighter jets are posing a problem due to my size, but in simulators, I exceed all but the best the Air Force has to offer. Shall I continue?”
“Sure. It sounds like you need to blow your own horn a bit here.” The words were harsh, but the tone was less so. Perhaps he was gaining her attention.
“I have unarmed combat training in three different disciplines to black belt or higher level.” He paused. “Anything else?”
Sitting back into her chair, she pushed her long blonde hair back behind her shoulder and stroked one immaculate cheek. A smile dimpled her face, one of the first he could recall her ever showing. Khove tried not to smile in return, fixated on the way her entire demeanor changed with the smile, even if it was a challenging grin, not one born of laughter.
“Are you familiar with the law?”
“Pardon?’
“Thelaw, Khove. Rules and regulations that must be followed, to ensure that crooks are brought to face justice?”
“Theywillface justice,” he growled, thinking of Korred and how he wanted nothing more than to run his blade through the treacherous mage’s heart.
He tried to blot out the image of his Queen when she’d been under Korred’s spell, her mind bound to the traitor, bending to his will. He felt shame for letting such a thing happen to the one he’d sworn to protect with his life. It burned deep inside Khove, a hatred for himself that he didn’t let show to anyone.
Rachel was staring at him now, her shaped eyebrows pulling down over her eyes. She was suspicious. Could she know that he was talking about a different type of justice than the one she intended? Perhaps, but it didn’t matter.
Korred would never be punished by human authorities. It simply could not be allowed to come to that. For his own redemption, but also by the command of his Queen, Korred had to die. No human prison was capable of holding someone like him anyway. With his magic, he could simply rip open a rent in reality and step through to anywhere else in the world.
“All that training,” she drawled, “and you still don’t know better than to wander off from the person you want to be your partner in the middle of an active and possibly hostile crime scene.”
“You have my apologies for that,” he said, sitting up and leaning over her desk, getting close to her, where he caught yet another whiff of her perfume.
His first taste of it had been when she’d walked by him into the Sheriff’s office earlier. The faint scent of roses had tickled his nose, and he wanted more, wanted to try and detect the undertones within it as well, because whatever it was, he found it intoxicating.
“Right,” she said, seeming startled by his sudden apology. “Thank you. Don’t let it happen again.”
He grinned. “So you’re going to work with me?”
“You bribed or blackmailed the Sheriff into forcing me to. It’s not like I have much of a choice.” Rachel smiled tightly. “So you’d better hope you’re more useful than just being a walking army of one.”
“Very. I will—” He broke off, stifling another yawn.
Rachel glared at him as she caught the contagious bug and yawned violently as well. “Stop that. You got to sleep. It’s not nice.”
Khove didn’t say anything. After all, she probably didn’t want to know that he had spent the rest of the evening trailing her, following her from crime scene to crime scene. He hadn’t been there to investigate. That was her job. Instead, he’d patrolled the outer edges of the scenes, keeping watch, making sure Korred hadn’t come back to strike.
His vigil hadn’t ended there. After she’d returned home to sleep, he’d watched her house, trying to ward off the feeling that something was wrong. The tingling of danger hadn’t dissipated since, but now that he was paired up with this detective, he could keep a closer eye on her.
“Okay,” she said at last, having looked down at her desk while he stared off into space.
