Page 37 of Princess
15
~Cooper~
“What’sup with you and the little brunette from the diner?” Sam asked while Cooper checked his voicemail. He had to come to work today. It pained him to leave Nadira, especially after the discussion of FatedMates.
Nicu dropped a bomb on Cooper when he told him that vampires tended to die from a broken heart if they were unable to bind themselves with their Fated Mates. The look on Nadira’s face was enough to almost bring him to his knees. Her face alone led him to believe that she thought that she didn’t mean anything to him. Little did she know she couldn’t be further from thetruth.
He had always believed that things happened for a reason, that Fate determined how life should be. He had never experienced this type of pull towards any woman before, not even his last girlfriend who he had been with for a few years. However, Nadira, the little vampire princess, had crawled into his heart and he never wanted to lethergo.
“Nadira and I are good,” he said, glancing up from the notepad he wrote his messages on. Sam laughed, signaling he could wait until Cooper was done checking hismessages.
On his voicemail, one person claimed they saw one of the runaways that were highlighted on last night’s news broadcast, another caller left a message about the neighborhood garbage cans that were reported missing. The next message sent chills down hisspine.
Detective Cooper, you may have escaped the slumber, but you may not be so lucky next time. She won’t be able to save you. Stay away from her. She belongs to me. Humans have no place in ourworld.
The voice was low but he knew instantly that it was Xalak. He saved the message knowing that Nicu would want to hear itlater.
“How did you get involved with the super-secret agents?” Sam asked, speaking of Toma andTeague.
He shrugged his shoulders. “The higher ups,” he responded, hoping that would satisfy Sam. Sam gave him hiswhat the fuckeverlook.
“Hey, Cooper,” Brynn said coming over to their desks. “Hi, Sam,” she said nodding to Sam.Just great. Cooper knew that Brynn had a thing for him. She was pretty, but not his type. She definitely was not a tiny little vampire with ice blue crystalsforeyes.
“Hey, Brynn, what’s up?” Cooper asked, shifting his papers onhisdesk.
“There was a lead on the Crime Stoppers hotline that the captain told me to give to you guys to check out. It came through last night around three in the morning,” she said, not taking her eyes off ofCooper.
“Really, which one?” Samasked.
“That body that went missing. Someone called in saying that they know where it is,” she replied, glancing at Sam for only asecond.
“Great, we’ll check it out,” Cooper said, taking the piece of paper that shehandedhim.
“Hey, Cooper, I was wondering,” she started, suddenly seeming nervous. She sat down in the chair next to Cooper’s desk, her leg bouncing away. “I was wondering if we could go grab a cup of coffee or something sometime,” she rushed out. Cooper could see Sam’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline out of the corner ofhiseye.
“Brynn, I’m flattered, but I’m going to have to pass,” Cooper said with a small smile, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Her cheeks colored a little. “I’m actually involved withsomeonenow.”
“You and Eden are back together?” she asked with a small frown, referring to his ex-girlfriend. Why the hell would she bring up Eden? He shook his head, thinking of all the gossip that floated around the police department’s bullpen. The guys sometimes were worse thanteenagers.
“No we’re not back together,” he said, not going to elaborate. It wasn’t any of her business. He looked over at Sam who tried hard to act as if he was not listening but failed horribly. Cooper didn’t want to go into detail about his new relationship with Nadira. What was going on between the two of them was their business and no one else’s. With the way the guys at the precinct gossiped, everyone would know everything about Nadira and Cooper if he breathedoneword.
“Oh, okay. Maybe some other time then,” she said with a small smile before standing andrushingoff.
“What the fuck was that?” Sam asked,chuckling.
“I have no idea.” Cooper rolled his eyes, looking down at the message thatBrynnleft.
“I’ll call the number and see about setting up a meeting with the caller,” Sam volunteered. Cooper handed the paper over to Sam. He returned a few of the calls that were waiting for him. After a while, Sam stated that he didn’t reach the person who left the voicemail message on the Crime Stopperstipline.
“You want to just drive by there and see if they are home?” Sam asked. “I just called Nate and he’s going to text me the address to the person’shouse.”
“That’s fine. We can at least look like we have something before the captain comes breathing down our necks,” Cooperanswered.
Twenty minutes later, they sat outside of one of the most dilapidated homes that Cooper had ever seen. A good strong wind would just knockitover.
“You sure this is the address?” CooperaskedSam.
“This is what Nate gave me when he traced the phone call,” Sam said wearily eyeballing the rundown house. “Somebody is home.” He pointed at the soft light shining from the frontwindow.
