Electric Storm (22 page)

“You were hired to help the police. So why does it seem you get all your questions answered and mine get ignored.” He slowed to take a curve, dodging traffic in a way that would make a New York taxi driver proud. “Remember our deal.”

Raven grunted. He was right. He deserved better. “I’ve been hired to find a missing person, but the further I dig, the more people I find have disappeared.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary has hit the board.” If it wasn’t on the board, the police didn’t know about it.

The slight distrust in his voice warned her that she walked a fine line. He needed more. “You wouldn’t. Shifters and vampires are the targets.”

Scotts scratched the stubble of his chin with his thumb. “I can ask around.”

Raven waved him away. “You won’t find anything. Nothing has been reported. They’re targeting loners.”

He took another turn that slid her across the seat, and she braced herself. A few more minutes, and she’d be home. She needed to talk fast. “I’m not sure your case and my missing persons are connected.”

“But you think they are.” It wasn’t a question.

“Members of my team are checking other avenues.”

“While you go it alone.” Scotts shook his head. “I don’t like it. You take too many chances. You need backup.”

“I can’t take you. You’re too...”

“Human.” Taggert finished and turned toward her. “But I’m not.”

“I was going to say too much of a cop. And no, out of the question. Neither of you are going.” The men shared a silent look of understanding that drove her crazy. She stared down at the kid, hoping to intimidate him. She contemplated shocking him into reason, but didn’t think it’d change his stubborn hide. “I need to visit a Bloodhouse for answers.”

When he only blinked, unconcerned, she sighed. “You’d be a liability. I’d be spending so much time protecting you that I won’t get any answers.”

“I’ve been there before. I’ll be fine.” The way his eyes darkened with memories sent a shiver through her. The wood scent around him sharpened and soured. Something horrible had happened to him, yet he was determined to go anyway.

“Why the hell would any shifter go there willingly?” The question escaped before she could think better of it.

 “A test. You pass the test, you live.”

A part of her heart thumped painfully. “Please tell me you didn’t go alone.”

“I passed.” Horror sickened her at his carefully bland voice. How could they treat one another like that? Less than even an animal? Even Scotts looked enraged.

 Wrath funneled into protectiveness. “I won’t put you in danger.” She couldn’t.

 “I’ll just follow you. With the collar, they’ll view me as prey.” He hesitated.

 “Or?” She didn’t think she wanted to know.

 “Or you can mate me. Show ownership. They won’t pick on a shifter who’s been mated for fear of retaliation from the pack.”

 She wanted to save his life, not condemn it. If she took his blood, there would be no going back. He’d be bound to her in a life she had little control over, and if her unruly powers continued to grow, she didn’t want to take him down with her. The noose tightened around her neck and all the time she thought she had to find an alternate solution besides claiming him evaporated.

 As if he sensed her resistance, Taggert spoke with a ruthlessness that surprised her. “I go, or I tell the others what happened today and your plans for tonight.”

 
Chapter Seventeen

A
s soon as they returned, Raven pleaded exhaustion and took refuge in her room. Taggert’s sharp look crawled under her skin long after she’d disappeared, and any secret hope of escaping the house without notice vanished. He’d found the spine he’d been missing when she needed it the least. Damn it. As the dancing rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon, she couldn’t believe that in the last five days, her whole life had changed.

Though the room was large, her restlessness made it feel cramped. She wanted the wide-open spaces of outside, but knew there would be no running from her problems. They’d just follow her and multiply when she wasn’t looking. To shake away the nerves threatening to cripple her, she focused on what she could do well. Her job.

Stripping her clothes, she glanced at her closet, then quickly pulled out her outfit for tonight. Hoping for a little anonymity, she chose black clothes and boots. She scraped her hair back, securing it in a twist to hide the distinct silver swatch.

A knock like a gunshot filled the room. She jumped and the last pin she shoved home dug into her skull. Jitters ate away her calm. She’d been avoiding the subject, but there was no way around her half-unspoken promise to claim Taggert without her case falling apart and more people dying.

How could she have promised something so stupid? There had to be a way around it, but she couldn’t think of anything. That it would ultimately save his life helped but not a lot.

The gulp of air she took lodged in her throat as she shuffled toward the door. She’d expected Taggert and couldn’t have been more astonished to find Jackson.

He shifted uncomfortably, and she instantly went on guard. “What’s wrong?” God, please don’t let there be another emergency. She didn’t have enough time to figure out her problems, let alone others’.

“May I come in?”

Dread filled her at the polite request. That couldn’t be good. She opened the door wider and stepped away so his body wouldn’t brush hers.

The expression on his face let her know he recognized her reaction, but surprisingly, he took pity on her and didn’t goad her as she expected.

“You’re going out tonight.” He walked to the balcony glass doors, his back toward hers.

“Yes.”

He turned slightly, giving her a side view of his face. “With Taggert.” The curt response shouldn’t have surprised her, but he always caught her off guard.

The attitude pissed her off, and she answered instead of evading. “Yes.”

“When do we leave?”

Raven hesitated at the carefully controlled voice. Something was wrong.

She stepped closer, opened her senses and blew out a relieved breath to have them respond so readily. Then she saw his eyes, alive with such restless need, that her breath lodged in her throat. “
Taggert
and
I
won’t be leaving for a while.” She maintained her distance from the maelstrom of confusion swirling around him, tried to use the space to pinpoint her unease. “If you want to take a run, I promise we won’t leave until you return.”

Jackson opened the French doors and stepped onto the balcony. Energy swamped him, but underneath seethed a layer of rage that threatened to consume her. She didn’t understand. The curtains rippled in the breeze. She debated the wisdom of following him, noted the stiff set of his shoulders, the tension ready to explode, the potential of being caught up in another crisis, and decided it was a bad move.

Then stepped out after him anyway.

“Want to talk about it?” He must miss his pack. Maybe he even had a girlfriend, and she was keeping him from her. A bitter taste soured her mouth.

“No.” The gruff tone was devoid of its usual anger.

It sounded like pain.

She risked another step closer, reached out for him but quickly dropped her hand. No contact. No matter how many times she told herself she could never touch others without hurting them, she could never pound home the fact. “You haven’t contacted anyone since you arrived. I haven’t seen you take advantage of the country space to run.” Something didn’t feel right, hovering ever so temptingly out of reach.

His wolf fluctuated wildly, nipping against her shields, but she sensed he didn’t do it on purpose.

“My job is to monitor the situation. Watch Taggert.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” She gave him a small smile, not expecting him to curse and whirl toward her.

Anger devastated his face. Her breathing hiccupped in her chest as the primitive look sent her knees quivering. She tensed to retreat, then carefully planted her foot in the same place. She knew not to run. Running would make her prey and give the beast more control. But the knowledge didn’t lessen the urge to do just that.

“Jackson?”

He halted inches from her. His power didn’t. It drowned her, pressed on her lungs. When he stooped over her, she flinched but stood her ground. Then he inhaled slowly.

“You smell like Taggert.” Jackson didn’t retreat, just turned his head to meet her gaze with those yellow eyes. Displeasure twisted his lips, his words pulled from deep within. The slow rumble trickling from his chest raised the hairs on her neck. The kind that either froze one in their tracks or made them run in the opposite direction.

The low tone only increased her awareness of him. “He was helping me.” She bit back the rest of her words, afraid to say more lest he guess how his nearness scrambled her thoughts.

He inhaled deeply. “Truth.”

Raven blinked, his shocking revelation eased the awkward tension that hovered between violence and the urge to touch him. “You can scent the truth?”

A devilish smile tipped his mouth, twisting that tension firmly on the pleasure side once more. “My gift as an enforcer.”

He straightened so swiftly she stifled her gasp. “Touch me.”

“Huh?” Raven slowly shook her head. She couldn’t. Not when there was a chance her gift could touch him as well. No matter how tempted. A whisper at the back of her mind begged her to take the jump. Not only would he guarantee her untold pleasure, she could finally learn about shifters phenomenal control up close and personal.

As long as she didn’t kill both of them in the process.

“You touched him.” The words growled from his throat, a tone he seemed to use strictly for her alone, and he crowded closer. “You allowed him to touch you.” It was an accusation.

What the hell? This was not the Jackson she’d come to know. Raven searched for the ball of power and realized it had grown in order to compensate for the shadow.

Grew so much that she was leaking everywhere, threatening to swallow everything whole.

Oh, crap.

She slowly pulled the power to her core. Her heartbeat raced, sweat beaded her hairline as the energy fought to stay free. The power called his wolf, drew him to the surface, making Jackson more aggressive as the beast slipped its human’s hold. No wonder he was playing with her.

Her skin prickled. Heaviness grew in the air. Her hair moved and crackled with energy as she methodically locked all the power down tight. She hadn’t realized she closed her eyes until she opened them to find Jackson exactly where she left him. Only human this time, staring at her with suspicion and more than a bit of curiosity.

Her life could do without his curiosity.

“What did you do?” All his vaunted control was back.

Time for retreat. “I should get ready.” She whirled and entered the bathroom. She shored up her core, but that didn’t fix the problem. She couldn’t let it spill over again, especially not tonight in front of a room full of vampires. She would not become a snack.

“I can’t shift.” His words halted her on the threshold.

Then the full implication of his words struck her.

Their attraction.

That meant she actually wanted him for the ass that he was and not the stupid idea she’d concocted to use a shifter to find control over her growing power.

She whirled to face him, so shocked that she blurted the first thing that came to her mind. “But your wolf almost broke free from your control. I saw your fangs and claws.”

Jackson shook his head once, his eyes never leaving hers. “Only when I’m near you and never a full shift. My alpha sent me to the club, gave me official leave from the pack to avoid being challenged. I’m an enforcer. I can’t enforce without being able to go wolf.”

“So Taggert—”

“Babysitting.” A derisive curl twisted his lips. “Shuffled away like an old wolf with no teeth.”

“But you’ll die if challenged.” Her heartbeat stuttered at the thought.

He gave her a steady look and shrugged. “Can’t shift, can’t be an enforcer. You need to be strong enough to protect the pack.”