Some Kind of Magic (9 page)

so close to him all day, after weeks without a glimpse of him,

he didn"t need the room to relive the memory of that first

painful moment.

The whole night was as clear as the water in a scrying

bowl, from the second the door had closed behind Lex and

Ray had crossed his arms and faced his uninvited guest, to

how he"d finally had to tell Cal to leave.

He remembered standing like that, stiff, his posture so

defensive that he"d known it. It had only left him more

agitated without even knowing why, and he shut his eyes.

He reopened his eyes at the memory that had been

taunting him all day, pulling himself back from the brink

and inhaling desperately as though any trace of Cal had

lingered in his home in the years since that night. He was

shaking when he exhaled, so very tired he knew he wouldn"t

be able to resist a little crutch tonight.

Not scotch, though a glass or two would have been nice.

He wasn"t meant to deny his nature like this. It wasn"t

right. But he had a beer and then went to bed without

finishing his book or that letter to his sister. He knew why he

was exhausted and also how to fix it, so he didn"t shower

either, leaving the scent of Cal all over him as he undressed

and slid into bed.

Then from his nightstand, he pulled out his last resort

for a good night"s sleep. He was still on edge from his arousal

earlier. It had taken forever for his erection to go down, with

Cal"s eyes on him nearly the whole time, knowing.

Desire like that was like being neither here nor there,

between being Wolf and Man, like being aroused with no

relief in sight.

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Ray shut his eyes and debated shifting before sighing

and shaking his head. Senses even more acute might be the

death of him right now, so he shut off the lamp by the bed

and stayed human as he put the towel up to his nose.

Cal had left it behind after a department softball game,

and his human male sweat had been all over it. Ray had felt

foolish picking it up, creepy taking it home, but there were

very few options when your mate wasn"t available, and this

was one of them.

It still shimmered faintly in the right light, but Ray kept

his eyes closed and stayed in the dark and just breathed it

in, relaxing enough to sleep.

AS THOUGH Ray once again somehow had traces of glitter

still on him—something that was
seriously
damn well

impossible—Parker"s gaze had been especially intense on

him all day. Cal couldn"t read minds, Ray had had to remind

himself, it just felt like he could.

Ray had detected Cal"s trail at the station before he"d set

foot inside, so at the coffee cart outside he"d bought four

coffees, one with extra sugar and full of flavored syrup. In

fact, it was mostly syrup. He"d handed it to Cal without a

word and then looked away before he could blush or do

something else stupid like admit to guilt over using Cal"s

scent to fall asleep.

Cal had gulped it down and then shared his sugar high

with most of the station, male and female, Being and

human, while Ray and Penn ran down locations on some of

their suspect pool. They"d even called a few in for interviews

that hadn"t gone anywhere.

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60

Benedict had left for his other job around noon, when

Penn had also insisted Ray eat more than just donuts with

his coffee. After two burgers, rare, they"d decided to head out

for the rest of the interviews. If working at his desk next to

Parker was bad, being trapped in the same car with him for

hours at a time was torture. Exquisite torture. His smell and

body heat so close, that running mouth offering startling

thoughts on everything from string theory to the perfect glaze

for pastry.

They"d worked another case once involving glazed pastry

and a particularly gruesome murder. Cal had stopped eating

Danishes and all other breakfast pastries afterward for

months. It was only when Ray had left a donut heavy with

sprinkles out for him—the brightest sprinkles he could find,

chock full of so much food coloring it should have been

toxic—that Cal had finally started to enjoy baked goods

again. Not Danishes anymore, not ever again, but his love for

sprinkled donuts was a thing to behold.

But in between his pastry lectures and driving Ray crazy

with a thousand casual touches from the backseat, Parker

had been eating candy buttons from a roll of wax paper—if

Cal could single handedly keep candy stores in business, the

demand from the rest of the fairies could fuel an entire

industry—and leaving sticky fingerprints and bits of paper in

the backseat until Ray had snapped for him to clean it up.

“You"re so anal, Branigan.”

“You try living with heightened senses in a human world

and see how much you enjoy a mess.”

He had at least had the satisfaction of knowing that

after that, the bits of paper had mysteriously disappeared. It

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61

had only been lessened somewhat by then having to listen to

Cal lick his fingers clean.

Ray had shifted in his seat. Penn had given Ray a look.

She did it again as she got out of the car back at the

station, well aware that they"d wasted a day and that his

mood wasn"t any better than hers. His was actually worse,

since Penn wasn"t fighting every instinct in her body.

He looked back at her, watching her finish another

bottle of seawater and tactfully not commenting as their

absent-minded genius scrambled out of the backseat,

stretched invitingly, then dashed into the station in search of

a bathroom. Ray realized he"d forgotten to ask where Cal had

purchased those candy buttons and to remind him to keep

his nose out of his other cases. He sighed.

“Suddenly everyone has an alibi,” Ray declared to Penn

instead, twisting to look at the rising moon, the setting sun.

“I"m going to get some dinner.”

“I"m going home,” she announced. “Call me if we get

something.” With a wave and another sip that made him

wrinkle his nose, she was heading toward her car. He could

have gone home too, but frustration carried him back into

the station.

The captain saw him and called him over, letting him

know Perretti had friends working on posting his bail, but

then grinned as he added that they probably wouldn"t be

able to raise the money. Apparently the ADA working the

case had asked for and gotten a newer, higher amount, as

some detective had been very emphatic in their belief that

Perretti was a flight risk.

Lex was good. Ray could almost smile for that, but then

hearing that Perretti had friends was enough to make him

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62

frown again. The man
was
a flight risk. He"d vanished for

years and had no known address.

“You"d better lock this up. You have a bigger case

waiting.” Murphy was stern, and Ray didn"t blame him for

that. But the idea that Nasreen"s attack was somehow less

serious, when she could have died, made him narrow his

eyes.

He didn"t growl; he didn"t threaten. He never did. But

his chin came up, and Captain Murphy"s expression

changed. He wasn"t afraid, but if anything, his look grew

thoughtful. After a moment he relaxed, shrugging in an

admission that if that case hadn"t involved a fairy it would

have been a murder, and was no less serious.

Ray nodded.

“Yes, sir,” he responded quietly, and Murphy hesitated

again. Ray was pretty certain it was because the man was

thinking of asking about the new case. Things involving

magic made him uncomfortable, even after years of exposure

to them, something that the department rumor mill said

involved a scorned sorceress, though personally Ray found

that hard to imagine. He couldn"t imagine Murphy with

anyone. He couldn"t even imagine him as a child.

Murphy had come up through the ranks with Calvin

Parker. Ray knew that much. Though he didn"t know which

side of the gossip the man believed, if he believed any of it.

He just grunted.

“How are the consultants treating you?” Unlike when

most people said it, there was no insinuation in his voice.

Ray took that as a good sign. “Aguirre has nothing but praise

for them. I told that guy when he transferred in. We keep

only the best around here.”

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63

“Fine. Fine. They"re fine.” Ray was a firm believer in the

“No Comment” rule. That was all that Murphy wanted to

hear about it or anything else magic anyway.

Whatever his reasons, the captain decided not to ask

anything else, and with another awkward nod and a tug at

the suspenders that were struggling to keep his pants up,

Captain Murphy left, and Ray turned back toward his desk.

“How"d it go?” A few uniforms were hanging around the

coffee machine as he walked by, and he immediately

scowled. He was tired. He was cranky. He was, in other

words, as wound up as he could be after hours in Cal"s

company without touching him
or
catching a killer.

“You don"t need to work so hard to catch the guy.” One

of them clearly read his annoyance, but Ray turned on them

with his eyebrow up. “Probably done you a favor, right? Not

wasting your time catching bad guys who"ll just get off. And

we all know what you"d really do to the guy if you had your

way.”

“Shut up,” Ray snapped, loud enough to be heard in

Booking, and damn, he needed to go home. They were just

expressing the frustration that they"d all felt from time to

time and he was overreacting. “You have no idea what you"re

talking about,” he added, extending hands that were

currently not paws at them to wave them away. “Get back to

work.”

As though he wanted the hateful stench of murder in

his town. As though he was an indiscriminate killer or would

admire one. He turned on his heel to head back out,

knowing he was leaving fear in the air behind him.

He"d officially had too much frustration for one day. Too

restless to stop now he headed down the street for some

Puerto Rican takeout and then went back to the car.

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64

He ought to drive home. Or go inside. But with the

possibility of Cal or those ignorant
idiots
still in the station

and his stomach growling, he just sat in the driver"s seat and

opened the carton. His mouth was full of seasoned beefsteak

when the passenger door opened and Cal swung inside.

He slid down and got comfortable before Ray could

swallow.

“Eating in the car? Really? You need a life, Branigan.

And you just ate dinner. I was there. You had tacos. In fact,

you"ve eaten like six times today.”

“
You
pull something sweet out of thin air almost

constantly. And it"s best not to starve a werewolf.” Good

advice. And it kept him from having to explain why he"d been

so ravenous lately. He bared his teeth and then went back to

eating. He heard Cal take a few fast breaths as the interior

light went out. He wished it was fear, but he knew Cal was

turned on even without smelling it. He knew that scent, had

it memorized for his dreams. It was unmistakable.

“Then I"ll resist the urge to tease you about your

insatiable appetite.” But of course, it was as though Cal

knew anyway what Ray was desperate for.

With his head down, Ray had plenty of time to think of

answers to that. Most of which he couldn"t say. He finished

his sandwich, munched a fried plantain, then closed the

carton and put it on the floor at Cal"s feet without actually

touching him.

“Why are you here?” It was a potentially explosive

question. Maybe fairies sucked at deception, but they could

always try. Not that Cal had any reason to lie. He just looked

hurt—Ray could see him clearly even with little light. He

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