Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (11 page)

She grabbed her purse from her desk drawer and stood up, ready to head through the maze of cubicles toward the exit.

“Hey, McKinney,” a male called out, stopping her. Kaitlyn turned as a tall, dark-haired man walked up and held out his hand. “I’m Kent Sloan. Looking forward to working with you.”

She grasped his hand and stared into his deep blue eyes, wondering who she could trust anymore. Damn, she needed to get out of the office. She was seeing conspiracy everywhere. “Nice to meet you. I’m running out for lunch. Want to go over the case file when I get back?”

“It’s a pretty thick case file. Why don’t we start going over it now? We’re going to be here for a while.”

Kaitlyn glanced at the three-inch case file on her desk and released his hand with a heavy sigh. “Which desk? Yours or mine?”

It was dark outside by the time Kaitlyn arrived home. She and Kent had spent the rest of the day going through her new case. Tired and annoyed, she didn’t even bother turning on the lights as she walked inside her house and set her purse and paperwork on the table in the hall. She started to walk down the hall, intending to change clothes and then go see her mother, when the tiny hairs on her arms began to stand up.

Something wasn’t right. The air felt warmer…as if recently disturbed. Someone was here.

She quietly unsnapped the gun holster and pulled her gun, her pulse tripping a staccato beat. Her breathing turned shallow as she started to pass her father’s office. A man’s shadowed outline sat in the chair at her father’s desk.

She rounded the corner and cocked her gun, aiming it at the intruder.

“It never looks good to shoot your boss, McKinney,” Ron’s calm voice floated across the room

Relief flooded through her and she uncocked the gun, but she didn’t lower it. “What the hell are you doing breaking into my house, Ron?”

“I found the spare key.” The desk lamp came on and Ron held up a picture he’d removed from the wall. “We were so young and full of piss back then. Just like you.” He chuckled as he laid the picture on the desk. She glanced at the photo of her father, Hank and Ron. They all wore smug smiles and had their arms slung around each other’s shoulders. Her mother had told her the photo was taken the day they’d graduated from the police academy.

Past friend of her father’s or not, she didn’t appreciate his making himself comfortable in her home, not to mention summarily dismissing her at work that day.

She narrowed her gaze and held her gun toward him. “What do you want?”

He heaved a tired sigh. “Put the gun away, Kaitlyn. I’m here to talk to you about the Tacomi case. We need to be very careful how we proceed. Obviously there’s someone feeding information to the Mafia or Garotters from within our department.”

She sat down in the chair across from the desk, dumbfounded, considering how he had treated her earlier. “Are you telling me you never were dismissing me from the case?”

Ron slowly shook his head. “But I had to make it look like I was, since I have no idea how the Garotters and Mafia knew that you were on the case. You were right. I got a threatening call. They wanted you called off.”

“Damn, Ron, you should’ve considered a career in acting. You were that freakin’ convincing!” Rubbing her hands together, she said, “Okay, now here’s my idea—”

He put up a finger to halt her enthusiasm. “You’re on the case, but it’ll be strictly behind the scenes.”

“That’s not fa—”

“Think about it for a minute, Kaitlyn. If someone sees you actively checking into things, they’ll know we’re still onto them—that you’re still working the case. Because this might potentially involve a dirty cop, you’ll still be in the loop in case I need backup.”

Kaitlyn didn’t like it, but Ron was right. Now that she’d been made, the Garotters and Mafia would be watching her. She wanted this win, no matter who was on the front line. “What do you want me to do?”

Ron smiled and got up from the chair to come around the desk. “You’re so much like your dad.” His expression fell a little as he mumbled, “Well, like he was in the early days.”

The early days? What’d he mean by that? Kaitlyn started to ask when Ron plunged on with his plans. “I memorized the dates and Tacomi truck routes before I shredded your document. I’ll pick a small three-man team of men I feel I can trust. We’ll stake out each route on the different dates until we catch the bastards in action.”

She stood and faced him, creasing her brow in concern. “I hate to state the obvious here, but if there’s a snitch within the department, shouldn’t we be calling Internal Affairs?”

He gave a half smile. “Yeah, and we will, but I don’t want their investigation to impede this one. This is a small window of time. We might not get another opportunity like this again.” A smug look crossed his oval-shaped face. “Anyway, it might be a moot point. Once we catch the Mafia members and Garotters responsible, they’ll probably roll over on their mole in the department.”

Before she could say a word, he pulled her close and hugged her. “Your dad, Hank and I were like brothers. I want you to stay safe.”

“I want to help,” she mumbled against his shirt before she pushed away.

“Don’t coddle me, Ron.”

He gripped her shoulders, his gaze locking with hers. “You’re important in this. You’re my point person, Kaitlyn. I’ll keep you in the loop when things start moving.”

Crisp fall wind, carrying exhaust fumes and the strong aroma of bratwurst and sauerkraut from a side stand, whipped around Kaitlyn. As she walked from her car up the street toward the hospital, she was so caught up in thinking about everything she and Ron had discussed, she didn’t notice someone step into place beside her until he spoke.

“We need to talk.”

Kaitlyn’s steps faltered slightly when Landon’s alluring masculine smell invaded her senses. “You following me?” Oddly the idea excited her. Straightening her spine, she gripped the vase she was carrying tightly in her hands and increased her speed.

Yet she was unable to get the appealing Men’s Health-worthy picture of Landon in a hunter-green T-shirt, his leather jacket and faded jeans out of her mind. Before she’d glanced away, he’d flashed her a brooding, “I want to eat you alive” look that made her body scream all over in response.

Damn the man. She was still mad at him.

Landon shoved his hands in his front pockets, then took a deep inhaling breath and growled in her direction. “Who is he?”

Taken aback by his question, Kaitlyn stopped and faced him. “What are you talking about?”

Landon halted. A crowd of people leaving a nearby restaurant came down the sidewalk. He had to step closer, his chest almost touching hers as the crowd bustled around them. He sniffed near her neck. “The man who wears this cheap cologne.”

Indignant rage filled her, but instead of giving him the satisfaction of seeing her anger, she said, “It was official police business.”

When she started to walk away, Landon caught her arm and held her in place, his gaze narrowed. “Was this about the Tacomi case?”

Kaitlyn deliberately glanced down at his hand on her arm, then raised her gaze to his once more. She pulled out of his hold. “That’s none of your business.”

Walking away from him, she shook her head at the jumbled emotions pinging around inside her mind. She didn’t know why she was so angry with Landon, but honest to God the way her heart ached and her stomach tumbled and knotted when she’d talked to him just now, you’d think they’d just had a lovers’ spat.

Sure, they’d shared an electric, toe-curling kiss that had singed every part of her body, but Landon’s professional betrayal was a tough lump to swallow no matter how hard her heart tripped whenever he came within a few feet of her.

Landon watched Kaitlyn walk away, his tense frame howling for him to claim her once and for all. He’d smelled another man’s scent on Kaitlyn as soon as he’d stepped into her personal space. It was all over her…as if they’d been very close. The tips of his fingers tingled and his wereclaws threatened to unsheathe.

He fisted his hands and fell into step behind her, wondering how he was going to survive this self-imposed bodyguard assignment when the other party didn’t trust him and pretty much wanted nothing to do with him. But beyond keeping her safe, he knew he was there for another reason. Her hips swayed with her quick steps and her floral scent wafted in her wake. His groin tightened in response and Landon mentally groaned. He caught up to Kaitlyn. “I know you’re mad at me, but I’m telling the truth. I didn’t see what you saw the other night in the park. All I saw were sparkles, nothing as defined as a handprint.”

She swung around to face him. “It’s hard enough to do what I do—to have this strange ability—without being made to look a fool. No one on the force knows about my talent, but for some reason—like an idiot—I felt I could trust you. And then you threw it in my face.”

Landon knew exactly what it felt like to be a stranger on the outside looking in. He’d been living partially in two worlds for a long time, but he couldn’t tell her the whole truth. Instead, he came as close as he could.

“Being a P.I. and working with the police for as long as I did…” he paused and raised his hands then let them drop to his sides “…I never felt like I fit in. I’ve walked a loner’s path for a long time, Kaitlyn, so I understand a little of what you feel. I apologize for making you feel the fool. That wasn’t my intent.”

He stared into her eyes, his expression turning hard as any Alpha’s would when addressing his pack member in matters of safety. “But seeing the same sparkles at both the park and Tacomi’s means these two cases are somehow connected. I don’t want you to pursue this. This is far more dangerous than you realize.”

Kaitlyn squared her shoulders and tilted her chin upward. “It was some animal burning, right? What makes it more dangerous?” Her gaze narrowed in suspicion. “How are they connected? What do you know that you aren’t telling me?”

Landon set his jaw. Hell and damnation, he couldn’t tell her without exposing his pack. Instead he chose intimidation. Leaning close, he ground out, “I didn’t see this outline you saw, but if what you saw really existed, then whoever took it out could probably tear you to shreds with very little effort. Let it go, Kaitie.”

Her jaw flexed and she stood on her toes until her nose almost touched his. Her hazel-blue gaze was the brownest he’d ever seen; almost like a wolf’s in full challenge mode. “You know more than you’re telling me, and until you come clean, I’ll continue to go about my own business.”

With a determined look, she turned and walked away, her head held high. Landon stared after her. Damn, she’d make a fantastic female Alpha. The woman had more balls than most of his pack members.

“O-o-oh, look what you brought me tonight.” Kaitlyn’s mom called out in a soft voice as her daughter entered the hospital room.

Kaitlyn turned the vase all the way around so her mother could see the colorful marbles she’d carefully arranged in a pattern inside before she poured water over them. “I like to call it my forever bouquet.”

“It’s beautiful.” Sharon’s blue eyes followed Kaitlyn’s hands as she set the vase down on the hospital table beside her bed.

“I’ve come for a nice long visit.” Kaitlyn pulled up a chair beside the bed and laced her fingers with her mother’s hand. Her heart tugged and her stomach knotted when her mother didn’t squeeze her hand as tight as she used to.

“Good, I’ve missed hearing about your adventures. Tell me how your job is going.”

Kaitlyn noted the dark circles under Sharon’s eyes, and she lifted her mother’s hand and pressed it against her cheek. She still hadn’t told her mom about her new promotion. She wanted her visits to be about her mom, not her. “Uh-uh…you first. How are you doing?”

Sharon expelled a tired breath. “I’m so very tired all the time, Kaitie. The meds keep down the pain, but I feel like all I ever do is sleep. I miss your father.”

The past month, her mother had spoken more and more about her dad. The bittersweet conversations made Kaitlyn’s chest hurt. She knew her mother was pining, hoping for an end to the cancer eating away at her body, but talking about her father seemed to make her mother happy, to remember the good times.

That night Kaitlyn talked about their trips to the shore together, the carnivals, the Halloween trick-or-treating and holidays…all while her heart bled for the pain her mother suffered and the realization she’d be alone in the world in the not-too-distant future.

As she reminisced about her father, the dream she’d had the night before about the painted wolf in her room coming to life came back to her. She gripped her mother’s hand tightly. “Mom, I’ve been meaning to ask you—why was Dad so into wolves and werewolf lore? Had he always had a fascination with them?”

Her mother shook her head and sighed. “No. It happened almost twentyfive years ago, before you were born. We were newly married and your father had gone for his evening run in the park. He came home covered in blood and said he’d been attacked by a big dog. He got thirty stitches on his calf that night.” Her faded blue gaze took on a faraway look.

“Ever since then, he became fascinated with wolves, researching them. Eventually, his interest turned to werewolf lore as well.”

Kaitlyn frowned. “Didn’t you think it was strange that he would become so interested?”

Her mother’s gaze returned to hers. “Yes, I did. Then I read an article about shark attack victims and how they sometimes develop a fascination as a way to overcome their phobia.” She shrugged and gave Kaitlyn a wan smile. “Your father used to have nightmares and wake up covered in sweat, but the dreams stopped once he developed his hobby. I guess I saw it as the lesser of two evils and was just glad to have my husband back…even if he did have an unusual hobby.”