“Damn.” Jayce knew what that smell was. It was hatred. It poured off some people in such pungent waves that it left behind a trail. Jayce knew it was the husband. It blended with his natural scent. Humans couldn’t smell it, but they could see it in people in other ways. They picked up on visual cues or they listened to that intangible thing called their gut instinct. Not enough humans listened to it. “That’s very good, Kat.”

At the sound of a vehicle door slamming, they both froze. Before she could move, he hurried to the front of the house and carefully peeked out one of the windows. His heart rate ratcheted up a fraction.

The wife’s car was in the driveway and she was striding up the front walk.

He still had to flip the breaker back on to make it seem like there had been a power surge, and thereby mask the fact that someone had intentionally turned the system off. He hadn’t done it before because he wasn’t sure if the alarm system was the type that would reset automatically.

Hurrying back to the bedroom, he found Kat still standing there. As he heard the sound of a key sliding into a lock, he motioned toward the window.

With wide eyes, Kat nodded and went to it. She unlocked it, opened it, then slid out soundlessly, though he could hear her heart rate increase. Quickly following, he pulled it back in place just as he saw the wife entering the room.

Ducking down, he pointed toward the other side of the street. “Jump the fence and meet me back in the woods.”

She paused, looking unsure. “What are you going to do?”

He didn’t want to be having this conversation now. “Flip the breaker back on. Now go.” Without waiting to see if she would do as he said, he crept back to the edge of the house, then crossed the backyard toward the other side, where the breaker was.

If the husband had been the one coming home, he’d have likely checked this out as soon as he realized the power was off. Jayce was just hoping it would take the wife a little longer. As he flipped the metal switch back into place and shut the box, he heard the sound of the back door opening and the woman talking to herself under her breath.

The survival need that was so embedded into his kind kicked in, giving him an extra jolt of speed as he jumped the fence and practically flew across the street.

“She didn’t see you,” Kat murmured as he came to a stop in front of her. Continuing, she said, “I wonder how long she’ll be there.”

“Doesn’t matter. I got what I needed.”

Her pale blue eyes widened. “You did?” Before he could answer, her lips pulled into a thin line. “You didn’t even need me with you, did you?”

Jayce shook his head. “I got the scents as I swept the house. It’s second nature.” So why did he feel guilty about that? He hadn’t planned to tell her that, but she’d realized it and he wouldn’t lie to her.

Surprising him, she cupped his cheeks and kissed him so thoroughly he felt it everywhere. Her tongue swept past his lips, completely invading him. When she finally pulled back, he didn’t bother hiding his surprise. “What was that for?”

“For taking me with you when you didn’t need me. For taking the time to teach me about my new skills when you should be focusing solely on your investigation. For letting me do this because I need to strike back at the APL in any way. Mainly, just for being you.” She dropped another kiss on his lips, then turned on her heel and started heading back through the woods.

You’re wrong about one thing. I do need you, he thought. He needed her more and more each second that passed. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure she needed him as much.

Chapter 16

Kat glanced around Jayce at the building they should so not be headed into. “You’re sure about this?”

“You just helped me break into someone’s house. Of course I’m sure.” His response was slightly playful, but there was an edge underlying his words. Not directed at her—she was a hundred percent sure of that. He just wanted this mess settled.

She did too. The more time she spent with Jayce, the more vengeance and revenge took a backseat. Well, not completely. She wanted justice for the people who had participated in her torture. Technically only one man—if he could even be called that—had tortured her, but someone had given him the orders. Maybe not orders to torture her, but it didn’t matter to her. From what they’d discovered, Adler—the direct boss of the monster who’d hurt her—had a boss too. Someone high up within the APL. He needed to be brought down. They needed to strike at this organization hard, before they got too powerful.

Still, no matter how much she craved bringing down the APL, she found she was coming to crave Jayce so much more. Back when they’d been dating, he’d been sweet with her, but the way he’d been acting lately was different. Good different, but it was like he was claiming her in some way. It freaked her out more than she would admit. Last night she’d tried so hard to convince herself that he could never completely give himself to her emotionally. How could he? The more she was around him, however, the more she wondered if that wasn’t her own fear rearing its ugly head. She hadn’t even been able to admit to herself that there was now a difference in their lovemaking. In the shower yesterday he’d rocked her to her core with his passion and the way he’d actually bitten her.

“Where’d you just go?” Jayce asked quietly.

She blinked, brushing away the haze of her thoughts, and shook her head. “Sorry, zoned out. I’m ready if you are.”

He eyed her curiously, but didn’t question her further. He just placed his hand on the small of her back as they strode toward the police station. Parker would be in today, so she was dropping by to say hello. Or at least that was the excuse. She knew Jayce hated police stations, but this was his plan and she trusted him. Hell, he’d been able to pick up five different human scents in the house they’d broken into. She was still trying to figure out the difference between the scents of people standing right in front of her. Figuring out leftover scents was a little beyond her at the moment.

Jayce was hoping one of the scents from the house would match someone here. Brianna had said the wife was sure that one of her husband’s APL friends was in law enforcement, so this was the best place to start.

As they entered the building, Kat and Jayce ran right into Detective Chance Kinsey. Tall, dark, and handsome, he gave her the once-over, apparently with far too much appreciation in his gaze for Jayce’s taste, considering the way his fingers tightened against her back. Obviously now that she wasn’t in the interrogation room anymore, the detective felt free to check her out and he wasn’t being subtle about it. His aura was still fairly unreadable except for a faint purple haze that sizzled around him before fading. She almost snorted. The man had pretty damn good psychic shields, but his lust was shining through.

If it hadn’t been bothering Jayce so much she might have laughed. She would have sensed Jayce’s reaction even without the physical response against her back. He was territorial and he didn’t hide it well.

“I’ve only got one type, pretty boy, and you’re not it.” The words were out before she could stop herself, but her inner wolf didn’t like the fact that his look was upsetting Jayce. Before she had time to dwell on her response, the detective’s head snapped up from appraising her assets.

Maybe it was the bluntness of her words or maybe he was embarrassed that she’d caught him staring—or maybe it was because she’d called him “pretty boy”—but the tips of his ears tinged crimson in embarrassment.

Kat bit back a satisfied smile. This guy had almost made her throw up by showing her those horrific crime scene photos. If she’d had breakfast that morning, she probably would have puked. It was petty, but she was glad she’d been able to get under his skin.

The detective cleared his throat. “Uh, everything okay? Why are you here?”

“We’re here to see the sheriff,” Jayce answered, taking a step forward and not quite subtly placing himself between Kat and the detective.

The man looked back and forth between the two of them, nodding as if understanding, then held up a hand. “Hold on a sec.” After radioing Parker, he nodded at them again. “Come on. I’ll walk you back.”

Kat was surprised by how nice he was being, but she figured the detective felt a little guilty about being such a dick to her during the interrogation. After swiping a security card, he led them out of the main lobby and back to a desk-filled space where men and women in uniform were milling around.

Parker gave them a curious look when the three of them filed into his office. An officer named Derrick Bird—according to his gold-plated ID—the same man who’d been with Parker when he’d picked Kat up the other morning, was in the office, but Parker murmured that he could go. Kat watched the officer as he left, trying to pick up on his aura, but she got absolutely nothing. The guy was like a blank slate. Detective Kinsey mumbled a polite good-bye, then left, shutting the door behind him.

Parker rounded his desk and gave Kat a quick hug. Jayce might not have liked it, but at least he didn’t growl at the man. “Is everything okay?” he asked as he stepped back and leaned against his desk.

Kat nodded. “Yeah.”

“We want to know if you like having dirty cops on your force.” Jayce’s words dropped into the quiet room with the subtlety of a live grenade.

Kat grimaced. As enforcer for the North American Council, he’d worked with human law enforcement before—not that he liked it. Kat knew Parker was aware of Jayce’s presence in Fontana, but as far as she knew they hadn’t crossed paths in such a direct manner before. Jayce certainly knew how to break the ice.

Parker straightened to his full height, which made him a couple of inches taller than Jayce, and the blue eyes that were so similar to his sister’s flashed in annoyance. “What the hell does that mean?”

Jayce lifted his broad shoulders casually. “Just a question.”

“You saying there’s someone dirty on my force?”