Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

“We need to find out more about our victim.” Clay eyed her remains with pity. “If Tracy has a spouse or significant other, they can tell us if she’s been acting odd lately and when it began. We can cross-check that against our other cases, see how it fits.”

“I estimate this happened four or five months ago.” Asa glanced up then. “We need to see where that falls on the timeline.”

“I would ask how you know,” Mrs. Officer said lightly, “but there are things you expect from a daemon.”

White noise filled my head, crackling in my ears. “How to make people jerky is one of them?”

The softness of my voice strung tension through Clay, who crept nearer to me.

“Yeah.” She thought I was serious. “There’s probably a recipe book in his mom’s kitchen that covers it.”

Between one blink and the next, I had her throat in my palm and her back against the wall. She kicked her feet and fought my grip. Her nails lengthened to claws that pricked my hand, but I held on.

“Let go of my mate,” Mr. Officer snarled to my right. “You don’t want this to get ugly.”

“Yeah.” I forced my fingers to ease their grip. “I wouldn’t want to rile your animal instincts and risk you eating the evidence.” However, I couldn’t quite let go. “I hear dogs love jerky treats.”

To give them a taste of their own medicine proved my point, but it left a sour taste in my mouth.

“Your wife started it,” Clay said behind me. “Let Rue finish it.”

About the time finishing it began to sound good to the roar in my head, warm arms encircled me.

“Let her go,” Asa whispered into my neck. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Pretty sure I do.” I sucked in a whistling breath through my teeth. “You can watch.”

“You don’t have to protect me.” He slid a possessive hand over my hip. “I can take care of myself.”

The weight of the bullet in my pocket told me otherwise, but this was a different kind of hurt. This wasn’t a physical pain she was inflicting on him. It was a verbal wound piercing thick psychic scar tissue he might no longer feel, but it agonized me enough for the both of us.

“I’m…sorry,” Mrs. Officer wheezed, her body fighting off a shift, her face a lovely shade of purple.

Eggplant? Chartreuse? No, that was green. Though she had a tint of that too. Aubergine? Yes! That one.

A biting kiss stung my throat, Asa jerking my attention from her to him. “Old prejudices die hard.”

Malicious or not, ignorant comments like hers kept breathing new life into them.

No one assumed Asa was dae. Or fae. They pegged him as daemon, and he let them. It was safer for him if others thought he was the biggest bad in any room. But where he was concerned, that title fell to me.

These two knew he wasn’t all daemon, but that was still the stick they wanted to measure him by.

“We have a job to do.” I let her go, and she fell. “Even look at him again, and you’ll regret it.”

“Thank you.” Asa gathered my hands in his then checked with the Vandenburghs. “Are we done here?”

“Yes,” Mr. Officer answered, voice straining. “We all need a chance for our tempers to cool.”

Rather than rush to his mate’s side, he stood his ground. More posturing. Whatever. Let him puff out his chest. I could huff too. I could damn well blow them both down if they insulted Asa again in my hearing.

Mrs. Officer rose slowly, reclaiming her dented pride, and straightened her shoulders.

“Agent Hollis.” Mrs. Officer rubbed her throat. “I forget how easy it is to speak hate, and I shouldn’t.”

She lowered her eyes in a symbolic gesture that scored her points. Alphas didn’t do submissive.

As much as I wanted to snap too little, too late, I saw her trying. That was all any of us could do.