Circle of Desire (Damask Circle 3)

She cursed internally. Trust the damn cops to get there before the thing had disintegrated properly. “I have no idea—”

He shook her so hard her teeth rattled. Energy surged, and she clenched her fists, fighting the desire to slap his angry butt across to the other side of the road.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said. “You killed the driver. I don’t know how, but I intend to find out why.”

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “I’ve told you why already. If you don’t want to listen, it’s your problem, not mine. Now let me go before I do something I may regret.”

“You killed a suspect in a murder case—”

“You’re going to have a hard time proving that, buddy. First, I didn’t go anywhere near the suspect, and second, by morning that body is going to

be nothing more than a few scraps of bone and hair.”

He stared at her, anger so evident in his eyes they practically glowed. He didn’t believe her. She wondered what in hell it was going to take before he did.

“What do you mean?”

“I told you, it’s a zombie. Now that it really is dead, it’ll undergo an accelerated decomposition process. Now get your hand off me.”

“Not until you tell me how you killed it.”

She hit him with kinetic power instead, wrenching his fingers from her arm and thrusting him across the road. He hit a pine with enough force to shake some cones loose and slithered down its trunk to the ground.

“That’s how,” she said loudly, then spun and walked away.

It was a few minutes before she heard him move, longer until he began following her. His anger was a cloud that practically reached out and suffocated her. She had no idea why she was sensing his emotions so clearly, but she really wished it would stop. Right now, she’d rather not deal with any of it. Maybe if she put some distance between them, it would give them both time to cool down.

She swung onto a side street and shifted shape, taking to the skies on night-dark wings. The air was crisp and cool, and the sheer freedom of it felt so good. It had been too long since she’d flown for the pleasure of it. For several minutes she simply drifted, enjoying the caress of moonlight and the play of air through her feathers. She soared a little higher, circling as she watched Ethan’s progress. He reached the side street and came to a halt, and even from above she could feel his surprise. A laugh bubbled through her, but it came out the harsh and raucous cry of a raven.

He glanced up. She flicked her wings and swept away, flying across the small town until she was on the opposite side. This section was in the foothills, and streetlights and houses were few and far between. Not an ideal place to be alone in the dark of night—unless you were trawling for the dead. In a town the size of Rogue River, the lonely outskirts were the only place they could hide with any degree of safety. The hearts of such towns were usually too full of gossips who didn’t miss a trick. Even dead ones.

She spiraled downward, shifting shape as she neared the ground. The minute her feet hit dirt, she felt it.

Death, headed her way.

ETHAN STARED AT THE EMPTY STREET AND WONDERED IF HIS eyes were playing games. No one could move that fast. Not even him in wolf form.

High above a bird squawked, the sound oddly reminiscent of a laugh. He glanced up, catching sight of a black form before it flew off. Odd to find a raven this close to the coast—not that he was any sort of expert when it came to birdlife around these parts.

He let his gaze sweep the street again. She definitely wasn’t here. Her scent stopped at this spot and became something else, something far more ethereal. He walked on, but the night air gave no clue as to where she’d gone. He cursed under his breath, then got his cell phone out and dialed Mark.

“Hey,” his partner said. “I thought you were supposed to be screwing yourself silly right about now.”

“I was.” And had it not been for this case and one infuriating woman, he probably still would have been.

He glanced skyward again. This afternoon’s lovemaking had eased the pressure, but as the moon rose, so, too, did the fever. It worried him. He had no wish to find another partner right now, but if Kat wasn’t accommodating, he just might have to. When the moon ran to fullness, desire gave way to base-level need. He had no wish to test the breaking point of his control.

“I want you to do me a favor,” he said.

“Sure. What?”

“Go check out that body they found in the back of the truck.”

“They wouldn’t have had time to do an autopsy yet.”

“I know. Call in some favors if you have to, but get down there tonight and check it out for me.”

“Why the urgency?”