He laughed. "Don't sound so shocked. There isn't much that goes on in this place that I don't know about."
Something I'd better remember in the future if I was planning any other little side excursions on Directorate time. I walked left along the railing until I found the tiny excuse for a ladder, then slowly-carefully-began to climb down. When my feet finally hit the concrete, some of the tension that had been riding me eased. I might be able to fly, but my fear of heights had never entirely vanished. I doubted it ever would.
"Look, Cole and his team are just about there-"
"You sent Cole after me?" I couldn't help the surprise in my voice. "Why send a cleanup team rather than a guardian?"
"They were the closest to your position, and Cole and his men can fight, trust me on that." His voice was dry. "He might as well check the zombie remains while he's there. At least we can confirm whether our killer was raised or not."
"There's not much more than blood here, boss. I'm afraid the hellhounds ate nearly everything else."
"What, even the bones and skull?"
"Yep." I walked toward the swing doors. "Was my being stationary the only reason you were trying to contact me?"
Even as I asked the question, I had my fingers crossed for the correct answer. After my near miss with Kye, I really needed to get home to my vampire.
"No. There's a disturbance at a house I want you to investigate, but it can wait until the morning. I'll send you the address."
Relief swam through me. Morning might almost be here, but at least I could catch a few hours alone with Quinn before I had to leave again. That'd be enough to take the edge off the hunger. "What's so special about this disturbance that we're investigating it?"
"He's an old friend of mine."
"How old a friend?"
"We were turned together."
Which made him a very old friend indeed, considering Jack had been turned over 860 years ago. I blew out a breath, then said, "I can drive over there tonight, if you'd prefer.">He'd basically done that anyway, which only emphasized the point that this wolf had very little fear of guardians or of the Directorate. Which meant he was either very dangerous or very stupid, and I suspected it wasn't the latter.
This is a guardian case, Kye. Which means I have to warn you to keep you nose out of it.
Warning heard.
And ignored, if his tone was anything to go by.
A soft scraping filled the brief silence. I frowned down at the ground I still couldn't see, wondering what the witch was doing.
Shit, Kye said. The blackness is fading and lifting.
He was right, because the ground was suddenly visible-and distant enough that old fears had me stepping back from the edge. The curtain was lifting from the concrete up, and if we didn't do something very quickly, it would leave us altogether exposed.
It wasn't the witch that worried me. It was those hounds.
I stepped forward, wrapped my arms around Kye, and pulled him close. He tensed instantly, and the warm amusement that had been flowing between us fled faster than water down a drain.
Now is not a good time for this sort of thing.
Amusement bubbled through me. So, it was okay for the bounty hunter to pull me close, but heaven forbid that I do the same. Don't worry, wolf, I'm not trying to jump your bones. If I was, you'd know about it.
So what the hell are you trying to do?
He was still as stiff as a board, and yet despite his obvious displeasure with my sudden action, there were parts of him that were totally enjoying the experience.
Which was a relief, because at least it meant I hadn't entirely lost my touch in the weeks I'd been with Quinn.
I'm half vampire, remember? I can cloak us in darkness.
Patrin never mentioned that aspect.