Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian 7)

Jack must have been worried to impart that sort of urgency. "Sorry to put you through that hassle for no good reason."

"I think you owe us a beer." He studied me for a minute, nostrils flaring, then said, "I smell another wolf."

He didn't actually say he could smell him on me, but that's what he meant. I smiled. "You know what us werewolves are like-we can find a man in the oddest places."

"Then he's not here now?"

"No." I stepped back, giving him room to enter. "But we have zombie remains-well, zombie blood and little else, really-sitting in a destroyed pentagram."

"The wolf did the pentagram?"

"No, he was hunting the woman who did. She had a couple of hellhound helpers, which proved a bit of a problem for both me and the wolf."

"So you know him?"

"Had a run-in with him last year. I won."

"But not this time." He paused, his gaze amused. "I gather he drugged you."

"Yeah." I stopped as we reached the smudged pentagram. "Might be worth getting one of the magi out here to look at this. They might be able to tell us what she was using it for."

"Something black would be my guess."

That went without saying. I mean, surely witches on the side of good didn't employ hellhounds or zombies to do their bidding. Our magi didn't-well, not as far as I knew, anyway.

"Our witch took the form of a crow and flew off, but while she was here, she was perched on the gantry above the pentagram." And her human scent still lingered-it was faint, but there, and I'd recognize it if I smelled it again.

Cole nodded. "We'll check it, and see if we can find any droppings or feathers."

"Might be worth doing the same at the crime scene-unless you've already checked the trees?"

"We had no reason to do so." He hesitated again. "Are you feeling all right? Your eyes are very bloodshot."

"Combination of the drug and shadowing, I think."

"I've seen you come out of shadow. It doesn't usually cause this reaction."

"I was shadowing two of us." I shrugged. "Maybe it's just plain tiredness. You'll send me the report ASAP?"

"As usual." He glanced around as Dobbs finished his perimeter check and approached. "You want to get a kit up to that gantry? We probably have shifter traces up there."

Dobbs nodded, gave me a half-smile, then walked away, reholstering his weapon as he went.

"He's a believer in the old adage that it's better to say nothing, isn't he?" I asked, amused.

"Totally," he agreed, a smile crinkling the corners of his blue eyes. "Unlike some guardians who just love to hear the sound of their own voice."

"And this is wrong because...?"

He made what sounded like a disgusted snort and shook his head. "You can leave anytime you want."

"You know, the amusement that still lingers on your lips is spoiling the whole stern effect you're trying for there."

"Riley, stop being a pain and go."

I went.

It didn't take all that long to drive back to Quinn's, but finding parking anywhere near the hotel, even at this hour, was a pain. I eventually gave up and just dragged out my Directorate parking tag. They might be for use only in emergencies, but hey, this was.