Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian 7)

He laughed and signed off. I touched my ear to turn off the voice part of the com-unit, then pushed open one of the doors and said, "Cole, I'm down this way."

A second later, he appeared.

"So much for me hoping to save your pretty ass," he said dryly. His gray overalls were still blood-splattered from the previous crime scene and his silvery hair was darkened with sweat. "You just love spoiling my fun, don't you?"

I grinned. "Totally. Especially if it means me not laying somewhere half dead."

I looked beyond him as the similarly garbed Dobbs came into view. Like Cole, he was armed, his laser humming softly in the silence. Unlike Cole, he wasn't relaxing; his gaze constantly moved through the shadows. I was betting Dobbs could fight every bit as well as Cole. It was evident in the quiet way he moved. He reminded me of a predator about to strike.

I met Cole's gaze, noticing the sweat staining the collar of his overalls and the quick puff of his breath on the night air. "What, did you run here rather than taking the car or something?"

"Basically, yes." He stopped and swiped a hand at the sweat running down his cheek. "Well, I ran and Dobbs flew. Dusty collected the gear and car first."

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.