Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian 9)

"Mike is a good cop." It was stubbornly said.

"I'm not saying he isn't. I'm just saying he's a cop who may have taken on a little outside work."

"I can't believe he'd do something like that - "

"You worked your way up through the ranks in Sydney. You know that being a cop isn't always black and white, but mostly shades of gray. I'm not saying Mike's gone bad, I'm just saying he might be providing information in return for something he wants - a transfer out of here."

Hell, he'd all but said that the first time I'd met him. I took a sip of coffee and watched Harris's expression. Or, rather, the lack of it. He was a hard man to read, and I had no idea whether he believed me or not. Even his body language was giving nothing away.

I tried another angle. "Who sent the request for information about me to the Directorate?"

He hesitated fractionally, then said, "Mike."

"And do you know for certain that he sent it?"

"Why the hell wouldn't he send it?"

"Because I'm Directorate. I don't just work there. I'm a guardian."

"What?" His expression was incredulous. "You can't be. You're a werewolf."

"Exactly what I said," Evin murmured.

"I'm a dhampire - werewolf and vampire. I work in the daytime division in Melbourne."

"But how - "

"Long story," I cut in. "And it's really not important right now. The point is, if Directorate staff suddenly disappear, an alert goes out to all divisions."

"And if some cop in a godforsaken town suddenly starts asking for information about someone who matches the description of that missing personnel," Harris said heavily, "all hell should break loose."

"And it hasn't. Which to my way of thinking means the request never went through."

"Unless they're just a slack outfit over in Perth. I sent the information to them about the murders, and I haven't had a response back from those, either." He took a sip of coffee then added, "And according to you, these types of murders would have been red-flagged as a priority."

"They should have been." So why had no one contacted Harris? That's what I couldn't understand. I took another drink of coffee, then added, "It might be a good idea to actually phone them again."

"You mean, right now?"

"Why not? We have a dangerous vamp who's connected to an organization that's hiring out killers for revenge purposes. The Perth staff don't know I'm here or that I'm Directorate, so they should be getting their butts out here ASAP."

"True."

He reached sideways, pressing the speaker button on the phone before punching in a series of numbers. The phone began to ring, the sound echoing across the brief silence.

But before it could be answered, the line went dead.

"What the fuck?" Harris picked up the receiver and pressed several buttons, then glanced at me. "Nothing. It's as dead as a doornail."

Evin rose and walked across to another desk. "So's this one." He put the receiver back down. "Christ, you don't think Denny and his friends would be stupid enough to try to attack us?"

"Intelligence was never his strong suit, but even Denny and his friends aren't that stupid." Harris glanced at me. At that moment, the lights went out.

"Down, get down," I hissed, dropping out of the chair and hitting the floor on hands and knees. My coffee went flying, spilling across the carpet as the cup rolled even farther away from my fingertips.

Then I felt it.

An energy, a presence, that sang to my heart, wrapping me in warmth and passion and making me feel safer than I'd felt since I'd woken in the desert.