A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 9
Two guards stood on either side of the door and immediately nodded at Jace’s appearance.
“Are you ready for her?” Jace grunted.
“This way,” the tall guard said. Gesturing to the table, he walked over.
This was likely where people were outfitted. There wasn’t much on the shiny stainless steel now. Two holsters, two magical handguns, and a strange choker. It looked like a fancy gold torque you’d see from some boutique jewelry store. It glinted with a sizable diamond at the front.
Frowning, I almost went to pick it up but smartly tucked my fingers behind my back. Maybe the two guards would tackle me.
That said, they didn’t watch me with any suspicion.
“I’m Henry,” the tallest one said. “And that’s Bob.”
Bob offered a cheery wave.
“We’re the armorists,” Henry added. “And I imagine you’ll probably become our best friend soon.”
It wasn’t said with any malice or arrogance. A quick grin ticked across my lips. “I’d love to, but I’m not particularly into weapons. It’s a nice necklace, though.” I gestured at it.
“Oh, you’ll get into weapons pretty fast in this job. And that’s not a necklace.” His voice dropped.
Jace grabbed one of the holsters, pulled off his jacket, and strapped it up quickly. From the practiced ease of his fingers, he did this constantly. And I was thinking that the city’s number one Alpha … what? Flopped around his compound most of the day?
I’d feared Jace most of my life. I hadn’t bothered to inform myself about what he actually did.
Which made me think of all those murders slipping under the radar.
If I liked to consider myself pretty informed, how many other citizens walked around Mythos City not knowing how many bodies filled the morgue?
Jace said something, but I tuned out.
The Alpha wouldn’t let me remain distracted for long. Clearing his throat, he drew my attention back to the choker as he gestured for me to put it on.
I flinched. “Ah, isn’t that way too expensive for me?”
“You’ve got good taste,” Henry grinned. “That’s worth about two million.”
Lurching back like I’d been struck, I hissed, “Two million? Why is something that expensive on the table?”
As if Jace hadn’t made it clear already. Picking it up, he reached over to place it in my hand. With a tight fist, I refused. So Jace swept around me like a storm. Then he placed the choker flat against my throat and did it up. It lasted all of two seconds. The quick-fingered werewolf was too fast, but I felt the pressure of his hand on the back of my neck, the presence of him looming behind me.
Breath catching in my throat, I placed a thumb flat on the choker, then immediately dropped it. “Why am I wearing something so expensive?”
With a grin, Bob crossed his arms. “Though it does have intrinsic value, and that is a real diamond, it’s an ancient magical object.”
“Great,” I forced my fingers to drop to my side as I said, “that means it’s even more valuable.”
“And useful,” Jace interrupted, crossing his arms. He nodded at it. While his eyes flashed toward it for half a second, they always jerked up to my gaze as if magnetically attracted. “It’s a magical shield. It will initiate should anyone get violent with you.”
My lips scrunched in. “I thought my new magical seals were meant to disengage if anyone got violent with me. And you know—”
I didn’t need to explain what would happen next. Thoughts of that vampire flooded back in, and a breath caught in my throat.
Jace, ever attuned to my micro-reactions, noticed, his eyes narrowing. Clearing his throat, he added, “It’s to prevent more than physical attacks. When operating at full power, it should be able to suppress almost any kind of magical attack, from fireballs, to elemental spells, even, to some extent, bullets.”
With a twitch, my cheeks chilled. “Bullets?” Said with the kind of surprise and disdain of someone who’d never seen a gun. Ironic, considering two Barettas waited on the polished table. Jace had already holstered his. Now he gestured at me, as if I had any idea how to put on a holster.
He only needed one second to realize I was truly pathetic when it came to weaponry. Then, like with the necklace, in a whisper, he was beside me.
My heart rammed a little harder in my throat as he picked up the holster and grunted, “Arms up.”
I turned over my shoulder a few centimeters, catching his eye. Immediately regretting it, I spun around until my hair whipped over my neck, sliding along his fingers as he quickly pulled the holster over my shoulders. Doing the straps until it sat properly, he immediately holstered the gun. Then he stepped back. His eyes flicked up and down me, as if checking to see how good I looked.
There were two things wrong with that statement. The Alpha would never be into me. The simple, mousy, plus-sized lass. I knew for a fact he only dated werewolves. The second, far more egregious issue with that statement was that he only cared about the weapon. “Now we teach you how to use it.”
I blinked. “Maybe I’m not catching up to something, but I honestly thought I was meant to ride along in a car with you while you catch criminals. Then I’ll….” I waved my hands up and down like a startled bird.
“Situations will unfold quickly. You must be able to look after yourself.”
Blinking, wondering how much faster my life could become, I mutely nodded.
Bob and Henry continued to chat. At least their nattering helped distract me. It was pretty hard to focus on anything other than the towering Jace. Though he no longer played on his phone. It kept incessantly beeping in his pocket. Who would’ve thought that the Alpha’s life was burdened with so much administration?
Before today, I’d assumed… what? That he’d loomed over the city like a shadow, chasing away his enemies into the night?
It was time to appreciate I’d known barely anything about Jace, let alone the real Mythos City.
“Concentrate,” Jace grunted, accurately realizing I was distracted. Bob and Henry had taken me over to a door that led to a small shooting range. There must be bigger ones in this huge facility. This was obviously used for testing people’s competency.
Why bother testing me? I’d never used a freaking gun.
But Jace clearly wanted to check my base skills anyway.
Would it be like one of those movie scenes where a hero would collapse over some helpless female and help her shoot? Nope. Jace crossed his arms and stood back. “Run her through how to use the gun. Remember, only touch her if necessary.”
With that statement, he walked out as his phone rang. What, did he have a sixth sense for when folks would call? Maybe it was a statistical thing.
I was starting to appreciate Mythos City really didn’t run itself. Jace had to deal with it 24/7. And Bob and Henry had to deal with me. They ran me through how to load the gun, un-cock it, and fire it. They even let me have a go with one of the targets. I missed. Appallingly. But I guess the point was if I at least knew how to fire a gun, I could hopefully shoot someone right in front of me.
Slightly overwhelmed but hiding it well, we walked back into the main room. Jace wasn’t there. I breathed a sigh of relief, but a little prickle at the back of my neck told me he couldn’t be far.
Sure enough, the hulking wolf soon walked back into the room. A familiar face stood beside him. He was the Caribbean guy from the hospital roof. He smiled at me, offering me a quick nod. “How are you settling in?”
Shrugging and grabbing the back of my neck, I sighed, “I can shoot a gun now.” It was the kind of thing a child would say.
But it worked on him, and he grinned warmly. “I don’t think we were introduced properly before.” With one polite step forward, he nodded. “Matthew.”
He reached his hand out. I noted he hesitated briefly and stared over at Jace, as if checking it was okay.
Unless my memory deceived me, Matthew had asked several hours ago how Jace could assure the pack’s safety around me. Now he got over it and shook my hand. Though I did note he moved quickly.
Matthew immediately patted his short-cropped hair down, then nodded at my choker. “It suits you.”
Prying fingers slid over it, but I dropped them to my side, remembering what I was touching. God, I hoped it was insured.
It was surely the most valuable thing I wore…. Unless you considered me in that equation. Because if Jace’s protective gaze was anything to go by, I was vastly more important.
“Thank you,” I muttered.
“Matthew here will be heading up the investigation. Now you at least know how to use a gun without shooting your foot off, you will be joining us,” Jace said.
Everything narrowed until I could only see Jace’s stiff lips spitting those words out. “This is still my sister’s case, right?” I demanded.
Arms crossed, he nodded.
I hadn’t forgotten about Karen, not once, even while I’d fired off useless potshots in targeting practice. She was this stripped-back, raw lump of a memory sitting in the middle of my head, slowly bleeding out.
Now I had a chance to do something about it.
Chapter 9
We rocked up to a townhouse in a lovely part of the city. It was almost an oasis. The tall towers and traffic seemed miles away, even though they were only a few blocks back. This belonged to the old district, one of the quietest areas in town. While it wasn’t truly ancient, the cobbled streets themselves dated back over half a millennium, and the place oozed character.
The townhouse we stood in front of couldn’t have been built more than 200 years ago. The facade was a beautiful muted white lime wash over old, cracked stones. It didn’t give it a rundown feeling, just a sense of deserved age and wisdom.
A quaint rose garden was planted out front between the stoop and the wrought iron fence. In full bloom, fat white roses bobbed around in the wind, a few losing soft petals. The heady scent wafted down the street – but only in waves as the gale gusted along faster.
Catching a few strands of my hair, I tucked them neatly behind my ear. They were immediately whipped out of my grip.
“You will stay beside me at all times,” Jace grunted.
I was starting to learn the Alpha was a man of precious few words. If he wanted to hammer something home to me, he’d become verbose. Otherwise, a sentence or two would do. Being stuck in a car with him was interminable, silent torture.
Now he strode ahead, though I hated to admit this, it was easy to fall in behind him.
His people must’ve already secured the scene. Rather than knock on the door, he strode right through.
We entered a narrow corridor with creaking floorboards, side tables taking up far too much room, and a weirdly tall ceiling that made every footstep echo. The walls, painted a baby blue with white architraves, led the eye down to only three doors. An open one to the left led to a very small bedroom. To the right, I glimpsed a room full of books all neatly lined up in nestled bookcases. We didn’t stop until we reached the third door. That led to a lounge room.
The corridor continued, twisting left to a narrow staircase, a kitchen, and a small bathroom.
Apparently the lounge room was far more important. There were already two hulking werewolves inside. One, down on his knees, snapped photos of something underneath the couch. An Edwardian chaise lounge, it looked fit for a 50s starlet. Right now the only thing draped over it, however, was an old jacket.
It didn’t match the décor. There was an open-hearth fire, art on the walls, a sandstone mantelpiece, and some tasteful lead-light lamps.
The jacket didn’t just stick out like a sore thumb….
It smelled weird. Nostrils contracting, I took an immediate step over to it only to notice Jace’s eyes all over me. “Did you smell something?” He looked intrigued.
I went to say yes but stopped. My sister always accused me of having an outrageously sensitive sense of smell for a mere human. And compared to a wolf’s, it was probably nothing.
He didn’t push me. But he did grunt, “Careful. That’s evidence.”
My outstretched fingers froze before I could pluck the jacket up. “What do you mean it’s evidence?”
“We are certain the ancestral vamp who owns this place had dealings with your sister. She was a client. Your sister failed to get her off on a charge of fraud.”
“My sister’s disappearance isn’t a revenge case,” I hissed, voice hard. Who knew how I knew that, but everything came back to the word Kings.
I turned to point that out, but Jace, as always, was on his phone. Striding from the room, he took a call in the corridor.
That left me standing there with the jacket. The scent was almost overwhelming. I couldn’t pin it, though. It wasn’t blood – it lacked the iron tinge. What about other body fluids?
Nope. It was sickening but… slightly memorable.
For about one minute I resisted the urge then caved. Fingers plucking up the jacket quickly, I drew in a breath.
Jace somehow walked into the room and stopped right behind me without making a sound. “Just how sensitive is your sense of smell?”
Jolting, I almost dropped the jacket. His blindly fast fingers grabbed it, not wanting it to touch the floor.
Heart beating hard, I shrugged. “I dunno. Probably less sensitive than I think it is.”
“It’s interesting that the first thing you wanted to do with it was smell it.”
“You mean interesting and weird.”
“You’re talking to a werewolf. Smell is one of our greatest gifts.”
I couldn’t make eye contact with him. First, I was stupid enough to question his loyalty in front of a shifter. Now I went after their vaunted sense of smell. How many mistakes was I destined to make around Jace?
Probably not as many as he was determined to make around me.
Shoving the jacket back against my chest, he said, “There’s probably no point in checking this jacket’s scent. I’ve already had my best tracker wolf go over it. He couldn’t use it to find Jacinta.”
So this jacket belonged to the ancestral vamp who owned this place? This coat looked like something from a thrift store.
I thought Jace would walk away again. Instead, he stood there, watching.
What did he want me to do?
Dump the jacket, I guess. But determined to at least do something, I checked the pockets. There was nothing there.
Reddening under Jace’s always watchful glare, I wanted to turn around and snap at him to leave me alone. But with pursed lips, I made myself busy. Still holding onto the jacket, out of bloody-minded determination, I strode up to the mantelpiece.
Jace, distracted, went to talk to one of his werewolves, though I noted he always angled his body toward me.
Free to act the freak, I lifted the jacket collar slightly. There was a familiar hint of perfume. That wasn’t what got me going, though. The light prickle across my back told me something about this jacket was familiar.
It had this almost pheromone tinge.
It was meant to belong to a vampire, right? So why did it remind me of a werewolf?
Jace’s phone rang again. Rather than extricate himself politely from the room, he simply answered. “What is it?”
One second later he swore, huffing hard. “We’ll be on our way now.” Sliding his thumb across the call button, he dumped his phone in his pocket, then twisted his head left. “Get in the car, boys. We’ve got an aggressive incident three blocks away. Attempted murder.”
Standing there, I blinked once, the words attempted murder rolling over me like thunder.
Then Jace leaned over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me with him.
I couldn’t let go of the jacket. It was part of the scene, and I should leave it behind. Jace tried to pull it from my fingers, but I swung it around my hip petulantly, pinning it against my thigh.
Realizing he was wasting time, he let me have it as we rushed out of the building. The two other werewolves had their own transport. Jace pulled me into the Land Rover. Matthew hadn’t even arrived yet.
He pulled up as we were swinging out of a park. With one of the windows down, Jace barked at him, “Secure the premises. We’re on an active hunt.”
Matthew simply snapped a salute like they were in the army.
Honestly, was there any difference? One moment we’d been quietly investigating a house. Now we were off to catch an apparent attempted murderer.
Breath shallow and scratchy, I listened to the tires squeal as we U-turned down the street and shot off, quickly joining traffic. Jace showed his prowess behind the wheel, easily moving between delivery trucks, overtaking slow vehicles, and soon blasting right through a red light. Nobody even honked him. Perhaps all downtown residents knew his particular armored black Land Rover.
Struggling to swallow, I twisted and grunted, “What do you want me to do? Stay in the car?”
“I’ll decide when we get there,” he snapped.
Though I didn’t want to touch it, I grabbed my choker, grinding my fingers against the diamond. I doubted I could scratch it, but I sure needed a little reassurance right now.
It wouldn’t come from the jacket. It now lay crumpled in the footwell. Hardly the right way to deal with evidence. With narrowed eyes, I watched it, nostrils shaking slightly as I caught another hint of that heavy perfume and wolf pheromones.
Jace must be right. If his best tracker wolves had gone over it, they would’ve noted that wolf tinge. It didn’t mean the owner was one. Maybe Jacinta had just met one. But by the strength of this scent, she must’ve rubbed herself all over the guy.
Trying to distract myself from that particular thought, I realized we were slowing down.
Jace had driven the distance to the crime scene in under five freaking minutes in a virtual traffic jam. Ramming the Land Rover onto the pavement, he turned it off, kicked his door open, then scented the air.
Chest pushed forward, shoulders rounded back, he looked the part. The powerful werewolf.
But another word jumped into my head. The guard.
Because it took all of 0.1 seconds before his eyes jerked back to me and he grunted, “Stay in the car. Lock it from the inside. Don’t open it for anyone but me.”
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