by Riley Storm
The towel slipped a little more. If Pace were to pull away from her, it would drop away. The only thing keeping it in place was the pressure of his body pressed to hers. Carla was still trying to decide what she was going to do, if she should let it go, or if this was an appropriate time to stop.
It felt so good though. Why stop now, why not continue? Let him have her body. She could have his.
In the background, a noise began to play.
Pace paused, pulling his mouth from hers ever so slightly. “Is that the theme song from Star Wars?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said sheepishly, grabbing at the towel as they pulled back.
The moment was broken now and she tugged it all the way up, covering everything.
Damn cell phones.
“I guess you should get that, shouldn’t you,” Pace said.
“Yeah, probably. I hate them sometimes, you know. We can’t go anywhere without them these days.”
She jerked in surprise as a thought struck her.
“What is it?” Pace asked, suddenly serious. “Carla?”
“That’s it. We can’t go anywhere without cell phones now. They’re attached to us. Anyone who is remotely comfortable with technology owns one and is on it far too often, right?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Why?”
“I asked the medics who cleared the body if they found anything. They said only his wallet. We didn’t find a cell phone either in the rest of the house.”
Pace frowned. “So?”
“So if it wasn’t there, Pace, then where is it? A hacker wouldn’t be the type to not have a phone.”
She watched the recognition shoot through him.
“Someone took it.”
“Exactly,” she said excitedly, forgetting all about her compromised outfit and the events of thirty seconds prior. “Whoever killed the hacker must have taken it. The only reason I can think of for that, is that there was something on that phone. Something they wanted.”
Her phone stopped ringing, but Carla didn’t care. She’d check it later. Right now, she was focused on this new aspect of their case.
“Could be,” Pace agreed. “Definitely could be. But we can’t find it.”
“I’ll see if we can get the phone company to track it,” she explained. “We’ve done it a small handful of times before. If our killer didn’t turn it off, then there’s still a chance we can locate them. But I have to move quickly. I’ll head to the station tonight and start manning the phones. There’s no time to waste.”
Pace nodded. “Okay, sounds good. Call me if anything comes up.”
“I will,” she said.
They both paused then, their conversation apparently at an end.
“Umm.” Suddenly self-conscious, she backed into the bathroom, pulling the door closed.
“Right,” Pace said, shaking his head. “Of course. I’ll, uh, um, I’ll just show myself out.”
“Thanks,” she said, waiting for the sound of the door closing behind him.
Then she slid to the floor. Barton immediately came over and thrust his head into her face, demanding pats and alternating between that and trying to give her kisses.
“What did I just do?” she moaned, burying her face in her hands for the few moments she was able to before Barton wiggled free of her lap and resumed licking her face. “Thanks, boy,” she said, wrapping him up in a hug.
His tail thumped against the wall and he whined at her.
“You’re right,” she said, shaking herself. “I can’t worry about that right now. Whatever just happened with Pace, that’s going to have to wait until later. Until after we solve this case. I have a job, and it’s about time I started doing it!”
She got back to her feet, taking a deep, steadying breath.
I can do this.
“Time to get to work,” she told Barton. “I’ve got a murder to find.”
Chapter Twenty
Pace
The knock on his door coincided with Emma’s head popping around the corner.
“Soooo,” she said eagerly. “How did it go? Tell me all about it!”
Pace groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “Please don’t.”
“What do you mean? Did you bomb it? Did she say no?”
“You know, I always wanted a sister, growing up,” Pace said, scratching at his chin. “Are they always this nosy?”
Emma laughed. “Hey, you called me, mister. What did you think, that I would give you advice and then wait for you to come to me?”
“Uh, yes,” Pace told her. “That’s exactly what I thought you would do. Why would anyone expect otherwise? I’ll share what I’m willing to share. When I’m willing to share it.”
“I take it you’ve never heard of this thing called gossip before,” Emma said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“Aw crap.”
“Has he told you yet?”
Pace looked up in horror as Clarice entered the room.
“You told her?” he asked, staring at Emma open-mouthed.
“Well she’s my sister now too,” Emma said. “Which means she’s basically your sister as well. We’re both looking out for you. Plus she has wayyy more experience with this whole dragon thing than me. So I figured it was good to get her opinion.”
“Plus she put you on speaker phone with me when you first called,” Clarice added. “I just didn’t say anything.”
Pace moaned. “No, no-no-no. This is not happening. This is all a bad dream, nothing more, right?”
“Sorry, little bro. This is the real world. The big leagues,” Emma said. “Welcome to it.”
“I’m going to find whoever told me that having a sister to go to for advice on woman things was a good idea, and I’m going to make them understand they are so very wrong,” he complained, sliding down until he was flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “What are the odds that if I just lie here without saying anything, you two go away?”
“Slim to nil,” Emma said dryly. “Not without something to go on.”
“This is so embarrassing,” he said. “I’m still processing it myself,” he pointed out.
“Exactly. And we’re here to help you process it,” Clarice told him.
“No, you’re here because you want gory details of either my success or horrific failure.”
“So it was a success,” Emma said victoriously. “I knew it!”
Pace sat up. “I never said that!”
The two women shared a glance, then turned the same disbelieving look on him at the same time.
“Oh. This is scary. This is really scary,” he said, backpedalling. “We’ve created a monster. Where’s Asher? I think I hear him calling you, Emma. You had better go see what’s wrong!”
Clarice snorted. “He and Logan aren’t here right now. So you had better start spilling some details.”
No Logan either? He was stuck with both of their mates? Pace fell backward in slow motion, bouncing slightly as he hit the mattress.
Pace sighed loudly. “Why me?” But neither of them were listening.
“Alright,” he said after a moment, realizing it was inevitable. “I ended up kissing her. It got a little more intense. Then her cell phone rang. The end.”
The women did not look happy with the lack of detail. Too bad.
“Plus it doesn’t matter anyway,” he added, giving voice to some of the frustrations he’d had on his way home. “I can’t get close to her.”
“What? Why not?” Clarice asked, confused. Even Emma didn’t seem to know what he meant.
“Because,” Pace said, sitting up. “Because of what I am. She doesn’t know that, though she has some suspicions that I’m holding things back. I don’t know if I could be with someone and lie to them. So far I’ve avoided answering questions, but eventually they’re going to come up. She deserves better than that. Better than me.”
Emma pondered his words. “What if it’s more though?”
Pace looked at her. “What do yo
u mean? More what?”
“Like, what if she’s your mate?”
Pace stared at her, then turned his head to see Clarice also in shock.
“I…I never really considered that,” he admitted. “Could she be?”
Both of the women remained silent as he mulled that over, much to his relief. Pace didn’t have an answer to that question yet, and knew that it would require some serious thought on his end.
Carla…his mate?
“I can’t go down that path,” he said, holding up a hand to forestall the dual protests that appeared ready to break out. “Not yet at least, okay? I need to concentrate on working with her. On finding this dragon. He killed a human today. I can’t let that continue.”
“That doesn’t mean you need to let it fall by the wayside,” Emma said. “Asher and I went through a similar thing, you know. We still continued to explore ourselves, when we had a moment. All I’m saying, is don’t get too cold toward her.”
Pace nodded. “I understand. But what happens at the end of it all, you two?”
All he got in return were confused looks. Of course, they hadn’t thought it through to the natural conclusion; why would they? It wasn’t their fault. Pace didn’t blame them.
“Think about it. I have to steal her suspect from her. I have to bring him before the Dragon Council for judgment. He can’t go to a human prison, he’ll just escape it. So she’s never going to be able to solve this case. Because of me. I can’t get too close to her, and then destroy her career like that.”
“Oh,” Emma said quietly. “Right.”
“Yeah,” he said. “My actions are going to hurt her. How can I do that to someone who is my mate?”
“All I know, is that you’ll find a way,” Emma said. “You’re a decent guy, Pace. I have faith in you.”
Clarice nodded in agreement, patting him on the foot from where she sat.
Pace nodded, buoyed by the support of the mates of his two kin. Maybe in the end, having sisters wasn’t the worst thing ever.
He was going to find a way to fix things.
Somehow.
Chapter Twenty-One
Carla
Day Four
She wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with when someone knocked on her door, interrupting her morning coffee. Barton naturally perked up and went running, waiting for her to come and open it. After all, nobody knew who was on the other side. It could even be the mailman!
“Grrr.”
Putting her mug down, staring wistfully at the steam curling up from the lip, she walked over to the front door and peered through the spyhole.
“It’s open,” she called through the door, flicking the lock and making a beeline back to her coffee.
“Good morning,” Pace said, stepping inside.
“Mmmm,” she replied through a deep sip of just-a-little-too-hot goodness. “Not yet.”
“Um. Morning, then?” he said, dropping the good and hitting her with a pair of raised eyebrows as if to say, ‘someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn’t they?’
She ignored him for a moment, not ready to deal with humanity just yet. That gave him time to give Barton a good pet anyway, so it worked out for just about all parties, except maybe Pace.
Oh well, he would survive. He was a big boy.
Oh yes, he is…
Carla glared up at her brain, telling it to stop with the primal reminders of Pace’s sexual…endowment.
“Something on the ceiling?” Pace asked, walking into her kitchen, following her gaze upward.
“What?” Carla shook herself and craned her neck bad. “No, why?”
Pace frowned at her. “You were…never mind,” he said, waving it off. “What’s up, I got your text. Got something?”
“Not without some extreme effort, and more than a few threats on my end,” she growled. “You’d think that I was asking to hack into the president’s phone or something, instead of tracing a certain SIM card. Unbelievable.”
“Ah. Now I understand,” Pace said, giving her a little smile.
She fought down the butterflies in her stomach that threatened to lift her up onto her toes and present herself for a kiss.
He is not your boyfriend. Not even a boy friend. Or just a friend with…with, a six-pack, biceps as big as my legs and a co—Enough!
“It was not fun,” she grumbled, looking away, trying to discover where her self-control had gone since meeting Pace.
Carla had worked with some seriously hot men over the years, more than one of whom had tried to make a move on her. She wasn’t a saint, she had needs too, but over the past few years, her career had simply become more important and she’d ignored the temptations until they weren’t even that. Just something nice to look at.
Not Pace. He was in every corner of her mind. For heaven’s sake, he’d been in her dreams last night. They had been good dreams too, but now they were starting to intrude on her daily life. Carla needed to get a grip on herself and her damn hormones. After all, that’s all this was with him. A physical demand.
Wasn’t it?
“But they did cave to you in the end I assume?” Pace asked, cautiously peering into her coffee pot.
“Help yourself,” she said, her lips curling upward in a smile as he immediately went for a mug hanging from under the counter. “And yes, they did cave. I don’t back down easily.”
“So I’ve noticed,” he said under his breath, dodging her playful swat.
Playful swat? What are you doing! Control yourself. You are a grown woman and an officer of the law. Focus.
“I had to go to a judge and get a warrant first, but yeah, they caved. Took me all day yesterday though.”
Pace just nodded in response to that. He knew that she was on a time constraint, that she only had a set amount of days to close this case. It was relieving that he didn’t feel the need to remind her that she’d lost an entire day to bureaucracy.
“What do we know then?”
“We know where we’re going this morning,” she growled. “Whoever the murderer is must be trying to crack it, or use it. Because they didn’t turn it off. Was actually quite easy for them to track it apparently. It hadn’t moved as of me texting you an hour ago.”
Pace nodded, scratching Barton’s head with one hand, while he lifted the mug to his mouth and downed half his coffee in one go with the other. It was the picture-perfect casual moment, and Carla wondered just how and when the two of them had gotten so comfortable around each other.
They drank in silence for a few minutes, but then the coffee was done and it was time to get to work.
“I’ll drive,” he said as she locked her front door, after assuring Barton that he was a good boy and would survive until she got home.
“No, I will.”
Pace made a sad sound.
“What, you don’t enjoy getting folded up like a slinky into my front seat?” she teased. “You could always sit in the back?”
Pace hit her with a look. “And here I thought I was supposed to use the handcuffs on you.”
While Carla coughed and went beet red, Pace laughed and laughed.
“We’re on official police business,” she managed to get out. “So we drive an official police car. One that goes wee-ooo wee-ooo. Got it?”
“Wee-ooo wee-ooo. Oh yes, I think I’ve got that one,” Pace said, his laughter renewed.
“Hey, that’s an official police term, I’ll have you know. Don’t go making fun of it.”
Pace’s chest bounced with silent laughter. “Just open the door,” he said, giving her a big toothy grin.
Carla may have pulled out of her driveway a little too aggressively, because Pace made a questioning noise. “Eager to get back on the job?” he asked.
“Yeah. Yesterday was such a waste of a day,” she growled. “I sat at a desk all day.”
“Sounds boring.”
“It was.” She shrugged. “Sorry I didn’t call you, but I had nothing to report.”
“Mad at you for what? Oh, yeah.” Carla lifted one hand from the steering wheel in a ‘so-what’ gesture. “No, it’s fine. I’m not upset.”
She was about to say more, to address the incident for the first time and tell him that they probably shouldn’t do it again, but before she could, the radio squawked and a voice she knew all too well came over it.
“Frazer.”
“Yes, Sheriff?” she said, picking up the mic and keying the talk button. “What can I do for you today?”
“Can the attitude, Junior Deputy. What the hell is this damn warrant for a phone trace? Who gave you authorization for this?” he snarled.
“Judge Andersen did,” she replied tautly, trying to keep her cool. “It’s tracing the phone belonging to our murder victim yesterday. I thought we might want to know where it is. In case maybe the suspect is still there.”
Sheriff Dunbar came back immediately. “Ridiculous. We didn’t find a phone at the scene. You are barking up the wrong tree, Frazer. This is going to backfire on you so very badly. I am going to enjoy putting you back on traffic duty,” he chortled.
Before Carla could reply, Pace’s hand shot out and he all but ripped the mic from her hand.
“Sheriff Dunbar,” he said in a far-too-sweet voice. Anyone who knew him knew it was completely and totally fake.
Dunbar, however, was an idiot.
“Who the hell is this?”
“This is Pace Aterna, Sheriff. I am working with Deputy Frazer on this case, as it is personally relevant to me to find the person behind everything. Is there a reason that you are not more intent on solving this case? Do you, perhaps, no longer value the contributions that the Aterna family makes to Five Peaks, and to its law enforcement agencies?” he said sweetly.
There was a silence. “Ah, Mr. Aterna, I didn’t realize you were there.”
“Of course you didn’t, Duncebar,” Pace said icily, his tone freezing over in a span of a second. “Thankfully, we are almost at our destination, and unlike you, we have some investigating to do. So leave Deputy Frazer alone, until this case is resolved.”