by Nova Archer
"I could tear your throat out, bloodsucker."
Laal smiled and murmured quietly. "Not before I tore out yours, dog boy."
Caine was there in a second, pulling Jace off. The vampire was strong, but Jace had rage on his side and he remained pressed against the baron, his hands fisted in the fabric of his shirt. His teeth were starting to distend.
"Stand down, Jace," Caine demanded, his voice level but intense.
The power of it rippled over Jace's skin. Shivering, Jace let go of Laal and took a few steps back.
Brushing at the wrinkles in his shirt, Laal smiled again. But Jace could see a twinge of fear in the vampire's jaw and he could smell the ripe stench of it as it floated off him.
"You're fired," the baron stated. "Grab the stuff from your locker and get the hell out of my lab."
Jace made another run at Laal, but Caine stepped in his way pushing him back. He stumbled a few steps from the power of Caine's shove.
"Someone restrain him."
Jace wanted to laugh as Eve looked at Lyra and she looked at Caine. Like either one of them could restrain him. Then he spied Lyra's lips moving and her hand lifted out in front of her. Damn it! He didn't think she'd use magic on him.
Thinking he could run from it, Jace tried to make it to the door. But he couldn't move from where he was standing. The little witch had bound him to the spot.
She dropped her hand and shrugged. "Sorry, Jace."
Caine turned to Laal. "You can't fire him."
"Yeah," Lyra piped in. "He didn't even do what everyone says he did. Ta."
Her words trailed off when she met Jace's glare. She pressed her lips together and slumped down into a chair.
The witch knew the truth. He could see it in her eyes and the way she looked at him. With sympathy and understanding.
"Oh yes I can," he sniffed. "I'm the baron here. Not you, Caine. It's best you remember that. I should fire you too."
"Yeah, but you won't."
"Mistress Jannali thinks you're losing your edge. She thinks your team has become second rate and would easily be replaced."
Caine leaned into Laal close to his ear. "You can tell Ankara that she can shove it up her lily-white butt."
Jace laughed. "Yeah, tell her that from me too."
"Me too," Eve chimed in.
Lyra cleared her throat and squeaked, "And me."
The baron glanced at each of them, straightened his shoulders and walked to the door. Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder and said, "There is to be no contact with the human crime unit on this case or any case from now on. Break this and you'll all be looking for new jobs." Lifting his chin, he walked through the door, and stomped down the hallway back to his office.
Caine turned around and rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. "I think that went well."
Eve and Lyra chuckled, but Jace could hear the anxiety in the sound. He, too, felt trepidation. Maybe they had pushed the baron too far this time. He was certain that Mistress Janalli wasn't going to be pleased. And when she was angry the whole city shook with it.
"Could you release me?" Jace grunted.
Lyra lifted her hand and mumbled under her breath.
Within seconds, he could feel the pressure loosen and he was able to move again. He rubbed at his arms, still feeling the phantom tendrils of magic on his skin.
"Now do you have a plan?" Jace asked Caine.
The vampire arched a brow, a sure sign that he was formulating one. "Since they cleaned us out before we left, we need copies of all the evidence from the murders."
"How are we going to get that?" Lyra asked.
"Everything is downloaded into the computer system. Reports, crime scene photos, witness statements. Everything," Eve responded with a gleam in her eye. "And I can hack it all."
"Perfect." Caine moved to her and swept her into his arms. "My wife. The brilliant but diabolical computer wizard."
"I'll talk to my black arts contact and find out about this mark Tala was talking about," Lyra offered. "I'm also thinking we should go back through photos of Mel Howard and see if he had this mark, too. They have to be connected."
"Good thinking, Lyra," Caine said. "Let's get to work. I'll go and see Gwen and find out if she's made any headway on this mysterious DNA."
Jace stared at Caine. "And what am I doing?"
"You, my friend, are going for a long run. Chase off your pent up anger and frustrations then go home and get some food and sleep."
"What?" He took a step toward Caine. "You're joking right? You're actually going to let him fire me."
"Course not. But you aren't doing anyone any good with the way you're acting." Caine sighed. "You are way too edgy, Jace. More than usual. I don't know what happened between you and Tala, but you need to either get over it or deal with it."
"This isn't about a girl," Jace snarled.
Caine cocked that damn eyebrow again. "Isn't it?"
Cursing, Jace stormed across the room and out the door. Damn it, if the vampire wasn't right. He was edgy because of Tala, because he hated having to leave her. He had attacked the baron because he mentioned the teen that Tala had encountered.
Damn if the woman wasn't going to kill him. All the way from another city.
He had a feeling that even going for a long exhaustive run wasn't going to even dent the aggravation he was feeling. Only one thing could ease his frustrations. Unfortunately, what he had in mind was a little hard to do long distance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
By the time Tala ambled through the front door of her house, it was after one in the morning. Tossing her jacket and her shoes into a corner, she collapsed onto the sofa.
Exhaustion was trying to settle in. But the reserve of power humming through her refused to let it consume her. She never felt that sensation before and knew it was due to her lycan trying to free itself from the silver nitrate she'd been poisoning it with.
It had been close to twenty-four hours since she last dosed and she felt surprisingly in control. Maybe Jace had been right. Maybe she could learn to control it and learn to use it to her advantage. He said her gift didn't have to be a liability. She was starting to believe him.
After her visit to the hospital, Tala had gone back to the lab intent on finding Rick and making plans to contact the OCU and get information to them, but she'd been intercepted by Captain Morales with another assignment. Technically, she was still on loan from narc.
For the past three hours she'd been running through hundreds of hours of surveillance video connected to an ongoing bank robbery investigation. It had been tedious and unsuccessful but it did afford her an opportunity to copy the security footage from the second murder onto a disc. Now, she'd just have to download it to her personal computer and she could send it to Jace.
She also had other unfortunate news to share with him. Another murder occurred. The body was found and called in just as she was making her way out of the lab to go home. She deliberately ran into Rick on the way to the parking garage. He told her he'd pass on any information he could get. But the sheriff had reassigned him to other duties too. Someone had seen him talking with Jace before they were ushered out of the lab and ratted him out. There had even been chatter in the lab about Rick being a traitor. It was as if they were at war!
Her stomach rumbled. She put a hand over it and rubbed. She couldn't remember the last time she eaten. Standing, she wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. There was nothing inside but week-old pizza. She took out the box, opened the lid and began chomping on a cold piece.
She'd eat, then call Jace. Maybe her stomach would stop flipping around once she filled it with food. Surely, she couldn't be that nervous about calling the lycan.
Concentrate on the case not the man!
This was proving to be more difficult than Tala realized. Since his departure she'd been feeling strange. Detached in a way. As if some phantom part of her had been removed. She hated the sensation. There had been a con
stant cool breeze blowing over her. Shivers had erupted over her skin and she had to resort to wearing her jacket at the lab. She hadn't been able to get warm. Even now, she quivered.
Maybe she was coming down with something. The only thing with that reasoning was she'd never been sick. Not one day in her life. Once she went through puberty and realized what was stirring inside of her, she knew why. Lycans rarely got sick, if ever.
Stuffing the last of her pizza piece in her mouth, Tala wandered out of the kitchen to her computer desk in the corner of the living room. She sat at the desk, booted up her computer and slid the CD-ROM she made into her disc driver.
She picked up her cordless phone and punched in Jace's cell number. As it dialed, her hands shook and her throat tightened.
The phone rang six times before he answered. But when he did, those butterflies fluttering in her stomach quickly transformed into hummingbirds and made a descent to lower, more intimate regions.
JACE HAD JUST WALKED into his place, naked and sweaty from a four hour run, when his cell phone trilled. Still raging with anger and frustration, he snatched the phone, intent on giving the caller an earful, until he heard her voice.
"It's Tala."
His heart leapt into his throat and he could barely form words. Her voice was like music in his ears. A sweet haunting melody that made his blood race and his body tighten.
"Hey," he finally managed to get out.
"Ah, I just phoned to let you know I have that security footage for you, and some other stuff I managed to find out. Oh, and there was another murder," she said all in one breath.
Jace sat on his sofa and turned on his laptop. "Okay, send the info to my email address." He told her the address, as he opened his mail server he could hear her typing and the whir of her disc drive. He imagined her sitting at her desk, her hair unbound and falling around her shoulders, looking tired but pumped about something. He wondered what she was wearing.
Mentally, he slapped himself in the head. He had it bad if he was trying to envision what she had on while waiting for her to send him important information about a murder case. Still, his mind remained on that even as new mail popped into his inbox.
"Did you get it?"
Jace clicked on the new message. It was a short note with an attachment. "Yeah, thanks." He clicked on the attachment. Streaming video popped up. Instantly, he recognized the elevator from Rebecca's apartment building. "Looks good."
"I saw the kid in the hospital. His name is Tommy Ross, and he's involved somehow. The mark on his neck is definitely not a bruise. But he doesn't remember how he got it. Just ramblings about a wolf, a moon, and a voice in his head." She sighed. "I don't know. I think the kid's taken too many drugs."
Jace filed away the information she just gave him. "What about the newest murder? Anything?"
"No. I've been reassigned and warned to stay as far away as possible from the case." She chuckled softly. "But your inside man says he's going to do what he can to get me something to go on."
Jace laughed. Rick, the geeky lab tech, his inside man now? Scary thought. "He's a determined fellow."
She joined in his laughter. "That he is."
"Have they picked up Darryl yet?"
"No. He's disappeared."
Sighing, Jace leaned back against the sofa cushions. What he really wanted was to lean back into the comfort of Tala's arms and feel the soft rise of her breasts next to his skin. So vivid was the thought that he started to get hard.
Clearing his throat, he asked, "How are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean how are you doing? Did you take any more silver nitrate?"
She paused and he could hear her breath. She was considering something. Probably whether to tell him the truth or not. "No."
He smiled. "Good. How do you feel?"
"I feel okay."
"Tala, I can tell by the rise in your voice that you're not telling me the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
"Fine." She huffed. "I feel better. Stronger. Not as worn out or tired."
"You see, sometimes I know what I'm talking about."
"I guess."
By the way she spoke; he could tell that she was smiling. Warmth spread over him. Up from his toes across his torso and to his head. At this moment, Jace was very thankful he wasn't wearing any clothes. Lots of room for him to grow. Which he was doing rather quickly with her breathing in his ear.
"Miss me?" he asked.
"No," she sputtered.
"Yes, you do. I can tell in your voice."
"Bull."
He laughed. God, he wished he could see her face. His gaze roamed over his laptop and to the contraption attached to it. He leaned forward. "Hey, do you have a webcam?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I want to see you."
There was a sudden intake of breath. He loved hearing her do that.
"We don't need to see each other to talk about the case."
"Girl, for what I had in mind, it would certainly help if I could see you."
"Jericho. I'm hanging up now."
He chuckled. "I love it when you sound all shocked and righteous. Makes me as hard as stone, sugar."
She paused. But he could hear the sudden spike of her heart rate. He hoped she was imagining what he looked like hard as stone.
"Jace, this can't go anywhere."
"What can't?"
"You and me."
It hurt hearing her say that, but Jace knew she did out of a reflex to protect herself. Something she'd be doing her whole life to keep people away, at arm's length. He could accept that separation. For now.
"Tala, it's just a webcam. It's not forever. Turn it on and let me see you."
There was a long pause, and for a brief moment he thought she was going to refuse and hang up on him. But after a few agonizing minutes, she agreed.
Setting the phone down, Jace turned on his webcam, tilted it toward his face-he didn't want to frighten her with his nakedness—signed into IM and waited for Tala. A minute later, a message popped up and there she was. Her striking face flickered on his screen.
She was frowning. And she looked absolutely adorable doing it.
He smiled. "There you are, gorgeous," he said into the built-in microphone on his computer.
The corners of her mouth twitched. Immediately, she rubbed a hand over her mouth to camouflage it. Too late, he thought.
"This feels absolutely juvenile."
He chuckled. "I know, ain't it great?"
As she laughed her eyes dipped lower and her smile faded. "Are you naked?"
He glanced down at himself and his growing erection. "Yup. I sure as hell am."
He could see her cheeks pinken. He loved it when she acted so embarrassed. Turned him on even more. It made him want to do things to outrage her, just to see her reaction.
"You're a pervert, you know that?"
"I know." He leaned back against the sofa. "And you love it."
"I don't."
"Oh yes, you do." Jace set his right hand down in his lap. He would show her just how perverted he could get. He wrapped his hand around his erection and began to stroke it nice and slowly.
Again her gaze dipped low. She flinched but he could see the way her eyes narrowed, and could hear the slight increase in her heart rate and breathing.
"Jace, I can see your arm moving. You better not be doing what I think you're doing."
"I am, babe. But I sure wish it was your hand touching me." Jace increased his rhythm. Already, he was very close to coming. Just knowing that Tala was there watching him made him burn inside and out. "Join me."
"What?" she sputtered.
"Come on. You don't even have to get naked. Just unbutton your pants and slide your hand down."
She shook her head. "No way." But the flush on her face was telling him she was certainly enticed by the thought.
"I'd love to watch your face as you touch yourself, Tala. I couldn't imagine anything as sexy
as that."
He watched in fascination as her resolve broke. She began to unbutton her blouse.
"This is crazy, you know that, right?"
He nodded, his throat too constricted with blossoming desire to get out any words. By the way his mind was muddled, he was sure the words wouldn't make sense anyway.
Once Tala's shirt was undone, she parted the halves. She was wearing a simple white cotton bra, but it nearly did him in to see her in it. The tops of her breasts quivered when she breathed. He wished he could lick her skin, right along the V of her breasts.
Her right hand disappeared below his line of vision on the screen. But he didn't need to see what she was doing. It was written all over her face.
The hesitation and then the heightened desire as she unsnapped her pants and slid her hand into her panties. He could picture it in his mind and it nearly made him groan.
He watched as she shifted on her chair and this time he did moan. He imagined her spreading her legs to accommodate her fingers. Was she sliding them over her slick flesh trying to find that perfect spot? The one sensitive place that would send her reeling and out of control.
Her breathing quickened in his ear through the microphone. If he listened closely, he could discern the liquid sounds of her fingers moving over her body. Gritting his teeth, Jace had to slow his pace or it would be all over too soon.
He wanted this to last as long as it could. Because he feared not seeing her again. Not in the flesh, not on screen, not in any form.
"Oh, um," she panted. "I've never done this before."
"Me either." His body was nearing orgasm. Every muscle was tightening, getting ready to snap. But he wanted to wait until she was close.
When she tossed her head back and gasped, he bit down on his lip. She was so sexy, so utterly beguiling. He wished with all his heart that he could be there with her, touching her, making her squirm and gasp his name over and over again. Nothing would please him more.
"You're so damn beautiful, woman," he groaned. "I wish I could touch you."
"You are touching me, Jace." She moistened her lips with her tongue. "These are your fingers on me, inside of me. It’s you. Only you."