Night Games

by Crystal Jordan

  Besides, from what little she’d seen of the kid, he wasn’t particularly chatty with anyone he didn’t know well. Apparently, all the wedding planning and rehearsals they’d attended in the last few months meant he’d decided he liked her. She was touched. But maybe that was just the champagne.

  “I wanted to know what it was like.” There was no uncertainty in his voice when he spoke, no excuses. He’d done what he’d done and that was the end of it. Very unusual for a kid his age, but Merek had made it clear that Alex was no ordinary teenager. She believed him now.

  She tilted her head. “You wanted to know what high school was like?”

  “Yeah. Dating, prom, graduation.” One shoulder dipped in a shrug. “You know, normal kid stuff.”

  “When you’re a super-genius teen wolf, you just want to be Normal?”

  “Something like that.” He snorted. “My dad didn’t care what I did, as long as I stayed out of trouble. When Chloe took me in and found out I was deliberately slowing my education, she put her foot down and made me graduate this year.” He slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged again. “I’ve been taking extra classes from the local community college and the University of Washington since I was ten, so I’m almost done with a couple of degrees anyway.”

  He said it so casually, it took her a moment to process his words. “A couple of degrees?”

  “Well, I was interested in a lot of things. Computer science, biology, mechanical engineering, mathematics, Russian, Hindi.”

  Her lips twitched and she tried not to laugh. “Is that all?”

  “I have a couple of minors, too. Anthropology, chemistry, oceanography, aeronautics and astronautics.” His dark brows scrunched together for a moment. “I’m pretty sure that’s all of them.”

  “So, basically, if you can think of it, you can build it ... computers, cars, submarines, planes, and spaceships?”

  He chuckled. “More or less. I’ll probably complete those undergrad degrees in a few semesters, and I think I’m going to focus my graduate studies on computer science and cryptography.”

  “How long do you think it’ll take you to finish? A week?”

  He nodded sagely. “Maybe a week and a half.”

  Giving in to the urge to chuckle, she reached out and snagged a fresh glass of champagne from a passing waiter. Bless Millie and her open bar policies for this shindig.

  “Leave me alone, Special Agent Cavalli. I may have to deal with you at work, but I’m off duty right now.” The low, angry hiss of voices drew her attention away from the dance floor. A few feet away, Luca and Tess stood glaring at each other.

  The vampire’s gaze flashed red for a moment, but that was the only indicator that he was upset. His voice was as smooth as ever, with only a hint of his native Italy. “We still have a great deal to discuss.”

  “That’s funny, because I have nothing left to say to you. What we had is over and has been for months. Get over it and move on, Luca, for both our sakes. Quit beating a dead horse.”

  Alex obviously noticed the couple’s spat, too, because he made a small noise in the back of his throat. His telepathic voice echoed in Selina’s head. Glad everyone is on their best behavior today. I’ve seen those two really go at it a couple of times since she joined the Seattle pack.

  Tess turned her face away and deliberately did not look at Cavalli, while the man stared at her with painful longing in his eyes.

  “As you wish, mia diletta.” Then he sighed and disappeared into the crowd.

  Thank gods that unrequited love was an affliction long behind her. Selina shuddered in horror. She was too old for that shit. Give her a proper villain to shoot at any day. Anything but lovesickness.

  How many hours did she have left before she could slip away from this party unnoticed? Quite a few, considering she was a bridesmaid. Damn it. She was ready to be home with a cup of coffee, her German shepherd familiar curled at her feet, and a stack of case files from work to go through. Then she could put the past back where it belonged. Behind her and not jumping up to haunt her at every turn.

  “They want the wedding people to dance now. I’m not dealing with pissed-off Tess and Luca. Let’s go.” Alex grabbed Selina’s elbow and drew her out onto the dance floor. Merek handed Chloe off to Luca, and Tess took the groom’s hand.

  Selina released a sigh. Well, that was handled about as well as could be expected. She let Alex steer her around in a waltz, and the kid managed to only step on her toes once. She’d been trampled a lot worse, but she was more than happy to step aside and let Millie take a spin with the best man. Other wedding guests joined in and soon she faded into the background again to observe. Then her boss asked her to dance, and it wasn’t as if she had a choice, so she acquiesced. Apparently, every cop there wanted a chance to tell her she looked pretty in her dress. Harassing other officers was part of cop culture, but tonight it just made her want to punch them in the nose. She forced herself to smile and keep dancing for several hours. Killing people at a wedding would be bad form.

  Her toes hurt like a bitch, she wanted to burn this outfit along with the pointy shoes, and every time she caught a glimpse of the happy couple, she flashed back to her own wedding day. She saw her family in their finery, little Bess bouncing off the walls in excitement, her new husband’s warm smile. Hot pain seared through her chest, and she swallowed hard. What she wouldn’t give for some of that ice she was so famous for, but she felt anything but cold-blooded and logical tonight.

  She didn’t want to think about that. It had been so long ago. She’d been so young, so happy, so sure she’d be that happy for decades to come.

  Instead, he’d died and left her alone after a handful of sweet years.

  “I’ll see you later,” she said to her dance partner, and he grunted in response. She eased herself through the throngs toward the bartender and all his nice bottles of distraction.

  Even better, she saw a muscular man stepping up to the bar in front of her, and the sight was delicious. His slacks hugged a very nice ass, and his shirt fit his broad shoulders just right. A wicked smile curved her lips.

  Hey, she’d been around long enough to know when to just stop and enjoy the view.

  There was nothing like this kind of shindig to remind people of everything they weren’t.

  On any other day, Jack could give a flying rat’s ass about being the only Normal human in a crowd of Magickals. It was a role he’d gotten used to since his mother married a werewolf when he was in junior high. His normality was the very reason he’d been recruited into the FBI’s Magickal Crimes Unit. Luca wanted an agent who could fly under the radar of Magickal senses, and someone who could give a different perspective to the MCU. Jack had never regretted his decision to join up and get drawn back into the world of magic, but fancy parties like this, where all the Magickal elite congregated, definitely had a way of pointing out exactly how different he was from everyone in his life.

  Hell, even his mother had gone over to the fanged side.

  He took a last swig of scotch, handed the glass over to the bartender, and tugged at his tie, doing his damndest not to feel conspicuous. The only way this could be worse was if he’d been stuck in the wedding party. Thankfully, Merek hadn’t done that to him. Cavalli had landed that particular honor in the unit.

  The booze was good, at least. Chloe’s aunt knew how to throw a party. But she’d also invited a veritable who’s who of Magickals. Even a human could feel the buzz of powerful magic in the place. Many of these people were centuries old, and those years to hone their abilities showed, even if most of them looked no older than he did. Late thirties, early forties. He had no idea why magic made them all stop aging when they hit adulthood, but it sent a chill down the spine at times to look into eyes that had seen far too much for far too long. By human standards anyway.

  He sighed and nodded to the bartender when the man set a fresh glass of whiskey in front of him. “Thanks.”

  “I’d like another champagne, please.�
��

  The woman’s smoky voice made the hairs rise on the back of Jack’s neck, awareness sliding through him. Her perfume was as rich and heady as her voice. He turned to look at her, hoping that the visual was as good. It’d be a damn shame for a woman to sound that sexy if the rest of the package didn’t match.

  It did. The woman was slender, but the dress she wore hugged every single one of the curves she had. Her hair was dark and short, tucked behind one ear to show the elfish point. When she met his gaze, the awareness burned into something much hotter. Jesus, she was even more gorgeous than he’d remembered.

  “Hi.” He let his smile widen slowly as he met her dark gaze. “Selina Grayson, right?”

  “Hello.”

  She gave him the kind of glance that said he looked vaguely familiar, and it took her a moment to place where she’d seen him. Though he hadn’t spoken to her before tonight, he’d never forget the first time he’d seen her, months ago. At the hospital after Tess, Chloe, and her godson were attacked by werewolf terrorists. The entire MCU had been called in to clean up the mess and track down the fleeing members of that terrorist cell. Including its leader, Leonard Smith. The wolf had been one of the most wanted criminals on Magickal watch lists. Until Merek had put a bullet through his skull. Jack had been there for that day, had been close enough to Smith at the time to be sprayed by the hot blood.

  Her chin dipped in a nod. “You’re one of Cavalli’s men, right?”

  “I’m on his team, yeah. I’m Jack Laramie.” He toasted her with his glass. “And you’re Merek’s old partner.” He winced a bit. “Sorry, I mean former partner.”

  “Old is probably more accurate.” Her laugh was rich, sensual, and she looked him over with enough interest to make his heart rate bump up a notch. “Call me Selina, Jack.”

  He let his smile spread, and his gaze moved over her body with as much thoroughness as she’d used on him. “You don’t look that old to me, but I’m a Normal so I’ve always been bad at judging these things with Magickals.”

  She blinked, then blinked again, as if she were trying to get her mind to process that. “Cavalli has a Normal on his Magickal law enforcement team? Is that even legal?”

  Most people just thought those questions. They didn’t blatantly ask them, at least not to his face. Those who did were usually dicks about it. His mouth twisted in a smile. “Yes, he’s allowed to do that. He didn’t break any secrecy laws—my stepfather is a Magickal, so I already knew about magic. I just can’t work it.”

  “Sorry,” she said, though she didn’t look at all remorseful. “There’s really not a tactful way to ask about that.”

  “If there is, no one’s used it on me yet.”

  “Ouch.” She gave a little wince of sympathy.

  He shrugged. “That’s the way it goes sometimes.” He watched her grip tighten on her champagne flute, and he realized that she wasn’t as relaxed as she appeared at first glance. “Are you enjoying yourself tonight?”

  “I’m a cop. Fancy parties aren’t normally my speed.”

  He knew exactly what she meant. He moved down the bar, settled next to her, and turned so his back was pressed to the wood. His shoulder brushed against hers, and he could feel that sharp spark of awareness that had hit him when he’d first heard her voice. The female scent of her filled his nose, and from this close, he could see the smoothness of her skin. He wanted to touch it, and his body reacted to that line of thinking.

  Shifting so she faced the crowd with him, he tried not to groan as she ended up plastered to his side. He expected her to move away from him, but she didn’t. She just took a sip of her champagne and cast him a glance through her eyelashes. “Are you enjoying yourself tonight?”

  “Not until about three minutes ago, but things are starting to look up.” The slow burn in his veins had little to do with the scotch he’d consumed. He’d gone from wishing he could escape to hoping he got to spend a few more hours with the woman beside him. Definite improvement.

  “I was just thinking the same thing.” She tapped his glass with hers. “This is a much better distraction than booze.”

  He chuckled. “I rank above the bubbly? I’m flattered.”

  “You should be.”

  “Is it just the high society shindig that makes you want to drink away the evening?” Because he knew he had plenty of other reasons for not wanting to think about people getting married. His own foray into matrimony could only be described as a disaster. A huge, ugly clusterfuck of a disaster. Too-familiar guilt and pain twisted deep inside him, but he shoved the memories aside and took another deep swig of his scotch.

  Her shoulders twitched in a shrug, which made her arm slide against his. Even that innocent touch made him clench his teeth. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been so physically attracted to a woman so fast, but he was sure he liked it.

  “I’m not a fan of weddings, high society or otherwise. Plus, every person in my entire chain of command is here.” She toyed with the necklace she wore, licked her lips, and glanced up at him.

  “I can see how that could be hard on a person.” It was hard on something, all right. His cock stiffened in his slacks as his gaze locked on her mouth. He could picture those full lips moving over very intimate parts of his body. Not a good thought to be having if he didn’t want to embarrass himself in public. Everyone in his chain of command was here, too, including every ranking member of the All-Magickal Council.

  A little smile curled up the corners of her lips. He got the feeling her smile wasn’t something people readily got to see. He knew for certain he hadn’t seen it before today. If he had, he would have asked her out a long time ago. Something that powerful deserved to be appreciated.

  “You’re staring,” she said, the smile growing wider.

  He didn’t stop. “I’m in law enforcement. Observing people is part of what I do.”

  “Is that what you tell the girls?” She shifted closer, her dark gaze flashing unmistakable interest. And heat.

  “No.” He grinned. “I tell the girls ... that’s a nice necklace.”

  Her dark brows winged upward, her palm covering the pendant that rested below her collarbone. “It’s a talisman.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where did you get that?”

  For a second, wariness shone in her gaze. She was not used to telling anyone her business. How he knew that so certainly, he wasn’t sure.

  “My cousin made it for me. Elves have a special gift for bespelled objects. We’re the best at it. The Elven Assembly even regulates the use of these kinds of objects.” She dropped her hand so he could see it more clearly. “This talisman is for protection. My cousin thought I could use it, since I’d just graduated from the police academy.”

  The chain was silver and a little thick for women’s jewelry, and the charm was made up of a few colored stones woven into an intricate design with more silver and perhaps copper.

  “A little luck in the line of duty is a good thing.” He’d had his fair share, and he was hoping for a larger share in order to get lucky tonight. “The elves regulate jinxed, hexed, and cursed objects, too, don’t they?”

  Her lips pursed. “Cursed objects don’t exist anymore, thank gods. They were outlawed a century ago, and all the remaining ones were destroyed. Hexed and jinxed objects, on the other hand, are tightly regulated. I’ve busted several teenagers messing with that kind of magic illegally.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He grinned. “Sounds like something I’d have done as a kid, if I were a Magickal.”

  Her gaze dropped to his lips when he spoke, and she leaned closer until his nose filled with the scent of her perfume. He wanted to touch her. Badly.

  “Are you married or otherwise spoken for?”

  They both winced at his bald question. He had no idea what her grimace was for, but he had more ugly memories about being married than he could handle in a lifetime. Weddings like this didn’t bother him—his own wedding had been great. It was the marriage that had fucked up. None of it was something
he liked to think about, though. The silence stretched, so he answered his own question, hoping to encourage her to do the same. “I’m single now, but I was married once. A long time ago.”

  “Same here.” She looked down at her glass. “A couple of centuries ago, in fact.”

  “Mine is more like decades, but it averages out in human-to-elf years, I guess.” He didn’t ask how old she was. Even Magickal women who had such long life spans didn’t seem to like to admit when they passed thirty, so he’d learned to avoid the topic for the most part.

  “I suppose it does.” She finished the last of her champagne and set the flute on the bar behind them. When her gaze met his, it was frank, no coy games, no teasing. “So, you’re available and I’m available. Isn’t that interesting?”

  “I think so.” He smiled, and he knew the expression was nothing short of lascivious. He liked her forthrightness, and if he was reading this correctly, he was going to be enjoying a lot more of her tonight. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on that hot little body. Since he couldn’t strip her in their current surroundings, he asked, “Would you like to dance?”

  She glanced at the couples swaying together slowly. “Sure.”

  He held his hand out for her, and she slid her fingers into his. Yeah, touching her was just as good as he’d suspected it would be.

  Drawing her out onto the dance floor and into his arms, he bit back a groan at having her slim curves pressed against his front. He made certain his hold wasn’t so tight that she’d notice his rising erection, but he still enjoyed the lust sizzling through his veins. It was rare that he met a woman who got to him like this, and the anticipation just made it all the more arousing to have her near, smell her sweet scent, slide his hands down her back.

  “This is good.” She settled herself against him, arching to let him know she’d noticed his erection. He grinned. Of course she’d noticed.

  He pulled her closer. “I know what you mean.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.”