The car bumped to a stop at the edge of the highway. “You need to tell me the truth.” Dane swiveled in his seat to face her. “What were you doing on that ranch?”
“Going for a hike.”
He turned around, threw the transmission into park, and turned back. “Look, you can give me more of your bullshit or you can answer me. Tell me the truth and I won’t have to lock you up.”
She cringed as she thought about sitting behind bars. If she was locked up there would be no one who’d be able to help Natalie. No one, other than her, cared or would know where to look. Aura let her gaze settle on the handsome man that stared at her. It would be nice to have a powerful ally, and Dane Burke wasn’t hard to look at … or hard to kiss.
“I don’t do well in a confined space. Let me out and I will tell you everything. My truck’s a mile back. When I’m done, you have to promise to let me go.”
“Go where?”
Did he not want her to leave? No. He must see her like any other criminal, she was just another form to fill out, another report to write.
“I’ll stay around Somers as long as I need to. When I get what I came for then I’m leaving — and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
He turned to the front and put his hands on the wheel and tapped his fingers, as if he was thinking about really letting her go. After a moment he got out and opened her door.
Dane stared down at her through the open door. “If I do this, you have to stay here until all of my questions are answered. No running off, or I will put a warrant out for your arrest. Got it?”
She slid to the edge of the seat and stuck her legs out the door. “I got it.”
Her hand grazed the rough fabric of his uniform, and the lust she had felt when he’d pinned her down to the ground filled her once again. Damn her nymph urges. Why couldn’t she control this lust that she felt around Dane? It was normally not a problem. She’d been alive long enough that it was usually easy to turn on and off the switch between her seductive nymph-like being and simple, albeit beautiful, pseudo-human, but not around the handsome brunette who’d lain between her thighs.
Their eyes connected for a split-second, allowing her to enjoy the faint gold sparkles in the warm brown of his irises. Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s as his lips quivered into a sexy melting half grin. A faint warmth rose up her neck and spread to her face. She quickly dropped her gaze to the ground, breaking the connection.
The gravel crunched under him as he turned away from her and let her step out of the car.
“Are you going to tell me what you were doing at the ranch or what?”
His pants pulled against the round muscles of his ass as he walked a few steps away. If she was going to work with anyone, she could definitely work with this chiseled specimen of human man.
Besides, he didn’t need the whole truth. And perhaps he could fill in a few of the blanks. He had access to resources she could only hope for.
Dane spun around and pointed at her assertively. “Listen … I don’t know what the hell came over me back there.” He motioned in the direction of the ranch with his head. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you broke the law.”
Her gut wrenched. She had started to seduce him, admittedly, but he couldn’t turn her away. No man was able to refuse her, not once they tasted the forbidden fruit that was her kiss.
“You’re beautiful … I mean really goddamned beautiful. But I have a job to do. I can’t let you or anything else, get in the way.”
So he didn’t want her then? Even better. No sexual relationship would be necessary and she could use him to help her find Natalie. Not that the sex would be bad.
Aura glanced over at the deputy. He was right. He had a job to do, but so did she.
“I understand.” She stood up and slammed the car door shut behind her. He wouldn’t be putting her back in that place. Ever. “You and I … It was a mistake. It’s just not every day I get swept off my feet by a man in uniform.”
“You call getting apprehended ‘getting swept off your feet’?” He smiled and his teeth shone brightly in the morning sun. “I’d hate to think what would happen if I was really trying.”
So would she.
“I haven’t had a lot of great experiences in my life.” She leaned back against the patrol car, careful to keep her gaze firmly planted on the tips of her boots.
“I hope that someday that can change for you.” The tension buzzed between them for a moment. “Does the ranch have anything to do with these experiences?”
It struck her as strange that this man would ask such a personal question, but then she reminded herself that he was an officer of the law. It was his job to ask the real questions, the questions that most people danced around.
“Not the ranch exactly. It’s only a speed bump.”
Dane pushed his arms over his chest and his face moved into the practiced stoic face of a seasoned officer. “What does that mean?”
“I need to get to Shirley Mountain and the Forest Service land behind the ranch.” She stopped there, hoping he would simply say he had a way. She silently begged that she wouldn’t have to expose herself any more than she already had to this man. “And I need your help.”
“What’s there? Behind it? What are you looking for?”
Of course he would continue to press her for answers. Damn cops.
She bit the edge of her lip until the faint taste of blood filled her mouth. “My sister, Natalie, is missing.”
There was barely a flicker on Dane’s face. “Did you file a missing persons report?”
He was always about work. Of course Natalie was just like any other girl who had gone missing. He couldn’t possibly realize how much more she was, nymph, friend, and sister. Natalie was her everything.
“She’s been missing seven days now. The last time I talked to her she was somewhere close to Somers. Her phone was traced back to that stretch of land.” She pointed at the sprawling mountains that rose up so tall their blue tips tore at the underbellies of the clouds that tried to pass over.
“How do you know she’s missing and not just failing to call you?”
“We talk every day.” Irritation poured out of her voice and she instantly felt guilty. He didn’t know. He was only doing his job.
“So she wasn’t angry with you?”
“Yes, but not enough to stop calling. I just couldn’t make it to Montana with her — I had to finish with a client — she got mad, but she’s not the type to hold a grudge for something that asinine.”
“What kind of client?” He gave her a sideways glance.
“I’m a horse trainer.”
He nodded approvingly, but something about him still made it seem like her every move was being scrutinized. “You’re from Arizona, correct?”
She glared at him. “You know the answer to that. I’m sure you did your little background check.”
He looked away from her. “Why was Natalie in Somers?”
Aura held back the desire to give him a snippy reply. He was trying to help. “She’d gotten a line on a great job from a friend. When she got up here, the job had dried up, but she liked it so much her friend convinced her to stay. They were hiking, then she just up and disappeared.”
Dane pulled the pad of paper from his pocket. “What makes you assume there has been any foul play?”
“She’d told me she’d been staying with a friend not far from the marina.”
“Was that what you were really doing there? Looking for evidence of your sister?”
She answered with a short nod. “I need you to make me a promise … I’ll tell you everything you need to know on one condition.”
“And what is that?”
“I want to be involved in every aspect of this case.”
“Impo
ssible. I’m a cop. You’re a civilian. Have you ever heard of boundaries?”
“Boundaries are made to be broken … ” She smiled. “Now do you want to help me find Natalie or not?”
Dane shook his head resignedly. “I can’t promise you’ll be included with everything, but I will let you be as involved as I can.”
“Fair,” she said excitedly.
His eyebrows shot up. “So, if you’re telling the truth now, what do you really know about the hand we found at the marina?”
Of course he would think she had something to do with the hand. “All I know is that it wasn’t hers. My sister would never wear red nail polish. She’s too much of an artist.” Aura reached into her back pocket and pulled out the bunch of cloth she stuffed in it before she’d left. “Which means she wouldn’t have had any need for this.” She lifted up the blood smattered camisole with lace around its edges. “I found it in the back of her deserted truck.”
“What the hell?” He took the cloth and inspected it, then looked up at her. “You do realize that you’ve destroyed whatever evidence we could get from this? And why didn’t you tell me you found her truck? You do know what this could mean don’t you?”
Was he really going to lecture her?
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before you trespassed on the Diamond?” He jabbed the shirt at her.
“I called you about the hand — and look where that landed me.” Right into the lap of the one man I should be running from. “And besides, that’s not Natalie’s shirt. She doesn’t wear that kind of stuff. And I’m only here to find her.”
He twisted it gently around as he inspected the fabric. “Maybe we can still get a DNA sample from some of the blood.”
“I already told you, it’s not her shirt.”
“Well, whoever’s shirt this is, there’s a good chance that they aren’t alive.” He lifted it up so she could see the thin small hole that pierced the fabric of the front, just over where the wearer’s heart would have been. The dried brown blood ran around the hole and down the front of the shirt.
Dane was right. Someone out there, someone who was somehow involved with her sister, lay dead.
Chapter Five
Just another great day at the office. Dane pulled the evidence bag shut around the white camisole. The lights of the patrol cars reflected against the snow as it blanketed the ground around the white Ranger.
He couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Aura hadn’t called the police when she’d found the bloody top. Who in their right mind would take evidence from a crime scene and stuff it in their pocket? The only thing he could fall back on was that she had been afraid to call the police about her sister’s disappearance. But why? What was she hiding?
The sergeant tracked through the thin layer of fresh snow toward him. “We’ve collected some hair samples and we found a small amount of blood pooled in the bed of the truck. We will send them off to the crime lab and see what we can get.”
Dane handed the man the bag with the shirt inside. “I’m hoping they can pull some DNA from this. I don’t know how much use it will be, but maybe we can get something.”
What had Aura’s sister gotten into? Was she the murderer or was she going to turn up as another victim? For now, he could only hope that Natalie was still alive.
He glanced over at Aura. Her arms were pulled tight across her chest and she stared out in the direction of the timber that grew tall and dark along the sides of the logging road. If she hadn’t gotten turned around coming out of that ranch, she would have never run across the crime scene. She was either the luckiest or the least lucky woman he’d ever met — she kept popping up in the worst places for her and the best places for him to get a handle on the sudden wave of crime that was hitting the county.
What did all these crimes have to do to with her and her sister? Something about it all sat in him like a soured turkey sandwich. There was just something so wrong. If he didn’t get to the bottom of it soon, there would be hell to pay — not only within the department and the people of Flathead County, but within him as well. He couldn’t let a woman die in his county and let the murderer get away with it. Not to mention a possible missing person case.
Aura chewed on her lip like an angst-filled mother. A strange sense of guilt and empathy roiled in his stomach. He tried to swallow it away. She’s just another face, another name in the books — even if I did kiss her, even if she is sexy as hell, I can’t think of her like anything more. I’ll lose my objectivity and my reputation.
No matter how hard he tried to rid himself of the feelings, they remained.
One of the secondary officers pushed out from the pine boughs and stepped up onto the road. “Sarge? I think we got something down there.” He pointed down the hill in the direction he’d come. “I think I found our vic.”
Aura’s face blanched and her arms tightened. He stepped toward her. A profound need to hold her flooded his senses. She needed him. She was strong, but she looked so terrified.
He stopped just short of her, and held his arms to his sides. “You stay here. We can’t have you contaminating another crime scene.”
She nodded.
Dane turned and made his way to the road’s edge. The officer led the way down the steep, slippery hill. He worked back and forth through the underbrush like a well-trained bloodhound. The sergeant walked ahead of him, grunting as he stepped over downed logs and tripped on the tiny bushes that littered the ground.
The pit in his stomach grew. Every part of him hoped that the person the officer had found wouldn’t be Natalie. Aura would be devastated. She cared so much for her sister. It was easy to see that her life revolved around finding the woman, and if she had been murdered …
The man led them to the edge of a wide pit where a pine had fallen, pulling its roots out of the ground. Its root ball stuck up from the far side of the pit, the top of it covered in a layer of snow. Dane stopped and stared down into the natural grave. At the bottom lay a dark-haired woman. She lay face down in the dirt. An icy breeze slid by him and slipped down into the hole, pushed the listless brown hair from the woman’s neck, and exposed the black horse tattooed on the base of her cervical vertebrae.
What was his ex-wife Angela doing here? Dane’s breath caught in his throat. Zeb was going to have a holy shit fit when he learned they’d found his wife dead.
Dark ruby red trails of dried blood clung to her neck like feasting worms.
Dane fell to his knees.
• • •
The hillside was slick as Aura worked her way down to Dane. He’d told her to stay behind, but the need to know for sure gnawed at her. If the victim was Natalie … well, it couldn’t be Natalie — but if it was, someone was going to pay.
Her foot slipped on an icy patch and she grabbed a handful of pine tree to stop herself from falling. Her heart thrashed in her chest as she regained her footing. Something wrapped around her fingers as she tried to pull them from the sapling. Aura glanced at her hand. Around her fingers was a handful of long black horse hair.
The hair was darker than Natalie’s. Aura lifted it to her nose and sniffed. The uric scent was strong, full of hormones, and there was a faint hint of something else that she couldn’t identify. From the urea it had to be a hair from another Mustang-shifter, but who?
The rumble of the sergeant’s voice broke her concentration. She wrapped the hairs in a Kleenex and stuffed the little square into her pocket. Dane would be pissed that she was concealing evidence, but she couldn’t risk exposing her kind. He wouldn’t learn anything even if he followed the horse lead.
Natalie had come here on the promise of a job at a ranch, but had there been another reason that she had been lured to this place? Had Natalie been hiding the truth from her in the same way Aura was hiding the truth from Dane?
Standing on the edge
of a wide pit was the stiff-backed sergeant; at his side were Dane and another officer who clicked away with a digital camera. Dane was crouched in a tight ball, almost like a tiger waiting to strike. Aura’s hands shook as she made her way to them. Nausea rolled through her as the cold putrid scent of death wafted up from the pit.
Dane stood up. “Don’t come any closer.”
She pushed past him and peered in. There was a brunette woman at the bottom she didn’t recognize.
The woman’s left hand was missing.
A sense of pity for the woman passed through her, quickly followed by relief. The nausea disappeared.
Natalie is still alive.
“Thank the gods.”
“What?” Dane stared at her with a pinched angry look upon his face. “What the hell do you mean by that? You’re happy my ex-wife is at the bottom of a pit?”
The wavering nausea returned and she covered her mouth as she stared at the black tattoo that matched her own. She reached back and ran her fingers over her skin, trying to hide their shared secret. It was so hard to kill a nymph — who ever had killed the woman must have known the truth of their existence. No bullet, no drowning, nothing could kill them. The murderer was either aware of their secret, or the murderer was a nymph … like Natalie.
“I’m sorry.” Dane had been married to a horse-shifter. Did he know about her kind? “I … I didn’t realize.”
He looked back toward the pit and away from her apologetic gaze, but there was no sign he knew the truth about her or her kind.
“Goddamn it.” His shoulders fell and there was an air of vulnerability that surrounded him. “Who would want to kill her? She was no saint, but why?”
“I’m so sorry,” she said almost in a whisper. Before she could stop herself, Aura leaned down and wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her face into the sweet scent of his neck like he was one of her injured horses — another soul in need of help.
He reached up and touched her hand that rested below his chin. “You didn’t know.”
No … but she hadn’t known that he’d been married before either. The revelation came as such a surprise; Dane hadn’t seemed like the type that would get a divorce. He seemed strong, centered, and devoted. What had happened that would have driven him to leaving his wife? Or had she left him because she was a shifter? Had she wanted to protect him from the curse of their kind? Her leaving would make sense of the way he was one minute so close and in the next forcing himself away. She must have hurt him almost beyond repair.
The Nymph's Curse: The Collection Page 24