by Meg Anne
“To determine what?” Lucas interjected.
“How many bodies?” Ben stopped and faced them. “How many dead?”
“Two at the first crime scene, and three at the next.”
The man’s face went pale. “Can you send me copies of those images? I would like to know how the bodies were arranged.”
“What are you thinking?”
The man shook his head. “Not until I’m sure.”
“Professor,” Skye said softly. “Anything you can tell us could make the difference here. Please, give us something.”
The man’s crystal blue eyes looked up into hers. “I think you are dealing with something beyond your comprehension, my dear. Something that might get you both killed unless it’s dealt with in the appropriate manner.”
“Can you at least tell me what the symbols are?” Lucas stood and folded his arms.
Skye could feel the tension rolling off him, and she reached up to touch his elbow in a silent show of support.
“Together, they make a spell. It appears that your murderer was trying to cast another Druid out of our plane of existence and into a much darker one.”
“The Wasteland,” Lucas murmured.
Ben’s eyes zeroed in on him. “How do you know about that place?”
“My grandmother used to tell me stories about it,” Skye responded, pulling his gaze back to her.
The older man nodded. “I told you I could spot a Gypsy.” He smiled at her briefly before turning his attention back to Lucas. “Please send me the images from every angle you have. I will study them and see if my hunch is right. Once I have all of the information and do some calculations based on the locations and the number of bodies, it’s possible I might be able to determine the pattern.”
“And what would that tell us?” Lucas asked.
“If we have the pattern, I may just be able to tell you what’s coming next.”
Ben started to usher them from his office but stopped Skye just before she left. “Be wary, Ms. Giovanni. If this is in fact a Druid, they don’t have a reputation of kindness when it comes to your line.”
“I will be.” She smiled softly “Thank you for helping us.”
He smiled. “I’ll be in touch,” he called as she followed Lucas into the hall.
“So,” he said as she joined him. “It appears your numerology hunch was correct after all.”
“It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?” If that were the case, then there very well could be another body somewhere, and they had better find it soon before even more turned up dead.
Chapter 20
Lucas
The diner was busy as usual, and Lucas smiled at the sight of his sister doing what she loved. Lizzie had always been a people person and being the owner of a customer service establishment suited her.
He guided Skye inside and over to the corner where Matthews had taken post.
“What’s up, study buddies?” his partner joked.
Skye smiled and rolled her eyes.
Damn, Lucas would never get tired of seeing her lips quirked up.
“Anything happen today?” Lucas asked.
Matthews shook his head. “Been smooth sailing. What about with you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Lucas muttered.
“I think you’d be surprised,” his partner responded. “I’ll be here when you decide to stop beating around the bush.”
Before he had the chance to respond, his sister stopped in front of them. “Hey, guys! Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Skye groaned.
“Same. Thanks, sis.”
She smiled and went to grab some mugs for them.
Skye dropped into an open bar stool next to his partner. She dipped her head forward and began to roll her neck from side to side.
Lucas lifted a hand to run over the smooth skin without conscious thought. “You doin’ okay, Giovanni?”
She shivered at his touch and looked up at him from beneath thick lashes. “It’s been a day.”
“I can think of a few ways to make it better…”
“You two should grab a room,” Matthews said, his eyes ping-ponging between the two of them like he was watching a tennis match.
Lucas scowled at his partner, the moment lost.
Lizzie sailed over with the coffee and let out a breath. “Whew, it’s been busy. Apparently, when people see police tape, they get nosy.”
“Any issues?” Lucas asked.
Skye took a long sip, then let out a moan.
Lucas turned his focus to Skye.
Her cheeks flushed. “What? This is amazing, and I’ve missed it,” she said defensively.
“I’m glad,” Lizzie said with a laugh, looking back at Lucas. “Nothing to report today, Detective.” Lizzie had taken up using Skye’s nickname for him, causing him to roll his eyes and make a face at her as she continued her report. “Everyone has been especially kind, and business has been good.” She leaned forward. “No weird cloaked men hanging around.”
“That’s good.”
“How about you two? Any luck?”
“We can talk about it later.” Lucas glanced at Skye, then back at Lizzie. “We did work hard though, so food wouldn’t be turned down...”
Lizzie raised an eyebrow. “You would never turn food down.”
“You have me there. Cheeseburger, please.”
“You got it. Skye?”
“I’ll have the same. But onion rings instead of French fries, please. And lots of ranch.”
“Coming right up.”
Matthews let out a low whistle. “Glad to see you’re a woman with an appetite.”
“Hands off,” Lucas warned.
“You two do realize that I’m sitting right here, right?” Skye interjected with an annoyed huff.
Matthews laughed before turning his attention back to Lucas. “So, you really aren’t going to fill me in on what happened today? It’s my case, too.”
“I will, but not here. When you bring Lizzie home, we can all sit down and go over it.”
“Alright.” Matthews dropped it and looked back down at the book he’d been reading when they walked in.
“What’s next for us?” Skye asked.
“I say we head back after we eat and see if we can’t figure out the pattern.”
“You don’t want to leave that up to Professor Zane?”
Lucas shook his head. “I want to look into it myself. While I will appreciate any and all help he gives us, I want to be sure I’m covering all the bases.”
“I can understand that.”
“You okay staying with me a little while longer? At least until we get this guy?”
She nodded. “I won’t leave until I’m sure it’s safe for you two.”
Until it’s safe for you, he mentally corrected. He’d seen the way that Druid had leaned toward her. While he hadn’t seen his eyes, Lucas knew they had rested on her delicate frame. The look would have been feral, he was sure of it. And there was also the warning the professor had given her. It perfectly echoed what she’d told him the night she’d ripped him away from those runes. Druids didn’t have a history of being kind to Gypsies.
Skye was one Gypsy that bastard wasn’t getting his hands on.
Skye was one of his people, at least for the time being, and he would protect her with his life.
Chapter 21
Skye
The food had been just as delicious as the coffee, leaving Skye both sated and relaxed as she and Lucas made their way up to his apartment. James stayed behind, waiting to help Lizzie close up at ten, and then bring her safely home. Since there was nothing for them to do besides be in the way at the diner, they’d gone ahead and headed back to Lucas’ apartment to get started on the timeline. According to Lucas, that was the first step in figuring out a pattern.
They stepped inside the apartment and were immediately greeted by a tail-wagging Lucy.
“Hey, baby!” Skye crooned, bending down
to scratch behind her ears.
“I’m going to take her out, but I’ll be right back,” Lucas said, grabbing the leash off a table.
Skye waved him away. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll start compiling a list while you two enjoy your walk.”
Lucas threw a grin over his shoulder, his dimples flashing, as Lucy bounced out of the door. The door slammed closed behind them.
Chuckling, Skye shook her head and sat on the couch. “Someone didn’t need to be asked twice.” She pulled an old sketchbook off the table where she’d left it, flipping through the creamy pages until she found a blank one. Skye twirled the pen with her fingers before writing the numbers one through ten along the side of the paper.
She bounced the tip of the pen on the page a few times, the purple ink leaving tiny dots in its wake. Skye frowned. What am I supposed to be writing? This was definitely Lucas’ wheelhouse, not hers.
As if the name conjured the man, his face rose in her mind. She was becoming familiar with many versions of the sexy detective. There was stubborn Lucas, when his lips flattened and his eyes narrowed with laser-like intensity as he stared his opponent down. There was also annoyed Lucas, where his brows tilted in a deep V over blazing sapphire eyes, lines bracketing his full lips as he frowned. He usually saved that one for her when she was disagreeing with one of his many opinions.
But her personal favorite, and the one she was thinking about right now, was laughing Lucas. It was her favorite because it was the rarest of them all. A small smile played about her lips as she began to sketch, his features quickly taking shape on the page.
She started with his eyes. Such kind eyes. They were a bright blue, the color of a calm lake under the summer sun. Little flecks of gold speckled around the iris. And those lashes, so thick and long that they tangled at the tips. His eyebrows were dark blonde with a small scar over the arch of his left eyebrow that gave the impression of a tiny bald spot. The imperfection only made him sexier, since it alluded to past danger.
Skye began to shade in his nose; the straight lines flaring only slightly at the tip. Then his cheek and jaw bones. She spent extra time on his lips, wanting to get the curve of his smile just right. Once she was satisfied she’d captured the moment perfectly, she sighed, heat starting to pool in her stomach.
She’d drawn the moment when his smile grew just to the point those fucking dimples started to peek out. That usually happened a second before her ovaries damn near imploded from the flood of lust-fueled hormones that those devilish fuckers caused.
Every.
Damn.
Time.
Skye traced a finger over his lips, wishing it was the man and not the drawing she caressed. He was prettier than a man had any right to be. Skye scrunched her nose at the word. That wasn’t right. Lucas was entirely too masculine to be ‘pretty.’ Not only was it too dainty a word, but it didn’t do anything to capture his sheer magnetism.
Lucas walked into a room and heads turned to stare. Not just female ones either. While the girls were busy trying to think of how they were going to convince him to impregnate them, the men were eager to ask his opinion on anything and everything. He was a natural leader; he had an easy confidence and innate goodness that just pulled others in. Especially her. Seeing the way he interacted with Lizzie, his teasing mingled with unwavering love and support… Skye sighed. It would have been so easy to get over him if he was just hot. But Lucas MacConnell was a good fucking guy, and that made him irresistible.
Skye continued to sketch, working now on the stubble that coated his jawline at the end of the day. Is it soft or scratchy? What would it feel like under my lips? The rough scratching of the nib against the paper was hypnotic, and it wasn’t long before her eyes fluttered closed.
She opened her eyes what felt like a few seconds later, but must have been a lot longer, because Lucas was shaking her arm and staring down at her.
“Oh, sorry, I must have fallen asleep for a few minutes.” She laughed lightly and sat up, the twinge in her neck letting her know it had been held at an odd angle for quite a while.
“It’s all good. If you want to crash for a bit, feel free. I was just going to send you to the bedroom so you could get comfortable.”
The phrase ‘send you to the bedroom’ sent her pulse skyrocketing. She blinked a few times to clear her mind and shook her head. “No, it’s okay, we have work to do.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “Yeah, absolutely.”
He studied her a moment longer but let it go. “We actually have some time to kill. I got started while you were snoring.”
“I do not snore!”
He smirked, flashing those dimples. Not. Fair. Her stomach swooped, his accusation the only thing keeping her from falling headlong into a sexual haze.
“I don’t!” she insisted, mortification sending blood straight to her face.
“Sure you don’t, Giovanni. And I start every morning singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs.”
“For fuck’s sake,” she groaned, covering her face with both hands.
The bastard laughed.
Skye’s stomach clenched, and her heart flipped over at the sound. Laughing Lucas really was her favorite. Oh shit, my sketch! Skye’s eyes darted to the floor, where the sketchbook had toppled over. She closed her eyes and sent up a brief thanks to the universe. Lucas would never let her live it down if he knew that she had been drawing him.
She scowled when he continued to laugh. “Just you wait, Detective Loomis. I’ll get dirt on you one day.”
He winked at her. “Bring it, Twyla.”
Skye pressed her lips together, trying to fight against the laughter that was bubbling up at the absurd name. She failed. “Seriously though, how did she get Twyla out of Skylar? I still don’t get it!”
Lucas shrugged. “Some things simply defy logic.”
“No kidding.”
Lucas gestured to the TV with his head. “You want to watch a movie while we wait for Matthews and Lizzie?”
“You sure you don’t want to work on the timeline?”
“Nah, we’ve got time. I think we’ve earned a break from psychotic Druids and their thirst for blood for a while.”
A feeling of relief rolled through her. Skye would never admit it, especially not to Lucas, but everything they’d been dealing with was really starting to wear on her. It was one thing living with visions of death, and another thing entirely to be elbows deep in it.
Skye settled back into the couch while he picked up the remote and sat down beside her. Right beside her.
“What are you in the mood for?” Lucas asked, looking at her expectantly.
You. The word was on the tip of her tongue, and for a horrifying second she thought it had actually left her lips. Skye glanced toward the TV her heart hammering in her chest. “Um,” she licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry, “something silly.”
“Silly, gotcha.” Lucas began to flip through channels, looking for something that fit the bill. “What about this?” he asked, finding a reality TV show that followed four friends as they dared each other to perform outrageous tasks in public. “It’s not a movie, but it makes me laugh every time I watch it.”
“Sounds perfect,” she agreed quickly. Anything she could focus on other than the way his muscular thigh felt pressed up against hers. Dear God, it’s like being in high school all over again. Except this time Skye craved his touch more than she feared it.
They lost themselves in the mindlessness of the show. There was something about the mundane activity that filled her with joy. She’d never had this simple intimacy with anyone. There’d never been someone she’d let herself get close enough to before to even try.
When Skye had been a teenager, her hormones had been on as much of a rampage as everyone else’s, only she had to shoulder the additional anxiety about whether or not a make-out sesh was going to turn into a vision-induced seizure. Luckily teenagers, perhaps given their age, didn’t seem to s
et off her visions very often. Even so, there were more than a couple of dates that ended abruptly. Skye finally had to start a rumor that she was epileptic just to explain the episodes. Didn’t do much for her dating life, but the symptoms were similar enough, and it was way easier to explain than the truth.
“Hi, I’m Skye, and I see dead people.”
Yeah… that was a great pick-up line.
What it all boiled down to was that even though she was twenty-seven years old, Skye had less sexual experience than most teenagers. She might as well be a virgin, for all the good her experience did her. Other than a few fumbling attempts early in high school, and one guy she’d dated for a couple of months in college, Skye hadn’t had much luck with dating. Even random hook-ups at bars didn’t end well. Eventually things got weird. Either due to the visions, or just from people wanting more from her than she was comfortable giving. It was hard to build something with someone when you constantly had to hold a part of yourself back.
Skye stole a glance at Lucas, the harsh light of the TV illuminating his face with its glow.
Maybe that’s why being with Lucas was so tempting. For the first time ever, she didn’t have to hide anything. He knew all of her secrets, and he wanted her anyway.
Feeling her eyes on him, Lucas turned with a lifted brow. “What?”
“Nothing.” Skye could feel the heat creep into her face as she lied.
His brows lowered over narrowed eyes, even as his lips tilted up in a grin. “Spill it, Giovanni.”
Fucking detective with your stupid interrogation skills. Skye shrugged, trying to play it off. “It’s nothing, honest. Relaxed just looks good on you, Detective.”
“Oh it does, does it?”
Skye nodded, forcing her eyes back to the TV. “Mmhmm.”
The knotted muscle in her neck had her shifting uncomfortably as she tried to ease the tension.
“Here, let me.”
Before she could protest, Lucas twisted her around so that her back faced his front. His hands began deeply kneading the tense muscles in her neck and shoulders.