A Bite Before Dying: Book Six Supernatural Enforcers Agency

by E A Price

  He looked around. “It is pretty dingy. Guess you’d be on TV or something, selling the secret to endless life for everything you could get.”

  She glowered at him. “What do you want?”

  “You got any books on vampires? I already have Eckman’s Guide.”

  Kalinda let out a delicate snort. “You can get crap like that at any bookstore.”

  “So do you have anything better than that?”

  She paused before flicking her wrist and locking the front door. He snarled at her, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Calm down, darling. I promise you your virtue is safe.”

  She pulled out a small plant and placed it on the counter and gave him a significant look.

  His beast let out a small growl, uncertain whether he was in any danger from a potted plant. “What is that? What’s happening? This an Audrey Two deal – is it going to eat me or is the plant going to tell me no?”

  Kalinda ignored his questions. “Are you from the SEA?”

  “No.”

  She looked down at the plant. “Are you here because of the elders?”

  Ryder didn’t hide his bafflement. “Who?”

  She looked down at the plant again and tickled one of the leaves.

  “Seriously what is with the plant and who are the elders?”

  “It’s one of my own creations. It detects lies.”

  “No shit.” He sneered at the plant.

  “Why do you want books on vampires?”

  “It’s personal.”

  “To do with a female?” she correctly surmised.

  His beast growled. “Yes.”

  “A vampire?”

  He didn’t answer, but she understood what his silence meant.

  Kalinda removed the plant with a sigh. “You shouldn’t waste your time dallying with vampires. They don’t like mixing with shifters.”

  “Yeah, I’m getting that,” he grumbled.

  “If I have something for you, can I be assured it won’t lead back to me?”

  Ryder puffed out his chest. “I look like the kind of guy who would crack under pressure?”

  She glanced at him with appreciation. “No, you look like you were made out of granite. What are you? My senses tell me tiger, but… not quite right.”

  He cracked his jaw. He wasn’t exactly hiding from anyone – his tiger would never allow that. But he knew he had to be careful about his true nature. His recent experience was a testament to that. But then, if it hadn’t happened, he might never have met Juliet. He thought of all the time he was kept in a cage being taunted and treated like an animal... Totally worth it.

  “Sabre-tooth tiger.”

  Her eyes lit up. “No shit!”

  “No shit.”

  Kalinda ran her tongue along her teeth. “I have a rare tome that was written by a vampire. Very few copies were ever printed, and even fewer are left. I’ve been saving it for a special occasion.”

  “Yeah? How’d you get one?”

  “From an estate sale – the humans had no idea what it was.”

  “How come it’s so rare?”

  “Vampires don’t like their kind spilling their secrets. The author is…” Kalinda pursed her lips before deciding on, “deceased. The rumor is that he was forced to meet the dawn for betraying his kind. I don’t know how useful it will be, but it may give you some of the answers you’re looking for. But to be clear, if this turns out to be bad for you, if the elders come after you, under no circumstances do you let them come after me for this. Understand?”

  “I understand,” he replied quickly. He was eager to get his paws on it. “What do you want for it?”

  “Nothing much. A few of your teeth and a little fur should suffice…”

  *

  Gerry looked at Juliet over the file of the dead cougar. Only vampires could manage a colder stare then the one she was currently getting from the snake shifter.

  She was still uneasy about what the elders expected her to do, but she knew she needed to be the one to investigate.

  “Gunner and his team have already started investigating.”

  “They need to stop and hand over all evidence they have to me,” she said firmly.

  Gerry’s mouth pursed. He didn’t like it. When it came to his work, he was ramrod straight. A whiff of nepotism or scandal and he clambered up on the highest horse possible. Which was a reason why the Council of Supernaturals didn’t ever want him to get Juliet’s job. He couldn’t handle politics the way she could. Honestly, she was pretty sick of handling politics. But as for Gerry, they needn’t worry, since he had found his young mate, he wasn’t as ambitious as he once was. He worked less and now had a deputy to share his workload.

  “I have orders,” she sighed.

  “Ones you can’t tell me about.” His lips pursed even more. He ought to be careful they didn’t get stuck that way.

  “No, but I will do a thorough job I can assure you.”

  “I have no doubt,” he said quickly. “I just don’t want the Council of Supernaturals ever to think they had jurisdiction over the law. They can’t just hand out whatever punishments they want.”

  “I don’t want that either,” she murmured.

  It wasn’t the Council in this instance, but she didn’t disabuse him of that. It was the vampire elders, and they were already convinced they could do whatever the hell they wanted. One snake shifter wouldn’t change their minds about that. The elders were dangerously close to considering themselves god-like.

  “I know you don’t,” he added. “I’m sorry.”

  Juliet shrugged. “I wouldn’t do this unless I had to, and investigating this case is the last thing I want, but if I refused I dread to think who they would send in my place.”

  Julian, the vampire member of the Council of Supernaturals, would persuade the other council members to allow an elder to investigate – they would easily bend to his will, and that would just leave a trail of bloody bodies. Council members were voted in. Vampires became elders by sheer ruthlessness.

  Gerry ummed and ahhed for a few moments. “Shouldn’t you at least have the team to help you?”

  “Don’t they have other cases?”

  “Of course. We’re always busy at this time of year.”

  “Then I know who I will employ to help me.”

  Gerry frowned but he was thoroughly distracted as his mate, Jessie burst into the office decked out in a large coat and goggles, shouting “Vacation, whoo!”

  She blushed slightly on seeing Juliet but wasn’t apologetic.

  Juliet smiled at her. “Going skiing?”

  Jessie nodded, virtually vibrating with excitement. “I can’t wait. Three days alone in the mountains – it’s going to be heaven. You have no idea how hard it is to make this one take time off.”

  Gerry gave his mate an indulgent almost love-sick look.

  “Have fun you two,” said Juliet, “and don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

  At least, she hoped so.

  Chapter Seven

  “What are we doing here?”

  Ryder smirked as Juliet jumped. He actually made a vampire jump. Now she was snarling at him, fangs drawn, but it had been worth it. Of course, appearing at her shoulder and whispering in her ear was probably a mistake.

  “What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” she snapped.

  Ryder gave her an appraising look. So far he’d only seen her in smart dresses, where she looked crisp and stiff – it was hot as hell – but this jeans and a sweater look made her seem more… normal. The sweater could have been a tad tighter for his liking, and the sneakers she wore truly did make her look tiny, but the jeans hugged her rear end to perfection.

  She slapped at his chest in annoyance, and he chuckled, not moving an inch. Damn, he towered over her. Gave him some very strange feelings – dominance but also the unending need to protect her and love her. His beast virtually meowed like a kitten. As time passed his surety that she was his mate only grew.
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  “I go where you go,” he said nonchalantly.

  Juliet groaned, and he ignored it. He was wearing her down, slowly but surely. Too fucking slowly groused his tiger.

  “So why the hell are we here? No offense, babe, but this place is a dump.” She was hanging around a condemned warehouse – where was the fun in that?

  “This place is a crime scene; so try not to step in any evidence with your giant, oversized feet.”

  Ryder grinned. “You know what they say about men with oversized feet?”

  Juliet raised an eyebrow. “That their feet smell?”

  Well, she wasn’t really that far off. Time to change the subject. “So what crime are we investigating?”

  “We are not investigating anything. I am investigating a murder.”

  Ryder looked around the empty, open space. No dead bodies to speak of around there.

  “I thought you were the head honcho at the SEA – why are you doing it? Don’t you have underlings for this sort of thing?”

  She shifted awkwardly. “Because my boss asked me to.”

  “How come?”

  The nostrils of her snub nose flared ever so slightly – she even made frustration look demure. “You are testing my patience.”

  “Nah, I’m not. You find my stubbornness hot.”

  If she could blush, he knew she would be. Instead, he watched as her plump lips quivered erratically.

  He looked around, and his tiger tried not to gag at the multitude of disgusting smells. The whole building appeared to have been used as a toilet. The place was dingy and awful and he didn’t believe for one second it was safe. It was one thing to laugh about a couple of pimply muggers trying to accost her – those two meatheads didn’t stand a chance against the puniest of vampires. But a place like this could attract all sorts of deviants. He should know, he’d done business in plenty of places like this over the years.

  “I don’t think I like you hanging around here at night,” he rumbled, spurred by his inner animal.

  “I don’t think you have a say in the matter,” was her prim response.

  “I don’t think you have a say in whether or not I am your mate.”

  “I don’t think you are my mate.”

  “I don’t think you should be so quick to dismiss me.”

  Their arguments batted backward and forwards until Juliet was ready to blow.

  “Can we stop with the ‘I don’t think’s, please?!”

  Ryder was annoyed, but he couldn’t help appreciating how polite and charming his mate was even when she was ready to rip his head off. Adorable his beast agreed. He couldn’t help the snigger that escaped him.

  Juliet was not amused. “The fact is I am here investigating, and I am more than capable of taking care of myself. You should go.”

  “I should stay. I’m sure you are more than capable, but what if some sex-starved elephant shifters – unable to withstand your nature allure – jumped you. Could you take all of them?”

  She gaped at him for nearly a full minute. What? It was seriously something he worried about!

  Juliet cleared her throat delicately. “While this area is known for being home to gangs of sexually deviant elephants,” she said sarcastically, “I believe I shall be fine.”

  “I better stay, just in case.”

  She sighed. “Fine, do what you want.”

  See? He really was wearing her down.

  “So what are we doing here?”

  Her shoulders sagged. “It’s no secret, I suppose. A few nights ago a cougar shifter was murdered here. She was badly beaten, and her throat was torn out.”

  Juliet pulled a file out of her purse and leafed through it.

  Ryder nodded. “Yeah, I can scent the blood.”

  She looked up at him. “You can? It’s too dry for me to get anything.”

  “I have good senses,” he said in an attempt at modesty that wasn’t fooling either of them.

  He was pretty oblivious to the local goings on – never having watched the news on TV or ever picked up a newspaper in his life, but his nose told him what he needed to know.

  “Maybe it’s something to do with your beast – he is different to modern animals.”

  He preened – completely forgetting to bother with an attempt at modesty. “I am one of a kind.”

  She smiled slightly before her expression clouded.

  “So what are we looking for?” he asked quickly.

  “I’m not sure. I thought being here might help, but I don’t know about that. Crime scene techs probably already picked up on everything. I just find it easier to see for myself.”

  “What was she like? Your victim?”

  Juliet paused.

  “C’mon,” he said, “might help you to talk about it.” Plus, give him an excellent reason to hang around. He hadn’t ever considered of being any kind of cop, but he had watched plenty of TV shows – he could wing his way through it.

  “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted. “Her name was Carrie Fields. By all accounts, she was a happy young cougar shifter. She was in her final year at college. Her family is all in Nevada. She was living off campus alone. According to everyone my agents already interviewed, she was extremely well liked. They couldn’t scent anyone was lying. None of her closest friends or teachers could think of anyone who wished to hurt her.” Juliet stopped.

  “What is it?”

  “I shouldn’t be telling you all this.”

  “Who do you think I’m going to repeat it to? You’re my mate; you can tell me anything.”

  “Don’t start all that…”

  “Okay, let’s focus on this matter.” His tiger grunted, so he added, “and then we’ll get to the mating thing later.”

  Juliet chewed her lip but nodded. He was pleased. For a moment he thought she would shy away and not confide in him. He liked it that she felt she could trust him. Every second he spent with her, gaining her trust, inveigling himself into her life, was another step towards their mating.

  “Carrie’s friends did think she had a boyfriend that she wasn’t telling them about. They suspected he might have been married, but that didn’t sound like Carrie to them. They suggested he might have been someone her parents wouldn’t have approved of. They are quite strict apparently. So maybe someone older, or a species they wouldn’t accept, or perhaps it was a girlfriend. Other than this mystery – let’s call them a boyfriend for ease – boyfriend, she was a good girl.”

  “Good girls don’t hang around in places like these.” He paused. “Except for you.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “I’m hardly a good girl.”

  “I doubt you’re bad.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “Tell me,” he rumbled eagerly. He wouldn’t mind hearing that his little vamp had been a naughty girl from time to time.

  “No,” she said prissily. “So, I have to assume she was brought here by force to be killed.”

  “Maybe the boyfriend did it.”

  Her eyes flickered. She was hiding something.

  “What else do you know?”

  “It doesn’t matter right now.”

  His tiger didn’t like that. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Lots, but for now I am focusing on my victim, where she was last seen and finding this mystery boyfriend. Any chance you won’t stalk me?”

  “None whatsoever.”

  “Then perhaps it would be easier if we just took one car.”

  Ryder grinned in delight. Rawr.

  Chapter Eight

  He thought he was changing her mind, Juliet mused gloomily. Ryder was beaming at her in pleasure. He thought he was making headway, getting her to believe she really was his mate.

  No, she was just softening him up to get rid of him.

  He threw back another whiskey and leered at her, though his expression was starting to look a little dreamy.

  About damn time. The bar had nearly run out of whiskey. She was starting to think he was a
bottomless pit for alcohol.

  After a few more stops, Juliet suggested they end the night at a bar for a few drinks. He’d been delighted to accept. She just wanted to get him drunk and throw him at some nubile young girls.

  He was certainly getting some looks, she realized, trying to hide her escaping fangs. The females were openly eyeballing him despite the fact that Juliet was with him.

  Bitches. She ought to march over there and teach them a lesson. No, this is what she wanted. She had to remind herself of that over and over.

  This was for the best, and it needed to happen soon because she could not allow herself to spend much more time in his company. Her defenses were weakening; she was becoming increasingly jealous of the thought of him with any other female. She was starting to wonder if he was right about them. But no, he couldn’t possibly be right. Yet, every inch of her body wanted him, felt like she needed him. She’d never had this feeling for another male, so why him – why a shifter of all creatures? Sure she’d dated a shifter before out of curiosity, but that was all it was and she certainly never let it get any further than a few make-out sessions. There was certainly no biting involved. But she wanted nothing more than to sink her fangs into his neck and let him take her body to his heart’s content.

  She zeroed in on the vein in his neck, and before she realized what she was doing, her finger was stroking it. Ryder growled lustfully. She snatched her hand away, but the damage had been done, he was giving her a maddeningly triumphant look.

  This needed to stop. Now.

  Juliet excused herself to powder her nose. He frowned at her but didn’t try to stop her. He probably thought the expression literally meant powder her nose. Well, she guessed it originally did – now it just meant any kind of bathroom related stuff.

  But rather than retreating to the bathroom, she made a detour and found some very game looking young shifters – all coyotes. The species was known for being clingy and they would do nicely. It didn’t take much to persuade them; she could scent their horniness. She told them Ryder was, basically, gagging for it and that he had an enormous penis. Both of which were probably true.

  The last thing she saw were two coyote shifters launching themselves at a very surprised Ryder.