by Sarra Cannon
A soft click reached Sera’s ears when the door closed and a lock slid in place. She sat up in bed and met the woman’s stare.
“So, the PCD’s here. I didn’t realize a car accident warranted a call from the feds.” The words flew out of her mouth before she could control them. Guy’s irritating laughter echoed in her head. She couldn’t be sure if the bold statement came from her or Guy. Either way, she knew it was the wrong thing to say and swore at her stupidity.
“Miss Serafina Benenati,” the man said through a grin. He pulled a rolling stool from under a medical supply table. Sitting on it and inclining onto the bed’s side bar, he appeared less threatening and even more gorgeous. “We meet at last. I’m Special Agent Talon Rede, and this is my partner, Special Agent Jame Bradshaw.” He waved at the woman who stood against the door as if her body, and not the lock, would hold off any intruders. Agent Rede nodded at his partner indifferently then cast a heated gaze on her. “This wasn’t the way I’d pick for us to meet, but I’m afraid we have an urgent matter to discuss with you.”
Her mouth struggled to stay closed. Out of all the special agents, why the hell did it have to be him? The man radiated sex appeal and her prior call with him changed an already uncomfortable situation into downright awkward.
Don’t overreact, pet. And if you value freedom, don’t say too much. Guy whispered through her mind. Be careful.
“Sera.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, conscious of the protective posture it displayed. She’d need to use every defense she could to get through this. “I prefer Sera. Remember.”
“Of course. Sera, it is then.” He leaned closer. His eyes burned through her, breaking past her shields, stripping her naked, exposing her secret. Gods, she couldn’t let him see the truth. No one could know what she was. Ever. His commanding tone brought her to her senses, “Call me Talon.” An edict, not a question.
Talon inhaled, his chest expanding and the black cotton fabric of his t-shirt pulling taut. The motion brought Sera’s eyes sweeping down his body. Broad shoulders tapered to his trim waist. A gun, ID, and a cell strapped to a leather belt. Dark jeans covered his long legs that wrapped under the stool in a casual pose. Combat boots tapping against the floor completed the view. By the time she dragged her stare back to his face, her throat felt bone dry. He was more gorgeous than she’d imagined.
Going to need a good defense against this one, huh? Guy said, still laughing. How is it you twenty-somethings put it? Oh yes, he’s a hottie, right?
Although Sera alone could hear the annoying parasite, she had the urge to deny him aloud. She stifled it, instead forcing her face into a neutral expression and letting Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” play through his half of their shared brain. The blaring lyrics and pumping bass drowned Guy in its rhythms.
Burrowing into the pillows, she tried to hide from the sexy-as-sin agent’s scrutiny.
“Jame,” Talon said without taking his eyes off Sera. “Why don’t you get us something to drink?”
“What’re you kidding me?” A buzzing sound emanated from the door where Jame’s power surged. “I’m not some errand girl.”
Moving with inhuman speed, Talon rose and crossed the room to stand nose-to-nose with his partner. In a feral growl, he said, “I wasn’t asking. That’s a direct order.” He ripped open the door, not bothering to unlock it. The cheap metal lock snapped and the wood around it splintered. “Now, go.”
The slamming muffled Jame’s indignant cry from the hall. Talon pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath as his partner’s curses and stomps receded.
Sera snickered, her defenses slipping a peg. Steeling her spine, she said haughtily, “Reason you want me alone, Agent Rede?” Her voice trailed off when Guy’s taunting started again. That a girl, broke into the heavy metal music cycling through his half of their mind.
The right side of Talon’s lips pulled up in a suggestive smirk. The scent of charred wood wafted from his skin, making her mouth water. “Afraid you caught me. And now that we are alone...” He walked back to the stool, draped a leg over it and leaned in close once more. His large frame hovered near, an intimidation tactic no doubt. “You need to tell me everything.”
Sera tried not to stare into his eyes, afraid of drowning in those blue pools. Gods, their phone call had so not prepared her for the face-to-face power of Agent Rede. The fluorescent lights above grew brighter as if reacting to her nerves. She sank further into the pillows, determined to keep her cool. Ok, so he’s a little scary and a little…attractive. Her eyes met his for a split second as she studied his face. Fine, very attractive. Whatever. He sees you as a witness, not a woman. You can’t have him. Even if he did see her otherwise, a small connection risked revealing her secret—a secret that could endanger her life….or worse. Despite the reality of him turning out far better than her most spectacular fantasies, she couldn’t risk it. Stealing her face into an iron mask, she lowered her gaze from his penetrating stare. And you need answers, not a date.
“What do you want to know?” Her voice remained steady, although her insides did somersaults.
“All of it, Ms. Ben…Sera.” He half-smiled at his own correction. “What exactly are you hiding behind those intriguing eyes?” His mouth pulled into a line, tugging at the corners, a hungry predator sizing up his next meal. An animalistic edginess coated the question, though it passed under a civil pretense. “What happened in Buckhorn?”
You don’t have to tell him anything, pet. Guy’s voice grated against the electric guitar. She shook her head, ratcheting up the mental volume. His words hissed through it like a slithering snake. Stay on guard. Don’t want him getting too suspicious. High stakes risk, pet. He slunk down into their brain’s hidden alcoves.
She sat up taller, refusing to be intimidated. Having hidden what she was, who she was for almost half her life gave her an inner strength even Guy couldn’t touch, and certainly not some daunting—although, smoking hot—special agent. “You want to know about Buckhorn?” His nod had her continuing, “I’ll tell you, but quid pro quo as the saying goes. I share, you share. No dodging questions this time.”
A frown creased lines on his forehead. “I’ve got nothing to hide.” He flipped both hands palm up. But, a tick in his jaw told her otherwise.
Too many secrets. The thought plagued her, but she pushed it aside. The agent wouldn’t be getting any info from her without coughing up some of his own. “Good.” Eyeing the room, she looked to see if her belongings lay hidden. An antiquated TV, a nightstand with two drawers, a telephone, all of it spoke of standard hospital fare, nothing of hers. “If you find my cell phone, I’ll show you my last couple of calls.”
Talon sat back, moving further away from her. “We’ve already searched your phone.”
She scraped her teeth along her bottom lip, but refused to rise to his bait.
Lowering his voice to an infuriating all-knowing tone, he said, “We know you were interviewing Ms. Brown for the Arizona Hornet and that you got the tip from a blocked call. Intel shows her family as connected to the Rodriguez murder victims. Local police waited too long to call us in.” He fisted a hand in his lap. “Jackasses.”
“Why?” Her voice hitched, the journalist itching to know more. When Talon remained silent, she added, “Quid pro quo, remember?”
“Isn’t that usually the special agent’s line?”
Sera raised a brow and waved a hand for him to continue.
“I’m the one who needs answers, here. This isn’t a game.” His boot hit the bottom of her bed like an iron fist. It shook the mattress beneath her. “I don’t have time for another round of reporting like your damn call. You tell me about this,” he squeezed the guardrail’s frame, leaving imprints in the solid metal, while his leg tapped a furious rhythm that rattled the entire bed, “accident. What happened to you in that truck, Sera?”
Guy struggled against the pounding drums, but failed to get a word in. Rearranging the sheets once mo
re gave her a minute to collect her thoughts. She said nothing of the bed’s shaking, but couldn’t keep her voice from vibrating. “I-I was attacked.” She waited for Talon’s reaction, but he said nothing. He stopped his tapping routine, but his hand gripped the guardrail tighter. She heard the creak of metal bending under his hold. Keeping her words as neutral as possible, and not revealing one iota of her secret, was even more important than before. This shifter would let nothing slide under his concentrated scrutiny. “It was just one monster at first, but then more swarmed the car. I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“Can you describe the assailants?” His words fell fast from his lips, heady, urgent.
Sera stared at his mouth. The lush pink shade should have made him look feminine, but instead it only added to his primal appeal. For a moment, she wondered what those lips would feel like on her skin. What his words would sound like, driven by a hard, pounding need that brought them both to the brink. Cold shower, pet. For once, she agreed with Guy. She swallowed, not liking the direction of her thoughts. Better to see him as the one who could destroy her life if he discovered her abilities, than in her bed. Less intimidating.
His nostrils flared as if he caught her train of thought. A gravelly tone edged into his voice, “Ms. Benenati.” The syllables of her name rolled over his tongue, harsh in that feral state. He nearly barked, “The assailants?”
Breathing in and out, she forced her mind off her hormones and back to the night in Buckhorn. Her head spun, trying to block the memory, but she pushed it to the surface. “Wide round eyes, huge jaws—I mean bigger than you can imagine—like they could detach the lower from the upper or something.” She took another breath to rein in the babbling. “Black eyes. Their teeth were pointed, but not one, all of them. They had mouths full of fangs.” A shiver ran through her. “I think the rest were normal. They had smooth skin and two arms and two legs. But...”
In the time she’d been speaking, Talon inched closer. Heat radiated off his body, spilling out rays of warmth as brilliant as her own fire. She startled, shocked by the power emanating from him. His clipped words strained through his teeth, “How many?”
“I-I’m not sure.” She pictured their faces, the sickening jaws, the sharp teeth, the bulging eyes and the...light. The streetlight. “That’s it.” Snapping her fingers, she blurted out, “They didn’t come out until the sun went down. It was dark when they attacked.”
“Really?” Talon titled his head. “Are you certain?”
Yes, but I don’t remember what happened after. Everything gets kind of fuzzy.” Grabbing her head for show, she felt the sudden urge to emphasize blank spots in her memory.
What’re you gonna tell him? That I incinerated those beasts with a light show. Guy’s words came off as a high-pitched squeal over the music.
She cursed. I’m not an idiot, Guy. And WE kicked their asses.
A low laugh rolled along her neural pathways. How right you are, pet. We indeed, I apologize. The music ratcheted up once more and Guy fell silent.
“What else?” Talon’s pupils shrunk to pinpoints. The clawing edge to his interrogation had her throwing up her hands.
“Sorry, afraid that’s it.” She pursued her lips and held up her hands. Hot or not, his burning intensity left her cold, and shook her to the core. “Your turn.”
“You don’t remember anything of the attack?” He grabbed her wrist, flicking his thumb across the sensitive inside. “How did you survive?”
“I told you. I don’t remember.” She tried to pull her hand away, but he held fast. The pressure increased too much. “You’re hurting me.”
He blinked, then let go. “I’m sorry.” With a deep sigh, he let his head fall back. His thick black hair grazed his shoulders with the movement. Suddenly, Sera longed to run her fingers through it. He looked younger, more vulnerable in that instant, a startling difference from the predator he’d been only seconds ago. Her hand slipped over the sheets, straining toward him. She snatched it back as his eyes met hers.
Ice washed over his gaze, deepening the blue to a midnight shade. “What you described is consistent with our findings.” He grabbed her hand again, lightly this time, but with such swiftness the motion seemed more out of necessity than comfort. His eyes shifted to blaze fire below the dark ocean blue. “But, you weren’t the only victim.”
It took time for his words to register. Even as they did, she didn’t think she’d heard right. “What’re you talking about?”
“Whatever attacked you spent the night killing twenty-two people.” He shook his head as if to banish the image his words conjured. “The perps went house to house along the same street as your accident.” He paused, closing his eyes and breathing slowly. “Every victim was left with multiple bite marks, blood drained, flesh torn.”
Sera patted his shoulder awkwardly. “Sorry,” she offered in a small voice. Her pulse kicked into overdrive. Those things didn’t die. How’s that possible?
“Now you know what we’re dealing with.” His index and middle finger pushed against her wrist. “Your pulse is pounding much too fast. I don’t make a habit of accosting victims in their hospital beds, but we need as much information as we can gather.”
“It’s alright.” She pulled her hand away from him. “I’m alright, but I don’t know anymore.” The lie tasted foul on her tongue.
He eyed her warily. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.” He fisted the sheet beside her and inched closer until their noses almost touched. The look he gave her said it was anything but fine. “But as soon as you’re released from the hospital we will continue this conversation.” He backed away and grabbed a simple white business card from his pocket. “You already have my office number,” the raised brow speculated over their prior connection, “but this has my cell too. If you remember more before then, call.” The card read Talon Rede, Special Agent, PCD District 13. Two numbers followed below. “This isn’t a request Sera.” He gave her a last look that said she’d be seeing him again. Soon.
As he reached the door, he peered over his shoulder at her. A strange look crossed his features, almost…sad, but determined. “I can keep you safe, Sera, but only if you tell me everything.”
“I understand,” she said softly.
He nodded, the door closing behind him.
All at once, the rock music in her mind ceased and Guy’s laugh rang loud and clear. Oh pet, you’re in so much trouble.
Chapter 4
PCD FIELD OFFICE, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Talon stared at the crime scene photos, studying the remains of what once passed for an eight-year-old girl. Her dark brown hair stuck to her head, her fragile frame covered in bite marks. Craters the size of a grown man’s palm littered her body where pieces of muscle and skin had been torn away. They needed new intel, anything to give them a lead. He should have pushed Sera for more at the hospital, but after her pulse kicked into high gear...You could have pushed anyway, not felt sympathy for the pretty blond. Stupid.
After reviewing the crime scene in Buckhorn, Talon had flown into action at the one word - survivor. Splitting the team, he’d ordered Slick to cover the bases with Buckhorn police and Bull to track down Drake. As their go-to underground contact, Drake could infiltrate parts of the criminal world better than any PCD agent could. The problem was the vampire’s reliability tended toward the shaky side and locating him wasn’t always easy. Meanwhile, he and Jame would take care of interviewing the survivor.
Sera had been unconscious in the county hospital when Talon first arrived. When he’d learned her name, he nearly choked. His fiery little reporter was the survivor. No, not his. But, he couldn’t shake the possessive feeling or the guilt that ate at him. Would it never have happened, if he’d answered more of her questions, instead of dodging? Was she right? Did the public have a right to the truth? He hadn’t known the answers then or now, but one thing rang true, he was drawn to her.
He’d been captivated, st
ruck to the core at the sight of her. Long amber lashes swept onto full cheeks. He’d approached the bed. Her eyes remained closed as if asleep. The solid beeps of the machine indicated her steady heartbeat. Her delicate scent, like clothing dried in the sun and a touch of apple, enticed him. He drew it into his lungs, more necessary than air. Her skin possessed a healthy golden glow. The light bed sheet hinted at her generous curves, long legs, and narrow waist.
As they’d prepared to move her to the hospital in Phoenix, Talon had to drag his gaze away. The stab of lust had hit him like a sledgehammer. Sitting next to Jame in the medical chopper, he’d mentally berated himself. She’s not yours. She’s a victim for god sakes! A lone survivor to a multi-homicide. Get it together. The tight space had soured his mood. Waiting hours at the hospital for Sera to wake up, hadn’t helped either.
And what do you do when she finally wakes up? Nothing, that’s what. The morning’s mysterious dialogue with Sera did little to solve the case, and even less to curb his desires. Her silken voice, her deep chocolate eyes, brought him further under her spell. Now, due to his behaving like a teenager with his first crush, they’d gotten hardly anything from the only survivor. He growled and fisted his hands on the bulletin board. “Go over it again.”
“Boss, we’ve been over the evidence more times than I can count.” Slick slapped the metal desk hard as he jumped on top of it. The PCD Phoenix field office was smaller than their home base in San Antonio, if that was possible.
“And we know you can’t count that high.” Jame sat in a rolling chair next to the desk. The pen, resting between her thumb and index finger, threatened to snap as she whirled it around. With each new dead-end the team discovered, the pressure on the pen increased. Soon she’d be wearing the ink or the cleaning crew would be scrubbing it off the desk.
“Very funny.” Slick squinted as he perched above her. His long legs dangled over the desk, banging against the steel frame in a fixed rhythm. Jame gave him a pointed look, but his gaze remained glued to the board.