They wouldn’t find any incriminating evidence related to the murders because none existed. The security measures would also protect the institute’s shadow operations, but the reality of the raid shook him. Her part in it infuriated him. She knew officers were combing file cabinets, desks, and safes at the L.I. headquarters, while she consented to ‘interrogate’ him at his leisure. More like keep him busy, entertained, and out of the way.
“You’re in the wrong business, Detective.” He put the full force of his anger behind those words, making the title sound more like a curse.
“Excuse me?” Her thick-lashed eyes rounded with a confused air of innocence. He was surprised she didn’t look smug, since she’d succeeded in her goal of distracting him.
“With talent like yours, you should’ve been an actress. You had me convinced. I actually found your stubborn devotion to duty rather charming.” He stalked toward her with a determined stride, a small part of him feeling pleased to see her stand her ground. He preferred a woman with strength and courage.
“What the devil are you talking about?”
“How long did you plan to toy with me so your cohorts could raid my offices?”
Hadn’t he offered to assist in the investigation? She could have asked for the DNA files, and he would have gladly handed them over. She could have told him about the warrant at any time, but she didn’t. Instead, she’d chosen to undermine him, circumvent him. Why?
“I’m not toying with you.”
“The hell you’re not! I trusted you.” He stopped, abruptly realizing he had trusted her. And she’d not returned that faith. That was why she’d kept him in the dark.
“I’m doing my job.”
“Well, your job sucks.”
“You are not going to make me feel guilty for doing what I think is right.”
“Right? You call what you’re doing right? There’s a killer in this city, Detective, but I’m not him. When you realize that, then maybe you’ll find the right path, but until then, you’re dead wrong.”
When she shied away from him, her fearful uncertainty angered him even more. He grabbed her upper arms and held her in place.
She attempted to twist free. “Let me go.”
“You think you can play me for a fool? Distract me while you go on some wild goose chase and tear apart everything I’ve built?”
“Let me go, damn it!”
“Do you honestly think I’ll stand by—”
She kicked out, hooking her leg around one of his and knocking him off his feet. But instead of letting her go to catch his fall, he dragged her down, too, then rolled and pinned her beneath him.
She shrieked and cursed a blue streak that matched the spark of fury in her eyes. She squirmed and actually tried to bite him.
Grudgingly impressed by her spunk, he leaned close enough to whisper a warning. “Bite me, and I bite back.”
Her eyes flared. With shock or anger, he couldn’t be sure. He sat up, straddling her slim waist, and kept her arms pressed to the floor, well away from the reach of her handgun.
“Now—”
She attacked with unexpected force. Before he could react, she’d wrapped her limber legs around him from behind and pulled him off-balance. Another several minutes of wrestling ensued before he regained the upper hand. By then, both were breathing heavily, and Rafe had the beginnings of what he was sure would be an impressive bruise on the left side of his ribcage.
“Let me up, you son of a bitch.”
Rafe didn’t move from his prone position atop Mackenzie. He’d learned the hard way how quickly she could take advantage of a slight miscalculation. The physical effort he exerted to subdue her had exhausted much of his initial anger and stirred up his other alpha instincts.
Feathery tendrils of her hair escaped from her braid to offer a beguiling frame about her flushed face. As she caught her breath, her lips parted in an erotic invitation he desperately wanted to accept.
“Killing an officer will have every cop in Chicago out to fry your ass.”
“Damn you, Mackenzie. I’m not going to kill you.” He read the doubt in her eyes and felt his anger build again. She could try the patience of a snail.
“And I suppose you just assault officers for the hell of it.”
“I did not assault you.”
“Oh, right, my mistake. We both mistook the softness of your carpet for the pad of a wrestling ring.”
“Did I hurt you?”
Her mouth formed a tight, closed line. He growled his frustration but didn’t release her.
“At anytime, did I hurt you?”
“No.”
“Then I didn’t assault you.”
She huffed and wiggled underneath him, which made him uncomfortably aware of how aligned their bodies were. He needed to focus, which became more difficult with each move she made. God, her soft curves could make a man forget his name.
“Then what are we doing on the damn floor?”
“Be still,” he hissed. “We’re getting to the bottom of why you exercised a search warrant against one of my places rather than coming to me.”
“I will not discuss this with you on the floor. Let...me...up.” Her hips bucked.
“No.”
“What?”
“Discussion’s over.” His lips took action, pressing against hers, and swallowed her startled protest.
Rafe had wanted to claim her mouth from the moment he saw her at the funeral and watched lucky raindrops cling to that full, lower lip.
He thought once would be enough, but that was before he’d had a taste of her outside the hospital and discovered the truth. Not enough. He’d never have enough of her.
His grip turned to a caress as his tongue delved inside to explore her mouth’s warmth.
His alpha nature made him want to claim her, all of her, here and now. But he fought the urge to take and tried persuasion instead. Running one hand up her body, he cupped a firm, round breast. His tongue tangled with hers, another wrestling match more enjoyable than the first.
He was a fool falling for a woman who didn’t trust him. And because of that, he could never entrust her with his secret, never share everything that made him the man he was.
Still, he wanted her. Even as he took what he knew he couldn’t have, his spirit rebelled against the knowledge that he couldn’t force her to believe in him.
He moved to give his lips better access to her neck and felt her hands press against his chest. With reluctance, he pulled away, just enough to see her face. Her eyelids drifted open to unveil a blue as passionate and beautiful as the early morning sky.
“This can’t be happening.” Her words were but a whisper.
With one arm wrapped around her waist and one hand at her nape, he rolled until she settled snuggly on top of him. “It can, if you let it.”
“I have a duty, a responsibility. I have to be objective and you’re...”
“I’m not your killer.” He tugged her toward him. “If you can’t believe me, then trust your instincts.”
“But you’re a sus—” His kiss silenced her words, but not the groan of surrender that followed. He didn’t want her thinking of him as a suspect or a killer, or anything other than who he was. A man strongly, albeit foolishly, attracted to her. He didn’t want the cop so much as he wanted the woman.
Even as he tugged her closer, felt her body relax against him, he could almost hear the alarm bells sounding in her mind.
Suddenly she pulled away. He grunted as she scrambled to her feet and dug in her pocket. She fumbled with her cell phone, which he now realized was the source of the ringing in his ears.
“Lyons,” she said breathlessly.
He couldn’t hear the caller’s voice, but he suspected it was her partner when he saw her wince.
“No, I haven’t been running. I dropped the damn phone.” The lie made Rafe quirk an accusatory brow and flash her a grin. Her luscious lips curled into a snarl that made him laugh and her cover the phone
’s mouthpiece and turn away.
“Was that Stone?” Cooper asked her.
“Just tell me what you found out,” she ordered.
“That was Stone. You’re still with him, aren’t you?”
“Cooper...” Mackenzie ground her teeth. She didn’t feel like playing twenty questions right now.
“I thought his brother would’ve called him by now and told him we were here.”
“He knows. He got the call a while ago. Now, tell me what yo—”
“Then, what was he laughing about?”
“How the blazes should I know what the man is thinking...” Mackenzie’s breath hitched.
Oh damn.
Rafe’s hand slid around her waist from behind and his lips warmed the sensitive curve of her neck. She nearly groaned when he nipped her earlobe and his fingers brushed the underside of one breast, but Coop’s voice snapped her back to attention.
“Mac?”
“I’m here.” She slapped Rafe’s hand. “What did you call to tell me?”
She covered the mouthpiece again and hissed, “Stop that.”
“Mmm, you smell like coconut,” he murmured, then nuzzled her neck one last time before pulling away with a chuckle. She gave him a look that promised there’d be hell to pay.
“...on you to give the word.”
“Give the word?” What had Coop said?
“Yeah, Fuller says it’s your call on when you want the team to go in and serve the second warrant.”
“You got the second one.”
“That’s what I just said. Mac? Are you okay?”
She stared at the wall, wishing she could bang her head against it. “Of course, I’m all right. Are you done at L.I. yet?”
“Almost. This is a big place. But if you want to go in tonight, I’m sure we can arrange it with the guys over at State.”
Mackenzie glanced toward Rafe and found his gaze locked on her. “No. Tomorrow’s soon enough.”
“Why the delay, Mac? We wait ‘til tomorrow with him already tipped off about today, and—”
“Just finish up there, okay? I gotta go.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She hung up and fumed.
“The iron curtain’s back in place,” Rafe said, walking up to her. “Someone else die?”
“Huh? No.”
“Someone going to?” Amusement crept into his voice.
Mackenzie shook her head. “Not yet, anyway.”
She was stalling. Avoiding the inevitable. She’d postponed action on the search warrant, probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done in her life. No, the award for idiocy would go to her for what she was about to do.
“I know I don’t have the right to ask this,” she said, turning to face Rafe, “but did you mean what you said earlier? About trusting me?”
He peered at her, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. That didn’t bode well, she thought, but his next words surprised her.
“Yes, but you disappointed me. You could’ve asked for whatever you needed, and I would’ve gotten it for you.”
“As lead investigator, I’m supposed to accept your word that you handed over everything, hid nothing? How am I to know you wouldn’t somehow tamper with evidence?” She held up a hand when she saw storm clouds brewing in his stare. “Even if I believed you, I couldn’t do it. You’re a suspect. I took an oath. I have to do my job.”
“By the book, is that it?”
“I’ve already broken a rule on every damn page of that book, but if I don’t follow it from here on in, a killer could go free.” She reached toward his arms folded across his chest. “Or an innocent man could go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“You believe me then?”
She spun away from him. “I already told you, what I believe doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” The seriousness in his tone tore at her heart.
“To the courts, it’s what I can prove that counts.”
“Guilty until proven innocent. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?”
“Don’t be petulant.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Detective.” He took a seat by the fireplace, the picture of distinguished composure.
“Eventually the evidence will fill in the necessary pieces of the puzzle but, until then, I have to follow every lead, check out every suspect. And right now, I can’t cross you off my list.”
He was silent for so long that she decided she’d follow her better judgment and leave.
“I’d better go. Where’s my car?”
“You can pick up your keys at the front desk. The guard on duty will know where your car is parked.”
She almost made it to the door.
“Mackenzie.”
“Yeah?” She didn’t turn around.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Shit. She bit her lip, stiffened her spine, and faced him. “Cooper and I, along with some special agents from the State Police, will serve another search warrant at your estate.”
She searched for any change in his expression, but found none.
“I see.”
Did he? She doubted it.
“I have to crosscheck your wolves’ DNA with any found at the crime scenes. If there’s no match, I can cross them and you off my list.”
“When?”
“First thing tomorrow morning.”
He nodded, and she turned to leave again.
“Detective?”
She gripped the doorframe and looked back over her shoulder.
“You may want to button up your blouse.”
Her gaze shot to her chest. The top three buttons were undone. She cursed her stupidity for compromising the case even as she escaped through the doorway.
“You want me to do what?”
Rafe set aside the quarterly report he’d been reading to watch his brother, Gabe, rant. A glance at the grandfather clock across the room told him the storm had been raging for about thirty minutes already. Now that he’d dropped the news of the second warrant, Rafe suspected he had another half hour of it to deal with.
“Although she doesn’t know how many wolves are here, she’s seen you as G. She’ll expect to get a sample from you.”
Gabe paced about the room with furious agitation. Rafe studied the imported rug to see whether ruts had formed. So far, it held up under the abuse.
“You told me there’s no risk in discovering a Lycan trait through DNA because it changes completely depending on the form we take. Was your research wrong?”
The insulted look Gabe gave him showed what he thought of having his work questioned.
“So, what’s the concern? You’re a veterinarian. You know the procedure’s harmless.”
“It is when I’m the vet doing the examination.”
Rafe fought to hide the grin threatening to break free. His brother had always been the scientific one in the litter, with a hidden strength that burst forth whenever he was angry, but Rafe had never dreamed he feared a needle.
“One chuckle, Rafe, and I don’t care what the consequences are...I’m outta here.”
“It’s just a little needle.”
Gabe cursed. “I know that. I don’t mind exams with a doctor. I just don’t like submitting to them as a wolf. Not when I can’t communicate with the vet. They don’t care for animals that make them feel like Dr. Doolittle.”
Rafe covered his mouth to hold back the laugh, his elbow resting on the armrest.
“You’re seriously going to let her come in here with her legal crap and take blood samples?” Gabe repeated the question he’d asked several times before. The answer hadn’t changed.
Rafe nodded. “I’m sure they’ll take hair samples, too.”
“This is bullshit.”
“What’s bullshit?” Luc asked as he walked in, plopped on the couch, and planted his boots, ankles crossed, on the coffee table.
“That detective raided L.I. yesterday afternoon. I only had a momen
t’s notice to lock down before they were everywhere. And instead of taking care of it, Rafe here is ready to let her ransack the estate, too.”
Luc cast a puzzled look around. “How’d she get to L.I. when her car was at Stone Corp. headquarters all afternoon?”
“How’d you know that? You still following her?” Gabe asked.
Luc grinned. “No need now. Not when I can track her car.”
Gabe threw up his hands and again plowed his way across the rug. “You bugged her car? That’s just great! If she finds it, there really will be hell to pay. We’ve already got her crawling all over the place. Why not bend over and let her kick our asses all the way to prison?”
“Settle down, Gabe,” Rafe said before frowning at Luc. “I didn’t tell you to bug her car.”
“It’s a new GPS tracking device, not a bug. I’m testing it for our security division.” Luc toyed with the toothpick held between his straight white teeth. “You wanted me to check her out. That’s what I’m doing.”
“I asked you to find out about her past, nothing more.”
Luc shrugged. “Then you shouldn’t have asked me to drive her car to the hospital the other night. It was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. Besides, I figured you’d want me to keep a closer eye on her, especially if what I suspect is true.”
“Suspect what?” Gabe looked from Luc to Rafe. “What’s he talking about?”
Luc held up two fingers. “Two dead. Our big brother is the link. He didn’t kill ‘em. I didn’t kill ‘em, and you damn sure didn’t do it. So, my question is, who’d want the cops to suspect Rafe?”
Gabe sat and stared at the portrait on the opposite wall. His words, when they came, were soft but menacing. “He’s here.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Rafe said, “but it is a possibility.” He walked toward the bay picture window at the front of the house.
“Why would he risk coming back now? We’ve had him on the run ever since...” When Gabe’s voice drifted off, Luc offered his opinion.
“Maybe he’s tired of running. I nearly had him cornered in Atlantic City last summer...before the bastard slipped away.”
Lycan Packs 1: Lycan Instinct Page 11