Case: 1: A Dystopian Mystery (Annalise Storm Chronicles Book 2)

by May Freighter

  26

  In The Arms Of Another

  Never in her life did she think that she would have to sleep with someone without wanting to. Her life had its ups and downs, but she hadn’t felt this low before. Standing in front of Devlin’s door, she realised how little control she had in her life. Those without power had no control. They were trapped in a game designed by someone else, always seeking a way out yet never quite making it to the end. The second Mr X stopped seeing value in her cooperation, he would undoubtedly kill her and those who knew about their arrangement. That meant she was gambling with the lives of everyone at the HPD office, her friend’s, and Mavel’s.

  She rang the doorbell and waited for him to open the door while rubbing her hands together. If I close my eyes and let it happen, it would be okay, right? Her thoughts brought her no comfort. She knew there was something going on between her and Devlin on a physical level, but she couldn’t sleep with him on demand. Who does Mr X think I am, a whore?

  Devlin opened the door with a yawn which he covered with his hand. His dishevelled appearance told her that she had awoken him from his sleep. He must have been tired after today’s events. He wore his white shirt and black suit trousers from earlier. “Annalise? What are you doing here?”

  “I…” Damn it! Say something! “I came to talk to you.”

  He briefly scanned the hallway behind her and let her in. “Certainly. Make yourself at home.”

  Annalise made her way to the spacious living room, stopping in front of the windows that let her see the night view of Divinity. Her heart ached and her chest was stuffy. She rubbed it better, hoping for the unease and panic to go away.

  Devlin stopped next to her and looked at the same view. Was he seeing the same dark world she began to see? Maybe, in his mind, the world was comprised of his race of succession. Does he notice the lives that are affected by his family’s dirty tricks?

  “You’re not saying anything.” His concerned tone startled her, and she conjured a nervous smile.

  “Look, I’m sorry about what I said today. I didn’t give you a chance to explain your situation or position. I want us to make up.”

  His expression became guarded as he moved away from her and took a seat on his sectional sofa. He stretched his arm over the back of it and crossed his legs. She knew he could see her every move from there. “Why do you suddenly want to make up?”

  She nibbled on her lip. He wasn’t going to let this go easily. Could I avoid lying to him? If she found a way to tell Devlin the truth without voicing it, Mr X wouldn’t be able to fault her for it. Devlin was smart. She knew he could figure it out if she used the right tactics. “Because I want our engagement to continue and for us to get closer.”

  He appeared stunned by her response. Making her way across the room to him, she sat on his lap.

  “Annalise, what are you—”

  She placed her finger on his lips. “Don’t talk and let me help you out of those clothes.” Once she caught his arm with his comms on it, she typed up a message, explaining that her comms were hacked and that she had no choice but to come here tonight.

  The flash of anger in his blue eyes was unmistakable. He, too, seemed to realise what was going on after reading her note. “How about we take this to the shower instead?”

  Annalise blushed at his bold suggestion. She nodded, knowing that the bathroom was the one place where they could remove their comms without it seeming suspicious.

  He took her hand and led her to the bathroom while talking about their case as if it was natural. After he closed the door behind them and turned the water on in the large open shower, he helped her remove her comms. Then, he unlocked his, dumping both devices at the far end of the room and dropping two thick, fluffy black towels on top of them.

  As steam started to fill the room, he took off his shirt, revealing that his bullet wound was gone. Healing gel alone would have taken another week or two, so she guessed he must have undergone a cell regeneration treatment somewhere. And, now that he didn’t need to keep up the façade of not working for Falcon, they must have taken care of that for him.

  She was about to speak when he covered her mouth with his hand. Lowering his voice, he whispered in her ear, “Make use of your voice and moan instead if you want this to be believable. Or would you like me to help you?”

  She shook her head, and he pulled back. This was beyond embarrassing. She did her best to mimic moans of pleasure she wasn’t feeling.

  Devlin struggled not to laugh. He drew her close again. “You are a terrible actress.” Slowly, he slipped the coat off her shoulders, letting it fall down.

  Annalise’s heart thudded in her chest when he moved to lift her t-shirt. “What are you doing?”

  “We are taking a shower, aren’t we?” he asked innocently.

  She glared at him and pushed his hands away. “I’ll undress myself.”

  He chuckled and stepped under the spray of water in his suit trousers.

  Having taken off everything but her panties and bra, she joined him with her arms crossed in front of her as some form of a barrier between them. This scenario was too intimate, and she was beginning to question his motives.

  Devlin tugged her closer to him. His blue eyes were mesmerising, trapping her in their depths for an eternal second. His hands moved to her waist where his thumbs tenderly brushed her skin. “I take it my brother decided to play dirty. Is that why you accepted the engagement?”

  She was too distracted by what his hands were doing, so she nodded instead.

  “And why didn’t you play his game? It would have been the perfect revenge on me.”

  “I couldn’t do it…” she admitted, diverting her gaze to the tiled wall. “You’re my partner.”

  His thumbs stopped their sensual torment, and she looked up to find his unreadable expression. “Will you never see me as more than that?”

  If he could hear her heartbeat, he would have had his answer. She couldn’t let her feelings for him show. She loved Mavel. Devlin was a distraction, a convenient replacement she was using to supplement the emptiness in her life. She couldn’t be in love with him after knowing him for less than a month. It didn’t make any sense to hold affection for two men at the same time!

  “I’m sorry, Devlin…”

  He smirked. “Liar.” His mouth descended on hers, and her entire being came to life. The subtle current that was always there when he touched her became a tsunami of heat that pooled in her core and warmed her from within. He pressed her back against the wall, sending a shiver through her upon contact. The warmth in her combatted the chill of the tiles as his hands and mouth claimed her, branding her with yet another mark on her racing heart.

  Before her mind could turn hazy with desire, she managed to slip away from him. Unlike the previous times, where separating from him did the trick, she found that she was in need of his body on hers. She curled her fingers into fists to tether herself to the spot and not run her hands over his chest. “This isn’t right.”

  He had returned to having his guard up, she could tell. Whatever moment they had shared earlier, it was gone.

  “Come here,” he said, outstretching his arms towards her. “I won’t try anything again. You have my word.”

  She shuffled closer until she was standing a few inches away from him.

  He lowered his head to whisper while he avoided touching her in any way. “Tell me exactly what my brother has planned for you.”

  “He told me that I and everyone at HPD will die if I don’t follow his orders. After that, he got me to accept the engagement, and today he wanted me to sleep with you to get closer to you.”

  “And what do you want to do?”

  His question confused her. What else would she want other than taking that bastard’s head? “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I need to know what you want, Annalise. You are my fiancé, someone who is very important to me. If you are threatened, I will protect you. All you have to do is tell me
what you desire.”

  She leant back to see if he meant what he said. He was serious. “I want to take him down with you.”

  His tantalising lips stretched with his smile. “Then that is what we will do.”

  Somehow, in that instant, she felt like she had signed a deal with the Devil.

  While Annalise was towel-drying her hair, Devlin brought into the bathroom a set of clothes for her. He left the room, and she took off her wet underwear to climb into his spare clothes that were too baggy on her. She had to roll up the sleeves of his shirt and the legs of his tracksuit bottoms to find her limbs.

  What he told her earlier made her hopeful. Devlin knew the game well. Having him as an ally was better than wandering along in the dark until Mr X decided to eliminate her. She reluctantly secured her comms around her wrist. That piece of carbon-fibre and tech was beginning to become a nuisance instead of a Godsend.

  She combed her fingers through her damp hair, pushing it out of her eyes, and made her way to his bedroom. She spied him lying on the king size bed, smirking. His attention focused on her comms.

  “You must be tired after all that exercise. Come here.” He patted the space beside him.

  Annalise rolled her eyes. They had pretended to have sex in the shower for an hour. According to him, he had to give his brother the bare minimum or Xavier—that was the asshole’s name—wouldn’t believe it. Her fingers and toes had become so wrinkled that she was desperate for a moisturiser.

  Climbing in bed beside him, she narrowed her eyes.

  Devlin chuckled and tucked her in. “Sleep tight, Annalise. It was a pleasure spending my evening with my darling, flexible fiancé.”

  At that, she giggled and closed her eyes.

  In the morning, a delicious scent hung in the air. She sat up, stretching from the comfortable dreamless sleep. It was strange sleeping in Devlin’s bed. Initially, she thought they would fight for space or one of them would snore. None of that happened. She slept through the night without waking once.

  Barefoot, she padded along the hardwood flooring into the en-suite where she washed her face. Afterwards, she headed to the kitchen. Devlin had prepared their breakfast and was busy making coffee. She sat on the barstool and placed her chin on her palm. “Do you like cooking?”

  “It’s something to do when I am bored,” he replied as he handed her a cup of dark steaming goodness.

  “Hmm.” She sipped her drink, mulling over his response.

  “When are you going to get your psych evaluation done?” He commandeered the seat next to her and started eating his omelette on toast.

  “Why does everyone keep pestering me about it?”

  “Because they want you to get back to work as soon as possible?”

  She huffed and dug into her food to avoid talking about work for much longer.

  “We have to show our engagement’s stability to the public,” he said, reaching for his cup.

  She stopped chewing and looked at her comms with uncertainty. Did he forget his brother is listening?

  He smiled at her as if reading her mind. “We don’t want those politicians at the City Hall to question the strength of our relationship and commitment.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “First, you must display this grand gesture of our union at all times.” He took out the pink diamond rose ring from his pocket, sliding it up her wedding finger. “Next, we need to go on public dates and show them how deeply in love we are.”

  Annalise snorted at the levels of sarcasm in his voice. At least, he had a good sense of humour. “Fine. We can do that.”

  His smile melted her heart. He seemed pleased with her, and she was happy that their relationship as a team wasn’t in shambles. Whatever troubles awaited them in the future, she knew that if they worked together, they would be able to overcome anything, even his brother’s evil schemes. They finished their meal while discussing her early days at the Academy. She could finally unwind and be herself with him.

  Epilogue

  Two weeks flew by without a single message from Xavier. Annalise had completed her psych evaluation with the DPD counsellor and was allowed to return to active duty. Mavel sent her a letter, informing her that he had found a small room in the Green District. So far, he hadn’t noticed Falcon agents following him around.

  The HPD office had become a dead zone. Rios was spinning in his seat out of boredom. Des was sitting on the windowsill, playing an interactive puzzle game on her wrist comms, Calla was reading a book with blood and guts on the cover, and Jamen was arranging the folders beside his terminal.

  Letting out a heavy sigh, Annalise stretched out on her desk. Devlin went to the canteen to get them something to eat. She should have gone with him. There had been no new possession cases on the DPD’s radar since Gale’s case ended successfully. Principal Sage was found guilty of drug distribution and production. He earned a lifetime in jail after the parents of the rich kids used their connections to punish him to the fullest. Roland Brent was sentenced to serve five years for the second-degree murder of a modded citizen. Annalise wasn’t happy that he got away with a short term for such a terrible crime, but Divinity was biased towards the purebloods. There was nothing she could do.

  She spun around in her seat, staring at the ceiling. “When are we going to get some work?”

  Jamen was the first to respond, “You want someone to die?”

  She sighed again. “No, but I would rather be out there, doing something. Even writing reports is more exciting than looking up pictures of cute cats on my terminal all day.”

  “You should do a search for pictures of cute dogs next,” Des offered, causing Annalise to laugh.

  The office went quiet as a tall, slender woman in red pumps entered. Her librarian appearance had Annalise wondering if she had come to the wrong place.

  The black-haired woman with dark-brown eyes didn’t bother asking for help or directions. She confidently strode past everyone’s desks and entered the Chief’s office as if she owned the place.

  “Does anyone know who that is?” Annalise asked the other detectives.

  Jamen and Calla looked at each other. They both seemed equally as stumped as the rest of them.

  “She didn’t even knock, and the Chief isn’t flipping out,” Rios commented. “He always shouts at anyone who comes in without permission.”

  “She could be someone higher up the ladder,” Des suggested, turning off her game to keep an eye on the Chief’s office door.

  Annalise couldn’t see past the blinds that were in place to figure out what was going on inside.

  As she stood from her seat, Devlin walked into the room, holding a paper bag with food in one hand and two thermal cups of coffee in cup holders in another. He eyed everyone’s sudden interest in Chief’s room and asked, “What did I miss?”

  “Some woman walked into Sunderland’s office,” Annalise replied. She didn’t think anyone else would since the others had decided to avoid him after what Xavier put them through in that brief encounter at the warehouse.

  “Is that such an exciting event?”

  She smiled. “You’ll know what I mean when she comes out.”

  Ten minutes later, the strange woman came out of the office and, ignoring the existence of everyone in the room once more, disappeared as fast as she came.

  Chief opened the door and scanned their faces. His index finger landed on Annalise and Devlin. “You two, come in here. You have a new case to take care of.”

  Annalise rushed to get into his office with Devlin close behind her. When she entered, Chief Sunderland motioned for them to close the door.

  Devlin did as he was told and moved to stand in front of the Chief’s desk, next to her. “What is this about?”

  Chief rubbed his hands together. Then, he ran a hand over his face and tapped his desk with his fingers. “This new case is going to be done off the books so to speak. You are not to record, track, or write any reports. All reporting will be
done directly to me and in person. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.

  “Good. This needs to be kept on the down-low as ETek named you two specifically.”

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  About the Author

  “Lover of cake, life, and writing.”

  May was born in the little Eastern country called Ukraine where winters are harsh and summers are too sunny. Having moved to Ireland at the age of twelve, she learned to appreciate the temperate climate.

  In her spare time, aside from writing, she likes to daydream of character murder (hopefully, it is the bad guys), plotting the next mystery, watching TV series, or simply diving into books.

  May is a fan of fantastical, gruesome, horror, and a sucker for romance.

  You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, or her website for more information!

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank my editor and proof-readers: C. J. Laurence, Lindsey Elaine, Dominica, and Michelle Soriero. You guys are awesome, and I love you all.

  I also would like to thank everyone on my launch team who has helped out with the ARCs.