It came in the form of one very angry police detective.
“What are we going to do about Ray?” I asked as I stood. Raymond Hart had unwittingly uncovered our secret and now presented a threat to our race. He’d been brought over from the Safe House early this morning so I could have a chat with him—meaning kill him if I had to—and was currently being held under guard down the hall.
My father gave me a hard look.
I didn’t want to kill him. “You know, there are other ways we can deal with this,” I said. “Exterminating every human being who finds out about us doesn’t have to be our normal moving forward. Plus, killing him after he’s been so intent on me, has my break-in case open on his desk, and was last seen at my apartment building—his car is still parked there—and with Jeff Arnold, my building super, dead and all the recent calls about noise and various disturbances, it will be easy for them to piece together the coincidences. If they haven’t already. I will be their prime suspect.”
“I cannot, in good conscience, leave a threat to our existence in the form of a police detective running around after what he’s seen. I know our ways are not easy for you, Jessica, but someone like Raymond Hart poses a serious problem. He is not someone who would assimilate as an Essential into our Pack, which is the only option left to him other than death.”
He was right. Ray would never assimilate willingly. But I still didn’t want to kill him. If I killed Ray, which would be relatively easy because he’d been a constant headache of mine for years, each human after him would be less of an issue.
I didn’t want killing to ever be easy.
If I didn’t try to change Ray’s mind, no other headstrong human would ever have a chance of escaping this fate. So why not start with Ray? “What if I can get him to assimilate? You have to admit he would be a great asset to Pack. He’s been a police detective for almost twenty years. We’d have someone on the inside, and as a bonus, he could make all the issues of my case vanish in one day.”
My father arched a critical eye at me. “He doesn’t leave this building unless I’m satisfied.”
Short of a lobotomy, there was no way I could change Ray’s mind that fast. “How about if…” I hemmed. “If I can’t get him to swear in the next half hour”—What in the hell was I going to do with him if he didn’t swear? He was so not going to swear—“I take him… with me?” Not a good plan, Jessica. My wolf growled and snapped her muzzle, telling me exactly what she thought of my ingenious idea.
“With you?” my father echoed.
Ray had a death sentence if I left him behind. “Yep. I’ll take the asshole with me if I have to.”
3
“Hello, Ray.” I smiled pleasantly as I entered the small suite located across the hall from our offices. It didn’t technically belong to Hannon & Michaels, but since it hadn’t been leased in years we’d taken it over, using it mostly for storage. “Looks like you fared okay last night.” I nodded my head, acknowledging the two other guys in the room.
“Good morning.” Danny winked, his cheerful English accent bringing levity to a stressful situation. “Just so you know, your man and I are getting along splendidly. We had a real Hart-to-heart last night. Didn’t we, mate?”
Ray’s eyes narrowed. I was certain his night with Danny had been less than pleasant. For a police officer, very little would suck worse than being held hostage. After all the training, a cop would know the chances were slim to none of making it out alive. “Very funny, Danny,” I said. “No need to harass the prisoner any more than necessary.”
“You know, humor is the hallmark of a brilliant mind.” He tapped the outside of his head and gave me a toothy grin. “Without it, we’d suffer the days away in endless monotony.”
As well as being the resident jokester, Danny was strikingly handsome. He had high cheekbones, a strong chin, and brown locks that fell perfectly into his blue-green eyes, making your fingers itch to brush it out. Accompany that with the body of a pro athlete and it was a wicked combination for any woman.
It was a good thing I’d always preferred my men rough around the edges.
Extremely rough.
Rourke roared into my mind with his hard, taut body, jet-black tattoos, honey-colored hair, and a perfect layer of stubble running along his strong jawline. My wolf growled. I know. I know. But we have to be careful or Danny will think those smells are for him, so keep a lid on it.
I glanced at the other wolf in the room, pulling myself together with effort.