She coughed out a laugh. “You have to stop being sexist dicks.”
He sighed and rubbed the scrubby whiskers on his surfer-boy face. “It’s the only thing we got. You’re a good cop, and you don’t drink or do drugs. Until now, you’ve never even dated anybody we could make fun of.”
“And now?”
“Now you’re putting yourself in such deep shit, it’s not funny.” Bundt leaned toward her and lowered his voice, his blue eyes serious. “I may be an asshole, but I don’t want to see you go down for hanging with the wrong guy. Kellach Dunne is a really wrong guy. Titans of Fire is going down.”
She blinked. Bundt was actually trying to help her. The Celtic knot on her hip heated, and she winced. Telling Bundt that hey, Kell was a witch, and guess what, she was almost immortal probably, wasn’t a good idea. Especially since it seemed she’d gone crazy and Kell was working her. But something in her, something deep down, didn’t feel that he was working her. Maybe her ovaries were screwing with her mind. She couldn’t tell Bundt that Kell was undercover, but she truly hoped that was the truth.
“I appreciate the heads-up,” she said.
Bundt sighed and stood, patting her on the back. “Also, Spike asked about you, said he misses you.”
She shook her head. “He knew my dad and used to drop by. I haven’t talked to him since my father was put away.”
Bundt frowned. “All right.” He sauntered away toward his desk, tossing his file on top of several others.
Spike had asked about her? Damn it. How did he even know she was a cop? She hadn’t seen him in years. Standing, she grabbed her coat off her chair. It was time to have a father-daughter reunion and figure some things out.
She stomped down the stairs, glancing out the window, pleased it had stopped raining. One of those days, she really had to buy an umbrella, right after she got some sleep. At some point, she needed shuteye, but not quite yet. She shoved outside and maneuvered through people to the parking lot adjacent to the station.
Spike came out of nowhere and grabbed her sleeve.
She pivoted, released herself, and tensed to attack.
He shook his head, hands out, and backed away. “Sorry. Just wanted to see you.”
“Why?” She didn’t relax and tried to harden her heart. The guy looked terrible. Age, drugs, and life on the street had been rough on him. “What do you want?”
“Your pops wants to see you. It’s urgent.”
Her head jerked up. “You’ve been in touch with my father?”
Spike wiped off his nose. “Kind of. Through people. So that’s the message.” He shuffled his worn tennis shoes. “You got any money?”
Her heart actually hurt. If she gave him money, he’d buy drugs. “No.” Unfortunately, that was the truth.
Spike nodded. “’K. Bye.” He turned and shuffled away.
Lexi watched him go, hating drugs, the streets, and her father more than ever before.
One mystery at a time, however. Right now, she needed information about the Dunnes, and only one person in town truly knew them. So it was time to talk to Bear again. While she should call Bernie for backup, she needed to get the scoop not only on the Grizzlies but on Kellach, and Bear was more likely to talk to her alone.
Besides, what could go wrong?
Chapter 19
Kell faced his brothers in Simone’s living room, waiting for the explosion after delivering the news that he’d mated Alexandra. Adam stared at him, slack-jawed. Daire had slowly lowered his chin during the retelling and watched him through heavy lids.
Finally, Adam shook his head. “I . . . I mean, I just don’t—”
Daire glanced at Adam and then back at Kell before snorting. Then he lifted his head and laughed. Hard and long, chuckles rippled through his massive body.
Kell growled.
“Sorry.” Daire wiped a tear from his eye, not looking in the least bit sorry. “You mated a cop without intending to mate a cop?” He snorted again and visibly struggled to get himself under control. “Not in a million years would I have expected this one.”
Adam cleared his throat. “Congratulations?”
“Shit.” Kellach rubbed his aching eyes.
Daire lost his smile and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I had no sense Alexandra was enhanced.”
“Me either, but Simone said Garrett had some weird ability to sense enhancements. I need to talk to him.” Kell relaxed. Although, now it really didn’t matter, did it? They’d mated, so the woman must have some sort of enhancement, even latent.
Daire nodded. “Listen. What do you want to do? We can contact the queen and figure out how to negate the bond, if you want.”
“No.” Kell sat back, and for the first time, his rioting mind finally calmed. “I don’t want to negate the bond.”
Adam blinked. “You want to keep her?”
“Aye.” Kell rubbed his chin. “I like her. A lot.”