not?”
“If you mean illogical and annoying and something I can’t control? Yes.” Cupping my hands around the steaming mug of over-brewed, bitter coffee, I use the familiar scent to ground me.
He frowns. “What are you?”
I almost drop the mug as I jerk my head up. “Human.”
“Are you certain?” Sin leans closer, and though two feet of table separate us, I can feel his presence. Like its always been there. Right next to me. Or…close by anyway.
“Yes! My parents were human, my grandmother was human.” He doesn’t appear convinced. “Don’t you think I’d know if I weren’t? Shit. From the amount of information Commander Eve had on me before she recruited me, she’d know. Pretty sure those files went all the way back to the time I threw up all over my teacher in kindergarten.”
Sin inclines his head. “Likely. The Bureau does not take chances. Not after the massacre two hundred years ago.”
“Massacre?” He’s hazing me. Trying to get a rise out of the newbie. He has to be.
“Computer, display images from the Registration Riots on Screen Two,” he says, and oh my God. Calling it a blood bath is an understatement.
“Wh-what happened?” I push to my feet, equal parts horrified and curious. The bodies are torn apart, so little remaining that most aren’t even identifiable as people any longer. “Are those...claw marks?”
“That is the result of the human government’s attempt to control the Other. For a brief time, all members of the Bureau were required to register with the World Oversight Council. Not long after the law passed, several Council members with prejudices against our world decided we were not fit to remain free.”
“Were you there?” If he had any part in this... I don’t know how to feel about the images I see on the screen. But I need to know if my partner’s capable of this level of violence.
“No. Most of the deaths came at the hands of two bear shifters with anger management issues. Hence our very extensive screening process. The humans may have been in violation of every Other rights law in existence, but they did not deserve...that.” His sigh is only inches from my ear, and I spin around in shock as he adds, “The vampires wanted to glamour them all. But that is not our way. Nor should it be.”
We’re so close, I can smell his soap. Or cologne. Or maybe that’s just him. Whatever it is, it’s intoxicating. Like leather and fine scotch, along with a hint of smoke, and I breathe deeply. He lifts his hand, as if he’s about to touch my cheek, but then blinks hard and takes a step back.
“You weren’t about to try to glamour me, were you?” I ask.
With his fingers splayed over his heart, he focuses his stare on me, and the ring of red around his irises deepens. “I swear to you, Zoe, I will not feed from you without your permission, and I will never influence you. Your mind is your own and always will be.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you?” His tone and his body language tell me he’s being truthful—or they would if he were human. I’m just so out of my element with a demon as a partner I don’t know if I can trust my own senses.
“Believe what you want.” Sin drops his hand and returns to his seat at the table. “It is time for us to get to work.”
Eight
Sin
Two hours later, Zoe is on her third cup of coffee and she has filled two entire screens of the conference room wall with notes.
“So, across nine cities, the timeline stays almost exactly the same?” Zoe shakes her head. “Three men, then nine women. Four days between the abductions of the men, three between the women. But there’s no pattern to when the bodies are discovered. Why not?”
I rub the growing ache in my forearm, screams overwhelming my memories. A pretty young wolf begging me to kill her. I can still see the rune Thorn carved into her forehead to stop her from shifting. I had my hands around her throat, ready to end her suffering when Thorn found me and compelled me to release her.
I still bear scars from that day. One of the few memories from my time as his prisoner that has always been clear in my mind.
“Sin?”
Another voice, another time. So faint I can barely hear it. “Sin. Help me. I can fight him. I know I can.”
“Hey. Partner. Sinclair. Did you hear me?” Zoe asks.
I