“Why?” His hand at her waist dropped to the curve of her ass and molded her into the thick ridge of his erection.
Her entire body lit up like a live wire. He was hard and ready for her, and she craved him—one last time before she sent him on his way with Raze and got her head back in the game. “You need to take it easy and get some rest. Tomorrow, we hit the ground running.”
“So you do al the work. I’l just kick back and come.”
She bit him in the pectoral with her fangs.
“Ow! Damn it.” He shoved her back. “Go easy on me. I’m in recovery.”
“Which is why you need sleep, not sex.” But god, he tasted good. She licked her lips, making sure she didn’t miss a drop.
His eyes glittered in the darkness. “You’ve revved me up. Now the sleep won’t come without the sex.”
“Cry me a river. Listen, I have something to tel you.”
He covered her mouth with his hand. “I cal ed mine first.”
Vash growled. His grin flashed before he released her.
“Get on with it, then,” she snapped.
“Can’t.” There was nothing even remotely apologetic in his tone. He popped open the brass snaps holding her vest together and took possession of a heavy, tender breast. “Al the blood has flowed into my other brain. Have to take care of that first.”
The sheer audacity of his statement stunned her silent for a moment. “What’s gotten into you?”
Whatever it was, she liked the effect it had on him. He was a serious guy by nature; this more relaxed version was hitting many of her hot buttons.
“I’m about to get laid by the hottest woman on the planet. That tends to cheer a guy up. Plus, I’ve got a present for you. It may not be quite as lifesaving as the one you brought me today, but hopeful y it’l turn out that way.”
Warmth twisted through her, along with shards of near-painful delight as he tugged on her nipple with his thumb and forefinger. “What is it?”
“I’ve got a lead on Charron’s kil ers.”
Her breath clogged behind a tight throat. “What…? How…?”
“Adrian.” Elijah pul ed her closer. “I asked him what he knew. He’d heard the rumors about your mate and sent Jason to investigate. The lycans who admitted to being involved were interviewed. He doesn’t recal their names or what their story was, only that they didn’t relay the events the way you told them to me or he would’ve terminated them himself.”
“Sure he would have.”
“Vashti, he was never told Charron had been slaughtered in the manner you described. He knew only that your mate was dead and lycans were involved. If he’d heard differently, he would’ve had the matter looked into more closely. I believe that.”
“He wouldn’t give a shit.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“Whatever. I’ve known him a hel of a lot longer than you have.” She blew her hair off her face and pushed away. Refastening her vest, she began to pace. “I need names, El. I don’t care what those lycans said. I know what I saw and I know Char. He would never have done anything worthy of a death like that. He was a kind, gentle-hearted man.”
“The interviews were recorded on tape, then later transferred to disk and uploaded to a backup cloud.”
“Did he give you copies?”
“No. And he doesn’t have the password to access them.”
“Bul shit. He’s lying.”
He crossed his arms and looked straight into her eyes. “No, Vashti. He isn’t. Each outpost has a separate log-in to the cloud. It was a safety precaution that prevented a ful -system breach at the outpost level. I know he’s right because Stephan broke into the system at Navajo Lake. There was no access to information about the other outposts.”
“So who has the password?”