Clutching her injured side, Tala gained her feet and approached Jace. This close, she could plainly see that his jaw had elongated and canines poked out between his lips. She could also see that Darryl was near unconsciousness. His eyes were rolling back into his sockets. She smelled the urine that stained his cotton shorts.
“Jace,” she said, “Back down. You got him. He isn’t going anywhere.”
He met her gaze and she could see the rage flaring in his eyes. But she also discerned something else. Concern. Longing. Was it for her?
“He hurt you,” he growled. And it was closer to a growl than not. But she understood him. Surprisingly so.
“I’m fine. Really.” She lifted her arms and twisted back and forth to show him that she was all right. She tried to keep the pain that tore through from showing on her face. After lowering her arms, she touched him on the shoulder. “Let him go, Jace. We can’t question him if he’s out cold.”
Underneath her palm, Tala could actually feel his body relax. The fire in his eyes dimmed and she watched in awe as his jaw receded into itself. It was mesmerizing to witness. She thought she’d be disturbed by Jace’s ability to shift back and forth. Instead, she found herself intrigued and a little bit aroused.
Back to normal, Jace released his hold on Darryl. The fitness trainer slumped to the ground, incapacitated but still conscious.
Tala stood over Darryl. Reaching down, she handcuffed his hands behind his back then rolled him into a sit. “You’re an idiot for running. You’re going to have a headache for hours and I’m booking you for assault on a police officer.”
As she read Darryl his Miranda rights, Tala was acutely aware of Jace’s presence. He had moved closer to her, standing only a foot away, watching her. It was as if just being near her calmed him.
She had thought she would be angry by Jace’s aggressive display. She didn’t normally go for macho behavior. But with Jace, she found it endearing, soothing even. In the back of her mind, she felt protected and secure. Like nothing would hurt her again. Not with Jace Jericho around.
What she wasn’t sure about was how she felt about that. On one hand it appeased her, like the comfort of family and home.
But it also scared the living hell out of her. So much that she didn’t know what to do with it.
Chapter 10
P acing the conference room, Jace was becoming stir-crazy. He’d been cooped up going on two hours now. Darryl was spouting off about police brutality and his lawyer was causing a stink. So the powers that be decided it would be a good idea if they caged Jace for a while to get him out of the way. Little did they know how much of a cage it seemed to Jace.
After he and Tala brought Darryl in for questioning, the guy lawyered up almost immediately. The only thing they did get out of him was that he did see and train Samantha Kipfer that day around two o’clock. She had been there for an hour. After that, he claimed he didn’t know where she went.
Jace was certain the guy knew more than he was admitting. Darryl had a dishonest smell. Like sour milk.
Tala had also thought Darryl was keeping information to himself. In fact, as soon as Darryl screeched for a lawyer she excused herself to make some phone calls. She was certain that Darryl was Samantha’s ecstasy dealer. She just needed to talk to her contacts in the narcotics division.
When Jace had asked how she knew, she told him she could smell it on Darryl. Considering the circumstances, Jace thought that was the strangest comment she’d ever made. Now, if he had said something like that, it would’ve made sense. His sense of smell was considerably heightened. He could discern twenty separate odors at once. A human didn’t have that ability.
Tala was quickly becoming the most intriguing person Jace had ever met. She was guarded. A woman with secrets. But the cracks were starting to show in her walls and he was attracted to what he could glimpse in between.
The door to the conference room opened and Caine strode in, looking as polished and collected as ever. The only time he’d ever seen the vampire undone was the night Eve had been kidnapped from his house. It was in that moment, Jace truly understood how much Caine loved his human woman.
Not once had Jace ever thought he could like, let alone love, a human. But after meeting Tala and spending time with her, his resolve wasn’t so steady and sure.
“I’m going nuts in here, Chief.”
Caine sat on one of the chairs at the table and set his file folders down. “I know. It’s absolutely ridiculous, the human bureaucracy, but we have to abide by it since we are on their turf, so to speak.”
“How are we doing, anyway? Can we hold this guy as a suspect?”
“We have nothing to go on. The white fibers we found around the vic’s nose and mouth could be a match to the white terrycloth towels used at the gym, but then again they could have come from any white cotton towel.” Caine rubbed a hand through his hair. “We don’t even have enough to get a warrant for his house. We can hold him for a while, book him for assaulting Officer Channing, but his lawyer will have him out on bail soon. For someone who works at a low-paying customer-service job, he sure does have a high-powered lawyer.”
“Damn.” Foregoing a chair, Jace sat on the table.
“Do you get something from this guy? Something no one else can see or smell?”
“Tala thinks he’s the victim’s drug dealer. She’s checking in with some buddies at narcotics.”
“Tala thinks?” Caine lifted a brow. “Did she say what gave her that idea?”
Jace looked down at the floor. He knew what he was about to say was going to sound strange to Caine. But for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint, Jace trusted her instincts. “She said she smelled it on him.”