“Well, so do I.” Her eyes flashed green fire at him. “You’re what, thirty-four? I’ve had at least two hundred and forty more years of practice at it than you. So who do you think is going to win this battle in the end?” With that, she walked out of the room.
He watched her leave, struck by the intensity of her power. He’d never met a vampire that old before. He should’ve known she possessed that much force. He’d been trained to figure out the ages of vampires by the amount of sway they had on him and others. Olena just about had him on his knees. It probably irked her to no end that he could control his reactions to her as much as he did. He was only human, after all. That was probably what angered her the most.
Shaking his head to clear her from his mind, Cale glanced down at the metal shrapnel on the tiled floor. Now that he was alone, it was time he got to work. This was something he had to do without an audience. He wasn’t ready quite yet to let others know what he could do.
Crouching, he reached for a piece of one of the safety-deposit boxes and carefully picked it up between two fingers. He closed his eyes and let his mind go.
Chapter 3
Trying to control her anger, Olena caught up with Sophie and Kellen in the bank foyer. They were both drinking coffee. She could use some caffeine herself right about now.
As she neared, Sophie handed her the third cup, which had been waiting for her on the marble table in the foyer. “That bad?”
Olena took the offered drink, sipped it and sighed. Sophie knew her well. “Do you think Interpol would really look for an agent if he just vanished into thin air?”
“I know some killer places to hide a body. No one would ever find him,” Kellen said after taking a sip of his coffee.
Sophie gave her fiancé a skeptical look. “You’d better be kidding.”
“Of course I am.” He hugged the spitfire lycan to him but winked at Olena over the top of Sophie’s head.
“I saw that.”
“Saw what?”
Olena left the newly engaged, squabbling lovers and wandered off to find the bank manager. She could at least accomplish something on this case. If she was being forced to work with Agent Braxton, at least she could uncover a piece of evidence before he did. She hated that he made her feel competitive. She didn’t usually act that way on a case. No matter who cracked what, the crime-scene investigation team was always the one to benefit. No one member stood out among the others.
But Cale wasn’t part of her team.
Henri, the bank manager, was busy at his desk answering the phone. When he saw Olena approach, his face brightened. He hung up the phone as she stepped into his office.
“I was just going to come find you.” He grabbed a piece of paper off his desk. “I have that list for you.”
Olena went to take the paper, but at the last second she sensed movement behind her. She turned to find Cale standing at her left shoulder, reaching for the list just as she had been.
He grasped it between his fingers. “I’ll take that, thank you.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
“My job.” He folded the piece of paper and slid it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
She was speechless. She’d never met a more infuriating male, human or otherwise, in her whole life, and she’d had a lot of years and men to choose from. Even Rasputin had more manners than Agent Cale Braxton.
“We’re done here.” He turned and walked out of Henri’s office.
Olena followed behind, her hands fisted at her sides. She had to bite down on her tongue to stop herself from calling him some choice names.
“We are certainly not done here. The scene still needs to be processed, the evidence from the explosion collected and transported to the lab.”
“It’s being done as we speak.” He stopped at the front doors of the bank and glanced back at her. “I already sent your team in to finish up.”
“You ordered my team?” She couldn’t stop the quiver in her voice. “You?” She pointed at him, fighting the urge to actually stab him in the chest with her nail.
“There is your kit.” He nodded toward the corner of the foyer. “Now you and I can go back to NMPD headquarters and get to work on this list.” He reached into his suit jacket, pulled out a pair of black sunglasses and slid them on. “Do you have a car?” He pushed through the revolving glass door.
After quickly grabbing her crime-scene kit, Olena followed him out, fuming and at a loss for words. She had a couple of options, she figured. Suck it up and play nice with the human, or switch the game to her rules.
“I have a car.” She pointed to the black sedan parked half a block down. “Over there.”