“Thank you, Mr. LeNoir.” Caine tipped his head in gratitude.
“Please cal me Theron.” He set the book back down on the table and rubbed his hands together.
“When do we get started?”
Lyra groaned and, glancing up to the ceiling, shook her head. “Why me? I was having a pretty good day so far.”
Caine shook Theron’s hand. “I can assure you working with Lyra wil be interesting. But I can’t promise you she’l behave.”
Theron grinned. “Oh, that’s perfectly fine with me. I always knew investigative work would be…invigorating.”
“Oh, for Goddess sake.” Lyra tossed up her hands and marched out of the room. Theron watched her leave and chuckled to himself. Completely and utterly invigorating.
Lyra waited in the ladies’ room until Theron had been escorted out, by the baron himself, to the hotel where he was going to stay. Peeking out the door, she watched as Caine came out of the analysis room then jumped in front of him, already in ful argument.
“Why do we need him to stay on? Can’t you just order him to give us the book?”
Without breaking stride, Caine shook his head. “Lyra, why are you arguing so vehemently about this? We’ve had other consultants on cases before. You worked with that psychic wel , if I remember correctly.”
“But that was different.”
Caine arched his elegant brow. “How?”
“She wasn’t a pompous ass.”
“You used to think I was a pompous ass.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh yes, you did. I remember distinctly the day you cal ed me that in the lab in front of the whole team.”
Lyra blushed. She actual y did remember that day four years ago. But that was before she real y got to know Caine.
“Besides, I just finished talking to this Inspector Bel monte from Nouveau-Monde and he says Theron is quite gifted in magic and in other sensory detection. He could be a valuable resource for us on this case. Sometimes an outsider can see past the trees in the forest.”
Lyra sniffed. “I hate that saying. What does it even mean?”
Caine stopped in front of his office and gave her that look she hated. The one that said she was being irrational. “It means you should go home, get some sleep and come back tomorrow, rested and relaxed and ready to work.”
She opened her mouth to protest.
“Good night, Lyra. Have sweet dreams.” Caine stepped into his office and shut the door behind him.
Huffing,
Lyra
stomped down the hal way toward the parking garage. She hated that she felt so uptight about Theron being there. The fact that she felt territorial about the lab wasn’t lost on her. Six years ago, if someone had told her she’d be acting like a lycan with her pack, she would’ve laughed in their face. Before she could reach the elevator, Kel en, the bal istics expert, slunk out of his room and leaned against the doorjamb, hooking his thumb into his front jeans pocket. He smiled that lazy grin of his as she approached.
“Hey, sugar,” he drawled. “Missed you.”
“No, you didn’t. You probably didn’t even know I was gone until now.”
“Oh, I knew.” He ran a finger just under his lips. “When are you and I going to hook up?”
“Like never.”
“Why not? I’m a good-looking guy. I’m fun.”