Rhys opened the passenger door of the SUV and held out his hand.
How old does he think I am….five?
She shook her head and slid out without his assistance. The crime scene unit from the shifter division was already on-site, combing the alleyway and dropping numbered cones where potential evidence lay on the street. A blue sheet covered the dead woman’s lifeless body.
“What do we know?” she asked, walking toward Trapp. Rhys and his brothers followed silently on her heels. She heard their deep inhale while sniffing the area. She rolled her eyes.
“Human female, Caucasian, left nude, out in the open for anyone to find. No identification or personal belongings,” Trapp answered. “Matchbook from the club found next to her hand.” He pointed toward the ground where it lay covered in blood. “I’m not even positive she’d been there.”
She crouched, lifting the sheet. A woman’s pale, lifeless face lay turned toward the side, her green eyes opened wide and unfocused. Her mouth gaped as if she’d been killed in mid-scream. Her dark brown hair was matted with the blood flowing from beneath her body. Elizabeth recognized her immediately as the woman who’d walked into the club behind her. She’d been nervous when she’d whispered, ‘Here goes nothing.’
“She was there last night. She arrived the same time I did.” Elizabeth replaced the sheet and stood. “I smelled her fear before she walked off toward the table in the northwest corner of the club. The corner was dark.” She glanced up at Trapp. “She mumbled, ‘Here goes nothing,’ as she walked away.”
Rhys pulled back the sheet so his brothers and he could get a better look at her face.
“Emily.” Max breathed out her name; his voice stung with sadness. “Poor girl. She was a human groupie who wanted to be turned.” He kept gazing down to the sheet, and remorse filled his eyes “About a month ago, she begged me to bite her, and I told her no.”
Elizabeth bent down again and peeked beneath the rest of the sheet at the wounds covering Emily’s body. Deep slash marks, torn down to the bone, covered the pale skin on her chest and down the length of her torso. Flesh and tendons were torn from her neck, and there were more teeth marks further up her neck where the fucker had bitten her. The asshole responsible was an aggressive shit. An odd sensation of déjà vu skirted down her spine, and goose bumps rose on her arms. The markings were similar to the previous homicide she’d worked, the same crisscross design left on the last dead woman, compliments of the wolf Elizabeth had locked away in a cell.
“Do you think this is an attempted turn gone wrong?” Rhys asked.
“Nope, this was violent,” Elizabeth answered. “He might have lured her away with promises of turning her or even having sex, but the asshole tore out her throat and left his marks all over her body.” She tilted her head and crossed her arms over her chest. Taking a deep breath confirmed her suspicions, the smells were similar; she continued, “Sir.” She glanced up to find Tripp watching her. “It’s an identical kill to the one I arrested Horace Stanton for. You’ll need to put a rush into the lab to compare both kills against his DNA. Horace may have been standing over her body, but this kill happened after he was behind bars. I arrested the wrong guy. Either way, the lab will be able to confirm from the DNA.”
“Elizabeth.” Trapp’s jaw clenched. The powerful force of his energy rolled over her.
Rhys stepped to her side. The heat from his big, brooding body warmed and surrounded her in a silent show of support without even a single touch.
“You know what the smug bastard threatened to do when he’s released?”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “Yes, sir. He’ll come after me and give me a whole new set of charges to arrest him for.”
“Don’t sugarcoat his threats, Elizabeth. He threatened to kill you,” Trapp amended, most likely to clue Rhys in on the situation. Could he have made her look any more incompetent for arresting the wrong guy? Jerk. Thanks to him, her overprotective bear would be breathing over her shoulder for the entire investigation.
“He won’t touch her,” Rhys growled, and his brothers stepped closer, flanking them both.
“Get a grip. He can try, but we both know he won’t succeed,” she retorted before dropping the subject and heading back over to the SUV. She opened the passenger door and turned to find the men standing where she’d left them. “Don’t we have some surveillance to look through so we can catch this guy?” she challenged with a lift of her brow.
****
Elizabeth stepped into the security room of the bar, expecting to find a small dinky room with bad lighting, and even worse, smaller computer screens, but she was wrong. The room was filled with long conference tables and large computer screens. A locked cabinet rested along the length of the back wall. She sniffed. Gunpowder, and from the size of the cabinet, she would have thought these guys were ready for WWIII.
A fridge was pressed up against the wall with a long counter running beside it. A full coffee station and espresso machine perched on top. Toward the back of the room, another conference table sat. The room reminded her of a typical office lunch room, combined with a conference room featuring full-on amenities.
“Nice setup.”
“Glad you approve.” Rhys rubbed against her arm in passing before he clicked on the computers, bringing images to life. She moved around the table with the others and watched as every room in the empty club lit up on the screens.
“This should be a walk in the park,” she mumbled before hopping up to sit on top of one of the long conference tables, watching Rhys pull up last night’s feed.
“Go back to ten-thirty, and you’ll see her walk in behind me, talk to me for a second, and head off toward the table.”
“Ten fifty-three,” Rhys corrected. “I know what time you arrived. I already reviewed the footage to see if it would help me pinpoint where the hell to find you.” His fingers flew over the keyboard before he stilled the shot of Elizabeth entering the club. A quick glance over his shoulder and he grinned as he tapped the play button. He pointed out Emily and switched screens for a better shot of more than just the door. They silently watched the woman saunter through the crowded room toward the darkened corner.
“You need better lighting in that corner,” Trapp pointed out.
“There is a light in that corner. It must have blown,” Max answered, rubbing his five o’clock shadow as he moved to stand by Elizabeth.
“It was probably tampered with,” Elizabeth chimed in.
With the camera taking in the whole room, Elizabeth’s eyes were glued to the images of Emily leaving the table with three of her girlfriends in tow. She turned down the same hallway as the bathrooms and the security office.
“Looks like a bathroom break,” Dylan suggested and glanced at her. “Why do you girls go in pairs?”
She grinned. “So we can talk shit about the men at the table.”
They fast-forwarded to see if they’d been followed down the hall or if they’d come out of the hallway.
Within ten minutes, they all walked back out and straight through the club toward the front doors. “Do you recognize her friends?”
“Yeah, they meet up at the bar about once a week,” Rhys answered.
“Sadie, Marie, and Jennifer,” Dylan supplied.
“Are they shifters?” she asked.
“Yes.” Rhys glanced up at her.
“If she’s friends with shifters, why was she begging everyone to convert her? Why couldn’t they just do it?”
Colton cleared his throat and stepped to her side. “The ability to change someone from human into a shifter is passed down only through male DNA. It was intended as a way to ensure that any male shifter could change his mate, assuming the female was strong enough to endure the enzymes. It’s not uncommon for a female to die trying if she’s too frail or sick to handle that particular strand of the DNA code.”
She spun on him accusingly. “How come you never told me that?”
“Because it didn’t matter,” he answered. Colton glanced at the others. “Do you really want to discuss that here? Now?”
That was one conversation they would be having, just not in present company. If females could die from the DNA, those bastards had been trying to kill her using not one male’s DNA but several. Her anger returned, coursing through her veins as if her abduction had just happened yesterday. If she could kill them all again, she damn sure would. Elizabeth felt the raging heat rising through her body. Her gums ached as her sharp teeth tried to press through.
“Elizabeth, your eyes,” Colton said.
She took a long, deep breath and started grinding her teeth in an attempt to calm herself. Rhys pressed a palm on her arm. “Lizzie?”
Her anger dissipated with his touch, simmering to a controllable point. He calmed her beasts into submission, making them purr with giddiness that he was near. Should she be grateful or pissed? She pressed her lips together and turned back to the monitor. Rhys gave a slight nod before releasing her. He spun in his seat, reaching for the button to shut down the video, but Elizabeth stopped him. She pointed toward the darkened corner. “There. Look, that guy is following them out. Do you know who he is?”
“Evan Stone,” Max answered.
Evan moved around the crowded tables heading for the door before he paused and glanced directly toward the camera. He flashed a smug smile with a predatory gaze. Lifting his arm, he tapped on the face of his watch before disappearing out the front door.
“What the—”
Elizabeth cut off Max’s question as she hopped off the table and turned to address the men in the room, taking charge in the only way she knew how.
“We need names and addresses for all of the other women.” She glanced at Colton. “I’ll pick up Evan and bring him in for questioning.”
Rhys rose slowly from his seat. His eyes flashed with protest as he stalked closer toward her. “Like hell.”
Her eyes narrowed and locked onto his gaze. She wouldn’t be backing down. She had a damn job to do, even if it meant staying the hell away from the big bad bear.
“Rhys.” Colton’s voice rang in her ears, but her gaze held steady.
As if Rhys sensed her determination, knowing he wouldn’t win this battle, he took a deep, calming breath. “That came out wrong.” He glanced over her shoulder toward the others before returning to her gaze. “What I meant to say was, wouldn’t it be better if you talked to the other women? They might be more receptive to opening up with you because you’re a woman.”
“He’s right.” To her chagrin, Colton agreed. “I’ll take a team and pick up Evan while you go get statements.”
Elizabeth tossed her hands up before using her shoulder to push through the group, only to be stopped by Colton’s palm on her arm.
“Establish contact and get statements.” His jaw ticked. “I expect you to go in armed. We don’t know what we’re up against, and I don’t want you ambushed. Let’s just hope all of her friends didn’t fall victim to the recent abductions.”
She nodded and headed toward the door, only to remember at the last second that she hadn’t driven herself. “I’m going to need my car.”
Rhys glanced at his brothers, and some type of silent communication transpired between the men. Both men gave a curt nod. “We’ll take you.”
“Listen here, buddy. I just need my car.” She stepped up to Rhys. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ve survived my entire life without you or your brothers assisting me.”
Rhys cleared his throat and held her gaze. “Gentleman, could we have a moment?”
“Rhys.” She could hear the warning in Colton’s tone.
Rhys glanced up. “I need a minute with my mate. I just want to talk to her.”
“She is right here.” She glanced over her shoulder to the others. “And just so you know, if you hear him screaming like a little girl…he deserved it.”
“Come on, guys; let’s give them a minute.” Colton ushered the other two cousins out of the room.
Elizabeth laced her fingers together, waiting patiently for the others to clear out of the room. Rhys wanted to talk? She had plenty to say.
“Rhys—”
He held up his hand and moved to the other side of the table, out of her reach. Smart, not that a table would stop her from reaching him to strangle the life out of his very thick neck, but whatever made the shifter feel safe. “I understand your need to put criminals away, and I understand your need to be independent, and I respect that about you. I have no intention of standing in your way.”
“Good.”
He cleared his throat. “I just need you to understand something about me. Lizzie, I just found you, baby. When you ran out of the bar last night, my bear and I went out of our minds. I don’t expect to be your constant shadow, but for right now…in these first few weeks, my bear and I need to be close to you. Not because we don’t think you can do your job, but because the need to protect you is ingrained in both of us…the man and the beast. We just want to be with you. So please, just this once…humor me. I conceded on the sleeping arrangements; I’m not pushing you into a mating bond, and I won’t interfere in the investigation, but let me be near you. I NEED to be near you.”
His admission was sincere. She read it in his eyes, heard it in his words, and smelled his genuine concern. Over the last year, whenever she’d met a family member of a missing person, they all gave off the same worried scent. Elizabeth chewed her bottom lip between her teeth while weighing his request. It wasn’t uncommon for shifter males to be possessive. It was in their nature. She knew that much for certain. She could even appreciate the fact Rhys wasn’t trying to elbow his way into the situation through his association with Colton, or act like a caveman and insist, as if that would’ve helped, but what did it mean if she acquiesced? That she was agreeing that they were meant to be mates? Was that something she was willing to do?
“You’re thinking too hard,” he announced. “How about we try the first girl, and if you don’t like how it goes, we’ll get your car.”
She let out a deep breath and gave a quick nod. “Fine.”