Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

“Y ou were just talking to the alpha?” he asked with so much dripping concern, it made my skin itch.

I nodded and stood up. “Mayor. What are you doing here?”

“Other than eavesdropping? I’ve come to offer the city’s assistance.”

I studied him doubtfully. I’d had a few interactions with the mayor, and they had all impressed upon me his slick and treacherous nature. “Thanks. What exactly did you have in mind?”

“First, let’s make it official. You’re now acting Lieutenant Sato. Congratulations on the promotion.”

I gaped at him. “What?”

He shrugged and stepped inside, walking over to the board to examine my notes. “Honesty is not my policy, as I’m sure you’ve realized, what with your aura reading, not that I’m particularly subtle about it. Singsong city is always a life or death situation about to erupt. The trouble, I’ve recently realized, is that you never know what direction the threat will come from. Rynne Sato, you are incorruptible. Everyone knows this. You won’t take bribes, you won’t look the other way, and…” His voice lowered and he shot me a look. “This is the real reason I’m promoting you,” then raising his voice to normal levels, “You have connections with werewolves, the Grey Society, and the Goblin Authority. Also Winston the Warlock, who has been bothering our city more and more recently. He used to avoid Singsong, and you’d think after the devastation he’d avoid it even more, but no. That means that you have the resources necessary to be permanently in charge of policing our fair city.”

“If you make me the lieutenant, I’ll be hiring a lot of infernal cops.”

“Of course you will. No bias for you.”

“I’ll also investigate you if I hear of any corruption coming from your direction.”

He shot me a beaming smile. “So glad that someone will keep me on my toes.”

“Also, the station needs better funding.”

His smile faded and he cleared his throat. “Ah, well, as Lieutenant Sato, I’m sure you can organize a policeman’s ball to raise funds, and all the people you assaulted when you crashed the governor’s ball can come and return the favor.”

“That’s what I thought. Sounds like your office needs to be audited.”

He pointed at me. “If only you had the resources for that.”

“I’m dating the Goblin Authority. I’m sure he can lend me an accountant to look at your books.”

He laughed, delighted for some reason. “Exactly! You have your own resources. Why not make use of them? You’re giving them their next king. What’s a bit of gold and some goblins for that?”

I ground my teeth for a second at the suggestion that I was somehow the stupid human who had asked the goblin king to carry me away. I had said that we were dating, but everyone didn’t have to jump to conclusions. “You’re suggesting that I would trade my own child for gold and goblins?”

He chuckled. “Never. I’m sure you’re honorable, even if you’re the only one. Well, I’ll let you get back to your investigation. So glad I didn’t get involved in that uncomfortable situation,” he said, gesturing at the desk.

“What uncomfortable situation?”

He raised his brows. “Didn’t you know? You have the file right there. The suicide of the whistle-blower. Of course, it was tragic that the judge had to throw out the lawsuits once their inside witness became so depressed that she couldn’t go on.”

I stared at him, the wheels in my head turning. “You think that she was killed, and that the judge was involved? You’re the mayor! Why wouldn’t you do something about it?”

“This is Singsong City. It is literally founded on corruption. Business is particularly brutal. But you’ll learn all about that soon enough. You’ll have cases where there isn’t a good side, a right answer, or an optimal outcome, just corruption, and wolves eating wolves.”

With a wink and a smile, he walked out of the office, leaving me staring after him and his sparkly wings. Soon, Brannigan came in, studying my face.

“What did he want?” He made it sound like it was automatically a bad thing.

“He named me acting lieutenant. Does he have the power to do that?”

His expression cleared. “That’s all right then. I thought maybe he pulled the plug on funding.”

“Why do you care about working here? About our funding? You golf on the weekends.”

He grinned. “Right? What’s more suspicious than that? Seriously, though, Sato, you’ve never asked me about myself in all the years we’ve worked together. It’s like you don’t care.” He touched his heart like it was delicate.

“You won’t tell me? Then why should I trust you? Corruption is everywhere.”

“You really want to know? I’m going into politics after a few years of public service. It’s the plan my family’s public image team came up with.”

I stared at him. “Your family’s public image team? You’re kidding.”

“Nope. So, considering where I come from, I’ve been astonishingly willing to get my hands dirty.”

“As long as it doesn’t involve paperwork or actual dirt. Wouldn’t you rather make lieutenant, you know, to help with your resume?”

“My resume’s not that important to me. You’re going to be working yourself to death without enough resources to accomplish anything, constant frustrations, and banging your head against the walls that keep closing in. And talk about pay. No way it’s enough to make up for the stress.”

“So glad we cleared up your motives. Now tell me what you found when you were filing.”

“Nothing. No one’s found anything missing, other than three cases Nills noticed were gone that he recently filed for Jossy.”

So the station had really been sacked just to find those files? Good thing I hadn’t left my briefcase in the car. “Great. I need you to run to the courthouse and get everything you can find about the lawsuit against Cellular Beauty, and find out how Representative Phil was connected to it.”

He hesitated then gave me a loose smile. “I’ll take Lewell while you drown in paperwork.”

“And I need someone to talk to the girl’s only living relative as well as co-workers at the company.”

“Her mother? Shouldn’t you do that since you’re a woman? You could bond as females.”

I frowned at the desk and the mess spread across it. If I was actually the acting lieutenant, I had a lot more to do than catch a demon. I’d have to manage other people and hope they were competent. I stood up and grabbed the files. “Sexist as that was, you’re right. I should get out of the office for a few hours.”

“Not that office hours aren’t over.” He gave me a bland smile. “Still, I can go to the courthouse for your files since you’re so desperately understaffed.”

That had to change. We walked out together, and then I stopped with a lurch when I saw Sashimi walking through the front door, wearing a navy suit and looking particularly tidy and respectable. My heart beat erratically at the sight of him and I wanted to fix my hair and make sure my breath wasn’t horrible.

He smiled when he saw me, walked towards me, and then bent to kiss me, sweet, chaste, and very public. It didn’t matter how sweet it was, fire flooded through my system and I ached to drag him into my office and forget about the rest of the world.

“Hi,” I said, gripping my folders more tightly. We were civilized today.

“I’ve come to take you out for dinner. Have you eaten?” His eyes were soft, like his smile.

“No. I’m starving. I’m so glad you came. I actually have to talk to some people, but maybe we could get dinner on the way, and you could be my partner?”

He flashed a smile. “Of course. I brought a car. Do we need assault suits for this mission, Lieutenant?”

“You heard about that?”

“The mayor publicly announced that he was going to make you Lieutenant in the face of your courage and cleverness, stopping the demon from killing again. Winston was there, helping push the fear towards demons and away from witches, particularly public servant witches. He’s very good at manipulating public opinion.”

“And private. He’s a nuisance.”

He smiled slightly more. “I’m so glad to hear that you think so. Some find him very charming.”

“He seems to think so.” I linked my arm with his as we walked out, and felt a wave of exhaustion that had me leaning against him a little too heavily.

“You poured a lot of healing magic into me. You should probably sleep for a few days after that,” he murmured.

I looked up at him, smiling. “Did it work? Are you really better?”

“Absolutely. I am better than I was before the bomb. Would you mind if I looked at your shoulder while we were in the car? I brought a first aid kit.”

“I’d love that. I’m a little nervous about it. Goblin bombs are notorious, what with shrapnel and itch dust. While it’s probably fine, I’d appreciate a second pair of eyes.”

He flashed me a sharp smile and opened the back door, gesturing me to get inside. I did, and found more equipment than I expected crowded into the back of the large limo. He followed me and then immediately was tugging on my jacket. I let him pull it off, then smiled because it felt like when I’d pulled off his. Was he still reciprocating? I had treated him while he was unconscious. That’s probably what all of this was about. He was so polite, though. So civilized. It made me wonder what was underneath that polished veneer.

“Your bandage seeped onto your blouse,” he murmured, but there was an edge to his words.

I glanced over to try and see the damage. He was right about the formerly white fabric now brown and crusty. “It seemed like a good bandage. I must not have put it on properly.”

“Or your wound is more serious than you thought.” He brought out his claws, sliced through my blouse, then ripped off the bandage.

I inhaled sharply as the stuck-on bandage yanked on my already severed nerves. He grabbed the base of my skull and pulled me down on his lap so I was staring at the leather seat while he grabbed supplies and started working over my injury. It was a shockingly intimate position, so close to him, so vulnerable, giving a goblin my back. Of course, he could have killed me at any time. He was my protector. I relaxed while he poked and prodded. His hands were gentle for being so strong.

“You didn’t have my sister look at it?” he asked, still tense.

“Is she a great healer?”

“No, but if she saw that there was a problem, she would take care of it one way or another. The most reasonable being to take you back to my house.”

“She calls it a vault. She was so proud of herself for breaking me out.”

“I’m sure she was.” His words were a growl, clearly losing the civilized manners by the moment. Did that mean my wound was horrible, or did he just not like me being hurt? He really took his protector role seriously.

I smiled against his leg. “Well, her nickname is Trata. I called you Sashimi in front of her. Is that disrespectful? If so, I’ll try to remember in the future to call you Corcarn.”

“You owe me no respect.” His words were hard, terse.

“I can’t date someone I don’t respect.” I hissed as pain shot deep through my shoulder. “Are you almost done back there?”

“No. You have some dust that’s spread an infection beneath the skin. It makes me think that perhaps our next date should be less exciting.”

“You mean the one after this, or this one?”

“Both. All future dates should be less exciting than the last one. If I’m unconscious, I can’t stop you from pouring your healing energy into me, I can’t stop my sister from hacking my vault, and I can’t make certain that you are safe.”

I laughed, even though I was in quite a lot of pain. “You call it a vault too. Where is all the priceless art?”

“For goblins, the greatest art is weaponry. I didn’t show you that room.”

“Ah. Maybe next time. I feel like my taser was somehow insignificant compared to the demon.”

“I will take great pleasure in arming you. Also in having less exciting dates. The combination of less risk and more weaponry is positively delightful.” He licked me as if to emphasize his point. What was he doing? I mean, I knew what he was doing, but why? He kept licking my shoulder over the wound, but after the first shock, it didn’t hurt but instead grew more and more numb.

“Your tongue is numbing me?”

He stopped and then spread some oozy stuff over my wound. “Yes. Also killing every possible infection. It’s not very civilized, but I already ripped your shirt.”

I gurgled a laugh. From that position, with his firm leg under my cheek, civilized was not the word. “That’s true. I’ll have to reciprocate. Also with the licking. You have no idea what you’ve started.”

“You started by writing me a letter.”

Back to that. That’s right. This was all a carefully calculated plan to preserve his heart and soul from the curse of love. How depressing. I sighed heavily, then sat up, because this was getting weird. “Thank you for reminding me. You can bandage me from this position.”

His eyes were so intent, so burning. “I can, yes, but you should lie down. You need to rest if you’re going to heal.”

“Lying on your lap while you’re licking me is too weird.”

“Cuddling is less weird?”

“Yes. Boyfriends are supposed to cuddle. They aren’t supposed to eat dresses and lick flesh wounds.”

“So glad you clarified that point.” He worked quickly to smooth on a bandage then fell over on the seat, pulling me down so I was spooned in front of him. “You have no idea how much weirder it is to cuddle than to lick flesh wounds for me.”

“We already cuddled,” I protested.

“But I need the practice. We’re almost at your interview, and then we’ll stop cuddling and look official instead. You’ll have to wear your jacket to cover the hole in your shirt.”

Instead of arguing, I let myself relax and soak up his warmth and strength. Too soon, the car pulled to a stop while I was dozing off, his relaxed arm draped over me, holding me on the bench.

“We’re here.” His voice was not relaxed. His tone brought me completely awake. Right. I had work to do. I needed to do an interview with the suicide victim’s mother, see if she had any of the girl’s old files that might provide incriminating evidence against the company she’d been willing to testify against.

I sat up, moving slow as my shoulder’s sore stiffness dragged on me. I looked out the window at the modest apartment building, then dug the screenshot of the address I’d taken on my phone. “That was fast.”

“Do you have any tips for how to be an excellent partner?” he asked, giving me a polite smile.

“No. You’re already perfect.”

His eyes flashed, gleaming gold for a moment. “That’s not very specific.”

“Specifically, back me up without taking over, don’t leave without me when you’re my ride, and fix my bandage when it’s seeping.” I smiled and patted his leg. “Let’s go.”

The walk up to the elevator was already making my shoulder pull. I’d enjoyed it not hurting while I relaxed in the back of the limo. Things could be a lot worse, I mean, goblin bombs were notoriously deadly, but it still hurt, and I was still reeling from being made lieutenant, buried under so much responsibility when I lacked power.

Sashimi reached over to grab my hand, squeezing it once before releasing me and focusing on the elevator. He watched its descent like it might be a dragon.

I blinked and straightened up. Just because I was tired and felt safe with him didn’t mean I should relax. It was very possible that this woman was considered a witness by the company that had likely killed her daughter.

The elevator finally came and opened, but no one was inside. We got in, both of us sniffing for traces of danger.

“It smells fine,” I noted, then turned and was washed in his scent, his hair, his skin, his breath, and all of it was absolutely intoxicating. I took a deep swallow of the air in that elevator, so full of him, and then the next thing I knew, I was pressing him against the side, inhaling his throat, tasting him with my tongue and mouth, trying to swallow him whole.

The door dinged open and I straightened up, fumbling away from him and towards the hall like a dress-drunk goblin. What was wrong with me? I’d been teasing about reciprocation, but that hadn’t felt like a choice. I walked down the hall towards the apartment, hoping I didn’t look as unsteady as I felt. He stayed close, directly behind my injured shoulder.

I got to the right door and stood there, needing to tell him that it wasn’t a big deal, just reciprocation, and it wouldn’t happen again, but he still smelled so good. I’d never been unprofessional on the job in my life, but I was tempted to grab his tie and kiss him while pinning him to the door of the whistle blower’s poor mother.

“Something’s off,” he said, frowning while I knocked on the door.

I looked over at him as the door opened, so when I looked back at the woman, met her eyes, and recognized her as the maid from the first crime scene, he was already moving, yanking me away from the door where a wave of flickering infernal fire came pouring out of her.

We were both running from the flames, my brain spinning in shock. The mother of the suicide victim was the housekeeper who had watched the judge’s descent into paranoia and madness. Not watching, causing. She wanted revenge, and I was getting in her way.

Sashimi pulled back, whirling this bright green magic that lit up the hall, blocking the wave of infernal flames before he resumed his running beside me towards the end of the hall, which was the opposite of the elevator.

“We need to warn the neighbors! And there’s no exit!”

He gave me a look, then grabbed me tight into his arms, tucked my head under his chin, and then leapt out the window.