Page 32

Chapter 31

Red Ball

CHARLIE

L ennox’s phone rings from the nightstand, waking both of us. I glance at the time as he answers. 5:45AM.

“Captain.” He puts his phone on speaker so I can hear.

“The Feds have arrived and are questioning our suspects. Your friend from DC, Sherilyn Asher, wants to see you right away. She has something and she says it’s urgent.” There’s a waver to his voice.

“We’ll be right in.” Lennox hangs up and climbs out of bed, reaching for his trousers.

“I can’t leave Luke,” I say to him, torn. I want in on this next step of our investigation, but Luke has to come first.

“Of course not,” he says, like leaving Luke was never going to be an option. “We’ll take him with us. Charlamagne has grandchildren. Pretty sure there are toys and colouring books in his office.”

I leave the warm bed and drag my jeans up my legs. “He sounded… I don’t know… spooked.” The Captain Charlamagne I met yesterday was a man in complete control of his law enforcement empire.

Lennox chuckles as he buttons his shirt. “Sherilyn has a way of doing that to people, but she’s excellent at her job. There’s no arguing with her results.”

“What exactly does she do that’s so different?”

“You’ll see.” Lennox opens the bedroom door. “I’ll start the kettle for your tea.”

“English breakfast, please.”

“I know,” he replies with a familiar smile.

I slip into Luke’s room where he’s sleeping on his stomach, one arm wrapped around his koala Squishmallow, while the other dangles limply off the bed. I think about asking my parents to come over so I don’t have to wake him up, but I can’t bear to be parted from him.

I agree , Lennox says in my head. It’s too soon for him to be away from his mother. He’ll be fine at the precinct.

I leave Luke in his pajamas and fill a backpack with a set of day clothes, some books, a few toys, two juice boxes and several snacks. Gathering him in his quilt, I lift him from his bed and carry him half-asleep to the living room.

“Give him to me,” Lennox says reaching for Luke.

I hand him over and grab my go-cup of tea.

“Thank you,” I murmur as my heart twists. I want more of this. Knowing what each other likes, working together to get ready to leave. It’s small things that make a huge impact on a loving relationship.

I tuck the thought away and pull Luke’s backpack over my shoulder. Before we leave, I snatch up the container holding my mom’s bunuelos.

We head down to my truck together where Lennox deposits Luke in the back seat. “Hop in with him,” he says, holding the door open. “I’ll drive.”

I gape at him. “You can drive?” Not once in the time we’ve known each other has he offered to drive. Not even the L.A. rental car.

He chuckles at my consternation. “When it became clear at the beginning of the 20 th century that automotive vehicles weren’t going away, I decided it would behoove me to learn how they work. Though I don’t drive often, I do maintain a license in the state of New York.” He flashes me a quick grin, boosting me into the truck and holding his hand out for the keys. As I reluctantly hand them over. He adds, “I never offered to drive because we were on the job and you made it clear I was not to dictate your job to you.”

“I…” He’s not entirely wrong, so I drop it.

He closes the door and lopes around to driver’s side. Climbing in, he adjusts the seat and mirrors. I soon learn he’s a cautious man behind the wheel, driving as though we have all the time in the world to get to the precinct.

“We do.” He responds to my thought. “Getting you where you’re going safely will always be my first priority.”

A lump starts in my throat and I have to swallow before I can say, “You can be my private driver as well as my fire escape dog once this is all over.”

His eyes meet mine in the mirror, his gaze reflecting the same longing I feel.

Frustrated anger bubbles up inside me. A stupid curse is going to destroy my happy ever after and I have no choice but to let it. I’m a practical woman who meets challenges head on, but this is a battle I’m not equipped for. How does a person face down a curse?

“We don’t,” Lennox says grimly, pulling into the parking garage beneath the police station.

Lennox carries Luke again.

“Where are we?” he asks sleepily as we go up the stairs and into the lobby.

“We’re at Lennox’s police precinct,” I answer.

He lifts his head from Lennox’s shoulder and looks blearily around. “Cool!”

Lennox knocks on Captain Charlamagne’s office door and we’re welcomed inside.

“We brought my son, Luke,” I explain as Charlamagne raises his eyebrows in surprise. “I hope it’s okay.”

“Of course. You couldn’t leave him after what he went through,” he replies as I mentally put him on the list of people I buy Christmas presents for. “Come over here,” he says gruffly to Luke. “I’ll show you where my grandkids keep their stuff when they come to visit their pops.”

After Luke is settled on the floor, surrounded by toys he’s never played with, a juice box on the coffee table next to him, the three of us step outside the office.

Charlamagne drops his grandfatherly expression and scowls at Lennox. “You didn’t tell me your DC friend is a witch.”

Lennox’s lip quirks but his expression remains serious. “You told me you didn’t believe witches exist. What was I supposed to tell you?”

The captain looks spooked as he glances down the hall. “I’m a believer now.”

Lennox nods his satisfaction. “Good, that means she’s done what I brought her here to do.”

“I’ll stay with Luke while you two talk to her, see what she’s found out,” Charlamagne says. “She wouldn’t tell me much. Insisted on speaking to you directly. She’s waiting for you in Commissioner Holinshed’s office.” He reenters his office and I catch a glimpse of him kneeling on the floor next to Luke as we make our way to the office he indicated.

Lennox knocks, opens the door, and holds it for me to step inside. As Sherilyn Asher stands, I gasp, then try to cover it with a cough. The woman is nearly as tall as Lennox and he’s 6’5”. She’s a giant! I’m so glad I manage to keep the rude thought inside my head, though Lennox is able to hear it.

Only part giant .

I glance at him and realize he’s being serious. There’s such thing as giants?

Only their descendants. The giants were hunted to extinction during the Human-Shifter war. Once the war was over, magical folk allowed the humans to believe every drop of giant blood had been eradicated in order to protect the giant’s hybrid descendants. Sherilyn is one of them.

Sherrilyn is a stunning woman. Tall and curvy with long straight brown hair. She’s wearing a pair of tight black jeans with a splashy floral button up shirt. The most notable thing about her besides her height is her eyes. The black of her pupils is stark against her milky-coloured crystal orbs. I’ve only seen the effect done with contacts, but I suspect her eyes are real.

Quite so , Lennox replies silently.

Sherilyn looks between us. “So the rumours in the Shadow Realm are true. Lennox Wolven-North has found his mate.” Her eyes drift over both of us. “It’s too bad about the curse.”

I glance at Lennox, peppering him with questions. How does this woman know so much about us? Does everyone in the magical world know about the curse? How did her eyes get that way? How does a witch get a job with the FBI?

He doesn’t answer, instead speaking to Sherilyn. “You have something for us?”

“Obviously,” she snaps, tapping long glittery purple nails against the desk. “You requested my presence knowing I produce results.”

“Indeed,” Lennox agrees mildly, but I can feel his mind sharpening as though he’s on the hunt. “Tell us what you found.”

She nods at the chairs in front of the desk and Lennox pulls one out for me before taking the other.

“I will start by saying that this was a disappointing task. None of your suspects put up even a smidge of fight. Every single one let me roll them until there was nothing left to hide. Such a waste of my talents.” She wrinkles her nose and shakes her head.

“Humans,” Lennox notes.

“Humans,” she agrees. “You should’ve cracked them the old-fashioned way instead of wasting my time on this.”

“Sadly, mauling is no longer legal.”

“Hey.” I’m offended for my species. “What exactly did you do to them?”

For the first time, Sherilyn’s bland expression cracks and a satisfied smile curves her lips. “I simply asked them to tell me the truth.”

“And they did?” I ask skeptically, glancing at Lennox.

“Everyone tells Sherilyn the truth,” he explains. “She’s a soothsayer by blood with an incredible talent for divination.”

My mind has undergone a transformation since meeting Lennox, my horizons forcibly expanded, but the old Charlie is still in there and the old Charlie is scoffing at the idea that divination is real. Still, I’ve seen and heard too much not to accept the things Lennox says as truth. So in all seriousness, I say, “You’re a fortuneteller?”

She bursts out laughing, which I suppose is better than taking offense. “I haven’t heard that quaint term in a while,” she says, her eyes lingering on me. “Tell me, small human – “

“Investigator Lopez,” I snap.

She bows her head briefly. “Investigator Lopez. Do you believe I can read your future?” She curves her fingers, stroking them in the air as though cupping an imaginary crystal ball.

I look to Lennox, hoping he’ll help me out in the comment section of our shared thoughts, but he leaves me on my own with this one. “Can you?”

She remains silent for a moment and I think she might be toying with me, then she says, “There’s no point. Your future is unclear.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, there is a choice that must be made and hasn’t been made yet. Once it has, your future will become clear.” She looks at Lennox. “Have you told her nothing? The entire witch community is abuzz with gossip when it comes to your mate and she doesn’t seem to know of her own importance.”

“What?” I look between them with confusion.

Lennox takes my hand and squeezes it reassuringly before replying to Sherilyn, “Let’s stick to our case.” For my benefit, he adds silently, She’s baiting us over a vague prophecy an Oracle dreamed up. There’s nothing to worry about.

Sherilyn dutifully dives into the case, starting with our uncrackable suspect, Shane Gibson. “He spilled his guts like he was taking part in a medieval quartering. I barely had to concentrate with him. He simply needed a reminder that his mother still loves him and hopes he’ll come home to the family farm in Kansas.” She meets my gaze as she explains, “I’m able to read a person’s deepest desires, which I then use as a launchpad to dig deeper into their psyche. I give them a sympathetic ear and they give me the information I desire. It's how I knew to needle you about the mating curse. More than anything, you desire Lennox to become part of your family.” She smiles mischievously and I realize she’s probably one of those interfering witches Vanessa warned me about. Sherilyn bears watching.

“Stick to the case,” Lennox says from between gritted teeth.

“Ah yes, good idea. What I have to share with you is quite urgent actually.”

Then why the hell didn’t she lead with it when we came in here? I explode in Lennox’s head.

Witches tend to do things differently from the rest of us, he explains .

Like talking in riddles and pushing buttons?

Exactly.

“If you two are done your cozy head chatting, I think we should discuss the issue at hand.”

“Which is?” Lennox growls.

“The bombs hidden in key buildings around the world. ASHRA intends to quite literally blow-up human-shifter diplomatic relations.”