Page 20 of The Huntress (The Blood of Legends #1)

Chapter Twenty

HEART’S INVOLVEMENT

G abriel grinned as Callie jumped out of the car before Barrows yanked on the handbrake. She removed the box and carried it into the precinct, ignoring her partner. Her shoulders were tense, and she was good-and-proper pissed at poor Mike.

Still shrouded, Gabriel sauntered into the precinct and sat in the closest chair, content to observe.

“Careful, it could be a bomb,” Callie said to Martinez, the officer behind the desk.

“You know the procedure. Why the hell did you give it to me, Devereaux?” the man asked with his mouth pulled into a thin line.

“Because I don’t like you, Martinez?” She arched a brow with a teasing smile forming on her lips. “Because my shift ends soon. Hand it over to the bomb squad, and I’ll owe you.”

“Damn. A favor from you? It’ll be a dozen of your famous cookies, you know that, right?” Martinez said.

“Cookies?” She scowled at the young officer. “I dunno. Maybe I ought to take it to the squad myself.”

“Nope, it’s mine now.” The man clutched the box to his chest.

“Fine, a dozen cookies, but just this once.” She caved with little grace, twisting her face in a grimace.

“Yes, ma’am.” Martinez flashed her a delighted smile.

“Does he know you buy them at the local bakery?” Mike asked as they strolled through the glass doors to their open-plan office.

“Nope, and I’ll thank you not to share that.”

“It’s gonna cost you,” Barrows teased, dropping his bulk behind a desk across from hers.

“Fine, I’ll get you a dozen like I always do.” She trailed a finger along her desk piled high with paperwork.

Gabriel grinned at the sight of it. She was not a paperwork kind of woman.

Still shrouded, he slipped into a chair beside her desk and toyed with a pen lying there. It spun, drawing her attention. She smiled and sent a lustful look in his general direction. He responded with a psychic kiss along her neck.

After sliding into her chair, she unsnoozed her laptop and started typing. He bounded out of his chair and circled her to read over her shoulder.

She was writing her report, going into excessive detail. By the twist of her lips, he realized she did so on purpose, to irritate someone up the chain of command. Warmth filled his chest, and he kissed the crown of her head. She swatted him away, released a shuddering sigh, and carried on typing.

“After I have finished with this report, I’m calling it a day.” She gave a fake yawn.

“Will he know you’re leaving early?” Barrows’s desk was as neat as a pin. He scanned the room, peering into the corners, his gaze passing over Gabriel many times.

“Something tells me yes.” Callie smiled at Gabriel, meeting his shrouded gaze before closing her laptop.

Mike wiped an imaginary speck of dirt off his desk with his large finger. “McKinney owed me a favor. I had him tail Carter when he broke with routine and disappeared one afternoon.”

“Huh? How many guys do you have on this?” Her grimace implied she hadn’t wanted this bandied about.

“Relax. They don’t know why. I said it’s for a domestic assault case.”

She snorted. “We’re Homicide—we don’t do those cases. How dumb do you think our guys are?”

“Do you want to hear the news or what?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Carter met with a man out in Tennet’s Lake. McKinney took pictures, but they’re worthless. Sun in his eyes and such. Said he couldn’t describe him well either. Walked as if he was royalty was all I got.”

“Did he tail the new guy?”

“He said no, not for all the cookies in this town.”

“You promised him cookies from me? You said he owed you a favor!” At her glare, Mike shrugged. “This had better be good.”

“He said the man was a suckblood, Callie. Carter meeting with a suckblood when we know he hates them? You best warn your beau.”

“No one says beau anymore, Mike.” She tapped her fingers on her desk, her brows crinkled in worry. “There isn’t just five suckbloods in this city. There’s like seven or eight. Narrowing it down is gonna be a bitch.”

Mike sighed at her sass. “Just tell him, my girl. I don’t get a good feeling in my knees about this.”

“Holy shit! In your knees? Are you sure?” She chuckled. “Mike, I have the greatest respect for your knees. They can predict shit better than a fortune teller. So I’ll tell him, but first, I’m craving bacon, eggs, pancakes covered in maple syrup, and coffee strong enough to kill a rhino.”

Pancakes? Gabriel tamped down the excitement that rushed through him. He hadn’t tasted syrup or honey in over three hundred years. Then again, he’d still want her if she lived on brussel sprouts.

“Oh, and those little cheese sausages?” A blissful smile formed on Barrow’s face.

“Might as well.” She yanked the jacket from the back of her chair and tugged it on. “Captain approved my leave, so I’ll see you in about a week’s time.”

“Sure. Took leave as well. Maybe I ought to see how Anna’s doing.”

“She said she’ll meet you at Branbury’s at seven tonight. I sent her an email to confirm.” Callie giggled as she strode toward the precinct’s front doors.

“Callie,” Barrows shouted, but she waved goodbye instead of staying for his rant.

“You heard that, right? The only royal suckblood I know is your brother,” she said to Gabe as she lifted her collar around her neck.

“I’ll have Leo look into it,” he whispered from the shroud.

“Fancy some bacon?”

The sun was setting, taking its heat with it. He inched closer and surrounded her with a pocket of warm air, not liking that she shivered—a side effect of the slow conversion.

“I’d fancy anything with you.” He trailed her as she turned down the sidewalk and headed for a diner a few blocks away.

“You’re sexy and a sweet talker. How’d I get so lucky?” She smiled but didn’t look at him, keeping a determined pace to the diner as if she was on her own.

He envisioned wrapping his arms around her, hugging her body against his.

She moaned, her cheeks flushing pink as she licked her bottom lip. “I can sense your need.” Her voice sounded a little breathless.

“I need you, this is true,” he said without shame.

“Yet…you don’t trust me to take care of myself?” She rubbed her lips together. The leaping of her heart told him his response was important. “It’s been a few days of peace, but you don’t believe your fellow suckbloods have given up on me?”

“I trust you against humans and shifters. I don’t trust my kind. Syl sent out a warning, and he doesn’t do that lightly. Still, there are those who are stupid, fearless, desperate for something new in their mundane lives. I tried not to follow you, but I needed to know you were safe. My heart won’t let me rest, Callie.” The words tumbled from his lips and surprised him with how true they were.

The excited thrum of his heart sent tingles to his extremities, as if his blood raced through his veins. He studied her profile and released a slow breath. What pierced him was more potent than what Abigail had called forth within him.

This human woman had slid under his defenses with her scent alone. At first, he’d thought it her flavor and everyday lust, now, she meant far more to him than that.

“Your heart?” she asked as she paused outside the diner in the shadows of an alleyway.

“My heart’s involved, Callie.” Couldn’t she see how much he needed her? How much she affected him and how smoothly she fit into his life as if she’d always been there?

At his confession, she stilled, her eyes widening as her heartbeat stuttered. “Come, show yourself. I can’t have bacon alone.” It was a command—and he obliged.

The second he formed before her, she threw herself into his arms and kissed him.

“Let’s make this quick so I can show you how much my heart’s involved.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him again. “Why do I need you, Gabe? Why do I become giddy at the thought of seeing you, kissing you? You haven’t used your pheromones on me, even though it feels like you have. I’m crazy addicted to you. You know that, right?”

“Callie,” he said into her mouth, peppering her bottom lip with kisses. He liked her blend of honesty and streetwise sass, but he adored her innocence.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a gentle push. “Feed me first. Then we can do… whatever .”

“Whatever? That’s a bit disrespectful.” His lips curled into a teasing smile as he laced his fingers through hers and tugged her against him.

He opened the door for her but didn’t release her hand. Warm air greeted them, along with the aroma of fresh coffee, fried bacon, and sweet maple syrup. He led her to a booth, unable to contain his excitement. He was once again a young lad with his first woman. All because of syrup and the sweetness of her smile.

A waitress took Callie’s order, raising her eyebrows when he only ordered coffee. She slid her pencil into her shirt pocket and went to place their order. A huge grin split his face. He couldn’t remember forming it, but for now, he would let it remain.

“You can see me when I shroud. How is that possible?” he asked, adoring her features like a man obsessed, and he embraced the insanity of it. There was a delicious sinful feel to it, potent and addictive.

“You’re like a reflection, a partial. I don’t know why or how your shrouding doesn’t work on me. It became obvious to me when a woman went down on Syl at the mayor’s ball. No one else noticed. I can’t believe how blatant you suckbloods are.”

“Ah, yes, the ball, where you met Leo.” It still irked him at the way Leo had looked at Callie—his expression sad yet admiring.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” She gave him a worried look. “I met him on the balcony and again at the bar. He came to my apartment, but I kicked him out. That’s about it. No kissing, no touching, nothing.”

“He wanted to.”

“Yes, he mentioned that in your hall, but I didn’t know, Gabe. Honestly.” She stretched her arm across the table to clasp his hand, trying to convey her sincerity.

She didn’t have to. Her innocence spoke for her—her inability to milk his jealousy for her own gain or enjoyment.

“I suppose you can’t help being this irresistible sex goddess,” he teased.

She chuckled and shook her head. That he believed what he said was something he’d save for later when he could worship her at his leisure.

“Yeah, right, that’s so me. Let’s talk about the stalking.” Her grin was one of teasing, understanding, and something else he couldn’t recognize.

“Stalking?” He flipped his hand and caught hers, lacing their fingers. Since they’d discussed this already, he assumed she was teasing him.

“Yes, watching your girlfriend’s every move? Textbook stalking.”

“Girlfriend?” He repeated the word with a sigh. “Callie, you’re more than my girlfriend.”

“It’s not yet official. Until then…” She shrugged, revealing her uncertainty.

“Fine, fiancée, at least.” Would she want a wedding ceremony? He didn’t like that she remained unclaimed in the eyes of her human world.

Every time, her fellow officers admired her curves, blinding fury consumed him, and he’d hated the helplessness that lingered. Two centuries ago, he’d have ripped their throats out. With no consequences. He flicked his fingers and held up a white gold ring with a large center-round cut diamond. He slid it on her trembling finger, and of course, it was a perfect fit.

“I don’t want to know where you were hiding that,” she said with a tremulous smile.

“Everything I need comes from within me and the elements.”

Her breath hitched, and he gave her a look that communicated which emotions she summoned within him. She was his world now. He wanted to be hers, but he couldn’t force it.

“You can make diamonds out of the ether?” she asked then clamped her mouth shut when the waitress slid a heavy-laden plate onto the table. Callie peered up to the server with mischief coating her features. “I’m sorry, I’ve received a call out. Could you pack this to-go?” She grabbed a slice of bacon before pushing the plate back across the table to the waitress.

“Yeah, of course. Anything for our girls in blue.” She smiled and ran off with the meal.

He surveyed Callie’s face and sparkling eyes. “What’re you doing?”

“You need to taste me after every bite. You can’t do that here, right?” She glanced around the busy diner with an assessing eye.

“I can if I shroud us.”

“When they already know we’re here? No, this is for the best. Besides,” she licked her lips, “I want you inside me for every bite.”

He lost his breath. His vision heightened as need pounded on the outer edges of his very being. Words eluded him. Actions, however, did not.

He projected thrusting into her, hard, and buried to the hilt. At the same time, in the projection, he claimed her mouth for a thorough kiss. She gripped the table, her knuckles going white and she released a strangled moan. Her eyes flashed heat, lust, and anger while her cheeks flushed pink.

“How fast can you get me home?” she said, through clenched lips.

“Scared of heights?” He cleared his throat, his voice hoarse.

“Not if you hold me.”

She climbed out of the booth and approached the cash register to pay. Her tip was generous as she accepted the cardboard container placed in a recyclable bag. He opened the door for her, striding into the cool evening air, an excited bounce to his steps. He guided her back to the dark alley before tugging her into his arms. She tied the bag to her wrist, then clung to his upper arms—her faith in him exquisite. He wouldn’t let it be in vain.

He shrouded them in darkness, lest anyone look up and see them flying overhead. While he launched them skyward, he latched onto her lips, tasting only her and not the bacon she’d eaten. It didn’t matter. She was nectar, indeed. He couldn’t explain the effect it had on him as if something mystical and eternal hovered on the edges of his subconscious.

“This is quicker, but we could take a taxi,” she said as he brushed his lips along her jaw.

He ensured she wouldn’t feel the cold, surrounding her with warmth while keeping her distracted with kisses. He wasn’t certain how he’d react if she panicked. Not that he expected she would, yet he couldn’t dismiss the possibility.

“A taxi to the middle of a field?” he said in her ear before dipping his tongue in to trace its mesmerizing pattern.

A moan of pleasure escaped from her lips. “Good point.”