Birds of Prey (11 page)

Cody slithered up her body, watching her reactions closely.

She encircled her legs around his waist as he lay on top of her again. He kissed her deeply, lifting his hips to drag his cock against her.

Aubrey wrenched her mouth away. “Inside me,” she pleaded. “I need you inside me.”

Cody pushed up onto his knees and spread Aubrey open with his hands on her inner thighs. He gripped his shaft with his right hand as he scooted forward.

He closed his eyes as he entered her.

She was wet, hot, and felt so fucking good.

He withdrew slowly before thrusting back inside, faster.

“Oh, God!” Aubrey cried, arching. She grasped the bars to the headboard.

Cody rolled his hips, plunging deep before pulling out slowly and steadily. He kept up the same pace until sweat dripped down his chest and Aubrey was begging for more. Only when she sobbed in need did he growl and let his control snap. He tightened his hold on her hips and drove fast and hard inside her.

She howled, slamming her head back into the pillow as her orgasm rocked through her. With her inner muscles clamping down on Cody, he shouted, following her over the edge.

* * * *

The morning light was streaming through the blinds as Aubrey rolled over, blinking her eyes open. Cody continued to sleep beside her, breathing deeply.

She ran her fingers gently over his cheek. Cody looked younger when he was asleep. The stress lines had cleared from his forehead and there was an almost angelic look to his face. She knew when his brown eyes opened that the worry and stress would be back.

Aubrey wanted to take that pain from him and the only way she could think to do so was to help him with the investigation. Without him knowing, of course.

She had to stop Cody from finding out what she was doing. Instead of concentrating on the case, he would be worrying about her. Cody wasn’t going to let her help, so she needed to do a better job at hiding what she was doing.

He hadn’t changed in the years he’d been gone. He was still the same stubborn, hard-headed, sexy-as-sin man who had left her. Luckily, she
had
changed. She wasn’t letting him go this time. Cody was hers—his possessiveness and dominance were everything she’d always craved and had never found with another man.

And she didn’t want to be with anyone else.

Cody was going to have to get used to the idea of her sticking around. Once, she hadn’t fought for him. She’d learned her lesson.

He opened his eyes, their colour clear and free of stress.

“Hi.” He smiled at her.

“Hi.” She was a little embarrassed to get caught watching him sleep.

He cupped her face and lifted his head to give her a morning kiss. She returned it and when he pulled away, she wasn’t uncomfortable any longer.

She wanted him again.

Grinning, he rolled her over, obviously feeling the same way. His cock was already hard and trailed pre-cum against her thigh.

She ran her hands down his sides and started nibbling his neck.

He moaned, already moving his hips.

She reached lower and stroked her fingers over his erection. His thick cock felt wonderful in her hand. She thumbed the head of his prick, loving the low groan that escaped him.

Aubrey felt powerful. She couldn’t wait until he was inside her.

Cody brought his mouth to hers again. They kissed deeply as he entered her slowly.

It felt so good when he withdrew before thrusting into her again. She positioned her legs high up his back where he could hold them securely under his arms.

She lifted her hips to meet each steady plunge.

He made love to her thoroughly. When she climaxed this time, it was soft and flowed from her. Cody drove himself in three more times before throwing his head back as he came.

She tightened her arms around his neck and held him close after he collapsed on top of her.

They panted, embracing until their breathing was steady again.

Cody rolled to the side then met her gaze.

He started chuckling and she giggled.

A nice, easy mood had settled between them now that the sexual tension had been released.

“If you want to jump in the shower, I’ll fix you a cup of coffee,” Cody offered.

She almost asked him to join her, but thought better of it. She could use a few minutes alone. She nodded and climbed out of bed. She could feel his gaze on her as she made her way to the open doorway. Pausing in the threshold, she glanced over her shoulder and winked at him.

He laughed just like she’d intended.

Happily, she went into the bathroom to shower and get ready to start the day.

She washed quickly, not wanting to use all the hot water. She dried off before enfolding herself in the towel so that she could go find her clothes from the night before.

She walked through the bedroom and out into the living room. She pulled on her panties and jeans that had been folded neatly on the coffee table. Her bra was at the bottom of the pile so she put that on too.

But her top was nowhere to be found.

Frowning, she walked into the kitchen and spotted Cody at the counter with two mugs.

“You still drink your coffee black?” he asked.

She smiled and reached for the cup. “Black is fine.” She took a long gulp of the strong brew and sighed. It was good.

“Have you seen my shirt?”

“Nope.”

The answer came so quickly that she knew it was a lie. She arched a brow.

He just blinked innocently. Yeah, she was not buying that for a second.

“Really?”

“Dog must have eaten it,” he supplied.

“You have a dog?”

“No.”

She snorted in amusement.

“I don’t like that blouse. You shouldn’t wear it again,” he said, putting his cup on the counter before stalking towards her.

She danced out of his way.

He caught her easily, though, and took her drink out of her hand, setting it down too. She squirmed in his hold as he kissed her briefly.

Pure joy filled her.

“Seriously, I have to get ready for my shift,” she told him. “Where are the rest of my clothes?”

He leaned away.

“You don’t want me to wear the top? But my bra is okay?”

“I’ll give you one of mine to put on,” he said. He slung his arm around her shoulders to walk her back into the bedroom.

She opened her mouth to argue, but decided that she didn’t mind. She’d worn the garment for the same reason that he hated it for.

The jealousy that Cody was showing was nice.

When she’d been with Adrian, he had always wanted to dress her up. She wasn’t elegant or girly and it was another issue they’d constantly argued about.

Cody left her at the bed, going to his closet. He pulled out a grey shirt and threw it in her direction.

She easily plucked it out of the air and held it open. The garment was a well-worn, grey Phoenix Police Department shirt. It was soft and she rubbed it against her cheek before pulling it over her head and smoothing it down.

It smelt like him.

When she looked back at Cody, he was grinning widely. She blushed, not realising that he’d been watching her.

“Do you have a minute to talk?” he asked.

She nodded and sat on the bed. They’d been having such a good morning that she started to worry.

“Before I rescued you last night, I’d made a decision,” he explained.

Her back went up at his words. “I wouldn’t use the word rescued,” she snapped.

Cody just grinned.

She glared. “I had it under control.”

He nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry. Before I received the call that you were seen at the bar,” he continued, obviously placating her.

She huffed, but didn’t press.

“It’s counterproductive to have you running off on your own. If you were at least working with my team, or with my team’s knowledge, we wouldn’t be going over the same ground.”

She agreed. But since he was on a roll, she didn’t want to interrupt.

“So, from now on, I think it would be better if we worked together,” he finished.

Her mouth opened in shock. He was suggesting that they work together?

“Don’t you agree?” he questioned, when she didn’t say anything.

“Yes, but I just can’t believe you’re actually the one saying it,” she said, amused.

He sighed. “Fine. I should have worked with you from the beginning.”

She beamed up at him. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, okay,” she agreed. “I have to work the day shift, so do you want to meet later?”

“I do,” he replied, after a short pause.

Aubrey stood and closed the distance between them. She rose to her toes and placed a light kiss on his mouth.

Cody brought his arm around her and pulled her back when she would have stepped away. “You can do better than that.”

So she did. She latched her mouth onto his, pushing her tongue inside. He opened for her as she ran her hands over his shoulders, feeling his muscles move while he caressed her hips.

Reluctantly, she ended the kiss then put distance between them. His eyes had grown darker and his cock jutted out from under the boxers he’d pulled on.

“I’ll show myself out. And call you when I get off work today,” she promised.

He nodded. “You had better go before I put you back in bed.”

She laughed, deciding that he wasn’t joking, and hurried off.

Her keys were on the side table, so she grabbed them up and made her way to the door. There was a spring in her step as she left the apartment.

She was humming when she reached her vehicle. It had been a good night. And now that Cody had finally come to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to give up on finding the man who’d killed Gregory, they could work together.

That would please Mike too. He wanted to find the killer, but was also concerned that she was stepping on the Coalition’s toes.

Yeah, things were coming together just fine.

Chapter Nine

Everyone in the room was listening intently as Cody went over the two cases. His team, the two human detectives and Commander Green all took notes, but remained silent as he spoke. He gave an oral recap on all the updated reports they’d completed.

Ryder had arrived early to print the pictures he’d been able to take at the bar the night before. Cody had posted them on the second board for everyone to see, hoping that someone might eventually find a connection to their suspects.

Ryder had been trying to match the pictures he’d snapped with the ones from the file Aubrey had found. So far there wasn’t one. Cody smiled a little when he thought about Aubrey. He suspected that Ryder knew what had happened after he had left his keys with the other man. Ryder had smirked at him as soon as he’d walked in.

Cody found he didn’t really mind. He felt better than he had in a very long time. Agreeing that Aubrey should be involved in the investigation had also relieved some of his anxiety. He’d have some control over where Aubrey went. With the direction the evidence was taking them, he knew that Aubrey wouldn’t accept the news that Adrian was their main suspect. The cell phone records they’d got for Adrian Brown were a cause for concern.

Adrian had received several calls from a number they couldn’t trace back to anyone from the Cast.

That was suspicious. Chloe had managed to track down the payphone, and she and Byron were going to check around the area to see if they could find out who had used it.

The more information they received, the bigger connection there was to Adrian. Cody wasn’t sure how that would play out.

Aubrey still hadn’t spoken about her relationship with the man. Cody knew that she wasn’t a cheater, so he was certain that she was not involved with Adrian. The question, however, was why everyone else thought she was involved with the new Cast leader.

He handed out new assignments to the group. He and Ryder would work on narrowing the list of people from the Cast who could be involved.

Byron and Chloe were given the Flock. He was too close to any suspects that could arise and might not be able to ask his family the hard questions.

The two detectives he’d added to his team from the police department were still on the private eye firm payroll. They’d be able to do research and possibly connect the rogue shifters with any other crimes. Cody had a gut feeling that this wasn’t the first time the man in the picture had done this.

The killings were too professional. A car bomb wasn’t an easy feat to master. There were too many variables that could go wrong. The killer had to get into the Cast’s compound, past security and anyone who might be hanging around.

Next was Kevin’s murder. Cody couldn’t see anyone getting the drop on his friend. Kevin had to have known his killer. Someone had to have got pretty damn close to stab the man in the neck.

He also wanted to do a run on any connections between the Flock and Cast. Who had access to both?

Cody ordered everyone to get to work and turned to his boss.

Commander Green patted his shoulder. “Looks like you have everything under control.”

He hoped so. “Any suggestions?”

“No.” The Commander shook his head.

“Okay, I’ll keep you updated,” Cody assured him.

“The press conference is scheduled for ten,” Green informed him. “So you can expect to get some calls from reporters. Just do the whole ‘no comment’ thing and advise them to talk to the Coalition representative.”

“Will do,” he agreed easily. He didn’t want to talk to the damn reporters anyway. He just wanted to do his job.

Commander Green chuckled as he left the room.

Cody ran his gaze over the occupants in the room. They’d brought in two more desks for the human detectives working side by side with his shifter team.

Ryder was passing Detective Lawrence a file. Chloe and Byron were bent over a laptop working together. Detective Sanchez was typing away at his own computer.

Teamwork. Somehow, in the last few short months, his department had become a real unit. There’d been no questioning him on his bringing in the two humans to work side by side with them. Cody felt it deep down that they would catch the person or persons responsible. His entire division was the best. They would not fail. This bastard was going down.