[Draven's Crossing 1] Hidden Diversions (24 page)

“Chief?”
Confusion flowed over Alyssa’s face.

“Was sent here by Draven, came in and found him like this. He’s dead.” Torger decided to fudge the truth until he knew more. He could trust Alyssa but the rest of the officers, he wasn’t sure of yet.

The guns were put away and Alyssa broke out her notebook while the officers fanned out. Some were already on the phone calling in the ME and others the CSU. “I’m going to give this scene over to you,” he said once she’d taken his statement. “I need to go see Draven, tell him what’s going on.”

“And the other car outside?”
Alyssa’s eyebrow rose in question.

“Impound it until we find out whose it is.” Torger knew that as soon as Jagger heard about it, he’d pitch a fit, but there was no way to get that car out of the driveway without things going pear shaped quickly. Before he left, he turned to Alyssa. “Who called it in?”

Santa Rosa shrugged. “Some old woman who was walking by said she heard screams.
Name of Ackroyd.
She says she’ll be at the station later to make an official statement. Said she saw a man with long black hair, all in black, running out of the house. She described Jagger pretty well.”

Alyssa gave Torger a hard, assessing look that made Torger want to shift from one foot to the other. Her nostrils flared, expectation glowed on her face. Torger shook his head. “I’ll talk to Draven, see if he sent Jagger over here but I haven’t spoken to him.”

It wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t really had a conversation with
Jagger,
he’d ordered both him and Urban gone. Now they had a witness placing Jagger at the scene, which made things worse.

“Fine, but if you have contact with him, let me know, okay?” Alyssa said.

Torger nodded, not trusting himself to speak without lying. “I’m going to go update Draven.”

Alyssa agreed and let him walk. Torger had to fight not to run to his SUV. Thankfully he wasn’t blocked in. He backed up and pulled out and headed straight for Draven, not passing go and checking his rear view every few seconds to make sure he wasn’t tailed. He arrived at the mayor’s office in record time and got through metal detectors and passed security with very little problem. He burst into Draven’s office, which caused both Jagger and Draven to turn to him, fangs and elongated nails out while Urban fought not to shift.

“Stand down. I don’t have much time, but Jagger you’ve been identified as a possible suspect. Some old woman put a call into the DCPD with a description of you, saying that she saw you flee the scene. You need to go to ground,” Torger let the words rush out. He didn’t want Alyssa marching in at any second, warrant in hand.

“Fuck no,” Jagger growled as he returned to vampire normal. His eyes burned red with rage. “I’m not guilty.”

“And Evanson is dead. We don’t know where his brother is,” Torger stated. “We closed the serial killer book, but now a new shit storm has opened. Someone is targeting you. It’s the only way I can explain the phone call fingering you or the fact that they didn’t even mention mine and Urban’s arrival. The night was dark and you’d have to have super eyesight to get your features as correct as she did. Besides that, you fleeing Evanson’s mansion makes you look guilty as shit, regardless of what we think.” Torger’s stomach twisted as his mind skimmed over the details they knew so far. “All this makes me think the Council is behind this. It’s just too damn neat. Makes me think they were watching Evanson’s place and you got there before they could get to Evanson and clean up his mess. That is if they even knew. You need to go underground, gather info and find out who’s behind this new clusterfuck.”

Draven came forward. “He’s right and to be seen with you, defending you after Evanson’s death would make the Council think we’re at war with them.” Draven put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
Concern on his face.
“The people won’t understand so soon after Muffy’s death. You have the connections; find out who did this. We’ll cover for you as best we can. I have to call a press conference to announce the end of the terror and notify them about Evanson.
Jagger, go.
Now!”

Jagger grumbled something that Torger didn’t catch, but he left the office without a word of protest. Torger turned to Draven. “What do we do now?”

Draven sighed, looking older than his years. “I call a press conference, you give a statement and then we go to our respective homes and pray that Jagger works quickly.”

* * * *

The press conference didn’t last long, but by the end Torger felt a thousand years older and carried a new weight on his shoulders. All he wanted to do now was go home, cuddle up with Isy and not go into work tomorrow. They’d gone from one mess to another. Jagger was in trouble, and Torger couldn’t help him. He was also pretty sure that Alyssa would make it her life’s mission to find Jagger and get the truth out of him.

If he didn’t give Alyssa lead detective on the case, she’d go ape shit. He couldn’t win either way. One of his best friends was going to be pursued by one of his best officers. Life truly sucked. At least that’s how he felt until he saw Isy standing in the doorway as he and Urban pulled up in the driveway. She wore one of his shirts and nothing else.

Desire surged in his blood. He knew the perfect way to forget his troubles. “I’ll see you in the morning, bro.”

“Yup,” Urban said as he walked out into the forest. “I’m going for a long run. You guys have fun.”

“Oh, I will,” Torger said as he followed Isy into the house and into his room.

Chapter Fifteen

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

At least for now.
-Isadora Jones, DC News Blast

Isy could see the weariness in the set of his shoulders and the tiredness in his eyes. They’d only been apart a few hours, yet she knew how worn down he was. The day’s toll hadn’t just wrecked him, it had broken her down. In the quiet and solitude of his room, she’d curled up around his pillow and cried until she’d felt empty. Even when Urban had knocked on the door offering food, she’d sent him away. Michaela was dead. Her friend, assistant, the person she was grooming to replace her, wasn’t around anymore.

Had she told Michaela that she wanted her to take over for her when she took vacations or emergencies? Did she compliment her enough? Talk to her about life beyond the studio? Take her out to eat, get to know her? Isy felt like a failure. What did she really know about her elvish assistant other than she’d been twenty-five, shy, sweet, loved tea and cashmere sweaters?

A stone held the place where her heart should have been. When she thought of Michaela’s smile or laugh, it hurt to breathe. She wanted to run away but didn’t have anywhere that wouldn’t remind her of the friend she’d lost. Only here, in Torger’s cabin, did she feel safe enough to breakdown. Now, looking at Torger, she could see he needed her as much as she needed him.

Isy held out her hand to him and withheld a sigh of relief when he accepted her proffered palm and threaded warm, big, roughened fingers through hers in a firm grasp that anchored her world.

“Bad day?” she asked, not wanting the details. Isy wasn’t a reporter now. She was his lover.

“It had its moments. We can talk about it tomorrow. Dinner?” he asked as he let go of her hand, shrugged out of his jacket and headed for his bedroom to put away his gun, badge and passes. She went to the kitchen, brought out two plates and ladled out large helpings of spaghetti. Before Urban had rushed out, she’d started making the pasta as a way to get them off of fast food.
Not that she didn’t love pizza and burgers
but she needed more substantial food with fresher ingredients. She enjoyed cooking and had even made some garlic bread and a simple salad. Isy poured some wine, lit some candles and put on some jazz before she placed the dishes on the tabletops and settled down in a seat across from his.

He entered the room and placed a kiss on her temple, which lit a flame of heat in the pit of her stomach as blood pooled in her pussy. Memories of last night filled her head, causing her vaginal walls to flutter. She shifted in her seat and tried to focus on talking to him rather than on her growing arousal.

“Ready to eat?
I made garlic bread and a salad. Next time I’ll do more from scratch but you guys seriously need more veggies and flour and such. How’s a girl supposed to feed her man if he’s only got meat in his freezer?” she teased.

He chuckled. “So, I’m your man now? We haven’t even gone out on a date yet.”

She waved away his comment. “We don’t need to go in order. Like normals.”

Torger shook his head. “I will be taking you on a date. I just have to figure out where we should go and if we should even go anywhere.”

“Want to keep me all to
yourself
, do you?” she purred.

“Of course I do.” He leered before he dug into the meal. “Anyway, I was going to avoid this but do you want me to tell you what they found and the details of Michaela’s death?”

Isy’s breath hitched in her throat as all arousal disappeared.
Michaela.
For a moment she’d forgotten about her friend. Tears burned her eyes, and her vision blurred as the ache and emptiness in her heart began to throb. Torger reached across the table, took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “She fought, hard, honey. She didn’t go down gently and she wasn’t sexually assaulted.”

“That’s a small relief,” she mumbled. Isy didn’t know how else to respond.
Thank goddess Abbott hadn’t raped my friend. At least she’s at peace now.
Hot tears slid down her cheeks, and she began to sniffle. She was unable to let go of his hand. It was the only thing giving her something to hold on to.

“I just…it doesn’t matter. She’s dead,” Isy whispered.

“I know, honey.” Torger got out of his seat and came around the table without taking back his hand.

She gripped his palm tighter as a sob grew in her throat. “It hurts so much, Tor. She was my friend and I didn’t protect her, didn’t get to know her better. I failed her.” The sob came out as a ragged cry. She collapsed against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist as she let it all out. Torger stroked her hair and made hushed sounds. She felt a sense of shame at breaking down like this, yet she couldn’t stop the wave of emotion that washed over her as she cried. A scream built up inside of her until she let it out as a howl.

She wasn’t the only one in pain; her dragon felt the ache too. Its emotions melded with hers until it formed an immeasurable wall of throbbing, crystalline ache. Dragons were protectors, fierce in battle and defensive of what was theirs. Anger rippled along the barrier, filling her with heat and fire. Abbott had taken what was
hers
. Michaela had been
her
friend.
Her
assistant.
How dare he take her from us
, the dragon hissed. She pounded on the hard wall of flesh before her, screaming and raging as her dragon pushed its own emotions into her, shoving its fury and helplessness into its human vessel until Isadora sagged against Torger exhausted, hollow, and raw.

Torger had held her through it, stroked her hair and allowed her to use him as a punching bag. Isy gazed up at him, head heavy, eyes hot and a sense of shame filling her up at her outburst.

“It’s okay, honey. Why don’t we go to bed? It’s been a long day. I’ll put this away for tomorrow, and I can make us breakfast in bed, and we can watch a movie.” Torger gave her a small smile.

Heat filled her chest as she wiped away the last of her tears. Torger didn’t think her weak. He understood. “Okay.” She nodded.

Isy got up and headed back to Torger’s bed, climbed in, under the covers and settled down to wait for him. Her eyes felt heavy. It really had been a long day, and now the shadow of the serial killer had been withdrawn. They were all safe. Her town, her people, and most importantly her man and family and friends were safe. She closed her eyes, allowing exhausting to take hold. Isy yawned. Yes, they were all safe for now.