More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds) (19 page)

She was settling in. That tight knot of pain she held so close was beginning to loosen, to unravel. She was working with Tag in his room of computer junk most days and seemed to be more relaxed when she was around the rest of the team. He wanted to give her some semblance of a life back. Some freedom. He wanted the pain completely gone.

Kel snorted. “That’s putting it mildly. The chicks of the Triumvirate are power-mongering bitches, and they don’t give a shit about anything but more power. Believe me, no one wants them to get involved in anything. Besides, Sanguen have enforcers of their own, and they like to keep their business to themselves. I’ll ask Gabe, see what he can find out from the local Houses.”

“I’ll check the missing persons database and see what information can be had there. Surely the humans were reported missing,” Katya offered, her mind already focusing on the task in front of her.

He couldn’t stop looking at her, the pale turn of her cheeks, the way strands of her white blonde hair pulled away from the clip and framed her face by the end of the day. How the nearly translucent blue of her eyes deepened when she was processing information.

He’d been a goner when he held her in his arms at four years old, but the woman she’d grown into was more devastating to him. She entranced him. Hovering lightly on the edge of her mind, he loved to watch it spin and sort the shitload of information she was constantly pulling in. She cast a glance at her empty carton of food with a frown, and he felt the hunger move through her mind.

She hadn’t drunk from him again, even though she craved it as much as he did. It was a velvety darkness in her mind, shifting behind her eyes when she looked at him. One that she refused to give in to. She was afraid. He could feel it. She didn’t trust him completely. He knew it and was trying like hell to accept it, but it was damn hard.

She needed more time. He knew that too. Hell, he even understood it. But knowing and understanding were hell and gone from accepting, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could give her.

THE NEXT MORNING, Raife cursed as Katya’s small body hit the mat again.

“Did you come here for something important, bro, or are you just using me for my view of the training room since you got kicked out?” Tag had a large metal piece of unidentifiable computer equipment he was turning over in his hands, and he glanced up at Raife with a raised brow.

“Yes and yes.” Raife barely spared Tag a look as he stood in front of the screen mounted on the wall – the one that displayed the training room surveillance cameras where he was currently watching his little mate get tossed on her ass by his partner. “Kat wanted to show me what she found from her digging today. And she and Kel kicked me out of the training room.” He winced again when Kel caught her and flipped her over her shoulder. “This can’t be good for her.”

Tag didn’t bother to look up this time as he frowned at the flat, mangled piece of metal he was working on. “Dude, you know as well as I do that she’s a fortress right now. Drachon pregnancies strengthen the body, not weaken it. Plus, she’s got all that other mojo in her arsenal.” He flicked a glance to the screen and smiled when Katya sent Kel flying with a little burst of something from her hand.

Raife grunted his response. Katya wasn’t completely Drachon, though. She was physically strong, that was undeniable, but was her body strong enough to protect the baby currently growing in her womb?

“Have you told her?”

He winced as Katya took a high kick to her chest. She shimmered before she hit the mat and rematerialized in a crouch behind Kel to sweep her legs out from beneath her. Then she was gone again. A nicely done move. She was learning, and Kel was a bitch to spar with.

“No.” She had so much to process, and he didn’t want to add to it. She was training with Kel every day. Gideon was helping her harness some of those Elemental skills she was showing, and she spent a large part of her day in this room with Tag—he glanced around at all the computer shit everywhere—doing whatever it was they did. “I just need more time.”

“Hell, Merrick, you sound like a damn chick.”

Raife cast the other man a menacing glare.

He was hoping the bond between him and Katya would strengthen before he had to drop the bomb on her. He wanted to believe she would be happy with the news, but this new Katya guarded her freedom viciously and would see this only as another way he was making choices for her. He was afraid he knew exactly how she would respond. She would think he was using her to save himself.

And damn if she wasn’t right. Without her, his life would be worth nothing.

Raife cursed and forced himself to turn away from the screen. Hell, he did sound like a chick.

Tag cast him an “I told you so” look, and Raife growled. “Fuck off, Jennings. And stay the hell out of my head.”

“You, my friend, were projecting. A two-year-old could pick up on your thoughts.” Tag chuckled when Raife lewdly motioned at him, but his focus returned to whatever the hell he was working on as he rubbed a big hand over his buzzed head in frustration. With a frown and a curse, he tossed it back down on the table and began tapping away at his computer. “Half-assed piece of shit. I don’t get it. The security program was art, but the server blade it was housed on is a piece of crap.”

Raife wasn’t quite sure what Tag was talking about, but it sounded like words his mate would use. “You have Kat look at it?”

“No, she’s been familiarizing herself with my security system here at Incog. She’ll be the one monitoring all this bullshit when I kick it in my final heat.” He shrugged, but the emotion Raife picked up was anything but indifferent. Raife didn’t miss the long look with which Tag treated the screens that displayed the surveillance video from Dr. Mahoney’s lab.

Raife snorted. “Now who’s being a chick?”

The look Tag flicked over him lacked any humor. “You know, bro, it won’t be long before the doc finally manages to get your mate into her lab. There’s something she is bound to notice.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” And he did. “It’s complicated.” He was running out of time. Katya fought the need to bleed him at every turn, and soon she would be questioning that hunger. Female Sanguen took blood only when they were pregnant or mating. How much longer before she suspected the need to drink from him was more than just their mating?

He was going to have to take her to the doc for her own good and soon.

“Well,
un
complicate it, bro. You don’t need me to tell you how much a damn act of God she is. Don’t go and screw it up.” Tag flicked another glance at the screens, but Raife got the impression he wasn’t looking at Katya. “Most of us will never get a break like this.”

Raife ground his teeth and watched as Katya and Kel walked off the screen to disappear into the women’s locker room. A few minutes later, she shimmered into the Tech Lab, damp white gold hair pulled back into that clip.

She flicked a glance over him, pleasure lighting the nearly translucent blue depths, before she shuttered her expression. Her nostrils flared, and she nodded toward the bag he forgot he was even holding.

She had that effect on him.

Hell, he wanted to crush her to him, to absorb her so he could be sure she would never be at risk. Just the fresh scent of her drew him across the room, and he reached up with one hand to cup the back of her head and pull her into a kiss that burned him clear down to his groin. She stiffened against him at first contact as she always did, but only for a moment. She was getting more comfortable with the need for physical contact that came with a mating.

Tag grunted from behind them. “Can you guys not do that in here? I’m trying to work and shit.”

Katya tensed, but Raife felt her draw in his scent. It gave him a sense of satisfaction that she needed reassurance as much as he did. He held her for a long moment before he let her push away from him. “How was your sparring with Kel?”

Those lips widened in a small knowing smile, and she fixed her gaze on the screens. “You tell me.”

Tag laughed. “Busted.”

Raife ignored the other Drachon and motioned Katya to her terminal. “Why don’t you show us that big break you made in our case?”

“Food first.” She snatched the bag from his grip and was sailing back to her workstation, rummaging through the bag of bagels he’d picked up for her. Okay, he’d made a special trip on the bike, but the sounds she was making were worth the trouble. His entire body was in agreement.

Katya stuffed a bit in her mouth before leaning over the computer to pound away at the keys. “So I hacked into the state department and pulled up their missing persons database for the last couple years.” She stuffed another bite in her mouth, and Raife thought the pleasure she was getting from that damn cinnamon-and-sugar bagel was pornographic. Shifting his body to accommodate his reaction, he tried to focus on what she was saying. “Then I accessed Incog’s petition files and did a search for missing persons. I added the petitions to the Triumvirate as well.”

“Wait, wait, wait…” Tag stood up from his own workstation. “You got into the Triumvirate’s mainframe?”

Raife loved that little smile that curled the corner of her lips as she continued to tap away with a nod.

“What about their firewall? I’ve tried to hack into their system for years; they have a kick-ass security system.”

Katya shrugged, and a shadow shifted over her mind. “There’s a back door.”

Tag groaned. “Marry me. I may not have the Colombian-drug-lord look going for me like some guys you know…” After casting a pointed glare at Raife, Tag swept his hand over his closely buzzed hair. “But we would make computer-genius babies together.” He tried to reach into her bag to snag a bagel.

Katya slapped his hand away with a shake of her head. When she laughed, Raife felt something lighten inside him, despite his desire to break Tag’s neck. He hadn’t heard her laugh since before she was taken.
Long
before she was taken. He liked it. Wanted to hear it again.

“The Incog files didn’t have much of interest, and the Triumvirate files are encrypted. I’m rebuilding a program I created a year or so ago to decrypt them.” Katya turned to another computer, and Tag leaned in to look over her shoulder. His dark brows were lowered with interest. Raife leaned over to peer down at her screen and took the opportunity to breathe her in as well. He shook his head at the unintelligible mess on the screen. He might as well be trying to read hieroglyphics.

“Anyway”—she swiveled her chair to face another computer—“the state department has over 25,000 active missing persons cases, and more than that are reported every year. So I started a process of elimination. I narrowed it down to a few hundred and then started looking for similarities between those.”

“And?” Raife frowned at her screen. Files were popping up and disappearing as lines of text were highlighted and discarded.

“It’s not earthshaking or anything, but I found a couple interesting coincidences in Los Angeles. It primarily pertains to cases that were marked dismissed. Two years ago, several of the closed cases were reopened by a Detective R. Defoe, all of which had been initially started and closed out by a detective by the name of Travis Manning. Last year Detective Defoe was suspended for criminal trespass in a state-supported property. The report says Detective Defoe followed another officer into the locked evidence room and struck him before leaving with some narcotics that had been impounded earlier that day. Guess who the accusing officer was?”

Raife smiled down at her pale head. “Let me guess, Detective Manning?”

“Give the guy a gold star,” she crowed excitedly. “The drugs were never found in his possession, and the criminal charges were dropped, but Detective Defoe was never reinstated. Manning closed out the cases again, and the physical files for those cases were reported missing from the evidence locker. Mr. Defoe is now a private investigator in Pasadena. I have his address right here.”

“Son of a bitch.” Tag’s voice was heavy with respect. “I think I
will
try to steal you from Merrick.”

“Over your dead body.” Raife growled without any real heat. It was hard to truly be irritated when Katya’s pride and pleasure in herself washed over him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her again. With the fit of his jeans being too tight from just being so close to her, he didn’t want to push his luck, especially when it looked like he might be arranging a flight to Los Angeles. The last thing he needed was to show up in Forestor’s office with a hard-on.

“Good job, baby.”

“I know.”
Her cheeks were pink, and her pale eyes sparkled up at him.

Forestor would just have to deal with it.

Raife lifted her up from the chair and pulled her hard against his body. She felt so damn good, so soft, and her growing confidence was like an aphrodisiac. Hell, just the sound of her breathing was enough to make him want her. Her sigh blew out against his lips, and he inhaled her in as he lowered his head and slanted his lips over hers.

“Asswipe.” Tag groaned and moved quickly to the other side of the room. “Have some mercy.”

Chapter Fourteen

“No fucking way.”

Katya faced off against Raife. “I found the lead.”

“So, that doesn’t give you a license to put yourself in danger.”

“I get to make those choices, not you.” Her head was pounding, and it only got worse the more she listened to Raife argue against her ability to work as a full member of the team. The thoughtful way Forestor watched them had her gritting her teeth.

A muscle in Raife’s jaw ticked as he addressed Forestor. “We know the Bay House has an order of retrieval on her. If that’s not enough, then the fucking Triumvirate itself might have an interest in her. As well as the Rebels. She needs to stay inside Incog where she’s safe.”

“Safe?” Katya felt a hard knot of anger start to curl tighter in her stomach. Too much had been taken from her, too many people besides her making the decisions. She wanted to be more than a damn spectator in her own life. She would rather face the risk than be that person whose life just happened to her.