The Darkest Kiss

I frowned. “So why were we called? It sounds more like one for the regular cops than us.”

“It’s ours because the victim was Gerard James.”

Who was obviously someone I should know, but didn’t. “So?”

“So Gerard James was the head of the Nonhuman Rights League—the party intending to run several nonhuman candidates in the next state and federal elections.”

“And his death is a political hot potato, so the cops have hand-balled it to us?”

“Precisely.”

Meaning the pressure would be coming down from on high to solve this case quickly. Great. “I gather he’s not human himself, then?”

“Nope. He is—was—a hawk-shifter.”

“Does he have family in Melbourne?”

“Elderly parents living in Coburg. Gerard’s a self-made man, and there were rumors of a contract being taken out on him several months ago.”

“Well, there are probably plenty of humans out there who’d go to great lengths to stop nonhumans getting into government.”

“The rumor was investigated and appeared unfounded.”

So why was he now dead in his office? “Have you called in a cleanup crew?”

“Cole and his team are there already. Kade will meet you out the front of the Martin and Pleasance building in half an hour.”

I glanced at my watch. It was nearing three-thirty, which meant the daily traffic snarl had already begun. “It’ll take me longer than that to get there.”

“Not if you speed.”

Amusement ran through me. I had a somewhat checkered driving history—the last car I’d actually owned I’d driven into a tree, and to this day I have no recollection of the event. Though given I ended up in a madman’s breeding center immediately after it, I very much suspected that particular accident wasn’t my fault. But I’d had several mishaps in Directorate cars since that were, hence my surprise at Jack’s order. Hell, it was only last week he was lecturing me about it, saying that any more accidents might send his budget into the red.

“If you’re ordering me to travel fast in a Directorate vehicle, this must be urgent.”

“Just don’t wreck the car any more than you already have.” He hesitated, then added, “Or yourself.”

“Gee, thanks for caring, boss.”

“Riley, just shut up and get there,” he said, and hung up.

I shut up and got.

It took me a good forty minutes to get into the city, then another ten to battle my way through all the traffic to the Paris end of Collins Street. I might have had permission to go super fast, but this particular Directorate car didn’t come equipped with lights or sirens. Which was a damn shame—I would have loved roaring through the city streets scattering pedestrians and cars alike. Although with my driving record, that probably wouldn’t have been such a good idea.

Kade was already waiting in front of the building, his jean-clad butt resting against the trunk of the car, his muscular arms crossed, and his long legs stretched out before him.

Just the sight of him sent pleasure shooting through me. I might be reluctant to get emotionally involved with anyone right now, but I was still a wolf, and still capable of admiring a good-looking man. Kade was that, and a whole lot more. He was a horse-shifter, and his coloring was that of a bay—a rich, mahogany bay that came complete with jet-black hair and wicked, velvet-brown eyes. And he was built like a thorough-bred, with broad shoulders, slim hips, and those wonderfully long legs. Legs that could hold a girl just in the right place as she drove him deeper and harder inside.

I blew out a breath, lifting the hair off my forehead, and tried to ignore the excited bouncing of my hormones. Even if I was back on the sexual merry-go-round, Kade would still have been out-of- bounds. Jack had made it perfectly clear the day Kade had finally finished training that he didn’t want workmates becoming bedmates.

Which didn’t stop Kade flirting one bit, but neither he nor I had pushed it any further. Jack was mad enough at me as it was.

I tugged my keys out of the ignition and climbed out. He made a point of looking at his watch, then said, “That was the longest half-hour on record.”

“Jack was expecting miracles. There was no way—short of flying, and trust me, that ain’t happening yet— that I was ever going to get to the city in half an hour. Not from the Dandenongs, anyway.” I hit the lock button on the remote, then walked over.

His gaze skimmed my body, a caress of warmth that sent little tingles of desire shooting across my skin. In many ways, it was a damn shame that I couldn’t play with Kade, because he was the one man who’d be totally safe. When it came to the two of us, he wanted nothing more demanding than sex. He didn’t care that I was a half-breed, that I couldn’t have kids, that I was a guardian, or that my DNA might be changing for the worse, not the better. He didn’t demand that I stay away from other men, that I be with him, and only him. All he wanted was to have a good time, while the good times lasted.

And I really did wish I could reciprocate—but it just wasn’t worth the hell my life would become if Jack found out. I’d only seen him truly angry a couple of times, and I had no wish to go there more than necessary. An angry Jack was not a pleasant thing to behold, nor be around.

“Do you know how boring it was, waiting here?” he said, voice warm and rich, and so very sexy. “There wasn’t even decent scenery to admire.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “Lust after, you mean.”

Amusement crinkled the corners of his velvet-brown eyes. “Admire, lust. It’s all the same.”

“Whatever. But I refuse to believe that in a street filled with offices—and therefore tons of secretaries and workers—there wasn’t a single pretty girl who walked by.”

“Well, maybe one or two. After all, I do have a couple of phone numbers tucked into my pocket that need to be checked out.” He raised a hand and lightly brushed some hair from my cheek. His fingers were warm against my skin and a shudder that was all pleasure ran through me, but I resisted the urge to press into his caress and stepped back instead.

His lips twitched. “Jack,” he said heavily, “is a pain in the ass.”

“Oh, he’ll be more than that if we get down and dirty, trust me.” I stepped to one side, waved him on, then added, “So what has Jack told you about this case?”

“Probably the same as you. We’ve got a dead shifter whose political aspirations have made him too hot for the regular police.” He glanced at me as he opened the building’s glass door and ushered me through. “I’m betting he brought a bit of tail into the office and had a heart attack while showing her the official briefs.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How old was he?”

“Forty-five.”

Not what anyone would call old, especially for a shifter. “Has he got a history of heart problems, then?”

“No, but he’s got a bit of a reputation as a playboy. And even the fittest playboy can go down if he overexerts himself, and one thing our boy wasn’t was fit.”

I dug my badge out of my purse and showed it to the cops on duty as we headed toward the elevators. Our footsteps echoed on the marble floors, and the sound seemed to be amplified by the high ceilings. It had to be hell on the ears when there was a full complement of office staff going through here.

“But if it was just a heart attack, we wouldn’t have been called in.”

Kade snorted softly and hit the elevator button. “Yeah, we would have. Anytime a politician dies in suspicious circumstances, there’s an investigation. But in this case, they’d want to be doubly sure there was no foul play. Him being the first nonhuman politician and all.”

“All the while cheering that the political threat he represented has very neatly been taken care of, no doubt.”

“No doubt. Gerard James wasn’t about making friends, and I really doubt he had many of them, either in the political field or out of it. Not that it mattered—not to those who cared what his party was about.”