"Sorry you're having a shitty day," he tells me in a voice much kinder than I expected from a man that looks like he's been fighting zombies for the last year and a half.
Sagan-- the man with the prosthetic leg-- glares at me, his only acknowledgement of being introduced a guttural noise that sounds vaguely like the huff of a bear.
Up close, he's even scarier. A scar I hadn't been able to see from a distance runs up his forehead from just above one eye, disappearing into dark, messy curls that part to make room for it to travel about an inch beyond his hairline.
Thick brows knit into what might be a permanent scowl above deep brown eyes that narrow on me like I'm a frog to dissect.
I move a little closer to Talon.
"You guys probably already know this is Arizona," Talon tells them.
I swear he steps forward a few inches, putting me slightly behind-- and a little closer-- to him when he looks at the way Sagan is studying me.
Before anyone speaks again, one of the rangers joins us.
"Hey guys-- ma'am--" the man nods in my direction before returning his attention primarily on Austin. "So PD isn't comingup here, it's outside of city limits so it is technically out of their jurisdiction."
The men around me grumble, and the tone of the ranger's voice tells me he doesn't think any more highly of the local police's refusal to get involved.
"So we've got some guys from the county sheriff up there with our men."
The man shuffles uncertainly, his gaze flickering between the men surrounding me before landing on me specifically.
Talon's hand moves to my shoulder.
I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining.
"Okay then, well," the ranger coughs nervously before continuing. "Two bodies, on the road up there, like they were supposed to be found. Has to be an animal-- for a human to have done that kind of damage they'd have to be--"
Talon's fingers tighten on my shoulder and it's only then that I realize I made a noise.
Austin clears his throat beside me.
"Oh... sorry," the ranger stammers. "Both the bodies are male. No sign of the missing woman yet."
Tension leaves my body and Talon's fingers relax into an open palm that lightly rubs small circles between my shoulder blades.
"I can't let you take the Jeep up there," the ranger tells Austin. "We have to wait for the coroner to come up from the county office down in Middale. It's already a few hours out to get all the way up here and those guys are never in much of a hurry. But if you want to go up on foot, they're expecting you up there."
The men all say variations on thank you to the ranger, with Talon and Austin reaching to shake his hand.
Sagan and Leo give the man a round of obedient "yes sirs" but I swear if I looked, I'd see them both holding their fingers crossed behind their backs.
"So you guys have this covered?" Austin folds a topographical map and stashes it somewhere inside the Jeep.
"We'll head up there as soon as eyes are off us," Sagan answers.
"We'll be waiting on you at the house."
Talon's hand remains on my back, warm and comforting as Austin follows us back to the SUV.
Austin voluntarily climbs into the roomy back seat behind me and Talon starts driving us back into town.
"You should probably take her to the safe house until we know more," he tells Talon.
Beside me, Talon turns his head to shoot me a concerned glance, then looks back at Austin through the rear view mirror and nods once.
Who the fuck are these guys?
