Fortunately, she did, although after hours of sitting out in his living room, the chocolate was soft and smeared all over her fingers. Hale winced. Somehow, she was able to take a bite without making a mess on her face. That was a skill he was still working on.
“What are you doing in Dallas?” he asked as he set the box down on the table again, trying to keep any accusing notes out of the question, even if a part of him wondered if she was here to check up on him. Or was hehopingshe was here for that?
Karissa didn’t say anything as she nibbled on her donut. Hale doubted the delay had anything to do with how good it tasted. She was probably taking her time considering how much she wanted to say—if anything.
“My family runs a private security firm specializingin personal protection,” Karissa finally answered, looking at the donut in her hand instead of at him, almost like she was talking to it. “I’m down here with Deven watching over an industrial magnate named Dominic Patterson who’s being targeted by a hit man.”
Hale took a moment to unpack all that, trying to figure out what surprised him the most—the fact that Karissa hadn’t become a cop like everyone in her family or that she was currently putting herself between a killer and some random rich dude for a paycheck. Not liking the way that second issue made him feel, he decided to find safer ground to walk on.
“Deven?” he said, trying to remember which brother that was. “Isn’t he the youngest of the bunch? What is he, like, twelve or something now? Isn’t he a little young to be on the job?”
Karissa smirked. “This is going to make you feel old, but Deven is eighteen, almost nineteen. He’s good at this security stuff, especially the tech support aspect.”
Hale rummaged through his memory bank, trying to recall what he knew about Karissa’s baby brother. It wasn’t much, but he recalled that Deven wasn’t an ass like the three older brothers. At least he hadn’t been back when Hale had known him. But then again, Deven had been about eight at that point and juiced up over SpongeBob. How much of an ass can an eight-year-old be?
“Do you have any idea who hired the hit man?” Hale asked.
“Not yet, but we’re working on it,” she said. “At the moment, I’m more interested in stopping him from murdering my client. He’s already tried twice.”
As she explained how the would-be killer had slipped past a complex security system both times and come damn close to killing Patterson, Hale couldn’t shake the feeling that she was keeping something important from him. Then again, why would he think she’d be completely honest?
He wanted to ask her if the local PD was aware of the threat against Patterson’s life but decided the question would be a waste of his time. Of course this guy wouldn’t involve the police. Rich people followed different rules than the rest of the world.
“You planning to use Patterson as bait to lure the hit man in?”
The question seemed to catch Karissa a little off balance, but she recovered quickly, her expression hardening. “Considering the killer is going to go after Patterson no matter what I do, I’m not actually using him as bait. But I’ll be there to stop him when he makes his move.”
“What happens after you apprehend him?” Hale asked, not sure why he was even asking such an obvious question.
She shrugged. “Then it’s on to the next job. Somewherenotin Dallas.”
Even if Hale had known that would be the answer, it still hurt to hear it.
“What about you?” Karissa asked. “Who was that guy with the knife who you chased into that alley all by yourself?”
“I wasn’t by myself in that alley,” Hale snapped back, telling himself it was none of his damn business when Karissa left Dallas. “Was I?”
“You didn’t know I was there, so your point is invalid,” Karissa responded. “Just stop avoiding the question and tell me who that guy was.”
Hale considered not telling her a thing. It would be totally within his rights to stay quiet about this. It was cop business—packbusiness. But at the same time, she had told him about Patterson. Totally different set of circumstances, but still.
“We don’t know who the guy is,” he admitted. “He’s not talking, and he doesn’t have fingerprints so we can’t ID him. We’re trying for facial recognition, but that takes a while.”
She regarded him thoughtfully. “He must be someone dangerous since you were willing to go after him by yourself like that. I grew up in a family of cops, remember? I know you’re not supposed to go after dangerous criminals on your own.”
Yeah, well, he was a werewolf, so that didn’t always apply. But since he couldn’t tell her that, he gave her a quick synopsis of the crew’s killing spree.
“The guy you chased into that alley was one ofthose five men and you decided it was necessary to risk your life by taking him on alone?” she asked.
His first instinct was to deny the allegation, but he couldn’t since she’d pretty much hit the nail on the head. Well, she’d left out the part about running prey provoking his inner werewolf into chasing it. But since she didn’t know about that, he couldn’t hold it against her.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but I couldn’t let the guy get away. Not after he’d already injured all those people.”
She sighed. “Okay. I guess I can appreciate the position you were in.” She eyed the almost-empty box of donuts like she wanted another one before pinning him with a look. “But you came damn close to dying out there last night. You know that, right?”
Hale thought he glimpsed a flash of concern in her eyes but then dismissed that idea. Why the hell would Karissa care one way or the other what happened to him? She’d made her feelings about him crystal-clear a decade ago.
“Then it’s a good thing you happened to be in that alley last night,” he said. “Which does bring us to an interesting question. What were you doing in that alley? It couldn’t have been a coincidence. And how did you kick that guy so hard he was out cold for twenty minutes? And while we’re on the subject of things that shouldn’t be possible, maybe you can also explain the disappearing sword?”
