Angel shrugged. “Not our case.”
Because of me, I assumed. Or maybe because it was considered a human crime and we were SED?
“This one isn’t either,” Hardy said with a sigh. “But I’m going to need a full breakdown of where you guys have been for the last twenty-four hours. Since Bowman and his family are dead.”
“Yeah, fine,” I muttered. I didn’t care about the questions, only that Angel was there in case the world dropped out from underneath me again.
“He stays with me,” Angel said, a low growl edging his voice. “You know the protocol for a newly bonded pair.”
Hardy took a step forward, getting into Angel’s space. “I cut shifters a lot of slack on the “mate” thing. But if you’re using that bond to control his testimony, I’ll have a judge sever it so fast it’ll make your head spin. Test me.”
“Hey, woah, everyone’s good,” I slurred, closing my eyes to stop all the noise from making the world spin. “No one’s controlling anything. I’m just really tired.”
The silence that followed was thick enough to chew on. When I opened my eyes again, Hardy had taken half a step back, but the storm hadn’t left his face. Worry for me, I realized. We’d never been close, but I probably could have considered him an ally.
Angel hadn’t moved an inch, a statue of pure defiance.
“Really, Chris,” I added, hoping to ease his anxiety over Angel’s aggression. “I used a lot of energy to break the spell keeping us out of the apartment. I’m a little drained, but Angel’s not doing anything other than keeping me from smacking my noggin on the concrete.”
“Fine,” Hardy bit out. He gestured to the sleek, black SED command van parked a short distance away. “Let’s take this somewhere private. And for the record, this isn’t a request.” He glanced back at the EMT lingering by the door. “He’s cleared, yes?”
“Needs electrolytes and sleep, but is otherwise fine,” the man agreed.
Angel helped me up, even lifting me out of the back of the ambulance as if I weighed nothing. It was a heady feeling that made me want to curl up in his arms and sleep for a week, knowing how safe and protected I was.
Inside the van was a world apart from the chaos—soundproofed, climate controlled, and equipped with enough tech to launch a satellite. A broad-shouldered female shifter I didn’t recognize sat in the corner, her passive presence confirming this was an official debrief with a built-in lie detector.
“This is Agent Rianna Smart,” Hardy said as he took a seat beside her.
Angel nodded at her in passing and tugged me to sit down across from the other two agents. While the inside of the vanhummed with air conditioning and electricity, I could tell there were at least a dozen cameras.
“Okay, Jude. Start from the top. When did you last see Derrick Bowman?”
“Uh, in the apartment dead. If that’s who that was.”
“I mean the attack a few weeks ago. Had you encountered him either before or after that attack?”
“No. I don’t think so,” I said, trying to recall his face from the night I’d been pulled over and nearly beaten to death before suddenly pulling zombies from the ground to protect me. “It was dark that night, and I couldn’t really see his face all that well. I didn’t know his name until now.”
“You never thought to investigate?” Hardy inquired.
The question, so blunt and reasonable, still managed to sting. I let out a short, humorless laugh that made my head throb. “Investigate?” I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, counting off on my fingers. “One, I was getting a crash course in the fact that I have magic that puts a target on my back. Two, I was being strong-armed into a transfer to a division I didn’t want, to do a job I never asked for. Three, I was newly mated to the hottest man I’d ever met, in part to save my life from their attack. Four, an apartment building I’d just investigated was pulled across the Veil along with two of our team members after discovering cult-like activity.” I met his gaze. “Finding the second guy who jumped me was kind of low on the priority list when the first one turned out to be a cop who is some sort of mass murdering cult leader.”
Angel’s hand settled on my back, a silent show of support. “And after he was transferred,” Angel added, his voice cool and professional, “it was no longer his jurisdiction. It was an internal PD matter. An assault by a human officer on a variant. SED wouldn’t have been invited to that party, and you know it.”
I shrugged, the gesture feeling hopeless. “No. I didn’t investigate. I was a little busy surviving the next few days.” And honestly, I’d forgotten about it, assuming the human PD was doing their job as I used to, but maybe that assumption had really made an ass out of me.
“We had his back,” Angel said. “Our team wouldn’t let it happen again.”
If Smart had tells, I didn’t catch them, but Hardy moved on with the questioning. “Tell me what happened today?”
“We were supposed to have a non-magic date day,” I grumbled. “Pancakes. A normal, non-cosmic, horror related breakfast. It was going great. Angel didn’t even have to stop me from accidentally raising any dead waitresses.”
Angel’s lips twitched. “The waiter was a bear shifter.”
I glanced at him. “Aw, he didn’t try to hug me like Wade always does.”
“Not all bears are snuggly.”
