I stood there, arms crossed over my chest as I listened to her talk about the scene. I knew that Jack was a hunter, but I didn’t realize they had protocols the same way the police did. She even had a badge number. What else about the hunters did we not know?
After Jack ended the call, she faced me again. “Sorry about that. If I didn’t get ahead of this, then they were going to drag us down to the station, and we’d be there for hours before I could get a call in to the guild.”
“So…” I shifted from one foot to the other. “You do this often? Interact with the cops and what not?”
Jack shrugged. “Not really. Most of our missions are done in secret, but occasionally, like tonight, we have a public incident that requires legal channels to keep the humans out of it.”
“But you have a badge. Do they think you’re a cop?”
She fiddled with the sleeves of my jacket and pursed her lips. “Some of them probably do, yeah. But, from what I understand, they don’t get told much about our division. Just enough to know that we have jurisdiction wherever we say we do.”
I snorted, walking back toward the bloody pile of meat. The scent of called to the predator in me, making my stomach grumble. “I can’t imagine the cops are just happy to hand over control like that.”
“I don’t know. Probably not. Tristen — one of the presidents of the guild — told me that a lot of the time, they explain it away with it being part of a sensitive investigation, like with the mob or something. Usually, that keeps them from looking too much further into it.”
She stopped at my side. “We’ve only had this division thing in play for a few years. Before they had to get sneaky and use witch charms and hackers to remove memories and physical evidence of supernatural crimes.”
I was quiet for a moment, contemplating my next words. I knew the work she did was important, and some hated the hunters for policing us, but unfortunately, there were some of us who needed policed.
However, Kyren wasn’t one of them. If he killed someone, it was for a reason, not just mindlessly killing for the fun of it. I know because I’d helped him do some of it. Coincidently enough, a lot more of it ever since we met Jack.
Looking down at what used to be a vampire, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had done or said something to threaten Jack. Not that I thought he should just kill everyone who tried to hit on our girl or made a rude comment. That wouldn’t be logical. We’d be constantly taking people out and then it would get back to Jack, putting her in the line of fire.
But this one…
“Are you going to tell them it was Kyren?” I tried to keep my tone even and as not anxious as I felt.
Jack glanced at the mess and then at the wall before looking back at me. “I don’t think that’s necessary, but I wish we could wash this off before they get here. I have little doubt that Tristenwon’t think this has something to do with me and connect the dots on his own.”
She paused and stared up at the bloody words on the wall, her voice low, “Why would he do this?”
I huffed a laugh, wrapping my arms around her waist to pull her back to my front. “Isn’t it obvious, princess?”
Jack leaned her head back to stare up at me.
“He’s still completely in love with you, just like I am.”
“So you think…whoever this was…” She blinked, then tilted her head to the side slightly. “That this had something to do with me?”
“Ding, ding, ding.” I leaned down and kissed her nose. “Kyren might not be the most vocal about his feelings, but his actions never leave any doubt, princess. And this has you written all over it.”
Jack winced. “It’d be kind of sweet if it wasn’t going to make explaining this all a pain in the ass.”
The sound of several vehicles pulling up drew our attention to the entrance of the alley. Men and women dressed in black led by a large muscular man with a buzz cut started toward us.
“Well, think of it this way,” I told her, lowering my voice. “There was a reason he did this when you were around.”
“You think?”
“Yep. And I think this means he’s that much closer to admitting what happened before doesn’t matter as much as how he feels about you.”
Jack opened her mouth to retort, but closed it shut when someone neither of us expected walked into the alley with the team.
Chapter four
Julian
Ishouldhavestayedback at the academy. I had mountains of papers to grade, and I was supposed to meet my new partner for the academy mission today.
