Page 3 of Cops and Robbers

Kate swallowed. “Bear with me. This will take longer than what I demonstrated on the waiter at the restaurant.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do if this doesn’t—“

Kate grasped her shoulder. “It will work. But you have to stick to the story.”

Sajani nodded. “Give him hell.”

Kate gave a determined smile. Matsuda had stolen Naomi, and his goon here hurt Sajani. Kate was determined to punish Matsuda for his foul deeds and steal back her sister if there was anything left of her. What Kate was about to do to Anthony was a needed step in her plan. She’d risked showing Sajani, a human, her abilities, but she didn’t have any other choice as it was the only quick way to earn Sajani’s trust.

Kate breathed out and placed her fingers against his cold temples. On a breath in, she flexed her blue Influence power. Drawing the energy from her core, a warm liquid waiting to be manipulated, she threw it into Anthony’s mind, morphing it into images. Minute by slow minute, she constructed new memories for him, all too aware that she didn’t possess the power to wipe Sajani completely from his memory.

That morning, he had met his dream woman. They shared a conversation over drinks at the cafe, and then she joined him at his hotel room—both of them too impatient to get their clothes off.

And she had given him the best sex of his life. So magical that he could have no other. Kate manipulated the same receptors in his brain that would simulate addiction. He only craved her. Could only have her. Nothing else would compare. But she’d left him. He’d gone out with Sajani and picked Kate up, but he found it didn’t fill him. In the end, he would let Sajani go from his life. He’d wake up tomorrow, hungover from drowning himself in booze. Kate meticulously used images of the hotel they stayed at but kept pictures too vague for him to find the one that got away. She would be a person he would always search for and never find—hell for him. And Sajani would be free.

Kate flopped back into her seat, sagging from fatigue and achy muscles, her Influence draining. “It’s done.”

“Are you sure?” Sajani tucked the blanket around the man who had abused her for years. She stroked a lock of hair from his eyes as if remembering only the good parts of their relationship. He’d manipulated Sajani for so long that Kate wasn’t surprised.

“You’re free.” The words hung heavily in Kate’s caged mind. Now I just have to free Naomi.

“Thank you,” Sajani said, wiping the tears rolling down her face. “When this all pans out. I’ll be ready to help you. I promise.”

Kate closed her eyes as a soft smile graced her lips. She was looking forward to the next part of her plan. And after that…

Matsuda, say goodbye to your secret weapon.

Chicago, IL

Present Day

The black-and-white video with less quality than a flip phone glitched again as the woman on the screen walked toward a tall display case. Raz had marked the anomaly in his memory the first time he watched the security footage. After the hundredth time, he had the rest memorized. He shifted in his office chair, remedying the cramp in his left leg.

A short, lithe woman wearing a baggy hoodie and tight jeans turned toward the pricey contents inside the case. The angle she chose kept her face hidden from the camera’s view. She grabbed a piece of paper out of her back jean pocket with a gloved hand, and with the other one, she removed the chewed bubblegum from her mouth. Using the gum, she stuck the paper to the display glass.

DNA analysis on the gum didn’t match anyone in their databases. Fingerprints had been nonexistent, and facial recognition was pointless because, just like this video, she always hid her face from the camera.

The woman was a ghost.

The Bubblegum Bandit, according to the tabloids.

She was a thief who had a knack for successfully robbing expensive items like Super Bowl rings and famous artwork. And she’d marked her next target—an art piece including a bra and panty set sequined with priceless jewels ranging from diamonds to rubies. The police linked her crimes to six different states, so it had become a matter for the FBI. And Raz had requested it. He and his team of dragon shifters had a more important need to find the Bubblegum Bandit than the theft of jewelry and art. A supernatural weapon had gotten into the wrong hands.

Raz had a feeling there might be a connection between this thief and an international criminal whom the CIA nicknamed Midnight. She was a woman who worked with a Japanese organized crime leader named Eiji Matsuda to steal something of demonic legend—Lucifer’s Bell. A weapon whose chime allowed demons to possess humans who heard it while rendering dragons utterly immobile—one that had destroyed Raz’s previous clanmates. A few months ago, he’d been so close to acquiring the weapon he’d been chasing for centuries, but then…

His stomach twinged from the wave of memory. Blood had seeped through the cracks in his fingers as he held pressure over the bullet hole in Lukas’s chest. Lukas had been Raz’s informant for years, so Raz was acquainted with the man’s wife—his daughter. He understood the dire circumstances that led Lukas into dangerous circles and into that black-market auction where the Bell was being sold. Raz had been there with his team to acquire it by any means necessary, but they weren’t the only ones.

During the chaos following Midnight’s barrage of bullets, she got away with both the weapon and the murder of Raz’s friend.

His fingers clenched around his computer mouse. The chances of two women who were highly skilled thieves were low, so it was more likely the Bubblegum Bandit and Midnight were the same person.

He glanced down at the sealed plastic bag on his desk. The orris and sugar-cookie scent that belonged to the Bubblegum Bandit permeated the air from the little evidence they had. That smell was a siren call to his dragon. His tongue tingled, salivating. He swallowed his gum’s mint flavor to drown it out.

Her scent was addictive, just as it was to stare at the simple lipstick stain on the paper they assumed was from her lips. A full bottom lip with a subtle upper lip that pillowed the soft-pink satin lipstick against the white cardstock.

Bitable lips.

You’re going insane. Despite the logic that this woman might be the same person who murdered his friend, his instincts disagreed, fighting him for some reason he couldn’t fathom. He hadn’t been close enough to sense Midnight that day. She’d been a blur of darkness, as her nickname suggested. But watching the Bubblegum Bandit on repeat was hypnotizing, as if she exuded pheromones that traveled through the camera feed and attracted not only him, but his other side. His dragon rumbled in his chest, wanting to chase.