Chapter 35
To say I slept like the dead was an understatement.
I roused to Angel waving a cup of coffee beneath my nose.
Sitting up and taking it without thinking, I instantly downed half the cup of perfection as I watched his fine ass wander out of my room.
Was it strange to want him to put a shirt on because I didn’t like anyone else staring at him?
Or that I wanted to slide my hands over his bare skin, trace his tattoos, and bask in his body heat?
I drank my coffee and lifted the blanket to Peanut Butter’s chirps. He always wanted to curl up in the cave of fabric until I got out of bed. Angel spoke softly, and I suspected Ivan was awake. He wandered back to the bedroom and pointed at the cup.
“Do you need more?”
“You should marry me,” I blurted.
“All it takes is serving you coffee, huh?” Angel teased. “I’m making breakfast sandwiches for on the go.”
“Where are we going?” I glanced at the clock. “Dropping Ivan off and to work early?”
“Keanan is picking up Ivan. You and me have to meet the team.” He hesitated. “They picked up a few… remains last night that we’re hoping you can help with.”
Remains? I stared at him; my mind sluggish first thing in the morning. “Zombies? You mean zombies?”
Angel hedged, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweats as he lingered at the edge of the bed. “One is still moving.”
My gut clenched and flipped over. For a few seconds, I thought I’d have to race to the bathroom and upchuck the coffee. But Angel leaned in and rested his hand on the back of my neck, the warmth seeping an instant sense of calm into me. “How do you do that?”
“It’s part of our bond. Eventually, you’ll be able to do it too. Share your calm.”
“How can you be calm when there’s some dead—” I whispered the last for fear that Ivan might hear.
“—walking around because of my magic? Is he stuck? You said only one was still moving; what does that mean? How do I fix it? Did I pull some guy back into his rotting remains? I can’t imagine anything more horrifying than that. ”
Angel perched on the edge of the bed. “Ezra says they picked up four sets of remains, mostly bones, indicating they’d been there a while, and one still somewhat…
fresh,” Angel said. “He’s tried to requisition another SV, but no one has responded so far, and our DB is not talking.
Either it can’t, or it needs an SV’s help to do so. ”
“There were four sets of human remains in that lot?”
“Five, if you count our animated DB. And I don’t mean, like, movie animated.
It’s up, and somewhat mobile, but has no heartbeat and smells like rot.
Or so Wade shared. They are trying to get an ID on him, but he’s decomposed enough that we might need dental records, and that’s a little hard to do if he’s mobile. ”
“I never meant to…”
Angel leaned in to rest his forehead on mine.
“I understand this is overwhelming. But I need you to think of this as you would any DB you worked with in homicide. This is a victim who we need to identify and help. Your ability may have led us to them and given us the opportunity to solve their murder. This is not a curse. I don’t know if there is any of who they were before left in there, or if it’s just muscle memory and magic keeping them upright. That’s what we need you for.”
I parsed his words, understanding the point he was trying to make, but also catching, “He’s for sure a murder victim?”
“We don’t have full forensics yet as to cause of death,” Angel said. “But it’s pretty obvious none of them kicked it naturally.”
“You think Cassidy had something to do with it?”
“We don’t know. Right now, he’s in the wind. I sent the non-human part of our team to go pick him up, but they can’t find him.”
I swallowed down the rest of my coffee and slid out of bed. “Let me shower. I’ll be ready in a bit.”
Angel hesitated again.
“What?”
“Sarge wants us to meet her at the lot.”
I flinched. “Why?”
“To see if you can detect any other remains.”
“Wouldn’t I have pulled them?”
“Jude…” Angel let a long moment pass as he seemed to decide what to say. “You shouldn’t have the power to pull what you did. Five at once is unheard of since the war. And for a new variance, not possible.”
“I didn’t do this on purpose.”
“I don’t think you did. But it means that a lot of people are going to be watching you, and I don’t like it.”
“Does Hanna think I’ve been hiding my power?”
“No. Hanna is old fae and too smart to be fooled like that. I am willing to wager that she knows exactly what you can do, and that’s why you’re on her team. But as powerful as she and the rest of the fae are, they can only do so much if the military comes asking questions.”
“Avoid the military. Good to know. I never enlisted for a reason,” I said. “I’m one hundred percent anti-war. That’s why I chose homicide, getting a degree instead of working my way up. I am about helping people, not throwing them in jail.”
Angel nodded but still looked worried.
“Should I try to hide my power? Would that be better?”
“Could you? You don’t even know how you did what you did last night.”
“Desperation and fear for my little brother.”
“Yeah, let’s not put that on tap.” He waved his hand. “Shower. I’m going to dress. Ivan is getting ready to go. Keanan is supposed to take him shopping for his room stuff.”
“Oh,” I said. “I should give him my credit card.”
“I think Xavier is handling that.”
I squinted at him. “Who is that guy?”
“Think of him as a higher-up like Sarge.”
“How high?”
“Very.”
I sighed and drained my coffee cup in a long gulp. This day was going to need a lot of coffee. At least the beating from yesterday felt like a bad workout and not like I’d been taken to the cleaners.
Keanan arrived, Ivan letting him in as I came out of the bathroom with my toothbrush in my mouth. I spit the paste into the sink and wiped off my face before calling Ivan over.
“You okay with him?” I asked. Keanan—who didn’t have the same resting bitch face his twin did but also didn’t inspire instant friendly vibes either—leaned against the counter in the kitchen, appearing bored.
“Yeah. It’s fine,” Ivan said. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Can you not get nearly killed again?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Did you plan to get beat up?”
“Normally, I’m better at avoiding it, to be honest.”
“But you were distracted by me?”
“Worried about keeping you safe, but my distraction comes from many sources right now.” Including the hot man puttering around my kitchen. “Can I give you my credit card? I’m worried about us owing Xavier something.”
Ivan stared at me for a long moment. The two of us huddled close to the bathroom door. Did the two other shifters in the apartment hear everything? “You know this mate thing is pretty serious, right?” Ivan finally asked.
“I have questions, but yeah, I think I get it.”
“Like, if you walk away—which you can, ‘cause you’re not a shifter—he’ll never find someone else,” Ivan whispered.
“Pretty to think so.”
“No. Not at all. Because he will never find anyone else appealing. His shifter senses are on high gear, focused on you and you alone.” Ivan studied me, looking way too old for his sixteen years. “I don’t even mean not getting it up if you leave him. Shifters fade.”
“He was doing fine before me.”
“Before he met his fated mate, yeah, probably. Lonely, as all shifters are searching for their mates. Once they meet them, they can delay an actual bonding, which will prolong their lives. But after bonding, if you reject him, Angel will fade.”
“Fade, as in—?”
“Die, Jude. Shifters die a slow death of wasting away without their bond mate. Who wants to live without part of their soul once they have glimpsed what it felt like to be complete?”
I swallowed thickly, knuckles white where I gripped the toothbrush in a death grip. “He never said anything about that.”
“You were dying. I think he was less worried about himself and more about you.”
“Xavier said he might be able to break it?”
Ivan waved his hand at me as he shook his head. “It’s not pleasant and not guaranteed to save the shifter. Yes, he’s powerful, but fate isn’t something that is meant to be broken.” He studied me. “Do you want to break the bond? I thought you were into him?”
“He could do a lot better than me.”
“Or worse. What’s wrong with you?”
“Rude. Nothing. I’m ordinary, is all.”
“You are far from ordinary, Jude. And I’m not talking about your variance. Yeah, that’s weird, and I’ve been variant my whole life. You could have left me to Xavier that day our folks were kicking me out. We might be blood related, but you don’t know me.”
“I wouldn’t have left you. I remember how terrible it felt when they threw me out,” I said. “You don’t throw away good people.”
“How would you know I’m any good? I’m just some screwup.”
I glared at my kid brother. “How many times did our father have to tell you that before you etched it into your heart?”
He flinched.
I put the toothbrush down and stepped close enough to pull Ivan into a hug. He stood stiffly in my embrace for a few seconds, then finally relaxed and hugged me back.
“You’re too nice to be a cop,” he grumbled.
“So I’ve been told.” I let him go and pulled my wallet off my dresser and a card out. “Use my card. Just don’t buy a car or something without calling first.”
He stared at it for a moment before accepting it.
“No obligation. Get stuff for your room that you like. Once my lease is up, we’ll find a bigger place that gives you more room. Been thinking about it a while anyway. I hate Grandpa being on his own.”
Ivan pulled out his wallet and shoved it inside. “You’ll talk to Angel?”
“Oh, I will talk to Angel,” I promised.
“Don’t get mad at him,” Ivan said. “You were dying.”
“You don’t know that.”
He tapped the side of his nose. “I do.”
“I’ll try to be reasonable.” I stared at him. “Shifters have fated mates? Like one particular person?”
Ivan nodded.
“Does that mean you’ll have one, too? When you’re older? Or is it, like, a rare thing to find your fated mate if you’re a shifter?”
“Not rare. Usually something links our paths with those we are meant to find. Or, at least, that’s my understanding since the Veil split. Before then, I have no idea. Did shifters exist then? Or their mates? I know NHVs have mates a lot of the time.”
“Oh, that’s good, then. You’ll have someone who’s crazy about you, eventually.”
“Yes. But I’d rather you focus on the guy who’s crazy about you first.” Ivan pointed toward Angel, who was chatting with Keanan with a tape measure in his hands. Keanan was taking notes. The size of Ivan’s room, maybe? I still felt bad it was so small.
“I think he hated me when we first met.”
“You are sort of a lot sometimes,” Ivan said. “All small and blond with a lot of personality.”
I glanced down at my outfit, the clothes ordinary enough though a better fit than most straight men aimed for. “How am I a lot?”
“You drive a hearse.”
“I love that car.”
“And listen to metal and K-pop.”
“K-pop is addictive. Metal is mentally soothing.”
“Soothing isn’t how I would define it. Whatever. Just go do your thing. Don’t get beat up, and be nice to your mate.”
I saluted him. “Yes, sir.”
He made a disgusted noise at me as he made his way to Keanan’s side.
I gathered up my mental shield and prepared for visiting an empty lot I’d probably driven by a dozen times and never once thought could be a dumping ground for bodies.
Then there was the whole fated mate thing, which still sounded like a fantasy to me.
“So, a typical Tuesday: bonding with my fated mate, identifying murder victims, and corralling my personal zombie. Can I ask for a refund on this timeline?”