Page 4 of Sins of the Fathers

“We were?” Cullen asked as he rose from his chair.

Jasper looked from one to the other. They were staring at each other in a way that made Jasper feel like he needed to give them some privacy. As far as he knew, nothing had happened between them, probably because Braith thought that Cullen was too young. He wasn’t wrong. Cullen was young, but he’d lived through things that most people didn’t live through in their entire lives. Besides, he wasn’t a child. He might be a young adult, but he was definitely old enough to make his own decisions, especially when it came to whom he wanted to date.

Not that Jasper knew that Braith wanted to date Cullen. He thought that might be the case, but he suspected it would take a little while for these two to admit it and even longer to get their act together.

“We can get that pizza you like,” Braith said as if he needed to convince Cullen.

Cullen was already walking around his desk, clearly willing to go wherever Braith wanted. “That sounds good.”

Braith winked at Jasper as if he was doing him a favor. Maybe he thought he was, but Jasper wasn’t convinced there wasn’t more to it. He wasn’t about to call Braith out on it, though. Whatever was going on between those two, it was their mess to deal with.

Jasper left them to it and knocked on his boyfriend’s office door. It was closed, but it didn’t take Archie long to call out for him to come in. When he poked his head in, it was to find Archie sitting behind his desk, staring at his phone. “Am I bothering you?”

Archie put the phone down and smiled widely. “Never. Come here.”

Archie opened his arms, and Jasper walked into them once he’d closed the door behind himself. Archie clung to him, which was a little surprising. Archie wasn’t one to hide his feelings, but he didn’t usually do this kind of thing at work. Whatever he was working on, it had to be bad.

“What happened?” Jasper asked as he dragged his fingers through Archie’s hair.

“I just started working on a new case.”

“Is it bad?”

“I guess it depends on what you mean by bad. My client’s partner was killed.”

“I’m sorry.” Even though it was nothing new in the world, it wasn’t something easily dealt with.

“He was an ex-hunter.”

Jasper blinked. “And your client is a monster?”

“She is. She was very defensive when she first got here. She told me right away that her partner had been a hunter, but also that he’d left that life years ago.”

“What was his name?” There was a good chance that Jasper knew him.

“Daniel Marsh.”

Jasper did recognize the name. Daniel wasn’t someone he’d worked with often, but they’d been on a few cases together. From what he remembered, the man had been quiet and observant. He hadn’t been one of the cruel ones. He’d disappeared one day, but Jasper had barely thought about it. Many hunters disappeared, usually because they were killed. “I knew him. How did he die?”

“Assassinated.”

“And why was his partner here? Daniel was human.”

“But he was dating a monster. She doesn’t think that the human authorities are actually trying to solve the case, and I can’t say I blame her. I probably wouldn’t trust them, either, if I was in Petra’s position.”

“So you agreed to look into it.”

“I did. I’m going to start digging into Daniel’s past. I don’t know if it’s connected, but Petra seems to think it is, and I want to know everything there is to know about the man. It’s the only way I’ll be able to find out what happened to him.”

It made sense. Archie was good at his job, so Jasper wasn’t worried that he wouldn’t do the right thing when it came to Daniel Marsh. That didn’t mean he wasn’t worried at all. “If this involves the hunters, you’re going to have to be careful.”

“I know. It’s not the first time I’ve dealt with them.”

“No, but they know you’re dating me. I might be seen as a traitor to them, but they don’t like you either.”

“I don’t need them to like me. I have you, and that’s enough.”

Jasper pressed a kiss to the top of Archie’s head. “That’s sweet, but you know you have to be careful anytime you deal with hunters. I still haven’t heard from my father, but there has to be something he wants, and he’ll get it, no matter what he has to do for that to happen.” It had been true before Jasper had found out what he was, and it certainly hadn’t changed. His father was ruthless. He knew that Jasper and Archie were together. There was no way to know what he’d do if he ever got his hands on Archie. Jasper wasn’t willing to find out.