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After showering, Connor returned to the living room and invited Iris to join him at the dining table. He had a solid reason for not wanting to sit beside her on the couch. Her legs were way too bare and some of his damn fantasies, especially the more involved ones, had taken place on his couch.

He’d done a lot of thinking in the shower. He suspected he’d get some answers from Big Nuts about who or what was behind the set-up.

What he couldn’t put together was how he might be connected to a witch he’d never formally met before.

Iris sat down at the table, angling her chair toward him. He leaned his forearms on his thighs, his chair also turned away from the table. The relative position however, gave him another solid view of her shapely legs.

He slid his gaze up, intending to land on her face, but got stuck on her throat. He saw the pulse and a different kind of lust worked him. He’d heard witch blood was the best. He’d had it once, but he’d been lost in blood flame and had no memories of it. Guilt of course tried to rise, but he pushed it down and for a bare moment allowed

himself to wonder what Iris’s blood would be like flowing down his throat.

This led to other issues, so he finally forced himself to focus on what had led them here together tonight. “What’s your job description at the Tribunal? I know you’re a Public Safety officer, but what do you do specifically?”

“I work the tip-line and observe crime scenes. Mostly, I make a lot of reports that are usually ignored. Occasionally, I’m sent out to assess an out of control vampire, warlock, witch or shifter. If needed, I’ll take him or her out, but always with an eye to public safety.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a shit job.”

He watched her shoulders fall about a quarter of an inch. He liked that she worked hard not to show her emotions. Of course in Five Bridges, revealing your cards could get you killed.

“You could call it that, except every once in a while I get to do some good.” She chuckled softly. “I’d hoped to do some real good tonight and take out a corrupt Border Patrol officer. Then you carried that woman away instead of killing her.”

He measured the look in her eye. “You would have done it, too. You would have shot me out there in the wash if I’d killed her.”

“Yes, I would have.”

He narrowed his gaze. “But I would have had a legal right, decreed by the Tribunal, to kill any runner attempting to take drugs out of Five Bridges.”

“But you didn’t kill her.”

“The point is, if I had, you would have killed me.”

She nodded. “But even I could see the woman was thin and very weak. She posed no threat and I’m sure you knew she wasn’t likely to succeed in getting the drugs to the border.”

“So you could see her? At that distance?”

“My spotting scope could, which means I could see the flame rash on her neck. I knew she was a drug addict and probably desperate. Mostly, I knew you could easily overpower her. So yes, if you’d killed the woman, I would have taken my shot.”

For some reason, Connor wasn’t bothered at all, probably because he knew Iris as well as he did. And she hadn’t shot him though she could have. As a TPS officer, and in the employ of the Five Bridges central government, she had more clout under Tribunal law. It would have been her word against Crescent authority as to what happened. Witches lied all the time, so he had to give her this: She chose to act on what she actually saw.

He respected her for it.

“I’m sure you’ve been thinking about what happened on Sentinel Bridge. Have you uncovered a possible connection between us?”

She shook her head. “No, but there must be something we share in common. I’m just not seeing it. I’ve never actually met you before tonight. I mean I know who you are, and I’ve seen you dozens of times at various crime scenes, but I don’t know any of the Crescent Border Patrol officers.”

He nodded, thinking. “And do you usually work near Sentinel Bridge or west Crescent Territory?”

“Rarely. If anything, my assignments involve Savage.” The shifters in their province had chosen the right name. Humans who went wolf entered a wild reckless world, more than even vampires. But they tended to fight between packs as opposed to lashing out at witches or vampires. They left the fae and dead-talkers alone as well.

He nodded, but his gaze once more slid over to the exposed parts of her thighs. In response, she crossed her knees. Without warning, his desire for her shot through his skull once more, heating up his groin. His fantasies had been vivid as hell and one of them had involved putting his hands right where one knee rested over the other and easing her legs apart.

He turned away from her and cleared his throat. It would do no good to give his lust free rein right now.

~ ~ ~

Iris’s cheeks were warm but it had nothing to do with embarrassment. She’d basically caught Connor lusting after her and despite their strange shared situation, she liked it. Craved it.

She tried to remind herself that he was a vampire, the enemy of her kind. But right now, all she saw was a man, wearing a snug tank, his tats exposed over muscular shoulders and a flat six-pack that had her fingers itching to touch him. He also wore the BP standard issue black leathers, which did not help her craving. He’d settled his sword, wrist guards and Glock on the table next to her own pile.

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