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Leduc patted her hand again and stepped out of reach. “Well, then, Miss Angel, I need proof that you can help and that you’re not just here to screw up the warrant of execution. I read up on your Coalition. You do as much politics for supernatural rights as you do for attack survivors and their families. I don’t want Ray’s death turned into political sound bites.”
“Let us take them back so they can meet Bobby, and we’ll go from there,” I said.
“Come on, Duke, what can it hurt just to introduce them?” Newman asked.
“I promise not to flirt if you’ll just let us talk to him,” Angel said, face solemn with her eyes very wide, like she was trying to look innocent and sincere. She failed, but it was cute as hell.
Leduc laughed, looking at the ground and shaking his head. “Damn, all right. Talking doesn’t hurt.”
He knocked on the door, and I heard Deputy Frankie unlock it. They hadn’t locked it the entire time I’d been here, or I didn’t think they had. Apparently, this many lycanthropes in the police station required more security. Whatever made them feel better. I decided not to point out that the door wouldn’t have held against any of the Coalition shapeshifters. Hell, I wasn’t sure it would have held against me if I wanted in badly enough. If it had been locked when Newman had kicked it in to stop Troy from killing Bobby, they’d have needed a new lock or a new door.
I’d never tried to get through a security door outside a cellblock before. I looked at the door sort of speculatively as we followed Leduc through it. I still wasn’t used to being more than human strong. I still didn’t know everything I could do without injuring myself. It was like being a new superhero. You never knew what you could do until you did it.
51
DEPUTY FRANKIE UNLOCKED the door for us, but we couldn’t all fit into the area in front of the cells, so I introduced everyone a couple at a time while Leduc watched from the door and Frankie tried to stay small in the corner farthest from the outer door.
Bobby’s eyes got a little wide when he was introduced to Nicky and the SEALs. Nicky was just big, so a lot of people gave him a wide berth. Without him wearing sunglasses and having hair to hide his missing eye, some people thought he was a pirate or a villain in a movie. The fact that Bobby reacted almost the same way to Milligan and Custer said that he wasn’t judging the men on just size and scary-looking injuries, but on physical potential. That he didn’t react to Ethan that way wasn’t a mark against Bobby; it was a testament to how well Ethan could hide in plain sight. Ethan was fast, dangerous, and well trained like the other men, but his basic energy was pleasant, almost gentle. It was one of the reasons that he’d started going out on jobs with the Coalition: He didn’t throw his energy around or try to dominate anyone. It just wasn’t important to him.
Angel didn’t play dominance games either, but when Bobby saw her, it was obvious he was thinking not if Angel could kick his ass, but how her ass looked in the pencil skirt she was wearing. It’s good to be pretty and dress up, but so many people make the mistake of seeing only that part, as if there’s no person inside the dress or behind the makeup. Maybe men don’t deal with that as much because they don’t wear makeup and pretty clothes. Who knows? Whatever. Bobby was solidly in that see-the-pretty-and-not-the-person camp. He was a good-looking guy who had been raised with money. Maybe appearance was all he ever had to see?
He was introduced to Pierette, too, but he liked either tall women or Angel’s flashier fashion sense, because he didn’t give Pierette half the attention he gave Angel. It wasn’t just Olaf who couldn’t sense her inner leopard, though I took points away for Bobby not sensing a beastie to match his own. Most of them would sense their own flavor faster than other animals. Pierette, like most of the old queen’s bodyguard, was excellent at hiding what she was. Would her being too good at hiding her beast when she played so scared and weak give the game away to Olaf?
Of course, Bobby wasn’t the only one who saw the pretty. Frankie stared at Angel like a teenage boy seeing the crush of his dreams. In this case, they were her dreams. I didn’t usually see cops—or women, especially lesbians in small Midwestern towns who happened to be cops—on the job act that obvious. It was like Angel had gotten through all Frankie’s defenses and left her gobsmacked. I had to turn my face so I didn’t look too amused. I wasn’t sure that Frankie realized how much of herself she’d given away in that one look.
Angel noticed, because she always noticed that sort of thing. She flashed Frankie a smile that made the woman blush even through her darker skin tone. Anyone can make a redhead blush, but making a dark-skinned brunette blush takes talent.
Leduc was scowling from Angel to Frankie as if this was all news to him, and he wasn’t very happy about it. I hoped that Frankie hadn’t hurt her chances of having a police career here in Hanuman.
“Well, now we’re all nice and friendly,” Leduc said, “but what the hell good are you to me and this investigation?”
“Bobby,” I said, “if you’ll give Angel your hand through the bars, she can demonstrate.”
He frowned at me. “What will she do to my hand?”
“It won’t hurt. Promise,” Angel said.
“You know how you lost control earlier and I had to hurt you to calm things down?” I asked.
He made a face. “How could I forget? I haven’t been hit that hard since I stopped playing football.”
I smiled at the compliment, because from an athletic guy, it was a compliment. “Angel and Ethan here can help you control your beast without resorting to violence.”
“How?” Bobby asked, and sounded suspicious.
“She’ll use energy instead of fists.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Not as much as me breaking your nose again.”
That made him smile, almost embarrassed. He walked up to the bars and held out his hand. Angel turned it palm up and rested it in her slightly smaller hand. Her energy breathed along the side of my body like a warm spring wind. It was as gentle as that sounds. Since, in full-blown golden-tiger mode, her energy could feel like you were putting your hand into live fire, it was always impressive to feel her be so delicate.
Bobby smiled. Apparently Angel’s energy felt as good to him as it did to me. “It’s like you’re petting my leopard. I mean, that’s not exactly it, but that’s how it feels.”
“That’s a good analogy,” Angel said, smiling at him like he’d said something smart, which he had.
Bobby smiled back. In the corner, Frankie frowned as if she thought Bobby was cutting into her time. It was too early for that kind of crankiness, at least in my opinion, but then I’m a poly. We share better than most.
