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“Emmett will do some research on possibilities,” I said to Shan, trying to be reassuring. “He’s the one who pointed out our confirmation bias, so he might be the best one for the job.”
I turned to him with a grin, finding him scrutinizing me. He nodded and flashed me a smile, but my question from before had given him questions. Damn me and my impossible to control mouth. I shouldn’t have said anything. If Em found out about how odd I was, I didn’t know what I would do. Deep down, my heart said he wouldn’t care. My brain was working under a different assumption. “I’ve got plenty of time to figure this out,” Emmett agreed. “I’ll reach out to other medical examiners with the Company and see if anyone has come across marks like those in a solved case. Or even unsolved in a different part of the world.”
Shooting a glare at the useless (in his mind) coroner, Shan grudgingly accepted Emmett’s offer. “Fine. Cas and I will head back to the club tonight. Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch something happening in real time if we hang out there often enough.”
I perked up, but not because I thought it was possible for us to catch the killer in the act. Seeing Freya again was the only thing on my mind. Emmett rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the possibility, but until more information came to light, it was our best choice. “It’s a miracle I haven’t found more information on that woman. You guys need to be careful,” he warned.
‘Careful’ had gone out the window the first time I laid eyes on her.
“Have you ever known Shan to not be careful?” I asked, laughing. “He’s keeping her pushed away with a ten-foot pole.”
His glare focused on me and he sighed. “I’ll take your words under advisement, Em. You just work on finding more on her and on these weird marks on the body. Come on, Cas. It’s already four and we’ve got a bit of a drive back.”
He started up the embankment again, but I turned back to the coroner one more time. She’d clearly been eavesdropping, but trying to pretend she wasn’t. “I have one more question,” I said, gesturing at the body. “Is the lack of cock due to being in the ocean, or…”
She glanced down at the area in question, shrugging. “There’s evidence of fish predation, certainly, but it’s hard to tell for certain whether they took the whole appendage or only… remnants.”
I shuddered but nodded, thanking her and starting up toward the car with Emmett by my side. If he’d lost his cock before being dumped in the ocean? Well, wouldn’t that be a horrible way to die?
Chapter 13
Freya
Iarrivedtoworkthe next night wearing a pair of ‘fuck me’ heels, a leather skirt that was shorter than anything Mattie would approve of, and a low coverage strapless bra top. My makeup was done with thick winged eyeliner and contour in all the right places, silver hair in two buns on top of my head. Loretta took one look at me and her jaw dropped, coke spilling on the counter. “Girl, what are you wearing?” she whisper-yelled. “I know Mattie is lenient about what we wear, but he’s gonna kill you over that outfit.”
Waving her off, I had to hope he didn’t see me before the men I was looking for stepped into the club. Once Shan and Cas had seen me in this, I would wear an oversized hoodie for the rest of the night if Mattie wanted me to. Lucky for me, I spotted Mattie with his Omega, Thereon, on his lap in the VIP section. Gemma was leaning over in front of them to place down their drinks, and they couldn’t take their eyes off her. And one better, a group of VIP regulars couldn’t take their eyes off Gemma either. Mattie would be up there all night, protecting her honour and making sure she didn’t take any interest in anyone but him.
Sometimes I wished they would get it over with and shack up together already, but in this instance, Mattie’s denial was beneficial to me. Gemma wasn’t in denial, she was just clueless about our boss’s crush on her. The sweetest woman in the room, but clueless.
“He won’t be down here tonight,” I said with a smirk, gesturing up to the balcony.
Lor saw the same thing I did, rolling her eyes. Everyone who worked here, from the bouncers to the bartenders, knew they were going to end up together. It was only a matter of when. “That’s way too lucky,” she said.
“The gods smile down on me tonight.”
“I think the gods smile down on you every night,” Caspian said, appearing behind me. “Which is why you’re so gorgeous.”
Turning around, I watched his eyes widen the tiniest amount. He sat down on the barstool and reached down to adjust his pants over what I assumed was a growing bulge. He’d gelled his hair tonight, like he was trying to impress someone, and his usual button-up shirt had embroidered pockets with images of pine trees. Caspian leaned hard into his winter pine scent. I had to wonder when someone had informed him he smelled downright delicious. It wasn’t like I caught the notes of my own scent. I could smell like fucking lemon for all I knew. Ew.
“Using flattery to flirt tonight? Good choice,” I said. “Gin and tonic?”
He cocked an eyebrow, leaning across the bar. The action brought him close enough that he could salivate over my cleavage. I didn’t lean back like I might have in the past. “You know my drink order?”
“I remembered it last time, too. No need to be shocked.”
“But I’m sure you don’t know everyone’s drink order.”
Sighing, I poured his gin and tonic, sliding the frosted glass across the clean bar to him. It wasn’t late enough for the wood to be sticky from drink residue. Caspian gulped some down right as Shan appeared at his shoulder to take the glass away. “You’re not supposed to be drinking.”
Looking up at Shan with a pout, Cas tried to grab the drink back. The angel kept it up out of reach, tossing back the rest of the highball himself with a slight grimace. “Shan!” he exclaimed, horrified. “Freya made that drink especially for me. Remembered my drink order and everything.”
“She always remembers your drink order. She knew it last night, too. We have work to do.”
His pout deepened and he looked over at me, scanning every inch of exposed flesh. There was a lot to scan. Shan hadn’t even noticed; either that, or he was skilled at ignoring his arousal. Or I didn’t arouse him at all. The thought irritated me, but it was possible, especially knowing what I did now. If he was working for Kylan, all this could be fake.
“Cas, if you don’t fucking listen to me—”
“Wow, he’s bossy, isn’t he?” I butted in.
