Page 12 of Sailing with a Dolphin

Without missing a beat, Ryley pried, “So, what’s the name of this guy?”

“Pisces,” Peter answered.

Arching a brow, Ryley repeated, “Pisces?” Peter nodded, and Ryley commented, “Interesting name. Pisces what?”

Peter paused. “Uhhh...I don’t know?”

“How long have you been dating?” Ryley asked with a scoff.

Nibbling his bottom lip, Peter really didn’t want to tell his coworker that it’d been a first date.

Ryley put away his clipboard and refocused fully on him with narrowed eyes. “Really? First date?” he guessed. When Peter again kept his mouth shut, Ryley rolled his eyes. “Blown on a first date by a guy named Pisces.” Ryley smirked. “Sure it wasn’t just a hook-up?”

Peter could see how Ryley would think that, but he still shook his head. “No. He’s bringing me supper tonight.”

At that revelation, Ryley appeared surprised. “Seein’ the guy two nights in a row.” He eased to sit on the tailgate and gazed at Peter steadily. “You must really like this guy.”

After taking a deep breath, Peter let it out slowly with a nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Ryley patted him on the shoulder. “Well, I hope it goes well for you. Everyone needs a—”

The dispatcher’s voice over the loudspeaker interrupted Ryley. Hearing their ambulance number, Ryley hopped down. After securing the rear doors, they hurried to the front, jumped in, and got moving with Ryley behind the wheel.

The code for the call was assault in progress, so they weren’t surprised when they spotted the police vehicles. When Ryley stopped behind one, they both exited. While Ryley went to talk to one of the boys in blue, Peter headed to the back to open their doors.

Ryley returned with an officer who appeared vaguely familiar.

When Peter heard the name Officer McKellan, he offered, “Hello again, officer.” He’d met the man on several occasions. He was fairly new to one of Sacramento’s precincts, but Peter figured he would become more familiar with him as time went on. “What do we have?”

“Another one of those damn biting assaults,” Officer McKellan grumbled, frowning while rubbing the back of his neck. “At least this time, we’re gettin’ a description of the guy by the person who called it in.”

Well, damn. That could be dangerous. If the rogue vamp finds out who ratted him out, he could end up in the guy’s crosshairs.

As discreetly as possible, using the gurney to hide his movements, Peter shot off a quick text to Pisces. His shifter could check out the scene while it was fresh. Maybe that would help him.

My shifter?

Huh. I kinda like the sound of that.

Peter shoved his phone back into his pocket just as they reached the downed woman. She wore a dark-blue dress suit and was leaning up against the brick wall. Considering she only wore one shoe and the other one was near the opening of the alley, Peter figured she’d been dragged.

Gazing at the officer beside her with a dazed expression, she appeared to be blinking and trying to focus. That was something. It meant the rogue had been interrupted.

Ryley kept his voice soft and soothing as he introduced them. He needed to ask her name three times, but she finally managed to tell it to them—Marrisa Engleman. She was a thirty-two-year-old business executive who’d just left a lunch meeting. Marrisa couldn’t recall what day it was, and considering the open wound on her neck, they would definitely have to take her in.

After they loaded Marrisa onto the gurney and were getting her comfortable, she began to flail about in agitation.

“What’s wrong, Marrisa?” Ryley asked, rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to soothe her. “Do you hurt somewhere else now?”

“My purse,” Marrisa mumbled, trying to sit up and look for it. “Where’s m’purse?”

“I didn’t see a purse, ma’am,” the officer claimed. “I’m sorry. Your attacker must have taken it.”

“N-No.” Marrisa continued to look. “Need it.” Frowning at the officer, she claimed, “M’daughter’s marbles are in there.”

Oooookay.

Peter wondered if Marrisa wasn’t a few marbles short herself. Still, as Ryley began wheeling her gurney while trying to assure her that they would look, Peter and the officer began searching. While Peter went a little deeper in the alley, the officer headed toward a nearby dumpster.

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