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“Not answering it.” I bite the words out against her, barely leashing my wolf’s eagerness to nip her kiss-swollen mouth. Her lower lip catches against my teeth, and I want to take with a savage need that hurts deep within. No one’s important enough to interrupt this. Not when I feel as though I’ve been thirsty forever and finally found the one mate who could quench that longing.
Pulling her against me, I hike her leg over my hip and rub against her, marking her with my scent and driving myself insane in the process. Beneath my hands, she’s soft curves and long lines. I inhale her, and she smells of earth and herbs, of sage and Sadie. Her warm breath mixes with mine, making my nerves crackle with each gasp, every sigh.
The damn phone rings again, obnoxious and unending. “Ignore it,” I command with the alpha power I pretend I don’t possess.
“Well, you won’t ignore me.” A bossy female voice behind me has me spinning. I don’t know the woman with dark skin and dreads, but I’m guessing that Sadie does from the way she jumps away from me. I need to add supernatural speed to my mental tally of her newly acquired skills. The newcomer gives us both a hard stare.
“Maizie.” Sadie swipes at her mouth as though she can wipe away all traces of our kiss. My wolf doesn’t like it. Hell, I don’t like it. “Coach,” she adds quickly, and the respect in the title has my stomach twisting and my spine stiffening.
The woman wears all black and carries herself as if she’s in charge. She must be the leader of the House of Furies. I hadn’t planned on meeting her, and if I had, it wouldn’t have been like this. Clearing my throat, I go for charming and respectful, tipping my hat in her direction. “Ma’am.”
She doesn’t look amused. No, she looks ticked off. “I’m guessing you must be the wolf marshal.”
Yep, she’s definitely angry, but I can’t lie to the woman when there’s a star-shaped badge hooked on my belt. I drop the ma’am in case that might’ve been what irritated her, especially since she looks younger than me and doesn’t sound Southern. Pretending I’m testifying under cross-examination in a court, I settle on giving her the minimum amount of information. “I am.”
“What are you doing in the back hall of a bar with one of my Fury’s lipstick smeared across your face?” she asks.
“Uh.” I don’t know how to play this when she walked in on us up against the wall going at each other like we’d lose our minds if we couldn’t touch each other.
Maizie or Coach or whatever she wants to be called—just not ma’am—doesn’t allow me time to think through a smartass answer. “You came here to investigate murders, correct?”
“I did.” Damn, the woman could give my captain a run for the most patronizing boss of the year award.
“Did you find your answers somewhere down Sadie’s throat? Because if not, I would suggest you look elsewhere and fast. After you put a stop to the killings, then you can fool around all you want outside my city. Her past makes her vulnerable, and I won’t let you use your so-called shifter authority to take advantage.”
Sadie scowls. I’m guessing she doesn’t like someone suggesting she’s fragile or weak. Especially not when it’s the equivalent of her commanding officer doing it. “Coach,” she says, the pissy in her voice the same level of take no crap she used on me earlier. “It wasn’t like that. It didn’t mean anything.”
Keeping my mouth shut despite the bitter comebacks flooding my brain, I stare at the woman that my wolf insists is our mate, waiting to hear her explain away our kiss.
Her coach lifts a hand. “I don’t care what it meant. The Syndicate handed down a ruling tonight. With the ban on tourism and the shifter murders coming closer and closer to our town, they’ve given the marshal two weeks to solve his case.”
Sadie flicks her gaze to me. “Or else he leaves?” The hope in her voice doesn’t bother me, or at least that’s what I tell myself.
“Or else they shut down The Rink,” Maizie says. “No more roller derby, concerts, or events. With all that gone, soon there will be no more Houses.”
“They can’t.” Sadie sounds horrified.
“Sure they can,” the woman answers. “You should also know that the Huntresses will have first rights to the land. Since they won the last derby cup, they’ll be crowned the eternal champions. That title comes with power. They’ve proposed to turn Syn City into a destination hunting preserve.”
I interrupt. “What’s that?”
The woman glares at me. “A place where rich people pay to come into what’s left of the town so they can shoot animals trapped here either by the swamp or fencing.”
Sadie’s arguing now like she can change the Syndicate’s mind if she yells loud enough they can hear her in whatever lair they hide in. The idea of shutting down what’s been a huge entertainment town for decades to play trap-the-kill for some rich humans? It sickens me yet it’s not technically my problem so I keep my mouth shut.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I glance at the screen. Below the missed calls, there’s a text from Captain Zaleski. Solve this case in the next two weeks or else the upper brass says turn in your badge.
Well, shit. That can’t happen. If they fire me, I’ll lose more than just a job. To have any shot at proving Lowell’s innocence, I must remain with the marshals, and I need Sadie’s cooperation. Now.
I cut into their argument when Sadie stops talking long enough to take a breath. “We’ll solve the case and meet their deadline.”
Maizie studies me as though she can sense a lie. Maybe she can. “Good,” she says. “See that you do.” With that, she turns around and leaves me alone in the hallway with one furious Fury.
Pissed-off Sadie Tucker is a marvel of terrifying beauty with flushed cheeks, kiss-smeared lipstick, and blonde strands mussed from that tight ponytail. She also looks ready to use me for target practice which makes me glad that she left that big ass ax over in the hurling gallery.
Poking her finger into my chest, she whispers in an almost hiss, “Would it be too much to expect you to dial down your ego for a minute to consider what you just promised? You marshals have investigated these killings for years. Not weeks, years. More shifters die every few months, and I don’t hear you revealing any leads except wanting to rehash my family’s tragedy. While you may not have a stake in keeping the Houses going in Syn City, I sure as hell do.”
“I have plenty of stakes in this game.”
