Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Theo sucked in a breath. “A teleport assist?” She could barely wrap her mind around it. “Serial-killing pairs are rare.” A fact she knew because of her obsessive research about murderers and what drove them.
“Rare but they do exist.” Yakov stared at the scene beyond the windshield, the tendons in his neck standing out starkly against his skin. “My nose doesn’t lie. There are two people involved in this.” His hand fisted against the steering wheel. “I can scent the victim’s death from here.”
Theo didn’t know much about how to offer comfort, but she did what he’d done for her and reached out to take his hand. His fingers closed over hers, his body a furnace.
It did something to her that he accepted her faltering attempt at help without a pause.
“Unless Enforcement needs you to stay, we should go,” she said, hating that evil had found this man so warm and good. “Get you some clean air.” Now that she had a better idea of his sense of smell, she knew why he’d used the word “death” rather than blood. Because it wasn’t blood alone that he was picking up.
“My nostrils feel lined with malice.” With that, Yakov lifted Theo’s hand to his nose and took several long breaths.
She’d been trained all her life to pull back from physical contact—but she’d never been truly Silent. And she liked touching Yakov and being touched by him. More than that, she understood that this wasn’t about crossing boundaries. “My scent?” she asked softly when he raised his head at last.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but he looked calmer and more centered.
“Delicate and steely and lush and complex and far better than the mess outside.” Rubbing his cheek against the back of her hand before he let it go, he started up the car and told it to merge back into the flow.
He only lowered the windows once they were some distance from the site.
“I’d better call Moon and Elbek,” he said a couple of minutes later. “Give them a heads-up about our detour.”
Theo nodded, scanning his face as she did so. The lines of strain had eased, his skin no longer pulsing with heat and anger. With his hair falling across his forehead, he could have looked young and boyish—except that there was too much determination and maturity in his expression. This was a man who could be relied on, a bear who was a foundational piece of his clan.
“Got you on speaker,” he said when Elbek answered. “So act like you have some manners.”
“You’re just sore I won that award for Best Manners in fourth grade” was the growled comeback.
“It was a pity award,” Yakov said with a sniff. “We’re running late.”
“Yeah, Valya called already. Bad situation. You okay?”
“Other than wishing I could rip off the fucker’s head, yes. We’re twenty minutes out, with coffee and baked goods.”
“See you both then. Bye, Theo. No good-byes for you, you sore loser.” The last words were followed by an apparently unfriendly grunt.
Yakov was grinning when he hung up, his bad mood vanquished—at least on the surface.
Theo did not understand bears. “Your clan has an unusual way of interacting.”
“Can’t argue with that.” He drank some of the coffee he’d abandoned earlier; she’d closed up his cup so that it’d remain hot. “You’ll get used to it.”
Theo felt her skin tighten, wondered if he realized what he’d just implied.
From the way he went still for a second, she thought he did. Then he said, “I trust you, Theo,” and completely cut her legs out from under her.
People didn’t go around just declaring such things.
But he wasn’t people. He was a bear.
And she was starting to realize what that meant.
“You’re under my skin, pchelka.” Taking her hand again, he lifted it to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
She sucked in a breath, panic beating at her because of how much she wanted this. “Aren’t you afraid of how fast it’s happening?” Theo had no ability to judge, had never before been—or wanted to be—in such a situation. “I’m a fractured creature of pain and shadows.”
Another kiss to her knuckles, this one softer. “Oh, I think you’re a lot more than that.” He put her hand on his thigh.
Her heart thudded, her face hot, but she didn’t break the intimate connection.
“As for the speed of things . . . I have a confession.”
“Oh?” Theo froze.
And got a scowl. “Stop expecting a knife in the back.” An order. “Bears don’t do that shit. We’d rather punch someone full in the face than go about trying to be stealthy and sneaky. That’s for cats. Never trust a cat who offers to sell you a life insurance policy, that’s what my dedushka Viktor always says.”
Theo found herself digging her fingers into his thigh in an effort to hold on to her footing. “Do cats often sell life insurance policies?” she asked, befuddled.