Man, she was cute. Gorgeous, really. Her eyes were the color of dark and genuine topaz rocks, her hair black, and her bone structure royal. “He caught me off guard, sweetheart. Now I know he’s out there.” Life would be easier if he could just tell her he was immortal, but that would put her into even more danger, considering secrecy was key for his people. Creating a war between humans and everyone else would be a disaster, and since he wasn’t going to bring her into his world, he had to keep his secrets. “You can trust me.”
She stood, and this time he let her. “You were my patient, and I should be handling this.”
The woman barely came to his shoulder. Humor lightened the stress attacking him for the briefest of moments. “I was never your patient, and you know it. I attended your anger management group because of a job and not because I have anger issues.” They’d met in an anger-management group that the woman still had no idea was more full of immortal intrigue than true anger.
She frowned, looking like an angry and rather sexy librarian. “Excuse me?”
He attempted to keep the smile off his face. “Yeah. I was investigating a couple of the other members and had to be there. I don’t have anger issues, and if you recall, I didn’t really share.”
“Who were you investigating?” She tried to put her hands on her hips, but the enormous jacket prevented her movements.
“Noah and his buddy Ivar,” Raine admitted. Noah and Ivar were both immortal hybrids, and Ivar was dangerous to the point that Raine thought he might have to kill the guy. It was a good thing he didn’t, because he’d ended up friends with Noah Siosal.
Mariana gasped. “You’re a detective?”
“Um, no. It’s a long story, and I can’t go into it with you.” Ivar was one of the immortal members of an elite group called the Seven, and as a very distant cousin of Raine’s, he knew about the Maxwell family secret, which couldn’t go public. In fact, now there seemed to be no doubt that Benny had helped engineer the entire situation to not only help Ivar, but to force Raine into proximity with Mariana in the anger-management group under the guise of having Raine keep an eye on Ivar.
The question was which one of Raine’s brothers had gotten Benny involved. Raine had intended to leave Mariana alone after she’d moved from Dallas to Indiana, but Benny and Ivar had changed that—along with help from the Maxwell family.
But Raine could handle his family and keep Mariana safe at the same time. “But it’s all good now,” Raine added.
“All good?” Her voice rose. “You attended a confidential group under pretense.” Her frown only made her more beautiful. “Ivar left very early and yet you stayed. Why?”
Because of her. Because he couldn’t stand to be away from her, even though that had to be his path. He wouldn’t endanger her, and that was that. “I can’t tell you,” he murmured. Did her pretty mouth taste like peaches? Man, he had to stop thinking like that.
She socked him right in the gut. Hard.
It was the second time he’d been caught off guard that day. He had to get a grip on himself.
The rain started to lessen outside.
She rubbed her wrist. “That’s it. I’m out of here.” Without waiting for a response, she marched right to the door.
He sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he’d feared. There was no way he could leave her right now—not until taking out her stalker.
She looked over her shoulder, her gaze haughty. “The rain is letting up. Are you coming?”
He set his stance. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 3
Mariana tried to sit taller in the chair on the other side of the sheriff’s desk. Her hair had dried and frizzed around her head, mud coated her legs, and her hands would not warm up. Raine lounged next to her, irritation carving lines in his face. “Sheriff, thank you for seeing us,” she said, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. They’d had to wait a half an hour in the waiting room.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” the sheriff said, not sounding sorry at all. He rubbed a beefy hand through his buzz cut hair before hitching his pants up over his slight beer belly. “I was working on my campaign, considering I have an opponent this time.”
Yeah. An opponent Mariana had been helping to campaign. “I see,” she said quietly, letting her tone speak volumes.
Raine stretched lazily. “This is a waste of time.”
Yeah, she’d had to argue with him about making a police report of their kidnapping, but he’d finally relented. “We need a record about this to create a good case once we find this guy,” she reminded him. Again.
The sheriff looked them both over. “All right. You mentioned to the deputy at reception that you were both kidnapped and held at the old, abandoned barn at the McPearson place.”
“McPearson place?” Mariana asked.
The sheriff nodded. “Yeah. The elder McPearson died a couple of years ago and left the property to the county, but there’s not much to do with it. We do have a 4th of July party out there every year. I’ll send a deputy to look around, but it sounds like you were just dumped there.”
Mariana rubbed dirt off her pants. “How would kidnappers know about the place?”
“Everyone knows about that place. It’s even on the website for the town,” the sheriff affirmed.
Great. That didn’t help.
The sheriff looked them over. “Were you rolled in the mud?”
What a putz. The guy was in his thirties but had the belligerent tone of an angry teenager. Mariana plastered on her most professional smile. “We had to walk several miles in the rain and mud until a nice farmer picked us up in his old truck. Since it was full, we had to sit in the back, and it started to rain again. We’re lucky to be here so early, Sheriff.”
The sheriff drew out a notepad. “All right. Start from the beginning.”
Mariana cleared her throat and then told the sheriff the entire story, starting with the stalking events in Dallas and watching as he kept diligent notes. When she wound down, he looked up at her, his head tilted.
Then he focused on Raine. “Is this what you corroborate?” he asked.
Raine nodded. “Yep.”
“Interesting.” The sheriff sat back and placed his hands on his belly. “Let me get this straight. You were drugged, came to in the barn right after Miss Lopez was brought in, strongly shook off your hood, and then magically broke the cuffs binding you?”
Raine didn’t so much as twitch. “Yep.”
The sheriff swung his sharp gaze to her. “Have you thought this through?”
She blinked, heat swirling through her. “What do you mean?’
The sheriff’s smile wasn’t kind. “Are you believing this crap? You said that his cuffs were metal. How did he break them after being darted with so much sedative that he was knocked out for at least two, maybe three hours?”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her mind spinning. That was a good point. “I heard his cuffs break.” But how did he break silver cuffs? She couldn’t even get out of her zip ties, and he’d gotten her right out of them without a knife. She turned toward Raine. “Raine?”