She's No Faerie Princess (19 page)

Fiona paused and searched his expression. "True, but Ifigured you'd forgotten that one."

Walker sighed. "You're not making this apology thingeasy for me, Princess."

"As far as I can tell, you haven't done it yet."

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that," he quipped, but when he looked at her, his golden eyes were warm and sincere and his expression was open and serious. "I'm sorry I acted like a wolf with a sore paw earlier," he said quietly. "And I'm sorry I was a jerk when we met. It's just… you scared me, Princess, barreling into my life with a demon on your tail like that. And you keep scaring me

every time you use that courage of yours to put yourself at risk, whether it's at the hands of a demon, or your uncle, or even a stubbed toe."

She felt her heart flutter, but that didn't mean she wasgoing to let him off the hook so easily. "I don't recalldeliberately putting myself in any danger, Tobias. Thedemon came after me, not the other way around. And I'mperfectly capable of handling my uncle. Probably morecapable than you."

"I know that." Walker made a face. "But knowing it doesn't make me happy about it. I'm Lupine, Princess. That means I can get a little protective sometimes. Not because I don't think you can take care of yourself, but because I want to do it for you."

"I never asked you to protect me."

He snorted a laugh. "Neither did my sister, but that didn'tstop me from scaring off a couple of her dates when shewas a teenager."

"Oh, I'm sure you were just charming." Fiona rolled her eyes and gave him a suitably dirty look, but she could feel her muscles relaxing. It might not be the prettiest apology she'd ever received, but it would do. For now.

"I thought so."

She looked up into his grinning face and laughed.

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

"That depends. Do you still think I was trying to suck out

your soul in front of my uncle's apartment building?"

This time Walker rolled his eyes. "Of course not. That'sthe reason I was apologizing."

"Well, in that case…" Fiona freed one hand from his shoulder, bringing her fingers into view for them both and watching as sparks danced from tip to tip. "My battery seems to be holding a decent charge for the moment. I could take care of those jeans for you. But you'd have to promise not to yell at me about it afterward."

He raised an eyebrow and met her challenging gaze.

"Me? Yell? Surely you jest."

Fiona snorted. "Oh, sure. What could I possibly havebeen thinking? You're so even tempered and restrained."

He rocked his hips against her, his grin wicked. "Well,maybe not restrained."

"Watch it. I'm armed, buddy. I can always forget the jeans

and turn you into a toad."

"I don't know. That sounds pretty kinky. You really into

the amphibian thing?"

It was the wriggling eyebrows that had her laughing andsmacking him lightly on the shoulder. "Jerk."

He ducked and chuckled, "Hey, sounds to me like I'm thevanilla one in this relationship. I wouldn't go castingstones if I were you. One might come back and nick yousomewhere tender." He pinched a fingerful of her waist,then soothed the sting with a tickle.

Fiona giggled and squirmed. "Okay, fleabag! You askedfor it."

Pulling her arms into her sides to protect her mostvulnerable spots, she tucked her chin into her chest andflicked her fingers down the length of their joined bodies.

Walker felt a flash of warmth and a tingle passing overhis skin. The room around him seemed to spin and meltand all at once the hard wooden floor gave in beneathhim. Caught off guard, he toppled forward onto theprincess, twisting to keep his weight from crushing herinto the… mattress.

Lifting his head, he looked around his bedroom and downthe length of his bare legs. Beside him, the princesssettled herself back against the pillows and folded herhands over her belly, her expression smug and satisfied. Walker turned to look at her and saw her face, but healso smelled the subtle hint of nervous tension under herconfident façade.

"Huh," he said, leaning back beside her and draping one arm across her hips. "That's kinda handy, but have you ever considered a short trip to Tahiti?"

Her eyes searched his face for a second; then thetension eased out of her and her smile curved wickedly. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you haven't earned Tahiti yet."

Growling, he rolled back on top of her. "So I have to earnmy rewards, do I?"

"Absolutely." She looped her arms around his neck and

pulled him closer to her. "And I'm a hard taskmaster."

He felt his eyes flare and leaned down to take her mouth.

"Not half as hard as I am."

CHAPTER 15

Fiona admitted that the cat-in-the-cream-pitcher smile onher face might look a bit out of place in a hospitalmorgue, but she couldn't help it. The expression hadbloomed there the night Walker finally took her to bed—or floor—and she hadn't managed to shake it in the thirty-six hours since. Maybe because she had spent most ofthem in the exact same position that started the smiling. She blamed everything on the werewolf, and if she hadbeen her aunt, she'd probably have ended up knightinghim for it.

She didn't know quite what had worked thetransformation from grouchy ball of furry frustration toattentive and energetic lover, but she didn't plan tolaunch a protest. Not when she was so clearly benefitingfrom the change.

The past day and a half in Manhattan had been perfect,exactly the sort of vacation she needed. She spent nearlyall of that time under, over, or in front of but always verymuch around Tobias Walker. To be honest, it amazed herthat she could still walk, and she had to give thanks forthat to the rumored and very clearly limber nymph wholurked in her family tree.

Once Fiona's reluctant werewolf got over his objectionsto touching her, he made up for lost time with flatteringgusto. She had the marks to prove it—faint fingertipbruises on her hips where he'd held her against him,scattered constellations of hickeys and love bites from

shoulders to toes, and the dark, shiver-inducing bruise where his teeth had sunk into the curve where her neck met her shoulder the first time he'd poured into her from behind.

Her grin widened, turned soft and misty, just thinkingabout it.

Not a single one of those proverbial battle scars hurt. Shehadn't even noticed them being made. Her skin hadalways bruised easily, often from bumping into things solightly she couldn't remember it later, and she knew verywell that Walker would be aghast to think he'd actuallyhurt her. Most of the marks stayed hidden under herclothes, and the others she concealed with a smallglamour because Walker had complained they made itlook like she'd tangled with some sort of animal, whichshe very happily had. The only one he hadn't fussed overwas the one on her neck, but her long hair covered thatone well enough. After their time together, she was willingto cover the marks up for his sake, but when they wenthome, she planned to look at them all again and relivehow each one had happened. Or maybe she'd forgetreliving anything and just convince him to give her awhole new set.

The mist in her grin faded, turning bright and wickedinstead. Walker glanced over at her, his eyebrow quirkingat her expression, but she just blew him a kiss andfocused her attention back on the man who had justjoined them in the cool, sterile room. The sooner theyheard the news they'd been called out to hear, the soonerthey could go home and rip each other's clothes off.

Was it wrong to be entertaining lustful thoughts while

surrounded by surgical instruments with refrigerated

corpses resting in the next room?

"Thanks for coming all the way down here," the man was saying as he shook Walker's hand. "The alpha told me this was a priority situation and that you were in charge, so I tried to get through as fast as possible. But I didn't want to miss anything, either."

Walker nodded. "We appreciate you taking the time, Dr.

Forester. With your schedule, it can't be easy."

Adam grinned. No more than thirty at the outside, hestood about half a head shorter than Walker and had thelean, wiry build of a runner. Or maybe just of someonewho worked like a dog and barely had time to eat. Eitherway, his green scrubs bagged on him, and his batteredrunning shoes looked as if they'd already covered a fewmillion miles. His brown hair curled in chaotic disorderand badly needed cutting. It kept flopping down in front ofa pair of appealing hazel-green eyes, and judging by itsrumpled appearance, Fiona figured he made combing itback with his fingers something of a habit. He really wasan adorable kid, and she couldn't resist returning his grin.

"Aw, Sheesh. Call me Adam. Please," he laughed. "You've known me since I was still cutting my teeth on other people's kills, and I've looked up to you and the alpha almost as long. Besides, the 'M.D.' after my name is so new it still squeaks when I walk too fast."

Fiona laughed. "Oh, I thought that was just your sneakerson the linoleum." She extended her hand. "But it's stillnice to meet you."

Adam chuckled and made a move to shake her hand, but

Walker stepped swiftly to the side, almost accidentallynudging Fiona's arm to the side. Surprised, she glancedup at the werewolf beside her, but his eyes were fixed on Adam, their formerly friendly expression now turned coldand possessive and menacing. Walker nudged heranother step to the side, his hand reaching up andbrushing her hair back to rest with clear possession onher shoulder. He didn't say anything, but it looked like hedidn't have to. Adam froze, glanced at Walker's hand,and shoved his own into his pockets. He also took ahealthy step backward.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks. Um, why don't you step this way and take a look at what I found?" He turned on his heel and hurried over to one of the two autopsy tables in the center of the room.

A cloth had been draped over a still figure, and Adampulled it aside as they approached. The girl from the parklay sandwiched between the cold steel of the table andthe stark blue-white cotton of the thin sheet. The coveringconcealed the worst wound, the one that had severed herall the way through the middle, and her body had beencleaned of the blood and debris they had seen the othernight. Two new pink lines ran inward from each of hershoulders, but compared to the demon wounds, the Yincision looked neat and clinical and bore precise lines ofsuturing.

Fiona felt a stirring of sympathy for the human. Shecouldn't have been much more than twenty, and Fionadoubted she could have done anything to deserve herfate. Somewhere, someone was already missing her andwould continue to miss her for years to come.

Adam put the width of the table between himself and Walker and took a few more steps over to the wall behindhim to flip the switch on a light board. A series of X-rayfilms already hung in a neat row across it.

He cleared his throat. "Now, ah, Annie said she, ah… shealready gave you a preliminary summary, so you knowthat the body is intact with the exception of the heart." Hegestured to one of the films and struggled visibly to focuson something other than Fiona and Walker and thebanked but warning flare in the beta Lupine's eyes. "The X-rays confirmed that it was all there and we weighedand measured everything during the examination, so Ican confirm everything else was normal. She was ahealthy girl until she met the demon. A broken ulnasuffered sometime in the past, probably when she wasjust a kid, but it healed well with no surgicalinterventions."

Fiona didn't bother to try to make out the hair-thin line thedoctor pointed out on the X-ray. She just let him find hisrhythm and tell them what he knew. And she made a noteto herself to smack Walker upside the head for hisridiculous spoiled-two-year-old impression later. Thismight be the first time she'd ever had an affair with a Lupine, but she knew well enough not to undermine hispower in front of a lower-ranking pack member. She'd dothat in private where she could really rip him a new one.

"The films don't show us any perimortem fractures, so whatever kind of straggle she put up, it didn't lead to any broken bones, and the thing that killed her didn't get its kicks from snapping them like toothpicks. I'm not sure that's much comfort, but I suppose it's something." Adam flipped off the light board and moved back to the table,

carefully pulling back the sheet to expose the girl's battered body. "She does have some signs that she fought back. There are defensive wounds on the palms and sides of her hands. The ones on the palms generally come from the attempt to ward off blows." He held his hands up, palms out, to demonstrate. "And the ones on the sides look like they came from banging against something hard and rough. Think the damsel in distress pounding uselessly away at Godzilla's thick hide."

Fiona leaned closer and saw the cuts as well as somebruising on the outer edge of the girl's hand.

Adam picked up the other and pulled her fingers backgently. "We scraped some debris from under herfingernails as well. In a normal murder case, that wouldbe sent to the police lab and they'd analyze it for DNA,but, well, I don't think that will be helpful in this case."

"No. Not really." Walker's voice sounded nearly as cold as the temperature in the room, but now his grim expression was for the dead girl.

"You already know it was a demon attack from what Annie and Fi—er… from what the princess told you," Adam continued. "And the removal of the heart makes that pretty obvious. It wasn't done neatly, but it was efficient. The thing just reached up into the chest cavity and gave a good tear. Her aorta looked like it had been snapped like a rubber band. Other than that, the rest of the wounds are pretty standard slashes and gouges. They aren't that dissimilar to what we'd expect to find in any case of a predatory attack by a large, powerful animal with really sharp claws."