Her Lone Wolf Page 5

  Moretti made a face. “That’s sick. How the hell could a person hunt another human being like this?”

  “The killer played with Robbins for a while, but at some point he got bored with the game,” Clayne said instead. “That was when the killer sliced through the guy’s hamstring. Robbins wouldn’t have been able to do more than crawl after that. That was when the murderer came in for the kill and tore out his throat.”

  “But what the hell did he tear it out with?” Moretti wondered.

  Clayne saw Danica give him a warning look. She should know to give him more freaking credit than that.

  “Something sharp,” he said.

  Moretti sighed. “Okay, so what does all this tell us?”

  “At this point, not much,” Clayne admitted. “We can have the coroner look at the previous victims, but I’m assuming they’ll all bear wounds that support the hunting angle. All we know for sure is that the killer is fast. And that this is a game to him. A game he’s damn good at playing. Which means one thing for sure.”

  “What’s that?” Danica asked warily.

  “That we’d better work fast. Because if the killer doesn’t already have his next victim, he soon will. The adrenaline rush from a good hunt is like nothing else, but it goes away fast. This guy will be looking to hunt again—soon.”

  * * *

  Danica couldn’t overcome the emptiness she felt as Clayne drove off in his rental car. When they’d first gotten back to the FBI offices, she’d had this crazy urge to ask him to grab something to eat, but she knew that would only make things harder for both of them.

  “Your invitation for dinner still open?” she asked Tony as the taillights of Clayne’s car disappeared around the corner. It was late and his wife probably didn’t feel like having company, but Danica didn’t want to go home to her tiny apartment just yet. She’d only end up thinking about Clayne.

  “Definitely.” Tony pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call Beth and tell her you’re coming.”

  “Tell her not go to any trouble,” Danica said.

  “I’m sure she’ll just grab a couple pies from Masullo’s or something.”

  Danica doubted that. Beth Moretti was a classically trained chef with a very successful catering company. If she knew Beth, her friend would have a four-course meal waiting for them by the time they got there. While it was guaranteed to taste amazing, Danica’d almost certainly have to go for an extra-long run afterward just to work off all the calories. It’d be worth it, though. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was going to get much sleep tonight anyway with Clayne prowling through her psyche.

  She was right. Beth had cooked a big Italian dinner. The mouthwatering aroma of garlic and oregano hit her the moment she walked through the door. Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since the soup and sandwich she’d had for lunch almost eight hours ago. She groaned softly when she thought of all those extra calories again, but she never could say no to Beth’s food.

  Her blond friend hurried over and hugged her like she hadn’t seen her in ages even though Danica ate dinner at their house at least once a week. Danica felt a little guilty for taking advantage of their hospitality, but if it weren’t for Beth, she’d never eat a home-cooked meal. That wasn’t her fault—the oven in her apartment didn’t work. Even if it did, she hated cooking for one person.

  “Go wash up,” Beth said. “The chicken parmesan is just about done.”

  Danica took her time in the guest bathroom, giving Tony time to say hello to his wife in private. While Beth might be outgoing and bubbly, Tony was reserved to the extreme. The only time Danica could remember seeing him kiss his wife in public was at their wedding.

  By the time she walked into the dining room, the parmesan was out of the oven and Beth had drizzled the salad with Danica’s favorite dressing.

  “Beth, you didn’t have to do all this,” Danica admonished as she sat down.

  Her friend waved her hand dismissively. “It was nothing. I had some leftovers from the bridal shower I catered today. If we don’t eat it, I’d have to throw it away.”

  Danica didn’t believe her, but didn’t call her bubbly friend on it. Instead, she took a bite of salad and sighed. Beth wouldn’t tell her what was in the homemade dressing, which only made it that much better.

  “I don’t know how you stay so fit, Tony,” she said as she speared a tomato. “If I ate like this every night, I’d be as big as a house.”

  Beth laughed and gave her a wink. “I make sure Tony gets plenty of exercise before we go to bed. Sometimes twice on Saturdays.”

  Her partner flushed and ducked his head, examining his salad like it was evidence at a crime scene. Danica shook her head. Reserved didn’t even begin to cover it.

  Beth handed Danica a bowl of freshly grated parmesan cheese. “So, fill me in on this new case you two are working.”

  Danica almost laughed when Tony sagged with relief. Serial murders weren’t exactly dinner conversation, but her partner obviously preferred talking about that to his sex life. He avoided the gory details of the investigation, but told his wife about everything else, including what a jerk Special Agent Carhart was. Thankfully, he left Clayne out of it.

  The pasta stuck in her throat at the thought of her ex, and she gulped some water. It was hard being around him and pretending she didn’t care. While she’d walked out on him for all the right reasons, not loving him hadn’t been one of them. It had been two extremely long years. Her feelings should have subsided. But if anything, they were even stronger. She didn’t know how the heck she was going to keep it together long enough to deal with this serial killer. But she had to. She couldn’t risk slipping up, even once.

  “Danica, honey,” Beth said. “Don’t you like the chicken parm?”

  Danica looked down and realized she’d been pushing her chicken around the plate without eating it. “Oh no, it’s great. I was just thinking about the case.”

  Across from her, Tony snorted. “More like thinking about your ex-partner.” He glanced at his wife. “DHS sent him to help out with the investigation.”

  Beth’s eyes went wide. “Clayne is here?”

  Danica could have smacked Tony. While she hadn’t told him much about Clayne—nothing really—she’d told Beth plenty, except the real reason she’d broken up with him, of course. And from the way her friend’s blue eyes were twinkling, she wasn’t going to let something this juicy go until Danica told her everything.

  “It still doesn’t make sense.” Tony helped himself to another piece of chicken. “I know what Clayne said to Carhart, but why the hell would Homeland send him to help catch a serial killer? Don’t get me wrong, he seems like a sharp guy. The way he came up with the hunting angle was damn impressive. But you have to admit, he’s kind of strange. All that time he spent checking out those blood stains? I swear he was sniffing them. He’s a freak, if you ask me.”

  “He’s not a freak,” Danica said sharply. “He just approaches situations from a completely different angle than the rest of us. And he’s damn good when he does it.”

  She hadn’t realized she’d raised her voice until she saw Tony staring at her from across the table, a forkful of chicken halfway to his mouth.

  “Tony, honey,” Beth said quietly. “I have three soufflés in the warming oven. Could you heat up the chocolate sauce that’s in the fridge?”

  Tony stared at her, then looked down at his plate. “I’m not finished eating.”

  Beth smiled. “Take your plate with you. That way you can eat while you stir.”

  He made a face. “You know I suck at that stuff.”

  “Keep the flame turned down and you’ll be fine,” she said. “Just remember to stir it continuously or it’ll scald.”

  Tony sighed but picked up his plate and stood. “Okay, babe. Three soufflés with chocolate sauce, coming up. I’m sure you two can come up with something to talk about while I’m in the kitchen.”

  Danica actually felt a little bad Tony had
been relegated to KP duty. But that was what he got for spilling his partner’s secrets.

  The moment Tony was out of earshot, Beth turned to her. “So, how does he look?”

  Danica stabbed fiercely at a piece of chicken and stuffed it in her mouth. “How does who look?”

  “Your ex, you dummy! Who did you think I was talking about?”

  Danica shoved another piece of chicken in her mouth, mumbling around it. “I knew who you were talking about.”

  “And?”

  Danica hoped Tony was having a really hard time in there with that chocolate sauce. “Unfortunately, Clayne looks good. Better than good, actually. In fact, he looks like a six-foot-six ripped Adonis crossed with that actor who played in the remake of that barbarian movie.”

  “I know who you’re talking about, and damn.” Beth frowned. “So, what’s unfortunate about that?”

  Danica put down her fork and flung herself back in the chair, arms folded. “Call me shallow, but a woman likes to think a man might have a hard time moving on when she walks out on him. But Clayne looks better now than he did when we were together. And believe me, he looked amazing back then.”

  “Honey, it’s not shallow at all. In fact, it’s completely understandable.” Beth sipped her water. “So, does he still have a thing for you like you do for him?”

  Damn, did her friend know how to get down to the brass tacks or what? “I don’t still have a thing for him.”

  Beth lifted a brow.

  “Okay, maybe I do,” Danica muttered. “But as for him, that would be a big hell no. He hates the idea of working with me, much less being in the same room with me.”

  And God, did that hurt.

  “Well, you did break up with him, you know.”

  Danica frowned at the reminder. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Because Homeland Security has some stupid policy about partners not hooking up, right? You’re not his partner anymore. If you and Clayne want to rekindle the flame, what’s stopping you?”

  The part that Beth knew nothing about, that’s what. And Danica couldn’t explain it to her. As far as she knew, Danica had broken up with Clayne because she hadn’t wanted to jeopardize her career.

  “Did you miss the part where I said Clayne looks at me like I’m something stuck to the bottom of his shoe?”

  Beth picked up a slice of garlic bread and nibbled on it. “I heard you. But if you ask me, that just means he still cares about you.”

  Danica wished. “Let’s just agree that it’s complicated and leave it at that. Suffice to say, the things keeping Clayne and me from getting back together are the same things that split us up in the first place. And it was more than some stupid policy about not getting involved with your partner.”

  “Like what?”

  “Nothing that I want to talk about. I’m going to focus on this case and catch this psycho so Clayne can go back to DC and I can go back to my life.”

  Beth nodded. “That’s very mature of you. But you’re forgetting one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That six-foot-six ripped Adonis you mentioned. You seriously think you’re going to be able to stay away from him?”

  “I have to,” was all Danica said.

  Not for her sake, but for Clayne’s.

  Chapter 3

  “Have you heard from Landon and Ivy yet?”

  Kendra looked up from her computer to see John poking his head in her office. “Yeah. Ivy called me last night. Their whole return trip was a nightmare. They got hung up in Manila for two days. They’ll be in later this morning.”

  John shook his head. “I’m starting to think they’re cursed. I’ve never heard of anyone having so many problems. If their plane isn’t breaking down, they’re getting bumped from the flight. Remind me to never travel with them.”

  Kendra laughed, but as soon as her boss left, she immediately felt guilty about lying to him. Again. But what was she going to tell him? That his two best covert agents were running their own operation behind his back, and that his senior behavioral-scientist-slash-training-officer-slash-personal-assistant was helping them do it?

  John had Ivy and Landon, along with a dozen other agents, looking into any lead that might tell them where Klaus and Renard, the doctors who’d developed the hybrid process, might be hiding. But as far as Ivy was concerned, they weren’t doing it fast enough. So she and Landon were slipping away in between legit missions to check out possible sites that John thought weren’t strong enough to waste DCO assets on. John would freak out if he knew, but Kendra couldn’t refuse to help her best friend. Especially since Ivy would do the same for her if some demented doctors were using samples of her DNA to create whacked-out hybrids. So Kendra did what she could by slipping into the agency’s intel databases and sniffing out leads on possible labs, then getting Ivy and Landon into those places without the DCO knowing about it. It was dangerous work—well, not as dangerous as actually going to those places—but it made her feel like she was contributing to the cause.

  It was also a hell of a lot more exciting than observing training exercises and analyzing data. She loved her job, but after ten years, she was tired of sitting on the sidelines. She wasn’t asking to become a full-fledged operative, but she wouldn’t mind going on a few missions now and then. Unfortunately, John wouldn’t even think about sending her into the field.

  All that being said, her job was still more satisfying than her social life. Which—thanks to her epic fail of a date with Clayne Buchanan—sucked right now.

  After years of crushing on the big, handsome wolf shifter, she’d been thrilled when he’d finally asked her out. So she’d put on her sexiest little black dress and gone to the steak house determined to seduce him.

  She should have realized they weren’t going to hit it off when Clayne gave her one-word answers to every question she asked during dinner—even the ones that required more than that. She’d told herself that wasn’t unusual—he’d never been much of a talker. Hoping he’d loosen up if they were alone, she’d invited him back to her place. She’d been sure the moment they hit the sheets, they’d be on fire.

  She’d been wrong. It hadn’t been the worst sex she’d ever had, but it definitely hadn’t been the earthshaking experience she hoped it’d be. Maybe she simply set unrealistic expectations no man could live up to. If Clayne, the man she’d been sure was The One, didn’t rock her world—in bed or out—that didn’t give her much hope for the rest of the male species. Then again, maybe she just had lousy taste in men. But that wasn’t fair. Clayne was a great guy. They simply hadn’t connected.

  Kendra sighed as she turned back to her computer. But instead of working on the report she was writing, she opened the matchmaking program she’d created—the one she’d used to pair up Ivy and Landon. She almost typed in her own name, hoping to find her perfect mate, but chickened out. What if it said there wasn’t a guy for her? She cringed as she remembered writing the default response the program was supposed to give if it couldn’t find one: Sorry, no match found. It’s hopeless. She typed in Clayne’s name instead.

  After a few minutes of sorting, the software spit out a name—Danica Beckett. Well, damn. Clearly, the program wasn’t as foolproof as Kendra thought. It had been dead-on with Ivy and Landon, but had missed by a mile with Clayne and Danica. Because, in Danica’s own words, she and Clayne had been a train wreck.

  Kendra had always suspected the two had been more than partners, but she didn’t know for sure until Danica confessed during the exit debriefing that she and Clayne had violated department policy by getting involved with each other and that it had ended badly. Kendra tried to persuade Danica to stay, explaining she could get John to team her up with someone else, but the woman had refused, saying it would be too painful for both of them.

  Which was why Kendra supposed the DCO had a nonfraternization policy. The downside to having partners get romantically involved was that you ended up losing one of them when things didn’
t work out.

  “Promise me you’ll keep an eye on Clayne,” Danica had said before she left.

  Kendra blushed. Somehow, she doubted the other woman had meant keeping an eye on Clayne’s naked body while they had sex.

  A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She looked up, smiling when she saw Ivy and Landon. Both tall and dark-haired, they were dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts. With Ivy’s exotic beauty and Landon’s rugged good looks, they made a very attractive couple.

  “Hey!” She closed the matchmaking program with a quick click. “Man, am I glad you’re back. John’s been looking for you and I was starting to run out of excuses.”

  Ivy’s dark eyes filled with alarm as she exchanged looks with her husband.

  “Don’t worry,” Kendra added. “I told him you got hung up in Manila. He doesn’t suspect anything.”

  Her friend visibly relaxed. “Thanks for covering for us. Again.”

  “I’ll go talk to him,” Landon said. “He’s probably interested to know what happened in Japan.” He glanced at his wife. “Stay and catch up with Kendra.”

  Kendra smiled as the two newlyweds went through their little I-love-you-ritual before Landon left. When they were at home or on a mission, the two could act like any other couple in love, but it was a different story at the DCO offices. They had to stay in their we’re-just-partners mode every second because if anyone suspected anything, they’d both be fired. Or at the very least, split up.

  So the feline shifter and her ex–Special Forces husband had come up with some simple coded gestures to say “I love you” without anyone else knowing it. Ivy would touch the engagement and wedding rings she wore on a necklace under her shirt. And Landon rubbed his ring finger on his left hand, as if he were rotating an invisible wedding band around and around in circles. There were some people who’d probably think it was mushy, but Kendra thought it was romantic.