Sebastian Aristide (Bayou Heat)(4)
“Now, this is her at the police station.”
Sebastian was confused. Reny had shown him the apartment, but not the actual crime scene, and the pictures of the victim didn’t reveal the wounds from her supposed attack.
“I think it will save us time if you just tell me what I should be looking for.”
Reny tapped the photo. “This is a Coach bag. Retail it costs five hundred dollars,” she said. “Her jacket is Gucci.” Her finger moved to point at the woman’s diamond earrings. “And those earrings are at least a carat.”
“They could be knockoffs.”
“Are you kidding?” She sent him a disbelieving glance. “I’m from New York.”
“And?”
“I could spot a fake at a hundred paces.”
He hid a smile. Sassy. He liked it.
“I also recognize an original when I see it,” he murmured, allowing his gaze to sweep over her exquisite face before returning his attention to the photo. “Maybe she has a sugar daddy.”
She cleared her throat, her face flushed with an excitement she was desperately trying to hide.
“If she does, he has to be new,” she said. “She pawned her laptop last week to pay her share of the rent.”
Sassy and smart.
His cat preened with pleasure.
“Good catch.” He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I think I should speak with this Koni.”
She shivered before she was abruptly yanking from his touch, her chin tilting to a militant angle.
“We.”
“We.” His cat purred. “I like the sound of that.”
She rolled her eyes, reaching for her purse on the table. “My car’s in the lot.”
He followed a step behind her as she headed for the door, enjoying the view of her tight little ass.
Soon he intended to be cupping that fine booty in his hands as she rode him to paradise.
Fully erect, he ignored the curious glances as they headed toward the back of the building. So far as he knew, only Reny and the top brass realized that he was a Pantera, but humans instinctively reacted to his power.
Men hurried to step out of his path, while females did their best to capture his attention.
His gaze never strayed from Reny’s delectable backside. “What if I want to drive?”
Reny stepped into the elevator, waiting for the doors to close before shooting him a smoldering glare.
“I don’t let any man take me for a ride.”
With a fluid speed, he had her backed against the paneled wall of the elevator, his hands bracketing her shoulders as he leaned down to stroke his lips down the vulnerable curve of her throat.
“Oh, sugar, don’t ever challenge a Pantera,” he husked, drowning in her spicy scent. “We bite.”
She shivered, but it wasn’t fear sending tremors through her body.
Still, she held herself rigid, refusing to acknowledge the heat that simmered in her moss green eyes.
“Are you trying to frighten me?” she rasped.
He nipped the skin above her racing pulse. It was nothing more than the smallest taste, but the essence of her exploded on his tongue.
A growl rumbled in his chest.
“Just giving you fair warning.”
He could sense the storm of emotions that battled inside her.
Fear. Confusion. And a hunger so fierce it dampened her skin in a fine layer of sweat.
But with a willpower he could only admire, she kept her brittle composure intact.
“Then let me return the favor. I always carry a Taser in my purse,” she warned, lifting her hands to press them against his chest. “Move back.”
Sebastian instantly dropped his arms and stepped away. He would push, but he would never force.
It was only a matter of time before Reny gave herself freely.
“Aggressive.” He flashed his most charming smile. “I like it.”
She muttered a curse beneath her breath. “Do you ever stop?”
“No.” Not when it came to this female.
Sebastian pulled his cellphone from his pocket as they left the building and slid into the standard midsize cop car. He not only wanted to update Raphael on Reny’s suspicions, but he intended to discover just what sort of game the female FBI agent was playing.
With his various texts at last sent, he slid the phone back into his pocket and studied the pure line of Reny’s profile, his cat restlessly stirring beneath his skin. His animal didn’t understand being so close to this delectable female and not being allowed to touch. It was the increasingly dismal homes that lined the narrow street that at last jerked him out of his brooding thoughts. They weren’t far from their destination.
“Can you park a few blocks from the apartment building?”
She sent him a startled glance. “Why?”
“I want to see if I can catch any scent of Pantera in the area.”
Without hesitation, Reny slowed the car, pulling into a loading zone next to the curb. Sebastian hid a satisfied smile. She instinctively trusted him.
Even when she wanted to kick him in the nuts.
He had a premonition that very soon he was going to need that faith.
“I’ll drop you off here and park around the corner.” She nodded toward the north. “The apartment building is at the end of the next block. I’ll wait in the lobby.”
He stepped out of the car, sending her a teasing grin. “There won’t be any waiting.”
“Arrogant ass,” she muttered as he jogged away.
“I can hear you, sugar,” he called.
“I know, dumpling,” she called back.
He chuckled, anticipation sizzling through his body.
Oh, Special Agent Reny Smith, you are playing with fire…
Shakpi had to admit there were unexpected benefits to possessing a human form.
She’d discovered a passion for the spicy gumbo that she ordered from a local restaurant, as well as an addiction to the sugar-coated beignets that she demanded every morning.
There was also the unexpected pleasure that could be found between the talented lips of her devoted disciple.
Seated in the library of the large mansion that was built along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, she gave a low groan as she climaxed into the female’s mouth. Who knew a cock could be the source of such pleasure?
There was the sound of the door being pushed open, then a small gasp as a woman with silver hair pulled into a bun and wearing a loose cotton dress stepped into the room.
“Oh.” The face leathered by years in the hot Louisiana sun twisted into an expression of disgust. “Forgive me.”
“Enter,” Shakpi snapped, motioning away the disciple kneeling between her legs so she could rise to her feet and pull up her pants. She felt no embarrassment, only irritation that she’d been kept waiting. “You’re late.”
With the clanking from the dozens of bracelets that lined the voodoo priestess’s scrawny arms, she moved across the wooden floor.
“I was forced to walk from the highway.”
Shakpi narrowed her gaze. It had been an easy task to find a suitable lair and kill the humans who were currently occupying it, but she’d discovered that while there were a handful of benefits to her physical body, there were far more disadvantages.
She was weak, vulnerable to injury and she had an acute reaction to the stench of human technology.
The sooner she could find the means to release her spirit from the bonds of the mortal form, the sooner she could rule the world.
“I dislike the smell of fumes,” she snapped, her gaze flicking dismissively over Lady Cerise. The woman possessed an arrogance that Shakpi was eager to shatter. “I also dislike being kept waiting. Don’t allow it to happen again.”
“I told you—”
The chandelier above them swayed, a crack forming in the cove ceiling. “You have been a dedicated disciple, Cerise.” Shakpi’s male voice held a quiet, deadly warning that couldn’t be mistaken. “It would be a shame to have to destroy you now.”
Cerise fell to her knees, her head bowed. “I am your servant.”
“Hmm.” Shakpi strolled forward, savoring the spiky fear that filled the air. “So you say.”
“I have proven my loyalty,” the priestess insisted, her head still lowered. “I have gathered disciples to spread your infection through the Wildlands. I have devoted years to searching for the Shaman to help open your pathway—”
“And yet, I still wait for the war you promised.”
“The opening battle has begun.”
Shakpi made a sound of disgust. She’d read the reports of the escalating violent attacks spreading across the South, and the rumors that had started to spread about the rabid puma shifters who were crawling out of the swamps to hunt humans. But she wanted instant results.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited to see the Pantera destroyed?”
“Which is why we must not risk your ultimate success by pressing too hard, too fast,” Cerise urged, her body tense. “The humans are becoming increasingly fearful. Once they believe their local officials can’t protect them it will be a simple matter to push them into violence.”
“Don’t fail me, Cerise.” Shakpi reached down to grab the female by the neck, lifting her off her feet and squeezing hard enough to make her moan with pain. “You won’t like what I do to disciples who prove themselves to be unworthy.”
Reny took her time strolling along the street, despite the fact that dusk was cloaking the buildings in shadows.