The music snapped off, but before Agent Booth’s voice could scratch my ears off, I spoke. “What do I do now?” I took a deep breath. “I’m innocent.”
“You need to come in so we can sort this out. Will you consent to a lie detector test to prove your innocence?”
“Absolutely.” I sounded more sure than I felt. This could be a trap. Or did Agent Booth believe me? I’d prefer to do almost anything else than place myself on a platter for the SRD, but I had no choice—I needed to go through with it to get answers. At least a lie detector test would work to my advantage, if Booth spoke the truth and they actually administered one.
Agent Booth tapped away at her computer again. “Tomorrow at two o’clock in the afternoon at our Vancouver branch. The building is downtown. Will you come in voluntarily?”
“Yes.” There was something with the way she phrased the question that had my warning bells going off. My chest constricted. My wolf snarled. Danger! Danger!
“Do you need directions?”
“No.”
“Then I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Please wear something comfortable. It will be a long inter…view.” Weak save. She had started to say interrogation. “Please be prepared to list all your actions for the last two years.”
Click.
If the music had come back on, it would’ve been playing the anthem for the Twilight Zone.
Chapter Seventeen
Pacing back and forth, I tramped a path into Wick’s perfect carpet while my brain fried cell after cell trying to think of alternatives. No way around it—I’d have to ask Wick for a favor. My heart did a weird flip thing at the admission. Crap.
My plans to avoid Wick and whatever existed between us would have to be put on hold. Oh, I knew what manifested with our wolves. But blatant denial made it easier to cope. I couldn’t give in to my wolf—she’d led me wrong before. Bringing my mountain lion so close that my claws and teeth ached to elongate, I mustered the courage to confront the alpha Werewolf.
I found him in the living room, lounging on the sofa, flicking through the TV channels, pausing barely long enough to recognize the show or commercial before moving on, telling me he channel surfed more out of habit than an intent to find something. It contradicted his dominant personality. Most alphas picked something and stuck to it. Maybe he had a lot on his mind as well. I walked around to face him.
Hands on hips, I stated, “I need a favor.”
Wick’s eyebrows rose. Then a slow smile spread across his face. “Oh?”
He wasn’t going to make this easy for me. I closed my eyes, held my cat close and pushed on, trying not to notice how sexy he looked sprawled on the sofa. “I need to borrow a vehicle.”
“What for?” he asked. He didn’t know about the interview.
“None of your business.” I wanted the car to retrieve some decent clothes from my place and to go to the SRD headquarters. The last thing I wanted was to show up bedraggled and disarrayed from taking the fifty-two window sports coupe, the loser-cruiser, the city bus. Ugh. I spent more than twenty years using the bus to get around. Without fail, I ended up sitting beside a nut job every time—the drunk who’d pissed his pants or the man who hadn’t bathed in weeks. The idea of stepping onto public transportation, even one more time, set my teeth grinding.
“That attitude will get you nowhere.” Wick’s deep voice jumped my thoughts away from the local transit. He undressed me with one look. I tried not to envision what it would be like to throw my body on top of him, rip his clothes off and rub against his hard muscles. I failed.
“You can borrow a car…” Wick said. His smile grew and I waited nervously for the condition that would make me say, ‘oh shit, why did I bother asking?’ From the sparkle in his eyes, I knew it was coming.
“But it will come at a cost,” he said. Bingo.
“What do you want?” My heart took a bulldozer to my chest and the little devil on my shoulder nudged me knowingly—I knew what Wick wanted, because it mirrored my own desires.
Wick straightened up in his seat. His deep brown irises flecked with gold. “A kiss,” he said.
I groaned, knowing I was doomed the moment he named his price. “Fine,” I bit out. Leaning in, I gave him a chaste peck on the lips.
Wick laughed. “I should have specified.”
“But you didn’t. Too late now.” I held out my hand expectantly, trying to get him to hand over the keys by sheer force of will. Now would be the time to develop Jedi mind tricks.
Wick stood, unfolding to his full height. Like a thrall, my fascination and desire held me in place as he stepped closer. My wolf panted as his fingers caressed the side of my face and brushed a stray tendril of hair back.