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“Kaiser? You talked to Tanza,” Jaz stated flatly.
“Yes.” Adrian gave a simple admission. No explanation.
She clenched her jaws to keep from yelling like a lunatic. Her body ached and now her heart hurt. She’d had a foolish moment of thinking he’d hunted her down to find out if she’d survived escaping the tiger shifter’s compound.
No, he hunted her to take her in for Kaiser’s murder.
When she and Adrian had ended up in cages side-by-side in the tiger shifters compound, she’d felt his pain and misery. Once they were free, she should have snuck away, but she joined him again to fight the tiger trying to kill Gan and Scarlett.
It wasn’t until his eagle-shifter boss showed up and took down a Power Baron, she realized Adrian had to be involved with shifter law enforcement. She’d snuck away before that eagle shifter turned his scary gaze to her and recognized a murder suspect in his presence.
She hadn’t wanted to put Adrian in conflict.
Why? Because she’d been attracted to him, and no man had interested her in a long time.
Now he dared to look at her with friendly eyes after admitting he came here about Kaiser’s death.
Her lips thinned into a flat line. “Then you know everything since Tanza was the only eye-witness.”
“I only know her side,” Adrian replied quietly as if he thought to calm her. “I’d like to hear yours.”
Foolish, foolish man to chase this particular thread.
She wouldn’t harm him, but the shifter she hunted would. Not that Adrian or his wolf were easy to bring down, but with his current issues he’d be at risk if he lost touch with reality in a fight to the death. With a growing bounty on her head, she said the only thing she could. “Go away, Adrian. You have no idea what you’re sticking your nose into. You have enough problems of your own. Don’t take on mine.”
As if he weren’t already overpowering her personal space, he came closer, and her heart jumped. Stupid heart.
He swallowed as if his throat was tight. “I didn’t want to do this, but I owed someone a favor and it got called in.”
Of course, and Adrian’s sense of honor would get him killed, because he would not let someone down. She hadn’t been hurt by someone in a long time and couldn’t comprehend why Adrian hunting her for the killing cut her, but it did.
Even so, she didn’t want to see him torn apart by the predatory shifters she believed had her friend Daisy.
Giving him a flat stare, she ground her back teeth, sick of yet again being held responsible for things out of her control. Her mother blamed her for leaving Kaiser behind. Jaz had been forced to kill him to save Daisy. Now Adrian came here expecting her to what? Hand herself over to SCIS?
Leveling him with a look he had better take as a warning, she said, “I’m not talking to you about that or anything else.”
“Shit fire, Jaz, I’m just ... “
Her anger had a limit and he’d just pushed it. “Say it, Adrian! You’re just not sure I’m a killer.”
“I’m here to get the truth, Jaz. It’s tearing me apart. I feel like I know you. I just want to get your side in your words.”
She got in his face. “It was a fair fight! I did not murder Kaiser. He attacked me.” She stepped back and rubbed her pounding head. She sucked in air and expelled in hard pants until exhaustion knocked her fury down. Her next breath trickled out along with her anger. She lowered her gaze and quietly repeated, “I did not murder him. Don’t get involved ... please.”
Adrian had been growling quietly, but he calmed down. “Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear.”
“That’s it?” She looked up sharply, expecting more.
“To be honest, I’d like to hear all the details, but for now, I smell titanium. Will you let me see where you got shot? It’s clearly not healing and won’t until the metal is cleaned out.”
He’d stunned her into silence.
Just like that, he believed her. She hadn’t lied, but he didn’t know she could get a lie past shifters.
“Jaz?”
Jerking her mind back to the wound, she said, “It just grazed me.” Her shoulder felt as if someone had skewered it with a hot poker, but it would be worse if the bullet had not passed through. She could heal a normal bullet abrasion. Titanium turned an inconvenient injury into a dangerous medical issue if left too long.
He reached for her arm again and she leaned away.
Adrian cocked his head at her. “Are you afraid of me now?”
She scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not a doctor, are you?”
“Close. I helped the shifter medic when I was overseas. I know a thing or two, like when something looks worse than a normal gunshot wound.”
Curious, she lifted her arm to see past the ragged sleeve where blood still oozed.
His fingers wrapped her forearm in a firm, but gentle hold.
She pinned him with a threatening look and spoke through clenched teeth. “Take. Your. Hand. Off.”
Adrian chuckled. “Or what? You gonna maul me when I’m helping you? That’s literally biting the hand that heals you.”
Just like that, he shattered the tension. She rolled her eyes at him. “That’s not the saying.”
“Huh. I must have missed that day in class. Look, I can get that titanium out. I have a special cleanser for shallow wounds. I’m pretty sure your skin is on fire and the titanium is preventing you from healing that shoulder. Let me do this for you. Please.”
Every inch of that body built for a female fantasy stood there like a schoolboy waiting to see if he could carry her books.
She didn’t know what got to her more. Those dark brown eyes filled with concern or that deep voice pleading to do something nice for her.
Damn him for making her notice every little thing about him.
Suspicion forced her to demand, “Why?” She expected to hear that he wanted her lucid and at her best when he interrogated her.
She didn’t get that answer.
His gaze softened. “I’ve missed you and I can’t stand to see you hurt.”
She shouldn’t have asked why.
His words would live in her head on replay. Hearing them made her want to admit she’d missed him too. Bad thing to show any weakness. The sooner she got rid of him, the safer it would be for both Adrian and her heart.
She’d come here for one mission. Failed by killing Kaiser. Once she cleared her name, she would disappear so she couldn’t be found. Eventually, she’d return to her Kodiak clan. If she didn’t make that happen soon, she’d fall victim to the pull on her heart.
And her energy.
This small contact had her energy spinning around, ready to play with Adrian’s. What the hell was going on with their bodies?
Could he feel the same pull and frenetic energy?
Was he making this happen?
Growling irritably to hide her emotions, Jaz said, “Okay, fix it.”
Fighting a smile, he tugged her gently to go with him.
“I’ve got the SUV parked over there,” he explained.
He’d grown a beard since she’d last seen him. Clean shaven or not, Adrian had a rugged attractiveness. Put him in a room full of the top male models and a woman’s gaze would go to Adrian first every time. He had that kind of presence.
When he reached his vehicle, he opened the passenger door and lifted her up on the seat before she had a chance to step up.
She gave a grumbling sigh for that.
His lips tilted with a smile.
Digging a packet from a pocket on the door panel, he used his teeth to rip it open. Then he handed the package to her and ordered, “Hold this.”
She doubled down on her scowl but snatched the packet away. She held it open. He pulled out a shiny yellow cloth. It unfolded to ten inches square and had a sharp chemical smell.
Wadding up the cloth, he started carefully moving her sleeve up to reach the wound.
Without saying a word, she untied her shirt and let that side fall free.
“Hell, Jaz.” Adrian pulled back and looked away. “Give a man notice before you do that.”
She snorted. “I’m a shifter. We get naked, or have you forgotten?”
Sweat beaded on his forehead while he kept his eyes diverted from her exposed breast. He muttered, “You naked is different.”
Oh, she wanted to ask why, but feared hearing more words she wouldn’t be able to pry out of her heart. She’d been starved for comfort so long, since a child, in fact. During the few times she’d opened up to a man for a night of comfort, she’d been disappointed.
Not that she’d intended to mate those men, but she had wanted more than sex, which made no sense. Even her logical Tarski had pointed that out more than once.
The cloth turned orange every time it picked up titanium. She’d heard of a cleanser developed from dioxygen that broke down titanium.
With each wipe, the skin on her shoulder stopped throbbing.
He handled her with so much care. Did he think she was going to break?
Fighting the urge to lean into Adrian, Jaz tried to hurry him along. “You don’t have to be careful with my boo-boo. I can take pain.”
He never took his attention off his ministrations when he muttered, “I can’t take you in pain.”
His words hit her in the chest again.
But why would he even care if he hunted her for law enforcement?
With the titanium out, her arm stopped throbbing and the pain lowered a level to uncomfortable. Her natural healing would take over to heal her leg by midnight. They both needed their energy to rebuild. She wouldn’t push Tarski to shift again to heal faster. She would only do that if they needed the power this minute to survive, but she was under no threat from Adrian.
Not a physical threat, but she couldn’t speak for her hormones humming at his touch. Hell, her energy still buzzed and now it seemed to rush to meet his fingers.
He paused. His eyes said he’d felt that, too.
She eased her arm from his fingers and pulled her top back into place. “Thanks.” Her energy bounced around like aggravated bees at the spot where he’d touched her.
She’d have to talk to Tarski about this.
Adrian still had a perplexed look on his face.
Jaz didn’t want him to ask about that energy meet-up. She wanted him to leave before he got tangled up in her mess and ended up dead. “You need to leave, Adrian. If you’re not here in an official capacity, then find another way to pay back your friend.” She added, “Or is this official law enforcement business?”
“No.”
Did that mean he knew Tanza personally?
How could he know her?
She’d never heard Adrian’s name mentioned during her time with Kaiser’s pack. She made it simple for him. “I’m not guilty of murder, but neither am I going to be interrogated.”
He hooked a hand on the open door. “But you’re here because of something tied to Kaiser’s death, right?”
If she answered that honestly, she’d never get him out of here. She drew a little on her power to convince him of her answer. “No.”
“Lie.”
Her jaw dropped. He heard that lie? She’d never had a shifter catch her. Never. Not even her Kodiak bear clan.
“Is your nose broken?” he asked.
Her nose had to be swollen with a bruise across her face by now. Why did she always look like a war refugee every time they met?
“It’s not bad,” she said, brushing him off even though her nose hurt like hell. That damn jackal had smashed Tarski’s snout with his boot.
“Where do you live? I’ll give you a ride.”
She’d been standing there fighting exhaustion, but his words brought her wide awake.
Did he really think she’d leave with him willingly?
She jumped out quickly, thinking her good leg could handle the landing, but her bad leg folded.
He caught her under her arms, before she hit the ground.
She gripped his shirt. “Don’t, Adrian.”
“Don’t what? Did you think I’d stand by and let you fall?” He clamped his hands at her waist and lifted her back inside the truck and closed the door.
Why should she trust him when she had so many reasons not to?
Because he could have brought a team and arrested her tonight. He’d come alone and he’d cleaned her wound. Her logical wolf would be telling her to find out exactly what Adrian wanted from her.
By the time he left, she’d know if he were friend or foe.
When he climbed in and started the engine, she warned, “If you don’t go where I say, I’ll shift inside here then jump out.”
What did he do?
Laughed, then said, “I want to deal with that dead jackal on the way out. Try to stay put this time Evil Knievel.”
Unbelievable.
