Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

TANNER

M orning came, and he damned himself for not having closed the shades sometime during the night, but she had looked so beautiful bathed in the iridescent moonlight. She was exhausted, and not just from the numerous times he had made love to her—and he knew that's what it was: making love, not fucking. As a mortal—even though she was a dragon-shifter—passing through the In-Between could be exhausting in and of itself. It hadn't helped that they'd already been exhausted from chasing the arsonist.

He eased from their bed and walked to the windows, pulling the shades down. He needed to talk to the chief. Melisandre had made some pretty damning accusations, but as he considered her evidence, he had to admit that the chief made a good suspect. His truck was back at her place and her SUV was down by the municipal building, neither of which was close to the chief's office.

Leaving Melisandre a note by the bed, he jogged down the steps into Nicole's combination warehouse and office space.

"I'm a little surprised to see you here," she said. "Your truck wasn't outside and in fact I heard from Rick it was over at the diner—in the alley by the outside stairs."

Tanner groaned. "Don't you people have anything better to do than gossip?"

"Are you kidding? The banished brother of the hellhound leader and the drakaina who left the Denali clan? I can tell you rumor has neither Cooper nor your brother, Hayden, any too pleased with you."

"And is it all my fault?"

Nicole grinned. "But of course, although knowing Melisandre, she won't see it that way. How did you end up here and where is she?"

"She's upstairs sleeping. She's exhausted…"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "You men and your fated mates; once you find her, it's like you've never had sex before."

"We are obnoxious, aren't we? But before that, we had to slip into the In-Between and a reaper almost had her. The In-Between is not for the faint of heart and takes its toll on you physically. If and when you hear her, could you see that she eats breakfast?"

"Why don't you do that?"

"Because I need to go speak to the chief."

"You aren't going to say anything more, are you?"

"I can't, Nic."

"I'd say I understand, but I don't. What I do understand is that you are a good and honorable person, and if you're going to keep that girl's clan from scooping her back up, you'd better put a ring on it."

He grinned. "That's my second errand. Chief first; ring second, and only because the jeweler isn't open until later."

"Go on, Tanner. I'll make sure Melisandre is okay. I'll take her back to her place if she likes."

"Thanks, Nic. I hate leaving her, but…"

"You couldn't keep your hands to yourself," she teased.

"Well, she is my fated mate. Ask Asher to explain it to you."

She tossed him a set of keys. "Take my SUV. Melisandre and I can ferry the vehicles to where they need to be."

He left with Nicole's laughter echoing in his ears. He headed to the chief's office. Normally he would have called and asked to see him, but in this instance, Tanner believed surprise was on his side. He needed to share just enough that the chief could see where the evidence was leading them. But who the hell was the phoenix-shifter, and who did he work for?

He parked Nicole's SUV outside the chief's office and headed inside.

"Good morning, Tanner," said the chief's administrative aide—an officious little prick named Stuart. "I don't see you on his schedule. Was he expecting you?"

"No, but it's important that I see him, Stuart…" Normally, Tanner called him Stu just to piss him off, but this morning he needed Stuart's cooperation. "In fact, it's vital."

"I'm not sure he can fit you in," said Stuart, looking at the chief's schedule.

"He doesn't have a choice," said Tanner, pushing by him, shaking his head at the god-awful aftershave the man liberally doused himself with. Stuart wasn't quick enough to recover and get in front of him, so Tanner just pushed open the door.

"Tanner?" said the chief from behind his desk.

"My apologies for just bursting in on you, but as I told Stu, I need to see you."

Before Stuart could object, the chief raised his hand. "It's fine, Stuart. Just let the mayor know I might be a few minutes late."

"Yes, sir," said Stuart as he backed out of the office, closing the door behind him.

"Now, what was it that was so important?"

"Budget cuts and arson fires…"

"So, Melisandre has determined they were deliberately set? I know she thought so."

"Not only has she conclusively proved it was arson, she's found a pattern… and the pattern goes back more than two years."

"Do tell," the chief said, sitting back and tenting his fingers in front of his mouth.

Tanner was hard pressed to tell what the chief was thinking or feeling. "Chief, the pattern suggests that every time the mayor and the city council try to impose budget or staffing cuts, we have a rash of fires in the areas that would be most severely impacted."

The chief sat forward. "Why would the mayor or someone on the city council do that?"

"They wouldn't." Tanner let that sink in. "It would be contrary to what they're trying to do."

"Does Melisandre think it's someone within the department?"

"Not just in the department, and not just Melisandre. She and I were putting together the evidence and staking out city hall last night. Chief, the evidence points at you."

The chief shoved his chair back, standing up and glaring at Tanner. "Are you two accusing me of these crimes?"

"No, chief. That's why I'm here talking to you. It has to be someone in the department and someone with access to budget and cut-back proposals. That's a fairly small list, and you fit all the markers and have the most to lose."

"I didn't do this, Tanner. I wouldn't."

"I believe you, Chief, and I think so does Melisandre, but when you look just at the evidence, it does point at you."

"Thanks for the heads up, Tanner. How can I help?"

"A list of who might have had access to those files would be of tremendous help."

"I'll have Stuart…"

"I think it would be best if you send it yourself, directly to Melisandre."

The chief nodded. "I'll do that before I head over to city hall. I'm also going to recuse myself from anything having to do with the investigation and will probably put myself on administrative leave."

"I hate that you're having to go through this. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be washing dishes at the Black Bear Diner."

The chief shook his head and extended his hand to Tanner. "I don't believe that. Someone in either this department, some law enforcement group, or even the mayor herself would have seen your potential. No, Tanner, you were always destined for a life in public service."

There was a time when those words would have meant everything to him. Now what he wanted was for Melisandre to understand she was destined for her life to be spent with him. If that could be here in Kodiak, working alongside each other to keep people safe? Great. If not, and he had to choose between firefighting and her? Melisandre would win—every single time, regardless of the other choice.

MELISANDRE

Melisandre woke to the sun filtering through partially drawn blinds and wondered for a moment where she might be. She was surprised that she wasn't concerned. She knew she wasn't at her place, and then it all came flooding back: the stakeout, the chase, the near miss in catching the guy, the escape into and out of the In-Between, and the amazing sex with Tanner.

Melisandre rolled to her back, stretching her body and her arms overhead. Everything in her crackled and moved sinuously in his bed as snatches of memory and images flashed through her brain. God, he'd been insatiable, but then again, so had she. She remembered calling his name and raking his back as she'd writhed beneath him, reveling in the way he made her feel.

And now lying here alone, she didn't have to wonder if it had been a dream or if it was over. He'd left her a note by the side of the bed telling her to stay as long as she liked and that he was going to talk to the chief. She should have been concerned about that, but she wasn't. After all, the chief had picked Tanner up, for all intents and purposes off the street, and helped turn him into the firefighter he was. True, the chief had also turned him into the department's ‘golden boy,' but Tanner owed the chief and that meant something to Tanner, and that wasn't a bad thing.

Getting out of bed, she collected her clothes and took a quick shower before pulling her hair back, putting her clothes on, and heading out the door. Her hand was just reaching for the doorknob when there was a knock.

"Melisandre? It's Nicole. I thought I heard you moving around."

Melisandre pulled open the door. "Good morning. Oh yum, what did you bring me?"

"Tanner wanted to make sure you had breakfast, and I just wanted to check in on you. We're fond of you both."

"We?"

"Asher and I," said Nicole placing the tray on Tanner's kitchen island, which also served as a table.

"That's a relief. I was hoping it wasn't you and your whole crew."

Nicole laughed. "Not yet, but trust me, Kodiak is a small town. By day's end everyone and their brother will be thinking that perhaps that whole engagement thing isn't fake after all. It isn't, is it?"

"I kind of thought it was when I said it. Then I realized I was warming up to the idea." Melisandre shook her head. "I suppose I can blame it all on the whole fated mate thing."

"I wouldn't discount that."

"I'm a dragon; he's a hellhound."

"And I was human. I thought all those sexy paranormal romances I was reading about people who could shift from human to animal and back again were pure fiction, and then I found out I was wrong. I kept trying to tell myself what I felt for Asher wasn't real, but deep inside I knew it was. Now I just blame it all on him for turning me without my consent."

"You were dying."

"Not the point—at least, that's what I tell him."

"You're incorrigible," laughed Melisandre.

"I am. Luckily for me, Asher likes it that way." She put her hand on Melisandre's. "I like you, and I like Tanner. If this isn't real for you, you need to tell him that, and sooner rather than later."

"What if I don't know?"

Nicole patted her hand. "Then you'll need to figure it out. If and when you want to head back to your place or anywhere else, let me know. I can ferry you to either your SUV or his truck. I told him I'd get you sorted."

"Thanks, Nicole." Melisandre ate her breakfast, washed the dishes, changed the sheets on Tanner's bed, and then headed downstairs.

"Ready?" asked Nicole, who looked incredibly busy.

"Yes. I called Lyft. I know you're busy. I've got a spare set of keys to my SUV. When Tanner gets time, we'll figure out how to get the vehicles sorted." Her cell phone buzzed. "Here they are. Thanks for everything."

Never one to trust strangers, Melisandre had the Lyft driver drop her a few blocks from her vehicle. The first thing she saw as she approached was a long scratch, running from the taillight to the headlight. As she traced the mark, she discovered a note had been left on her windshield, anchored by the wiper blade:

I know who and what you are.

You and Tanner North both.

The two of you will leave and

never trouble me again.

Leave now.

Melisandre sniffed the note. "I know what you are, too," she muttered under her breath as she unlocked the door and slipped into the driver's side, started her SUV, and headed for home.

She waved at Rick as she sprinted into the diner and headed up the stairs to her apartment. Sitting down at her laptop, she was surprised to see the chief, at Tanner's request, had sent her a list of people with the city's fire department who had clearance to the budgeting information who both she and Tanner now believed were behind the arsonist.

Sniffing the note from her windshield a second time only confirmed what she'd thought the first time. Whoever had sent the note was a shifter. She couldn't tell what kind of shifter, but they were a shifter. She spent enough time with the chief to know he wasn't their arsonist—he wasn't a shifter. That wouldn't exonerate him with others, though, as shifters didn't reveal their secret to anyone outside the shifter society.

One-by-one, Melisandre examined all of the fire department's upper management personnel files. If she and Tanner were right, and she was certain they were, the arsonist had to have access to the kind of high-level confidential information that budget and staffing cuts would be. She just couldn't see anything that suggested any of the department's upper-level people might be their suspect.

She called Tanner on her cell.

"Sorry I had to leave you this morning. I needed to speak to the chief by myself."

"I suppose I understand that, but I do have a question for you. Has anyone over at headquarters made you think you weren't the only shifter?"

"Whoa. No. I know a couple of guys on Asher's team are, but no. The chief often brings me in on stuff, and no one ever made me suspect anything like that. Why?"

"When I went to pick up my SUV this morning, our friendly arsonist had left me a threatening note…"

"What?" growled Tanner.

"Down boy. Drakaina here. I can pretty much guarantee I have more firepower than anyone other than another dragon, and whoever left the note isn't a dragon."

"What about that ice phoenix that got away last night?"

"A definite possibility, but I have no idea what one would smell like."

"Me either, but… shit! God, I'm an idiot," he said.

"No, you aren't, but what are you thinking?"

"Do you think someone could cloak their scent?"

"Of course."

"With a lot of aftershave?"

"Maybe, if their scent wasn't too strong. I doubt it would work well on like weasels or anything with a strong musk…"

"How about a bird? An ice phoenix, to be exact."

"You think you know who it is, don't you?"

"Check a guy named Stuart. I forget his last name, but he's the administrative aide of the chief."

She could hear an alarm begin to blare in the background.

"Babe, I gotta go. See what you can find out about Stuart. Do not, I repeat do not, go after him on your own."

"And I repeat. Drakaina."

"My drakaina. My fated mate. Don't do it…" The alarm continued to sound. "Don't do it."

Over the PA system she could hear: "All available units to the wilderness south of the city. Early reports say the wildfire is out of control. Repeat. All available units to the wilderness south of the city."

"They need me."

"So do I," she admitted. "Stay safe. Please."

"I will. I love you."

He hung up before she could respond.

"Love you, too," she said into the ended call. She looked at the cell phone in her hand and placed it on her desk. If he thought some half-assed ice bird could take on a fire-breathing drakaina, the man needed to learn some basics about fire and ice.