Page 25 of Wake the Dream

Moving his features into the picture of innocence.

“Who are you looking for, miss?” he asked sweetly.

Yeah, that’s more like it. “I need to speak to Detective Kieran Shanahan.”

Much to her disbelief, the spell broke too quickly and the officer laughed in her face. Literally laughed. His fingers tightened on her shoulder, thumb moving in a caressing circle. “I don’t understand why someone like you would want to speak tohim.”

She stiffened. “He’s handling my sister’s case,” Illaria said dryly.

“I am so sorry.” The young man reached out to take hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “He isn’t exactly the most reliable officer we have. In fact, he’s pretty much the station’s joke. Would you like me to reassign your case? I can do that for you, you know. Anything you need I can happily help with.” His gaze scoured her body, lingering on her curves. “Anything.”

She peeled his fingers off one by one before rubbing her own hand on her side as though to rub germs away. “Listen here, mister. He might be annoying as hell and a huge pain in my ass, but I don’t want to hear you talking about him like that. If anyone is going to say nasty things about Shanahan, it’s going to be me, especially in the face of your own incompetence, you little piss ant.” She leaned forward, allowing her magic to show through her eyes, lighting them from within. To his credit, the officer stood his ground. “And don’t you ever touch me again without my permission.”

She had no time to waste on a testosterone-driven power play. Not today.

“What’s going on here?”

Illaria kicked her glare up a notch when she felt Kieran step up behind her, close enough to recognize the heat of his body.

“This douche thinks he’s going to get my case reassigned to someone else. Apparently, you’re not up to the job,” she said nastily. “Which we may have to discuss because you haven’t been returning my fucking phone calls.”

Kieran took her elbow and led her away without a word, the force of motion jerking her feet off the floor for a moment. She broke her staring match only once when she came close to tripping again. The detective wore a shirt of dark chocolate-brown, jeans, and an air of thinly disguised impatience.

“I wasn’t finished with that conversation,” she informed him. “I still have more to say.”

Kieran groaned. “Leave it alone. He was actually nice about things for once. You should see him on most days. Then again, pretty girls tend to bring the best out in people.”

“Nice? Are you serious?”

“I’m seriously wondering what you’re doing here,” he replied in a tart tone. “You’re supposed to be at home waiting to hear from her. Or me. Waiting in general. Not calling me a million times a day and barging into my workplace.”

Illaria was embarrassed to note her insides tingled, clearly a reaction to the repulsive state of the man’s desk. Definitely not to the way he looked at her. She would rather bite off her own fingers than enjoy the way his eyes held hers, searching.

“I didn’t call you a million times. More like twice, neither one of which you bothered responding to. And I went half out of my mind waiting yesterday. I need to be out there. I need todosomething.” She used her hands to gesture, emphasize her point. “You don’t want me going out of my mind, do you? Bad things happen to Fae that go mad.”

He sat behind his desk, bestowing her with a look. One that said he’d anticipated her annoyance and he wasn’t upset by it. He pointed to the empty chair on the other side in a bid for her to sit down. “I don’t have any new information for you. I’ll let you know when I do.”

Illaria eyed the rusty rungs of the metal chair with distaste before slowly lowering herself onto it. “I know you went somewhere yesterday. Do you have a problem telling me things? And here I thought we were friends,” she joked.

“We are not friends.” Kieran shook his head, gaze following a fellow officer pushing a handcuffed werewolf toward the holding pens. “I’m a human cop and you’re a Fae—”

“Art gallery assistant,” she told him.

“Exactly, a Fae art gallery assistant. We have literally nothing in common outside of this case. Thus, we are not friends, and when I have information, then I will fulfill my obligation to share it with you. Until then, our dynamic stays the same.”

He looked tense, she realized. Tense and tired. Illaria slid her fingers beneath her legs to keep from reaching out to smooth his hair away from his forehead. Lack of sleep coupled with crippling anxiety must be making her soft.

“Relationships based on intense experiences never work, I know. Not that I want a relationship. I’m trying to agree with you. I’m exhausted.” She let her head drop to the desk, hair obscuring her vision in a fall of silvery white.

“I’m surprised you actually chose to come here of your own free will. After the last time...”

She waved the remark away and a tiny spark of magic rose from her fingertips with the gesture. “Please don’t bring it up. I don’t want to remember.”

“You don’t want to remember the time you assaulted—”

She lunged across the desk to slap a hand over his mouth before he could finish the sentence. His skin was soft, clean-shaven. “Enough.”

In her bones, in her blood and breath, she was so,soready to be done with everything.

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