Page 48 of Wake the Dream

“Give it time,” Kieran insisted, scrolling to the next coven on the registry.

“Time my sister doesn’t have, Shanahan. Come on. We both know he’s a rogue.” It was the only explanation. A rogue, an unregistered vamp who just swung into town without anyone the wiser. Why else would he frequent somewhere like the pit they’d been in the night before?

“Maybe not. But keep looking. We have ten covens left.”

“Ten who are going to look exactly the same as the first fifteen. And you!” Illaria raised her voice to be heard above the noise level in the room, her eyes pinning the young detective with rambunctious auburn hair. “Whatever comments you have on my breasts, come over here and say them to my face.”

“Will you stop?” Kieran shook his head, but the element of scolding she expected never came. If anything, his gaze warmed. “I can’t take you anywhere. Do I need to feed you again? Focus!”

With effort, she brought her attention back around, leashing her anger. “Maybe I am hungry. But I didn’t ask for you to take care of me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She could have sworn he swallowed his laughter, and shot him a warning glare, her eyes darting back to the monitor as he clicked through.

“No. No.No, yuck. N...wait.” She paused, leaning closer to the screen. “Can you enhance this one a little bit?”

Kieran clicked the mouse a few times and made the image larger. The vampire looked similar. Not exactly the same, but very, very close. Different hair, a lip ring, and some dark kohl underneath the eyes and he might...

“Is this the guy?” Kieran pressed, leaning forward.

Illaria hesitated to agree outright. Not when a wrong decision might lead them away from finding Yelena. “I’m not sure. His eyes are familiar, but his face looks a little different in the picture than I remember.”

“It’s possible the darkness in the club could cast shadows...”

“Now you’re reaching.”

“Possibly. But it bears further scrutiny, for sure.” Kieran broke off at a snicker from across the room, shaking his head.

Illaria shot them a nasty side-eye glare. “What is their problem with you?”

“It’s nothing, forget about it. I found out that Pembroke likes to paint his toenails. I said it out loud one day and I’ve been public enemy number one since then.”

“He likes towhat?” She sat back in her seat. “Oh, I see, this is part of your power. You know things about people.”

Kieran shrugged his shoulders high. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

His awkwardness caused a strange heat to warm in her abdomen. “But it’s so intriguing. I mean, you’re human but you know things. Maybe you could give old Caryss a run for her money telling street fortunes.”

“No, I’m not that good. I just get a read on certain people. Little things stand out to me. It’s helped me in a few cases.”

Illaria shifted to balance her elbows on her knees. “What about me?”

He purposely kept from staring at her. “Whataboutyou?”

“What do you get when you look at me?” she pressed. “When you read me.”

“I don’t see anything.”

“Aw, come on. Now you aren’t being fair.”

“I’m serious.” He turned the full power of his gaze on her, her heart skipping a beat. “You’re a blank canvas, Illaria. I can use regular old intuition and gut reactions to figure out a few things, but otherwise I don’t read anything when it comes to you.”

Oh. How odd. Was she the only one his power didn’t work on? “I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

He shrugged again. “Neither can I.” His gaze flicked to her lips, and she found herself drawn forward, a different type of desire bringing her closer to him.

A shrill beep sounded through the computer speakers, effectively shattering the moment. Illaria jerked back as though burned, staring at the screen but not comprehending what she saw.

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