Page 65 of Protected By Her Mate

“Only two of them were kind enough to have ID on them. We’re working on the rest.” He nods towards interrogation room two. “Kenneth James Broadsmith. Age 38. No living family. A decent sized rap sheet, but all petty shit. B&Es mostly. Misdemeanour theft.”

I don’t need to meet the man to know how he became part of ASHRA. Any well-organized terrorist group will do their best to recruit the unattached and disaffected. I jerk my head and say to Charlie, “Let’s go.”

She grips our file folder and follows me closely, slipping through the door to face our first suspect.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare Kenneth down. His hands are cuffed and resting on the table in front of him, a paper cup filled with water next to his knuckles.

Charlie takes in my pose and says excitedly though our connection,are we doing a good cop, bad cop kind of thing? You have to be bad cop because… well… obviously. I’ll be good cop and pretend I sympathize with him. He won’t –

Under no circumstance are you to sympathize with him. We aren’t playing games here. This man might be a murderer. We ask our questions and we leave when we have what we need. No games. You said you understood.I direct the thought sharply and she flinches.

She glares at me and blinks away a sheen of tears.It’s called brevity, she snaps back.I know exactly how serious this investigation is. I saw a man die tonight. How do you think that makes me feel when the last person I saw die in the line of duty was my husband?

Jesus, I hadn’t thought of that.I’m sorry, I shouldn’t snap at you. I’m not used to having a partner. Especially not one I’ve fallen in love with.

Her lips soften and she nods, her gaze straying to our suspect who’s looking between us with an expression of confusion.

Good. Though I still feel like an asshole for upsetting my mate with my sharp rebuke, our silent conversation has had the effect of unbalancing our suspect.

Staring him down across the table, I say, “You’re part of the ASHRA organization.”

“I don’t know what that is,” he says in a clearly prepared answer.

Charlie supplies the answer. “ASHRA is an acronym for the Anti-Shifter Human Rights Association, which, after the recent Los Angeles bombing was designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Do you know what that means?”

He shakes his head and Charlie looks at me, silently asking,what does it mean? I don’t really know. Just thought it would be an intimidating thing to say.

“It means we have the right to detain you indefinitely. No phone call, no lawyer.” I place my hands on the table and lean towards him. “That’s the law here in New York. ASHRA has been considered a terrorist organization in my home country of Wolf-Haven for years. In Wolf-Haven we’re allowed to execute members of ASHRA on sight.”

I thought we weren’t playing bad cop,Charlie grumbles in my head.

This is my neutral cop interrogation style,I tell her.

Oooh, sexy.

Kenneth shudders. “Good thing I’m here then.”

“Good thing,” I tell him, leaning closer. “Of course, as it was a wolf shifter murdered by your organization, Wolf-Haven may insist on extradition so the guilty can face trial in the home of the wolves.”

“It wasn’t me!” Kenneth bursts out, pointing at the door behind Charlie. “It was all Edie. She insisted on killing Greystone, the guy who infiltrated us. Said she had to do it, or he’d give away our location. Happened anyway, though, didn’t it?”

“Edie?” I raise an eyebrow. “The female wolf shifter heading your anti-shifter organization?”

“Yeah,” he says, annoyance suffusing his features.

“What about Catherine Grant?” Charlie asks. “Who killed her?”

“Who?” Kenneth frowns, then says, “You mean that woman who was hanging out with the shifter? I don’t know what happened to her.”

“She was murdered.”

He shrugs. “Must’ve been Edie.”

“Edie again. It all seems to point back to her, doesn’t it?” I reply.

He nods, disgust twisting his features. “I didn’t want her there, but Shane insisted we needed a shifter to help us hunt more of them. Said we could control a woman.”

“Who is Shane?” I demand.

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