Page 46 of Protected By Her Mate

Officer Hogan narrows his eyes at me.

“It means if she dies, my brother will also die.” I step up to him, the top of his head barely coming up to my chin. “I will be investigating this bombing.”

The bullheaded officer narrows his eyes. “You’ll gain access to the scene when I’m good and ready.”

I’m about to do something extremely unprofessional and lift the man up by his collar when I feel Charlie’s calming presence at my side.

She glares at Officer Hogan. “We’re being cock-blocked. The bomb team says this guy won’t give them access to the site. Some kind of pissing contest between PD and Fire.”

“Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but we do things my way around here.” Hogan crosses his arms, his expression one of stubborn arrogance.

Charlie narrows her eyes. “Fire Investigator Lopez of the New York Fire Department. I also happen to be an expert in explosives. You, on the other hand, were only recently promoted and all this…” She waves her hand indicating the chaotic scene around us, “is about as embarrassing as it looks. Do yourself a favour and give Fire access, or we’ll make sure your demotion is a steep fall with a hard landing.”

While I would have preferred explaining in painful detail why Officer Hogan should cooperate with us, watching my magnificent mate go toe-to-toe with a man such as him is truly a pleasure to witness.

His ruddy cheeks deepen in colour. “The scene isn’t safe. No one gets access until I get the all-clear?”

“Safe from what?” Charlie snaps. “The firefighters whose job it is to determine when a site is safe? What’s wrong with you?”

His face mottles and I step between him and Charlie. “You get one chance to be on my good side, Hogan. What’s it gonna be?”

“Go back to New York,” he grits.

My blood pressure rises and I’m about to take the guy’s head off, when Charlie grips my arm. “C’mon, since we’re obviously getting nowhere here, let’s follow another lead.”

“What lead?” Hogan says sharply. “What do you know about this bombing?”

“Nothing I’ll be sharing with PD until you give Fire access.”

“This is our crime scene,” he snarls back. “I don’t need Fire stomping all over the place, damaging evidence.”

“Let’s go.” Charlie whirls away, expecting me to follow, which I do.

“Stay away from my investigation!” Hogan shouts after us and Charlie shoots him the finger over her shoulder.

“Sorry, that wasn’t professional,” she mutters. “I hate when PD blocks Fire from scenes we need access to.”

“I think it’s more than that,” I tell her, holding the driver’s door to the rental car open for her. “I suspect he sympathizes with ASHRA and is disgusted by my presence.” I climb into the passenger seat. “Where are we going? What’s this lead we supposedly have?”

“We’re going to stakeout the LA address in the ASHRA file Duncan Sharptooth gave us.”

“Smart girl.”

She tosses a smile at me. “I suppose girl is better than female, but I still prefer woman.”

I don’t know how she can make me smile at such a time, but she does. In fact, I always feel better when we’re together. I never knew I was missing this feeling of contentment until I met her. Now, I don’t think I can live without it.

I enter the address into the car’s GPS while Charlie drives, weaving her way effortlessly through Los Angeles traffic.

We make our way to the outskirts of the city, approaching a quiet residential area as sunset casts an orange glow over the sparse neighbourhood. “There,” Charlie says, pointing at a house set slightly apart from the others. It’s a large two-story building but doesn’t stand out. The perfect place to house the Los Angeles branch of an alleged terrorist organization. “What should we do?”

“Park here,” I say, and she pulls over where we can see the house but aren’t close enough to draw their attention.

“Should we check it out?” she asks nervously.

My mate is absolutely not stepping foot anywhere near that house, but I don’t tell her that, instead saying, “We’ll watch. See if anyone comes or goes.”

“A real stakeout,” she mumbles, a spark of interest in her tired voice. “We should’ve picked up snacks.”

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