Page 16 of Arresting the Warlord

“Go figure.” I grimaced. My head was killing me, and my badly bruised chest made breathing difficult.

Jake sniffed my head.

“What are you doing?”

“You don’t smell like a Navajo,” Jake replied, turning me to face him.

A cold thread of dread snaked up my back. “Well, I am a Navajo.”

“Let’s do a taste test.” Jake licked the blood off my face.

I squirmed wildly. “Stop it! I’m not a fucking lollipop.”

“Lucy, you’ve got some ’splaining to do. You’re not Navajo at all.” Jake took another lick. “I’ll be damned. You’re Dragos. Which explains how you can talk to the dead.”

“You can’t know that by licking my blood.”

Jake shrugged. “It’s a Coletti thing. How did a Dragos female end up in the middle of nowhere?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m all ears,” Jake said.

“Some other time. The murderer is going to get away if we don’t go after him now.” I struggled to break his grip. Damn he was strong.

“Easy. You’re in no shape to go hunting.” Jake tapped his warrior’s bracelet. “Looks like you have a concussion, along with that gash on your head and a badly bruised sternum.”

Arrrgh. The ass wasn’t listening to me. “The sniper was the Chupacabra’s partner,” I practically shouted.

“It’s actually a Testavorr. They were thought to be extinct,” Jake said.

“Well they aren’t. Letgoof me.”

“Not a chance. I’ve decided to keep you.”

“What?” A bolt of lightning struck the ground a short distance away.

Jake hastily added, “As a partner. You’re a good cop.”

“I’m overwhelmed by your praise. Let me go or I’ll use my freeze ray on you again,” I bluffed.

Jake laughed. “If you could, you would have already. You have two choices. I take you back to our ship and have Shrek heal you or you can drink my blood. Which will have you in fighting shape within a couple of minutes. A word of warning. We saw you incinerate the Testavorr. If I take you back to the ship, my uncle will lock you up until the Overlord decides what to do with you. What’s it gonna be?”

Crap. I was screwed either way. “You can’t possibly want me as a mate.”

Jake shot back, “Who said I did? Partners, remember?”

The sneaky bastard was up to something. “I thought when a woman took a Coletti warrior’s blood it started the bonding process.”

“Nah, that’s a rumor started by our enemies,” Jake responded.

I looked at his aura. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” There was a devilish gleam in his eyes.

“I can tell when someone’s fibbing.”

“Handy talent for a cop,” Jake said.

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