Page 55 of The Hunted
The command center was a flurry of activity as the tech team banged on keyboards and talked on phones while Harley wrote on the whiteboard.
The minute Layla stepped in, awe washed over her. “Are all these people vampires?”
I beelined it toward the interrogation room. “Of course. But don’t worry. They won’t bite.” I chuckled. “I do, though.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re all talk, if you ask me.”
And we were right back to trading one barb for another. That intimate prelude we’d had in the hallway seemingly never happened.
“Need I remind you about the bet we have?” I didn’t have an ounce of doubt we would be naked and knotted together. What I wasn’t sure of anymore was who would win. My resolve was solid, hardly penetrable, but Layla was chipping away at it with a sledgehammer.
She set her jaw. “By then, the city will be in my rearview mirror.”
Not if I had any say in the matter. Layla Aberdeen was mine. She just didn’t know it yet. And fuck my old man if he thought he could keep me from her. Fuckanyonewho stood in my way. Besides, what better way to watch my enemy than to have her at my side and in my bed.
Sawyer’s blond-streaked brown hair surfaced as he stood up from his cubicle. He homed in on Layla as we approached. Then his voice was in my head.She’s hot as fuck.
I just grinned.
Layla studied Sawyer. “Your eyes. They’re a myriad of colors.”
“Mostly a greenish gold, according to my mother. You must be Layla Aberdeen.” He held out his large hand.
She exchanged a handshake with him. “I guess everyone here knows who I am?”
“We’re always on alert whenever we have an enemy among us,” I said in a sarcastic but serious tone.
While Layla scanned the room, her pulse creeping higher, Sawyer said to me telepathically,The phone you gave me keeps ringing. I haven’t answered it, but I am trying to get a location on the number. It’s a burner phone, more than likely.
Layla reached over Sawyer’s desk. “Is that my phone?”
Sawyer snagged it before she could take it. “That’s evidence, ma’am.”
“I need that to call my sister Jordyn.”
Sawyer cocked his head. “Where is your sister?”
She tried to take the phone from Sawyer. “I want it back.”
A nervous energy filled the space between us all as she mashed her lips into a thin line. “That’s my dagger.” Her bravado was admirable as she attempted to collect her family heirloom from Sawyer’s desk.
Those kaleidoscope eyes instantly turned vampire black. “Ma’am, don’t touch anything on my desk. That is evidence as well.”
She sent him a scathing look in return. “Put your fangs away. They don’t scare me.”
“They should,” I said, enjoying the little show.
She flipped me off. “That’s a family heirloom.” Her cheeks flamed red.
Harley glided over with a clipboard in her hand. “What’s going on? Is my brother giving you a hard time?”
“Brother,” Layla said. “He’s more of a—” She swallowed before she clamped her mouth shut.
“He can be quite the hard-ass, but he’s only doing his job.” She smiled warmly at Layla. “Are you feeling better?”
Layla lowered her shoulders, the tension vanishing. “I am. Thank you.” Her tone was sweet and friendly.
Ben sauntered out of the interrogation room, his attention fixed on Harley. “Am I missing the party?” He swiped a large hand over his cinnamon-colored hair, as Jo had once described it. “Hey, are we still on for dinner later?”
