Page 36 of Cops and Robbers

Caige grunted and headed through the door Raz had.

“We’re all here. It’s time to hear you out,” Lewis said.

“But aren’t there four of you?” she asked, recalling the photo she’d seen on Raz’s desk.

“Yeah.” Lewis walked from behind the bar and waved for her to follow him. “Sid’s in the back already.”

Kate released a long breath and held her laptop bag close to her side. As Lewis came from behind the bar, Kate hopped off the stool to follow him. Through the changing room behind the stage, she entered a massive office. Mint and eucalyptus tantalized her senses. Comfortable and modern, the desks were black, while the leather chairs were white with black accents. Checkered wallpaper adorned the walls except for the gold behind Lewis’s desk. Braced to see Raz again, her tense muscles uncoiled when he wasn’t there. Neither was Sid. Caige sat at the head of the conference table. A laptop rested a few seats down from him.

“Where are those two?” Lewis muttered, moving to his desk.

“Upstairs, more than likely,” Caige said, leaning back with his arms crossed and eyes closed. Even relaxed, he still felt deadly, as if he always slept with one eye open.

“They better not be breaking anything.” Lewis grabbed the white phone from his desk and pressed a button before yelling into the receiver. “Would you like to join us or what?”

Kate would have chuckled if nerves weren’t twining around her vocal cords. She sat at the opposite end, one chair away from the head so she wouldn’t be directly across from Caige. While she took her laptop out, Lewis walked to Caige and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Can I get you anything?” Lewis asked him.

“Water.”

Lewis headed back to his desk. Kate stared at the folder on her laptop screen marked ‘IJN.’ Nervous energy sent heat over her body, and a slight wetness had her unzipping her jacket and placing it over the chair back. Heavy footsteps pounded behind her, raised voices following. She gnawed at the inside of her lip. Lewis placed a water bottle next to her laptop and a few more in the center of the table.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Sure thing, honey.” He rested a large, warm, reassuring hand on her shoulder, and her rigidity lost a notch as if she had stepped into a warm, soothing sauna. That was odd.

He winked at her as if sensing her confusion. She had a feeling he had some kind of calming mojo. A dragon soother, perhaps.

Her train of thought ended as an unknown man strolled into the room, followed by Raz, who was smiling ear to ear. Red marked Raz’s jaw on the left side. Sweat highlighted his forehead. He perused the table before meeting her eyes, and his face fell to a more serious tone.

Kate gulped, thrown off by the sexy confidence he exuded.

His gaze dipped down to the low V of her shirt before settling on her neck. He grimaced at the mark there. You don’t have to regret it that loudly. She thought, doing everything in her power not to touch the offending red that everyone could see. Even if everyone here knows we slept together, I’m not going to hide behind a wall of self-doubt. Sleeping with him had been a mistake, but she was owning that mistake.

“How nice of you to join us,” Lewis murmured, taking the seat across from her.

Raz grabbed a bottle before sitting beside Kate. Sid, who was lanky with a black goatee, scooted in behind the laptop. He shut it with a click and crossed his arms. Sweat plastered his layered, wavy black hair with twining white accents against his head, and he had a red mark below his right eye.

Spirit energy swirled and filled the space. Her skin tingled from the odd power. A room full of dragon shifters—who would have imagined.

“Kate, that is Sid. You met Caige earlier.” Lewis pointed to each as he introduced them.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” she said, trying to read the room. Lewis and Raz seemed open to hearing her out with a nod of acceptance. Sid stared at the ceiling like he’d rather be anywhere else—the one she’d have to convince. Caige was an anomaly she couldn’t read—his mask of shadows reaching his unsettlingly stony expression.

“What’s your real name?” Sid asked, still gazing upward.

Fear squeezed her throat. She’d expected an interrogation, but the last time she’d trusted someone with her identity, he’d taken everything from her. If she wanted their help, she’d have to be as honest with them as she could. “Kate Ichikawa.”

“You’re Japanese?” Sid smirked at her as if she had confirmed his suspicions.

“Yes. I am originally from Japan but haven’t been there for centuries.”

Tension filled the air, but no one interrupted Sid’s questioning. “So, what did Matsuda do to you?”

Convinced me that he was a good person. Ripped my heart out and used it against me. All so he could find the truth about Naomi and me and use us for his bidding. Kate had escaped his clutches, but Naomi hadn’t been as lucky.

“He took someone from me.” She swallowed, feeling the weight of her confession on her tongue. “She’s the one who saved me from a lonely existence. Taught me to survive. And he needs to pay for what he did.”