Page 46 of Wounded Soul
A threat to their lives?
He was such a tosser.
“I don’t think I’d go as far as to say it’s a threat to the coven, but certainly something that warrants further investigation.” Raph motioned for Jesse to stand.
He fucking hated being the centre of attention like this. It felt like he was on trial.
“The human you’re involved with, it ends now,” Raph said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Yes, Raph.” If Jesse hadn’t already ended it himself, he’d be gutted. His stomach dropped anyway, because now there was no going back even if he wanted to.
“I wouldn’t normally dictate what you do in your personal life, but as Peter rightly pointed out, this now affects the whole coven.”
“I understand.”
“Could he be a VLCD officer?” Peter asked.
Jesse waited for Raph to answer him.
“As per our agreement. I am to inform the VLCD of any changes to our coven and they are to inform us of any changes to their unit. As far as I’m aware, their only new member is Detective Sergeant Jones.”
“But they could be lying,” Peter suggested, his contempt for the police clear as day.
“They could,” Raph conceded, “but I don’t think they are. I didn’t sense anything duplicitous as they carried out their inspection. Did Jones recognise you, Jesse?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely positive.”
Raph leaned against the back of a nearby chair. “As I see it, there are a couple of likely possibilities. Jones knows Jesse’s humanacquaintancein some other capacity—lover, friend, family.” He looked at Jesse again. “Are you sure you’ve never encountered Jones’s scent before?”
Jesse had met Ian at the bar where there were so many scents mingling around the place he’d do well to pick out anyone’s. He certainly didn’t remember seeing Jones in there. When they were at Ian’s flat, his mind had been on one thing, and that close to Ian, all he could smell was him and sex. It’s possible he missed it, but... “Yes.”
Raph held his gaze a beat longer than Jesse was comfortable with and then looked away. “Another option is that the VLCD lied. If that’s true, then they must be sorely disappointed that whatever they were hoping for didn’t come to fruition.”
“Did your human know what you were?” Peter asked, tone accusatory.
“What?” Jesse frowned. “That I’m a vampire?”
“Yes. Did he give you any indication that he knew about us?” He smirked, but the dark look in his eyes remained. “I know you had other things on your mind at the time, Jesse, but think really hard.”
No. No way did Ian suspect anything. Jesse thought back over their time together, coming to a screeching halt as he remembered them walking Cate to her car. The way she’d constantly looked around as though expecting something to jump out at her any second. He’d checked the news; there’d been no unusual crime activity in that area. So what had her so spooked? Ian hadn’t seemed all that bothered, but Cate...
“Jesse?” Raph prompted.
He hesitated a moment too long, and Raph’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me.” Jesse felt the whole room freeze.
Having the coven know about Ian was bad enough, but he didn’t want to draw their attention to Cate. He’d liked what he’d seen of her. Not that he thought anything would happen to her, they still had to stick to the agreement. But there were some in his coven who he didn’t trust. Not if they felt threatened. Secrecy was paramount. For both them and the VLCD. Who knew what the police would do if they found out a civilian knew about them? But he had to give Raph something.
“I don’t think he knows. But I’m not one hundred per cent sure.”
“Explain.”
“He was on edge the last time I met with him. Looking around all the time when we were walking home, as though something might attack him any moment.” It was sort of close to the truth; he hoped like fuck it was enough to get past Raph.
“Shit.” Raph closed his eyes for a moment, and Jesse took the opportunity to glance down at Lys.
