of the station, running into the solid, muscular chest of Blaise Michaels.
“There you are, Katya. I wondered how long it would take for you to come out to play.”
The deep, blood-stirring tone made my blood tingle, warming me instantly. “What are you, a stalker demon or something?” I stepped down off the curb and raced across the street, dodging traffic.
The demon had no problem matching my pace. Damn.
“Just doing my job and sticking close, partner.” I don’t know how he did it, but he made that last word sound completely obscene. It distracted me so much that my foot caught on the curb and I pitched forward.
Blaise’s hand snaked out to capture me, hauling me against his chest, safely out of the way of one of NYC’s kamikaze yellow cabs. The driver honked and shook his fist as if I’d attempted to commit suicide by taxi just to annoy him.
The moment my chest slammed into Blaise’s solid wall of muscles, my breath left my lungs and a cloud of confusing emotions fogged my normally clear thinking. “What the hell are you doing?” I cursed my voice for sounding so breathless.
“Saving your life.”
The rumble of his chest vibrated through me, sending tingles throughout my body. What was wrong with me?
“Unlike demons,” he continued, “you humans are not immortal. Taxis tend to make hamburger out of you.”
I turned until my gaze caught his. “And not demons?”
He grinned. “We’re immortal.”
I wanted to resist asking him questions just to avoid seeing him look so unbearably smug about my curiosity, but I had so much to learn. As I walked toward the station, I found myself staring at every individual passing by. Could that woman with the pink beret be a fashion-reject werecat? Or was the man with the Armani suit another demon like my soon-to-be-ex-partner?
“No, the woman is a human, and the man is a human corporate executive, not a demon.” Blaise chuckled. “And I’m not going to be an ex-partner until this case is closed.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. A man behind me slammed into my back, cursing before he moved around me. “Now, I know I didn’t say anything out loud about that woman or that man. How did you know what I was thinking?” My eyes narrowed. “Oh, please, don’t tell me you that you can read my mind?”
He shrugged in that way that was becoming exceedingly annoying. “Then I won’t tell you.” Blaise held out his arm for me to take. “Shall we?”
I ignored it and him, and continued toward the precinct, trying everything in my power to block my thoughts, or clear my mind of all the nasty, sexy feelings I’d had toward Blaise since we’d met.
The demon leaned close and spoke into my head without a word passing through his lips. By the way, I find myself strangely attracted to you, as well, even though humans usually bore me.
I thought about telling him off, but one look was enough to make it clear it wouldn’t do any good. Attempting to ignore him instead, I marched off, hoping to leave the demon in my dust.
He hung on like stink on dung all the way to the station.
Twenty minutes later I was back out on the street, sporting a new badge and a weapon, loaded with silver bullets, resting against my ribs in a shoulder holster. My blood pressure had hit the sky and my hands shook with anger. No manner of arguing would change the game. I was stuck with the demon.
“Yes, my dear, you are stuck with me. Now, can we get down to the business of finding the man behind the reanimation?”
After counting to three, then ten, then twenty, I realized I’d have to solve this case to get a new partner. Maybe by then the workload of the PIT crew would have slackened and I could be switched to someone new.
“Fine,” I said. “Where do you suggest we start?”
Blaise hooked my arm and led me to the curb where he hailed a taxi. “I’ve already gathered the information about the other two zombies that were found over the past week. All three were human men recently deceased.”
“Where did they come from?” The wind chose that moment to kick up and send a cool blast down the back of my neck. Or at least that’s what I told myself as a shiver rippled across my skin.
“Three separate morgues.” A taxi slid up to the curb and Blaise opened the door for me.
I climbed in and slid across, making room for my…partner. “Go on.”
“Each body was supposedly taken to a local crematorium for disposal.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and stared out at the buildings as we slid by at the stop-and-go pace of a NYC cab. “Let me guess, they weren’t cremated?”
“You tell me. The guy who attacked you was on record as being cremated two days ago.”
“Anyone talk to the people running the crematorium?” I darted a glance at Blaise.
He nodded. “I called. The man who signed for the bodies hasn’t shown up for work in two days.”
“Did you get a name?” I frowned. “How about an address?”
“That’s my girl.” Blaise smiled, but the words sent a cold chill through me—and not the good kind. Guys flirting with me was pretty common. Annoying, but common. When they got possessive, though…bad things happened. He seemed to pick up on my change in mood, and his tone was all business when he spoke again. “That’s where we’re headed. The owner wouldn’t give me any information over the telephone.”
“Let’s get something straight,” I blurted out. “I’m not your girl. I’m a cop…or an investigator, now. You’ll respect that, or I’ll have you brought up on charges of sexual harassment, and…and Thomas will fire your ass.”
He gave me a long, considering look, and I thought as loudly as I could about the weird music the cab driver was listening to. If Blaise didn’t know what had happened to me in Chicago, I certainly wasn’t going to let him find out by eavesdropping in my head.
“Hardly,” he said at last. “I don’t work for him.”
I frowned. “I thought you were a member of the PIT crew.”
“On my own terms. I assist with investigations when I feel it’s necessary. As one of the paranorms—as the good detective likes to call us—I’m concerned when our existence is threatened.”
“And these zombies are threatening your existence?”
“Most of us just want to blend in, live in peace and be left alone. When someone steps out of line, I help clean up the mess. Either as part of the PIT crew, or on my own.”
I snorted. “Very noble.”
“Simple self-preservation.”
“I thought you were immortal.”
“Demons live forever if left alone. But there
