I stare affectionately at the inanimate object in my hand for a moment longer until I hear my name being announced on the loud speaker.
“Araya Crush please come to interrogation room fifteen.”
I roll my eyes at the annoying box on the wall that has bellowed for me all day long, and then I swing the door open to walk back down the hall. Sappy - a female Hershian officer - is waiting for me outside the door.
“Ms. Crush. We found this one in a bar fight just down the road. He was sparring with some of the unaligned. He’s violent - very violent. He smashed up the bar before we could split them up. It was a blood bath in there, and it’s fortunate none of our men were hurt in the struggle.”
“Why was he fighting?”
“He claims the men were blood runners carrying undiluted packs of blood, but we haven’t had a chance to check that out yet.”
“He’s claiming to be an officer?” I murmur distractedly while reading over the file for our nameless suspect.
“He’s not claiming anything anymore. He said to send Araya Crush because we weren’t worth him wasting his breath in explanation,” she growls.
I take a step back and tilt my head curiously.
“He asked for me personally?”
“Yeah. He said you’d have him out of there in five minutes. Nicholas is in there with him right now trying to get him to talk.”
I bypass the viewing room and go straight into the steel box where my suspect sits. I gasp when I see the man cuffed into place, and he leans back casually as his eyes catch mine - a wry grin cocks up the corner of one side of his mouth.
“Araya, do you know this man?” Nicholas asks as I stare into the hybrid blue eyes across the table.
“Yes, Sir,” I grumble. “This is Captain Hale Banner of the United and the captain of the Seminole compound.”
Nicholas’s eyes widen as I walk over to unshackle Hale from the blade cutting cuffs.
“I’m terribly sorry, Captain Banner. I never got the chance to meet you when I was in Seminole, but now I do remember seeing a picture of you there. I checked for credentials but-”
“I was undercover,” he murmurs while his eyes stare into mine.
My body grazes him as I unlock the second set of cuffs, and I feel his breath hitch as his eyes burn against my back.
“Your men did confiscate all the blood packs, correct?” Hale prompts.
“Yes they did. We’ll begin burning them immediately if you believe them to be undiluted,” Nicholas offers.
“They are. I can smell the purity of it. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay until the results come back. I’d also like to stay and watch the burn. I was asked to follow this through, and I intend to do that,” he mumbles.
“That’s no problem at all. I’ll acquire you a room, and we should have the results by morning.”
“Thank you, Captain Hawkins.”
“My pleasure.”
Hale turns to me as I sit down on the edge of the table in the interrogation room. Nicholas walks out to leave me alone with the badly bruised up hybrid.
“You need blood and a shower, Captain Banner. I’ll send someone to your room with clothes,” I murmur while assessing his damage.
The streaks of blood trickle over his body in hellacious streams, and his clothes are tattered as well as stained by the red tale of death. His lips remain perfectly intact as they dare me to make a fool of myself, and I shiver under his unrelenting gaze.
“I would appreciate that, Ms. Crush,” he smolders out, his heated tone slicing through my icy shield.
His formal air doesn’t bother me as much as mine does him. What is killing me is seeing him here without Brazen to bring me back to reality. I quickly go to leave, and he grabs my hand in his.
“Is Captain Mordel waiting on you, or could you help me find my room?” he sizzles out, his eyes claiming mine once more.
