Page 44 of Hunter
When the stunned vampire nodded, she continued.
“I wouldn’t have anyone I didn’t trust working on Neri’s case. He investigated Dr. Stevens, but he found no one by that name worked at any of the hospitals. I don’t think we even thought about Standard Biotech because the information Dr. Stevens gave me when he knocked on my door.”
“You wouldn’t have found him, anyway. Standard has a way of erasing information they don’t want leaked,” Xander said.
“Yeah, I think you should tell him I’m alive and well. We don’t have to tell him about the immortals, unless you want to, mamá?”
Thalia blushed and Hunter’s gaze shot to Neri, who had a sly smile, and Hunter understood.
“Xander? Can you do a background on Detective Cortez?”
Xander nodded, and he pulled his laptop close before his fingers flew over the keyboard.
“I trust her judgment,” Neri said.
Hunter chuckled. “Oh, I do too. I would never cross your mother because she’s too smart to put up with bullshit, but it never hurts to check.”
“Detective Tajo Cortez, born October 25, 1985. He started as a beat cop when he was twenty-one after he graduated from the University of Denver where he majored in criminology. He worked his way through the Snowfall Police Department through vice and missing persons before being assigned to homicide as a detective. He never married, has a perfect credit score, owns his own house, and has a chocolate labrador named Lucy, who turned two last month. His partner is Jack O’Connor. His record is clean.”
“Well, thank you Mr. Snoopy pants.” Thalia sighed as she looked around the room, her gaze affectionate.
Xander winked at Thalia.
“Anything for family.”
“Well, well, isn’t this a lovely scene?”
The new voice, one Hunter hadn’t heard before, quieted the room. He stepped closer to Neri, Thalia, and Silas when spotted Neri’s gaze move to the top stairs. Standing there was the same woman who had hidden in the trees his first night with his mate.
The assassins, relaxed a second before, all moved to strategic positions around the first floor. But when Jade and Noah moved toward the stairs, a cold, high-pitched laugh stopped them in their tracks.
“Nuh uh, Jade. I know you want to kill me for sending you and your hunky mate on a wild goose chase and feeding you false information about your past, but we were having a little fun. Weren’t we? I wouldn’t want one of my shifters to kill you.”
“I’d like to see them try, human.” Jade growled every word.
Instead of instigating anything, the crazy bitch threw her head back and laughed. The sound cut off abruptly, freaking him out before she snapped her head back, glaring at Jade.
“Holy fuck, this woman is off her rocker.” Axel mumbled under his breath.
Neri turned and glared at the lion shifter before she faced Zahava, not wanting to turn her back on the enemy. “You thought I was fucking with you.”
“No, but there’s normal crazy and then there’s bat-shit crazy. She’s bat-shit crazy.”
“You look at my mate like that one more time, I’ll rip off your fucking head and feed it to one of your pets,” Noah threatened.
Instead of answering Noah, Zahava searched the room and landed on Frost. Xander moved the moment Zahava’s voice echoed through Kai’s house, but now he stepped in front of Frost and looked ready to launch himself at the enemy. And no one in the house believed anything else.
“Well, well, the freak who killed my mate.”
“Was he? Your mate I mean. Because from what I can see, he didn’t claim you. There are no visible marks and you’re still human. Were you the best he could do because he couldn’t have me? That’s just sad.”
Frost’s mocking voice almost had him cracking a smile. But he spotted movement and heard footsteps in the upstairs bedroom and he bounced on the balls of his feet, ready to kill them. Instead of an army, six shifters appeared from a bedroom and flanked their leader.
There’s something wrong with them. All of their eyes are the same color, a dull hazel color and their skin is sallow.
What does that mean?Neri’s voice sounded strong, but confused.
They’ve been fucking with genetics. When I worked there, there was a genetics department. Maybe that’s how she can create so many shifters that survive the transition. She has someone working with her with that knowledge, maybe a scientist from Standard.
