He seemed to be chatting randomly. Tomas sorted through it and picked out one thing. "Vibes? Aren't you supposed to say smells, or something like that?"
Cody arched a brow. "Aren't I? Why should I pretend with you, though? I don't think you need me to lie about anything."
"No, of course not." Tomas was startled. "But people — shifters — talk about smells usually, not vibes."
"That's what we're paid for, isn't it? I mean, those of us who've gone through the program. There has to be a reason for a gut instinct, for a feeling, and smell is the most usefully blamable instinct."
Tomas was deeply bewildered, thrown for a loop here. "But it's true. At least for Riley it is." He hadn't expected to learn new things about shifters, not after being certified and settling in with his partner.
Cody's touch on his arm was light, seemed meant to reassure. "Of course it's true. It's just not the only internal antenna for a shifter. You're telling me your partner has never been sure of something without having an exact reason he could put his finger on? Intuition. Instinct. Vibes. Whatever you want to call it." He watched Tomas's face, studying him as if he was the most fascinating person and this was an entirely engaging conversation.
"Riley's a very good judge of people. I've never seen him be wrong about trusting someone."
Tomas thought back to that infamous night when Riley had befriended the assassin sent to kill him. He'd recognized right away that the wolf shifter in question really didn't want to do it, and he'd turned his sweet, warm charm on the guy and then helped him get out of a bad situation. Riley, who'd grown up working for a gang, had a great well of sympathy for people in bad situations, for kids without families — even, apparently, for men sent to kill him.
Cody touched his arm again. "I'm not saying you don't smell interesting, because you do. But it's not just your smell that has me interested. I can't figure you out, and I always peg people pretty quickly. You're interesting, and you're so warm with Riley, but you also keep to yourself, like you have a force field around you, pushing everyone else away. Maybe I haven't worked with the police long enough to understand that, but it's not just that you're hardened from the job, a real badass who has to keep up his tough skin to survive. You're not..." He hesitated. "You're nothard. I hope that's not insulting."
"No." Tomas sighed. "I'm not hard." That had never been a particular goal of his. That was one of the reasons he liked Riley so much. Riley had every excuse in the world to be hard and mean, but he wasn't, and would never be. He liked it that Tomas wasn't, either. "This feels like an interrogation, though. Why not tell me a bit more about yourself for a change?"
Cody grinned, cocky and shy at the same time. "I thought you'd never ask."
They walked back around to their parked cars as he talked, telling Tomas about his family, his old home, his last job — and yet somehow telling him nothing at all.
At last, Tomas interrupted. "You try to pry me open with your 'vibes,' but you've shared nothing of what makes you you. It's a bit unfair, you know, to want to crack open the meaty goodness of someone else while keeping up your own shell."
Cody looked surprised. "Am I doing that?" Then he grinned. "Meaty goodness, eh? Quite the poet, aren't you, Mr. Dreamy Eyes?"
Tomas rolled his dreamy eyes. "Quite the deflectionist, Mr. Fox."
Cody laid a hand on his arm. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "No, I don't begrudge you the question. I didn't even realize I was doing it." He looked into Tomas's eyes again with that questioning, searching look. "I'm very drawn to you," he said quietly. "And yet I can almost feel you pushing me away. I'd take the hint better if I understood. I don't feel like I'm drawn to you in any way you could possibly mind, even if you're perfectly straight." That was more a question than a statement, but he didn't let it hang in the air; he simply went on. "I hope it's not because I'm a fox. I wouldn't think you'd pick that up just from working with a wolf, but perhaps you would."
Tomas shook his head. "You make Riley nervous, but he doesn't hate you. Just don't crowd him, and he'll get used to you pretty quickly."
He didn't know if Riley would open his heart to the fox shifter in friendship. Riley really wasn't very quick to make friends, despite his warm nature; he was far too shy. But he would stop being nervous around the fox pretty quickly if Cody didn't startle him or put him on the spot or push into Riley's personal space when he was feeling anxious. And he might grow to really like Cody in time.
"I'm new to this job," Cody said quietly. "I was hired specifically for the things your partner doesn't do — sniffing around dead bodies. Sometimes to see if there was foul play, sometimes to help find hints of evidence. All sorts of reasons, apparently, to sniff dead bodies. I was trained, so I knew what I was getting in for, but it's harder than I imagined it could be. I'm the second-class shifter here, the semi-civilian who doesn't know how things really work. The part-time guy who will be the first to go if belts need to be tightened. I'm balancing on the edge, trying to find a place, to be friendly and not too flirty. That's not an easy one for me, let me be the first to admit. No one trusts me yet. The only one I trust so far is you, and you don't like me."
Tomas made a sound in his throat. He wanted to deny it but wasn't sure how.
Cody looked away from Tomas as if he was ashamed. "You seem so lonely, yet you push everyone away. I can almost feel you crying out not to be alone, but you are, and you seem to think you always will be. I can't help noticing that. Not when I'm lonely, too." He stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Tomas moved closer to stand shoulder to shoulder with the guy as they leaned against his car and stared out over the night scene. "I don't know how to explain, even to myself. But, yeah, I'm lonely lately — deeper than I can put into words. Maybe it's the time of year. Winter. Long nights and no baseball. Anyway, you'll get used to the precinct. People here can be jerks, but most of them aren't bad underneath. They're just slow to accept anyone new, and a bit set in their ways."
He remembered what it had been like at first, when he'd thought they were probably all racist assholes because they were so slow to accept him. But it was just how things were here. He'd settled in eventually, and Cody would too. "Riley and I are here if you do need help with something, and the captain's a lot better about things than you'd expect. Extra accommodations, I mean. If you need time or space away from the work for a bit, he'll give it to you."
Cody shook his head. "No. I was hired specifically for this job. He's let me know in no uncertain terms he doesn't want another shifter who can't deal with the dead."
That phrase, uttered in the falling darkness of the parking lot, made Tomas shudder more than the cold.Deal with the dead. It sounded so gothic and stark. "Sounds like he's playing hardball. He wouldn't try that with Riley because I won't allow it. If I were you, I'd get an advocate through the S&P program. I'm not suggesting you escalate anything, but maybe you need a record started here."
"No, I don't want to make trouble."
"Of course not."You with your inquisitive root beer eyes — you'dnevermake trouble! "But to have a record of anything he does or says that's not by the book. If things get out of hand, you'll have someone who can step in for you."
The captain should know better than to play the tough guy with a shifter — he'd met Riley, hadn't he? He knew these guys could be vulnerable. But perhaps Cody's air of sleek knowing had gotten under the captain's skin, making him feel he needed to take a hard line to keep him under control.
"I don't want to start trouble right away."
Tomas debated for a moment, then came out and said it. "All right, then. Here's my advice, and you can ignore it if you just wanted to vent. You come across as slick and untouchable — like nothing ever gets to you, and you know things about people, whether they want you to or not. You don't seem flustered or challenged by your new job at all — you seem like one of those guys who lands on his feet and gets the plum assignments right off the bat, and probably smirks about his colleagues behind his back."
