Chapter 5: Interrogation

“Alright, Wilson, here’s your chance,” I said. I put my foot up on the couch and leaned in, staring him right in the eye.

Wilson leaned back as far as he could like he was hoping the couch would swallow him up. Normally, I wouldn’t have gone with fear tactics. Wilson was already petrified of Loki, though.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, eyes shifting to Loki again and then back to me.

I pointed to my face. “Just look at me. Pretend he’s not here,” I said. This is exactly what I’d been worried about letting Loki come with me. “A few months ago, Loki tracked you down with questions about a girl. You claimed you didn’t know anything about her.”

“Right.” Wilson nodded. “I’d never heard of anyone named Persephone.”

I looked back at Loki. “Do you have a picture of her?”

Loki arched an eyebrow at me. For a god of an Alpha who could literally melt panties with that smirk of his, he was a complete idiot when it came to women. The Alpha shrugged finally and pulled out his wallet, handing me a small picture.

I dangled the picture in front of Wilson’s face. His eyes widened and he gasped. “Remember her now?” I asked.

“Y-yeah. Her name’s not Persephone, though. She called herself Alexandria,” Wilson explained. “We were supposed to meet up a while back but she ditched me.”

“Where did you meet Alexandria?” I asked. I handed Loki his picture back without turning around to face him.

“She was in town, shopping. We bumped into each other. She flirted with me, so I asked her out. We were supposed to meet up for coffee on 5th Ave at this place I like. But she never showed. A few days later, I was hauled off by that creep…” he motioned towards Loki.

“You never saw her again?” I asked, tilting my head slightly. I rested my elbow across my raised knee, leaning in just a little closer.

Wilson swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He stared at me like I’d pounce and bite his head off any second. That was more Loki’s style. Wilson didn’t need to know that.

“When she ditched me, I headed home. When I was crossing 3rd Street, I saw her falling all over this other guy,” Wilson said, tongue darting out and running across his noticeably chapped lips.

“What did this other guy look like?” I pressed.

“Older, like my dad’s age. Definitely a werewolf. He had some goons around, so I’m guessing he was a Beta or an Alpha or something.” Wilson sighed. “Are we done now?” he asked.

“Was there anything else about this werewolf she was with, anything identifiable?” I asked.

Wilson had mastered the art of vagueness. Either that, or he really was just a low-life idiot. Still, I’d pull the answers out of him forcefully if I had to. I hadn’t earned my reputation as an investigator by just giving up or taking some slim, vague lead. No, I knew how to play the long game.

“Y-yeah. Actually, I forgot about it until now, but he had some tattoos on his hand, like right across his knuckles and then down to his wrist. They were…”

“That’s all,” I snapped, cutting him off. I spun quickly and headed out of the smelly, dingy apartment.

Tattoos on the knuckles and down the back of the hand. It was more than enough. As I headed down the stairs to the street, I remembered that hand closed around mine as a child. It had felt like protection then but now I knew it was a shackle. I flexed my fingers as if that could remove the stain.

“Genevieve, what are you doing!?” Loki’s harsh voice intruded on my thoughts.

“I got what I needed from him,” I said nondescriptly. I stared at the back of my hand.

Loki’s presence was on the edge of my senses as I studied the lines of blue veins under my skin. I used to run my fingers over the lines of that hand tattoo. Once upon I time, I’d even thought they were pretty, sitting in his lap as he pet my hair and I retraced those lines, asking him what they meant.

“Are you going to tell me what is going on?” Loki asked, intruding on my memories again.

I blinked, nearly having forgotten that he was there. My surroundings came flooding back in. Standing on some scummy slum street with cars speeding by and splashing water and oil onto the sidewalk at my feet.

A heavy hand came down on my shoulder. I cried out and jumped back, arms up to fend off the attack.

“Whoa, just calm down,” Loki grunted, holding his hands up in surrender.

I put my hand on my forehead and bowed my head. “I’m sorry. Look, I can tell you who Persephone met with that day but after that, you’re on your own.”

“Excuse me?” Loki asked, snorting in disbelief.

“I told you from the start that I can’t get involved in pack business. This has become an inter-pack problem,” I explained.

“No. I don’t accept that,” Loki said, throwing his hand out to the side.

I took another half-step back. He couldn’t force me to keep working on his case, but I had the feeling he could make my life difficult in other ways.

“Do you want to know who you’re looking for or not?” I asked. I crossed my arms and glared across the sidewalk at Loki.

When he didn’t say anything, I took that as my cue to leave. I turned to leave but was halted when strong fingers caught my wrist, clamping down dangerously. I snarled, whipping around, pressing my free palm to his chest, ready to push him away.

I froze.

His smoldering eyes caught mine, and I swallowed my snarl. In the dim haze of streetlights, he was haloed by an alarmingly pure, white light. Like an angel or a god. My heart thudded heavily in my chest, drumming that I was certain Loki could hear.

Loki’s fingers loosened on my wrist; his thumb gently stroked the back of my hand. My breaths deepened and I shuddered with each soft, warm touch of his thumb. Every cell in me urged me closer to his pulsing, radiating body. This wasn’t just some school girl attraction. No, it was deeper than that, much deeper.

“I can’t help you anymore,” I said, trying to keep my voice firm. Instead, it was just a breathy whisper.

Loki smirked. “That’s not very convincing,” he teased, slowly licking his lips.

A lump rose in my throat, sucking all the moisture from my mouth like it was filled with sand. I tried to swallow but it hurt, and only a small, cracked sound passed my lips.

Loki’s smirk widened and he chuckled darkly. The sound trembled through my bones and sank into my stomach, making me squirm inside my own skin. He was still so close, his thumb against the back of my hand, my palm on his hard, muscular chest. Beneath his muscles, I could feel the steady thump of his heart. It pounded in time with my own, an invisible string connecting us.

“I’ll point you in the right direction but beyond that, you’re on your own, okay?” I asked, voice cracking in my parched throat.

“Fine,” Loki grumbled. He released my hand and stepped back.

I took a moment to catch my wayward breath and I wrapped an arm around my stomach, trying to stop it from doing acrobatics. “I’ll put together a case file for you. You can pick it up tomorrow night.”

Loki nodded.

Dragging this out another night was risky. I was already too close to a pack Alpha and I was being stalked. So, why in the name of the Moon Goddess, was I inviting Loki back to my office for the third night in a row?

I watched as his form flickered and vanished into the darkness of a nearby alley. I was really tempting fate on this one.

What was more, I was starting to think he was my mate.