Dragonfury 02 - Fury of Ice

said, ignoring her interruption.
    “So, what… now you’re interested in my intel?”
    “Was always interested, love.”
    “Tit for tat then. You go first. Tell me what you found out tonight.”
    Bingo. His homicide detective was back on board. Watch out, world.
    “Not much to tell.” Rikar frowned, pissed off at his lack of progress tonight. Even after bribing Mac and getting the rogue out of the water, he knew dick-all about the new Razorback lair. “The Razorback we cornered didn’t know shit. He didn’t tell us anything we don’t already know.”
    “For instance?”
    “Ivar’s building a new lair, but most of his warriors don’t know where it is.”
    “Is that normal?” she asked. “I thought you guys lived in packs.”
    “We do.” Caressing her shoulder, he ran his hand down the back of her arm. When she stayed relaxed, Rikar pushed it a little further, trailing his hand lower, watching her reaction. Prepared to back away if she shied. She didn’t, and his heart picked up a beat as his hand settled on the curve of her hip. “But the Razorback ranks outnumber us at least ten to one. If not more. So it makes sense to have more than one lair.”
    “So he’s…what? Keeping the new one for his inner circle?”
    “Yeah, I think so,” he said, flexing his fingers on her hip, wanting to slide around front and lay his hand flat on her belly. “Ivar’s smart. A real psycho, but smart. If he keeps his base of operations a secret…only allows those closest to him to know where it is, none of the bastards we interrogate will out him.”
    “So, those girls. The ones imprisoned—”
    “I’m sorry. Unless we nail Lo—”
    “The rat-bastard, you mean.”
    “Right,” he murmured, seeing the hurt in her eyes.
    She tried so hard to hide it behind an I’m tough…don’t worry about me attitude. But Rikar saw the act for what it was and hated every second of her pain. Despised knowing he couldn’t take the memory away. Mind-scrubbing her wasn’t the answer. He’d do more harm than good. Sure, he could take the memory but not the emotion behind it…or the context that made what she felt make sense. To heal she needed to remember why she was hurting. It sucked, but there it was. Healing required hard work. And hard work functioned best within a clear set of parameters.
    Rikar cleared his throat. “So, unless we take down Ivar’s XO or another close to him, we won’t locate his new lair.”
    “Crap.”
    No kidding. He didn’t like it any better than she did. He never liked dead ends. Or outcomes that rested on big fat “ifs.”
    Lost in thought, Angela chewed on her lower lip. Rikar stared at her straight white teeth and swallowed. When that didn’t work, he shifted, suddenly uncomfortable in his own skin. Christ, the stuff felt five sizes too small, and man, forget her bottom lip. He wanted to be the one getting nibbled on.
    “Your turn.”
    She blinked and refocused on him. “Oh, right. According to Forge, the rat-bastard likes coeds and games. So forget downtown. If we wanna find him, we need to look on campus and all the bars close to it.”
    “Student pubs and hangouts.”
    “Exactly.”
    Made sense. He’d never seen Lothair in any of the downtown clubs the Razorback warriors always favored. Where he and his brothers always found them. Well, all right. They were off and running.
    With Forge’s intel.
    Fucking male. What the hell was Forge up to? He didn’t act like any rogue Rikar had ever met. Or rather, had the pleasure to kill. Something was wonky. Way off with the guy. It was worth investigating. But not with Angela hanging around.
    He needed to stash her somewhere while he teed up the cellblock’s surveillance video. Thank God for Gage and his foresight. He’d installed the system just before he’d taken off for Prague and the Archguard’s festival. Now Rikar would be able to see and hear exactly what Forge had said to Angela. Word for word. Read between the lines by watching the male’s expression. Each nuance. Each hesitation. All the little stuff that spoke volumes.
    But first? A distraction for his female.
    And Rikar had the perfect one. Mac. No way would she be able to resist checking in on her partner. The male might be neck-deep in a salt bath, but she’d want to sit with him. Be there when Mac woke up. Which meant Rikar would know exactly where she was…at all times.
    Simple. Perfect. Brilliant. Just the way he liked things.
    Leaning in, he took a chance