Lover Beware

other citizens…when they were in human form.
    His human form was pretty devastating, she admitted silently. Or maybe that was an aspect of his magic, whatever it was that enabled him to turn into a wolf. Or gave him no choice. Legend said that werewolves couldn’t avoid the Change at the full moon.
    “You move quickly, Detective,” Turner said as they reached the elevator.
    She jabbed the down button. “Habit. People with short legs learn to move fast, or we get left behind.”
    “Is that what it is?” He sounded thoughtful. “I thought you were trying to leave me behind. You’re not happy with Chief Delgado’s instructions. I’m afraid I disturb you.”
    “You annoy me,” she corrected. “Cocky, arrogant men usually do.”
    “Arrogant, perhaps. Cocky is for puppies.”
    “You said it, not me. Where were you last night between ten o’clock and eleven twenty-five?”
    “At a party with about twenty other people. A party at the mayor’s house.”
    So much for wiping the amusement out of his eyes. “Were you there when the mayor was called? Is that how you heard about the second killing so quickly?”
    “Yes. The mayor asked for my assistance.”
    The stupid elevator was taking forever today. She punched the button again. “If you’re ready to start acting as an expert consultant, I have some questions.”
    “Of course. I hope they’re personal.” He stroked his hand down her braid. “Lovely. It feels as soft as it looks.”
    The shiver that ran up her spine was as distressing as it was instinctive. She stepped away. “None of this is personal, and you need to keep your hands to yourself.”
    “I’ll try.”
    “You’ll have to do better than try.”
    “We are a profoundly physical people, Detective. It’s difficult for us to remember that others don’t have the same need to touch and be touched that we do.”
    She lifted a scornful eyebrow. The Nokolai prince had been mixing and mingling with normal humans quite regularly at events from San Diego to Hollywood to Washington, D.C., for the last few years. He knew perfectly well how to behave—when he wanted to. “And here I thought you were hitting on me.”
    “That, too, of course. Will you go out with me tonight?”
    Her lips twitched before she could stop them. Maybe his existence wasn’t illegal anymore, but that smile ought to be. The way it spread over his face was a crime—so slow and intimate, as if smiling were a sensual indulgence to be savored, not rushed….
    The elevator finally arrived. Three people got off. She stepped in quickly.
    He followed. “What impersonal questions did you want to ask?”
    “I know lupi have a toxic reaction to silver, because the X-Squads used to use rounds made from a silver alloy.” A very expensive alloy. She had a round in her clip right now, having requisitioned it and two more after the first killing. “What about garlic or crosses?”
    “No and no. Old wives’ tales.” He pushed the button for the basement level, which held the parking garage. The elevator doors shut.
    “I thought it might be. I’m afraid a lot of what I know is the sort of garbage spread by movies like Witch Hunt .”
    “At least you know it’s garbage.”
    He was tense. She wasn’t sure why she was convinced of that—he stood easily, spoke smoothly, and that remarkable face was still, unrevealing. “I’ve also heard that lupi are claustrophobic.”
    “It’s hardly a phobia. We simply prefer open places.”
    Not small, enclosed spaces. Like an elevator. Abruptly she pushed the button for the next floor down, and the elevator slowed.
    “Why did you do that?” he snapped.
    “There’s no reason for you to be uncomfortable. We can take the stairs.”
    The elevator halted smoothly and the doors opened. Two people were waiting to get on. The woman was a civilian, fortyish and plump—a clerk or secretary, from the look of her. Lily knew the man slightly, a Vice officer named Burns. She nodded at him.
    He didn’t notice. He was staring at Turner. If he’d been a dog, his hackles would have been raised. The woman was staring, too. But the expression on her face was entirely different.
    The tableau lasted only a second before she and Turner got off, the other two got on, and the elevator doors closed. She glanced at him as they started down the hall, wondering if he’d noticed the woman’s reaction. She had to look up, of course. He was too blasted tall.
    He was looking straight at her, those rainy-sky