Green-Eyed Envy Read Free Page B

to wreak justice and, if need be, vengeance on those who commit murders as heinous as the three now being investigated. Hell, Cass is right. Only another Cat or Hound would have known about the catnip . . .
    Scott, no slouch in the brains department, made the obvious connection. “You think a Hound’s behind this.”
    I winced at his flat tone of voice. “Not necessarily.” The wishy-washy tone of my voice made me wince again.
    He snorted. “You already know as well as I do—or you wouldn’t have enticed me here under false pretenses—that the two races most likely to boast a killer with that particular MO are Cats and Hounds. And as Da would say, not bloody likely a Cat would count coup against another Cat. ’Bout as likely as a Hound collaring another.”
    Now that had been a rough period in Warhound history. Anubis, their patron god—as Celtic goddess Epona was their patron goddess—had become enraged when a faction of his followers in ancient Egypt sided with enemy priests attempting to overthrow the Pharaoh that Anubis favored. He not only allowed the faction to be enslaved by a third group of priests vying to get their favored candidate on the throne, he actually forged the magical collars used to subdue his own people. Yeah, there was a reason I had no desire to run into that particular deity again anytime soon. He made me look like a forgiving pussy cat.
    “Hey, no false pretenses. I really was lonely.” He arched a brow. “Okay, so I had ulterior motives besides seeing you in mind, but that doesn’t make me any less lonely.” I shifted just so, causing one of my negligee straps to cascade from my shoulder to midway down my bare arm. Scott’s eyes followed along for the ride. I smirked. “And let he who is without ulterior motives of his own cast the first stone.”
    “ Touché.” His hand skimmed to my arm, slid the strap back in place one slow inch at a time, and then settled on my shoulder, caressing one of my most erogenous zones.
    My eyes fluttered open, closed, and open again. “ Mmmm. What?”
    He laughed softly. “Problems, baby? I’m not distracting you from your case, am I?”
    “Case?” I shook my head to clear it and slid back on the couch until there was a good foot of space between us. “Hey, you did that on purpose!”
    “Yeah? So did you.”
    He had me there. I ignored his valid point and cleared my throat. “You’re right that the two most likely pools of suspects are Cats and, yes, Hounds. But you also know good and well that I can’t afford to entirely rule out either group until I get some hard evidence. So, would you mind looking at the crime scene photos and giving me your opinion as a Warhound?”
    “Sure.” Those amber eyes of his grew even brighter—not a good sign for my departmental budget. Damn mercs. “Just as soon as you hire me on as a consultant.”
    Double-damn mercs. “Fine. But just you, Scott—not the Shadowhounds as a whole.”
    He shrugged. “Okay by me. Most of them are on other assignments at the moment anyway.”
    My face softened as I thought about one other Shadowhound in particular. Patrick “Mac” MacAllister. Husband to Elliana Banoub, Scott’s second-in-command in his familyrun mercenary enterprise. Mac was also half-Sidhe, half-Fury (yes, the first male Fury), son of Allegra, my mother. Which, of course, made Mac my youngest brother: my eighteen-year-old chronologically but thirty-year-old genetically youngest brother. Yeah, made my head spin just thinking about it.
    “Ellie and Mac?”
    He let out a frustrated sigh. “We got another lead on Sean’s whereabouts that didn’t pan out.” Sean Murphy, Scott’s baby brother, had vanished under mysterious circumstances just after we laid down the smack on the mad scientists responsible for both my mother’s and best friend’s abductions.
    “So now they’re just holding down the fort at HQ,” Scott continued. HQ referred to the smoke-infested, pub-like room plus windowless