Under Wraps tudac-1

by Hannah Jayne

  I swallowed. “I’m okay. Just a little wobbly. I would really just like to get out of here.”

  I went to push myself up, but Parker smoothly slid his arms underneath me, cradling me against his chest and picking me up in one motion. “You shouldn’t walk,” he murmured into my hair, “not until we get a medic in to see you.”

  Parker carried me up the stairs and out into the cold night air as Vlad followed behind us. People stood on tiptoes behind a police barricade, watching, and squad cars were creating a makeshift perimeter. I craned my neck and realized that we were at City Hall.

  “We were under City Hall the whole time?”

  “It seems Chief Oliver had a whole setup to go along with his plan of opening up a portal. We’ve been tracking him for over a year.”

  “That’s right!” I leaned back as far as I dared from Parker’s smooth, naked chest. “You’re not Parker Hayes! You’re not a detective. Who are you?”

  Parker gently set me down on a stretcher in front of one of the ambulances. “She’s been cut,” he told the paramedic. “She needs attention. Sophie, Neils here is going to take care of you.” Parker stepped aside, and Neils—with an Elvis-worthy pompadour and a pair of latex gloves—came at me with an alcohol-soaked gauze strip.

  “This might sting a bit,” Neils warned me.

  “Wait!” I tried to stamp my foot, to glare at fake Parker, but the bulbous bouffant of the paramedic was in my way. “Who are you?”

  My mind raced as Parker stared at me, blank faced, lips drawn.

  He was an angel. A liar. Loony toons.

  “I’m an FBI agent,” he said finally. “My name is Alex Grace.”

  Or he was an FBI agent.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Weren’t you a—”

  Parker pursed his lips and pressed his finger against them, his eyes sparking that brilliant blue.

  “Sophie!” Nina squealed.

  I looked up to see her rushing across the parking lot toward me, the moonlight glinting off her pale skin. Her black hair framed her face—eyes wide, brows furrowed, ruby lips held taut. She edged herself in front of Neils and threw her arms around me when she reached me, crushing me against her cold, tiny chest.

  “Nina,” I gasped as a whoosh of air went out of me.

  “Sorry!” she said, softening her grip. “After what Vlad said about Lucy, I was just so worried about you! You must have been terrified—I could smell you a mile away!”

  I sat back, my cheeks burning red. “Because I was scared,” I explained. “She can smell fear.” I was attempting to explain to Parker—er, Agent Grace—and the bewildered Neils when the man standing behind Nina caught my eye.

  “Nina?” I asked, still staring at the man behind her.

  Nina turned, weaving her arm through his. “Sophie, this is—”

  “Officer Franks!” I exclaimed, examining Opie’s smooth, undead complexion, his strawberry-blond hair standing out fiercely red against his now-pale forehead. He grinned at me—that same goofy, toothy smile—and I could see delicate fangs pressing against his lower lip. He tipped his head to look lovingly into Nina’s eyes, and I could see the two tiny puncture wounds on the side of his neck.

  “Nina!” I hissed. “You didn’t!”

  Vlad glared, put both of his hands on his hips. “I can’t turn anyone, but she can? God! There is such a double standard around here!”

  I smiled, shared a private look with Vlad while Nina looked sheepish, kicking at the ground with brand-new black leather peep-toe ankle boots. “I know I shouldn’t have, but he had hardly been dead an hour when we found him,” she said, staring up into Opie’s black marble eyes, “and then I just couldn’t resist.” She snuggled close to him. “He’s just so darling!” She inclined her head toward me and whispered, “Isn’t he just luscious?”

  Nina turned, her dark eyes settling on Alex’s naked chest. “Speaking of luscious …”

  A blush of crimson washed over Alex, and he shrugged back into his flak jacket. He looked from me to Neils, his blue eyes reflecting the dark sky. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She would if she’d hold still,” Neils answered.

  “Wait,” I said, edging away from Neils after he smoothed a long white bandage across my wound. “What about Mr. Sampson? Has anyone seen him?”

  “Miss,” Neils said, “you need to relax.” He draped an itchy, folded blanket over my shoulders.

  “Wait,” I said again, ignoring Neils and staring from Nina to Alex. “Please?”

  Alex leaned against the ambulance and raked a hand through his dark, tousled hair. “Sophie …”

  I stood up. “He’s okay, though, right? You were able to find him, just to make sure he’s okay?”

  Nina looked at the ground, and my heart jumped into my throat, constricting my breath. My eyes started to moisten and itch. “Right?”

  “I’m sorry, Sophie. We haven’t found any trace of him,” Alex said.

  I looked at Nina. “You?”

  She shook her head sadly. “I haven’t been able to trace him. Other than the scent—it got really strong a few minutes before we found you—but then it was gone. He was gone.”

  My hand went to the bandage across my chest. “When the chief cut me.”

  “Sampson must have had a surge of emotion when he thought you were being”—Nina winced—“drained.”

  I blinked, staring past the assembled officers and squad cars, the San Francisco streetlights blurring under my tears. “It changed him. When the chief cut me, he changed. He broke through his chains to save me.”

  “Sampson’s going to be fine,” Alex said. “I’m sure of it.”

  Nina nodded. “He’ll probably even be right back—after the dust settles.”

  I let my friends’ assurances wash over me, let the weight of the night sink in. I felt the moist, cool night air on my skin and breathed deeply, rested my head against the open door of the ambulance.

  “Rough night,” I whispered.

  “Rougher than pot roast night?” Alex said with a grin.

  I saw Neils’s eyes go large as Steve strolled up to us, lacing his thick gray fingers through mine. He dipped his head against my thigh and looked up at me, batting his slate gray eyes.

  “Steve,” I said, “thank you.” I crouched down to hug him, wincing at the warm ache that surged through me. “Thank you so much for rescuing me.”

  Steve nuzzled against me, and I held my breath against his troll stench as he patted my back softly. “Steve wouldn’t let anything happen to Sophie. Steve is Sophie’s hero.”

  Alex squeezed in between Steve and me. “I like to think I had a little something to do with this rescue mission, Steve.”

  Steve crossed his arms and stared Alex down. “Mr. Superhero likes to think.”

  “How did you find me, anyway? And why”—I looked at Alex—“why did you come to find me after the way I treated you?”

  “You mean when you stabbed me?” Alex’s face broke into the Parker Hayes sexy half grin, and a shiver went up my spine.

  “Yeah.”

  Alex shrugged. “I knew you didn’t mean it.”

  “And when you stabbed Park—Alex”—Nina smiled sheepishly—“you must have cut yourself.”

  I looked down in bewilderment at the ragged split in my palm. “Oh, right.”

  “It made it easy to trace you.”

  “I helped, too!” Alex protested.

  “Sophie was never in any real danger,” Steve said, rolling up on his heels. “Steve had his eye on Sophie the whole time.” He widened his stance, his small hands on his hips, looking satisfied.

  “He was hiding in my trunk,” Alex said.

  “Steve knew he was not Sophie’s boyfriend,” Steve said, shaking his head toward Alex and then wrinkling his nose. “Something just didn’t smell right about that. Steve decided to trail Alex.”

  “Yeah,” Alex repeated, “hiding in my trunk.”

  “When I got back to our place, Alex and Vlad to
ld me what happened. Alex had a lead on Sampson—where he might have gone—and Vlad knew that Lucy was after you. We were hoping to catch up with all of you at Mr. Sampson’s. But when we got to Sampson’s place, the smell of your blood and your fear was really strong. And Alex had a feeling about the chief, so”—Nina grinned, her fangs standing out against her red lips—“lucky guess.”

  “Lucky twelve-months-of-research guess,” Alex said, his lips close to my ear.

  Neils was completely engrossed in our conversation as Steve’s eye narrowed at Alex. I knelt down so I was eye to eye with Steve.

  “Look, Steve.” I took both his hands in mine and squeezed gently. “You’re a really great guy—really great. But I just don’t think things are going to work out between us, Steve. Really, it’s not you—it’s me. I’m just not ready for someone as gallant as you.”

  I tried to find Steve’s eyes and then followed his gaze over my left shoulder, directly to the impressive cleavage of a female paramedic who was bent over, replacing things in her bag.

  Steve looked at me quickly. “Steve could never be the man for Sophie,” he said, his voice and his eyes trailing. “Steve knows that now. Steve only wishes that Sophie would release him from her heart’s viselike grip.”

  I smiled and released Steve’s hands. “Consider yourself free, Steve.”

  I watched as Steve unzipped his velour track jacket to mid-navel, fluffed up the lichen on his chest, and beelined for the busty paramedic.

  Neils stepped in between us, looking from Nina and Franks, moonfaced, swooning, to Steve sauntering down the street, to me. He looked me up and down and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

  “So what are you?” he asked finally. “Some kind of she-wolf or something?” Neils was keeping his distance from me, his eyes raking me up and down carefully.

  I wagged my head and sat down on the ambulance tailgate. “Nope. Nothing. I’m not special like that. I’m just your average girl.”

  Alex rearranged the blanket on my shoulders and snuggled me close to him, his lips a hairsbreadth from my earlobe.

  “Sophie Lawson,” he whispered, “there is nothing average about you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I was mashing potting soil around the new spider plant in my office when Alex knocked on the door frame.

  “Agent Grace,” I said, grinning up at him.

  “It’s Alex,” he said, striding up to me. His blue eyes slipped over me. “You look good. How are you feeling?”

  I leaned against my desk. “Surprisingly well given the circumstances.” I felt the broken skin on my lips with the tip of my tongue.

  “So, no word from Mr. Sampson yet?”

  I wagged my head, glancing toward the still-broken door to his office, his furniture still sitting empty, desk vacant. “Nothing. I heard they still haven’t been able to find Lucy, either.”

  Alex nodded. “That’s true. The guys have been out at Sampson’s house a couple of times—it’s clean. They recovered the shell casing, but weren’t able to find Lucy’s body.”

  I shuddered. “Her body. Part of me hopes she just took off—I mean, she’s just a kid.”

  Alex’s eyes flashed.

  “A terribly misguided, slightly sociopathic kid. Maybe she learned her lesson.” I tried to smile. “I kind of think we should go look for her, you know, maybe while we’re looking for Sampson? I bet we could—”

  “You know I’m not really an FBI agent, Sophie.”

  “Right,” I said quietly.

  Alex sat on the edge of my desk, and I tried to keep my eyes on my potting soil—tried desperately not to glance at the way his quadriceps bulged underneath his jeans, or the way his biceps mercilessly stretched at the arms of his olive-green T-shirt.

  I cocked my head, studying. My fingers touched the warm skin on his arm, leaving a dusty trail of soil. “I never noticed this tattoo,” I said, tracing the elaborately etched wing that poked from underneath his sleeve.

  Alex turned, taking both my hands in his, lacing his fingers through mine. He pulled me close so that I could feel the warmth of his chest as it burned through his T-shirt, could taste the sweet crisp-apple scent of his breath.

  “Sophie, I am an angel,” he whispered.

  I tried to think of a sexy retort, but Alex held my gaze steady, his eyes bluer and more firecracker-startling than ever.

  “You saved my life, Alex. You might be a hero, but an angel?”

  “I’m serious,” Alex said. “You know I am.”

  “Angels don’t exist,” I replied, extracting my hands from his and going back to my spider plant.

  “Neither do vampires,” he answered.

  I sat down hard, brushing my palms on my jeans. “So first you’re Parker Hayes, the San Francisco detective.”

  “By way of Buffalo,” he interjected.

  “Then you’re Alex Grace, the FBI agent. Now it’s—what? Gabriel the angel?”

  “Gabriel is an archangel. And kind of a drama queen if you really want to know the truth. One website calls him ‘exalted,’ and that’s all he ever talks about.”

  I could feel myself gape. “Oh holy Lord, you’re completely serious. And what about your niece?” I made flapping motions with my hands. “Is she an angel, too?”

  Alex wasn’t amused. “She’s a pseudo-niece. Friend of the family. Her father asked me to check in on her after he passed away.”

  “Passed away? You mean died.” I was incredulous and Alex cracked that half smile. I stood up and looked over his shoulder.

  “What are you looking for?” he asked.

  “Wings.”

  “Earthbound angels don’t have wings.”

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest and sat down again. “Right. That’s convenient. No wings, no halo. And I suppose you don’t have one of those bow-and-arrow things, either.”

  Alex raised an amused eyebrow. “That’s Cupid. He’s actually a cherub—that’s different.”

  “Of course it is,” I groaned, my eyes narrowed, studying. “Very convenient.”

  Alex blew out a long sigh and in one swift motion, pulled off his shirt, leaving me face-to-face with his impeccable (okay, fine, “angelic”) pectoral muscles. He turned his back toward me and my mouth watered—and my eyes found their way to two, four-inch scars, each running vertically just underneath his shoulder blades.

  “They took your wings?” I ran my index finger gently over the waxy, silver scars, the warmth from his skin roiling through my entire body. I swallowed slowly. “They took them off?”

  Alex turned to face me again. “I’m earthbound.” His bright eyes suddenly clouded. “You call us fallen. When that happens, your wings just … just come off.”

  “Looks like I came right in the nick of time!” Nina swished through the office door and stood, legs spread, hands on hips. “What is going on here, and why wasn’t I notified of beefcake nudity?”

  Alex slid his shirt back over his head, and I sat back down, kicked my feet up on the desk. “Apparently, Alex is an angel now.”

  Nina slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Oh! That’s the smell! I couldn’t place it for the life of me. Makes perfect sense.”

  Alex raised his eyebrows at me. “Smell?”

  “Oh, vampires. They have this whole smelling thing. It’s no big deal.”

  Nina yanked a blood bag from my mini fridge. She popped a straw into it and started to drink, her dark eyes fixed on Alex. “So an angel, huh? So do you like, know Lucifer?”

  “Vampire, huh?” Alex asked, looking Nina up and down. “So do you, like, know Dracula?” There was a hint of smile playing on Alex’s lush lips.

  “Touché,” Nina said, chewing on her straw, her eyes fixed but playful.

  “Can you give us a moment, please, Nina?” I asked.

  Nina stomped out into the hallway. “Fine! But you’re telling me everything the moment Coptastic—or Angeltastic—or whatever the hell he is—flies off.” She poked her head back
through the doorway, her fingertips pressed against her mouth, her lips twisted into a wide grin. “Oh, I said hell—sorry, does that offend you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Nina …”

  Alex smiled softly at her, and I got up, closed the office door.

  “Geez!” I heard her bellow in the hallway.

  “Okay, Alex, you’re an angel. My werewolf boss has run away. Yeah, okay, I see what’s going on here.”

  Alex’s face brightened. “You do?”

  “Yup. I’m a nutter.”

  “Your vampire roommate just walked in here downing a bag of AB negative. Why is this so hard to believe?”

  “Look around! This is the Underworld. Demons, zombies, bastions of hell. Don’t you think I would have been notified of angels? We don’t even have a form for that. And we have forms for everything.”

  “We operate on different planes. If it makes you feel better, I really didn’t know the Underworld existed either. Demons, vampires—a complete world consisting of monsters? All legend to us on the celestial plane.” Alex chuckled. “And man, no one is going to believe this. Are they going to get a kick out of hearing about the Underworld when I get back.”

  I felt my heart skip a beat. “When you get back?”

  Alex’s eyes were soft. “Well, yeah, Sophie, that is the eventual idea.”

  I paused, considering. Then, “Angel, huh? So were you … born that way?”

  Alex bit his lip. “No. I was born human. The angel thing happened after I passed.”

  I swallowed. “You died?”

  Alex nodded.

  “So let me get this straight: you lived, died, went to heaven, became an angel—”

  “Fell from grace,” he said softly.

  “And returned to Earth? Man, I feel so unaccomplished.”

  “So?” Alex asked, looking at me sideways.

  “So, I guess it’s good to know that the man I’m involved with thinks he’s an angel.”

  Alex grinned. “We’re involved?”

  “No. No, not anything like—I mean, as coworkers. Or, you know, detectives. Or whatever we are.” I offered a thin smile.

  Alex frowned. “That’s too bad. I was already thinking about what to serve at the wedding. It’s going to be hard to feed the vampires, I’d expect. I don’t know how blood would go over on the buffet table….”