“My psychological health is perfectly—” Ian began.
“I’m not talking about seeing him as a shrink. He also does past-life regressions.”
The flat look Ian gave me said loud and clear what he thought of that idea. Some things were too woo-woo even for Ian to accept.
Ian could accept that vampires and werewolves existed just fine. He also had no difficulty accepting that they lived longer than humans—a lot longer. Heck, he wasn’t even bothered that our boss was a three-story tall, multi-millennia-old dragon in the guise of a petite human woman.
But that human souls could have lived before in another body?
My partner’s normally flexible mind didn’t want to wrap itself around that one, especially when it came to himself.
The look I gave him in return conveyed all of that and more.
“Ian, you’re best friends with a werewolf, your manager is a vampire, your boss is a dragon, and you’re sleeping with a dryad. I mean, come on.”
No reaction to the “sleeping with” part from Ian, but Kylie confirmed it with a big ol’ grin.
“It’s not the idea of past lives that I don’t like—” Ian began.
“Don’t like?” The bulb in my head came on and I was enlightened. “Oh, it’s the hypnosis, isn’t it?”
My tough-as-nails partner actually squirmed.
“It is the hypnosis.” I wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t about to actually do it. “Ian, Dr. Tierney is a medical professional. I promise he has no interest in making you cluck like a chicken.”
“I’ll go under, wake up an hour later, and not know what happened. Would you like that, Agent Control Freak?”
“Agent Control—” I put my indignation on pause. “Come to think of it, I probably wouldn’t like that.”
“Probably wouldn’t?”
“Okay, definitely wouldn’t. But if that ghoul was obsessed with me and this was the only way to find out why . . .”
“I’m not convinced it’s the only way.”
“Ian, you said it yourself. Your freaky dreams started that night. They’d go away until the next time you two ran into each other. There’s obviously a connection. The ghoul is in these dreams, and you know he’s real. Is it that big a leap to accept that it is you in that armor? Okay, not exactly you, an earlier version. Finding out what that dream is and what it means could be the key to discovering why a who-knows-how-old sadistic shapeshifter has picked you to pick on. There has to be a reason.” I gave him a look that said arguments and resistance were futile. And just in case I didn’t look fierce enough, I added, “Don’t make me tell Moreau, because I will, and he’ll insist that you do it.”
Ian’s expression was outfiercing mine.
“We care about you, Ian,” Kylie said. “You need to put this behind you, and to do that, we’ve got to get to the bottom of it. If these dreams are related to the ghoul—and it sounds like they are—Dr. Tierney would be the person who could find out what’s going on, or at the very least, provide a few much-needed answers.”
My partner lay there for a few moments, motionless, then came my sign of victory—a resigned sigh.
I gave a little internal cheer.
Ian scowled at me. “Don’t look so happy.”
“I don’t look happy.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Mac?”
“Yes?”
“Never play poker.”
13
KYLIE’S phone beeped with an incoming text. She read it, spat her favorite four-letter word, then glanced from Ian to me and back again, her distress evident.
Concerned, Ian put his other hand on top of hers. “What is it?”
“I have to go. The footage from the second robbery—all of it—was leaked online almost as soon as the networks had it. It’s all over the Internet now.”
Kylie didn’t need to specify what “all of it” meant. Even people who weren’t necessarily sick and twisted wouldn’t be able to resist at least a peek at what those ghouls had done to those guards. Most people knew that ghouls couldn’t possibly be real, but the sight of four men in movie-quality prosthetic makeup eating two men alive had to be sending normally logical and levelheaded people into a panic.
Kylie and her department had their work cut out for them.
“Go,” Ian told her. “I’ll be fine.”
“And I’ll be here,” I promised.
The door opened and Yasha filled the space.
I smiled. “And right on cue, here’s my backup. Ian won’t go anywhere he isn’t supposed to.”
Yasha was never one to hide his feelings, whether affection or violence. His heart was firmly on his sleeve at all times. It was one of the reasons why I loved him so much. Right now, Yasha was worried about the man he considered to be his best friend. If that ghoul put in an appearance anytime soon, he wouldn’t stand a chance against an enraged and protective Yasha, regardless of who or what he actually was.
Kylie clearly still didn’t want to leave, but she knew she had to.
“We’ve got this,” I assured her.
“I know you do, it’s just that—”
Ian pulled on the hand he was holding, bringing Kylie down to him and into a pretty danged passionate kiss. For the duration, I found a fascinating spot on the ceiling to study. Yasha watched, a happy smile on his face that his partner had found someone. Note to self: find Yasha a nice werewolf girl to settle down with.