Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 by Vivi Anna Page A

Caine. He didn’t need to read it to know what it said. They had the wrong person. “No match to the DNA or the hair.”
    Mahina shook her head. “Damn. I was hoping we had him.”
    “Yeah, I think we all did.” Caine sighed. “It would be nice to have this case wrapped up neat and tidy, but my gut tells me we aren’t going to get that lucky.”
    “He may not have had sex with her that night or bitten her, but he was involved.” Eve pushed away from the table she was leaning against. “Maybe he was the lure.”
    Caine looked at her, eyebrow raised. “What makes you say that?”
    “The e-mails on her computer. I checked the ones in her send file, the ones she sent to him. Very eager, very…smitten, I guess is the word. She was definitely attracted to him.
    She wanted to be with him.”
    He nodded, now eager they were on the right track. “Yes. Yes, that’s good. Were there any notes about meeting him somewhere? Maybe if we can find the place she was picked up at, we can trace her path to the city.”
    “Not that I could see. She might have been instructed to delete the note after she received it.”
    “Can we trace the message from his account?”
    “If I could get into the account…”
    Caine slid his phone out of his pants pocket. “I’ll get us a warrant and access.” He glanced at Gwen. “Thanks for the quick work.”
    She grunted and went back to work.

    He looked at Mahina, then at Eve. “Okay, we’re at least moving. I’ll get Jace to get on our trace evidence and see where our fibers and wire lead us, and see if our witch has deciphered those symbols yet.” Caine turned to leave the lab, Mahina leading the way.
    “Wait,” Eve called after him. He stopped and looked at her. “We’re not letting him go, are we?”
    Caine could see the unasked question on her face. She was still shaken up from the incident in the alley. He could tell by the welling concern in her eyes that she thought they would let the vampire go even after he had assaulted her. There was no way in hell Caine was going to let that slide. Xavier had hurt Eve, and he would pay for it one way or another.
    “No. I’m asking for charges. No one assaults a crime scene investigator and walks away from it.”
    She nodded at him. “Thank you.” Pulling her gaze away, she glanced down at the floor.
    “I’ll go pore over her laptop again. Maybe there’s something I missed. I’ll also see what Detective Salinas found out from her friends and the boyfriend.” Without looking at him, she brushed by him and out the door. As she passed, she gently squeezed his arm then just as quickly let go and continued down the hallway.
    He watched her go.
    Mahina cleared her throat. “Um, is there something you want to talk about?”
    Swiveling his gaze to her, he frowned. “What do you mean?”
    Mahina motioned toward Eve, who had just disappeared into the analysis room. “Blondie.
    You’re not the only one that can sense feelings, you know.”
    “Can we go do our jobs, Garner?”
    She put her hand on his arm to stop him from walking away. “You’re attracted to her.”
    Caine shrugged off her touch and frowned. “I am not.”
    “The fact that you can’t look at me tells me you are, and you know it.”
    Lifting his gaze, he glared at the lycan detective. “I’m looking at you, Mahina. Can we get on with our jobs now and solve this blasted case?”
    “Be careful, is all I’m saying.” She patted him on the shoulder. “As a friend.”
    He smirked. “Mahina, you don’t have friends, remember?”

    “Oh, yeah.” She grinned. “Sorry I said anything.” She slapped him hard on the back, and then walked away humming the theme to Jaws.
    He wanted to tell her to go to hell, tell her that she didn’t know what she was talking about. But she was right. He needed to tread lightly. He was nearing dangerous territory with his emotions. Soon, they would start clouding his judgment. And he refused to let that happen.
    Without his keen