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Zeke felt fury burn inside hiaze, felt it in his own body

"I’ll be right there," he snapped "Have the state boys wait on h, because one of the neighbors thinks they saw someone in here just before we showed up We could have a body"

"I’m on my way" Zeke snapped the phone closed and shoved it back into its holster as Rogue eased up until she was sitting on the desk

Zeke clenched his teeth as she pulled the bra over her breasts and secured the little clip before pulling the silky top back down and s back?" She didn’t look at hiht If he caht, God only kne he’d handle the lust tearing through hiure out how he could protect her a in the county

"Eventually," she breathed out as she lifted her head, her lips parting as a caustic smile shaped her lips "A few hours? A few days? A few years?"

"There are things going on that you don’t understand, Rogue," he said, trying to keep his voice low "Things I have to deal with first"

Her head nodded jerkily "Fine, deal with your things" She jumped off the desk and stalked to the door as he watched her, fighting the heaviness in his chest and his body’s demand that he stay

She jerked the door open and stared back at him furiously "Don’t come back until you’ve h to at least supply the whaet I don’t like being played with, Zeke"

She didn’t like being played with, but by God, he didn’t like gaame he was involved in wasn’t one he couldn’t step out of

"Don’t push this, Rogue," he warned her gently "Don’t push s you don’t know and don’t understand Until I can fix that, then I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to offer"

"Did you hear ?" she asked sweetly The sweet part was a dead giveaway Rogue was pissed And she was hurt

"I’ll be back" He strode to the door and stopped in front of her "And the next ti cozy with any otherto be violence"

He didn’t give her a chance to respond His hand curved around her neck and his lips took hers in a quick, hard kiss before he released her and strode fro to his truck as he fought hiht back inside where she waited

She was his weakness A man in his position couldn’t afford a weakness Especially now Zeke could feel it beginning to co scared The questions he’d been asking about Joe and Jaiotten a response This was the response So, hidden that would reveal what they were doing or why they were killed

Now, Zeke just had to figure out what it ithout the hope of finding , paused,and stared at his visitors before shaking his head with a berow inside him

The file in his hand was the coroner’s report on the Walker boys The forensics report was due in any day But it wasn’t looking good And now, staring back at the four

"What the hell do you and your sidekicks want, Cranston?"

Special Agent Timothy Cranston was supposed to be on suspended leave from the Department of Homeland Security Zeke knew better Timothy had never been suspended anywhere but on paper The investigation running noas a ti to explode with the same power that had been used on Joe and Jaime Walker’s mobile home And Timothy Cranston was s

Short, round, his face more often than not wreathed in a sent had been Zeke’s nemesis for too many years Anytime Cranston was around, trouble was sure to be there And anywhere in Pulaski County that he found the Mackay cousins, he was dalas "Rowdy" Mackay, Jaer cousin, recently ent Chaya Dane, Natches Mackay

Rowdy, Dawg, and Natches Mackay, and Tiation was beginning to come to a head after the years that Cranston had kept him pushed to the sidelines, unaware until too late that Houe without him Cranston and the Mackay cousins had cut off the head, now Zeke was going for the backbone Alone He wouldn’t be pushed out of this one Not after all these years, the nightainst him personally

"When the four of you show up, there’s trouble I don’t need trouble this week" He strode across the office to take his seat behind the wide, wood desk that sat in front of the shuttered bank of s

Pulling his chair close to the desk, he slapped the file on it and stared back at the four men The Mackays were tall, muscular, and dark Rowdy, the roup Dawg, the oldest, was e He was no longer scruffy, but his wild days reflected in his light green eyes and his hard expression Natches, the youngest, now, he was the wild one of the group The ringleader ofand Natches had worked with Cranston for several years As far as Zeke knedy had just been dragged into it lately

"The Walker boys," Natches drawled "You have anything yet?"

Zeke leaned back in his chair "They involved with DHS?" He stared back at the agent

Of course they had been, he knew it and Cranston knew it, but he wasn’t so sure the Mackays knew it

Tirinned A flash of teeth, like a shark, and a sparkle of brown eyes "Not to e They weren’t one of my contacts"