When All Else Fails
an excerpt

“Aislyn?” Rodriguez brought her back to the moment, and she smiled. He’d broken the silence first. Ha ha.
“Yeah?” she leaned back and steepled her fingers. Her hair was mostly tied back, but there was a large portion that loosely draped her shoulders. She wore a cream sweater with a plunging v in front that landed between her breasts that emphasized the warm tan of her smooth skin. It was snug and comfortable and looked vaguely business like, if she hadn’t been wearing faded black jeans underneath. But she knew she looked good, at least to most of the men in the bar that continually tried to grab her ass. The regulars knew better by now, but there was always someone new in Denver so the transients always tried to make a pass. It always failed.
Rodriguez looked at her fingers, rather than her eyes, as she knew he would. She lowered them slowly so he was staring at the bare v. Then moved her hands to rest on the arms of the chair. Rodriguez didn’t move his gaze to follow, though. When he realized where he was looking, he blushed and reddened, adjusting his seating and re-crossing his legs. She smiled with her eyes, pleased that she’d been able to get a rise out of him.
“I’m not sure how to begin this conversation without offending you.” He began, as he cleared his throat. She schooled her features into a look of polite concern.
“Just begin, then.”
“I need to know about Shifters.” He said, examining his fingernails, “Especially how they kill.”

Aislyn sat up abruptly. “Is this an official investigation, Detective?” she asked coldly, even though she felt herself flush in anger. He knew her, damn it! She’d only ever killed one person in her whole life, and that had been in self-defense. Rodriguez had been there and witnessed it. How could he think this of her? She felt her heart crack, just a little, and it made her even angrier.
He held up his hands as if to ward off a blow. “It’s not you! I know. But I need more information. I need to know more of what I’m up against, Aislyn. You are my best source of information. I need you.” He waited, like a man wondering if the tiger is going to bite him or rub up against him and purr.
Aislyn leaned back, not mollified, but willing to listen. “Go on.”
Rodriguez lowered his hands but his body remained stiff, as if unsure as to whether to fight or flight. “Do Shifters kill people? I mean, I know you don’t. But do Shifters in general, do they?”
Aislyn shrugged her shoulders, eyes still cold. “Depends on the Shifter, I imagine. The Change is… unpleasant. It’s hard on you, not just physically. You’re changing your reality at least once a week, and you are powerless to stop it. You’re not all human anymore. It messes with your head. Some hand it better than others.” She waited. Rodriguez sifted through the information.
“So,” he mused, looking off into space, “if someone weren’t stable before being affected, they might be more prone to go…off?” he groped in the air for the proper word in his discomfort. He looked at Aislyn for help. She sighed, her cold façade breaking down under his puppy-dog gaze.
“A Shifter might be prone to violence, more so than any other human, yes. They could be anti-social or pack-like, depending on the animal. They would definitely be territorial. They would be angry, especially if they are new and not sure what’s going on. Easily annoyed,” she looked pointedly at Rodriguez and he had the grace to look ashamed of himself, “and they would be moody. Does that answer the majority of your questions?”
“But, killing? Would they kill more easily? Other people?” he whispered the last words and she had the sense that he was looking for something specific. She eyed him closely, pinning him with her gaze and making him as uncomfortable as possible. At least he admitted we were people, which was more than Jackson gave her credit for. But Jackson had been around this side of the world longer. Rodriguez was a newbie, as far as this Darker side of life was concerned. She waited.
He got up and pulled the blinds. He watched the traffic going back and forth. He watched the flock of Canadian Geese make their V across the sky. He twiddled with the string of the blind.
“I had a niece.” He said finally. It was a long time between that sentence and the next. Aislyn barely moved. “About four years ago, she was taken. Before her 13th birthday.” He took a steadying breath. “They found her in pieces. I was in uniform still then. I kept trying to find the guy. It’s unsolved, still. I took the case out of storage when I made detective and it sits on the edge of my desk.”
“And you think a Shifter killed her?” Aislyn said quietly, coming up behind him. She hesitated, wondering if she should touch him even though she wanted to wrap around him and take the hurt away. He nodded his head and looked at her through the reflection in the glass. His eyes glistened. Then he cleared his throat and seemed to shake off the vulnerability and faced her, all cop and amour.
“The lab found traces of DNA, but it was contaminated. With animal DNA. She was ripped apart, as if from claws. The official theory was that she’d been kidnapped and the killer had screwed up and the animals had gotten to her before he could do anything. She wasn’t raped.” He never said thank God, but she heard the good Catholic in him anyway. “She was found in pieces.” He repeated, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him before she could think.
At first he was stiff, surprised. Then his lips seemed to melt instantly and there was nothing polite, reserved or restrained about her calm, courteous, self-possessed Rodriguez. His arms lifted her off the ground and his tongue fed from deep inside her, stealing her breath. His hands tangled in her hair and he was all hard muscle and need.