Chapter Seventeen
Lucan pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. Only ten more minutes and Jamie would be out. Still, waiting for her was about to kill him.
He groaned. He was already so far gone it wasn’t even funny. She was whispering about how she might fall in love with him, but he was fairly certain he was already very much in love with her.
How did that shit happen? One minute they were fucking like bunnies and the next he wanted to tattoo her name across her chest.
Lucan grinned a little. Or maybe he’d tattoo his name on her ass. That wasn’t a half bad idea.
He’d heard about the hybrid and Vestal bond, but just hearing about it wasn’t the same thing as experiencing it. In the end, though, he’d take a little longing between shifts as long as he got to be with Jamie.
Lucan was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the woman step out of the alley next to the pub.
“Filthy hybrid.”
His head whipped over to look at the woman. Her face was blank as she stared at him.
“Excuse me?” he said.
Maybe he had misheard her. He had his contacts in, but it was a small town, and perhaps his size had given him away.
“You should be locked in a cage where you belong.”
Lucan stared at the woman. There was nothing particularly special about her. Her black hair was pulled into a bun, and she wore a normal outfit: jeans and a t-shirt. She looked like anyone else he might meet on the streets.
Her expression and dull stare, though, was something he’d seen before, something not normal.
Shit. More mind control. He bit back a growl. There was no fucking way he just happened to randomly run into a mind-controlled person this far from the Lodge. The bastards were close, maybe A.J. Kinkaid himself.
That didn’t change his immediate problem. He was tired of their enemy hiding behind innocent people.
Lucan stepped off his bike slowly. Maybe he could get to her before she did anything that might hurt someone.
As soon as his other foot hit the ground, the woman sprinted away.
“Shit,” he cursed, and followed her into the alley. The mind-controlled people were bad enough when they were acting more slow zombie than fast zombie.
The small woman was faster than he would have thought, way faster, and it didn’t help that she got a head start.
Lucan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, slowing for just a moment. He glanced down to the phone and hit Nikon’s number.
“Yeah,” Nikon said.
“I’ve got a lead,” he said into the phone. “Woman being controlled, I think. Said some stuff about hybrids with that vacant stare on her face. I’m following her now.”
“Streets?”
Lucan glanced around for a second. There was nothing in the alley. He squinted into the distance as a sign came into view.
“We’re coming out the alley alongside the pub. Amber Avenue up ahead.”
The woman turned right with Lucan close behind. In the end, no human was going to outrun a hybrid, no matter how surprisingly fast she was.
They emerged from the alley. Bars lined the street. People crowded the area.
“Son of a…” he said.
Lucan watched as the woman glanced back to where he was. She knew that he couldn’t do anything with all these people around. No wonder she’d run right away.
“Heading north on Amber Avenue. Get here ASAP.”
He pocketed his phone and followed the woman as she weaved through the crowds.
Several times he thought he might have lost her among all the people, but she would appear just ahead again.
Something about the whole thing smelled to him. It was like she was looking for a place with the most people so she could take them out.
It didn’t make sense. Before it had been all about going after the hybrids. The people of this town had nothing to do with them.
A couple large, solid drunk guys ran into him, stumbling a bit as they did, and stopping him. They looked over at him, anger on their faces, but perhaps his size or just general manner was enough to convince them fighting him wasn’t a good idea.
“Sorry, bro,” one mumbled.
Lucan pushed between them, but it was too late. She had given him the slip.
He pulled out his phone. “She got away. Meet me at the pub,” he texted Nikon.
Lucan dialed Cato. They had to know what was going on. The woman didn’t have any vest or coat that could conceal explosives, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going somewhere to pick one up.
The people of the town could be in dire trouble.
* * *
Jamie looked around outside. Lucan’s bike was still there, but the hybrid was nowhere to be found.
She frowned. Maybe he’d gone for a coffee or something. However, it didn’t seem like him to just take off like that, not when he knew she was getting off work soon.
“Jamie?”
A chill swept over her. She knew the voice before she even turned around: Aaron.
This was the last confrontation she wanted to have with the Creeper King. He needed to understand that she wasn’t interested.
Being as nonchalant as she could, Jamie slipped her hand into her purse and wrapped a hand firmly around the pepper spray.
“Hi, Aaron,” she said, turning around. “I was just waiting for my boyfriend.”
He stepped closer to her, and Jamie moved closer to the door of the pub. Anywhere near people would be better.
“I just wanted to say how sorry I am about my behavior earlier,” he said with a smile.
There was something off about the way he was talking. The tone and flow just seemed off slightly. Whatever it was, it made her even more uneasy than she had felt before.
Jamie took another step toward the door. “Oh, it’s no problem.”
Aaron stepped closer. She could see that he’d removed his tie and rolled up the sleeves on his shirt.
“I really think you should reconsider my offer, though,” he said. He took in a deep breath, and she noticed how wild and wide his eyes now were.
Jamie turned to walk toward the door, not wanting to deal with the psycho anymore. She didn’t even bother to respond.
“I just think you can do better than a filthy hybrid,” Aaron said.
She stopped and spun on her heel. She turned to stare at him. “What did you say?”
Aaron stepped closer, and she could smell the mint from the gum he was chewing.
“They are tools,” he said quickly. “Something to be bred, but not with a woman like you. It’s only unfortunate that they weren’t all disposed of when their facility was abandoned.”
Her jaw dropped. She couldn’t even believe what she was hearing. He knew about Lucan. Plus, being jealous was one thing; wishing death against someone over it was way over the line.
“I think that’s none of your business,” Jamie said, and turned back around.
A firm grip landed on her arm, squeezing it like a vice.
“I’m not going to let you go back to that filth.”
Jamie struggled to get away, but his grip was stronger than she would have thought. Just as she had before, she flipped the lid and sprayed, this time over her shoulder with her mouth and eyes closed so as not to experience any blowback.
Aaron shouted behind her, but his hand didn’t come off, no matter how much she struggled.
Suddenly she felt herself being swung hard into the wall, both of his hands on her arms. She stared at his red face. Tears streamed down his face, but his frenzied eyes remained fixed on her.
“You aren’t getting away that easy,” he said.
He pulled both her hands into his. When she opened her mouth to scream, he covered her face with a cloth with an odd slightly sweet odor to it.
The world spun around her, and she felt her body go slack. Aaron reached out to catch her before she hit the ground.
“There, there,” he whispered. “I’ve got you. Everything’s going to be better now. That creature doesn’t deserve you. Even the Group doesn’t quite understand.”
Jamie’s clouded mind tried to process what he was saying. Group? As in Horatius Group?
Bile made its way up to the back of her throat as Aaron kissed her forehead.
As darkness set in, Jamie could hear the sound of a car pulling up and prayed it was someone who might help. Anyone.
“Hurry up and get her legs,” Aaron said.
The world swam around her as a woman came into view. Jamie’s eyes closed as she was moved, and then the lights went out.