Chapter Thirteen
What in the hell just happened? Jane pushed away from the alley’s wall, aware that her knees were shaking. Aidan had been going for her throat—and not in the sexy, lover-like way he’d done back at his club.
He’d been out for blood. Hers.
“I’m guessing he isn’t always like that.” The feminine voice drifted to her, a little weak.
Jane looked at the woman who stood a few feet away. The blonde who’d just appeared with Vincent. The lady was taller than Jane, probably around five foot ten. She wore jeans and a t-shirt, with small, black boots on her feet. She looked utterly normal right then, but Jane knew the woman was packed with magical power. After all, Jane had seen what the blonde did to Aidan.
“No,” Jane murmured as she approached the newcomer. “He’s not.” Her gaze swept over the woman. The blonde wore thick, gold bangle bracelets around her wrists. “You’re Vincent’s witch.”
The woman took a step back. “Is that what I am?”
She was so not in the mood for games. “Lena,” Jane snapped out. “Vincent told me your name.”
“What else did he tell you?” Now Lena seemed vaguely curious.
“That you were strong.” Jane took another step toward her. “That you were the reason the guy can pretty much vanish in an instant, a little trick that I don’t know of any other vamp performing.”
“Umm…” Lena smoothed back her hair, even though it was already perfectly in place. “He does owe that trick to me.”
Jane moved to walk around her, but Lena side-stepped, blocking her path. Jane’s brows shot up. Oh, sister, you do not want to be doing that.
“You shouldn’t go after him right now.” Lena’s voice had dropped. “He’s…he seemed rather dangerous, and I do believe he told you to get the ‘fuck away’ from him.”
“Aidan needs me.”
“I think the guy needs a whole lot right now,” Lena muttered.
Jane’s eyes narrowed on her. “Why didn’t you stop him from fleeing?”
“Because the guy is strong—too strong for me to hold for long.” But Lena actually seemed…happy…about that fact. “Didn’t anticipate that power. Bet Vincent didn’t, either.”
Jane moved to the left.
The witch moved, too.
“Seriously, get the hell out of my way, now,” Jane ordered. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“And I don’t want to be hurt anymore.” Sadness flashed on Lena’s pretty face. “But we aren’t always given options. If you follow Aidan tonight, you will lose him.”
“What? Did you look into a scrying mirror and see that?”
“A scrying mirror?” Lena shook her head. “Never used one. I don’t see the future, just the present, and I can see that right now…that man is fighting for his sanity. No,” she rolled back her shoulders. “I think he’s fighting for his soul.”
And Jane was just standing in an alley, talking shit with a witch she’d just met. “All the more reason for me to get to him.”
“If he hurts you, he’s lost, and he knows it.” Lena’s gaze swept over Jane’s face. “Go to him now, and he’ll cross a line that will send him straight to hell.”
Okay, enough of this crap. “Move…or I’ll move you.” She wasn’t afraid of a witch’s power.
Lena stared at her a moment longer. “The end, Jane. Do you see? It’s all been leading to this moment. For so many centuries, everything has been building up to this.”
“To this?” A dark, smelly alley? The lady wasn’t moving so Jane just grabbed her—and moved her. “This moment is me choosing to follow Aidan. Me choosing Aidan. I know he’s suffering, I can see it—”
“The darkness is swallowing him. His two halves…wolf and vampire…they were fighting for supremacy within him. Didn’t you see that?” Lena demanded.
Jane marched to the edge of the alley. Lena rushed behind her.
“The wolf took over when he left!” Lena’s voice was breathless. “The beast doesn’t reason. It just reacts. I know, I’ve seen more than my fair share of alpha werewolves during my time on this earth. But right now, Aidan Locke is like an alpha on serious steroids. Even his mate can’t calm the beast in him.”
Jane had Aidan’s scent, and she knew she could find him, no matter where he’d gone. She looked back at the witch. “Want to bet?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She turned to the left, locked on Aidan, and she ran after the man who mattered most to her.
When he’d had her against that wall, it had been as if she were staring into the eyes of a stranger. There had been no tenderness, no love in his blue gaze. Only rage. Bloodlust. He’d looked at her as if she were his prey…
And she’d been afraid. Of him. Of what was happening to them both.
There were so many people on the streets. How the hell had they missed a giant black wolf rushing past them? Were the people on Bourbon that drunk already?
Jane’s pace quickened as she tried to catch up to him, but even though his scent drifted in the air back to her, Jane couldn’t see Aidan.
Maybe no one could see him…maybe he’s moving too damn fast for human eyes to notice him. That would explain why the humans weren’t screaming in the streets.
An alpha on steroids. That was how the witch had described him.
Oh, shit, but this was going to be one hell of a night. Jane ran forward and she tried not to think about the brother that a vampire had taken away, the brother who wanted her dead.
***
“Why…are you with me?” Paris’s voice was a weak rasp.
Annette shrugged. “Someone has to keep you safe.”
He laughed. “I’m not…the one in danger.” His golden gaze dipped to the line of dirt around him, then back up to her face. “You are. Isn’t that why…you have me caged?”
He was making more sense when he talked now. Seeming a bit…saner. That was good. He’d drained more bags of blood and his bloodlust appeared sated, for the moment. She could talk to him again. Talk to Paris.
“I have you caged,” her voice was nearly as soft as his, “because if you come for my throat, I’ll have to stop you. Kill you. And I don’t want to do that.”
His lips twisted in a mocking smile, one that flashed his fangs. “Because my life matters to you?”
She wasn’t in the mood for mockery. “Yes.” A simple, true answer. “You do matter.”
He tensed. “Why didn’t you tell me that…” His words were growled. “When I was still alive?”
She held his gaze. She’d always thought he had such beautiful eyes. “Because I was waiting on you to make the first move.” Waiting on him, while she fell for him. Paris Cole. The true blue werewolf. The most loyal of the pack. The man of courage and honor.
The man who’d stolen a voodoo queen’s heart without even really trying.
“Too…late for a first move now.” His gaze fell from hers and his hands fisted in his lap. When they’d hauled him out of the ME’s lab and transported him to that old club, Aidan had made sure the guy was given fresh clothes—jeans and a t-shirt. He looked almost…normal. “The last thing you want is to be tied to whatever the fuck I am.”
“No, the last thing I want…” She waited for his gaze to rise and meet hers once more. “The last thing I want is to be in this world without you.”
Surprise flashed on his face.
“I’ve waited a long time for you, Paris. You’d better be worth the wait.”
And his eyes seemed to lighten. Some of the terrible tension left his face. He wasn’t a blood-crazed monster. He was…Paris. Her Paris. Coming back to her. Fighting his way back and she thought they’d have a chance together, she thought—
Footsteps raced behind her. She grabbed her gun and jumped to her feet. But when she turned around, she saw that the guy who’d been racing toward her was just Garrison. He ran toward her, but his gaze flew around the room, searching for threats.
“Garrison! What’s happened?”
Tension rolled off the guy. “Aidan sent me.” His eyes were still searching every corner of the room. “I’m here to protect you two.”
She laughed.
He glared at her.
“Garrison, trust me, I can protect Paris just fine.” She didn’t need the junior-wolf taking over the job.
“Alpha’s orders.” Garrison threw back his shoulders and suddenly didn’t look quite so young or reckless. “Paris is my friend, and I will protect him. No one is going to get to him on my watch.”
A chill slid over her. “Who’s coming to get him?”
But Garrison just locked his jaw. Did that mean he didn’t know? Or he wasn’t telling her?
“What did you find out about the blood?”
“His blood is the same as Jane’s. Doc said the cells had transformed the same way. He thinks…he thinks the blood Paris was given belonged to Jane.”
“Someone is making new monsters.” The gravel-rough words came from Paris.
Her gaze slid toward him. He lifted his hand, showing the claws that had sprouted from his fingertips. The claws of a werewolf, even though he had the fangs of a vamp. “And I guess I was one of their experiments.”
She’d never needed her scrying mirror more. Annette felt as if she were walking blind. Who was the enemy? Where was the threat coming from?
And what was going to happen next?