Chapter Thirteen
Aidan shoved open the door at Hell’s Gate. It flew back, bouncing against the wall, and at the loud crash of sound, the human who’d been sitting at his bar jumped to his feet.
He looks like Jane.
The dark hair was the same. The dark eyes were the same, though Jane’s gaze had more gold flecks. Aidan cocked his head as he closed in on the shorter man.
Her brother was average height, average build. His jaw was a little soft and stubble covered the lower part of his face. His hands were clenched at his sides. “Look, fellow,” Drew Hart blasted. “I don’t know who you think you are or what the hell is happening here, but I was told my sister needed me. And I want to see her. Now.”
Ah…so he had a bit of Jane’s give-‘em-hell attitude. Good. “Jane isn’t available at the moment.” She’s walking into more danger and I’m about to rush after her sweet ass. “So you have to settle for me.”
“She’s not available?” Drew’s voice rose. “Listen, you,” Drew said as his hand lifted and he jabbed his finger into Aidan’s chest. “You don’t tell me she’s not available.”
“Oh, bad move,” Garrison muttered from his position behind the bar. “Shouldn’t touch him, not even if you are her brother.”
“What?” Drew cast a confused glance Garrison’s way, then looked back at Aidan. “You need to—”
Aidan had just noticed the tattoo on the guy’s forearm. Swirling, black…Aidan grabbed that arm and twisted it around for a better view.
Drew screamed—a little in pain and a whole lot in shock. Aidan shoved the guy back against the bar and studied the tattoo. “Omega.” The guy had gotten a tattoo to match Jane’s scar? What. In. The. Hell?
“Who are you?” Drew asked, voice breaking. He tried to shove Aidan back, but Aidan wasn’t in the mood to move.
“I’m the man Jane loves.”
“He’s Aidan Locke.” Garrison offered helpfully.
Aidan snarled at him. He didn’t need Garrison’s help right then.
“Wait—what? My sister loves you? She actually…she let you get close to her?” Then Drew shook his head. “No. Bullshit. Bullshit. Mary Jane doesn’t let anyone close. Not even me.”
“Why do you have that tattoo?”
“Because I like Greek letters.”
Aidan tightened his hold on the guy’s wrist. “I could break this with less effort than it would take me to breathe.”
Drew’s eyes widened. He paled a little, then he laughed. “You actually think my sister loves you? You? Mary Jane is a cop! She helps people! There is no way—no flipping way—she’d fall for some psychopath like you. You want to break my wrist? Do it. Go ahead. But I am not going to tell you another damn thing about my family.”
Don’t kick her brother’s ass. Don’t. “I know all about Jane’s burn. A burn that looks just like this scar.”
Drew’s cheeks weren’t just pale any longer. They’d totally bleached of color.
“I know Jane saw her mother and stepfather die right in front of her. I know she called out to you, begging for help.”
“No.” The one word was hoarse as it broke from Drew. “She didn’t. Mary Jane never called out. I was there the whole time and she never said a word.”
What? Anger turned to rage as Aidan stared down at Drew Hart. The beast was close and Aidan used his power.
Let’s see if he really is like Jane. “Tell me everything.”
Drew’s gaze seemed to turn foggy.
“Tell me where you were when Jane was attacked. Tell me what you did.”
“Uh, boss…” Garrison began nervously.
“Tell me…” Aidan shoved all of his power into that order.
Sweat dripped down Drew’s temples. “I hid. In the basement.”
“Now I call bullshit. The vamp would have smelled you.”
“Mom…mom always gave me this special lotion. Said I had to put it on every day. Me and Mary Jane. When we were kids, she told us it would keep the monsters away.”
What?
“She was a fanatic. Always made Mary Jane and I use it. Realized later that it blocked our scents. Figured it was so our father couldn’t find us.”
Sonofabitch.
“I hid in the basement.” No emotion was in Drew’s voice. “I watched. They killed mom. They killed our stepfather. And they…they tied Mary Jane to that table. She was screaming and I-I smelled…smelled them burning her.”
“Oh, fucking hell,” Garrison whispered. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and just started downing it. “And I thought I had it bad.”
“I watched,” Drew admitted as his head sagged. “I watched them hurt her. I didn’t make a sound.”
“You didn’t try to save her?” But Jane cried out for her brother at night. Dammit. His Jane cried for help.
“The vamp…he left her, just for a moment. Went upstairs.” Drew licked his lips and his unfocused gaze seemed to sharpen. “Wait—what’s happening? Why am I—”
“Tell me the rest. Tell me how Jane got out of that basement.” Drew wasn’t a vamp-in-waiting, but the guy’s mind was strong. So strong that Aidan had to work hard to control him.
“I rushed to Mary Jane.” The words came stiltedly. “Untied her. We ran to the window. There was one small window in that basement. I went through first. I turned around and put my hands back through the opening. I was going to get Mary Jane out. But…but the vamp grabbed her legs.”
Garrison had frozen, the whiskey bottle inches from his mouth.
Aidan could hear the hard drumming of his own heartbeat.
“But…our father appeared. Our real father, the one I’d feared for so long.”
“What?”
“He…he grabbed the other vamp from behind. Held him back so Mary Jane could get out.” Drew’s voice went ragged. “I don’t think Mary Jane remembers that part. And it’s good because…our father…that vamp attacked him. With fangs and claws and there was so much blood and our dad…despite everything, I swear, he was still good because he screamed for me to take Mary Jane and…to run.”
Impossible.
But…
Drew is under my power. He has to tell me the truth. Aidan tapped Drew’s arm. “Why the fuck do you have this tattoo?”
“To remind me that my sister suffered to protect me. To remind me every single day that there is good in the world. Because even though she won’t let me near her, even though Mary Jane says something about her is too dangerous…Mary Jane is the good in my world. Wearing her mark is the least I can do.”
Aidan let him go.
Drew exhaled on a ragged breath and shook his head. “Where is my sister?”
“Walking into danger. Isn’t that her usual way of operating?” Aidan turned away. “And I’m going with her. Because I have her back.” Just as I know she’d have mine. “You can stay—”
“If Mary Jane’s in trouble, then I’m coming, too.”
Hell. I know I have to be more careful with my words. I let that “can” slip out. I should’ve just said…You stay here.
Drew grabbed his arm and spun Aidan back around. “If my sister needs me, I’m there.”
“No—”
“Some crazy ass goons of yours who just showed up at my house in the middle of the night. They said Mary Jane was in trouble, and I hauled ass here, no questions. Because I love her. Because I will not let her down again.”
“You don’t know what you’re stepping into,” Aidan warned him.
“One night, when I was about four years old, I saw my real father come home. He wasn’t the happy, smiling guy I’d known. The guy who made me feel safe my whole freaking life. His skin was too pale, his body was shaking. And he had fangs. He came at me, and I ran.” Shame burned in Drew’s voice. “Years later, I saw my mother and my stepfather get murdered by vamps. And the father that I’d tried to forget—the father I’d been hiding from for so long? He was there. Fighting with fangs and claws. Fighting to save me and my sister.” His breath huffed out. “So don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m stepping into, okay? I get it—monsters are real.”
Yes, they were.
Drew’s voice shook as he said, “My sister is fighting a vamp, isn’t she? That’s what’s going on, and I won’t let her be alone.”
The guy still didn’t get it. “It’s not just vamps you have to deal with. This time, the killer is one of us.”
“Us?”
Garrison cleared his throat and put down the whiskey. “Well, not you. He’s like me. Like Aidan.”
Drew dropped his hold on Aidan and backed up—fast. “You’re vampires?”
“No,” Aidan told him as he let his claws spring out. “We’re werewolves.” If this went poorly, he’d just make the guy forget.
“What. The. Fuck? Werewolves?” Drew swayed. “Werewolves are real?”
“Plenty of things are real in this world.” He held Drew’s gaze.
“Are you…evil?”
“Only some days.”
“No, he’s not!” Garrison fired back. Like Aidan needed the guy defending him, but it was a nice gesture. “Aidan takes care of this pack. He protects this town. He’s our law!”
Drew’s hand clenched around the back of a nearby chair. “Werewolves.”
Yes, he obviously needed processing time, and that was time Aidan didn’t intend to waste. “Keep him close,” he ordered Garrison. “Only, no handcuffs this time, got it?”
Garrison nodded. “Got it.”
Aidan headed for the door, but quick footsteps thudded behind him. Without looking back, he threw out his hand and his fingers fisted in Drew’s shirt. “Don’t be a liability to me,” he said. “If you’re screwed up in the head because of this, you’ll just distract me.”
“I-I want to help Mary Jane. I want to make everything right.”
That he could understand. “Then you stay close and you do exactly what I say…”
***
When Jane arrived back at the college campus, she immediately went in to have a one-on-one talk with the Dean of Students. Only that little chat went freaking nowhere fast.
She’d wanted a list of students who were in classes with Alan Thatcher and Travis Maller—then, she’d wanted that list broken down so she could see which students were from out of state. A simple enough request.
Because I think the killer has to be an out-of-state student. Aidan knew all the local werewolves. So it stood to reason that this guy—this new alpha—was an unknown because he’d come from a different state.
The Dean of Students—a guy named Shawn Hastings, Dr. Hastings, who had a double chin, a thick head of a black hair, and very twitchy eyes—was sweating as he stared at her. “I-I can’t give you that information,” Shawn said for what had to be the fifth time. “I must protect the privacy of my students.”
His assistant stood just behind him, looking nervous as all hell.
“Your students are dying.” He shouldn’t need that reminder. “And I strongly suspect the killer is on this campus.”
Shawn blanched.
“I need that list.”
“And I want to help you.” He patted a cloth to his sweating forehead. “But unless you have a warrant, my hands are tied.”
A warrant would take too long. The killer had dropped a body for the last two nights, and her money was on him striking again when the sun set. Before she could argue again, Jane’s phone vibrated. Jane looked down and read the text from Aidan. I’m here.
She quickly typed back. Dean of Students. Meet me. “I’ve got something better than a warrant.” And she couldn’t believe she was going to do this. It was wrong. She knew it was wrong, and she felt like a total hypocrite, but Jane didn’t have time to waste. Dammit. The killer was going to strike again. She knew it.
He had a taste for the blood now. Human, werewolf—the killers were the same. Once they got the rush and the power that came from taking another life, they didn’t stop. It was like an addiction.
“Better than a warrant?” Shawn asked as he rose. “Why, I’d like to see that—”
The door to his office flew open. Fast, very fast—that was her Aidan.
“What is happening?” Shawn’s voice was a shriek now.
His assistant—and Jane was pretty sure the assistant and the dean might be involved because the woman’s bright red lipstick matched the smudge on the dean’s fancy white dress collar—immediately grabbed for the phone on his desk. Probably calling security.
“This is my partner,” Jane murmured. “And you’re going to provide him with a list of the students from out of state, students who were in classes with Travis Maller and Alan Thatcher.”
The dean gaped at her.
The assistant’s gaze flew around the room.
Jane tapped her chin. “You know what? Give me a list of the out-of-state students who were in Alan’s dorm, too.”
“No,” the dean snapped. “Absolutely not. I told you, I need a warrant. Now it’s time for you and your partner to leave, immediately.”
Jane sighed. I am breaking my own rules. What did that say about her? Was her moral compass bent or totally broken? Her stare slid to Aidan, and she knew he’d get her message. “Told you,” Jane murmured. “I have something better than a warrant.” I have my own personal alpha werewolf.
Aidan stalked toward the dean’s desk. She could practically feel the power swirling in the room. Aidan looked first at the young assistant. “Hang up the phone.”
She did.
Then Aidan focused on the dean. “About that list…”
***
“Thank you, Aidan,” Jane said quickly as they hurried out of the dean’s office. “I wasn’t exactly running high on charm today, and you totally saved my ass.”
There were a lot of names on the list. More names than she’d hoped to see. And Jane knew the list might not even lead to the killer. After all, Travis and Alan could have met the guy at a campus party—or an off campus party. The guy might not even be a student, but at least it was a starting point for her.
It was something.
She began skimming over the list.
“Glad I could be of use,” Aidan said, his voice oddly careful. “Jane, there’s something I need to tell you.”
But her gaze had just zeroed in on one name. A name that was familiar to her. “Quint Laurel,” Jane whispered. “Sonofabitch.”
“Jane?”
She looked up. “The day after Alan Thatcher died, I went to his dorm room. Quint Laurel was there. He strode inside and acted all torn up when I had to break the news to him that Alan Thatcher was dead.”
“Maybe he was torn up.”
“And maybe he was playing me. Maybe he was the killer and he wanted to find out just what I knew.” She hurried toward the stairwell door.
But Aidan did that too-fast thing of his and stepped into her path. “Slow down.”
“I can’t! Time is running out.” The sun was already sliding low in the sky. “I’m afraid he’s going to kill again tonight, Aidan. That there will be another body found savaged in a cemetery.”
“Then we put guards at the cemeteries,” he said with a nod. “I’ll send my men—”
“Up against another alpha?”
His jaw hardened.
“He’d be able to take down your men, just as easily as you would. And there’s no way I can put human cops out there against him.” That would be a serious blood bath. “No, we need to find him. You and I. We can catch him unaware. Stop the bastard.”
“It might not even be this Quint Laurel—”
“No, but you talk to him for two seconds, and we’ll know if it is or not.” She stepped around him and shoved open the door that led to the stairwell. She rushed down the stairs, her thudding footsteps echoing around her. Aidan was close behind.
“Your brother is here.”
She grabbed onto the railing so she wouldn’t fall. Jane whipped her head back to face Aidan. “What?”
“When you were hurt, you called out for him. I…I wanted to help you, so I got my wolves to find him. Werewolves are good at tracking.”
Her cheeks felt numb. “I didn’t need to track him. I knew where he was all along. Safely away from me.”
“Jane, he wants to help you.”
Tears burned her eyes. “Aidan, what have you done?”
“He’s outside. He’s here to help,” Aidan said again. His voice was halting, more hesitant than she’d ever heard him before. “Jane, I want you happy. I did this…so you’d be happy.”
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. Dammit, she cried way too much lately. That shit had to stop. “You ever think there’s a reason I haven’t seen him in so long? Aidan, jeez, look at me! I’m a magnet for monsters!”
He flinched.
“That’s not what I meant. You’re not what I meant.”
“You sure about that?”
She swallowed. “Vampires. Werewolves. That’s my life now. It isn’t his. He’s normal. You saw that, right?” Now her voice was hopeful. Because…
I don’t know. Maybe he is like me. Maybe I’m about to ruin my brother’s life, too.
“He’s normal,” Aidan said softly.
Her shoulders fell. Aidan’s words were both a relief and a condemnation. I was the different one. It was because of me that Drew lost his whole family. I brought the vampires. They wanted me.
Because I’m the end.
“He loves you.”
She started hurrying down the stairs again. “I want him safe.”
“He wants to pay back his debt to you. He didn’t help you when you were kids, and he wants the chance now.”
What? She didn’t stop, though adrenaline pumped through her body. “He’s the one who got me out of that basement. Drew owes me nothing.”
When she reached the bottom floor, Jane shoved open the stairwell door and raced outside. The sky was cloudy. Too dark. And there, just a few feet away, with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes on her…
There was her brother.
“Drew?” Jane stared at him, absolutely lost. For a moment, she was a child again, huddled with her brother as they waited for police to arrive at their house. Her hand had gripped his so tightly. He’d been her whole world.
“Mary Jane.” He smiled at her and looked so freaking happy to see her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Jane whispered. “I’m working a case.”
Drew took a step toward her. “You look good.”
You shouldn’t be here.
“I-I know, Mary Jane,” Drew said, his words stammering. “About the vampires. About the werewolves. About everything.”
Her gaze swung to Aidan. “What did you do?”
“I know,” Drew said doggedly. “And I’m not scared.”
Liar. She could practically smell his fear. Her desperate stare flew back to her brother.
“We can stop them, Mary Jane,” Drew said. “We can stop them all…”
And that was when she knew that things were very, very bad.
I stayed away from Drew for a reason. He stopped being the man I knew…he was fanatical. I thought I was making him worse, that by leaving he’d get better, that it was me…
But maybe it had been him. All along…
Drew reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.
“What in the hell is happening?” Aidan snarled. “He was under my control.”
“No, I wasn’t.” Drew’s chin lifted. “And I won’t let my sister be, either. She’d never choose a monster. Never. I won’t let you do this to her!”
He fired the gun, blasting it right at Aidan.
Jane didn’t think. Didn’t even pause. She just threw her body in front of his.
The bullet slammed into her chest. She heard Aidan scream. She heard Drew scream.
Blood soaked her shirt and pain tore her world apart.
In the next instant, Jane was on the ground, gasping, trying to take in a breath but something was wrong with her lungs. Aidan’s hands grabbed her. He held her tight. “Jane! Jane!”
Her gaze slid to Drew. He was going to shoot again. “No,” Jane whispered because she couldn’t protect Aidan. Not now. She was too weak. And he was too focused on her to protect himself.
The thunder of the gun came once more. In the distance, she heard someone screaming. The kids on campus? Panicking because there was an active shooter. Run. Everyone needs to run.
Aidan jerked and she knew the bullet had hit him, but he didn’t let her go. He rose with her in his arms.
“Leave my sister alone!” Drew roared.
Aidan took a step away from him.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Three shots. One had burned across her arm before it sank into Aidan’s chest. Aidan stared down at her. She wanted to speak but a rough whistle was the only sound coming from her lips.
I can’t breathe. I can’t get any air.
“Love…you…” Aidan whispered.
And then he fell. Her strong, big, bad, fierce wolf fell, and she tumbled from his arms. Jane barely felt the impact when she slammed into the concrete. Her body rolled down the few steps there and when she stopped, she was staring up at her brother.
He still had the gun in his hands. “Don’t worry, Mary Jane. I’ll make sure he stays down.”
A shadow moved behind Drew. Fast. One that hadn’t been there before. It just—appeared.
Stop him. She couldn’t say the words. She tried. Tried so hard.
Stop. Him! Stop my brother!
And then the shadow took shape. Vincent stood behind her brother. His hand lifted and he grabbed her brother. His fangs flashed as he ripped into Drew’s throat. Drew fired but the bullet seemed to go wild.
It didn’t hit Aidan.
My werewolf guards. They have to be somewhere close on campus. Aidan had been making sure she had extra security since the last attack. The guards were there—they would come running soon.
She just had to hold on a bit longer.
But she felt so cold.
“This is how it ends,” Vincent’s voice wasn’t smug. Not happy. Just flat. He was standing over her now. “Are you ready?”
Ready to die? No. No, she wasn’t. Jane’s hands flew out to grab the steps around her, and she tried to haul her body toward Aidan. If she got his blood, everything would be all right. She’d be strong again. She’d dig the bullets out of his body—they had to be silver because she’d seen the smoke coming from him when he’d first been hit—and he’d be okay, too. They’d both make it.
They’d live to fight and love another day.
She pulled her body a few desperate inches.
“No, Jane.” Vincent crouched in front of her. Now his voice was sad. “That isn’t your end.”
Aidan. She couldn’t even say his name. And black dots were dancing before her eyes.
“You won’t get his blood this time. He won’t save you.” Vincent’s hand feathered over her face. “Be content knowing that you saved him.”
That terrible whistle came from her again as she fought so hard to say Aidan’s name.
“The bullet went into your lungs. You’re drowning in your own blood. It’s a terrible way to go, Jane. Needless suffering.” His hand slid down her throat in a soothing caress. “I don’t like to watch anyone suffer.”
No, no, he couldn’t—
“After the end,” Vincent murmured, “the beginning comes.”
What?
He snapped her neck.
The whistling stopped. The black dots vanished.
Everything vanished.