Chapter Fourteen
It was a blood bath. Paris rushed toward the steps of the college, his beast raging inside of him. He’d gotten to the scene just moments ago because when he’d gone to Hell’s Gate, Garrison had told him that Aidan had gone to the campus in order to help Jane. That they had a lead on the werewolf killer in town.
I wanted to give Aidan back-up. I was supposed to always watch his back.
Paris saw the two werewolves who’d been assigned to guard Jane, only they weren’t guarding her. They were crouched over Aidan’s prone body.
No. A roar broke from him. College kids had scattered, probably at the first blast of gunfire—smart freaking kids. So no one was watching as he leapt up the steps and bounded to Aidan’s side.
I can smell the silver in him.
No one was watching when his claws burst from his fingertips and Paris drove them into Aidan’s chest. Paris knew he had to get the bullets out. If Aidan was going to live…I have to get them out.
The silver bullets burned his fingers, but he didn’t care. He got one bullet. Another. The third…fuck, it was close to his heart. “Get Dr. Bob on stand-by,” he ordered the guards. Guards who’d been fucking useless from the look of things. But they desperately needed the doctor because even with Aidan’s healing powers, the guy would still need help.
One of the werewolf guards immediately backed away and yanked out his phone.
“Where the hell were you two?” Paris demanded. “You were supposed to protect them.” He pulled out another bullet, only this one had splintered. Fucking pieces of silver are in him.
“H-he said he had this,” one of the guards mumbled. “When Aidan arrived, he told us to—to back off a bit. He was with her brother. It was supposed to be safe.”
And for an instant, the red haze of fear that had nearly blinded Paris cleared. He’d been focused just on Aidan. He’d seen his friend, his alpha, lying so motionless. I was afraid I was too late. But the red haze had cleared a bit and now he saw…
Jane.
Not moving.
Not…breathing?
Oh, fuck.
“H-help m-me…” A desperate cry. Paris’s gaze jerked toward the man who’d given that cry. A man with dark hair. With Jane’s dark eyes. Blood pumped from wounds on his throat. “Vamp…attacked me,” he gasped. “K-Killed my sister…”
Paris’s nostrils flared. “You fired the gun. I can smell the gun powder on you. You shot Aidan.”
His claws were still in Aidan’s chest. He pulled out another shard of silver.
“I’m…h-her…brother…m-my M-Mary J-Jane…” More blood pumped from those wounds on the guy’s throat.
Paris touched another tiny piece of silver. He yanked it from Aidan’s chest.
And then Aidan’s hand flew up in a flash. His fingers locked tightly around Paris’s wrist. “Jane.” The name was guttural.
I can’t tell him.
Sirens screamed in the distance. “We have to get out of here,” Paris said. “Human cops are going to be on the scene any minute.” Because what the fuck else would happen when someone started shooting on a college campus? The SWAT team will be coming. It will be a war scene.
“Jane.” Aidan’s breathing was labored, the lines on his face deeper, and he was so pale—like death. “Need…Jane…give her…blood…save…h-her…”
There is no saving her now, my friend.
Aidan’s hold tightened on Paris’s wrist. The bones were grinding together. “Get…me…to Jane…”
“You can’t help her, Aidan.” It hurt to say the words. “She’s…”
Aidan shoved him back. The alpha had been barely breathing moments before, but Aidan’s shove sent Paris flying through the air. Aidan dragged his body to Jane. He stared down at her a moment, his expression utterly lost and broken.
Then he reached out to her. He touched her face. “Jane?”
Paris pushed to his feet. “We have to get out of here.” He motioned to the two guards. “We have to take the alpha.” They would understand what he meant. The alpha was going to fight them like hell.
His world is about to implode. If they didn’t get him away from the humans, Paris wasn’t sure what would happen. He could already hear the pop and snap of Aidan’s bones. The alpha’s wolf wanted out.
Paris shoved his hand into his pocket. His fingers closed over the syringe that he’d been carrying, just in case.
Because Annette isn’t usually wrong.
“Jane?” Now her name was louder, more demanding as it burst from Aidan. The alpha used his teeth to slice open his wrist and then he put that bleeding wrist to her mouth. “Drink, Jane. Drink.”
It was ripping his heart out to watch his friend suffer. Paris eased toward Aidan. “The cops are coming.” Cops who weren’t in on the whole paranormal secret. “We have to go.”
“Drink, Jane.” Aidan kept his wrist at her mouth. “Please.”
Jane’s chest was bloody and her neck was tilted at an…unnatural angle. Her eyes were closed. Her body totally still. It was obvious she was dead. It was also obvious that Aidan wasn’t going to let her go.
“Jane.” Aidan pulled her against him, holding her tight. “No, Jane, no. Don’t do this to me.”
The two werewolf guards closed in on Aidan. They reached out to him.
“Stay the fuck away!” Aidan’s roar echoed around them.
The werewolves froze. They looked at Paris.
The sirens were louder.
“Jane.” Aidan began to rock her in his arms. Tears slid down his face. Paris had never seen the alpha cry before that moment. “Don’t leave me. I don’t…I don’t want to be without you. Please, Jane, please…”
She’d already left. The alpha had to see that.
But how long will she stay gone? Unease slithered through Paris.
“I love you, Mary Jane,” Aidan whispered. “You are my world. The person who always makes me smile. You bring me so much happiness…why, Jane, why? Why did you take that fucking bullet?”
Paris didn’t know what Aidan was talking about. “We have to leave.” They had only moments before the cops were there. And he could see a few of the college kids peeking out at them now.
“Help m-me!” That pain-filled bellow came from Jane’s brother.
Still alive.
Still—
Aidan’s head slowly turned toward the human.
Goosebumps rose on Paris’s arms.
“You’re dead,” Aidan told the younger man. “Dead. And it will be a long, slow, terrible death. I will peel the skin from your body. I will make you scream. I will ensure that you leave this world in more agony than anyone else can imagine.”
Oh, shit. This scene was getting bad.
Paris slowly pulled the syringe from his pocket. He didn’t want to do this. “Aidan…we have to leave.”
But Aidan was still rocking Jane in his arms and his gaze still promised death to her brother. “Are you ready to see my hell?”
Paris couldn’t let that happen. The police were almost there. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Then he lunged toward his alpha, the syringe gripped tightly in his hand. He sank the needle into Aidan’s back. The alpha roared. His claws flew out and slashed across Paris’s stomach and then—
Then Aidan collapsed, falling down so that his body was over Jane’s, and their faces were just inches apart.
Paris’s breath heaved out and his chest jerked as he stared down at his alpha…and at Jane. She looked almost peaceful right then. Hardly like some terrible, sinister threat.
She will be.
Paris grabbed Aidan. He slung the alpha over his shoulder. And he gave Jane one last look. I will remember you as you were.
And not as she’d become.
“What about him?” One of the werewolves jerked his hand toward Jane’s brother. The guy wasn’t calling out any longer. He barely seemed to be breathing.
“Leave him.” There was enough blood already on the ground. And too many witnesses lurking nearby. Eyes were on them now. “Let the cops deal with him.”
Or maybe Jane’s brother would die from his injuries in the next few moments. Save them all the effort.
Maybe…
Paris rushed toward his vehicle, Aidan was still slung over his shoulder. He jumped inside, the others helping him to secure Aidan. Moments later, he was gunning the engine and racing away.
He didn’t let himself look back at Jane. What was the point? The woman he’d known was gone. Soon enough, Aidan would understand that.
Just as…soon enough…the alpha would have to stop the beast that Jane would become.
***
“I’ve never seen the alpha like this.” Dr. Bob Heider was obviously hesitant as he studied Aidan’s prone form.
They were inside Aidan’s office at Hell’s Gate. Paris had gotten them to the nearest safe place so that Heider could examine the alpha’s wounds.
But the wounds are already closing.
“He’s out cold,” Heider continued. “But his vitals are good. The wounds are healing rapidly and—”
“I drugged him,” Paris said. “So don’t focus on him being unconscious. Just…just check everything else, okay?”
“You drugged your alpha?” Heider’s mouth formed an “O” of surprise.
“Yes, well, it was either drug him or watch the guy peel skin from a human’s body in front of who the hell knows how many college kids.” It was already going to be a bitch handling the situation from the campus. When Aidan was back to normal—when, not if, when—then the alpha could do some serious damage control. Aidan would need to make sure plenty of people forgot all about the events of that day.
Paris raked his hand over his face. “Look, right now, priority one is making sure Aidan is all right. So finish examining him, okay?”
“He’s fine. You got the silver out. You saved him.”
No, I didn’t. Sure, he’d gotten out the silver, but Paris thought Jane may have saved the alpha long before he’d arrived on scene. But Paris hadn’t gotten the full story about what happened. Not yet. He figured Jane’s brother was the one who knew that particular tale. “Finish his exam,” Paris ordered once more, then he turned and marched from the room. He wasn’t the least bit surprised to find Garrison pacing just outside of Aidan’s office.
“Is it…true?” Garrison asked, his hand moving to yank on his shirt collar as if it had been choking him. “Is Jane dead?”
He hadn’t felt for a pulse, but then, there hadn’t been a need. “Her neck was broken and she was covered in blood when I left her.”
“But…but was she dead?”
“Yes.” He was certain of this. “She’s gone, Garrison. I’m sorry.” Because Garrison and Jane had formed a friendship. An odd one considering that Garrison had shot her the first time they met but…
Garrison’s family had been killed by vampires, the same as Jane’s. They’d shared that pain.
“I…I think I’m going to visit some friends out of town for a while.”
Paris didn’t comment on the tears he saw gathering in Garrison’s eyes.
“I don’t…” Garrison pressed his lips together then continued, “I don’t want to be here when she rises. I can’t turn on her.” His hands fisted. “I swore to protect her, and I won’t lift my claws against Jane, no matter what.”
Even when she comes to rip out your heart? “You know it won’t be her. She’s gone.”
“I’m going to visit some friends,” Garrison said as he turned away. “Call me when…call me.” Garrison hurried toward the stairs.
Paris didn’t stop him, even though he straight-up knew the guy was lying. Garrison’s friends? Those would be…
Me.
Aidan.
Jane.
Tension gathered at the base of Paris’s neck. This situation was such a severe clusterfuck, and as far as he was concerned, there was only one way out of it. He pulled out his phone and then realized it had blood on it—Aidan’s blood. I touched the phone after I dug the bullets from my alpha. He swallowed back his rage and his fear, and he called the one person who could help him.
Annette Benoit answered on the first ring. Her voice was soft and sad as she said, “Jane’s dead.”
“Yes.” Fucking hell, yes. “And I need to make sure she stays that way.”
“Then you want the fire.”
Yes, dammit, that was what he’d wanted. A special batch of fire that would burn hell hot…hot enough to stop a vampire-in-waiting from ever rising. Hot enough to turn Jane into ash. And that batch of fire could only be created by a special voodoo queen—after all, she’d made it in the past. A guaranteed way to stop a vampire. Permanently. “Hurry.”
***
“Your alpha is fine.” Dr. Bob Heider marched out of Aidan’s office thirty minutes later. “Fine except for the drugs you gave to him.” Bob sure wouldn’t like to be around when Aidan unleashed his fury on Paris. “Good luck handling him.”
Paris never changed expression. “Someone will be waiting on your exam table.”
What the hell? “Another kill? You need to get that rogue werewolf under control!” He marched for the stairs.
But…Bob stopped.
A woman was there. A gorgeous African American woman he’d seen before. At Aidan’s place in the swamp. Her long, black hair skimmed her shoulders and power seemed to shine from her eyes. Oh, shit. They called in the voodoo queen. She made her way toward him and offered Bob the bottle in her hands.
He frowned. “What is this? Some kind of wine?” Like he’d take a drink she gave him. His mama hadn’t raised a fool.
“It’s fire.”
“Uh, no, it isn’t.”
“When you break the bottle,” she said, her voice oddly soothing, “the fire will rage. It will destroy completely. The beast won’t have a chance to be born.”
He glanced at Paris. “Is she making sense to you?”
“Jane was there when Aidan was attacked.”
Bob’s heartbeat suddenly seemed very, very fast in his chest. “She’s okay?” She had to be okay or else Paris would’ve had him treat her, too. She must be—
“She’ll be on your table.”
Bob’s knees nearly buckled. Jane?
“Use the fire on her,” Paris ordered quietly. “You’ll have access. You can do it before she changes. You can save lives by making sure Jane won’t rise.”
This was bull. “You’re asking me to kill her? Kill Jane?”
Annette Benoit shook her head. “Jane is already dead. We’re asking you to stop the monster before it can be born.”
Jane wasn’t a monster. She was…Jane.
“She’ll be too powerful when she rises,” Paris continued as he stepped closer to Bob. “This is our chance. When questioned later, you can just say a fire broke out in your office. We can explain it all away…”
Bob moved quickly away from Paris. “Screw that. I’m not burning Jane.”
“She’s not Jane anymore,” Annette said, her expression grave. “How long will it take you to realize that?”
His chin jerked up. “I’m leaving.”
Paris was in his way. The guy needed to take a freaking hint—
“Five hundred thousand dollars,” Paris said.
He’s offering to pay me to kill Jane?
“I want this done by the time Aidan wakes up,” Paris continued in a dark, emotionless voice. “He shouldn’t have to be the one to face her. He shouldn’t have to go through that hell again.”
“Take the fire, Dr. Heider,” Annette urged.
He grabbed the bottle. “You’re both nuts.”
“You’ve seen what vampires do.” Paris’s eyes reflected his pain. “Do you think Jane would want to be that way?”
No, no, he didn’t but…
Jane can’t be dead.
He shoved past them, nearly running down the stairs so that he could get to the lower level of Hell’s Gate. And, yes, the bottle was gripped tightly in his hand, but he wasn’t going to use it. He wouldn’t burn Jane.
But Annette’s voice seemed to whisper through his mind once more. Do you think Jane would want to be that way?