Vicky remained by the basement stairs to stop and change the memories of anyone else who might come to investigate. She listened for any hint of a distant siren, but all she detected was the raised volume on a lot of TVs. Apparently, the residents preferred going deaf over getting involved.

Nathan left the basement out the door the Savages used to enter. He returned a few minutes later and started removing the dead. It only took him half an hour to haul out the bodies, but Vicky’s nerves felt stretched tauter than a bowstring by the time he finished.

“I have to get the one in my apartment,” he told her when he rejoined her at the bottom of the steps. “I’ll be right back.”

When he vanished from view, she crept up the stairs after him and stood in the dirty front hall. Only one time in her life had she ever felt this lonely, and then she’d been a chained, vampire Happy Meal.

In the warehouse, she at least had hope her family would somehow find her, but now she had nothing.

These past seven months, she’d focused on one thing: killing Duke. She’d succeeded. He was dead; she should be celebrating, yet somehow, she felt emptier than before. Her revenge had propelled her every day. It kept her going through the nightmares, cold sweats, and flashbacks of her imprisonment haunting her days and nights.

What do I do now? She rubbed at the scar on her wrist as she contemplated a question she couldn’t answer. She’d believed killing Duke would somehow cleanse her, but she only felt… lost.

A creaking step drew her attention to Nathan as he stepped off the stairs leading up to his apartment and turned the corner toward her. Grim resolve had settled over his features, but he couldn’t hide his weariness or the bedsheet-enshrouded body tossed over his shoulder.

“Did anyone see you?” she whispered.

“No.”

Vicky turned and led the way back into the basement. Once off the stairs, she stepped aside to follow him over to the exit and outside. A dented and rusting pickup was parked next to the door. Vicky cringed when she saw the bodies heaped into the back like some death cart from the bubonic plague. All they needed was to start ringing a bell and calling for people to bring out their dead. In this neighborhood, they might get some takers.

No one moved on the city streets, and if someone did walk by the alley, the truck was positioned so the bed faced a brick wall. Still, she felt antsy to get out of there.

The truck’s springs creaked when Nathan tossed the body into the bed and walked to the cab of the pickup. Opening the driver’s door, he reached behind the seat and removed a large, blue tarp. Nathan lifted himself into the bed, hooked the tarp to the latches there, and pulled the material across the bodies. So many vamps packed the truck that the tarp bowed up in the middle, and he could see the perfect imprint of hands, faces, and legs.

With a sigh, he walked back to the truck, removed two more tarps and started stuffing them around the bodies, so it looked more like debris instead of corpses piled into the back. With his adrenaline and the thrill of the fight easing, he started to feel his bruises and exhaustion as he worked.

Vicky went back inside, retrieved their weapons, and erased as much evidence of their fight as she could before rejoining him.

“All set inside?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He jumped out of the back of the truck and walked to the driver’s side door. “Get in.”

The passenger door squeaked when she pulled it open and slid onto the bench seat. Yellow stuffing poked through the black vinyl interior in small patches; in other areas, silver duct tape covered the holes in the seat and dashboard.

Exhausted, Vicky’s head fell against the window behind her as Nathan shifted the truck into first and pulled out of the alley.

“I’m sorry I got you involved in this,” she murmured.

“I got myself involved,” he replied as he steered through the quiet neighborhood streets. “I could have left you there.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you,” he admitted.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re an ally.”

He downshifted as they stopped at a red light. On the street corner, a woman waved at him and gave a small wiggle of her hips. A group of young adults walking by stopped to whistle appreciatively at the woman; she responded with her price.

When the light turned green, he drove through the intersection and toward the highway. He knew the perfect place to dispose of the remains outside the city. Merging onto the highway, he shifted into fifth and draped his arm across the back of the seat.

Beside him, Vicky yawned and lowered her head into her hands to rub at her temples. Without thinking, he grasped her nape to massage the taut muscles there. She stiffened against him before going limp beneath his touch. Nathan’s pulse picked up and his breathing accelerated as his prior awareness of her as a woman returned with a vengeance.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and forced himself to focus on the road, instead of her. The last thing he needed was to get pulled over with his makeshift hearse, but he couldn’t bring himself to release her.

He nudged her toward him, drawing her closer. When her head fell onto his shoulder, his earlier erection returned as he inhaled her jasmine scent. He didn’t know what it was about this woman, but she tempted his lust and protective impulses like no other. If it meant keeping her safe, he’d kill a thousand more Savages.

• • •

Vicky’s eyes fluttered open when the truck came to a stop in front of an imposing gate. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the last thing she remembered was resting her head on Nathan’s chest.

“Where are we?” she murmured.

“Somewhere safe,” he replied, his deep voice vibrating his chest against her ear.

Vicky resisted cuddling closer to the warmth he emanated and the comfort he brought her. He’s a hunter! And not just any hunter, but the leader of them all and your possible demise!

The reminder had her bolting upright. Intense physical attraction or not, she had to stay away from him.

“I’ll be right back.” Nathan opened his door and hopped out of the truck.

The glow of the headlights illuminated his lean frame when he stalked toward a keypad beside the gate. Something about the way he moved called to her like a siren called to the sailors, and she found herself imagining what it would feel like to have him inside her, moving with that same fluid grace.

“You’re acting like a dog in heat,” she scolded herself.

Tearing her gaze away from him, she refused to look at Nathan again as she surveyed her surroundings. A brick wall spread out as far as she could see in either direction before being swallowed by woods.

A sinking feeling filled her as Nathan jogged back to the truck and climbed inside. The gates groaned when they crept open.

“Are we at the hunter compound?” she inquired.

“The old one,” he replied. “We moved from here after Kadence became a vampire, but we kept the property.”

“Why did you move?”

“Some of the others felt it would be better after Kadence turned into a vamp.”

“Your sister would never betray you.”

“I know that,” Nathan replied as he shifted into gear. “Many others don’t. Don’t forget, working with vampires is as new and unusual to us as it is to you.”

“Yeah,” she muttered, and her hand instinctively went to the weapons still tucked inside her coat.

“There’s no one else here,” he assured her.

“Are you sure no one else decided to stop by while you were gone?”

“It’s unlikely, but if someone is here, they won’t harm you.”

“Some of your kind aren’t exactly thrilled to be working with us.”

“And neither are some of your kind,” he replied.

She turned away as they traveled a tree-lined road before coming into a clearing where numerous cabins were laid out in a circular pattern around a large brick house. The place reminded her of a settlement from the days of the pilgrims, but with newer homes. Although, nature was already creeping forward to reclaim its land. Already, one house had a broken window and a bird’s nest in the gutter.

“Won’t the hunters be mad you brought me here?” she asked as they passed the homes and other buildings, one of which looked like a school.

“If they knew, yes, but they won’t know. I made it so the security system here doesn’t record my code at the gate, and the cameras turn off when I enter. With no one here, the video footage isn’t monitored, and won’t be unless something happens, so no one has noticed the lapse in footage while I’m here.”

“How very ingenious and rebellious of you, head hunter.”

He gave her a wan smile before focusing on the road winding through the woods. Aged trees crowded the sides of the road, creeping ever closer. He’d been here last week, but that didn’t mean a branch or tree couldn’t have fallen to block the way since then.

Ribbons of asphalt spread before him until it became a dirt track. He decelerated to keep the truck from bouncing too much over the ruts and possibly knocking one of the bodies free from the back.

Winding deeper into the compound, he found himself repeatedly glancing at Vicky. He almost took her hand when her fingers dug into her thighs and her jasmine scent intensified, but he stopped himself. If he touched her again, he wasn’t sure he could prevent himself from drawing her close for more than just comfort this time.

“Why didn’t you blindfold me before coming here?” Vicky asked.

“You were sound asleep.”

“I could have been faking it.”

“You don’t fake that kind of snoring.”

She sniffed. “I don’t snore.”

Chuckling, he pulled the truck onto another dirt road. “You do,” he assured her before stopping at the edge of a vast pit.

Putting the truck in neutral, he pulled the emergency brake and hopped out. Vicky climbed out of the passenger side and crept toward the giant crater. It had to be at least two hundred feet across and a hundred feet deep. At the bottom, water glistened in the reflection of the headlights barely penetrating the murky depths.

“What is this?” she asked.

“An old quarry. We turned it into a swimming hole, and now—”

“A cemetery,” she murmured.

“Yes.”

She went to help him with the bodies when he pulled back the tarp. “Do you dump bodies here often?”

“When necessary.” He hefted the first body out and slung it over his shoulder. He seized her hand when she reached for one too. “I’ll take care of this.”

“I helped create this mess; I’ll help clean it up.”

“No. I’ll do it. You shouldn’t be touching them.”

“I’ve touched worse.”

“Not while I was around. I’ll take care of this.”

Vicky opened her mouth to protest, but the resolute look in his eyes silenced her words. Stepping back, she watched him carry the body over and toss it into the quarry. After two more splashed into the water, Vicky retreated to stand on the other side of the pickup. She didn’t know which of the splashes was Duke hitting the water, as she didn’t look, but after a short time, Nathan came to stand before her.

When he rested his hands on her arms, she tried to ignore the odd skip in her heartbeat.

“I think we should stay here tonight,” he said. “It’s late, and we could both use some sleep.”

Spending the night anywhere in the vicinity of this man was a BAD idea, yet she found herself saying, “Okay.”