Jax couldn’t move. Terror grabbed ahold of her and shook hard. Marcus Cross stood behind her, his blue eyes blazing red and in full fang.

The gangster behind her hissed in a sharp breath, cursed a blue streak in Spanish, then shoved her toward Cross, who caught her in his arms, then protectively pushed her behind him. As the gangbanger moved past them he threw the knife he had threatened her with at Cross. It landed with a meaty thunk in his right bicep.

Jax flinched. Cross just growled. Not in pain but anger. He looked at the knife impaled to the hilt in his arm, then back at the gangbanger who stumbled all over himself to flee the scene. Cross grabbed the knife from his arm and hucked it at the gangster’s back. He hit him right between the shoulder blades, stopping him in his tracks.

In another lightning-quick move, Cross snatched the flailing, screaming body up by his right arm and flung him against the brick wall he had just been standing against. He hit with a sickening thud, then slid down the wall, leaving a bloody trail of shattered bone fused with gray matter before he crumbled in a heap onto the dirty ground.

Speechless, Jax ignored Shane’s desperate pleas for information, stood still, and watched what followed.

The original bad guys were pouring out of the alley toward them. Cross stood in front of her to the left. She inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“Cross, I’m not armed,” she said to his back.

“I have this. Get out of here.”

“There’s six of them and one of you!”

“I said I have this. Now get the hell out of here!”

Torn by whether to stay and fight beside Cross or take off and save her own skin, Jax stood rooted to the pavement.

Tat. Tat-tat-tat-tat.

“Down!” Cross yelled. Jax hit the ground. Bullets ricocheted off the wall behind her and the ground in front of her. Most of them, however, hit their mark. Cross’s body jerked back and forth, as bullets tore into him.

Jax watched in fascinated horror as Cross continued forward. He’d been hit at least six times!

“Cassidy? What’s going on?” Shane screamed in her ear.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” she said and watched Cross systematically reduce the gang from six to none.

He’d felt her fear, her distress. He’d heard the rampant beat of her heart as she’d run through the dark city streets. He’d watched her fight her way out of one group of gangsters even as she’d seen the other approaching. They’d carried guns. He’d known they would kill her. And for some reason, even though he’d known he’d probably end up having to kill her himself, Marcus hadn’t been willing to let that happen.

He wasn’t done with Jax Cassidy. He didn’t like the name. It was too abrupt, and it didn’t do her justice. She was a complex melding of all things female and kick-ass bitch. So much more than three letters.

Despite the dozen bullets that hit him, many in his vital organs, Marcus felt only marginal pain. He grabbed the closest gangster. With the other hand, he yanked out the six-inch blade the prick had just stuck into his liver.

He stared down the last two standing. Marcus grabbed one by the throat and yanked so hard that his neck snapped. He dropped the corpse to the ground, then turned and heaved himself into the night air after the last one, who had taken off. He didn’t get far.

Marcus landed effortlessly five steps in front of him. He grabbed the kicking, screaming norteno by the scruff of the neck and tossed him to the ground. He grabbed him up and tossed him to the ground again.

“Madre de Dios!” his victim screamed.

Marcus laughed. “Not even that great lady can save your sorry ass, mijo.”

“I got drugs, man, anything you want, I got it.”

“Drugs kill,” Marcus quipped.

“I got kids! My mother, she’s dying, man. Por favor!”

With his forearm, Marcus pushed the unfortunate up against the wall of the building they stood next to.

“I might let you live.”

“I’ll do anything. Anything.”

“Who sent you?”

The man stilled. “Nobody, man, we were out looking for some action.”

Marcus growled and dug his elbow into the man’s throat. A fit of coughs wracked the guy. As he caught his breath, Marcus pressed into him again.

“Who sent you and why?”

“I—I didn’t ask his name—” Marcus cursed and pressed harder. The guy squirmed.

“What did he want?”

“He said to watch the second-floor window at the Veterans Building for a man in black, but to follow the person who came after him. He didn’t say it was gonna be a chick!”

“What were you supposed to do with this person once you followed them?”

“Rough them up some. Tell ‘em to back off.”

The distant wail of sirens infused the still night air. Marcus decided to save the taxpayers some serious cash and give the overworked cops in San Francisco a little breather.

In one hard jab, he crushed the gangster’s windpipe with his elbow. Marcus dropped the body he’d just broken in half and immediately turned his thoughts to Jax. Was she hurt? Had she been hit? His long stride picked up. His mind ran rampant with thoughts. He jumped into the night to find her.

As he flew down the alley, he slowed his frantic pace as he saw her running toward him. He dropped to the ground in front of her and slightly to the right.

“Jesus! Cross!” she screamed at him, then punched him in the chest.

“Are you hurt?” He resisted reaching out, touching every part of her to make sure for himself she was unharmed. She would kick his ass.

“No, damn it. What the hell was all of that?”

The distant wail of sirens infiltrated the tension between them. “You’d better get out of here or you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do to SFPD,” he said.

Jax looked over her shoulder to the carnage behind her. “That’s all your fault, Cross. Hell if I’m going to pay for it.” She moved past him.

“You owe me,” he called to her retreating back.

He laughed aloud when she flipped him off.

He stood and watched until she had completely disappeared, then took off in the opposite direction. As he made his way across town, he wondered who Jax really worked for and who would want to put the brakes on Rowland’s people.

The obvious answer was the man running a heated campaign against the senator. Mayor Mercer.

But why? And what was the point of chasing down Jax? There was only one way to find out. The next time Mercer tangled with Jax Cassidy she was going to give him straight answers.