No, look away. Look away!
Then the rope was gone from her wrists. Sawed away. He’d cut her wrists with the knife he had, but she didn’t care about that small pain. Then he was pulling her, pushing her toward the window. Such a small window. They were in the basement. And that window was up high.
“I’ll go through first,” he said. He shimmied up and vanished.
I don’t want to leave mom and dad. But…they were already gone. They’d left her. They weren’t suffering anymore. No one could ever make them suffer again.
“Mary Jane!” He reached down for her. His hand was small, barely bigger than hers. Dirty. Bloody. “Come with me, Mary Jane!”
Had he been hiding, during everything? Hiding and waiting? He’d seen everything, too, just as she had. She looked up into his eyes—eyes that were the exact shade of her own. He’d been crying. He never cried.
Her gaze darted back to his hand just as she heard the basement door opening—the faintest of clicks from the top of the stairs. The monster was coming for her again.
She grabbed for the dirty little hand, and he pulled her up, yanking with all of his strength. Her body slid through the narrow opening of the window. Her shoulders. Her chest. Her stomach. Her—
The monster grabbed her feet.
”No!” she screamed. And then she held that dirty little hand even tighter. “Drew, help me!”
***
“Jane.”
Her eyes flew open. The basement—her old home—vanished. She was in Aidan’s office, naked, on Aidan’s fancy leather couch. Her heart drummed hard enough to shake her chest as Aidan crouched over her.
She sat up, fast, but he didn’t move back.
“You were having your nightmare again.”
She swiped a hand over her face. Since they spent plenty of nights together, he knew all about her sleep issues. But then, he knew how she’d come to have that not-so-lovely scar on her right side, too. She’d told him most of the story.
Most of it.
Some details had been left out. Not because she didn’t trust him, but because she knew him too well.
“Back in the basement?” Aidan asked carefully. His hand was on her shoulder, lightly stroking the skin.
Chill bumps rose onto her arms. “Y-yes.” She hated that stutter. Hated any fear. Fear was for the weak. She’d always wanted to be strong. Strong enough to save her family.
But they were gone.
“The vampire who burned you…he can’t hurt you anymore, sweetheart.”
She knew that. She and Aidan had killed the bastard. She’d hoped that with Thane Durant’s death, she’d get some peace. That maybe the nightmares would stop.
No such luck.
“I should get dressed. Get to the morgue.” Dr. Bob had taken the body in for examination. It wouldn’t take him long to learn what she needed…
Was it a vamp attack? Is the dead guy going to wake up with new fangs and an appetite for blood? If so, then she and Aidan had to be on hand to stop the fellow. Victim to monster all in the blink of an eye. She’d seen that happen before.
Unfortunately.
Aidan eased back as she rose to her feet. Jane locked her knees so they wouldn’t tremble. She didn’t like showing weakness in front of Aidan—or in front of anyone. She hurried toward the bathroom—
“Are you going to tell me…” Aidan’s deep, rumbling voice followed her, “who Drew is?”
She froze. “Drew?” Her voice broke on the name, dammit. Schooling her expression, she glanced back at Aidan. “What are you talking about?”
“Not what. Who. And you were the one talking about him.” He cocked his head as he studied her. “You were just calling out for him, begging him to help you.”
Her face felt numb. “I don’t remember.” She spun away from him but—
He was there. Freaking super speed. Aidan blocked the bathroom door. He stared down at her and said, “Liar.”
Jane flinched.
“Why keep secrets from me, Jane? I thought you trusted me.”
“Get out of my way.” She was not having this conversation, not while she was completely naked. I don’t want to have this conversation at all. But she’d been playing Russian roulette with him for weeks now. Jane had known how dangerous it was to let down her guard with him, but she’d been helpless to stay away from her wolf.
Now she was about to pay the price for her mistake.
Aidan’s eyes narrowed but…he moved.
Her breath expelled in a relieved rush as she hurried into the bathroom. She grabbed her clothes and dressed as quickly as she could. Jane risked a quick glance in the mirror. Yes, she looked nervous, dammit. Whatever. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the bathroom door and marched back into his office. “Aidan, look—”
But she stopped because Aidan was looking at something. He was staring down at a small, black picture frame.
A familiar frame.
Jane frowned. She crept toward him.