“A new vamp is here. One who came looking just for you. Come on,” Paris continued, his normally charming voice roughening. “You know that’s bad news. It can’t end well.”
“If I run, won’t he just follow me?” She headed out onto Aidan’s balcony. Paris was steps behind her. “I mean, you think I haven’t already considered running?” As soon as Annette started her scrying, Jane had been flipping through her options. “But if the vamp found me here, won’t he just keep hunting? Is there really any safe place for me?”
“Jane…” Frustration bubbled in her name.
It was a frustration she understood. “I’m going to tell you a secret.” She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Aidan. Aidan is my safe place.”
Surprise flashed on his face.
“I’ve thought about running, but the danger won’t go away if I do. I’ll just be on my own out there—easier prey.”
He swore.
“But with Aidan, I’m stronger. We’re stronger together.” She absolutely believed that. “I don’t know how much time I have, but you know what? No one does. We all go through life, doing the best that we can. We wake up each day and we never know—will this be it? Is this the day it ends? We don’t think like that, though, we don’t think constantly about the end because we can’t.” Now her voice was the one to roughen. “Because that’s not living. That’s just fear. And I won’t be afraid. I won’t let this thing…” Now her hands rose and pressed to her heart. “This thing that’s waiting inside of me…I won’t let it win. I will be happy.” While I can. “That’s all any of us can do, you know? Live and be happy.” She turned away from him. Jane marched to the end of the balcony and curved her fingers around the wrought iron railing. “Running and being alone at the end won’t change anything for the better.”
Silence.
Her gaze drifted over the street below her. A black SUV was parked in front of Hell’s Gate. As she stared, Garrison rushed out of the building and headed for that SUV.
“Ask Aidan…” Paris’s voice was so low. So gruff. “Ask him about his family. Make him tell you.”
She opened her mouth to reply but—
What is Garrison doing? He’d opened the back door on the left side of the SUV, and he appeared to be hauling something out.
“Oh, sweet hell,” Jane said as her fingers tightened around the railing.
He wasn’t hauling something out. He was pulling a woman out. She was crying and hitting him but he’d—cuffed her?
“No, no, no.” Jane spun around.
Paris blinked.
“Garrison,” she snapped out. “Garrison is fucking up my life again.” The first time she’d met the guy, he’d shot her. And now—now he was abducting a woman? That wolf was about to drive her mad.
She raced back down the stairs, with Paris following close behind her.
***
Well, well, well…there was certainly a lot of action happening at Hell’s Gate.
From his safe perch a few bars down, he watched as a cuffed woman was dragged into the bar. Interesting. Very interesting.
The detective was inside. Not surprising really. Aidan Locke was there, too.
But the woman who was crying as she was carried into the place—that’s new. Hell’s Gate had been a perfect place for him to get his prey when he hunted. Packed with so many people, the place to be, he’d slipped so easily into the crowd.
And he planned to hunt there again. Tonight. The place had felt oddly right for him. Especially with all the rumors that swirled around town about it being a secret hiding spot for monsters.
Now, with this new twist…Hell’s Gate appealed to him even more.
He was definitely going to have to meet with Aidan Locke. Looked like they might have more in common than he’d realized…
***
Garrison brought the crying, fighting woman into the bar and stood there, smiling, as if he’d just done the best good deed of his life.
“Aidan!”
He winced at Jane’s cry.
“What in the hell is happening here?”
Garrison’s smile dipped a bit. “I thought Paris was keeping her busy,” he mumbled.
Jane rushed down the stairs and flew toward them. “Is that a gag in her mouth? And why is she cuffed?”
“She was bitten by a vampire!” Garrison explained, his cheeks flushing. “I’m thinking it was the same asshole who tried to grab you!”
“No one grabbed me,” Jane threw back at him as she pulled the gag from the woman’s mouth.
“H-help me…” the woman whispered, her voice hoarse.
Aidan pinched the bridge of his nose. Cleaning up Garrison’s messes…that shit was turning into a full-time job.
“Get the cuffs off her!” Jane demanded. Then her voice softened as she stared at the woman. “It’s okay. I’m a cop. I’ll make sure that no one hurts you.”
Aidan just watched the scene. He knew exactly how this would play out, so he wasn’t overly concerned about the drama. A few well-placed words from him, and the crying woman would forget the whole scene.