Vincent sighed. “Will you still say that when Jane becomes a vamp?”
The wolf clawed at Aidan’s insides. “Are you threatening her?” The bastard dared? He dared?
“I want to help her. I want to help you both.” Smart vamp—he’d come packing more than just supernatural strength. “You and I both know this…situation with Jane can’t last forever.”
“Yes, it can.” And Aidan caught her scent in the air. Lavender and apples. Sweet, sensual woman. Jane. She was rushing toward him, and the last thing he wanted was for her to see the vampire.
The vampire’s head had jerked and his nostrils had flared. Vincent had obviously caught her scent, too. His face had gone slack with surprise and—
Yearning? Forget that shit. “She’s taken,” Aidan growled. “Now get the fuck…” Still, his words were barely more than a growl as he ordered, “Get the fuck out of my city…or die.” Even a silver bullet to the chest wouldn’t stop him if this guy thought he’d get his hands on Jane.
“Aidan?” Jane’s voice reached him. Worried. Desperate. “Aidan, what’s happening?”
Before he could speak, the vampire shoved him back—shoved him so hard that Aidan flew a good ten feet into the air. Someone is stronger than he let me believe. Aidan hit the side of a dumpster, and the metal groaned beneath him. He shot to his feet—
The vampire was racing toward Jane.
She’d pulled out her gun. She was aiming at Vincent. Silver bullets or wooden ones? What was she packing that night? If she fired with silver, it would barely slow down the vamp. “Jane!” Aidan roared. If that vamp tried to hurt her—
He pushed himself faster, harder, desperate to get to her. His claws reached out, ready to swipe at that vampire’s back.
Jane lifted her gun and fired.
And the vampire—
He just vanished. Fucking vanished. The bullet that Jane had shot went through the air and slammed into Aidan’s shoulder. He grunted at the impact, but kept rushing toward her. He yanked her into his arms and held her tight.
She was shaking. “He…disappeared.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Aidan, what in the hell just happened?”
He just held her tighter as he glanced around the area. My worst fucking nightmare, that’s what. Because a normal vamp couldn’t vanish that way. Even a powerful, born vampire couldn’t do that crap.
His gaze scanned the darkness as he kept Jane locked within his arms. If that vamp came back…You’ll have to go through me before you can ever get to her.
And that was a promise he’d take to his grave.
Chapter Two
“I didn’t mean to shoot you.” Jane winced as she glanced at Aidan’s shoulder. They were at his bar, Hell’s Gate, and guilt had her stomach twisted in knots.
They’d come in the back door of the place, missing the crowds on Bourbon Street, and they’d hurriedly slipped upstairs to his office. The guy’s office was huge—and complete with its own bathroom.
They were currently standing in that bathroom and Aidan had yanked off his blood-stained shirt. Well, yanked, ripped it apart…same thing.
“I need to get the bullet out,” Jane said, biting her lip. “I wanted to get it out at the scene, but you were intent on us hauling ass away from there.”
“Because I wasn’t letting the vampire get near you.” His voice was gravel rough. Before she could say anything else, the guy shoved his claws into his shoulder and pulled out the bullet. Blood gushed.
“Jesus, Aidan! Stop! You know I hate it when you do that!”
But it was too late. With a tendril of smoke rising from the wound—and another tendril coming from his fingers—Aidan dropped the bloody silver bullet into his sink.
The legend about werewolves and silver was actually true. Silver hurt werewolves, it burned them, and the longer the silver stayed in their bodies, the weaker they became. Not that she’d ever seen Aidan in any particularly weak form but…
“At least let me wash the blood away.” She wanted to take care of him. Was that so wrong? They were in a relationship, after all. Twisted and strange, but they were together. And she’d shot him. That guilt was not going away anytime soon. She reached around him, turned on the faucet and had warm water spraying down in seconds. She grabbed a cloth, wet it, and began to wipe away the blood.
Aidan stood statue-still beneath her touch. Jane risked a quick glance up at him from beneath her lashes. His face was set in stone. Such a hard, dangerous face. Not handsome, but rougher. Sexier.
She generally found far too many things about Aidan Locke to be sexy. A smart woman would have run the instant she found out that the guy was an alpha werewolf. But instead of fleeing from him…
I always run to Aidan.
Her touch was light as she cleaned his wound, a wound that was already healing. His werewolf blood was pretty amazing. Only an alpha’s blood held that healing power.