There was no going back. Jane opened her mouth wide. Her fangs sank into the woman’s throat even as Jane mentally shouted…No! Run away! Run away! I’m so sorry! I can’t stop! I can’t!
The blood flowed over Jane’s tongue. Unlike the bagged blood, this was warm. Hot. Seeming to burst with life and flavor and—
Jane shoved the woman back. “Wrong,” she rasped.
“No!” Vincent shouted. “It’s not wrong!” He tossed the woman aside and grabbed Jane by her shoulders. “It’s your nature! It’s—”
She vomited the fresh blood on him.
He stiffened.
Her stomach cramped. The hunger nearly tore her apart but…
I can’t keep the blood down! Didn’t he see? Something was very, very wrong.
Once more, Vincent wiped the blood vomit from his eyes. His expression had turned pensive. The woman sobbed behind him.
“You’re right,” Vincent finally said. “Something is wrong.”
***
“Before she…” Aidan stopped and cleared his throat. Annette was swirling his blood over the surface of her mirror. And he was still breaking apart on the inside.
I have to keep it together a little longer. My pack needs me.
“Before she was killed, Jane…Jane had just discovered a lead on the other alpha.” He rubbed his neck, then stopped when he felt the tender skin that had been left from Jane’s bite. “She suspected a college student, some punk named Quint Laurel.”
When he said the name, Annette nodded, as if something had just been confirmed for her. Then she told Aidan, “He has one of your pack.”
“What?” The sharp question came from Paris. “Who? Who does the bastard have?”
Annette’s fingers stilled on the mirror. “The woman of power. The captain. He has her, and he’s going to kill her soon.”
Fucking hell. Aidan had been so caught up in Jane—
That I let down my pack.
“He doesn’t even understand what he is. A lost boy…turned into a savage beast. Without guidance, that’s what happens. An orphan, he came to this town, not knowing, not understanding…and then changing.”
Garrison whistled. “Alphas change at twenty-one. If the guy didn’t understand what he was…and all of a sudden he shifted…it’s a wonder that he didn’t lose his mind.”
“Maybe he did lose it,” Paris said as he paced nearby. “That would explain his kills.”
Annette’s head lifted and her eyes seemed to stare right through Aidan. “He had no guidance. It can make all the difference.”
Did she think he was going to guide the punk? “Screw guidance. It’s too little, too late for that. The guy is a killer, and I’m stopping him.” His wolf was eager for the battle. All the rage and fear that Aidan had inside…it was going to burst free. He’d shift and give his beast full reign.
A blood battle. To the death. It was the only way for alphas to fight.
“Do you see him?” Aidan asked Annette.
She nodded. “I see him now because he wants to be seen. He wants the whole world to know what he is. That desire is practically pouring from his cells. It’s why he’s killed. Why he hunts. The world should know his power.”
“Where.” Not a question, a demand.
“With the dead, of course.”
So the killer had gone back to his playground in the cemetery. Aidan whirled away.
“Aidan…will you kill her?” Annette called after him, her question hesitant.
“I’m not going after Jane right now,” he said, not looking back at her. One crisis at a time.
“No…” Annette’s voice was sad.
Paris hurried to follow behind him. Garrison closed in, too.
I’m not going after Jane. I’m going to kill a werewolf bastard who made the mistake of killing in my town.
As for my Jane…I need her to stay away from my wolf.
Far away.
***
The door closed behind the werewolves as they rushed out of her shop. Annette’s shoulders fell. “No,” she said softly, pained to her core, “you aren’t going after her…but Jane will find you.”
She could see it in the blood.
So much blood.
***
“Aidan, stop!” Paris yelled.
Aidan swung around, snarling. “I don’t have time to waste—”
“No, but I have something…something that might help us. It caught my eye when I saw Garrison nosing around Annettea€?s shelves.” His hand opened, revealing a vial. “I figured if this was strong enough to knock you out…then maybe—”
“I’m not interested in knocking out the other alpha. I’m interested in kicking his ass.” He spun around. His prey waited.
“Wasn’t talking about him,” Paris mused. “I was thinking of someone else that you may not want to kill.”
Now Aidan did pause.
“I’ve got a few extra syringes. I picked them up, when, you know, I was planning to knock your ass out.”
Aidan growled.
“Better to be safe, right?” Paris pushed. “You want the vial or not?”
Aidan considered it. He knew what Paris meant…his friend was giving him the option of knocking out Jane if their paths crossed. Knocking her out and not killing her. His jaw locked as he said, “You keep it.”