Jane’s fingers curled around his shoulder. “But you won’t. You’ll let him go, and I’ll call the PD and give them a tip to watch this guy before he turns into even more of a perv.” He felt the bite of her nails in his skin. “He…hasn’t already hurt anyone, has he?”
Aidan stared into Roth’s eyes. “Have you hurt a woman before?”
“No woman. I told you…” Again, that smile flashed. “I like beauty. I capture it.”
“You won’t capture anything else of Jane’s, do you understand?” He forced as much power as he could into that command. “You won’t even fucking look her way again, got me? You’ll stay away from her. Because if you don’t, I’ll give you a real up-close experience for that thin line between life and death bullshit exhibit of yours.”
Roth paled. “I…won’t look her way.”
“You won’t fucking stalk any woman, got it?” This slimy bastard was pissing him off.
Roth nodded.
“Send him away,” Jane whispered. “He’s not the one we want, and I don’t like us just being out in the open like this.”
Because neither of them had exactly experienced the best of times in that particular cemetery.
“Get out of here,” Aidan ordered. “And as soon as you clear the cemetery gates, you just keep walking, asshole. You won’t recall much about our little chat, but you will remember to stay the fuck away from Jane.”
Roth nodded. He reached for the broken camera. Aidan laughed. “Tough luck. You don’t get that back, either. Now get out of here.”
Roth stumbled away. He looked back, once, at Aidan, but his gaze didn’t so much as dart Jane’s way.
Aidan kept his gaze on the bastard until the man was out of the cemetery. Then he turned and stared at Jane.
His Jane.
“I lived in New Orleans for over a year with that asshole as my downstairs neighbor,” Jane said, shaking her head. Her dark hair slid over her shoulders. “He was weird, yes, but I never thought…” Her gaze trekked toward the cemetery’s heavy wall. “What happens when you can’t trust anyone anymore?”
He wanted to tell Jane that she could trust him. That she could always count on him, but the words wouldn’t come. Because he couldn’t be sure they were true. Not with the changes going on inside of him.
The rage was still there, he hadn’t stopped it. Rage that blasted through his very veins. He stared at Jane. That bastard had been taking her picture. What else had he been doing? Living in the same building, he would’ve had so much access to Jane. “I should’ve fucking killed him.”
Jane shook her head. “No, then you’d be—”
“Baby, I am the monster.” And right then, part of him gloried in that fact. He caught her hand, pulled her close. “And I wish I’d ripped out his throat.” For daring to stare at Jane, to lust for her—oh, yeah, the bastard had fucking lusted. Aidan had smelled that scent in the air. The fool had wanted Jane.
He’ll never have her. No one else will. Jane will always be mine.
The darkness stretched more inside of him, threatening to swallow the man he’d been. Threatening to take his sanity.
“For a minute there,” Jane said, her voice husky. “I thought you were going for his throat.”
If she hadn’t been there, he would have. Aidan didn’t speak as they left that cemetery. Back on the street, his gaze swept the area once more. More humans were out, filling the sidewalks. No one seemed to be paying him and Jane any attention.
But appearances were so often deceptive.
Aidan pulled out his phone. He called Vivian, even as his gaze kept searching for threats. The police captain answered on the second ring.
“What’s happening?” Vivian’s voice was tight. “Aidan, I’ve been trying to reach you—”
“Paris isn’t dead.”
“What?”
“I need you to find out who was working on him at the scene of the fire. Any EMTs, anyone who was near him—you fucking bring those people to me, got it?”
“Aidan, how did he survive? There was no pulse.” Her voice was shaking. “I checked! I swear, I did. I would never let a pack member—”
“Bring them to me, Vivian.” She’d always been a loyal member of his pack. He knew he could count on her. “I’ll be at Hell’s Gate.” And he would get his answers.
“It’s going to take some time.” He heard her quick, indrawn breath carry over the phone line. “But I’ll get anyone I can find, I swear it.”
Aidan ended the call, then he curled his hand around Jane’s. His claws were gone, but his beast was about to break free. Time to get off that street. Time to get back to his lair.
And time to claim what was his.
***
Roth Sly stumbled down the road, blinking blearily. He glanced at his hands. They felt…empty. As if he should be holding something. Doing something. He stopped at the street corner, just staring as others hurried across the crosswalk.
Why the hell was he on that street?