Heider glanced up from his microscope. “Blood?”
“Yeah, he’s been drinking the bagged blood that Aidan had. I think the alpha’s blood is really helping him,” Garrison added. “He looks better and he…seems saner.”
“Alpha blood.” Heider peered back through the lens of his microscope.
“It can cure anything,” Garrison murmured.
But Heider stiffened. “No, it can’t cure anything.” He looked over at Garrison. “Where is Jane now?”
“With Aidan.”
“Of course, she is. Because Jane doesn’t see the danger with him. She thinks she can trust him…” Heider made a long hmmmp sound. “Will she still be trusting him when he tries to rip out her throat?”
“That’s not going to happen!” Garrison glared at the guy. “Aidan loves her.” He’d seen the way his alpha looked at Jane.
“Love and obsession can often be confused, especially by someone like Aidan.”
The doc was pissing him off. Garrison’s hands fisted and he took a menacing step toward Heider.
“Easy, wolf,” Heider spoke quickly. “I’m not the enemy.”
“Then who the hell is?” Garrison demanded. “I need to know. We all need to know exactly who we’re facing.” So they could take the bastard out. He advanced on the doc. “What do you see in his blood? Can you figure out which vamp it was that changed him?”
He saw the doc’s Adam’s apple bob. “Yes, I think I’ve figured that part out.”
Garrison waited.
The doc didn’t say more. He did pull out more slides and put them under his microscope.
“Uh, want to clue me in? Who’s the enemy?” Who did Garrison need to kill? Because he was more than ready to fight in order to protect his friends.
Dr. Bob took off his glasses and set them—very carefully—on the table. “Jane.” His voice was soft, and his expression had turned ashen. “It’s…Jane.” He stared at Garrison in growing alarm. “I think she’ll be the end of you all.”
Chapter Eleven
The water poured down on Jane as she stood beneath Aidan’s shower. He’d carried her up the club’s stairs. A sweet, but totally unnecessary gesture. She hadn’t stopped him, though, because if the guy wanted to carry her…
Why not relax and enjoy the ride? He’d been so tender as he eased her into his shower. His hands were careful on her skin. Even now, he stood just behind her, lightly smoothing soap and lather over her arms.
“Did I hurt you?” His voice was quiet.
She smiled as she turned toward him. Her body was slick and her skin slid against his. “Not even a little.” But…was that the truth? When he’d marked her, it had stung. A sharp flash of pain that had caught her off-guard. The pain had only lasted a moment, and then there had been so much pleasure.
His hands slid down her arms.
And he stepped away from her.
Jane stayed beneath the warm spray of the shower, watching him as he slipped out and quickly toweled off. He knotted the towel around his waist, and her gaze drank him in. Those wash-board abs, his powerful shoulders.
Sexy. So very sexy.
“I…died in the fire, Jane.”
It took a moment for his words to register. She shook her head, and even managed a quick laugh. “No, you didn’t. I got you out. I saved you, Aidan.”
Steam drifted in the air around her.
And Aidan shook his head, just once. No.
The warm water was suddenly chilling her. Jane’s hand flew out and she turned off that water. The drip, drip, drip that followed seemed way too loud to her sensitive ears. She stepped out of the shower, standing on his lush mat and dripping all over the place, but not really caring about that.
More important things were happening. “I saved you,” Jane said again.
He pulled out another towel. Big, fluffy, white. With the same care he’d shown her before—as if he were afraid a touch would bruise her—Aidan carefully dried her skin. Then he wrapped the towel around her body.
“Aidan?” Jane prompted.
His hands fell away from her.
“I burned and I died, Jane.” Stark. Cold. “My last thought was of you. I can remember that. The flames were eating my flesh, I hurt so much, and all I wanted…it was just to see you again.”
Tears stung her eyes. “You—you were breathing. I got you out.”
He started to speak, but then stopped. He turned from her and paced to the small closet in the bathroom. He pulled out a pair of faded jeans and yanked them on. Then he jerked a soft, black t-shirt over his head.
Jane stood there, wrapped in the towel, goosebumps covering her skin, and feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever felt before.
Aidan reached for her spare clothes. He offered them to her. “Dress…then we’ll talk.” His jaw clenched. “It’s…too hard to focus when I can see you like this.”
Then he turned his back on her and walked away.
Jane stood there a moment. The clothes were on the sink near her. And all she could hear was…