I will go insane.
Hell, maybe he already was insane. Plenty of his pack members suspected he was. After all, what sane werewolf would mate with a vampire?
I would. I’d do anything for Jane.
That was the problem.
But he was also the paranormal boss in the city, and it was time that Jane started paying attention to the rules in place. His rules.
Chapter Two
The alley was clean. It had looked like a blood bath just an hour before but now the place was practically spotless.
Aidan’s nostrils twitched.
Bleach. Someone had even used damn bleach at the scene. He stared down at the ground. A body should have been there, close to the trash bin. The blond bastard that he’d killed with his claws. But the guy was gone. So was his partner.
A low whistle came from behind him. Aidan didn’t move at the sound. He waited as Garrison, one of his younger pack members, approached. Garrison’s arm brushed against Aidan’s as he studied the scene. “Somebody sure moved fast, alpha,” Garrison mused.
Somebody sure as hell had.
And the bleach was overpowering—nearly wiping out all the other scents.
“At least we don’t have to clean up the bodies, though,” Garrison added, his voice sounding a bit brighter. “That’s something, right?”
Aidan turned his head and focused on the redheaded wolf. Garrison was still young—Aidan reminded himself of that fact for about the hundredth time. He’s young. He’ll learn. He’s only an asshole some days. “The bodies would have told me something.” But now—
He stiffened. He’d just caught sight of a faint green light from the corner of his eye. A light that should not have been in that alley. His head tilted up, then to the left. There. Small, dark—a video camera. The faint green light was glowing from the bottom corner of the camera.
Someone is watching.
His eyes narrowed on that camera. Someone had been watching while Jane was attacked? While she lay on the ground, fighting for her life? And now…someone was still watching as he came to find answers.
“Uh, alpha…” Garrison began nervously.
Aidan leapt up into the air—far higher than any basketball player could ever dream. His claws drove into the camera and he wrenched it down.
No more green light. No more watching.
The wolves who’d come with him to that alley were dead silent.
A video camera…one that had recorded a vampire and a werewolf that night. “Trace it,” Aidan ordered. When it came to tech, his pack knew their shit. “Find out where the feed was going. Find out who the hell put this camera up there. Find out…” His voice dropped to a growl. “Who was watching.”
Who was watching while Jane nearly died.
***
The dream came again. Dream, nightmare, memory—to Jane, there was no difference.
She was tied down, secured on the top of an old table. In the basement of her house. When she turned her head, Jane could see her mom. Her mother was tossed on the floor, her limbs all twisted and a big pool of red underneath her body. Her dad…he was there, too. Another quick turn of her head showed Jane her dad’s form. The only father she’d ever known, not by blood, but by love. He’d loved her so much, all the way until the very end.
His eyes were still open, but she didn’t think he saw her, not anymore.
“There, there…no need for tears, little one. It’s all for you.” That voice was back. The voice she hated. Mean and cold and cruel and she wouldn’t look at him. She just wouldn’t.
“We waited a long time for you. You’d better not disappoint.”
She looked back at her dad. This was her house. Her mom’s house. Her dad’s house. They were supposed to be safe there. Why aren’t we safe?
“You can scream if you want,” that cold voice told her.
It was all the warning she got. Pain came then. So hot. Burning, branding. She screamed and screamed but it didn’t stop. And she could smell something—something funny. Something—
It’s me. I’m burning.
Her voice broke and her cries stopped.
“Good girl.”
She didn’t want to be good. Not if he liked that.
“I’ll be back soon.” He stroked back her hair, and his green eyes gleamed down at her. “We’ll take a little break. Let you get a bit of strength back so that we can finish things up.” His blond hair was swept away from his face. A face that seemed so normal.
It isn’t. He’s not normal. He’s evil. Monster. Monster. Monster!
Vampire.
There were no tears on her cheeks. She’d stopped crying after…Daddy.
The green-eyed man—monster—shut the door on the way out. Her home. He had taken over as if he owned the place. They had. In the middle of the night, monsters had come for her. Her mom had told her that monsters weren’t real. That she should never be afraid of them.
Her mom had been wrong.