“No, Aidan,” Jane said as if reading his mind. “It’s too risky. We don’t know—”
A guttural cry broke through Jane’s words. That cry didn’t come from Roth—the guy was barely breathing. Instead, that choked cry of fury came from the man who’d just lunged through the broken doorway, a man with dark hair and eyes too much like Jane’s.
Drew Hart had joined their little party. The bastard lifted his hand and Aidan saw the glint of the knife he held. “Found you,” Drew shouted as he stared at Aidan. “Now I end you.” He charged across the room, barreling straight for Aidan with that knife gripped tightly in his hand. Aidan was willing to bet the weapon was made of silver.
Jane leapt to her feet. “Drew, stop!” She ran at him.
Oh, the hell, no. Aidan had played this scene once before. It hadn’t ended well, and he would not be repeating that nightmare. He grabbed Jane’s arm and yanked her behind him even as Drew sliced down with the knife.
The knife slammed straight into Aidan’s heart. And it burned. Smoke rose from Aidan’s chest. Right, knew it was fucking silver.
Drew laughed. “I…just had to wait for my moment…when you were distracted…got you, got…”
“Aidan?” Jane’s voice was broken.
He looked down at the knife in his chest. “Silver.”
“Right, you bastard!” Drew yelled, spittle flying from his mouth. “It’s—”
Aidan yanked out the knife. More smoke drifted up from the blade. “Stung,” he allowed. “But it sure as shit didn’t end me.”
Drew’s eyes widened in horror. “What? How? No! You’re a werewolf! You told me—but I knew before, long before I set foot in this town—I was prepared for you! I was—”
Aidan lunged forward and he shoved that knife right against Drew’s throat.
Jane’s brother stopped talking. He barely seemed to breathe. The blade was pressed to Drew’s skin. It would be so easy to slice that skin right open.
“I’m not just a werewolf any longer.” Aidan bared his fangs. “So silver to the heart won’t stop me.” He considered the matter for a moment. “I’m not sure anything can stop me.”
Drew paled.
“But I know how to stop you,” Aidan said. And he was going to enjoy this. “I’m going to cut off your head. Cleave it straight from your body, and then you won’t ever hurt me or what’s mine again.”
“Aidan…” Jane’s voice. Still lost. Still…stunned. “Aidan, I—”
He didn’t look back at her. He didn’t hear Roth’s wheezes any longer and he knew the bastard was gone. His gaze slid to the left. To the photos on the wall. Photos of his Jane, though some of the images had been ripped down. “What did you do?” Aidan asked Drew. “Kill the bastard and then just lie in wait for us?”
Roth had been the bait. And Drew—
“Mary Jane!” Drew cried out. “He’s a fucking beast! Stop him! He’s going to kill me!”
Jane’s fingers curled around Aidan’s shoulders.
“I’m your family!” Drew’s voice was breaking. “I just…I wanted to help you! I was protecting you! Always!”
“No, you dumbass. You were the one killing her.” Aidan let the knife’s blade cut into Drew’s skin and blood began to trickle down Drew’s throat. “You killed her and you killed Paris.”
Drew shook his head and that rough movement just made the knife slice deeper. “Paris? Like, Paris, France?”
“Like my friend Paris.” The scent of the blood was getting to him. Bloodlust and rage were combining within him. Why slice his throat? I can drain the bastard dry. I can make him beg for death. I can rip his world apart with one bite.
“I don’t know any Paris!” Drew yelled.
“You were working with Roth, weren’t you?” Aidan snapped his teeth together. “And what…Paris was just in the fucking way? A distraction that you needed to make?”
Drew kicked him and raked his fingers over Aidan’s face, drawing blood.
Aidan dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor.
Drew blinked, looked at the knife, then back at Aidan. “You—”
Aidan lifted his claws. “I don’t need the knife.” He would take the man’s head all too easily without that weapon. His claws drove right for Drew’s throat.
“No!” Jane threw her body into Aidan’s, shoving him away so that his claws just raked over Drew, slicing deep into his jaw and neck.
Drew screamed in agony.
Jane and Aidan hit the floor. He roared as he pushed her to the side and leapt to his feet. My prey. My fucking prey.
“Aidan, stop.” Jane had jumped to her feet, too. She stood in his path. Drew was running for the door and Jane was shielding that bastard. “Aidan…”
“He dies.”
That she would dare to stand there and protect Drew Hart…after all he’d done. Jane’s life. Her blood on the ground. And the fucker just went for my heart.