An odd sense of loss filtered down her spine. Then surprise came as he quickly buttoned her shirt to the top.
He clasped her by the elbow. “Cut the light.” His voice didn’t rise, but instantly, the light was extinguished. “I’m Mercury. What do you want?”
What a question. What she wanted, nobody could provide. Yet she struggled to find the right words. Night after night, traveling under darkness to reach him, she’d planned for this moment. But the words wouldn’t come. She wanted to breathe. To rest. To hide. “Help. I need your help.” The truth tumbled out too fast to stop.
He stiffened and then tightened his hold on her arm. “That, darlin’, you’re gonna have to earn.”
Jax eyed the brunette sitting in the backseat of the battered Subaru. He’d stolen the vehicle from a home in Beverly Hills after all hell had broken loose. The gardener who’d owned it no longer needed it, considering he was twelve feet under.
The luxury SUV sitting so close to the Subaru had tempted him, but the older car would last longer and use less gas, which was almost depleted, anyway. Hell, everything they had was almost depleted. From medical supplies to fuel to books to, well, hope. How the hell did he refill everybody with hope when he could barely remember the sensation?
The night raid had been a search for more gasoline from abandoned vehicles, not a search party for survivors. He’d never thought to find Lynn Harmony.
The woman had closed her eyes, her head resting against the plush leather. Soft moonlight wandered through the tinted windows to caress the sharp angles of her face. With deep green eyes and pale skin, she was much prettier than he’d expected . . . much softer. Too soft.
Though, searching him out, well now. The woman had guts.
Manny kept looking at her through the rearview mirror, and for some reason, that irritated Jax. “Watch the road.”
Manny cut a glance his way. At over fifty years old, beaten and weathered, he took orders easily. “There’s no one out here tonight but us.”
“We hope.” Jax’s gut had never lied to him. Somebody was coming. If the woman had brought danger to his little place in the world, she’d pay.
Her eyes flashed open, directly meeting his gaze. The pupils contracted while her chin lifted. Devoid of expression, she just stared.
He stared back.
A light pink wandered from her chest up her face to color her high cheekbones. Fascinated, he watched the blush deepen. When was the last time he’d seen a woman blush? He certainly hadn’t expected it from the woman who’d taken out most of the human race.
Around them, off-road vehicles kept pace. Some dirt bikes, a few four-wheelers, even a fancy Razor confiscated from another mansion. Tension rode the air, and some of it came from Manny.
“Say it,” Jax murmured, acutely, maybe too much so, aware of the woman in the backseat.
“This is a mistake,” Manny said, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “You know who she is. What she is.”
“I doubt that.” He turned to glance again at the woman, his sidearm sweeping against the door. She’d turned to stare out at the night again, her shoulders hunched, her shirt hiding that odd blue glow. “Are you going to hurt me or mine?” he asked.
Slowly, she turned to meet his gaze again. “I don’t know.” Frowning, she leaned forward just enough to make his muscles tense in response. “How many people are yours?”
He paused, his head lifting. “All of them.”
She smiled. “I’d heard that about you.” Turning back to the window, she fingered the glass as if wanting to touch what was out of reach.
“Heard what?” he asked.
“Your sense of responsibility. Leadership. Absolute willingness to kill.” Her tone lacked inflection, as if she just stated facts. “You are, right? Willing to kill?”
He stilled, his eyes cutting to Manny and back to the woman. “You want me to kill somebody?”