As long as she played it cool, she had this.
Then he appeared.
Brandt walked out of the darkness. Tall. Muscled. A walking, talking fantasy. No. Not a fantasy, a nightmare.
How could someone so handsome be so f**king crazy?
He crossed his arms over his chest. Stood in the middle of the road.
Waited.
She slammed on the brakes.
“Who is he?”
Ah, now, finally, Az spoke. Jade’s fingers whitened around the steering wheel. “A dead man.” She shoved her foot down on the accelerator as far as it would go. Dead.
The BMW lurched forward. The scent of burning rubber filled her nose. Fast, faster . . .
The motor snarled.
Brandt cocked his head and grinned at her.
Did he think she was playing chicken? After the hell he’d put her through? She wasn’t going to swerve away from him.
The collision wouldn’t kill him. The guy was too strong for that. But she wanted him to hurt.
Wait. Dammit. Was she really becoming just like him?
No. Won’t be. Can’t be.
Brandt leapt away just as she swerved.
Her heart slammed in her ears, and the rough drumming was so wild that it shook her chest. She spun around the approaching curve too fast, and the car lurched on two tires.
Swearing, Jade jerked the steering wheel and barely managed to keep the car steady. Risking a quick glance back, she saw that Brandt had picked himself off the pavement. He was staring after her.
And the tough shifter wasn’t smiling anymore.
The accelerator was already flat on the floor. Time to get the hell out of that city.
Good thing she’d already scoped out the area and come up with a backup plan. She did that whenever she was in a new city. For those instances—like this one—when she needed to run fast and seek cover.
Az reached for her hand. His blood coated her fingertips. “Who was he?” Anger—no, more like rage—thickened beneath his words.
But she’d put a target on the guy’s back, so he deserved the truth and his rage. “Brandt Dupre.” A brief pause. “He runs the most powerful panther shifter pack in the South-east.” Hell, probably the whole U.S. “He’s vicious, smart, and he loves to make his prey suffer.”
Az didn’t let her go, and she could feel the weight of his stare on her.
They swept past the tall tombs of the cemetery. The heavy monuments rose over the old wall, dark, cold.
“Who is he . . .” Az asked, then pushed, “to you?”
“He’s the man who took my life away.” Everything she’d had. Everything she’d been. “And he’s the ass**le who’s hunting me now. Brandt isn’t ever going to stop. He’s going to keep coming, keep attacking until I’m dead—”
“Or until he is.” Flat, final words.
Her gaze flew to him.
Az’s skin wasn’t even pale. He’d taken bullets, lost a ton of blood, and he sat there, eyes glittering with intensity and dark determination carved onto his face.
“This isn’t your fight,” she told him, her voice quiet but firm. “You can’t understand . . . you have no idea what they’re like.” He might think he knew about the paranormals out there, but Brandt’s pack was different. Savage. She’d never encountered anyone else like them.
Her gaze darted back to the road. The interstate was deserted. Perfect. Run, run.
She’d spent the last ten years running.
“They shot me. They made it my fight.” Now his fingers fell away from hers. “They’re the ones who asked for death.”
Her stomach felt like it was twisted into knots.
“So they are the ones who will get him.”
His words sounded like a promise.
“The bullets didn’t even slow that joker down,” Riley muttered as the gray SUV hurtled through the city.
Brandt stared straight ahead. “Those bullets can slow down anything.” He’d made sure of it. He’d f**king traded more than a pound of flesh for them.
That particular batch of bullets had sent vampires to the ground and caused demons to scream in agony.
They could damn well take out the bastard with Jade.
“I put two of ’em in him,” Riley said as he yanked the steering wheel to the left and took the sharp turn. “He didn’t even stumble. He just spun around and sent a ball of fire at us.”
Interesting. Brandt rubbed his chin. “What the hell is he?”
“Not human, that’s for sure.” Riley exhaled on a rough sigh. “He’s not gonna be easy to kill.”
The good prey never was.
“Jade was desperate to get to him.” Riley’s fingers tapped on the steering wheel. “She jumped off that balcony and ran to him, screaming his name.”
Brandt’s jaw clenched. He didn’t particularly enjoy this news.
“I’m tellin’ you . . .” Riley hesitated and Brandt caught the tremble of what could have been fear in the shifter’s voice when he said, “we need to find out just what that bastard is before we do anything else.”
Brandt remembered the look in Jade’s eyes as she’d driven toward him. Rage. So much rage. But . . .
You veered away, baby. Can’t kill me, can you?
Just as he couldn’t kill her.
“I’ll tell you what he is,” Brandt smiled as his fingers slid down to stroke the edge of his chin. “He’s f**king dead.”
Let the hunt begin.
The three-story cabin sat nestled on a lake, its large glass windows gleaming in the early sunlight. Jade braked near the edge of the long, winding drive and jumped out of the car. Vaguely curious, Az watched as she ran from the vehicle. But she didn’t go far. A few seconds later, she was back—and tossing a FOR SALE sign into the back of the BMW.
“I figure we can stay here for a night, maybe two.” She slanted him a concerned glance as she drove the car up the drive. “We can crash here long enough to get you patched up.”
But he was already healing. At least, his shoulder was. His back ached and burned where the bullet still lodged near his spine.
Pain was an unusual sensation. Since falling, he’d realized there were so many different ways to feel pain. Fast cuts, slices with a knife that opened the flesh in an instant. Deep, burning pain that tore beneath the skin when a bullet lodged in muscle and—
“You’re not going to pass out on me, are you?” Worry had roughed her voice.
Jade braked the car, and Az realized she was staring at him with wide eyes.