Ripper (Hunter #1)(100)

I opened my eyes a smidge and saw them standing there.

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad.” Quinn had changed his shirt. He was back to masculine perfection in an olive-colored dress shirt and black slacks. “I’ve had much worse, though it has been a while since I broke a bone. I’ll moan and complain about the pain for days and see how much sympathy sex I can get out of our wife.”

A familiar voice chimed in, disapproval dripping. “It could have been avoided if Daniel had taken me with him as I advised. I can handle her. I am the only one who can handle her when she gets like that. You’re lucky Zack drives as quickly as he does or you could have had a much bigger problem on your hands.”

I lay perfectly still. I wanted to listen in as Marcus argued with Dan and Quinn.

“You think I couldn’t have handled her, Marcus?” Dan asked defensively. “Damn it. I held back because I don’t like hitting girls. I took Dev because I thought he could help. He has a relationship with her.”

“He spent ten minutes with her,” Marcus complained. “I have a relationship with her. Devinshea tossed money her way and expected her to comply because of it. He knows nothing about her. Neither of you has ever met a Hunter before and you’re proving it even as we speak.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Quinn asked.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. “It means that she is awake and listening to everything we say. It’s no use, cara mia. Open your eyes.”

Dark eyes looked down into mine. He smiled, but I saw the deep concern in them.

“What am I?” I asked desperately, needing to know what the hell was wrong with me. It wasn’t normal to have something primal inside waiting for a chance to get out.

The vampire smoothed back my hair and lifted me up. I felt weak against him. “Rest. I had to use an enormous amount of persuasion on you. The weakness will pass.”

I couldn’t rest when I wasn’t sure of where I was. The room was painted a neutral color and I’d been placed on a comfortable bed, but the bars on the door didn’t lie. “I’m in jail?”

“It’s a holding cell.” Dan looked at me with a mixture of guilt and wariness. “It’s only a precaution. You were out of control. It’s a good thing you’re awake. The Council is ready to meet. You need to answer for the killing of Darren Castle.”

“It was obviously self-defense.” Zack slid his key card through the lock and the door swung open. “I told you that when I asked you to go save her. He attacked her. I heard the whole thing.”

Dan sighed. “I know that, Zack, but you know as well as I do that the kill has to be declared righteous.”

Marcus squeezed my hand. “Do not worry. It will be all right.”

I shook the fog out of my head and turned to Marcus. He was the only one in the room I had any trust in at all. “His father killed those girls. Darren admitted it to me. He was the one who told Hamilton about vampires and led him to Sharpe. He was planting evidence against Alexander Sharpe. They were trying to make everyone believe Sharpe and Hamilton were partners, but Joseph Castle killed them all.”

Dan shook his head. “Son of a bitch. If he’d succeeded…”

“The wolves would revolt,” Quinn said.

Dan pulled out a cell phone and quietly called someone explaining that Castle needed to be found and brought in.

Someone had changed my clothes. I was wearing a too big V-neck sweater and a pair of men’s Levi’s. My feet were covered only in a pair of white socks. “Who changed my clothes?”

“Our wife and her friend.” Dan shoved his phone back in his pocket. “You were covered in blood. I thought it best you didn’t go meet the Council like that. I was going to change you myself.” Dan grinned and rolled his blue eyes. “But Marcus there insisted on propriety. So we brought in Zoey and Neil. Devinshea and I left the room. No covetous male eyes saw you, I assure you.”

I looked up at Marcus and saw he didn’t care that the other two men thought he was ridiculous and old-fashioned.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. His hands on me felt so good, though not necessarily in a sexual way. It was sensual, for certain. While I sat with his arms around me, I felt peaceful and calm, as though he could take the serene core of himself and impart a piece to me. I knew Gray wouldn’t like it, but I needed it. I put my hand in his because I needed the support for whatever I was about to learn. “Now, will someone please tell me what’s happening to me?”

Zack’s open face broke into a huge smile. He knelt down beside me. “I would be thrilled to tell you.”

“Boss,” a heavily accented voice said from the barred door. It sounded Northeastern. “Her brothers are here and so is the witch. They want to see her before she goes in.”

Dan inclined his head. “Thank you, Trent, show them in. I have some questions for them anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, looking at the two of them. I had tried to kill them. It wasn’t so surprising I was in jail.

Quinn smiled broadly. He really was devastating when he smiled. “Not at all. It was very exciting. The only problem was we didn’t bring Zoey along. It makes me long for the old days,” he sighed and exchanged an intimate look with his partner. There was a whole lot of history between them. “We’d fight and almost die and then Dan would come in to save the day and we’d all go to bed and celebrate the fact that we survived.”