Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(11)

Her lips parted. “You…you drank my blood.”

Tread carefully. “Did I?” He shook his head. “Paris doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The guy’s a worrier. Always has been. You aren’t hurting me. You aren’t doing anything to make me weaker.” That was the absolute truth. “Together, we will always be stronger.”

Her gaze searched his. He saw the exact moment when she decided to believe him. A relieved breath slipped from her and her eyes gleamed. “Always.”

He knew the storm had passed, for the moment. “Glad that’s settled,” Aidan muttered. His hand slid up the delicate column of her throat and he leaned toward her, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. Jane leaned into him, kissing him back so sweetly and then when he pulled back, she smiled at him.

His beautiful Jane.

Mine.

Hell, yes, he’d marked her. No other werewolf had better get close to her, and if Paris thought she’d drink from him…

Think again, buddy. Think the hell again.

“Are you going to tell me what you found in that alley?” Jane murmured. A furrow appeared between her brows. “I guess the clean-up is all handled now and—”

Right. Time to get back to business. Though the pleasure part of their relationship had certainly been fun. “Someone beat me to that particular job.”

The furrow deepened. “Come again?”

Oh, baby, I plan to. At the first available opportunity. He cleared his throat. “The bodies were gone. The alley reeked of bleach. No work for me there.”

She blinked. “But…who did it? Why?”

Might as well tell her all now. The better for her to be ready for the threat that would come again. “I found a video camera out there. Someone was watching you, baby. Those humans in the alley? They might have thought they were there to take you out, but I suspect they were really just bait. Someone wanted to watch you. Maybe see how strong you were.”

“What?” Then she gave a bitter laugh. “Well, if that’s the case, then that someone saw me nearly get taken out. If you hadn’t been there, I—”

“Even at death’s door, you killed your attacker,” he said flatly. “That’s what the watcher saw. He knows how you fight now. Knows that you don’t stop, even when you barely have a breath in your body.”

Sadness darkened her expression. “Two men died tonight.”

Yeah, he wouldn’t exactly be grieving over them. “Why’d you go into the alley?” His hand was still curved around her neck. He could feel her pulse jerking beneath his touch.

“Because I smelled the blood.” Her gaze turned distant. “Someone was hurt. The blond man was yelling, saying he needed help.” She shrugged. “I might be a vamp, but I’m still a cop, too. So I went to help him.”

“And got ambushed.”

“Yes.”

His voice roughened as he said, “The next time you hear someone calling out for help, you’re not even going to hesitate, are you?”

“Aidan…”

“You were warned before, Jane. Being a hero will just get you killed.” That particular warning had come from a very powerful voodoo queen, a queen who had foreseen Jane’s fate.

Sometimes, you couldn’t change fate, no matter how hard you tried.

Jane’s lashes lowered. “I already died once.”

His hand slid from her neck.

“And I can’t just watch while an innocent suffers.” Her hand was at her side, pressing against the scar that marked her. No, not a scar. A burn.

A burn left by a sadistic vampire long ago.

“That’s not who I am,” Jane said.

No, it wasn’t.

She gave him a tight smile. “I have to go now. I need to…to check in at the station.” Her chin notched up. “I’m supposed to see my brother today.”

Aidan’s body iced. “That’s a bad idea. Very, very bad.” He’d prefer for her to never get anywhere near Drew Hart again. The guy was a ticking time bomb—one who had already exploded once and Aidan knew for certain, Drew would again.

“After he got out of intensive care at the hospital, Drew was transferred to a maximum security psych ward. I can’t just leave him there.”

Why not? As far as Aidan was concerned, the dick was getting off too lightly. Jane’s brother Drew had shot her—he’d been the one to set in motion the horrible chain of events that resulted in Jane’s transformation into a vampire.

No, I’m the one who did that. I’m the one who brought her brother to this town. Because Aidan had mistakenly thought he was doing something to make Jane happy. He hadn’t realized her precious Drew was a nutjob.

He tried to kill me, but Jane got caught in the cross-fire. He took her out.

And I will destroy him.

“Drew hasn’t spoken to anyone, not since he woke up in the hospital. I need to see him.”

“The guy opened fire at a college campus. He needs to stay locked away.”

Jane swallowed. “Once upon a time, he saved me.” She turned away from Aidan and took two steps. “He—”

“Bullshit.” Aidan grabbed her wrist. “Once upon a time, a sadistic vampire bastard broke into your house. He killed your mother and step-father. The vamp tied you up and tortured you and your brother left you to that hell.”