Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(61)

She grabbed her gun and made sure it was hidden behind the loose skirt of her dress. Then she took up a position in the middle of that room. Anyone coming through that door would have to go through her before getting to Paris.

A few moments later, she also saw their guests.

“I’m back,” Vincent Connor said, flashing her a tired smile as he sauntered into the back room. “And I’ve brought friends.”

He had his hands clamped on the shoulders of a man with dark hair and dark eyes, a man who seemed familiar to Annette though she’d never met him in person before, she was sure of it. Deep gashes covered his neck and jaw, obvious signs of a wolf attack.

Just which wolf had the guy pissed off? And why was he there?

Garrison was glaring at the injured human, but not attacking. Not yet, anyway.

And there was a woman in the little group, too. A woman with pale, blonde hair and bright green eyes. Heavy gold bracelets—bands?—curled around her wrists.

“Just what friends are these?” Annette murmured. She made sure to keep her position in the middle of the room, and Garrison hurried to her side.

“This…” Vincent’s hold tightened on the bleeding human. She was surprised he hadn’t decided to take a bite with all that tempting blood flowing. “This is Drew Hart. The human who has been f*cking everything up for us.”

“Vampire bastard!” Drew cried out. “You let me the f*ck go, right now, you—”

“Lena…” Vincent sighed out the name. “Make him stop talking.”

The blonde waved her hand toward Drew. Instantly, his lips clamped together and he stopped speaking.

“Thank you.” Vincent didn’t look the blonde’s way. His gaze was on Annette. “How’s our wolf? Still rabid?” Then he made a show of glancing around her.

She bristled. “No, he’s—”

“Not freaking rabid,” Paris muttered from behind her.

Surprise flashed on Vincent’s face. “He speaks…and with sense, too.”

Lena inched forward.

“Where’s Aidan?” Annette demanded. Her hand tightened on her weapon.

Vincent glanced over at Lena.

Sadness flickered on her face. “When I saw him last, the darkness had taken him over. He’d lost the battle and was running wild into the night.”

What? No, no way. He—

“Aidan had two beasts inside of him, a werewolf and a vampire.” Lena’s voice was so soft that Annette had to strain in order to hear her. “That’s not the way things were meant to be.”

Paris is carrying two beasts.

“They ripped apart his sanity. Only bloodlust and rage are left in him now.” Lena shook her head. “I tried to warn Mary Jane Hart, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

Drew frantically shook his head. Blood dripped from his wounds.

Vincent’s teeth snapped together.

“Mary Jane went after him.” Lena’s shoulders fell. “But I’m afraid that when she finds Aidan, he won’t be the man she needs. He may not even be a man at all.”

Paris was dead silent behind Annette and tension seemed to be rolling off Garrison.

“I tried to tell Jane.” Vincent shoved Drew down onto his knees before him. “She wasn’t meant to be with Aidan. The consequences of their mating would be disastrous. Now, she’ll see for herself just what I meant.”

Annette backed away from him. Her gaze fell to her broken scrying mirror. Those precious chunks…

And for just a moment, she saw something. A quick flash.

Of Hell.

***

Hell’s Gate. Jane followed Aidan’s scent back to the club on Bourbon Street. His haven. The place where it had all started for them.

She’d met Aidan just outside of Hell’s Gate while working her first case as a homicide detective. A woman’s dead body had been dumped near the club. Of course, that particular victim hadn’t stayed dead, not for long. And Jane’s world had quickly spun out of control.

Slowly, she approached the entrance to Hell’s Gate. The guard stood as she neared. “Ms. Jane…” Troy looked over his shoulder at the closed door. “You shouldn’t…I don’t think you should go in tonight. Something isn’t right.”

Troy had claw marks on his stomach. She’d smelled his blood from a block away. Jane swallowed. “Aidan did that to you?”

He nodded.

Shit. “When I go inside, lock the door behind me. Then go back to the werewolf compound and get that wound treated, okay?”

But he didn’t move. Troy’s eyes—one blue and one green—stayed locked on her. “It isn’t safe for you.”

“I can handle him.” She sounded way more confident than she felt. “But everyone else needs to stay away for now.” Until she had her Aidan back. And she would get him back. There was no alternative for her. Whatever she had to do in that place, she’d do it. Jane wasn’t about to lose him. They’d already been through too much together. She wouldn’t give him up now. “Lock the door behind me,” so they wouldn’t get any unexpected visitors, “then go,” Jane ordered.

He hesitated but, after a moment, Troy stepped out of her way. Jane’s hand curled around the door handle and she opened it slowly, the hinges creaking. She stepped into the club, and it was dark inside, a cavernous darkness.