Bitter Blood (Blood and Moonlight Book 3)(72)

There was something about that woman…Jane couldn’t decide if Lena was as evil as Vincent or if she was another victim.

“Where is Aidan?” Lena asked as she looked over Jane’s shoulder. “You two…you’re stronger together.”

Goosebumps rose on Jane’s arms. That was something that she and Aidan only said to each other. For that woman to know… “You’re not a witch, are you?”

Lena gave a barely perceptible shake of her head.

“What are you?”

Footsteps pounded toward them. “Jane!” Vincent’s bellowing voice.

“Imprisoned,” Lena breathed back. Then she stepped away.

Vincent ran toward Jane, a broad smile on his face. What she was doing was a huge gamble. But Vincent wouldn’t know that Dr. Bob had found her. Especially if she came in, playing it cool and…

Jane started to cry.

Grieving.

The tears weren’t hard to summon. After all, when she thought of how close she’d come to losing Aidan, pain knifed right through her body. It had been a near thing, all because of the * who was staring at her with his own fake emotion—concern.

“Jane?” He reached for her shoulder and pulled her inside. Pulled her close to him. “Jane, what happened?”

She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. Rage would do that to a woman. Make her shake. “I…killed him.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. His arm wrapped around her and he pulled her close. “I’m so sorry.”

No, you’re not.

“He was b-beyond reason,” Jane stumbled over the words. “Trying to take my blood, trying to attack with his claws…” She blinked back her tears and stared up at him. Saddened. Grief-stricken. “What happened to him?”

Lena shuffled away from them. Jane could hear the faint rustle of footsteps in the far back room—was that Annette and Paris? And where was Drew—was her brother even still alive?

“I don’t know what happened,” Vincent replied. “Such a terrible situation.”

Liar.

Jane’s hand slipped beneath her jacket. Her fingers curled around the wooden stake that she’d brought with her.

“It’s going to be all right, Jane,” Vincent assured her as he pulled her even closer. So close that she could feel his heart beating. “I’ll help you.”

Oh, I don’t think you will.

Since she was close enough to feel his heart beat…that meant she was more than close enough to kill. Sometimes, you didn’t see your enemy coming, not until it was too late. Vincent had taught her that. “I-I need to see Paris and Annette. I have to tell them—”

His head lifted and he stared down at her with a solemn expression. “I’m sorry, Jane.”

Are you? Are you really?

“Paris attacked Annette. He…he went as crazy as, well, as I think Aidan did. She got too close to him, she made the mistake of trusting him, and…he ripped out her throat.”

Jane didn’t move.

“He came for me, then,” Vincent said, his jaw hardening. “And I had to stop him, Jane.”

She kept staring at him, as if she were shell-shocked.

Lena waited in the shadows, just a few feet away.

Jane’s fingers were itching to take that stake and plunge it into his heart but the cop in her…the cop that always demanded justice, the cop that never took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner, she hesitated.

“I lied,” Vincent suddenly confessed.

She let her brow furrow.

“I do know what happened.” His lips twisted down in sadness. “Werewolves…their beasts aren’t meant to transform. It drives them mad. Aidan had your blood, Jane. Your blood is what drove him over the edge. It mutated his cells, changed him. Destroyed him.”

Her skin was absolutely icy right then. And the hand hidden beneath her coat had a death grip on the stake.

“Alphas keep their blood on hand for their pack, right?” He was speaking quickly, as if he’d just figured something out. “Aidan must have given his contaminated blood—contaminated because of you—he must have given it to Paris. That’s why Paris changed.” Horror flashed on his face. “The whole pack could be changing. If they got the contaminated blood, they could all become mindless predators. But don’t worry, I’ll help you stop them.” He nodded decisively. “We’ll put them all down. We’ll—”

“End them?” Jane cut in, finishing for him.

He smiled. “Yes, if that’s what we must do…”

Sick sonofabitch. “I’m going to end someone,” Jane snapped. “But it’s not them.”

Lena gave a fast, warning scream.

But it was too late. Jane yanked up her stake and drove it right at Vincent’s heart.

Never saw that coming, did you?

***

Aidan slipped through one of the old, broken windows in the BDSM club. Silently, he made his way to the room that Paris had been chained inside. He didn’t worry about his scent giving him away. Yeah, Vincent had an enhanced sense of smell, but Aidan and Jane had picked up a potion to disguise that scent.

And since he already knew how to walk soundlessly…

Jane will keep him distracted. I’ll get my pack mate and the voodoo queen. And we will f*cking destroy Vincent.