Eternal Hunter

Chapter 19

“This is a really stupid idea.” Erin’s stare could have burned a lesser man. As it was, Jude felt distinctly singed. “You’re already weak. You can’t seriously be considering going after this guy now.”

Weak. Not a word he particularly enjoyed even though he still felt like he’d been hit by a truck. Or a dozen demons. “I’m getting stronger every minute.” True. He’d always known he was lucky to be a white tiger. If he’d been a fox — hell, it would have taken days for him to recover. Simple shifter fact: The stronger and rarer you were, the quicker you healed. Kinda like survival of the fittest multiplied, and it was sweet old Mother Nature’s way of making sure her once-in-a-blue-moon shifters didn’t vanish from the earth completely.

When you were hard to kill, you got to live longer.

“You. Can’t. Do. This.”

He’d never heard that particular guttural tone from her before. The lady was walking a fine edge of rage. So was he. “This is it, sweetheart. The chance to bag the bastard and take him out.” The others were silent around them. Watching. Waiting. Even the demon prey had the sense to keep his mouth shut. “We finish this tonight, and there’s no more running for you. No more fear.”

“And if he kills you?” Her hands were small fists. Blood dripped onto the floor near her feet, and he knew that her claws were out, cutting her.

A rumble built in his throat and he crossed to her. Took her hands. Unfurled the fists. Her claws had dug deep. “Erin…”

She jerked away from him. “You almost died here.” Her right hand lifted, waving toward the peeling walls and sputtering candles. Luckily, someone — he thought maybe Dee — had broken the radio and ended the blasting stream of drums and rock.

“Almost doesn’t really count,” he murmured, and knew when her eyes immediately slit that he’d said the wrong thing.

“I saw you on the floor.” Death dream. “Blood around you. Your eyes wide open. Dead.” She shook her head, sending her hair flying around her. “Don’t tell me that doesn’t count.”

“Uh? What did she see?” Tony asked. He was up and gingerly rubbing his jaw.

Zane shook his head. “I’ll explain later, but, man, I really don’t think you want to know.”

Their voices drifted around Jude. Erin. He wanted, needed to hold her. But the others—

Ah, screw them.

He caught Erin and yanked her against his chest. He held fast when she fought him and when her head tipped back, he kissed her.

She bit him…then kissed him back. “Bastard,” she whispered against his lips.

A tremble shook her.

Or maybe it shook him. Hard to say. Her mouth widened and his tongue swept inside. This—this was what he needed. Her taste. Her flesh. His for the taking. His.

Always his.

“Uh, dude, seriously, if you two have sex, I’m outta here, fast,” Dee said, her voice gruff.

His head lifted. Sex with Erin. Always something he was up for but—

But darkness would be falling soon and a killer waited.

“You’re really going, aren’t you?” Erin asked as her hands rose to lock around his arms.

A nod. For her. He’d stop the bastard, one way or another.

She absorbed that, then said, “Then I’m coming, too.”

“The hell you are!” No, no way, she—

“My life, Jude.” Her hold tightened on him. “He’s been screwing with my life all this time. I’m not sitting on the sidelines anymore, and I’m sure not letting you go in alone with this freak waiting to tear you apart.”

Her scent filled his nostrils, sending his cock surging to full, hard attention and making his heart race with a twisted mix of lust and need and fear. Lust and need — because he always wanted her, even when he’d just left death’s cold door. Fear — the fear came because he didn’t want to risk her. She could take down demons, but if the stalker shifted, she’d die. “You can’t go with me.” Giving her a straight order wouldn’t work, but logic might sway her lawyer’s mind. “Erin, he’d catch your scent long before we closed in and the bastard would run.” Then they’d be back to square fucking one.

No. The game would end tonight.

“Uh…this really isn’t police protocol,” Tony pointed out.

“The police aren’t gonna be handling this.” Jude released Erin and stepped back. He thought maybe the move would help to ease the hunger he felt. No such luck. “Night Watch has priority. The shifter asshole is expecting me and the demon, and that’s what he’ll get.”

“Ah…not quite.” Zane cleared his throat. Jude glanced at him and saw the hunter’s green eyes fade to pure black. “He’s expecting you and he’s going to get two demons. The asshole over there — and me.” His smile held a cruel edge. “You freaking shifters think you can scent everything a mile away. Well, when he smells me, all he’ll get is demon.”

An answering grin stretched Jude’s lips. Zane had always been there for him, ready to kick ass and walk right into the dark. He slanted a glance at Erin. “Between the two of us, the wolf will go down.” The other shifter wouldn’t be expecting the threat — from Zane or from him and that would be his downfall.

Erin was one hell of a fighter. She’d more than proved that tonight. But now, it was his turn. “This is what I do,” he told her, his blood already heating. “It’s time for me to finish this hunt.”

The struggle was on her face. Fury and fear warring together. Yeah, he knew that mix well.

Jude turned to the demon who’d set him up to die. “What’s your name?”

His lips thinned.

“Ah, does he want me to beat it out of him?” Dee asked. “If I can’t go hunting with you, at least let me have some fun now.”

“Kyler.”

Jude grunted. “Okay, Kyler, this is how it’s gonna work. You’ll do exactly what I say or you’ll find out what it’s like to have a tiger rip you open.”

The black eyes didn’t blink.

“Got me?” Jude pushed.

A slow incline of his head.

“I’ll be watching you, demon. Every move.” If it looked like the demon was going to sell him out, the bastard would feel a shifter’s rage.

Erin was silent and stiff beside him. The fury and fear raged on her face and the combination seemed to come off her in waves, thickening the air.

“You hired me to do this job,” he reminded her. “So let me do it.

Her golden eyes went glacial. “It’s not just a job. It’s your life!”

And her life. “This is what I do,” he said again. What he had to do, for her. Protecting what you valued most was the way of his breed.

Nothing was more valuable to him than Erin.

Her nostrils flared. “You don’t get so much as another scratch, you understand me? Not a scratch. You go in, stop the freak, and you come back to me.”

He blew out a slow breath. “You know, sweetheart, it sure sounds like you care what happens to me—”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Her finger stabbed into his chest. “You know I—”

Oh, come on, she couldn’t stop there.

“—I do.” Soft. Sad. “So don’t leave me, got it?”

Leave her? Not an option, now or damn ever. “Got it.”

She crushed her mouth to his. Made him ache and need and lust.

Her mouth lifted. Their eyes met. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

Then she brushed past him. The lady climbed the steps with her head high and her shoulders straight. The metal door screeched open when she reached the top.

Jude realized he was holding his breath. Talk about a woman with power.

She could bring him to his knees so easily.

“Oh, damn.” Zane sounded bemused, confused, not like his usual cocky self. “That lady is…something else. Man, did you see the way she fought?” Zane had always had a soft spot for a woman who could kick ass and ignore names.

“Yeah, I did.” There had been no missing the way she’d fought to save him. A smart man held a woman who fought like that very close.

A smart man told her how he really felt, and he worked like hell to make her feel the same way.

“Uh, Jude…” Tony’s voice was back to that drawling roll now, not dazed anymore. “Are you sure about this plan? You don’t know what that asshole could have waiting for you.”

“He doesn’t know what’s coming for him.” No way was he backing down. “Don’t worry, Tony, I’m not scared of the big, bad wolf.” No, the wolf needed to be scared of him.

The sun was starting to set when Erin marched out of the den twenty minutes later. Red gold lights shot across the sky, looking weakly like trickles of blood.

Her hands fisted. “You’d better come back to me in one piece, Jude.”

He stood behind her, just inside the entrance to the den. “Don’t worry about me.”

Right. “You almost died on me once today.” Not again.

“I’ll have backup.”

The demon.

She stared up at the sky and tried to pretend she was in control. I can handle this.

If she were going with him, she’d be handling it a whole lot better. If she were watching his back…

But Erin knew he was right. The wolf would catch her scent instantly.

Straightening her shoulders, she took a step forward. Dee stood next to a gray SUV, waiting semi-patiently for her. Jude had told the human to stay with her until he returned from the hunt.

A human? For protection? Seriously, she could rip the woman apart in less than ten seconds.

If she were the ripping apart type.

“There’s something you should know, sweetheart.”

She hesitated but didn’t glance back.

“I realized a few things in that filthy hole.”

Yeah, she’d realized some damn important things too. When she’d seen him and he’d been so still, a jarring realization had come real quick. Can’t lose him.

“You stopped being a case for me, hell, almost from day one.”

She kept her shoulders straight and her hands loose at her sides.

“I fell for you fast,” he told her.

What? No, no, he couldn’t mean—

She swallowed and stared up at that bloody sky.

“I’m coming back from this case, and I’ll be coming for you.”

Her hands curled into small fists. “Good.” And she looked back at him, standing so big and strong in that doorway. “Because if I don’t see your sexy ass within three hours, I’ll be coming for you.” He wasn’t the only one who’d fallen.

And Erin wasn’t about to lose the best thing that had ever happened to her. “Watch that ass, Donovan.”

Their eyes held.

I love you.

The words stuck in her throat. She wanted to say them so badly but—

“You too, sweetheart,” he murmured and her breath caught.

Then he was gone. Jude eased back into the den and she was left with the taste of fear on her tongue.

He watched his mate and fury iced his veins. Her face — her eyes—

Fuck, no.

This wasn’t the way the game was played.

The other shifter — he was prey.

But Erin didn’t look at the tiger as if he were prey.

No, not prey. So much more.

“Bitch,” the word was a growl that broke from his mouth.

He’d done so much for her. Sacrificed and punished — and this was how she repaid him?

Unworthy.

They could have been perfect. Unstoppable. The next evolution for their race.

The tiger had ruined that for him.

Ruined every fucking thing.

“You really think this plan’s going to work?” Erin stood on Jude’s ramshackle porch, her skin cold even though the night was too warm. She stared up at the stars and wondered just how close Jude was to death.

Again.

Bastard.

Be safe. Come back to me.

Because if something happened again, she wasn’t sure she’d get another vision. She’d sure never been able to control the dreams.

No, this time, she might not get a vision.

Just a body.

“I don’t know if it will work.” Dee stepped to her side, moving almost as soundlessly as a shifter. A good hunter, for a human.

Dee’s response wasn’t the reassuring answer she’d wanted, but Erin was quickly coming to see that Dee wasn’t exactly a reassuring kind of woman.

“You’ve been on a lot of hunts with him, haven’t you?” Erin asked, but she didn’t take her gaze off the swamp. The twisting trees, the gentle movement at the water’s edge. This was where Jude ran wild. His sanctuary.

Dee hesitated. “Ah, usually Jude hunts alone.”

Like he’d gone hunting at that den.

The human turned toward her. “He’s the strongest shifter I’ve ever met,” Dee told her. Okay, that was reassuring. Erin glanced at her as she continued, “And believe me, I’ve come across more than my share of shifters since I joined Night Watch fifteen years ago.”

Fifteen years? But the woman barely looked thirty. Hell, more like twenty-five.

Dee laughed. “Don’t worry, I was legal.” A pause. “Barely. Jude took me under his wing. Taught me how to fight the supernaturals. How to survive. He’d only been in the Watch for a few years, but he’d already gotten a reputation.”

She’d just bet he had.

“Jude always gets the job done,” Dee said simply. “You can count on him.”

Yeah, she could.

A soft peal rang out from the area of Dee’s left side. She shoved a hand into the pocket of her jeans and dug out a cell phone. “Yo.”

Erin tensed.

“What? You’re kidding! That’s great! Does he remember anything? What? Yeah, yeah, we’re on our way.”

She ended the call with a flick of her thumb. “Givens is awake. That was McCall, he’s one of the hunters we stationed with Givens for protection. A few minutes ago, Givens woke up. McCall said the guy just opened his eyes and then he asked for his son, Tommy.”

Erin’s breath rushed out. Alive.

“The way I figure it,” Dee said, “we can sit up here with our thumbs up our asses or we can hightail it to that hospital, arrive before the cops do, and maybe get some info out of Givens.”

“I don’t really like having a thumb up my ass,” Erin muttered and jumped down the steps. “Let’s go.” Jude was already hunting, so the info might not be any good to him, but at least she’d be doing something.

Other than having a thumb up her ass.

They ran toward Dee’s SUV.

“You sure this is the place?” Jude demanded.

Kyler gave a grudging nod. “Yeah, yeah, this is the address he gave me.”

A cabin at the edge of the swamp. A place that looked way too much like his own home.

Gotta get a new place for Erin. Because a dump falling into the moss really wasn’t going to cut it for her.

He had the cash. Sure, he liked to run in the swamp, but Erin needed something different.

And after the way the asshole had christened her home, she’d probably like a fresh start someplace else.

They could get that start together. Maybe another antebellum, one they could restore together. One with a lot of land for running…

Later.

“All right then,” Jude said, testing the ropes that held his hands. Damn tight, cutting-off-his-circulation tight. Zane knew his knots, how to tie ’em and how to place ’em. Thanks to Zane, the knots were perfectly positioned next to his claws. A few slices, and he’d be free. “Time to get your payment.”

A grunt came from the sweating demon. His black eyes darted from the left to the right. “This is a real assed-up plan.”

Jude grunted. “Who asked you?”

Zane eyed him with raised brows. “Guess I get to be the one to drag your sorry butt inside, huh?”

“No…he gets the job.” Because he didn’t want Kyler’s hands free for a minute.

“Fuck,” Kyler snarled.

Good thing demons were strong.

“Let’s get this shit started.”

Dee’s foot shoved the gas pedal to the floor. She took the curves and hidden twists with ease, her gaze never darting from the road.

At this rate, they’d be at the hospital in no time. The road was deserted. Dark and quiet. Well, quiet except for Dee’s revving motor.

“Does Lee know he was attacked because of me?” Erin’s fingers tapped against the side of the passenger door.

“No.”

Ah, that would be a fun conversation.

“He doesn’t know that you saved his butt yet, either.”

Headlights flashed in the distance. Maybe not so deserted. “Saving him has to count for something, right?” Erin asked quietly. She sure hoped it did.

Zane kicked open the door of the cabin. “We’re here!” He called out, pretty unnecessarily to Jude’s way of thinking.

Kyler tossed him onto the floor. “Got the shifter bastard you wanted.”

Jude didn’t grunt at the impact. He didn’t move at all.

Old floorboards squeaked around him as Zane and Kyler edged out in the room.

Jude’s nostrils flared. He couldn’t scent the wolf, but Erin had told him the guy could disguise his smell. So just because he couldn’t smell him, well, that didn’t mean the stalker wasn’t there.

His ears twitched.

Silence.

Thick and heavy. Too much silence.

He slashed through his ropes and bounded to his feet. “Where the hell is the bastard?”

Kyler was creeping toward the door. Jude grabbed him and slammed his head against the wall. Payback for the headfirst toss onto the floor. The demon went down and didn’t get back up.

Jude’s gaze raked the cabin. Not here.

But if the wolf wasn’t waiting to rip him apart, then where was the bastard?

“Yeah, saving the guy’s life has to count for something,” Dee said, her fingers tightening around the steering wheel. “It’s not like you could help the fact that this creep after you tried to kill him.”

The headlights were growing closer. The dark shadow of that other car — was it swerving a bit?

Erin licked her lips. “How many…other cabins are out this way?” She’d never seen another vehicle when she’d visited Jude before. The guy liked his solitude. Not real big into sharing property and—

Something big and black ran into the road.

“What the hell?” Dee slammed on the brakes.

But whatever the hell that was out there wasn’t aiming for them.

“Is that a fucking dog?” Dee’s breath jerked out with a hard rush.

Erin’s breath was gone. Not a dog. The beast was heading right for the other vehicle. Running fast and hard. The beast never halted, never faltered, just ran straight for the other driver.

Animal and car hit. Brakes squealed. Metal shrieked. Glass shattered. And the vehicle, a big, black SUV — pretty damned similar to Dee’s, just a different color — swerved off the road and plowed into a line of trees.

“Shit!” Dee jerked off her belt and sprang from the vehicle.

The air from Dee’s open door wafted into the SUV, and Erin’s eyes widened as she caught a distinct scent. No. “Dee! Dee, stop!” She clawed through her own seat belt and jumped out, her heart racing. “Don’t get close, it’s—”

“Holy Christ!”

She hadn’t even known the woman was religious.

“You know, if he were awake, the guy would be a hell of a lot more useful.” Zane eyed the demon on the floor, his face grim. “Maybe you should have waited to bash his head until after we got some more information.”

There was no more information to get. “The wolf isn’t here.” He’d been played. Played.

And he’d left Erin alone.

He grabbed his cell phone. Punched in her number.

One ring.

Two.

Then…damn CALLER NOT AVAILABLE message.

His fingers crushed the phone. Shit. “Try to get Dee on the line,” he growled, and his gaze raked the cabin. Minimal furnishings. A chair. A bed. Too much like my place.

Except for the framed picture of Erin.

Bastard.

“Ringing,” Zane said, and Jude glanced back to see that the demon had his cell phone positioned at his ear.

“Tell her to get Erin inside my cabin and to lock the doors. We’re on our way.”

That picture…

He turned back around, slowly, and paced across the room.

Her hair was longer. She was smiling, walking in what looked like some kind of park.

“No answer.”

Jude reached for the frame. He traced the busted glass. It looked like someone had shoved a fist into the picture.

“We’ve got a big problem.” He looked up at Zane. No answer. Their eyes met. The broken glass bit into his hand, sending droplets of blood onto the picture.

Onto Erin.

Blood was in the air. Thick and strong and so sickeningly fresh.

“I think the bastard is dead!” Dee scrambled to a stop near the middle of the road, right before the prone body of the giant black wolf.

“Get back!” Erin screamed, running as fast as she could. An injured wolf was dangerous. Any wolf was dangerous, but an injured beast would rip and tear anything in its path.

With a burst of speed, she reached the human and jerked her back.

“Erin, stop! The wolf is barely breathing. It’s over, you’re—”

Erin shoved Dee away. A safe distance behind her. Then she fell to her knees beside the wolf. So much blood. A growl rumbled in the beast’s throat and the creature bared its teeth.

“Easy,” she whispered.

“Are you insane?” Dee blasted. “Get away from him! Let him die! Your life will be one hell of a lot better!”

Erin reached out a hand to the wolf. The too-sharp teeth snapped together, barely missing her fingertips.

“Erin!”

“It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, but the words were a lie. A tear trickled down her cheek. No, no, this wasn’t the way things should have ended.

She ignored the teeth and the claws that tried to swipe at her. An injured beast would rip and tear anything in its path. Even if she was the one in the creature’s path. Her fingers sank into the bloody fur. The wolf’s hind legs were broken, no, shattered.

Hold on.

“Call for help,” she ordered, never taking her eyes off the wolf.

“Yeah, I need to get help for whoever is in that SUV! But not for this mangy wolf and I — aw, hell, I left my cell in the car!”

A growl rose in Erin’s throat.

She heard the soft fall of Dee’s footsteps as the human stumbled back. “Erin, wh-what’s up with you? I thought you…hated this guy.” Suspicion now. Worry.

The wolf jerked its head against her and managed to let out a long, mournful howl. The beast’s eyes jerked to the left, and it whimpered.

Such bright yellow eyes.

“This isn’t the asshole who’s after me.” The shift began then. Fast, because the wolf was weak and so was the woman. “This is my mother.”

And she was dying.

“Where the hell are they?” Jude’s foot shoved down even harder on the gas pedal as the car lurched forward. The car was Zane’s, but he’d borrowed it while the demon secured Kyler.

The bastard likes to get up close and personal with his prey. That’s how he makes the kills. And why he’d given the order that Jude would be brought to him alive. If he’d come to the den, if he’d learned what happened…

Fuck.

Jude yanked the steering wheel to the left. Every instinct he had screamed the guy had gone running, but not out of the city. Instead, he’d gone—

To Erin.

For a sports car, Zane’s “baby” sure wasn’t going fast enough. He shifted hard and the engine roared. Zane would have to trail as fast as he could on the motorcycle they’d found at the cabin.

Erin. Be safe, sweetheart. His claws ripped through his fingertips.

“I got Antonio on the phone. He’s sending help.” Dee eased onto her knees beside Erin. “I–I found this in my SUV.” She handed her a loose jacket.

Her mother lay on the ground, pale and unmoving. So much blood. It was the only covering she had.

Erin put the jacket over her.

“Can’t she change? Like Jude did back at the den, can’t she—”

“She’s too weak.” If Antonio didn’t get there soon with the ambulance, she’d be dead. Erin brushed back a clump of her mother’s hair. They really looked so much alike.

When she’d been a girl, her mother had combed her hair every night before bed, laughing as she stroked her—

Her mother’s lashes lifted, so slowly. Yellow eyes, hazy with pain, tried to focus on Erin. “R-run.” Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Goosebumps rose on her arms. “Mother?”

“Run…”

Her breath whispered out and her eyes closed.

“Oh, God!” From Dee. “Is she—”

Erin grabbed her arm. “Did you check on the other driver?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a guy. He’s fine, just has a little cut on his forehead.”

Her fingers tightened. “Do you have your gun?” She’d seen it earlier. Dee always carried her gun. Always.

Dee brushed back her shirt, revealing the butt of her weapon.

A twig snapped. Close. Too close.

Her mother had almost killed herself? Why?

Run.

The wolf — her mother — had headed straight for that other SUV. Attacked it.

To protect me.

The night was too quiet then. No crickets. No croaking frogs. Just silence, smothering her.

The fingers of Dee’s right hand hesitated over the gun butt. Erin held her stare and mouthed, Get. It. Out.

A growl — from the left.

They spun around. Dee brought up her gun.

Erin expected to see a wolf lunge at them.

Instead, she saw a man.

One she knew. What the hell?

Judge Lance Harper—the freaking judge! — walked from the brush, as calm as you please. Blood trickled down the side of his face. He smiled at her, revealing his fangs, and said, “Erin, beautiful Erin, I’m going to have to punish you.”

And he lifted his claws toward her.

“Shoot him!” she screamed at Dee.

His smile vanished, and he lunged for her.

Dee fired. Once. Twice.

The deafening shots echoed in Erin’s ears.

The judge froze. He looked down at his chest, at the blood soaking his shirt, and he shook his head. “Takes more than that to stop me.”

She knew that, oh, dammit, but she knew—

He attacked.