Now was, quite simply, the time to run.
Talk could come later.
In the darkness, she saw a pair of glowing eyes staring back at her.
Then another.
Another.
“Get on the bike!” The growls and snarls were louder now. Had to be at least six of them. Maybe more.
Adam got on the bike.
The wolves stalked from the shadows, bodies hugging the ground, mouths open, fangs dripping with saliva.
The lead wolf, a big black beast missing half of his right ear, kept his eerie stare locked on her.
His muscles bunched.
Shit.
Maya jumped on the back of the motorcycle, wrapped her left arm around Adam’s muscled waist. With her right hand, she lifted the gun, aimed—
The wolf sprang forward
“Go!” She screamed and pulled the trigger.
The bullet fired, blasting straight toward the snarling beast.
The wolf twisted, jerking to the left, and the bullet slammed into his flesh. The bastard fell to the ground, a long whimper of pain gurgling in his throat.
Not a heart shot. Or a head shot. Sonofabitch. He’d live.
The motorcycle’s engine fired to life, and the bike shot forward, snarling like a demon straight from hell.
The rest of the pack sprang forward, jaws snapping.
Adam and Maya flew past them, but she felt a flash of burning pain sear her thigh.
One of the wolves had clawed her.
She jerked around, fired one shot. Another.
The wolves were chasing them, their big, powerful bodies eating up the road nearly as fast as the motorcycle.
She couldn’t aim for shit while the bike was swerving all over the road.
Hell. “Faster!” If he didn’t get them out of there within the next thirty seconds, the wolves would tear them apart.
The motor growled. Adam leaned forward, curling his body into the bike. Maya held on with one hand, and kept trying to aim with the other.
With a sudden burst of speed, the motorcycle raced forward.
The wolves couldn’t keep the pace.
Finally.
Maya tucked the gun into the back of her jeans. Her palm smoothed over her thigh. Touched blood. She hissed out a breath at the pain.
Damn. It was deep.
But she’d heal. She always did.
She pressed her head against Adam’s back, drawing in a hard breath. Wolf shifters. Fucking werewolves. She hated those animals.
They’d kill anyone, anything. Conscienceless, predatory. They were the worst kinds of monsters. Psychotic.
And now the wolves were on their trail.
The fact that the wolves were after her, when they’d pretty much stayed the hell out of her way before, was no coincidence. She’d never believed in coincidences. Someone—probably that spineless Stephan—had reported to Nassor’s men about her little meeting with Adam, and the vamps had called in the dogs.
“Maya?” Adam’s voice shouted over the roaring motor.
“It’s okay.” She licked her lips, then said, louder, “We’ve lost them.”
For now. But wolves never gave up on a hunt.
They’d be back. She just had to make certain she was ready for them.
The bones snapped, crunched. The fur melted from his body and the beast that had prowled on four legs slowly stood upright.
Blood dripped in long, slow rivulets down Lucas Simone’s shoulder.
The bitch had shot him. With a silver bullet.
The poison was in his body. He could feel it, eating away at him.
He lifted his right hand. The tips of his nails stretched into three-inch-long claws. Clenching his teeth, he drove the claws straight into his wounded shoulder.
His pack gathered around him, heads low, bodies shaking.
The blood poured faster now.
He ripped away the skin, the muscle. Found the bullet. Jerked it from his shoulder.
The silver burned his fingers and he threw it, tossing the bullet far into the night.
In the distance, he could hear the roar of the motorcycle, fading now as the vampire fled.
She hadn’t been his prey. He’d wanted the man.
The rules of the game had changed now.
“We find them,” he said, his voice ringing loud and clear. The wolves around him stiffened, stared with unblinking eyes. “I don’t care how fucking long it takes, but we find them.” There would be no safe place for the vampire and the man.
The wolves began to growl.
He held up his hand. Skin and blood coated his claws. “The vampire is mine.” Blood for blood. The others needed to know the kill would be his.
Only his.
Lucas threw back his head, rage racing through his body, and howled his fury to the night.
Adam drove hard and fast through the city. The motorcycle slid easily into the curves, then shot past the cars and trucks on the highway.
Maya held on tight as they streaked forward. She’d directed him to the busiest part of town deliberately. If they were followed, well, the werewolves would have to take their human form. Even they wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk running around the town as giant, furry wolves.
Hiding in plain sight was one thing.
Terrorizing the humans by charging through the city in full-on shifter mode was a whole different matter.
No, even they wouldn’t be that stupid.
She hoped.
“Stop here!” She leaned in close and since he’d never put on his helmet—another human with a death wish—she spoke the words directly into his ear.
He pulled the bike over to the curb. Shut off the engine. They were in the nightclub district, and the streets were jammed with traffic and people partying.
Fancy dresses. Perfect hair. The women were laughing, the men were drinking. Long lines of human bodies circled some of the clubs as the folks waited for their chance to enter the “in” places.
Maya’s gaze scanned the street.
Adam’s body shifted in front of her, and she eased back automatically, making room for him to climb off the bike. He turned back toward her almost immediately, his features tight. “Where the hell are you hurt?”
She’d almost forgotten about the leg. The throbbing had eased and the skin just felt strangely tight now.
Her hand touched her thigh.
His jaw clenched and he reached for her.
Her hand caught his. “How’d you know I was hurt?” She hadn’t said anything to him about the wolf clipping her. There hadn’t been a point, really. It was only a matter of time until the injury would heal and she’d be as good as new.
He pushed her hand away. “I could smell your blood.” And he sounded incredibly pissed about that fact.
She blinked. For a human, the guy had a well-developed nose. But then, she was becoming increasingly convinced that there was more, much more, to Adam Brody than met the eye.
His hands were on her thigh, jerking an even larger hole in her favorite pair of jeans. They were parked underneath a streetlight and the bright glow easily showed the blood caked on the denim.
Adam swore.
“Ah, Slick. Relax. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Another jerk and the hole in her jeans expanded a couple more inches. Then his fingers were on her skin. Warm, strong fingers pressing lightly against her inner thigh.
A shiver of awareness worked its way down her spine.
He knelt before her, his gaze on the wound. Maya swallowed over the sudden dryness in her throat and craned to see over his shoulder. “Really, the wound will heal—”
His head tilted back. “It already has.”
No damn way. She was a fast healer, but not that fast. “Impossible.” She’d gotten the gash less than an hour ago.
But the skin had already closed. The flesh was a bright pink now, and soon, she knew the hue would fade to her normal too-pale complexion.
Her gaze li
fted to his face. She found him watching her with that deep stare of his. His fingers were still on her thigh, moving lightly, almost stroking her. Around them, people brushed by and the sounds of laughter and voices drifted on the wind.
Maya wet her lips. “I shouldn’t have—the marks shouldn’t have faded so fast.” She had to stop thinking about how good the man’s hand felt on her and focus on the fact that her body had just done the impossible. Healing in less than an hour’s time.
His fingers caressed her flesh once more.
Her nipples tightened.
Down, girl.
Adam’s hand fell away from her as he rose to his feet.
Damn.
“Maybe you’re getting stronger,” he said, his voice perfectly calm. “Vampires do that, right? Get stronger as they age?”
Not after just five years. But, well, maybe the wound hadn’t been as bad as she’d thought. When the wolf’s claws had pierced her, she’d thought the flesh ripped open all the way down to the bone.
Perhaps she’d just been confused. A hell of a lot had been going on at the time. The wound could have been shallow and not nearly as deep as she’d feared. Yeah, that was possible.
Screw it. They didn’t have time for her to waste worrying over a cut.
Maya swung her left leg over the bike. “We need to get rid of this bike.” Fast. “If the wolves put a tracker on us,” and they probably had, the bastards, “then he’ll be out there now, following the scent.”
“The scent?”
Well, not his scent because the man didn’t have one—but she did. And the bike did. If they ditched the bike, sent it in another direction, it would buy them time to get out of the city.
Luckily, she knew someone in the area.
She studied the long line of well-dressed men and women waiting to get inside Heaven and Hell, the bar at the end of the block. A glance at her ripped and bloody jeans told her that she wasn’t going to be blending well with them.
Then again, she’d never been particularly interested in blending.
She headed for the bar.
Adam’s hand caught her wrist. “What did the priestess say?”
That you could be evil. Her head tilted to the right. Not the time to lay her cards on the table. “She told me where to look for those vamps—and as soon as I get us a new ride, we’ll get the hell out of here and start tracking them.” Hint, hint—he was holding her up and they could play the question-and-answer game later.
“She said that Cammie’s still alive?”
It was the desperation in his voice that got to her. She gave a quick nod. They keep the girl, waiting. Maya had no idea if the vamps had tasted the kid, or if they’d been playing a nice game of Torture-The-Girlie. Some vamps really got off on things like that. But the kid was alive, that much reassurance she could give him.
Adam swallowed. Maya deliberately looked down at his hand. “Now are you gonna keep grabbing me or are you gonna let me do what I was hired to do?” Because if he wanted, they’d just stand there all night. Sure, the wolves would come after them and then they’d have to fight and all the humans would scream and run and chaos would ensue.
But it was an option.
She quirked a brow and waited.
“Do your job,” he growled.
Maya led the way to Heaven and Hell.
She didn’t bother with the line—she’d learned long ago she wasn’t a good waiter. Besides, they didn’t have the time to piss away.
Pushing through the crowd, ignoring the mutters behind her, she headed for the door. The bouncer, a tall, muscular redhead, smiled when she saw Maya. Maya smiled right back. She liked Ronnie—the woman was hard as nails and didn’t take shit from anyone.
“Hungry tonight?” the bouncer asked.
Since she didn’t like the traditional feeding rooms, Maya had visited bars like this one before. Feeding—that was how she’d met the owner, Tim.
The man’s blood was sweet. Not as good as Adam’s, but—
No one’s was.
“Maybe,” she finally drawled in answer to Ronnie’s question.
A laugh rumbled in the woman’s chest. Ronnie wasn’t afraid of vampires or demons or, well, anything that Maya knew of. Another mark in the woman’s favor.
But Ronnie’s laughter faded when she caught sight of Adam. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and her body stiffened. “He with you?”
“Yeah.” And as much fun as chatting with the chick was, they needed to hurry. “Tim inside?”
Ronnie’s gaze raked down Adam’s body.
“Ronnie? Is Tim inside?” The woman’s expression shifted and she started to look…interested.
Maya found she didn’t like that look. She could still feel Adam’s touch on her thigh, feel the warmth of his fingers, and she didn’t like the way Ronnie was staring at him.
The redhead finally glanced back at her. “He’s in there, but why do you need him? You’ve got a fine man right here.”
Maya bared her teeth, knowing her fangs would show. “Sometimes, a gal just can’t have too many men.” Then she brushed by the bouncer and pushed open the swinging doors of Heaven and Hell.
The music hit her first. The loud, pounding beat. Spotlights circled over the crowd, shining on toned legs, tight asses, breasts that were exposed by low-cut tops. Dancers writhed and twisted in front of the stage. Couples huddled together in the shadows.
Yeah, it was a great place for feeding. So easy to seduce those who were already high from the booze—or from the drugs passed secretly in the back to those with enough money or fame to get a hit.
“Not your kind of place, is it?” Adam murmured, his body close behind hers. His breath stirred the hair on her nape.
When she’d been living, hell, no, she never would have stepped a foot inside the high-priced door.
But she wasn’t in a position to be so choosy anymore.
She shoved her way through the crowd, heading for the long, twisting spiral staircase that led up to the VIP area. Tim would be up there. Behind the tinted windows. Watching the crowd.
Tim had always liked to watch.
A thickly muscled man in a perfectly fitting black suit stepped in front of the stairs and blocked her path. His eyes, dark brown, swept over her dismissively. “The area’s not for you, lady.”
“It’s the jeans isn’t it?” she murmured and deliberately locked her eyes with his. “They just don’t make me look stylish.”
His stare held hers. She wished that she could use the Thrall on him. That lovely psychic power that the elders of her kind possessed. One look and the victim was under the vamp’s total control.
If only.
She would’ve used that handy trick on Adam.
Since she didn’t possess that magic—maybe in another hundred years or so—well, she’d have to do things the old-fashioned way.
Maya licked her lips and leaned forward.
The bouncer’s eyes narrowed, but she could hear the sudden, fast race of his heart. “Lady, uh, you can’t—”
She wrapped her fingers around his throat and jerked him up into the air. “Trust me, I can. I can do just about any damn thing I want.”
He tried to swing at her then, sending a big, meaty fist right toward her face. Her right hand tightened around his throat, and her left caught that flying bear claw in a death grip. Then she squeezed his fingers, hard.
All of the color bleached from the guy’s face.
Behind her, Adam swore and then muttered, “Subtle, Maya, real—”
She didn’t have time to play subtle. And damn, but it seemed a little too easy to lift this guy. Usually there was a bit of a strain when the prey weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds, but it felt like this fellow was as light as a feather and—
“Ah, Maya, do you mind putting my guard down?” A drawling male voice asked.
She turned her head just a few inches to the right. Saw the man with the sandy hair and the devilish grin. Tim Largent. Just the guy she w
anted.
Very slowly, he began to descend the stairs. “Myles is generally good at his job, you know. I’d hate to lose him.”
Myles was starting to shake in her grasp. She sighed and sat him back on his feet. Then she smiled at him, flashed her fangs and said, “Boo.”
The bouncer jumped.
Tim laughed. “Let the lady pass, Myles. She’s my…special guest.”
The guy nearly tripped trying to get out of her way.
Hmm. Had to be his first time with a vamp.
Amateur.
She’d expected Tim to be better staffed. Ah, well. Lesson learned for his man. Just because the foe is smaller, it doesn’t mean she can’t kick your ass.
Maya sauntered up the stairs, stopped on the step just below Tim. The man was as good-looking as she remembered.
Too damn good-looking.
Perfect face. Sensual lips. Eyes that sparkled.
And a soul as black as the night.
“Been a long time,” he murmured, staring at her. His hand lifted, then trailed down her cheek. “I’ve missed you.”
If he weren’t such a bastard, she would have missed him, too.
The guy was very good in bed.
He was also funny.
Smart.
But as deceitful as they came.
She was counting on that deceit right now.
Maya looked into his perfect eyes. So gold. So deep.
His mouth lowered toward hers. His lips pressed lightly against hers—
“What the fuck?” Adam grabbed her arm and jerked her down three steps. He stepped forward, putting his body between her and Tim.
Tim stared at him, and for just a moment, his pretty-boy face didn’t look quite so perfect.
Rage.
Then the emotion smoothed away and he looked over at Maya, one golden brow quirked. “Got a new friend, do you, love?”
“You can never have too many friends.” She cleared her throat. The pounding music was starting to make her head ache. “We need to talk. Privately.” Away from the avid humans with the curious eyes.
“Send the new toy away and we can talk…privately for as long as you want.”
“No, sorry, that’s not the way it’s going to—” Maya broke off, nose twitching. What the hell? Was that sulfur she smelled?