Mickey’s red-rimmed eyes darted for the door. The guy reeked of alcohol. The tequila drifted off him in waves. It was barely one o’clock, and Jude had found the shifter knocking them back in Delaney’s bar.
Delaney’s. On the surface, it seemed like a regular place, but the owner was one real witch.
Mickey picked up a table and threw it at Jude. He swore and leapt to the side, swiping out with his claws.
“Dammit, you jerks are gonna pay for everything you break!” Catalina’s furious voice.
Noted. But no big deal because mostly, he just planned on breaking that idiot hyena’s face.
Mickey screamed, a high, shrill animal cry, and hoisted up another table.
Jude sprang across the room and knocked the table out of the hyena’s hands. Then he shoved the jerk up against the wall and pinned Mickey there with his claws.
Another desperate cry, one that had Jude’s ears ringing. Damn hyenas. They had the shrillest voices.
Jude twisted his claws and Mickey whimpered. “Who’s the new shifter, Mickey?” The guy was scum, but he knew every bit of shifter business that passed in the city. Hyenas and foxes always knew. They picked up every bit of gossip, every whisper.
Mickey shook his head. “No…new shifter.”
Not the answer he wanted. Jude sighed. “Ah, Mickey, why do we have to do this the hard way?”
The hyena flinched, and a soft, familiar scent teased Jude’s nostrils.
No, no way. She wouldn’t be there. Couldn’t be there.
But that scent—his c**k began to swell.
Had to be her.
“Jude?”
Ah, hell. Talk about piss-ass-poor timing.
“Jude—what are you doing?”
Pretty much just what it looked like. Pinning prey.
“Help!” Mickey the idiot shouted. “This freak’s trying to kill me!”
Jude twisted his claws, because he could.
The hyena’s words choked off.
High heels slapped on the wooden floor. “You’re in a public bar, you can’t just—”
Sighing, he glanced back at Erin. Flushed face. Kiss-me red lips, and an are-you-crazy expression in her eyes. “Relax. The chick behind the bar’s a witch, the half-asleep ass**le in the corner’s a charmer, and this jerkoff is a—”
“Shifter.” A whisper from her sexy lips. Her nostrils flared, just a bit.
Of course she’d know. Like to like.
Mickey whimpered and tried to appear pitiful. Jude had to give the guy credit—he looked pitiful. But he always did.
“You can’t do this.” Erin’s voice was still hushed. Maybe she wasn’t buying the whole the-bartender-is-a-witch story. “No matter what he is, you can’t just—”
A growl built in his throat. The rich scent of Mickey’s blood teased him. Maybe it was time Erin figured out just who, what, she was dealing with.
And sleeping with at night.
“Not a cop, sweetheart. Their rules don’t apply to me.” And what was she doing in the bar, anyway? Delaney’s wasn’t exactly well advertised in this city. More of a paranormals only club.
Catalina’s magic kept the humans out. They didn’t know why, but they just always walked right past the faded blue building with the white French doors on Louis Street.
“Lady! ” Mickey’s squeak. “You gotta help me! This ass-asshole’s crazy. You need—”
He heard the inhalation of her breath. “Mickey McQueen.”
The hyena blinked.
“You’re wanted for three charges of assault and battery, McQueen.”
Yeah, and Jude would be collecting that bounty soon enough. “I want the name, Mickey,” Jude snapped, barreling right over Erin’s words. She wasn’t about to haul his prey away, not yet.
Mickey shook his head, a frantic move. “L-lady—”
“Have it your way.” The burn of his lengthening canines filled Jude’s mouth. His gaze narrowed on the hyena’s throat, on the pulse that thudded faster, faster. Jude lowered his head, teeth barred, almost tasting—
“No new shifters— none! ” Mickey’s scream. Frantic. Mickey liked giving pain, but he wasn’t so much for taking it.
Jude stilled. The little ass**le had to be telling the truth. Mickey had never been good at playing chicken.
No new shifters. But one new shifter was right beside him. How come Mickey didn’t realize that?
Erin grabbed Jude’s shoulder, jerked him back, and sent him hurling across the room.
Jude fell into a table. The wood gave way, smashing beneath him and sending his ass right to the floor. Hard.
“You’ll pay for that one, too,” Catalina said. The witch was just stating a fact. She didn’t sound too interested in the chaos.
Then, silence.
His gaze tracked to Erin. The lady wasn’t even breathing hard.
“Hot damn.” An impressed voice, an annoying voice. Zane. He stood in the doorway, hands on his hips, and watched Erin with narrowed eyes and pursed lips.
Well, at least now he knew why Erin had showed up at Delaney’s.
Mickey rushed toward the door, his claws out as he lunged at Zane.
The demon hit him hard and fast, and Mickey went down with a sigh shuddering out of him and his eyes closing.
Problem one solved.
Jude shoved up to his feet. Erin rounded on him, her hands fisted. “You can’t attack suspects!”
He lunged across the room. Caught one of those deceptively delicate fists in his hands. Kissed it. The woman had just tossed his ass ten feet and he wanted her. She was sexy and strong and her eyes were so dark and gold. Perfect.
Flawed? Not f**king likely.
The tiger inside was all but licking his lips.
“Mickey is guilty as sin,” he told her. “We both know it.”
“Yeah, he is,” Zane said, stepping over the prone shifter and straightening his shoulders. His gaze swept over Erin, from her head to her toes. The ass**le lingered a bit too long on her br**sts. He came close to getting a jab in the face then.
She ignored the demon, keeping her attention on Jude. “There are laws, you know.”
“Human laws don’t always apply to us.” She should know that.
Her jaw worked. “You were going for his throat.”
And she’d protected the little prick. Mickey sure owed her. “I wouldn’t have bitten, sweetheart.” He dropped her hand and missed the touch of her skin almost at once. But Zane was watching with those too-sharp demon eyes of his. And Catalina was pretending to clean a glass, but he knew the witch caught every word, every look. “Just trying to push some information out of him.” It was the way he worked. He wouldn’t apologize for threatening the hyena. Wasn’t like Mickey was one of the “good”