Eternal Flame (Night Watch 3)

The sirens screamed on. Catalina jumped into the ambulance. She bit her lip and stared down at him. “Zane …”

He grabbed the door and slammed it shut. He didn’t trust himself to talk to her then. Not with the scent of Jana’s blood still on that vamp.

He spun away and marched back toward Tony. Covering up an Other event with a dozen humans wasn’t easy. He’d been forced to break his normal rule about not slipping into a human’s mind without permission. Because, yeah, some of the cops and firefighters had seen things they shouldn’t have. He’d needed to blur their memories.

Behind Tony, a team tagged and bagged Beth’s body. “Where’s the gun?” Tony whispered.

Zane blinked. Hell, he’d forgotten all about that. He’d kissed Jana and—“Jana took it.” Not that he blamed her. Not one bit. After the vamp’s attack, she’d want to protect herself.

“We’re gonna need it.” Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “This shit is gonna hit the fan, and we’ll need—”

“You won’t need anything, son.” A man walked up to them. He strolled right through the smoke. He had on brown pants, a loose white shirt, and a badge. He inclined his head toward them, and when he flashed a smile, his white teeth looked a little too sharp. “I’m Chief Jeremiah Daniels.” He paused. “And I understand you took down some of the bastards who’ve been targeting us.” The South rolled, nice and heavy, in his drawl.

Us.

The chief’s dark skin was unlined. Daniels could have been fifty or thirty. One thing for sure, he wasn’t human. Behind him, more cops piled out of new vehicles. “My men,” Jeremiah said with a nod. “My … uh, special unit.” A grim nod. “They’ll know how to handle the agents still alive.” And the human cops began to be pushed back by the new arrivals.

Zane studied the chief. “If you knew about Perseus, why the hell didn’t you take ‘em down?”

That wide smile flashed again. “Because you beat me to the punch, son.”

Right.

“Pak called me. Told me you boys would need some help cleaning up.” He shrugged. “I got this scene.” Good.

“But I’m going to need the Ignitor,” Daniels said, and Zane stiffened.

“The hell you are. Jana didn’t do this! It was the other one—”

Daniels watched him with narrowed eyes. “Other one?”

Zane jerked his thumb toward the body bag. “That’s the Ignitor who started the blaze.”

“Two Ignitors?” Tony whistled. “Man, talk about playing with fire.”

But the chief didn’t look at Beth’s body. “I knew Beth Parker. She was a low-level psychic, but she was no Ignitor.”

“Then why were her eyes burning red as the flames ripped through the place?” Zane asked, voice tight. “I know what I saw, and I’m telling you—”

“The only Ignitor is Jana Carter,” Jeremiah said flatly. “I got my own psychics on the team, and when an Ignitor is in the area, I know.”

No, the guy was wrong.

“I need to talk to Ms. Carter. And I need to have that little chat with her before the suits from the FBI get here.” The extermination list.

Daniels nodded. “Now you’re understanding, demon. We don’t have much time. Where is she?”

Zane glanced back at the trees. Jana had been there moments before, watching him. He’d been leading that vamp bastard to the ambulance, determined to keep the guy away from Jana. But now …

Now the spot was empty. No, not empty. A cop was on the ground. On his knees, rising slowly.

“Shit.” The curse was Tony’s, but they both took off running at the same time. Zane reached the cop first. He caught the guy’s arm and hauled him the rest of the way off the ground.

“Where is she?”

The cop blinked. “Wh-who?” He rubbed the back of his head. “Wh-what hit me?” Not what. Who.

Tony huffed out a breath. “Wasn’t there a pickup truck parked over there”-he pointed to an empty space near some twisting pines—“a few minutes ago?”

Zane’s hold on the cop tightened. “You were talking to a woman.”

“I was?”

Hell.

The cop’s eyes widened. ”I was. Y-yeah … I-I wanted to ask her some questions.” He shook his head and winced. “Where is she?”

That was the question Zane wanted answered. He caught the whiff of blood and knew that someone had hit the cop.

“Uh … Zane?” Tony tapped him on the arm.

Jaw clenched, he let the cop go. The guy scrambled back but eyed him with a frightened stare.

“Hollis, get over here!” the chief called out. Officer Hollis rushed to obey, even as he still rubbed the back of his head.

Tony leaned in close. “Where’s the shifter?”

With his strong nose, Jude was helping the cops search for the dead. “Jude’s with the—”

“Not him.”

He glanced at Tony.

“The bastard I saw running away from Catalina when I got here. It looked like he was coming to help her and the vamp, but when he saw me and Jude, the guy turned tail and ran.”

Turned tail? Nice.

“I saw his fangs and his claws. I know he was a shifter.” He was. Now they were missing a shifter-a shifter who just might have a score to settle with Jana.

“We found the truck,” Chief Daniels told him an hour later as he crossed his arms over his wide chest. They were back in the city, at the police department, and Zane’s whole body tightened with tension.

“Where is she?”

“Hold on, son.” Daniels shook his head. “I said we found the truck. Not her.” He paused. “Something you need to know … there was blood in the truck.”

The world seemed to narrow then.

“The girl was gone, but one of my cops—” Daniels leaned in close. “Officer Wiley… he’s got a good nose on him.” Right. Because he was probably a shifter. “And he said he smelled wolf all over that damn pickup.”

Zane’s back teeth clenched. “Get an APB out. The wolf is about six-foot-one, maybe one-eighty, blond hair, blue eyes.” Sharp teeth.

“I already got an APB out on your girl,” Daniels said. “I’ll make sure the uniforms know to look for him, too.”

But they’d already ditched the pickup. Hell, now they could grab any vehicle, any time.