“Good.” He said good. She wasn’t so sure what was good about it. “Listen… did you mean it when you said that you never wanted to put anyone in danger?”
“I did,” Tabby said quickly. “Adam, it was just a big misunderstanding. I don’t want anything to happen to her or the baby—”
“I believe you.”
“You do?” A soft exhale escaped her, the sound pure relief. “Can you tell her that? And the Alpha? I’d tell them myself, but—”
“If you’re up to it, you can tell Wolfe yourself.”
If I’m up to it? “Adam? What’s going on?”
“We’ve gotten word that Priscilla Winters will be making a move on the Wolf’s Creek house tonight. It’s a credible tip. We don’t know how many people she’s bringing with her, but we do know that she works with the same Nightwalker clan that terrorized Grayson last year. I’m going. We’ve got a couple of shifters, a witch. We could use a slayer.”
She recognized his phone call for what it was: a way for her to make up for her careless report. If only she had made sure that Boone knew Evangeline’s pregnancy was a secret, but she hadn't, and now the dangerous witch was on her way.
Before she could be too pleased that he’d come to her for help, Adam went on to say, “Maddox Wolfe asked me to call you. The Alpha says you got him into this mess, you might as well put your dagger where your mouth is and help protect his mate.” He paused, a scowl in his tone as he added, “It’s a direct quote, but the asshole is asking for your help. Will you come?”
She noticed he didn’t say that he wanted her there. Then again, if he wanted her to stay away, he could’ve just told Wolfe no. Unlike most other paranormals, Adam wasn’t afraid of the Alpha.
It was early afternoon. Priscilla was coming tonight. That gave her some time to gather her supplies, check around with a couple of contacts, and figure out how to get her ass to Wolf’s Creek since she knew she couldn’t count on Adam for a ride in his coupe.
No matter what she had to do, she’d make this up to everyone else.
“Yup,” she promised. “I’ll be there.”
Tabby was already waiting at Maddox Wolfe’s house in Wolf’s Creek by the time Adam pulled up in his coupe.
Another downside to being a goddamn Nightwalker. Ever since Wolfe’s phone call that morning, Adam paced the lengths of his basement, counting down the seconds until the sun went down and he would no longer be a prisoner in his own home.
He’d dashed to his car as soon as the sun wasn’t a problem. Before he started for Wolf’s Creek, he crossed Grayson, pounding the stairs that led to Tabby’s apartment. He banged on the door for a few minutes. When no one answered, he had to accept that either she found her own way to Wolfe’s house—or she was avoiding him.
Either way, he realized that he’d fucked up. He was the one who suggested Tabby’s help to ward off Priscilla’s oncoming attack. Despite telling his slayer that he was done with her—that whatever they were doing was a mis
take—it didn’t take long for Adam to regret letting his anger get the better of him. He was still bothered by the way she went behind his back, but he realized that he should’ve expected it. When he was still on the job, wouldn’t he have made the same kind of report to his sergeant if he thought it wouldn’t go any further?
Of course, pride had him refusing to contact Tabby. He’d been such an ass to her when he walked out of her apartment, and that didn’t change the situation. Wolfe was still pissed, Eva was in danger, and now Colt wanted to take a piece out of Tabby.
Adam managed to cool off Colt’s legendary temper—okay, he admitted, that was more Shea, but he was the one who talked to the healer first—before trying to talk Wolfe down. Once Evangeline had been tucked away in the heart of pack land where even Priscilla couldn’t get her, he calmed down considerably.
Until a bounty hunting witch showed up at the Wolf’s Creek house with an advanced warning that Priscilla was on her way.
That’s when Wolfe rounded up everyone he could trust to stand their ground when the witch arrived. Colt, obviously, and because both Wolfe brothers knew that Adam would always defend Eva, Wolfe told him he had to come, too. And then Adam suggested Tabby...
It took some convincing. Wolfe was dead-set against it. Still, the truth was that Tabby was a slayer who specialized in Nightwalkers. The witch chasing Priscilla wasn’t just a bounty hunter. Somehow, she had an advanced warning that Priscilla wouldn’t be alone when she attacked.
So Wolfe said yes, and Adam made the call, and all along he hoped that, if Tabby helped him take out Priscilla and her crew of probable vamps, then he could put all this shit behind him and maybe… just maybe… they could try again.
He hoped she might feel the same way. Too bad she couldn’t even wait for him at her place.
When she waved at him after he parked at the far end of the cul de sac before jogging to the assembled group, Adam nodded, but didn’t offer any other greeting. What could he say? That, despite only knowing her for a few weeks, he already missed her desperately? That her betrayal—whether she meant it or not—cut him bone-deep, but he was almost willing to forgive it all just to see her smile again?
No.
Until this was over and done with, it was better not to say anything at all.
Adam was the last to arrive. Wolfe was there, of course. Colt and Shea. Tabby. A dark-haired stretching next to Colt. And a lanky blonde female who was chatting with Shea.
Wolfe was in his man form, though the way he hunched, his golden eyes rollin with an amber sheen warned Adam that he was ready to wolf out and shift in an instant. He prowled the length of his walkway while his brother greeted Adam.