Eternal Flame (Night Watch 3)

Zane’s eyes slit when Tony offered a hand to the vamp. “Watch it, Tony.” The cop would need the warning. “The ass**le with Cat bites.”

“Shit.” From Jude. Yeah, the shifter understood-he would have caught the vamp’s scent.

Instead of reaching for the vamp, Tony drew his weapon and leveled it at the guy. “My bullets are laced with holy water. Make one move at me, come at me with those teeth, and the first bullet goes between your eyes.”

Tony always believed in being prepared. Smart guy.

Jana slipped back a few more steps.

Fire trucks and police cruisers flew onto the scene. The low flames flickered, and the smoke billowed. Then the uniforms burst out of their cars. Hell. Showtime.

Her neck burned. It ached and throbbed and burned. What the hell? You try to do something nice for someone, like oh, drag a guy’s butt out of the fire, and as payment, he bites you. Did she look like a freaking buffet?

As the cops swarmed the scene, Jana eased deeper into the darkness. The firefighters were blasting the remaining flames with hoses from their trucks. Not that there was much point in fighting the fire now. Those flames were dying on their own. Without the Ignitor to fuel the fire, they would sputter out.

The Ignitor.

Jana cast a fast glance at Beth’s body. Beth had lost control at the end. The fire had been too new to her. She hadn’t been able to control the flames.

Because those flames were mine. The power was mine.

But Beth had taken the flames from her. And now-now she was just … human.

A human with a lot of blood on her hands and too many cops close by.

The butt of the gun pressed against her lower back. She’d taken it from Zane, stolen it right out of his hand while he’d kissed her.

I can still taste him. I still want him.

But Zane was about twenty feet away now and talking to that woman. The one with the pale blond hair. The one who touched him too much. The chick who’d saved the vamp. Zane hadn’t attacked the vampire. He’d frozen, because of the blonde. Catalina. The witch. She’d heard the woman chanting when they came outside, and she’d felt the wind ripple around her in response to those words. Yeah, the blonde was a witch, though she seemed to be pretty weak in terms of power.

Beth had been right after all. There had been someone in the Perseus compound that Zane cared for. His weakness.

But Perseus was dead. Gutted. The guards and agents who’d survived the flames had fled into the swamp. The cops would search for them. If they didn’t find them, Night Watch would. She didn’t know what kind of bullshit explanation Zane was giving to the cops then, but it was obvious from their expressions that he had the guys eating out of his hands. The fact that he had a cop at his side-that Tony guy from Baton Rouge-probably just made his story all the more believable.

Yeah, the cops were on Zane’s side, but when the smoke cleared, they wouldn’t be on her side. No, she was still a wanted woman. They’d come after her, and she didn’t particularly like the thought of spending any more years locked away from the world.

She stared at Zane. Watched him gesture to Beth’s body. Jana swallowed. Time was running out. She needed to leave but …

Zane.

His gaze cut to hers. His eyes glinted, reflecting the fire. His face was hard, tight, and her breath shuddered out as she stared at him.

She’d gone back into the fire for him. Did he know that?

Did he—

Zane turned away and started walking toward the back of an ambulance. Catalina was with him…. so was the vamp. He turned away.

Jana kept her shoulders up. She blinked. Once. Twice. Swallowed. They’d had a deal. She’d given Zane what he wanted-Perseus. Justice for the hunters who’d died in the fire.

Now the deal was over.

“Miss?” A cop approached her with his brows drawn low. “Miss, we’re gonna need to ask you a few questions.”

Questions that she couldn’t answer. Hi. I’m Jana Carter. If you check, you’ll see that I’m wanted in connection with a series of arsons. What? Oh, yeah, the fire tonight was arson, too. It looks like my M.O.? Really… um, look, why don’t you just shove me in jail forever?

She stared at the cop and shook her head. “I can’t talk to you.”

He blinked. “Miss?” He was a harmless looking fellow. Big, brown eyes. Pale cheeks. A bit of a receding hairline. Well, he appeared harmless … except for the badge and the gun he carried.

How could she get away from him? Without, of course, assaulting him. Don’t want to add assaulting an officer to my rap sheet.

But then he gasped and those puppy dog eyes widened. “Uh, are you okay?” she asked. He fell to the ground.

Jana jumped back. Her heart slammed into her chest. “What the—” She found herself staring into eyes that she’d never forgotten. Bright blue eyes that seemed to shine. No, that did shine-with the light of the beast. Shifter. The wolf she’d been ordered to kill.

“You planning to stand there all night?” he demanded, and she saw that he was sweating. In the chilled air, he was sweating. And shaking. “Or do you have a plan to get out of here?”

Once more, she looked at Zane and only saw his back. The wolf closed in on her, and Jana knew what choice she had to make.

Survival. That’s what life was all about, right?

Good-bye, Zane.

The EMT was a demon. Low level. Zane took one look at the guy and saw right through the glamour. “We got a vamp here,” he murmured to the EMT as he steered the guy and Catalina toward the ambulance. Catalina wasn’t releasing her hold on the vampire-probably because she knew just how much Zane wanted to rip the bastard apart.

Can’t. Not with all the humans there …

“Get him out of here,” Zane told the EMT. “Before he starts gnawing on the humans or before I have to cut his damn head off.”

The EMT’s eyes bulged, but he nodded quickly.

Zane glared down at Catalina. “You don’t know what you’re doing with him.”

The vamp was weaving on his feet. He slumped forward and fell into the ambulance. The demon EMT grabbed him and shoved him onto a gurney. Then he strapped the vamp down, nice and tight.

“He didn’t meant to hurt her,” Catalina said. Finally, she wasn’t touching the vamp. “He was starving, desperate….”

No f**king excuse. Zane leaned into the ambulance. “Hey, ass**le …”

The vamp’s eyelids flickered.

“You and me are gonna be meeting up again.” Once this mess with Perseus was cleaned up. “I’ll find you,” he promised the vamp. “Count on it.” Because he wasn’t getting away with attacking Jana.