Eternal Flame (Night Watch 3)

He reached out, his hands ready to rip into Davey.

The demon disappeared. Zane grabbed only air. What?

Laughter teased his ears and a chill skated down his spine.

“The second Other I drained was a djinn. Those djinns … they can move fast. So fast.”

So fast it seemed they vanished into thin air.

Turning slowly, Zane locked eyes on Davey. The bastard had Jana again.

“Just so you know”-Davey’s eyes narrowed—“she wasn’t running away. She was running after you. Kind of sweet, hmmm?” He held up his claws. “You know I got these from my last transfer. One slice … that’s all it will take, and everyone will know that you don’t f**k with Perseus.”

“Don’t.” The word was bit out, and it was directed at the poised tiger, not at Davey. Because Jude had shifted completely now, and if he attacked … Jana’s dead.

“Doesn’t matter,” Davey said, his grin coming back. “She’s still dead.”

His gaze jerked to Jana’s. The whites of her eyes were blood-red now. But Davey hadn’t looked at her. He didn’t even realize … “I should have told you sooner. I should have trusted you sooner,” Zane told her, needing to say these words. Needing her to understand. Everything she was—“I love you.”

“Oh, that’s so f**king sweet,” Davey sneered. “My old man told me that my mother said the same crap before he slit her throat.” Davey’s claws came up to Jana’s throat. “Wanna tell him the same thing? Wanna tell him—”

Jana smiled at Zane.

Burn him. The whisper floated through his mind. He swallowed and pushed his power forward, wanting to be ready to attack with her.

Jana tossed back her hair and she said, “Fuck you.” Not words for Zane. The snarl was for Davey as she spun toward him. The demon’s claws slashed over her skin. Blood poured. “Go to hell!” Then the fire erupted. Her fire.

And Zane pushed all of his energy, all of his fire, at the demon, too.

Davey screamed-it was the last sound he ever made as the demon erupted in flames.

Chapter 19

There wasn’t much left of Davey. Zane stood in the alley and stared at the flickering flames. No matter how much power the demon had stolen, he hadn’t been able to heal from an Ignitor’s blast, not delivered at point-blank range with a full charge.

That fire had burned so high. So wild. Cops were coming. Firefighters, too. The EMTs would be there, but there wasn’t anything they could do to help Davey. “Where is she?” Jude asked him, his voice gruff. Zane glanced back. Jude had on a pair of jeans, nothing else. At least he was back in human form. “Gone,” he said, and the word felt hollow.

Jude’s eyes widened. “Aw, shit, man, the fire—” He laughed at that. “No, no, that fire didn’t touch her.” She’d been safely away from the flames. He’d run forward, and pushed her back even more as he tried to make sure the bastard was gone.

No coming back from that. Davey had been strong, but not strong enough.

He’d turned back to face Jana just as he’d heard the shout of approaching cops, but she’d been gone.

“What do we tell the cops?” Jude asked him softly. His gaze raked the night. He could still smell Jana. Her blood. Her scent. Rising over the smoke and ash. “We tell them that a killer confessed to us, then he torched himself.”

“There’ll be questions.” “There always are.”

Cops hurried toward them. “Hands up!” one shouted.

He put his hands up, and then he looked past the uniforms and into the shadows. Her scent lingered so strongly in the air.

Don’t leave me. The psychic order left him before he could stop it, because, hell, yeah, he was desperate.

“We’re hunters,” Jude said. “With Night Watch. We were tracking a killer.” He kept his hands up as he talked fast.

The cop who’d barked the order, an older, balding man, sniffed hard, and his face tightened. “What the hell is that smell? What’s burning?”

“That’d be our killer,” Zane said, keeping his own hands up as his gaze swept from the cops to that darkened alley. “Or what’s left of him.”

The cops began to gag.

Softly, so softly, he heard the sound of retreating footsteps. Jana.

He stepped forward, but the older cop had his gun ready and Zane knew he wasn’t supposed to hurt humans. He couldn’t chase after her.

Not yet.

Run then, baby. He hit their mental link easily. Touched her mind and felt her fear and her worry. I’ll find you.

Because he’d meant what he’d told her before-and he wasn’t about to just let her disappear into the night forever.

Coward. Jana put a hand to her throat and felt the wet warmth of her blood. Damn that demon, he’d slashed her good and deep.

The cops were there now, demanding to know what was going on. Wanting to know what had happened to the killer.

She sucked in a deep breath and could still taste the flames. He felt the fire.

Her fire, and Zane’s.

She stumbled away. She’d have to get to a hospital. She’d need stitches and explaining the wounds would be a bitch. She needed the hospital and she needed- Don’t leave me.

Zane’s voice seemed to echo in her mind. She froze. For an instant, she could feel him. His strong arms around her, his breath on her face. Zane.

A tear leaked down her cheek. She forced herself to keep going. One step. Another. So many damn cops. She’d have to watch herself.

Run then, baby. Again, his voice seemed to drift right through her. I’ll find you.

Such a dark promise. But what would happen when he found her? They weren’t going to get a happily ever after. That wasn’t what waited for her. The fire was back. Whatever Laura had done to her, it hadn’t been a permanent deal. Thank God.

She was back.

She slunk deeper into the shadows, aware that her blood was dripping onto the ground. She’d spent so much time hiding in the shadows. Hiding and running. And now she was running away from the one man who’d actually looked at her and said …

I love you.

“What the hell am I doing?” she whispered. Fear. She tried to pretend that she was never afraid, but at the first sign of those boys in blue, she’d turned tail and left Zane.

No, they might not have a happy ending, but maybe it was time she started facing up to her past. And to her choices.

She broke from the shadows and immediately saw a female cop with a curly mass of brown hair. The cop’s eyes widened when she got a good look at Jana.