“She’s not the problem.”
Uh, okay. Now her eyes narrowed.
“I’ve got her under control,” he said.
Oh, did he?
“It’s the assholes after her that I’m having trouble with. Shit, yeah, I know what happened to my ‘Vette-I was there.”
Jana almost winced. Okay. Sure, she’d been the one to torch his car, but there hadn’t been a lot of choice there. The car had already been smashed, anyway. Not like the thing had been in mint condition before her flames got to it.
“Some jokers came up and rammed us. Get this, they weren’t firing bullets. They used some kind of drugs instead.”
She really wished she had shifter hearing right then. She would have loved to hear what the person on the other end of the line said because Zane’s eyes flashed black for just the briefest of moments.
“No. I’m fine.” The green poured back and he stared at her. “Under control now.”
Was he talking about her again? Or himself? Jana pulled restlessly at the cuff. Her wrist was aching. She wanted that damn thing off. Wanted to be on the motorcycle, riding fast and free.
“A cop stopped us about fifteen minutes ago. He tried to shoot me. No, no, I’m not fucking kidding you. I identified myself, and he still took aim. He wanted Jana.”
Ah, so now she was “Jana” and not just his “bounty"? “That’s something,” she muttered.
“I took care of him.” His gaze sliced around the area. Probably searching to make sure the cop hadn’t found them. “But you need to talk to Antonio. Find out what’s going on.” A pause. “Right.”
Was the guy gonna talk all day? She exhaled and rubbed the back of her neck. A hot bath would be heaven. She had so many scrapes and bruises on her body. Hell, forget the bath, she’d even settle for a shower.
Maybe even a shower with Zane. Because one last wild ride, before her freedom was ripped away, oh, that was tempting.
She bet the man would look phenomenal wet, those muscles glistening …
“Do I want you to send out a retrieval team?”
His words had her heart racing and the gaze she’d accidentally dropped to his chest flew back up to his face. She couldn’t help it, Jana shook her head once. No. Better the demon you knew, right?
And if she knew those assholes after her, they’d trail any retrieval team. Zane would never make it back to Night Watch. Neither would she.
The handcuffs were keeping them together and, though Zane didn’t realize it, those cuffs were the only thing that had kept him alive so far.
His eyes tightened just a bit at the corners. “No, I’ll bring her in. We’ll be there within the hour.”
Then the call was over. He hung up the phone with a soft click of sound.
“You want to tell me why that cop was after you?” He stepped closer to her, his body brushing against hers.
“You’re in over your head,” was what she told him. “Haven’t you realized, things aren’t what they seem?”
“Things are never what they seem.” He let the glamour vanish from his eyes so that she could see him as he really was. All that darkness. The back of his left hand brushed her cheek. “Did you really start those fires in New Orleans? Did you kill those two humans?”
Ah, the humans. Humans equaled innocents, right? She stood on her tiptoes and let her mouth come close to his. She wanted his lips. Wanted his tongue.
So she’d take them.
Jana pressed her mouth against his. Her tongue snaked inside the crease of his lips, pushed inside to slide against his.
A rumble built in his throat. And then his hands were on her, the cuffs pulling her hand back as he curled his fingers around her waist. His hips rocked against her, and the long, hard heat of his arousal was more than obvious.
Take the pleasure. Enjoy the rush. Deal with the hell that comes later.
Oh, so tempting.
She opened her mouth wider, loving the thrust of his tongue. Wishing his cock was driving into her sex the same way.
His mouth hardened on hers as the need burned between them. Her legs shifted restlessly against him as the lust pumped through her. Her panties were getting wet. He wasn’t the man she should want. He wasn’t safe. But …
He was strong. Sexy.
And she’d touched his wild side once.
Zane’s mouth tore from hers, and Jana could have howled in frustration. “Did you do it?” The words were so deep that she almost couldn’t understand him.
Jana swiped her tongue over her lips and tasted him.
Zane’s cheeks were flushed. “Did you do it?”
Then she realized what he was asking. The building in New Orleans. The humans. The fire. She smiled at him and, still on her toes, she came in close and licked his upper lip.
His body tensed. Rock hard.
The two of them together-it would have been a fantastic ride. Her lashes lifted, and she gazed up into his eyes. “Yes, I burned them.” She let her smile widen. “I burned that pit to the ground, and I didn’t care that they were inside.” She’d actually made certain they were inside.
Sometimes, she was a stickler for details like that.
Because she knew Zane was going to turn her in, she went for broke. She whispered the secret she’d kept. “I could hear them screaming. The fire killed them, not the smoke.” They hadn’t died easily.
Pain for pain. The bastards had deserved to suffer. But would Zane believe her if she told him that? No one had ever believed her before.
Not her mother.
Not the doctors.
Not her lovers.
Why should he be any different? Hell, his job was to take her down. He’d read her bio. Seen everything she’d done.
Maybe that’s why she wanted him. He knew everything. Knew the hell she’d brought, and he still touched her. Still kissed her with passion and lust, like she was any other woman.
But then, he wasn’t just any other man. “No regrets?” he asked her, voice gruff. She eased away from him. “Not a one.” His fingers touched her mouth. “When you lie … the right side of your mouth kicks up.”
What?
“It almost looks like you’re smiling, but it’s a lie, too, right?”
Jana turned away from him. She’d have to watch herself with Zane. But she wouldn’t be with him much longer. “Why’d you say it would take an hour to get back to Night Watch?” She stared at the swamp. Those trees were so twisted and hunched. And the water such a dark green.
“Because we don’t want to risk running into our cop friend again. We’re taking the long way home, baby.” His hand pressed against her back, urging her toward the motorcycle.
He climbed on first. She followed, moving to hold him tight. She was getting pretty tired of following him, but her leash didn’t give her much choice.
“Did they deserve it?” he asked, not starting the engine. “Did they deserve to have the flesh burned from them by the flames?”
She pressed her cheek against his back. Sometimes, she just felt tired. “Yes.”
Since he couldn’t see her face, he wouldn’t know if she was lying … or telling the truth.
Antonio pulled to a stop at the scene just as the ambulance arrived. The patrol car was parked on the side of the road, its light still flashing. The cop-a rookie named Peter Harris- was propped up beside the car. Blood trickled down his face, and his head sagged back.
Antonio jumped out of his car and ran to Harris. “What the hell happened here?” When he’d gotten a report of the 10-108, officer needing assistance, his gut had cramped. Then he’d heard the radio calclass="underline" Wynter and the woman had been on the scene.
Harris tried to stand, but he slid back down to the ground with a groan. The car’s front windshield was smashed, and glass shards lay scattered all over the road and the nearby grass.
But there was no sign of Zane. Or of the woman.
“Saw the woman … APB …” Harris sucked in a sharp breath when the EMT began to check his head wound. “She was … riding on a motorcycle with some guy-the bastard attacked me.” His gray eyes stared up at Tony. “Threw me ten feet … but I-I swear I never saw him … move.”