Tanner turned away from her.
“Wait!”
Shoulders stiff, he turned back. She was frowning at him. “The magic . . . it didn’t affect you?”
No, it had. He wanted. Heather was a beautiful woman, but he knew just how deadly she could be. Brandt hadn’t only left scars on her body, he’d twisted her soul.
Use her, don’t trust her.
So he was holding on to his control. The witch wouldn’t get any more power over him.
“What will you do when Brandt’s dead?” He asked her instead of answering the question. As long as he’d known her—and he’d first found her years ago, nearly dead and covered in blood as she tried to crawl out of the swamp—she’d never talked about her own future. Others, yeah, she talked about what would come for them all the time.
Had she ever scryed to see what her own life would be like?
Her brows lowered. She shook her head. “I don’t—”
He sighed. Tanner knew fear when he saw it. “Maybe you should figure it out.”
She bit her lip and didn’t look quite so all-powerful.
“You’re not evil,” he told her. Twisted, just like he was, but at her core, Heather wasn’t without a soul. “Maybe, maybe you can find the girl that you used to be.”
Her hand slipped to her heart. Pressed over the soft fabric that covered her. “She’s lost.” Sadness hunched her shoulders and made her eyes look lost. “Sometimes, I think she’s dead.”
“No.” His answer was instant. “Brandt’s the one who’s dead. The bastard just doesn’t know it yet.”
Az thrust into Jade’s sex, filling her, stretching her inner muscles, and she gasped at the delicious friction.
She sat astride his hips, her knees digging into the mattress, as she stared down at Az. His eyes were so blue, burning bright, and his face was locked in lines of heavy need and raw lust.
Her nails raked down his chest. He thrust harder, arching her off the bed. The first climax had barely ended for them both when he’d started to thrust again.
And again.
Her angel was insatiable, and she loved it. Her core trembled with aftershocks of pleasure. Every move of his body had her tensing and wanting more.
She’d thought to deny him? Deny them both?
Why?
Hell could come at dawn. She’d take this time, take him, and never look back.
Her head lowered. She pressed her lips against his. Tasted him, even as his fingers slid between their bodies and his thumb pressed over her clit.
Yes . . .
The man knew how to use that touch of his just right.
She tightened her sex around him, squeezing with the surge of pleasure. Then she nibbled on his lower lip. When his breath panted out, she stole it, and gave him her own before indulging in a deep kiss.
Her head lifted slowly as she stared at him.
“I . . . understand now . . .” Az gritted out the words.
His hands were on her hips. Holding so tightly that she might bruise, but Jade didn’t care. She rose onto her knees, then pushed down.
“Humans and sex . . . the
need . . .”
His voice was raw and rough with passion.
And he’d better not be about to call her a temptation again.
“You’d . . . kill . . . for the pleasure.”
Some had. Some would again. With Az, the pleasure was so intense it seemed to rip her apart. Would she kill for this? For him?
He rose up, positioning his body so that he faced her and his arms were tight around her. Her hands slid over his back. Touched the thick ridge of those scars.
She saw his control break at her caress. His pupils flared wider, seeming to swallow all of the blue in his eyes. Az growled, an animalistic sound as he thrust faster, harder. They wrecked the bed as they rolled and fought for their release.
He caged her beneath him. Lifted her legs so that he could thrust as deeply into her as possible. The pleasure wasn’t a wave this time. It was an explosion. One that rocked through her and made the whole world go dark for an instant.
His name slipped from her lips.
He erupted in her.
Pleasure worth dying for.
Oh, yes . . .
more, please.
“They arrive at dawn.” Riley strode to stand beside Brandt as the alpha peered out over the old dock and at the murky water. “The witch will be bringing them. Her and that stray we threw out years before.”
Brandt’s back teeth clenched as rage hit him.
Riley continued, “Who would’ve thought those two would be the ones to bring in the bounty? That piece of shit shifter couldn’t—”
Brandt spun and, in one fast and brutal move, he drove his claws into Riley’s chest. Blood spurted onto him as Riley’s words ended in a strangled gurgle.
“Careful,” Brandt admonished as he took his friend’s heart with a yank of his claws. “That’s my
brother
you’re talking about.”
And, finally,
finally,
his brother was showing that he had what it took to carry the Dupre name. Bringing back Jade. Offering her protector’s body. No one else in the pack had been able to bring in the prey he wanted.
Only Tanner. The little brother who’d run from them one dark night.
The little brother who was coming home again.
Brandt jerked his hand from Riley’s body. The man who’d been at his side for the last ten years shuddered, then fell to his knees. His eyes were wide open, his heart gone.
But he still lived. Some shifters just took one hell of a long time to die. Brandt smiled at him before he lifted his boot and kicked Riley as hard as he could. Riley tumbled to the side, fell off the rickety dock, and sank into the murky green water.
In the distance, Brandt saw two gators slide off the bank and begin to cut a fast path through the water. A path that would lead straight to Riley.
Gators were good at following a blood trail. Not as good as panthers, but still . . .
Pretty damn good.
“Good-bye, Riley.” His friend’s death was overdue. Had been, from the moment Brandt realized that Riley didn’t want to catch Jade. The bastard wanted to
kill
her.
No one hurt Jade. No fucking one.
And no one screwed with his family.
The gators swam closer. “Don’t worry,” he promised them. “There will be more blood coming.” There always was.
C
HAPTER
E
IGHT
“R
emember the plan,” Tanner said as he braked the car at the end of the old dirt road. The thick, sloping trees of the swamp surrounded them and nearly blocked out dawn’s light. “I take in Azrael, and you . . .” He pointed to Heather, “You take in Jade.”
Jade’s heart slammed into her chest. She had the gun tucked into the back of her jeans, and she’d taken the liberty of strapping a knife to her right ankle. Az hadn’t taken any weapons.
Too confident.
And his hands were currently cuffed. Just for show, of course, because even though the cuffs were supposed to be some sort of
Other-
proof trinket that Heather had pulled out of her box of tricks, Az had snapped free of them earlier in about two seconds.
A test breakaway. To make sure he’d be able to ditch the cuffs when the real action came. And the real action was coming, soon.
“Wait until he comes toward you,” Tanner told Az with a hard glare. “Don’t go charging up to him. Brandt can move faster than any other shifter I’ve ever seen. If we attack first, the game is gonna be over for us all.”
Because the plan was for Az to wait until Brandt came to him. When Brandt was close enough to touch . . .
Az would do his thing and the nightmare would end.
So they hoped.
“We all know the plan,” Heather muttered. “We’ve gone over it enough times by now.”
Yeah, they had.
Tanner exhaled. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Jade wondered if he knew that his voice trembled. The cop was scared. You didn’t need a shifter’s senses to smell his fear.
Tanner and Heather climbed from the car. Hesitating, Jade glanced at Az. After the fury of sex and pleasure, she wasn’t sure what to say. Except . . . “Please be careful.” A hollow ache filled her gut. She’d never planned on Az. Wasn’t even sure
what
she felt for him, but she knew that she didn’t want to lose him. “Brandt is very smart and very dangerous.”
Az cocked his head and studied her. Then he lifted his cuffed hands. Touched her cheek. “You were my first.”
She blinked at that. “First?” First what? First human who’d dragged him into a hell of a mess with her psychotic ex?
“I watched death and suffering for centuries,” he said as his eyes searched hers. “I never stepped in. Never stopped it, until you.”
Oh, wait, that was . . . um, not sweet, exactly. Something more.
“It seems only fitting that my first taste of real pleasure came from you.”
She hadn’t meant for last night to happen. She’d stared at him, needed, and her self-control had vanished. So much for holding back and keeping him—
Whoa. Wait.
His words sank in. Was he saying . . .
first
? She was pretty sure she lost her breath right then. “You should have told me.” Things could have been different, she could have—
He kissed her. Her lips were open, and his mouth just seemed to fit hers so perfectly in that moment. No danger. No fear.
Just him.
She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed against his chest. Her tongue met his, and she realized how very much she loved his taste. Jade didn’t break the kiss, just enjoyed it. As she enjoyed him.
When he slowly pulled away, she had to whisper, “Where were you ten years ago?”
He didn’t speak. Jade opened her eyes and forced herself to smile. “I guess you were upstairs, looking down on us mortals.”
His eyes narrowed.
I wish I’d met you first. Wish I’d known you before Brandt.
Life could have been different. Her family would have been alive. She wouldn’t have been a murderer.
Tanner cleared his throat and knocked on the window. “Let’s do this.”
Because it was time to face her own personal devil. She pulled away from Az and opened her car door. He exited on his side, and they met in front of the vehicle car.
Heather was moving nervously from her left foot to her right, then back, over and over. Tanner stood with his arms crossed and stared into the darkness.
Jade’s heart was racing, and the fear swirling in her gut had her whole body tensing up. Because of last night, she knew Az’s scent was all over her. Just as her scent marked him. That scent would infuriate Brandt. Before they went into this battle, she needed Az to understand. “I’m not going to watch him kill you.”
If something went wrong, if the plan didn’t go the way they’d figured . . .
He lifted a brow. Gave her a faint smile. “You won’t have to,” he said. “You can just watch me kill him.”
So confident.
Why was she so afraid?
They stared at the trees and the fog that drifted from the swamp. Insects chirped and called out. The heavy odor of vegetation filled the air.
Heather approached Jade. The witch pulled out a gun and pushed it into Jade’s back.
It had better still be unloaded.
She’d checked the gun right before they parked. No bullets. At least, there hadn’t been any in the chamber
then
.
“Move,” Heather told her, but the word broke with nervousness.
Jade exhaled heavily and started walking. Az was beside her, being “pushed” forward by Tanner. They went straight ahead, going deep, deeper into the swamp. As they walked, the calls of the insects began to die away even as the fog thickened around them.
Maybe the insects sensed the predators in their midst.
Shadows began to move in the fog. Big, menacing. Growls reached her ears. Those were the same growls that she heard in her nightmares.
A pond waited up ahead. The water lapped lightly against the shore.
Laughter drifted in the air. Cold, cruel. The sound made her spine snap even straighter.
Then Brandt stalked toward them, seeming to just appear in the heavy layer of fog. He was smiling and his eyes were on her. “I missed you, baby,” he said. The words were those of a lover. The claws that ripped from his fingertips were the weapons of a beast.
The barrel of Heather’s gun shoved harder into her back. “I want my money!” The witch’s frantic call. Heather should really try playing this thing cooler.
Slowly, Brandt’s gaze trekked from Jade’s face to the witch. He took another step toward them. One more. His eyes narrowed on Heather. “I suppose it’s a good thing you lived. You have proven useful over the years.”
Okay, now that gun was jabbing Jade so hard that it hurt. “I guess we were both more than just pieces of trash to be thrown away.” Now this came from Tanner. Az wasn’t speaking. He was just glaring at Brandt as if he were marking the panther for death, which he probably was.
Brandt smiled at Tanner. “Welcome back, brother.”
Jade’s gaze flew to the cop. His claws were out and at Az’s throat.
Then Brandt clapped his hands together. A guy with a big, black bag came running toward them. “Payment,” Brandt said with a wide smile, “for a job well done.” He pointed at Jade. “You led me on a nice chase, but the hunt’s over now.”
He shouldn’t be so calm. Jade clenched her hands and refused to show fear. Brandt should have caught the mixed scents by now. He should be enraged. Not mocking and controlled.
Brandt tossed the duffel bag through the air. It landed in front of Jade’s feet. The barrel of the gun was immediately removed from her back. Heather scrambled around and grabbed the bag. She jerked it open.
Nothing was inside.
Heather’s head whipped back. “What the hell are you trying to do?” Her gun lifted and pointed at him. The barrel shook.
“Since when does a witch need to use a human weapon?” Brandt asked, voice flat. “Why not just use a spell to knock out your captives?”
Because they hadn’t been willing to play that way. Heather had sure wanted to use her magic mojo, but Jade hadn’t been willing to run the risk. The witch could just kill them while they were out.
No, thank you.
“Because
he
can’t be knocked out,” it was Tanner’s snarl that answered Brandt.
Jade slipped back a step. Her right hand began to rise slowly. Not time to pull her own weapon, not yet.
“You know he’s not human.” Tanner’s claws had drawn blood. The red drops slid down Az’s throat. “He can resist Heather’s magic.”
Brandt’s nostrils flared as he studied Az. “Who are you? Why the hell are you in this fight?”
Because she’d pulled him into it. Because—
“I’m the man who made Jade scream last night.”
Oh, ahem, yeah, but she’d made him shout, too.
Brandt’s claws lengthened. She saw a muscle jerk along his jaw. Finally, his control was showing signs of cracking. “I
will
make you wish for death.” A promise he’d carried out before, to others.
Even when she’d begged him to stop.
Begged and fought, but Jade hadn’t been strong enough to help.
This time, things would be different.
“You’re not doing this to me again!” Heather threw the bag back at him. “I did my part. I brought them here, now I want my money!” Power, magic, seemed to vibrate in the air around her.
“Walk away, Heather,” Brandt told her softly. “While you have the chance, just turn and walk out of here.”
Yeah, it was time for the witch to head for safety.
“What about
my
pay?” Tanner demanded. “I was promised money, too. Are you just going to double-cross me, too?”
Brothers.
Jade had known that, though, from the first moment she’d seen Tanner’s scars.
The only other pack member with scars like that was Brandt—and Brandt’s bastard of a father had been the one to slice his flesh. His flesh—and his brother’s.
“You brought me the thing I want the most in this world.” Brandt’s body was held painfully still. He’d never been one for restraint, so where the hell was his self-control coming from now? If their attack was going to work, he had to move within striking distance of Az. “For that,” Brandt said, “you can come back. You can be pack again.”
Silence.
Then Heather drew a deep, shuddering breath. “You almost killed me once.” She still had her gun. The useless gun?
Now Brandt did take a step, but it was toward Heather and not to Az.
“You slashed me, drove your claws into me,” Heather’s voice grew louder as wind began to whip through the area. A furious wind fueled by the witch’s magic. “Then you left me to die.”
Brandt shrugged. “You betrayed me. What else did you think I’d do?”
“I never—”
Another gliding step toward her. “You took my blood, witch, I know you did. You used it to scry. To see what future we’d have. You looked
when I fucking told you never to see
!”
“I saw
nothing! Only darkness with you because
—”
Then he had her. One lunge, and he’d ripped the gun out of her hand. He tossed it into the bushes and his fingers closed around her neck. He lifted her up and her feet dangled in the air.
No, no, this was
not
the way the deal was supposed to go down.
“This time,” Brandt told Heather, “I’ll make sure you die.”
“No!”
Jade screamed and she brought up her gun. But she didn’t have a clear shot at Brandt. Heather’s body blocked him. “Let her go!”
Brandt laughed. “Now how did I know that you weren’t the defenseless little prisoner brought in by the big, bad witch?”
Then he tossed Heather’s body, slinging her through the air. Her head slammed into a tree, and she crumpled on the ground like a broken doll.
Brandt brushed his hands as if he were wiping away dirt. He glanced at Jade’s gun, then back up at her. “Come on, baby, we both know that you won’t—”
She fired at him. Fired again and again until the gun just clicked because all of the bullets were gone.
But . . . Brandt didn’t fall down. Blood poured from his chest, and his eyes narrowed on her. “That
hurt,
Jade.”
“It was fucking supposed to, Brandt!” But, dammit, how had she missed his heart? How was he standing? Silver bullets in the heart should kill a shifter but—
I missed?
Brandt shook his head. “I’m gonna have to punish you for that . . .”
“No, you’re not.” And just like that, Az stood in front of her. Big, strong, the cuffs broken and his hands free. “You’re not touching her ever again.”
“Neither are you.” Brandt’s voice had roughened into a snarl. “Neither the hell are you!”
Jade’s head swung to the left. Four panthers had sprung from the shadows, and they had launched at Tanner. He was fighting, swiping with his claws, but the guy was weak against them because he was still in his human form. No time to change, not for him. If he stopped to shift, the panthers would slaughter him during those vulnerable moments.