Eternal Hunter

Chapter 10

Jude’s fingers trailed over her breast, skimming the nipple gently, then sliding under the round globe. Slowly, softly, then he touched her scar.

Erin didn’t flinch and she didn’t even pull away—pretty impressive, she thought. Swallowing, she stared up at the ceiling of Jude’s bedroom. He was all around her, surrounding her with his scent and his body. A dangerous shifter. A man who could rip apart his enemies.

But she’d never felt safer.

His thumb brushed over the raised flesh. “Tell me.”

No more running. She’d decided that. No more running, no more hiding. Better start now. “He caught me once, broke into my home, reached my bedroom.” She’d woken to his touch. Cold claws sliding down her face.

Jude tensed against her, but he didn’t speak and his hands didn’t fall away from her.

Not yet.

“I don’t really know how he does it but, he can hide his scent.” Tricky bastard. “Maybe herbs or something. Hell, maybe he can just control it at will. I don’t know.” A light chill seemed to cover her flesh. “Today, I caught his scent because he wanted me to. That’s the way he plays his games.”

“He was luring you out, and you walked right to the bastard.” Anger there, vibrating in his voice.

“I’m tired of running,” she said simply. “I can’t keep doing this. He’s not going to stop. He’ll just keep killing and hunting me, and I can’t keep running.” The rules in this twisted game were changing. One way or another.

She wanted the warmth of Jude’s flesh against her, but she couldn’t just lay there anymore. She rose, pushing from the bed, pushing away from him, and tugged a sheet with her. Erin wrapped it around her body and stared down at him. “You know I can’t shift.”

A nod. He sat up, the bed covers draped over his naked groin.

She licked her lips. “I don’t — I don’t have all of a shifter’s enhanced senses either.” Flawed. “My sense of smell — yeah, it’s strong.” Actually, she’d learned it was stronger than most shifter’s. “But my hearing is just like a human’s, so that bastard was able to sneak right up to me, and I didn’t even know he was there until it was too late.”

Blue eyes held hers. “Too late?” No emotion there. Flat and cold.

Her gaze dropped to the bed and she saw that his claws were out.

Not really so cold after all.

“I never saw his face.” Now she was the one without emotion. “As soon as I woke up, he shoved some kind of hood over me.”

Darkness.

Razor sharp claws.

Fear.

How many nights had she stayed awake in her bed? Too scared to sleep because she’d been afraid he’d come back?

“What did he do?”

“Used his claws to…cut away my clothes.” She paced away from him. The guy had been so fast. She’d been stunned, terrified. “I knew what he was going to do.” Her chin rose. “But he didn’t know how strong I could be. I fought the bastard.” The stupid scar. In one way, she was like other wolves. Her wounds always left a mark on her body. Her flesh healed, but it didn’t forget. Her hand dropped to hover over the rough ridge. “I got my own swipes in, but he got his, too.”

Jude jumped from the bed, caught her shoulders and hauled her close. “Erin…did he—”

“I got away.” Run, run. The words had been driving her for so long. “Ran naked and bloody down the street. I was afraid he’d chase after me, but”—her lip curved in a smile she knew wasn’t pretty—“he had his own wounds.”

She’d snagged a pair of sweats and a T-shirt off a clothesline down the street. Sweet Mrs. Sara Copeland — still doing her laundry the old fashioned way.

“I had already planned to leave Lillian before that night. After the attack, I never went back to my house.” A different hotel every night. Always looking over her shoulder. “The cops there couldn’t help me. What were they going to do against a shifter?”

“I can help you,” he told her, his fingers tight around her.

“I know.” She didn’t doubt his strength. “Night Watch was made for hunting guys like him.”

“Made for putting ’em down.”

Oh, but his eyes were bright and he was still holding her, staring at her with need and worry in that gaze.

Tell it all. “He’s after me because he thinks I’m his mate.” Shifters and their mates. For some of their kind, a primal, instinctual thing.

“He’s fucking wrong.”

Was he? “He’s like me, Jude. A hybrid.”

“We’re the same. Not weaker, stronger. They don’t have a fucking clue.” The voice from her nightmares.

“So? There are thousands of hybrids in the world. He can go pick one of them for his mate.”

“Knew we were meant for each other, from the first moment I saw you.” His weight had shoved her into the mattress.

A light shake from Jude. “Erin.”

It was hard to swallow over the fist in her throat. “He’s a hybrid, but-but he can still shift. I know, because I saw him change once.” Deliberate. Everything with that asshole was deliberate.

“Yeah?” He shook his head. “So what’d the freak turn into? A bear? Coyote? A—”

“He’s a wolf.”

She caught the slight widening of his eyes.

A wolf shifter. One of the strongest and the most dangerous of the shifters. And, unfortunately, one known to sometimes cross the line that led into the realm of the psychotic.

But Jude shook his head. “Doesn’t change a thing for me. You really think I’m afraid of some mangy wolf?”

No. She didn’t think he feared much. Perhaps he should. “You know what they say about wolf shifters. They can recognize their mates—”

“Not at first sight, it can take time to—”

“He said I was his mate.” Her hand rose between them. Flattened over his heart. “A wolf shifter only gets one true mate.”

Broken.

“And for him, seems like I’m…it.”

“The hell you are.” He lifted her up, bringing her to eye level and letting her toes dangle in the air.

Erin blinked. “Uh, Jude…”

“Get the idea out of your head, got me? Just ’cause some fucked up psycho thinks he’s your mate — hell, screw that! You don’t belong to him.”

Mine.

“And the asshole sure won’t be living long enough to ever claim you.”

Well, that was—

He kissed her. Hard and deep and her toes curled and her heart raced and she held on to him and she hoped.

Let him be right.

Because being the perfect mate for that freak — no, even God didn’t hate her that much.

Her lips parted and his tongue swept inside. He still wanted her. He didn’t care about the wolf so it was okay and she could tell him—

He broke the kiss and muttered, “Wolves are insane. Everybody knows that.”

Her heart thudded to a stop.

“If they’re in a pack, they follow their alpha like blind dogs,” Jude continued.

Not always. Some packs were family, strong and—

“And if the bastard is Lone, well, shit, that means even the pack didn’t want him. And if pack doesn’t want you, then you’re fucking screwed,” Jude said.

She shoved against him.

“Erin?”

A quick step back. “I need to shower.” She grabbed the sheet, right before it started a fast slither down her body.

Fucking screwed.

Her cheeks iced, then burned. Her right hand clenched, holding the sheet close to her chest.

“Erin — what is it? What did—”

But she shook her head and skirted around him. About six more steps and then she’d be in the bathroom. Just six more. “It’s been a hell of a night. I just need to take a hot shower.” To wash away the memories.

She pushed open the bathroom door.

“Let me come in with you.”

No. Not now. Too close to breaking. Erin cleared her throat. “Maybe next time, tiger.” Then she was inside, kicking the door shut behind her.

And turning the lock. Not that the flimsy lock would do much good if Jude wanted inside.

The soft creak of the floorboards reached her ears. Coming this way.

The sheet fell to the floor and she put both hands on either side of the sink, holding tight.

“Erin…” He sounded hesitant. Maybe even worried. “What happened, it doesn’t change you.”

No, it didn’t. Nothing would change her.

“You don’t have to hide from me.”

She stared at her reflection, seeing the eyes that held their own golden glow. The cheeks that had hollowed, the teeth that had lengthened.

Her claws dug into the undersides of the sink. “I’ll be out soon, okay?”

More hesitation. She could feel it.

Then that soft creak again. He was moving away now.

Her breath flooded out.

If the pack doesn’t want you, then you’re fucking screwed.

Yeah, she was.

Because she was a Lone wolf, one fighting to survive. She had a psychotic mate on her trail, and a lover who apparently hated her kind.

Jude stared at the closed bathroom door, his fists clenched. He could hear the roar of the shower, so trying to speak to Erin then was not really an option.

She’d locked him out. No mistaking the soft snick of the lock.

He could get inside, no problem. A quick shove against the door and he’d be in that small room with her, the steam from the shower around them. He could join her in the shower stall. Take her into his arms and let the spray pour over their bodies.

If she thought her story about that asshole had changed the desire that he felt for her, well, she was dead wrong.

Her story had just shown how tough she was, how determined to survive. A woman with that much strength was damn sexy.

Nothing would make him stop wanting her.

Nothing.

But he turned away from the door. If Erin wanted space, he’d give it to her. At this rate, hell, he’d pretty much give her anything she wanted.

The bastard out there would pay. He’d see to it. A wolf. There had been whispers and rumors about the wolves for years. Centuries.

They kept to themselves, always locking tight in their packs. Very, very rarely did they mate with non-wolf shifters. The wolves fought dirty, they fought hard, and they generally fought to the death. It was their way.

He hadn’t been kidding when he’d talked about the Lones. The wolves out there who either turned their back on the pack or who had the pack turn on them were the badasses the Other kept away from, if they were smart. Because some of the wolves had been known to become absolutely freaking insane.

When you were crazy, with the full strength of a wolf shifter, folks were smart if they avoided you.

Jude liked to think he was a smart guy. Not genius, nah, but smart enough. But he wasn’t gonna be avoiding that wolf. He was going after him, and he would take the bastard down.

The dog had better get ready to do some running of his own.

The hunt was on.

“Hey, Jude!” Dee’s yell caught him the minute he stepped inside the Night Watch office. “I was wondering when you’d be dragging your sorry butt in here.” She flashed him a grin, then bent low over her desk as she dove into a pile of paperwork. “I’ve been digging up your girl’s past, and man, she had quite a reputation.”

Jude cleared his throat.

Dee’s head popped up, a furrow between her golden brows. “What? You got—”

He stepped to the side.

He saw Erin flash one hell of a sharp, toothy grin at the other woman.

“—something caught in your throat?” Dee finished. “Ah.” Now it was her turn to make a weird-ass gurgle in her throat. “Um, I’m guessing you’re the new ADA, huh?” Dee didn’t flush. Come to think of it, he’d never seen her cheeks redden. But her eyes did narrow as she fired an assessing glance over Erin.

“Guess you’re right,” Erin murmured, her fingers tightening around her purse strap. “The woman with the reputation.”

Dee blinked and pasted what Jude knew to be a false smile on her face as she pointed to the left. “There’s a waiting room for clients down that way. You can just go take a seat while I brief Jude on—”

“My life?” Erin shook her head and took a step forward. “Thanks, but I think I’d rather hear this.”

Dee glanced at him. Jude shrugged. He didn’t know what to expect from Dee’s reports. She’d been on the computer, with her hacker buddy Jasper, for the last twenty-four hours. If there’d been secrets to uncover, she would have found them all.

So what kind of reputation did his little hybrid have?

He stepped toward Dee’s desk. There was no sign of Zane, for now, and he figured that was probably a good thing. His associates sure seemed to be making friends right and left with Erin.

“Asshole,” Dee whispered when he got close to her. Her skin looked even paler today. The lady must be getting too much night hunting. If she didn’t watch it, she’d start to look like the vamps she tracked. “You knew I didn’t realize she was there. Hell, I’m not you, I can’t smell a person from thirty feet away.”

“So you were digging in my past.” Erin’s smooth voice cut across Dee’s furious snap. She paused next to the smaller woman. Dee’s skin seemed too white next to Erin’s burnished gold. “What did you find?”

Dee’s eyes narrowed on him. A look that promised she’d get her payback. Then she grabbed the leaning pile of paperwork. “I found out that you can be a pretty tough bitch.”

Erin’s expression didn’t alter.

“So can I,” Dee said, flashing a real smile. “So I tend to respect that.”

The mask cracked on Erin’s face for a moment as confusion flashed through.

“There were some stories about you getting a bit rough with some guys back in high school and college.”

Her golden gaze shot to Jude’s.

“Nothing too bad. One guy had a sprained wrist, the other mild lacerations.”

Erin winced at that. “I can explain those.”

Dee waved her hand in the air. “You’re Other. You like to play rough.” Her hand stopped the wave and her index finger pointed at Erin’s chest. “You stopped playing with the humans, though, when you realized you could hurt them.”

“Did I?” Erin asked quietly.

No, she hadn’t. Jude knew she’d just learned to play better. Holding the beast back. Not a lot of fun in that for their kind. Especially not during sex.

Shifters were wild for a reason.

Dee’s head cocked to the right. “I don’t know. Maybe you just learned how to play better. But either way, there weren’t any more stories about the down and dirty Erin after you hit twenty-one.”

The down and dirty Erin? Jude tensed.

“You graduated from Tulane — both for your undergrad work and your JD — with honors. I figure you must have hooked up with some of the paranormals while you were in New Orleans. Always happens in the bigger cities. Guessing they didn’t care about you being a bit out of control in the bedroom, or they showed you how to control yourself.”

Erin gave a nod at that and Jude had to wonder — which option was she agreeing to? And why the hell did the idea of Erin with other men make his jaw clench, his heart race and—

“Dude, get your claws out of my desk.” Dee’s pissed voice. “This desk is new! I don’t want you marking it the way you idiots always mark everything you want.”

He jerked his claws from the wood. “Sorry.” Hell, he’d have to repair her desk. He hadn’t meant—

“Shifters do have a habit of marking things that don’t belong to them.” Erin seemed way too calm when she said that. “A flaw in genetics, I think.”

“I’m not like him, sweetheart.” The words rasped out before he could stop them. Not that he would have stopped them. She’d put an icy wall between them since last night. He was tired of the distance and more than ready to knock that wall apart.

He wasn’t like that asshole. Erin should know that by now.

Her eyes held his. So beautiful. “No, you’re not.”

Was that a thaw? Was she going to open back up to him? Last night had been heavy for her, he knew it, but he sure didn’t want her turning from him now.

No, now, she was supposed to turn to him.

“Uh, yeah, great. Whatever this is”—Dee’s hands fluttered between them—“keep it in the bedroom, okay? I haven’t been laid in two months and all this weird-ass tension in the air is making me jealous.”

Now Erin did smile, a slow stretch of her lips.

Jude’s heart kicked into his ribs.

“Ease up, Romeo.” Dee’s elbow rammed into his chest. “Back to business.”

Right.

“After law school, you did some work in different parishes. A few years later, you settled in Lillian. Started working for the DA’s office and got the reputation for being the bitch who went after the monsters.” A fast glance at Jude. “Not your kind. Rapists, domestic abusers. Those pigs that make me want to deliver a bit of my own abuse.”

“Dee, we’ve talked about your eye-for-eye punishments before,” he murmured.

“Yeah, we talked about how they work.”

Phones rang in the background. Jude caught Zane’s voice, the guy was talking to Pak. “Cut through the crap. Did you find anything we can use on this guy?”

Dee’s mouth tightened, just a bit, and her focus shifted back to Erin. “I found out you were working the biggest case of your career and all of a sudden, you seemed to lose your nerve.”

“What? I sure as hell didn’t. I’ve never lost—”

“Two missed court appearances. Five late arrivals. You didn’t have your witnesses ready, and when it came time to step up to the plate in the Trent case, you struck out.”

Dee could be a vicious fighter, one who went right for the jugular when a person least expected it.

Jude lifted his hand toward Erin because the lady looked—

“You don’t know me,” she snapped at Dee. “You get on your computer and you sneak around and you think you’re looking into someone’s life and you’re learning about them. Well, you’re wrong. I worked my ass off on that case. I did everything I could, but Trent had an in with Judge Harper. Court times kept changing, with no notice to me. Witnesses vanished, and even though I did my damned job, that bastard walked.”

Dee didn’t back down. He’d never seen the woman back down. “And when you were in the middle of this case, fighting to get that abuser locked up, that freak out there made first contact, didn’t he?”

“What?” Erin shook her head.

“I saw his pattern. The attacks on the people around you. When someone hurt you, pissed you off, or just got in your face, he attacked. This case was the deal breaker. You were fighting on your own, getting knocked around by the judge and the defense attorney — and that guy out there made his move…on you.”

Jude wrapped his fingers around Erin’s shoulder. “Is this when he made first contact?” Dee was the best research agent he’d ever met, and the best attacker he’d ever seen in a bar fight.

A nod. “Yeah, yeah. I–I was working three other cases at the same time, but the Trent case was the one eating me alive.” Echoes of frustration. Anger.

Dee tapped her chin. “He found you on that case.” Her gaze drifted to Jude as she eased into her chair and leaned back. Like the lady didn’t have a care. “Jude, I’d lay odds that if you went to that city, used your usual finesse, you’d be able find him through that case.”

The beast inside jerked on his leash. Hunt. “Oh, I’m sure I can finesse my way in Lillian.” Finesse had to be slang for biting and clawing his way to some answers. His shoulders rolled. “Looks like I’ll be taking a road trip.”

“You mean we will.” Erin’s determined voice.

Dee’s eyes widened. “Uh, civilians don’t normally go on hunts.”

Erin flashed her perfect smile, then punched down at Dee’s desk. Her claws plunged into the wood. “Not your normal civilian.”

“Dammit!” The human glared at them, hands fisted on her hips. “New desk, Donovan, got that? I expect a new freaking desk! I will go to Pak with this, don’t think I won’t!”

Erin’s dainty hand lifted. The claws were gone. Nice control. “I’m going with you,” she told him.

Despite the little show she’d just given, he shook his head. Claws really weren’t going to do the trick on this one. “No.”

“I’m paying you. I go.”

He braced his legs apart and stared her down. “Twice before, I’ve had clients bitch to ride shotgun with me. The first guy wound up with two broken arms and a concussion.”

“’Cause hunts aren’t for civilians,” Dee chimed in.

Erin’s gaze didn’t waver.

“The second guy,” Jude continued, “died on me.”

Her lips parted.

“Lucky for him, I managed to bring the asshole back.” But for that five minutes when the guy had lain lifeless, Jude had been nervous as all hell. A dead client didn’t pay.

“’Cause hunts aren’t for civilians,” the too-helpful Dee said again.

Erin’s nostrils flared. “I’m tired of standing on the sidelines and being afraid. Things are changing for me, now. I know that city. I’ve got connections that you don’t. I can help you.”

“You can get killed.” And if she slipped away from him, well, nervous as all hell, really wouldn’t be how he’d be describing the—

“And if I stay here, without you, what’s to say the bastard won’t make a try for me?”

“If he comes, I’ll be by your side.” Zane sauntered in, halting close to the now ravaged desk.

“Hell, no.” Erin’s hair whipped as she shook her head. “Not an option.”

“Look, I can explain about yesterday.”

“Not an option.” Her hand lifted toward him, palm flat. “And it’s not because of that bullshit yesterday. It’s because you can’t handle this guy.”

“Shot down,” Dee murmured and it looked like she was biting back a grin.

And Zane looked insulted. “The day I can’t handle a shifter is the day you can—”

“He’s a wolf.”

“—throw my ass in the grave. What? A wolf shifter?” Not fear in his voice. More like shock.

Dee whistled. “I am so jealous. You get all the good kills, Jude.”

He slanted her a quick glance. The lady needed some therapy.

“What’s your power scale, demon?” Erin asked and her voice was loud. It seemed like the gloves were definitely off now. Jude figured it was a good thing the office was pretty much deserted. Most of the agents were out on their own hunts.

Choking out a laugh, Dee shook her head. “You can’t ask a demon that. I mean, it’s like asking a man the size of his di—”

“High damn enough!” Zane cut through, face reddening.

But Erin’s lips curved down. “Doubt it. If the stories are true, a wolf shifter can take down a level ten demon. Are you really up for that?”

“Hell, yeah, I—”

“I’m going with Jude.” Her steely words sliced through the air. “So all this doesn’t really matter. My life, my choice.” Her eyes had begun to glow.

Jude stared down at her. Weighing. Deciding. “I can’t risk your safety.”

“If you leave me here, you risk my safety.”

“That’s not—” Zane began hotly.

Erin flashed him a feral stare. He shut up.

“You take me, you risk me.” A shrug. “Guess it’s one of those lose-lose situations.”

Those were real bitches.

“It’s my life,” she said again. “And I am sick of running and sick of blood. It’s time to go back. Escaping didn’t work. Trust me, I can see that now.” She licked her lips. “He won’t stop until I stop him.”

“Or until you’re dead.” A piss-poor comment from Dee.

Jude glared at her. Like fuck that would happen.

Erin’s chin lifted. “If I have to, I’ll just follow you to Lillian. But I am going.”

“Uh, don’t you have a job?” Zane asked. “Cases to prosecute?”

“I’m off until Monday.” She waited until Jude looked back at her and asked, “So what’s it gonna be, tiger? You taking me?”

Again and again, sweetheart. He bit back the words and sucked in a sharp breath. “You go, you follow my rules.”

“Ah, hell, fool number three riding shotgun.” Dee squeezed her eyes shut. “Can no one trust professionals these days?”

He ignored her. “At the first sign of trouble, you back the hell off and let me handle things.”

A nod.

Mistake. Oh, this was such a mistake, but—

But if he left her behind, he’d worry about her every second. Because the truth was that Jude could all but feel the bastard’s eyes on them.

Watching.

Waiting.

Poor fucked up Lee Givens — the guy still hadn’t woken up yet. He was in the ICU, with a guard stationed at his side, courtesy of Tony’s pull. Erin had called to check on him first thing that morning, but there had been no improvement.

The docs thought it was a miracle he was still breathing. Well, breathing with the help of all those beeping and buzzing machines.

The guy out there after Erin didn’t play around. Vicious, twisted, and quick to kill.

Not exactly a dream date.

No, leaving Erin in Baton Rouge, even with Zane for protection, wasn’t an option he liked.

So that just left…shotgun.

Jude gave a grudging nod. Dammit.

The tiger brought her back. Fucking finally. His body tensed when he saw the familiar pickup truck. Then Erin appeared, midnight hair shining, and the two of them hurried toward her house.

The shifter’s hand pressed against her back right before they disappeared inside.

A familiar gesture. Too familiar.

He waited, barely glancing at the truck. He’d already marked the license down. He’d done that days before.

Less than five minutes later, the shifter was back at the door. The hunter glanced down the drive with narrowed eyes. He held a suitcase in one hand, the other hand was intertwined with Erin’s.

Too familiar.

They hurried out. Erin climbed into the passenger seat. The shifter hesitated. Looked around. Seemed to stare right at him.

Then the tiger smiled.

He leaned back inside the truck, caught the back of Erin’s head, and kissed her.

No.

A snarl broke from his lips and the tiger jerked up, gaze sweeping past the azaleas.

He shoved back the fury, nearly choking on the rage.

Erin’s slender hand reached up and touched the shifter’s chest. “Jude, what is it?”

Her voice drifted to him on the wind. So sweet and husky. Sexy.

And saying another man’s name.

You’re next, bastard. You’ll beg.

The tiger’s fingers closed around hers. “Thought I heard a damned dog,” he said, voice loud.

Too loud. Deliberate that.

So the cat wanted to play.

The fool didn’t understand who he was going up against. The tiger was big, tough, and deadly in his own right, but he didn’t understand a hybrid’s strength.

His mistake. One that would be fatal.

The tiger shifter tossed her suitcase in the bed of the truck, then took his time stalking around the back of the vehicle.

The urge to attack, to rip and kill and smell the sweet scent of death, had his blood heating in his veins.

But he wasn’t stupid. He knew how to hunt. And when to hunt.

Too many witnesses. Too many neighbors out and too many cars buzzing on the street.

For this hunt, this kill, he wanted to take his time and enjoy the moment.

Because after this, there would be no more games. The chase would finally be over and Erin would be his.

He just had to kill the cat first.

Easy.

The bigger they were, the louder they screamed.

And Erin would scream too. She’d have to be taught a lesson. He’d enjoyed the games. They roused his appetite, but her playing with the cat hadn’t been part of the deal.

The truck drove past him. So close.

He glanced down, surprised to see that his claws were out and embedded in his palms. Blood dripped onto the ground. The blood was dark on the dirt. Fat blobs that spread over the grainy surface.

He looked back up just as the tiger turned the corner.

Where are you running to now, mate?

Didn’t matter. Wherever she went, he would find her.

That was the way he played the game.