Eternal Hunter

Chapter 20

Dee ran forward, her gun up, but the bastard moved too fast. His claws raked down her arm, then across her chest. The gun flew from her fingers and she screamed as his teeth caught her shoulder.

“No!” Dee didn’t understand. Harper wasn’t like other shifters. He’s like me. In human form, he was nearly as strong as a fully transformed shifter.

And when he transformed—

Hello, hell.

“Let her go, asshole!” Erin sank her own claws into his side, and twisted.

He howled in fury and pain, and he tossed Dee into the air. When she came down, Dee hit the ground with a thud, and she didn’t get up.

Dee!

His head turned, just a few inches, and Harper met Erin’s stare. His brown eyes were muddy, so dark, and the grin on his face chilled her. “Always knew you liked the blood. Just like me.”

“I’m nothing like you!” She jumped back, putting some frantic space between them.

She could really have used Jude right then! When Dee had called for backup, she’d called Night Watch and Antonio. Not Jude and Zane. Dee had thought they were in the middle of their trap. Thought they were catching the stalker.

But he’d come for her, instead.

Harper raised a hand to his side. His fingers touched the blood that pulsed and flowed so hotly. “Wanted to do this…in human form.”

Her claws were up, ready. “Do what?” Hot Harper? Lance Harper? His name blasted through her head over and over again. She’d been in his courtroom so many times, been so close to him, and never suspected.

He’d tried to rape her. He’d killed. Tortured.

The judge?

She shook her head. No, no, this didn’t make a bit of sense.

He watched her with those dark eyes, and his blood splattered on to the ground. He didn’t seem to notice or even to care. “You disappointed me, mate.”

Mate. “I’m not your mate.”

The judge blinked at that, looking vaguely surprised. “Well, of course, you are. I recognized you the first moment you stepped into my courtroom.” His smile had faded completely. “I divorced my third wife for you.”

Divorced my third wife. Erin guessed she was lucky he hadn’t killed the woman. “There’s no way you could have known from one look that I was your mate.” Keep him talking. Backup would arrive soon. Had to. Just how many bullets would the guy be able to take and keep standing? Because when Antonio arrived, she knew he’d unload on the asshole.

“I knew the second I caught your scent that you were mine.”

Bullshit. She hoped. Her eyes narrowed. “So what? You decided to make my life hell because you liked the way I smelled?”

He jumped toward her. Harper closed the distance in less than a second. Stronger than me. Faster than me.

Dammit!

His fingers wrapped around her arms, and she felt the sting of his claws. His breath—freaking minted breath—blew in her face. “I gave you everything you wanted. I punished the fools who hurt you or got in your way. I made sure your life was perfect.”

Insane. There was a reason for the whispers about wolves being psychotic. Some of them really were. “You killed. You murdered Donald Trent!”

The claws dug deeper. “Because you wanted him stopped.” His teeth snapped together and a frown pulled his brows low, as if he truly didn’t understand. “If I’d found him guilty in court, he would have been out in what? Two, three years?” He grunted. “Not good enough for you. You wanted more — so I gave you more! I stopped him, permanently.”

“You buried him in the woods behind his kids’ house!”

The right side of his mouth lifted. “Thought it was fitting.”

No, it was insane.

“I just had to go and watch the cops dig him up. So fucking perfect.”

Erin could only stare at him. Why hadn’t she seen the madness before? Why hadn’t the cops? All the other lawyers?

The insanity had hid so well behind his black robes.

His gaze swept over her face. “When you walked in that first day, I thought you were the most perfect thing I’d ever seen. Just like her, that same fire burning inside.” He jerked Erin closer. “I knew when I saw you then, I knew why fate had put that bastard in Theresa’s path so many years before.”

What? Her heart iced. “H-how do you know my mother’s name?” The mother who lay dying just a few feet away. She’d risked her life to save Erin from this bastard.

He blinked and, for an instant, almost seemed confused. “I thought she was mine.” The words came, slow and stilted. “For years, I thought she was the one for me.”

A choked moan rumbled from behind Erin. Her mother’s pain-filled cry.

Erin stared into Harper’s eyes and knew.

Theresa’s voice drifted through her mind. “Such dark, dark eyes that saw into me so well…”

Hell.

Her mother’s lover.

Erin jerked against him, hard, horror giving her strength as she stumbled back from his hold.

His lip curled with disgust as he grated, “When she went with that human, I couldn’t pretend about her any more. She wasn’t mine.”

Erin sucked in oxygen as hard and as fast as she could. Not. Happening.

“I left the pack.” His teeth snapped together. “I went on my own, and then you came to me.”

No, no, she hadn’t come to him. She’d just been in court, doing her job!

“The instant I saw you, I finally understood what fate had planned for me. I knew you were my reward, the mate I’d always wanted.” A laugh then, rough and wild. “You look so much like her,” he said, “but you’re better, stronger, mine.”

“No, I’m not yours.” Never would be.

“You know what it’s like to be different from the others. Not human. Not wolf. More powerful than both.” He lifted his hand toward her, long and deadly claws out. “We were made for each other. Perfect halves.”

She stared at that hand and remembered the sight of Bobby Burrows’s bloody body. “We are nothing alike.” She held her body perfectly still. Now wasn’t the time for an attack. Not yet.

He closed the space between them. His right hand lifted and his fingers trailed down her cheek. “I had to bide my time and make sure there were no obstacles between us.”

Yeah, he’d tried to kill all the obstacles. Erin barely breathed as she stood before him.

One sharp claw pressed against the side of her face. “Purebloods always thought they were so fucking superior. I had to show the animals how wrong they were. Every day, I had to fight and claw my way through the pack.”

Alpha. Her mother had said her lover was the alpha of the pack. Alphas were the most bloodthirsty of the wolves. The most dangerous.

Shit.

“They never understood what we are!” he snarled. “Fucking idiots!”

She swallowed. “And what are we?”

The claw dug into her skin, broke the flesh. “The next evolution. We can be strong in our human flesh. We don’t have to wait for the wolf. We can kill and we can conquer as we are. Hell, we can rule the world. We don’t have to wait for the shift. We have the power every minute of every day.”

Her chin lifted and she knew the liquid sliding down her face wasn’t tears, it was blood. “I can’t shift.”

His gaze burned her. “I know — that’s why you’re so perfect.”

Great, of all the people in the world, he thought she was perfect.

Harper licked his thin lips. “Our children won’t need to shift. They’ll be born with power. Always have it.”

Their children? “Got news for you,” she managed. There’d been no sound from Dee — or from her mother — for several moments. Be alive. “I’m not planning on having any kids with you.” That would be the last thing she’d ever do.

Whack job for a father? Hell, no. She and her mother had very different taste in men.

His breath rushed out. More mint. “It’s that fucking tiger. I’ve been watching you. Always watching.”

She knew that. She’d felt his eyes too many times.

“I’m good at hiding. I was close enough to touch you so many times and you never knew.”

Goosebumps rose on her flesh.

“I changed my hair, used contacts, held the shift so that my face was different—” He broke off, giving a muffled laugh. “You never even knew!”

He’d held the shift? How was that even possible? The next evolution.

“I love to watch you,” he whispered. “Love to see your face.” His jaw clenched as his eyes turned arctic. “And I’ve seen your face when you look at that bastard!” Spittle flew at her. “You’ve been screwing him. Fucking around on me just like your whore of a mother!”

Her claws were out. Ready. His wounds were close. Keep talking. Hold his attention. Stir his fury.

Fury could make him weak.

Erin smiled. A slow, wide grin. “Yeah, I have.”

“You, bit—”

She shoved her hands up between them. Don’t forget how strong I can be, asshole.

His mistake — he’d stayed in human form. She could take the jerk in human form. Because she was as strong as he was that way, maybe even stronger. Maybe.

Time to find out.

She drove her claws into his bloody wounds and wrenched up as hard as she could.

His head slammed into hers and black spots danced before her eyes.

She stumbled back. He raised his claws above her—

Erin caught his right wrist, then the left, and she held him as tight as she could. Bones snapped beneath her grip.

“Perfect,” he whispered and he crushed his mouth against hers.

She bit him, savaging his lips with her teeth and his blood flowed.

But the bastard just laughed.

Furious, scared as hell, she threw him back.

Harper didn’t stumble or stagger. He landed on his feet. The bastard balanced perfectly and then swiped the back of his hand over his bleeding mouth. “I like the way you taste.” His stare dropped to her body. “When you’re with him…do you think of me?”

What? “No!”

More laughter. “I bet I’m in your head. Late at night, when you close your eyes, you think of me, don’t you?”

She had, for so long. But not because she wanted him. Because…“You attacked me! Almost murdered Ben! You’ve terrorized me, so, hell, yes, I’ve thought about you!” Her teeth ached as they extended even more. Longer, sharper than they’d ever been. “I thought about how I’d like to kill you.”

“You’ve got the blood thirst, just like me.”

A broken groan broke the air.

Erin’s gaze flew to the left. Not her mother this time, Dee. The hunter was trying to push herself up.

“Why do you care about them?” His stare followed hers. “They aren’t even worth your notice.”

No, he wasn’t worth her notice.

He held out his hand to her once more, claws stained red. “Come with me, Erin, and I’ll let your human live, for now.”

For now. Code for later, he’d be back to slice her to ribbons.

“Why do you do it?” she whispered. “Why all the killings? Bobby Burrows—”

His hand waited in the air, but he answered her. Harper had always loved to hear himself talk. That was one of the many reasons why his court had always been torture for her. “Burrows made you look like a fool. He escaped on your watch.”

Well, the cops’ watch.

“And he was worthless trash, eating away at the world. He needed to be put down.”

“That’s not your call to make! You can’t decide who lives or dies! You can’t—”

His hand fell. “I’ve spent fifteen years of my life deciding who lives and dies. I damn well know what I’m doing.”

Executing his own brand of justice and claiming to kill for her. “You’re crazy,” she whispered. Probably not the smartest thing to say to a killer, but what the hell?

“Wolves in packs don’t become psychotic.” His voice had chilled.

He hadn’t been in a pack for almost thirty years.

“Mated wolves out of the pack retain their sanity.”

He wasn’t mated. Did the guy even see where this was headed?

“You’re my mate. Since finding you, everything in my life has become crystal clear.” His lips firmed and he took a step forward—

And he stumbled.

The blood loss. It was finally hitting him.

She’d hoped if she kept him talking, kept him focused — yes!

Harper slipped in his own blood and went down, hard.

“Erin…”

She shook her head. “I’m not your mate, asshole, and even if I was, I wouldn’t spend a day of my life with you.”

“The tiger…” His head fell down. His body shuddered. “Should have…killed him…beginning…”

No. “Jude isn’t exactly easy to kill.” One of his best traits.

His claws scraped over the pavement. “Saw the way…you…l-looked at him…Has to…die…”

“No, he doesn’t. You’re not going to hurt Jude.”

He threw his head back then, and she saw his face. A wild combination of man and beast. “You’re mine!” A barely human howl of fury.

The transformation ripped through his body and he jerked, almost convulsing on the ground.

Not a shift. No. He should have been too weak to transform. Should have been…

Bones snapped. Fur burst from his skin.

“No!” Erin flew at him, attacking, hoping to stop the shift before it was too late. Before he was too strong. Because if he shifted, he could heal — and he could kill her.

But his shift was fast. Faster than Jude’s. Faster than any shifter she’d ever seen in her life. When her body fell against his, she sank her claws as deeply as she could into his side — not the side of a man, but the body of a wolf. She thrust her claws past the thick fur and right into the muscle.

The wolf howled, and his head—long, thick muzzle, too-dark eyes—turned toward her.

This was so not good. Erin stumbled back, sweat coating her body.

The wolf rose to his feet. His muscles vibrated and his fangs dripped saliva.

Too strong. The beast showed no signs of weakness.

Hybrid. The rules didn’t apply to him. Or maybe they did. He could obviously heal as fast as she could. When he shifted anyway. She could heal almost that fast without a shift.

The next evolution? Had he been right?

The wolf snarled, and she stopped thinking about old Darwin — and focused on the killing machine before her.

Backup! Where was Antonio?

She took a deep breath and attacked with all of her might, ripping, shredding muscle as—

He rolled and his hind legs came up, catching her in the stomach. The wolf kicked her into the air.

Erin landed on her ass but jumped back up as fast as she could. Dee was inching ever closer to her gun. A fighter. She could be a fighter, too. “Come on, judge. You want me so bad, huh? Then come and get me.” She had to keep him away from Dee and her mother.

Erin held up her claws and bared her teeth.

And knew that he was about to kick her ass.

Can’t take him while he’s in wolf form. She just wasn’t strong enough.

But she could give him one hell of a fight. And maybe, maybe Dee could get her gun and blast the jerk with more bullets.

Maybe.

She just had to hold him off long enough to—

The wolf lunged at her. His teeth sank into her forearm, gouging deep holes into her flesh and biting all the way to the bone. “Sonofabitch!”

His claws raked across her stomach and his teeth — they wouldn’t let go!

Fire ate at her belly, but she took that pain and used it to feed the beast inside who could never get out.

“Not a good way to treat your mate.” She grabbed his jaw and had to pry the thing loose with hands that shook.

His eyes rolled. She caught the faintest sight of white in that darkness, and he twisted suddenly, shoving Erin and kicking into her legs.

What? Why was he—

The hum of a motor rumbled in the distance. The wolf must have heard it before she had.

Backup. Antonio.

The wolf’s ears shot straight into the air. His head snapped in the direction of the approaching car, then he looked back at her.

His muscles bunched.

And damn if it didn’t look like the beast smiled.

Smiled—with her mother lying there, dying. With Dee bleeding out.

When the wolf leapt forward, Erin launched herself at him. They hit, hard, and the wolf knocked her into the dirt near the side of the road, and then he locked his teeth on her shoulder, in her shoulder.

Bad idea. So fucking bad. Her claws flew up and gouged at his eyes.

The wolf leapt away.

Yeah, asshole. My dad taught me that move, before he realized I could break the hands of any touchy-feely punks who crossed the line.

“Go for the eyes, girl. Don’t be afraid to hurt him.”

She sure wasn’t afraid to hurt the wolf.

“Erin…” Dee’s weak voice.

She glanced to the left. Dee was on her knees, weaving a bit. Her white T-shirt was soaked red.

The wolf snarled, and she knew he’d seen Dee. His teeth snapped together.

Prey. Weak and ready.

The thought was hers, a sick instinct she’d always ignored, but it was Harper’s, too. She knew it.

So when he ran for Dee, she lunged after him. Her claws sank into his hind legs, and he twisted back. His paws hit her, taking her down with one hard blow, and she fell with the heavy weight of his body smothering her.

“Run!” Her cry this time, not her mother’s. “Run, Dee!”

Because the wolf was too strong for her. Too strong for Dee.

Maybe even too strong for the backup coming.

Two bullets hadn’t slowed him. She hadn’t slowed him.

Saliva dripped onto her face. That breath wasn’t so minty fresh anymore.

Erin looked up and found his open mouth poised right over her.

This was it.

No dreams this time. No visions. Her death.

Hadn’t seen this one coming.

Sorry, Jude.

She’d found him too late. A man who accepted her, wanted her, maybe even could love her — too late.

So sorry.

She wouldn’t be healing from this.

With a snarl, those fangs went for her throat.

The roar came as she felt the first puncture. A roar that filled her ears and seemed to shake the street.

Then the wolf was knocked right off her. His teeth scraped over her neck, slicing the skin.

She rolled away, lifting a hand to her throat and touching the wet warmth of her blood.

Jude.

The tiger was there, quivering with fury. Fighting with claws and teeth. Driving his fangs into the wolf’s body. Picking up the smaller beast and tossing him into the air.

A match for a wolf.

Wolves were strong, no doubt about it, but a tiger shifter was no one’s bitch.

She managed to rise to her feet. The blood flow was already starting to ease up. The slice hadn’t gone too deep, thanks to Jude. All of her wounds throbbed, but they were healing fast.

Growls and snarls filled the air. The tiger and the wolf attacked, rolled, roared, and howled.

Blood soaked their fur. Bones crunched.

The wolf sank his teeth into the tiger’s back. Jude jerked away, swiping with his front paws.

Have to help. Can’t just stand here and watch!

“Erin…” Dee’s voice.

The gun.

Erin ran to her side and grabbed the gun. It slipped in her blood-soaked fingers.

“No, wait, you need—”

No more waiting. The wolf had just cut open Jude’s side.

The tiger seemed to move in a fast blur, launching at the wolf, his giant mouth open.

She lifted the gun, aimed. Move, Jude, move — just a bit. Give me a shot. A chance to end the nightmare.

His mouth locked on the wolf’s throat. Jude jerked the wolf up with his hold, and Erin had a perfect view of the beast’s back.

Her finger squeezed the trigger.

The bullet thudded into the wolf.

The tiger’s teeth clamped down harder.

One beat of time. Two. She fought to hold the gun steady. If she just didn’t have so much blood on her hands…

The tiger dropped his prey. The wolf didn’t move.

Jude threw back his head and roared his rage at the night.

Over? Please, be—

Jude jumped over the fallen body of the wolf. As he ran to her, the fur began to melt from his body. He fell before her as the bones snapped and shaped with sickening crunches. His fangs disappeared and a man’s face formed from the tiger’s.

Naked, strong, he knelt before her.

Then he looked up at her. Jude didn’t speak. He just gazed at her.

Her hands fell on to his shoulders. Over. She stared into his eyes. Finally, the bastard was dead.

And Jude was alive and strong and right in front of her.

“Erin…are you all right?” Gruff, thick. Somewhere between the man’s rumbles and the beast’s growls.

She managed a nod. Too much blood on her, but…“I’m a fast healer.”

His gaze tracked over her bloody form, then rose back to her face. “Just so we’re clear,” he told her, his voice growing stronger. “You aren’t his mate. Never were.”

She shook her head. “No, you—”

“You’re mine, sweetheart. Have been from the beginning, just like I’m yours.” His hands wrapped around her waist and he pulled her close.

Hers.

A tear slid down her cheek and splashed onto his shoulder. She wanted that to be true because she wanted him so much, but—

His head tipped back a bit more. “Mine,” he said again, simply, softly.

And she echoed the word as she gazed down at him. “Mine.”

Then he was rising up, holding her too tight and so right and his mouth was on hers and he kissed her the way he’d always kissed her—

With hunger and need and lust.

And love?

She wanted to sink into him, to push the world away, but there was too much pain around her. Too much blood.

She twisted back, pulling her mouth from his. “Jude, my mother…”

His nostrils flared. He glanced behind her and swore. Then they were moving together, rushing to Theresa’s side.

Her mother’s eyes were open, and she didn’t look as pale as death anymore. No, no, a hint of color lined her cheeks. “Did you…do it?” she asked, her gaze on Jude’s face.

Shifters — always so strong. Theresa’s legs were still a twisted mess, but the gushing blood had stopped. Her mother just might pull through.

Relief had Erin’s breath catching. She was crouched in front of Jude, shielding his naked form as best she could. Her mother could see his face, but, hopefully, not much else.

Not that shifters were really known for any sort of modesty.

Jude gave a nod and said, “I ripped the bastard’s throat wide open.”

Somehow, her mother managed a weak smile at that. “Good…what the b-bastard…d-deserved.” Blood stained the corner of her mouth.

“Take it easy.” Erin put a light hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Help’s coming.”

That smile stayed on her bloody lips. “Don’t worry…baby. Hard…to kill.”

Yeah, she was, and Erin had never been happier to have a wolf for a mother. Actually, it might have been the first time she was happy about that fact.

Theresa’s right hand lifted and clamped down on her shirt. “S-sorry…”

Erin looked into her eyes and understood. “How did you know he was coming after me?”

Her hand fell away. “S-saw him…in L–Lillian…knew…wolf h-hybrid…f-followed h-him…”

“You could have died.” Anger there, the fear that wouldn’t leave because her mother was still too close to death.

“Had…to s-save…you.”

Erin choked back the damn sob that rose in her throat.

“Who the hell…is he?” Dee’s strained voice. Erin glanced at her. She was up now, on her feet, wavering a bit as she inched toward the naked body.

The fur was gone. The beast always vanished in death.

Erin’s hands fisted. “His name’s Lance Harper. Judge Lance Harper.”

“Well, fuck.” Comprehension darkened Jude’s voice. “The dick in the basement.”

Yeah.

“Erin, I–I’m s-sorry…” Her mother’s whisper.

Erin straightened her shoulders and turned her stare back to her mother. “It’s not your fault. What he did — you had nothing to do with that.” Theresa had loved the wrong man. The wrong, psychotic man. But her mother hadn’t known. “It’ll be okay, Mom, just stay with me.”

Her mother swallowed, the gulp loud and painful. “Trying…Legs are a…m-mess…need sh-shift…”

But she wasn’t strong enough for that, not yet.

“A judge?” Dee asked and the scent of her blood burned Erin’s nose. She was still bleeding. Human. She’d scar from the wounds, they were too deep not to scar.

She could sure understand Dee’s disbelief. Her stalker had been Lillian’s citizen of the year for five years running. He’d sure been good at fooling the world.

“Huh. Never did care much for judges.”

At that, Erin fired a look over her shoulder in time to see Dee toeing the judge’s body with her right foot. The hunter had her gun against her hip, and she was painstakingly loading fresh bullets into the chamber.

Better late than never.

Jude’s hand curled around Erin’s shoulder. “Hey. You okay?”

She would be. Finally, she would be. Her eyes fell to Harper’s still face. Handsome, even in death. Refined, almost—

His eyelids flew open.

Oh, hell.

Sick understanding burned through her. The shift had saved him. He hadn’t shifted to die, he’d shifted to live.

“Dee!”

Too late. Harper lunged up and grabbed her, jerking Dee down onto his body and anchoring her against him. One hand rose to clutch her throat and his claws dug into her jugular.

“I can kill her with one slice.” His voice was hoarse, guttural. Because Jude had nearly ripped out his throat. The wound was still there, still red and jagged and angry, but he’d healed enough, just enough.

Erin knew he wasn’t bullshitting. He’d kill the hunter in a heartbeat of time. “Harper, let her go.” She rose to her feet, deliberately keeping her mother behind her.

Jude’s fingers tightened around her.

Harper’s eyes narrowed at that small movement. “Touching her…always…touching her…” He licked his lips.

Dee didn’t move. Her face was blank, her body tense. Her blood pulsed from her wounds.

Erin shrugged free of Jude’s hold and took a step forward. Behind her, she heard the rumble of his fury. “Let her go,” she repeated.

But Harper shook his head. “Bitch…could have been…perfect…”

“There’s nowhere to go.” Jude’s hard voice. The guy hadn’t stayed back. Now he stood beside her, naked and strong and more than ready to face down the devil with her.

Gotta love a man like that.

Love. Erin’s breath caught.

“Bitch!” A scream from Harper. “Should have…been mine! My mate, my—”

“I’ll never be yours.” She shook her head. “And you should know there’s no way you’re leaving here alive tonight.” Wouldn’t happen.

Sirens screamed in the distance.

A cage wouldn’t hold him.

But they would stop him. “Now let her go!” Erin demanded.

“Mine,” he whispered, but sounded broken, lost.

“No, asshole,” Jude growled. “She’s not.”

Harper shook his head frantically.

Erin’s stare jerked to Dee’s face. The woman’s lips moved, soundlessly. Save her.

Dammit, she was trying! Trying to save them all. Dee, her mother—

Dee’s eyes tracked to the right. Her gaze landed on the gun she’d dropped when Harper grabbed her.

Again, her lips moved. No sound. Save her.

Dee had reloaded that gun just moments before and she’d—

No. Not save her. That wasn’t what Dee was trying to say.

Once more, the human’s lips formed words. One word, not two. Silver.

Jude tensed beside her. He’d seen and understood.

“I loved you,” Harper whispered and his hand flexed.

Dee’s head moved in the slightest of jerks, and Erin saw her body rock forward.

She’d have to move, fast. They both would.

Harper’s face twisted with hate, not love, and she knew he was going for the kill. “For you,” he said and the claws dug deep.

“No!” Erin lunged for the gun.

Dee twisted hard, jerking and squirming, and Jude was there, slashing with his claws and yanking her into his arms as he spun, attempting to shield Dee with his body.

Erin brought up the gun.

Harper smiled. “Just like me.”

She fired. The bullet blasted into his chest.

Right into his heart.

Her father had taught her that, too. Shoot to kill. Kill to protect.

“No, bastard, I’m nothing like you.”

Harper’s eyes were wide open when he fell back. All the better to see death.

Her breath came out on a hard, ragged exhale.

Jude lowered his arms and turned back to glance at the body.

A grim smile curved Dee’s lips. “And this time, you’ll stay down, asshole.”

Silver to the heart. According to the legends, a surefire way to kill a werewolf.

Or in this case, a hybrid wolf shifter.

Slowly, Erin stalked over to the judge. The gun was a solid weight in her hand as she gazed down at his face. Dee was right. The judge wouldn’t be getting up from that one.

Over.

The wailing sirens were so loud now, screaming in her ears. Doors slammed nearby. Footsteps thudded. Voices rose. Men, women.

One was louder, angrier than the others. “All right…get the hell out of my way! Jude! Dee!”

Zane was there.

Erin dropped the gun. She spun around. “My mother!” Theresa’s eyes were closed and she’d sagged back against the ground. Tear tracks stained her cheeks. Had she seen Erin kill Harper? “Mother!”

Two men with stethoscopes raced toward Theresa.

“Easy…” Antonio appeared before her. He grabbed her shoulders, holding her steady. “I need an EMT here, now! She’s got severe injuries and blood loss!”

“I’m already healing,” she whispered. “But you have to understand, my mother’s not human.”

A quick nod. “Samuels!” A female EMT scrambled from the back of an ambulance. “Take care of the female victim!” He jerked his thumb toward Erin’s mother. “Then, Barlow, come over here and see about this bastard.” His hand sliced toward Harper.

One of the male EMTs left her mother’s side and hurried to the body.

“Not much they can do for him,” Jude muttered.

“Ah, hell!” Antonio closed his eyes. “Clothes! Man, I’m so tired of seeing your naked ass!”

“Yo!” Zane tossed a pair of jeans toward Jude, then his gaze snapped to Dee. “Woman, what the hell happened to you?” Worry there.

A wan smile curved Dee’s lips. “Wolf tried to play with me.”

“Huh.”

“Nothing I can do for him,” Barlow said, rising. “He’s gone.”

To hell, she hoped.

Dee’s right shoulder lifted, then fell. “He didn’t know I like to keep silver bullets handy.”

“And wooden stakes in your bag,” Zane added.

The ambulance’s siren wailed on. They were loading Theresa. “I–I need to go with her.”

“You can’t.” Antonio’s face was grim. “I’ve got at least half a dozen cops who just saw you shoot that bastard—and I’m real damn glad he was in human form at the time.” Yeah, that after-death shift would have been a hard one to explain. “You can’t leave the scene, not yet.”

Samuels climbed in after her mother’s gurney, and the EMT yanked the doors closed.

“She’ll be okay,” Antonio told her. “Samuels has a lot of experience with your kind.”

Your kind. Erin licked her lips and managed a nod.

“We’ve got to do this by the book.” His voice barely floated in the air. “There are too many eyes here. Watch what you say, Jerome.”

She would.

The ambulance pulled away. The swirling lights vanished into the darkness.

Not the same as before.

Her mother hadn’t dropped her off without a word this time.

She’d sacrificed herself. Almost died, for me.

You didn’t risk death unless there was a very, very good reason. I’d always thought she didn’t care.

Tonight, she’d cared enough to die for me.

This time, her mother had chosen her.

“Dammit. Now who the hell is that?” Antonio’s hands fisted on his hips as he craned his head. “Hey, dick, get out of here! You’re not one of my guys so your ass needs to get lost!”

Erin followed his glare and stiffened her shoulders when she caught sight of a familiar figure, the dick in question. Ben.

He was trying to push his way through the cops. He had his badge out, and he shoved it at the officers as they fought to keep him away from the crime scene.

“Asshole, did you hear me? Get the fuck out!”

Erin’s fingers touched Antonio’s arm. “He’s a cop from Lillian. He…knows the judge.”

Antonio’s brows flew up. “Uh, the judge?”

Jude, with his spare jeans on but his chest bare and still bleeding a bit from his battle, stalked up to them. “Yeah, the dead bastard was a judge.”

And so much more. She’d tell Jude. Tell him everything when they were alone, but her mother’s secrets weren’t for all the others to hear.

Antonio’s jaw locked. “Never. Easy.”

Another ambulance sped away from the scene. Erin’s attention jerked to Jude. “Dee?” She hoped the human was all right.

“She’ll be okay. Zane threw her bleeding butt into the ambulance. He knows how weak humans can be, and the guy wanted to make sure Dee wasn’t taking any chances.”

Weak — Dee? Not likely. She’d fought with more spirit than most shifters.

A long sigh ripped from Antonio’s lips. “Asshole! Get over here!”

The cops holding Ben back glanced at the captain with raised brows.

“His name’s Ben,” Erin told him. “Detective Ben Greer.”

Another sigh. “Long-ass night, I know it’s gonna be one long-ass…” He waved toward the uniforms. “Let Detective Greer pass!” Then, for her and Jude, “’Cause we’re probably gonna need him to help cover our asses.”

Yeah, they probably would.

Ben stormed toward them, his face locked in hard lines of tension and his eyes blazing. “Erin?”

Jude wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back against the solid wall of his chest. “She stopped the killer.”

Ben craned his neck to see around them. She knew immediately when he caught sight of the body because his eyes doubled in size and his jaw dropped. “Holy Mother of Christ—Judge Harper!”

Erin was pretty sure most of the citizens of Lillian would be having that reaction. “He killed Trent. He attacked you. Murdered another man named Bobby Burrows—”

“Butchered him,” Antonio threw in.

“He tried to rape me, and tonight, tonight, he would have killed me.” And Dee and her mother.

Death had been the only way to stop him. Her mother would understand that more than anyone else.

Erin stared into Antonio’s dark eyes. This part was for him and for the mess he’d have at the station. “He confessed. In front of me, Dee and my mother. They’ll swear to what they saw and heard.”

He yanked out his notebook. “And what else did they see, Jerome? I’m guessing some things I don’t want on the record.”

“He was a wolf shifter,” Jude said, his hold never wavering. “That’s one of the reasons he was so hard to kill, and why when your ME digs into him, he’ll find a silver bullet lodged in his chest.”

“Harper?” Ben still seemed stunned.

She’d been that way, too.

“Silver bullet.” Antonio closed his eyes. “Great.”

“It kept him down,” Jude said. “I’d already all but ripped his throat out — and he still got up. Trust me, Tony, we needed that bullet.”

Some legends were based on a bit of truth.

Some weren’t.

Jude pressed a kiss to her shoulder, then she felt the warm lap of his tongue as he licked lightly at her flesh. Shifters tended each other this way.

The way of their kind.

Her head tilted back against him and heat spread through her.

“Save it!” Antonio snapped. “Get a room later, but I don’t need this crap now!”

One more swipe of Jude’s tongue. The tending wasn’t sexual — well, okay, maybe it was. But the soft strokes meant more than just a prelude to sex.

To a shifter, it was the way to express affection.

Maybe even love.

Erin turned toward him. She found Jude watching her with eyes that were so very blue.

“You scared the hell out of me,” he whispered, and the others fell away to her.

Disappeared.

“When I came up and that bastard was over your throat…”

Not a moment she really wanted to relive.

“I didn’t think I’d get to you in time.”

But this was a moment that called for honesty. “Neither did I.” And her last thought had been of him.

Her Jude.

Her tiger. With eyes that burned so very bright.

She touched his face. “You saved my life.”

“Only fair, considering you’d already done the same for me.”

And she’d do it again, any day. Because — because—

Antonio cleared his throat. Hard.

— because she was in love with her badass, wild tiger shifter.

In love. Absolutely, freaking, crazy, I’d-kill-to-protect him — and had—in love. For the first time in her life. Pity that it had taken almost dying to make her realize that fact.

But, better late than never.