Eternal Flame

by Cynthia Eden

  The windows of the booth were busted out. The phone book had long been snatched, but the phone, lucky for Zane—unlucky for me-still worked.

  Now he was calling his boss. Probably arranging her pickup. And that was fine. She’d be better off once she was away from Zane.

  But he’d covered her body with his. When that cop had been bearing down on them with that gun, Zane had protected her.

  Freaking good-guy routine. Why’d he have to do that? Why’d he have to keep acting like she mattered?

  A killer. That’s all she was to him. She needed to remember that. Hell, he probably would have jumped in front of any bounty that had been threatened. No matter what the crime, you had to protect the cash cow, right?

  “Something’s wrong with this case,” Zane’s hard voice broke through her thoughts, and she knew he’d made contact with Night Watch. She glanced at him and saw that his brows were drawn low, and his jaw flexed with anger.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got her.” His gaze slashed up to meet hers. Hot. She swallowed. That green gaze seemed to burn with intensity.

  And she did like the fire.

  Jana licked her lips. His gaze dropped and lingered on her mouth.

  “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 call: 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.”

  Antonio didn’t let his expression waver. “Describe the bastard, officer.”

  “B-big guy …” The EMTs were loading Harris onto a stretcher. “About six-foot-two, maybe three.” His lashes lowered and he blinked a few times. “Two-two hundred pounds.” His head sagged a bit.

  “What color was his hair? His eyes?” Antonio pressed

  Harris didn’t answer. The EMTs tried to take the injured cop to the ambulance. Antonio stepped right in their path. “Harris isn’t going anywhere yet.” Not until he could figure out what was happening.

  “Harris!” He injected a note of steely command into his voice. The cop’s eyelids jerked open. “Describe the man, now.”

  “B-black hair. Caucasian … early th-thirties.” Okay, that description only fit thousands of men in the area.

  “Heard her call … his name.” The cop blinked, then met Antonio’s gaze. “Z-Zane … she said Zane.”

  What the hell are you doing, man? “I gave strict orders that the woman wasn’t to be approached. I was to be notified before any apprehension effort.” Cold, clipped.

  Harris licked his lips. “They were … on a motorcycle….”

  “He’s got a concussion, Captain,” one of the EMTS said, breaking through Harris’s words. “We need to get him checked at the hospital.”

  In a minute. Antonio didn’t move.

  “I just stopped them … because they didn’t have on … helmets. I stopped … them.” A hard swallow. “And he attacked.”

  But that didn’t make any sense.

  “Sir…” The EMT’s face was flushed a dark red. “He needs to be in a hospital.”

  Clenching his teeth, Antonio moved to the side.

  “You never said”-Harris’s voice had grown weaker- “she had a … partner.”

  Because he hadn’t known that Zane was working with the woman, and he sure hadn’t expected the hunter to attack a cop.

  What are you doing, Zane? What the hell are you doing?

  Antonio turned away and marched back to his car.

  Threw me ten feet… but I-I swear I never saw him… move. Harris’s words echoed in his mind. The cop didn’t understand. Zane hadn’t actually moved. He was such a strong demon, he didn’t need to move. With just a stray thought, Zane could have thrown the cop. With a wave of his hand, he could have killed the guy.

  But he hadn’t. Zane had let the cop live, and he’d protected the woman.

  “Sir!” Another uniform hurried toward him. This time, the officer was female. The uniforms were swarming the scene like bees now. “Do you want to launch a search in the area for the woman?”

  Antonio let his stare drift down the road. No sign of a motorcycle now.

  “And what about the man?” she pressed. “Do we need to put out an APB for him—”

  “Forget the man. Just concentrate on her.” Jana Carter.

  “But a cop was assaulted, one of our own.” Her red brows snapped low. “We need to—”

  “You need to do whatever the hell I say.” He sounded like a prick, but she’d have to deal with it. “I’ll take care of the man. You focus on her.”

  Before he threw his friend to the wolves-or the cops-he needed to find out exactly what was happening with Zane. If he found out that the demon had crossed the line, well—

  Then I’ll be the first one in line to take him down.

  Zane eased the motorcycle to a stop near the curb. The Night Watch building waited, just a few blocks away. He could easily see the stark lines and the old bricks of the hunting office.

  He braced the kickstand and killed the motor. This was it. Time to turn in his bounty.

  Zane looked over his shoulder. Jana’s face was as smooth and blank as marble. No heat in those dark blue eyes. No fiery emotion on her face. Just… blank. Empty.

  He didn’t like that. The woman was many things, but “blank” wasn’t one of ‘em.

  “Come on,” he said, rising. “It’s time to get you inside.” But, dammit, something felt wrong.

  I burned that pit to the ground and I didn’t care that they were inside. Hard words, but when she’d said them, Jana’s voice had trembled.

  He stared down at her hand and frowned when he saw the dark skin around the handcuff. “Fuck.” He reached for her wrist, lifting it lightly. A circle of dark bruises had already formed on her flesh.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said, and her voice was as cold as her face. “I bruise easily. A human trait. We just aren’t built strong enough.”

  His fingers feathered over her skin, and Zane heard the soft rasp of her breath. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He’d thought she would be deposited at Night Watch less than an hour after he’d cuffed her. He’d never planned on all … this.

  Her gaze held his.

  The woman was beautiful. No, sexy. He could still taste her, and he wanted more.

  But… killer. If the file was right, he was staring at a cold, calculating killer. One who torched for money. An assassin.

  Until now, she hadn’t struck him as cold. With her face locked in that icy mask, with her eyes so blank-yeah, frigid came to mind.

  Before, though, she’d been a different woman. Wild. Passionate. Never cold. And when she’d talked about New Orleans …

  His fingers curled around her right wrist. “Tell me about New Orleans. Tell me what really happened.”

  Night Watch waited just over her shoulder. The place could keep waiting.

  Her smile was sad. “Why? Are you going to save me, demon? Are you going to help me? Turn your back on everything you know and protect me?”

  That last line caught him. “Just what do you need protecting from?” Not what, who.

  She didn’t blink, but the right side of her mouth kicked up, just a bit. “No one. I’m the badass Ignitor, remember? The world needs to fear me.”

  She was, but she was also right about something else: Humans were weak. So easily broken. Killed.

  She tugged away from him, shifting her body to face the Night Watch building. “Let’s get this over with. If we stand around out here, we might as well paint bull’s-eyes on our backs.”

  “I can help you. “ The words were torn from him. It didn’t have to be this way. She didn’t have to keep charging up, didn’t have to keep killing. There was more to her. He knew it.

  Jana tossed him a quick look over her shoulder. “No, you can’t.” The cold glass had shattered in her eyes. He could see her pain and sadness now.

  Then she looked away, and he felt like she’d slugged him. “Jana…”

  The doors to Night Watch burst open. Three hunters ran out and
headed for them. Jude led the other two men, his blond hair shining in the sun as he charged for Jana and Zane.

  “Guess that’s the welcome party.” Her attention focused on the hunters. Her silky black hair dipped down her back. “We don’t want to keep them waiting.”

  She stepped forward, tugging him with her. His eyes focused on Jude. This was what he wanted. What he had to do. Turn her in. They’d take her inside Night Watch and—

  The explosion shook the street. The blast threw the three hunters to the ground as the windows of Night Watch exploded and fire blazed from the windows. Car alarms screeched down the street, and smoke billowed into the air.

  And Jana just stood there, staring at the burning building. The building that housed his co-workers. His friends.

  She’d gone back too easy.

  “Fuck!” He spun Jana around. “What the hell did you—” Horror was reflected in her wide eyes. Shock. Her eyes- they were blue. Not the red of an Ignitor charging up. Still blue.

  She hadn’t set the fire. If not her …

  His gaze flew to the building. People were running out, coughing, screaming.

  He raced for the building.

  “Zane!” Jana stumbled after him. Shit, the cuffs. “We’ve got to stop it!” They could. Or at least they could push the flames back long enough to get the people to safety. But, dammit, those flames were so hot that he could already feel their breath on his skin.

  Pak stumbled out with ash coating his face. He had his hands around one of the female hunters, and they were both gasping. Charmers didn’t have the enhanced strength of the shifters and demons. They were almost as weak as humans.

  And there were humans inside that building. Humans who wouldn’t last long-humans who were probably already dead.

  Too hot.

  He sent a blast of power at the flames, forcing them back. “See if you can get control of it,” he told Jana. “We’ve got to get them out, we—”

  Jude surged to his feet. His fangs were out, his claws ready to rip and slash. “What the hell? That bitch burned Night Watch!” He lunged for Jana.