Dark & Dangerous: A Collection of Paranormal Treats

by Julie Kenner

  Another window exploded.

  “And still shooting. Though their aim’s not getting any better.” Nick’s dry tone made her glance up at him. His mouth curved in a ferocious smile. With his taut expression, focused on driving, he looked in his element.

  “Which one?”

  He barely glanced at her. “What?”

  “Which one is shooting at us?”

  “Don’t know. Maybe both.” He jerked the wheel. “They’re shooting at the other car, too. Unbuckle.”

  Without question, she did.

  “When I grab you, keep your head down. Don’t get out from behind the car.”

  “Don’t get out—are you crazy? No way am I leaving you without backup. I’m a cop, damn it. Get that through your thick head.”

  He glanced at her. His eyes glowed amber. “If these are shifters, your backup isn’t worth crap. Stay behind the car.”

  That stopped her cold. For half a second. But she had no time to argue. At the end of the alley, he flipped the car around to the right. Hard. The tires screeched as the Taurus fishtailed. Nick kicked open his door and dived out, pulling her after. They hit the pavement rolling.

  Brakes squealed as the other car tried to stop. “They’re going to hit us. Move. Now!”

  Together, Nick and Amanda leaped out of the way. An instant later, there was a sickening crunch of metal slamming into metal as the Mustang hit. A second later the other car slammed into the Mustang’s back end, pushing both into Nick’s car. The rented Taurus shuddered and caved in.

  Taking shelter behind the corner of a building, both Nick and Amanda drew their guns. No one emerged from either the Mustang or the other car, a brown Chevy. She looked at him. He cocked a brow. “Ready?”

  She nodded. Crouched. Peered around the building at the wreckage. “Police. Come out with your hands up.”

  No one moved. The Mustang sat silent, engine dead. Steam rose from the Chevy—steam or smoke—telling them they had to act fast.

  Together they crept closer. “We’ve got to get them out. Looks like the driver might be unconscious.”

  “It might be a trick. Don’t relax your guard.”

  The Mustang’s driver appeared to be alone. The passenger seat looked empty.

  Nick moved closer, his weapon still on the suspect. Amanda covered him, alternating between watching him and the Chevy.

  Yanking open the door, Nick felt for a pulse. “Nothing.”

  “He’s dead?”

  “He took a clean shot in the head. Right between the eyes.”

  Dead. Beyond help or questioning. Carefully closing the door, Nick left the body in the seat. Weapons ready, they moved to the second car.

  The brown Chevy also contained a single person. Female, if the long blond hair was any indication.

  “Alive.” Unfastening the seat belt, Nick lifted the woman from the car.

  Amanda stared. “That can’t be…”

  But it was. The Chevy’s driver was Chris Chartwell, Jason’s former best friend.

  TWO HOURS LATER, hand cramping from the ream of paperwork required, Amanda stretched and looked at Nick. “Any word from the hospital?”

  He checked his watch. “Not as of twenty minutes ago. She’s barely awake, groggy. They say she’s up for questioning. We should get over there now.”

  “So we can personally take her statement?” Amanda was definitely ready to get out of the station. “Let’s do it.”

  Though they’d found a gun on the seat beside the dead guy in the Mustang, there were still a lot of unanswered questions. Amanda hoped Chris would have some answers.

  When they got to the hospital, they found Chris alert and talking.

  “Hey, girl.” Chris held out her arms to Amanda for a hug.

  With a shake of her head, Amanda hung back. “We have a few questions for you.”

  Nick stepped forward. “Why were you following us?”

  The way Chris looked him up and down put Amanda on edge. Her appreciative smile and feminine sigh had Amanda gritting her teeth.

  “Well hello to you, too.” Chris smiled. “I recognize you from the other night, when I ran into you and Amanda in the alley. Jason’s cousin, Nick.”

  “Special Agent Nick Templeton.” He pulled his badge from his pocket and handed it to her. “Now please answer Detective Riley’s question.”

  “Fine.” Pouting as she handed the ID back to him, Chris turned her attention to Amanda.

  “I saw you two leaving the Broken Shackle bar. Some guys were following you.”

  “How many of them?”

  Chris blinked. “I don’t know. Two or three? Tough-looking guys. They followed you out of that bar. One of them was tailing you in that Mustang. I was only trying to warn you.” Her lower lip trembled. “I didn’t know he was going to start shooting. I could have been killed. I just learned how to use a gun.”

  “Ever think of using your cell phone and calling me?”

  Chris looked down. “I would if I’d had it. I lost my cell phone last night. I was going to go over to the Sprint store to get a new one today.”

  A nurse came in, her soft-soled shoes making her approach soundless. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave. We’ve got some more tests to run.”

  Letting her head flop back on the pillow, Chris groaned. “I hate tests.”

  Amanda and Nick turned to go. “We’ll be in touch,” Nick said, glancing once more at Chris.

  “Yeah.” Chris looked at Amanda. “Call me later.”

  Amanda managed a pleasant smile. “Will do.”

  They walked to the elevator in silence. Nick punched the button. Amanda brooded. “Something’s not quite—”

  Holding up one hand, Nick gave a slight shake of his head.

  The elevator doors opened. They stepped inside. Nick touched her arm as the doors slid closed. “Something about Chris’s story doesn’t ring true.” He punched the stop button. The elevator shuddered, halting between floors.

  “So you think she’s lying, too. But why?”

  “Did she lie? Did she know the dead guy? That was one hell of a lucky shot.”

  “Seems unlikely.”

  “So was she trying to warn us? Is she merely a dumb blonde or is she a damn good actress?” He shook his head. “Damned if I could tell. You know her.”

  Amanda felt hot. The elevator seemed too small, too confining. Standing next to Nick, she had the strongest urge to touch him. Hell, she wanted to rub her entire body against him. Pay attention to the subject at hand. “She was more Jason’s friend than mine.” To her chagrin she sounded breathless, as though she’d been running full out. “Are you going to keep us in this elevator forever?” Amanda gave him her best glare, but found herself focusing on his mouth.

  “Maybe.” He took a step closer, but made no move to touch her. Which, she thought faintly, was a damn shame. She positively ached for his touch.

  “Chris,” she said faintly. “We’re talking about Chris.”

  “Right. Chris. There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask you about. Was Jason sleeping with her?”

  “Chris?” Amanda found it difficult to think. “I don’t think so, though I confess I’d wondered the same thing myself.” She shrugged, working hard at keeping her rising agitation from showing. “I asked Jason once if he’d ever slept with her. He said no. He said he thought of her as one of the guys.”

  Which was not how she thought of Nick. She clenched her hands to keep from touching him. “Damn.”

  Nick seemed to be having similar difficulty. His eyes had dilated so the pupils seemed huge and black. “One of the guys? She’s a tall, leggy blonde. Curvy in all the right places.”

  Ignoring the twinge she felt at his words—it couldn’t be jealousy, after all—Amanda forced a smile. “True. But Jason claimed I was all he needed.”

  “All he needed.” Nick echoed her words. “He believed you were his mate. Our kind mate only once, for life.”

  An undercurrent in his vo
ice made her shiver. She had to say something, anything to break Nick’s intent stare and her traitorous body’s heated reaction.

  Nick took the last step. Reaching out, he pulled her against him, letting her feel the force of his own arousal. “Jason was wrong.” He breathed the words in her ear.

  Her knees went weak. “Ex-excuse me?”

  “You were not meant to be his mate.”

  Holding herself absolutely still, Amanda let her breath out in a slow whoosh. Her breasts tingled where they pressed against his chest. But if she moved, it wouldn’t be to pull away. She wanted to wrap herself around him like a starving cat. “Why do…” She licked her lips, hardly recognizing her own voice. “Why do you say that?”

  “Why?” He lowered his mouth to hers. “Because you were meant to be mine.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  WHILE HIS MOUTH moved over hers and her soft, pliant body molded to his, Nick knew he was in trouble. Big trouble. But for the first time in his life, his body controlled his mind. He couldn’t help himself.

  And, judging from her heated response to him, neither could Amanda.

  Her small hands tore at his shirt. Calling on every ounce of will he owned, he forced himself to stop touching her and captured her hands with his. Lifting his mouth from hers, the savage part of him felt gratified when she whimpered.

  “If we keep this up, we’ll be going at it in the elevator.”

  He watched as sanity returned to Amanda’s eyes.

  She pushed herself away. “Why is it every time we touch, I feel like we’re an uncontrollable freight train headed for a wreck?”

  “From the way you’re glaring at me, I can’t help but wonder if you think I’ve somehow put a spell on you. Or if you’re still repulsed by the idea of shifters.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped.

  Still, he had only truth to offer her. That didn’t mean she’d like it. “I’m beginning to believe there’s a reason for our attraction.”

  Still staring, she lifted a finger to her swollen lips. “Let’s hear it.”

  “I’ve already told you. You’re my mate.”

  She took a step back. He felt it like a silver shard straight through his heart. “We are so not mates.”

  Nick had to force himself to be rational when he wanted to yank her back and prove how wrong she was. “Oh yeah? Are you sure?”

  “I don’t even know you.”

  “We think the same. I know what you’re going to say before you speak. You feel it, too, don’t tell me you don’t.”

  “We have similar backgrounds. Law enforcement training.”

  “True. Yet I’ve had partners I couldn’t stand. Don’t tell me you haven’t.”

  He was right and she knew it, so she breezed past his comment. “Work. That’s different.”

  “True. But I’m not talking about work. Even though,” he flashed her a smile. “We spend sixty percent of our waking moments working.”

  She swallowed. “You’re FBI. From New York.”

  “So? The Bureau has an office both in Dallas and Fort Worth.” He heard his own words with a faint sense of shock. Then a feeling of rightness clicked into place.

  “Don’t transfer on my account,” she snapped. “You don’t even realize what you’re saying.” Her face had gone very, very pale. With a choppy movement, she leaned over and punched the elevator button again. An instant later, the doors opened on the lobby floor.

  “Come on.” Amanda strode from the elevator without looking at him. “We’ve got work to do.”

  IF AMANDA had been stunned by her body’s reaction to him, she was even more stunned by the way she felt about his words.

  Mates. Gave her a warm, fuzzy glow in the heart.

  Stupid. But true. Oh, God. She wanted to cover her face with her hands. She had it bad for Nick Templeton. Her former boyfriend’s cousin and another…shifter.

  Odd how the idea no longer seemed so out of the ordinary to her.

  “Amanda.” Nick’s voice, deep and sexy and full of masculine authority, made her stop. She turned, watching as he crossed the sidewalk to her.

  “We’ll table this for now.”

  She nodded, punching her remote to unlock her SUV. “I agree.”

  “But later, when all this is over, we have to settle it.”

  “I can’t tell if that’s a promise or a threat.” She climbed up into the driver’s seat, pulling the door closed behind her. Going around the back, he did the same. “I don’t like to be threatened,” she said.

  Nick didn’t rise to her bait. Instead, he fiddled with the radio station, finding a classical station and humming along to the music.

  “Muzak.” She punched button three, for alternative rock. An old Toadies song blasted through the speakers.

  “Much better.”

  He only shrugged.

  Amanda glanced at her watch and groaned. “Do you know what tonight is?” Without waiting for him to answer, she rushed on. “Halloween. One of our busiest nights. All the crazies come out and run wild. Wanna bet this killer decides to take another victim?”

  “If he does, he’ll be stepping up his schedule dramatically.” They both knew the killer had already done that. The last victim had been killed less than a week after Jason.

  “Even if he doesn’t, plan for a long night. Most of us pull at least a twelve-hour shift.”

  “Not detectives. Surely they don’t make you guys work the street.”

  “There’s a serial killer on the loose.” She gave him a serious look.

  “Are you going to start the car?”

  “I will in a minute.” His voice had been low, almost a growl. Something in his face…Amanda froze, concerned. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine.” He started to nod, then winced. “Tonight I would have preferred to be somewhere else.”

  “Somewhere else? Why? What do you mean?”

  “The country. The woods, preferably, though an isolated field would do. Just because tonight is different. The earth pulses with power, the moon’s pull is strong….” He swallowed, his dark eyes intense. “On All-Hallows’ Eve, most of us change into our wolf-selves.”

  To her surprise she felt sympathy. Not horror, or revulsion, or even shock. “Are you going to be all right?”

  “Yes. I will. I have to be.”

  Halloween. She’d never really thought about the possibility of the supernatural being well, real. Until Jason had showed her the truth. What had once scared the hell out of her, now seemed…acceptable. Normal even.

  Damn, she’d lost her mind. Maybe if she took some time alone, away from the force of her attraction to Nick. “You don’t need to go to the station. If Halloween’s bad for you, take off. Do what you have to do. We need to check out the clubs near Sundance again, especially Broken Shackle Bar. I can head out to Fort Worth alone.”

  “Hell no. I have to go.” Though less of a growl, he still sounded husky. “If the killer’s looking for another shifter, I want him to choose me. I’m bait.”

  She locked gazes with him. “Or maybe I am. Some of your kind still believe I’m the killer.”

  “Another reason for me to go with you. I’m not leaving you unprotected.”

  Because she’d told him before and her words had made no difference to him, she didn’t bother to point out she was a trained law enforcement officer. An armed policewoman, with backup a radio call away.

  She checked her watch. “It’s nearly dark. Let’s roll. If the killer’s going to strike again, he’ll do it before midnight.”

  “Wait.” Something in his voice stopped her as effectively as a gunshot. “If it turns out to be Kenyon, you may have to take cover. Or leave.”

  “Leave?”

  Nick came closer, a muscle working in his cheek. “If Kenyon has killed other shifters, he’ll have to answer to Pack justice, not the laws of mankind. I won’t be bringing him in.”

  A cold, hard weight settled in her chest. “Explain Pack justice.”
/>   “I’ll kill him.”

  “Nick, you can’t—”

  “I can. I will.” He looked at her and she saw in his gaze how serious he was.

  “Nick—”

  “If Kenyon is not the one, if the killer is a human, then the laws you uphold will apply.”

  She lifted her chin. “You’re sworn to uphold them, too. Or doesn’t the FBI go for that anymore?”

  “Pack law takes precedence.” Nick looked at her, reached for her keys, thought better of it, and dropped his hand to his lap. “Believe me, I’ll only do what I have to. You don’t have to be there. You don’t have to be a part of this.”

  “You’re asking me to turn my back on all I believe in. I can’t do that.”

  “No, I’m not. This won’t be like a normal arrest. If Kenyon is discovered, he’ll change. He will fight me as a wolf. He will know death awaits, whether by fire or silver bullet. He knows the laws of our kind.”

  As a wolf. Everything within her froze. “You’ll have to change, too, won’t you?” Despite her best efforts, the words came out in a whisper. She’d thought she’d accepted this, believed she could handle seeing Nick morph into an animal. Now…she wasn’t too sure.

  “Yes.”

  “You know, Halloween might be a night for strange happenings, but how can you expect me to deal with this now? In the middle of an intense investigation, to be partnered with an actual werewolf?”

  “Shifter,” he said. “I thought you’d learned to deal with this.”

  She sighed. “I care about you. I don’t know why, or how it happened in so short a time, but I do. What about me, Nick? What am I supposed to do while you fight him? I can’t shoot him, hell, I don’t have a silver bullet.”

  He touched her, and she felt his hand on her arm like a brand. “That is not our law. I must handle Kenyon.”

  “You honestly expect me to stand around and watch you two fight to the death?”

  “Assuming Kenyon is our perp, yes.”

  “I can’t promise anything.” She moved closer, willing him to understand. “I’m an officer of the law. That’s what I’m about, more than anything else.”