Wild

by Meghan O'Brien

  Wayne sat at the counter across the lab, eyes glued to a microscope. All morning he had studiously ignored the telltale signs that she was having a bad day, and Eve loved him for that. The thought of having to explain how two women who claimed to love her had put her through a night of hell—both of them acting in concert to break her heart—was more than she could bear. She just wanted to bury herself in work. She was due to testify in court at two o’clock and needed to brush up on the facts of that older case. Right now they had a newly delivered corpse to examine. As long as she kept her mind on her job, maybe she wouldn’t have time to think about the fact that once she left the lab tonight, she wouldn’t have anywhere to go.

  Eve walked to the body bag that lay on the steel examination table in the center of her lab. A month ago work had been the most important thing in her life. It shouldn’t be so difficult to refocus her passion on the one thing that had never broken her heart: science.

  “Do you mind if I assist you?” Wayne said suddenly, seemingly distracted from his silent analysis of whatever sample he’d been examining. “I’d love to dig into a fresh corpse this morning.”

  Eve wrinkled her nose at his choice of words. “Of course, Dr. Black. I’d be happy to have a second pair of eyes.”

  Approaching the table with purpose, he met her gaze briefly. “How are you?”

  “Just okay.” She handed him the scalpel, more than willing to let him make the first cut. Lately she just didn’t have the stomach for it. “I had a long night.”

  “But you’re okay, at least?” Wayne glanced at her neck.

  Self-conscious, Eve tried not to react to his frank examination. The red-purple bruise on her neck was impossible to miss. After checking into her hotel room the night before, she had gasped as soon as she walked into the bathroom and caught her reflection in the mirror. Selene’s possessive mark stood out against her pale skin, an ugly reminder of the intensity of their final joining. Makeup couldn’t cover it. That the love bite had been the result of unrestrained passion was obvious. In the aftermath of Selene’s betrayal, it was also a mark of shame.

  “I’m fine.” Eve gave him a look that she hoped made clear that the subject was closed. “Now cut.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Wayne positioned the scalpel over the breastbone, readying for the first incision. Just as he sliced into the gray flesh, the lab doorbell chimed.

  Instantly wary, Eve tensed and glanced back at the door. From this angle she couldn’t see who rang. It would be just like Jac to push her luck instead of giving Eve space. “Go ahead. I’ll see who that is.” At Wayne’s nod, she crossed to the lab door and peered out the window. As she’d feared, Jac stood in the hallway with a hangdog expression. Against her better judgment, Eve opened the door a crack. “What do you want?”

  “Just to talk.” Jac held up her hands in supplication. “I was an asshole last night. I know it. Please let me apologize.”

  Too exhausted for another emotional scene, Eve stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind her. She pointed Jac toward the exit with a shaking hand. “I can’t do this right now. I just can’t.”

  Jac’s jaw tightened as she scanned the length of Eve’s body. “Looks like you caught up with Selene last night. Is that hickey because you told her I kissed you?”

  Even the sound of Selene’s name brought a fresh wave of grief to Eve’s heart. “I don’t want to talk to you about this. Just go. Okay?” Chin trembling, Eve reached behind her for the door handle, fumbling in her desperation to escape. “Please.”

  Jac’s whole body tensed. “No.” She grabbed Eve’s wrist, stopping her from leaving. “What’s wrong? Tell me what happened.”

  Not wanting to admit that Jac had been right about Selene, Eve leveled an accusatory glare. “You know what’s wrong.”

  “This isn’t just about what I did.” Jac’s hand shot out and brushed a lock of hair off Eve’s neck. Her eyes narrowed as she examined what Selene had left behind. “Something happened with Selene, didn’t it?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “You can be honest with me.” Inspecting her face, Jac studied Eve with the same unflinching boldness she used on criminal suspects. “Detective Munoz called me last night. He told me he thought you and Selene might have had some kind of altercation. Please tell me what she did to you.”

  Incensed at the violation of her privacy, Eve jerked away from Jac’s touch. “So the detectives are your spies, then? Is that it? Reporting my movements back to the boss?”

  Softening slightly, Jac shook her head. “They were worried about you, Evie. All they told me was that you went to see your girlfriend, another woman showed up, and you and Selene argued on the porch. And it looked like maybe you’d been assaulted.” Tightening her hand into a fist, Jac said, “I know you don’t want anything to do with me, but I need to ask. Did Selene hurt you?”

  “She didn’t physically assault me.” The answer was a cop-out and Eve had no doubt that Jac read the subtext loud and clear. But if Jac thought Eve intended to unload her emotional pain to the woman who’d constantly rooted for her relationship with Selene to fail, she could think again. “I’m not saying anything else about it, Jac. It’s none of your business.”

  Jac’s eyes shone with barely restrained contempt. “She’s a goddamn idiot. Just like me. Both of us complete and total morons, to hurt someone like you.”

  Eve appreciated the sentiment, but from Jac it was too little too late. “Yeah, well. I must ask for it somehow, right?”

  “No. We’re just stupid.”

  “Guess I’ve got bad taste in women, then.”

  “Guess so.” Jac swallowed. “The detective told me you stayed in a hotel last night. What are you planning to do tonight?”

  The idea of another night in a hotel room, away from the familiarity of her space, was too much for Eve to handle. “I’m going home.”

  “I’d really rather you stay somewhere else. Until we get our killer off the street, at least.”

  With her life coming apart at the seams, only the thought of being surrounded by the home she’d made for herself brought Eve any comfort. Staying at a hotel indefinitely was not going to happen. She was too stubborn to let her stalker force her into any sadder a state than she was already in. “I’ll be just fine. Your detectives will make sure of that.”

  “Street surveillance only goes so far,” Jac said, sounding as though she’d anticipated this argument. “At least let me post them at your door.”

  “No.” Let Jac’s spies camp out in the hallway of her apartment building? Eve couldn’t think of a more unappealing idea. “They can escort me inside, if that makes you feel better. I’ll even let them sweep the apartment. But then they leave. I’ll lock the door behind them.”

  Jac didn’t bother to hide her irritation. “Why do you have to be so difficult? This is your life we’re talking about. Someone’s stalking you, someone who takes his time killing his victims in the middle of a densely populated city yet somehow never seems to attract any attention. Forget about your pride, forget that you’ve just been put through the wringer. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

  Snorting, Eve said, “That’s exactly what I am, Jac. Alone. And I’m fine alone. I’m not going to be stupid about this. I know I need to be careful. We’re doing all we can. I’ve got armed guards. I’ll use them, within reason. And we’ll catch this guy, hopefully before he can hurt anyone else.” Careful not to take out all her anger with Selene on Jac, Eve modulated her tone, then said, “If something changes, I’ll reconsider. But for the moment, he doesn’t appear to be coming for me. I’m more worried about who he’ll kill to send his next message than the possibility that he’ll approach me directly. After all, if he’s fixated on me—if this is all about taunting me—I’d say there’s a good chance he wants me alive to see his work.”

  “For now, maybe.”

  “Maybe.” Eve waved Jac away. “Listen, we’ll talk about this later. I’ve got a cold one on the t
able and a lot of work to do. Why don’t you go work on finding the guy? We do that and we won’t have to worry about where I’m sleeping.”

  “I’ll still worry about it.” Jac’s low tone conveyed her meaning loud and clear. Now that Selene had broken Eve’s heart, Jac wasn’t about to relinquish the idea of reconciliation. “But I do have a possible witness I’m planning to re-interview today. I’ll let you know if I learn anything new.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And you let me know if anything happens, okay? Anything at all that seems out of the ordinary, no matter how mundane.” Jac lifted a hand as though she might touch Eve’s arm, then let it drop. “The barista even looks at you funny when you’re standing in line at Starbucks, you let me know. Deal?”

  “Fine.”

  Jac stepped backward but didn’t turn away. “I really am sorry about last night. I never should have put you in that position, particularly because I know how you feel about infidelity.”

  “I appreciate that.” Jac’s sincere tone and genuine contriteness softened Eve’s resolve not to let her off the hook so easily. In the aftermath of Selene’s crushing betrayal, Jac’s stupid seduction scene hardly merited Eve’s continued anger. She just didn’t have the energy to stay mad at both of them. “And I accept your apology.”

  “If you’ll stay at my place, just until we catch this guy, I promise nothing like that will happen again.”

  Eve didn’t entertain the thought for even a moment. “Good-bye, Jac. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Sheepish, Jac said, “Can’t blame me for trying, right?”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” Pushing open the lab door, Eve smirked to take the sting out of her words. “Go catch some bad guys.”

  “Will do.” Jac watched as she retreated into the lab. As Eve closed the door behind her, Jac called after her, “Is Selene my anonymous tipster?”

  Eve hesitated, debating how to answer. Technically there was nothing wrong about making an anonymous tip. Confirming Jac’s suspicion was tantamount to giving her permission to harass Selene—Eve knew Jac well enough to be sure that she wouldn’t back down, not where Eve was concerned—but at this point lying for Selene seemed ridiculous.

  “Yes,” Eve said quietly. “She reported the body.”

  “Do you think she knows anything she hasn’t told us?”

  Despite all the lies Selene had spouted over the past month, Eve still believed she wouldn’t have held back vital, life-or-death information. Not when Eve’s safety was at stake. “No. I don’t think she knows anything.”

  “Good. But I may want to confirm that for myself.”

  Facing away from Jac, Eve closed her eyes. Grateful that Jac couldn’t see the pain she knew was written all over her face, Eve took a deep breath and said, “Do whatever you want. It’s not my concern anymore.”

  Jac was silent a moment. “I’m sorry, Eve.”

  “Me, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Kevin sat at a café table outside the local coffee shop around the corner from the courthouse, reading a magazine and trying to blend in. The dog he’d adopted from the shelter a week ago circled his feet, its leash secured around the leg of his chair. Kevin had never imagined owning a dog before, but he liked how having one made him seem both inconspicuous and non-threatening. It was a small mutt, not too cute as to draw a lot of attention, and it offered him the perfect excuse to walk the city streets as he studied Eve Thomas’s routines.

  She was due in court in forty-five minutes and would probably return to her lab after she gave her testimony. It was where she’d go tonight that interested him most. Lately she’d been spending a lot of time with the attractive dark-haired woman, but after their argument last night, her social patterns were probably about to change. Kevin had no idea where she slept after their fight—it had been too risky to follow her for long as she drove aimlessly through the streets after leaving her friend’s place—but he planned to watch her apartment building tonight to see if she returned home.

  The presence of her protection detail had complicated his plans, but he was adjusting. As soon as he spotted the same two guys parked in the street in front of her building three nights in a row, he knew that he needed to carefully choose his moments to interact with Eve. Though he yearned to get physical with her again, he had decided to hold back for now. Letting his obsession with Eve Thomas cloud his better judgment was the surest way to get caught.

  He couldn’t get caught. He was too goddamn smart. For all the trouble he went through to evade identification—to never take a trophy no matter how badly he desired one, to keep all his body hair shaved off lest he leave useful evidence, to keep bodily fluids to himself—Kevin wasn’t about to throw his freedom away for a quick thrill.

  He was ready to kill again, though. And this time, he wanted Eve to know before he completed the act so she could feel even worse after they discovered where he left the body.

  The cops who watched her stuck with her throughout the day, so they wouldn’t be guarding her apartment while she was in court. That would be the perfect opportunity to initiate the next phase of his Plan. Kevin couldn’t think of a better place to leave his gift for her than on her doorstep. He hoped she decided to sleep at home tonight so she’d find it just when she thought she’d returned to a safe place. His cock stiffened at the thought of just how frightened she would be, knowing he’d stood at her apartment door only hours earlier, so close to invading her private sanctuary. Reminding her that she had nowhere to hide.

  His dog—who didn’t have a name, though the shelter had called it Nero—panted happily up at him as though sensing his excitement. Kevin stared back at it stone-faced. As good a prop as it was, he wasn’t sure how long he’d bother to keep the animal. It was needy and messy, without any redeeming qualities except perhaps lending him some social legitimacy.

  Though it was kind of cute.

  Kevin lowered his hand and let the dog sniff it, then gave it a tentative scratch on the neck. The dog made a grumbling noise, licking his fingers appreciatively.

  What would Eve think about a dead dog being delivered to her lab, wrapped up with a bow and a note that she could be next?

  It was an option, at least, if the whole pet-ownership thing didn’t work out.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  The evening after the full moon, Selene struggled with what her next step should be. She was in for another intense time—the nights before and after the full moon didn’t trigger a transformation, but the moon’s intoxicating pull made it difficult for her to think clearly—yet she couldn’t fathom not reaching out to Eve in some way.

  The cynical part of Selene told her to just let their relationship go, to try to forget the fantasy of having a true life-partner. Eve had just been a diversion, albeit a magnificent one, but Selene couldn’t get back what she’d lost. Telling Eve the truth about her nature was just asking for further heartbreak, and she couldn’t sell any other lie. At least not without setting herself up for a greater fall when, inevitably, that story would crumble just like the going-out-of-town one had. Setting Eve up for a lifetime of lies and betrayal wasn’t fair for either of them.

  Not if she really loved Eve.

  But Selene didn’t know how to simply walk away. More than that, she refused to turn her back on Eve now. A maniac out there had attacked her once and would surely try again. In the meantime, he’d kill other innocent women in service of some sick game only he understood. Leaving Eve to face that threat alone wasn’t an option. Jac could only protect her so much. Selene could do things that might possibly mean the difference between tracking down Eve’s stalker and letting him hurt the most precious thing in Selene’s life.

  Even if Eve no longer belonged to her, Selene would never let that happen.

  So at five o’clock in the evening, about an hour before she figured Eve might return home from work, Selene drove to Eve’s apartment just in case she was stubborn enough to decide to spend the night there
instead of staying elsewhere. Though they’d known each other only about a month, Selene sensed that in times of heartache, Eve relied on the comfort of the familiar. She had a bad feeling that Eve would insist on remaining in her apartment even though she was aware that her stalker knew where she lived.

  The least Selene could do was help with security.

  She scanned the cars parked along the street in front of Eve’s apartment, trying to decide if any of them belonged to the detectives on her protective detail. She was pretty sure nobody was watching the apartment when she wasn’t there, instead just keeping twenty-four-hour surveillance on Eve herself. Not what Selene would have chosen, though of course she had no idea what kind of budget and resource constraints Jac faced when creating the assignment. Honestly, had Jac been able to throw more manpower at the task, Selene had no doubt she would have. Jac clearly still cared for Eve deeply and genuinely wanted to keep her safe.

  Now that Selene was out of the picture, Jac would probably think of all kinds of new ways to protect Eve. The fine hairs covering Selene’s body stood on end at the very idea.

  Keying the four-digit code Eve had taught her into the security panel—and breathing a sigh of relief when it still worked—Selene unlocked the door and slipped inside. She climbed the first flight of stairs, then stopped halfway up. Hackles rising, she caught a familiar, gut-churning scent lingering in the air.

  Eve’s stalker. He had been here, in this very stairwell, and not long ago.