by Katie Reus
Annoyed he’d intervened, but having no doubt he could take care of himself, she didn’t lose her momentum as she raced at the vamp. Right now all she cared about was subduing this guy as fast as possible. She didn’t have time to sing and dance with him. That meant going on the offensive.
Using a bar stool as leverage, she jumped on it then a table before hurtling through the air. Raising a blade with her right hand, she brought it down as if to stab him through the chest. Calculating his attempt to swivel away to the left, she swept up with her left hand, slicing him through the gut.
It wouldn’t kill him, but the silver burned vamps and shifters something fierce. His skin sizzled as he cried out under her blow. She didn’t stop there. As he instinctively attempted to grapple with the blade, she brought the other one down on his forearm, pinning him to the floor.
Blood pooled everywhere, creating a dark river around them. The sickly sweet scent wafted up. “I’m not going to kill you if you stop struggling,” she bit out, flashing her canines in a show of aggression.
Immediately the vampire went limp, but the rage in his eyes didn’t diminish. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He wheezed out the words.
Before she could respond she heard a feminine cry behind her. “Don’t hurt him! He’s my mate!”
Instead of turning around, she quickly glanced at one of the mirrors in front of her displaying a full blue moon and advertising a new beer. In the reflection she saw a naked woman likely of South American descent being restrained by a very naked Noah, since his clothes had shredded during his change. Something sharp and deadly rose up inside Erin at seeing him tangled together with a female, but she forced it back down and focused on the crazy situation in front of her. She narrowed her gaze at the vamp still shooting her daggers with his eyes. “That’s your mate?”
He nodded, his lips pulled into a thin line. “We were just having a bit of an argument. Nothing serious.”
It had looked pretty damn serious to her. That’s when she scented the feline on him. No, not just on him, but practically in him, living under his skin. Yeah, no doubt they were mated. Sure had a weird way of acting like it. Glancing around, Erin noted that everyone had given her and Noah a wide berth and had congregated to the back of the bar.
“Attack me or him,” she tilted her head in Noah’s direction without taking her gaze off the vamp, “and I’ll cut off your head.” Without waiting for his response, she withdrew her blades and put a good ten feet between them in a split second. The instant she’d cleared the vamp, Noah let the female go. Erin didn’t sheath her weapons, though. She wasn’t worried about herself, but the thought of anyone hurting Noah . . . It brought out something dark inside her. Some days she hated that feeling because he wasn’t hers. It was like this constant battle waging inside her.
Ignoring everyone and uncaring about her nudity, the feline knelt by the vamp, cupping his cheek and stroking a hand down his chest. Blood pooled around him but he was already practically healed. “Are you hurt, baby?”
“For the love of . . .” Erin turned toward Noah and using strength she didn’t realize she had, kept her eyes way above his belt line and steady on his face. “What the hell kind of place is this?”
Before he could answer, a booming male voice silenced the room. Even the music shut off. “Martina, Razi, get the hell out of here and don’t show your faces on this street for a month.”
The vamp and feline—still freaking naked—practically ran from the bar, bleeding all over the place and cursing a blue streak. But not before shooting Erin a murderous glare.
Once they were gone her attention was drawn to the back of the bar where a big male who looked like an older version of Noah, minus the dark hair, was walking through the sudden gap between the onlookers. Definitely Noah’s father. Beside her, Noah tensed. It was subtle, something she noticed only because she knew him so well.
And you’d like to know him a whole lot better, wouldn’t you?
The big lupine strode right toward them, only stopping a foot away after he’d given them both assessing looks. “You’ll have to excuse Martina and Razi. That’s just foreplay to them.”
“They were fighting like animals,” she said, though she had no reason to defend her actions.
“We are animals.” His dark eyes looked so much like Noah’s it rattled her, but she didn’t let it show.
Instead Erin shrugged. “I take it you’re Angus Campbell.”
“And you are Erin Flynn, newest enforcer in North America. Jayce called to let me know you would be here soon, though I expected a call from you.” His head swiveled to Noah and his dark eyes turned hard.
They were the same height so the two men just glared at each other. She could practically see the flood of testosterone rolling off them. Despite the differences in their appearances, because Noah had certainly been blessed with his mother’s features too, the tall broad-shouldered Scottish shifter was obviously Noah’s father. It was stamped in the harsh, defined facial features.
Angus looked to be about forty by human standards, but Erin knew he was at least three hundred. Very old for a shifter and very powerful. He’d have to be to control New Orleans for as long as he had, which had been since the Jazz Age. Almost a century ago and long before most humans had known of paranormal beings’ existence.
Clearing her throat and drawing the big shifter’s attention back to her, she took a small step forward placing herself in between father and son. One of Noah’s hands settled on her shoulder in a way she knew he meant to be proprietary, something his father didn’t miss. The feel of Noah touching her like that should have annoyed her. Instead, it soothed her inner wolf in a way she decided to ignore. Angus’s eyes flicked to Noah’s hand then back to her face so quickly she would have missed the knowing look if she hadn’t been watching him closely. Let the old Alpha make of it what he wanted.
When it was clear Noah didn’t plan to respond to his father’s statement, Erin continued. “We need to talk about what’s going on, unless you approve of what’s happening in your city.” It wasn’t a question because no one in their right mind would want things to continue the way they were in New Orleans. But she wanted to gauge his reaction.
Those dark eyes flashed with raw anger and for a moment she saw the wolf lurking beneath the man’s surface. “Six pregnant female shifters missing . . .” His jaw clenched once and she could feel his power radiating for an instant. There was a reason he was an Alpha. “Whoever is responsible will pay.” As he spoke, she heard the animal, not the human talking to her.
And he was right. Someone would pay, but not by his hand. It would be by an enforcer. Her.
Erin’s eyes narrowed. When she got her hands on the culprit or culprits, they’d be judged. And they’d sure as hell suffer for their crimes. Preying on a pregnant female, regardless of species, was the lowest of the low. All the women had been taken while alone. Two from their homes, one from a park, one right outside her real estate office, one from a grocery store parking lot, and one from a restaurant while her mate was in the vicinity. The two homes had been disturbed, but no serious damage. And the others taken had left behind purses and keys at their abduction sites. It was the only reason anyone had any idea exactly where they’d been kidnapped from.
Meli was the last shifter who had been taken and she was the only one linked directly to Angus’s pack. The only lupine. It was the main reason the Council had sent Erin here. Angus was a powerful Alpha. The other five missing shifters were all feline with no pack or political pull. Erin had memorized their basic information and seen photographs of each woman.
The feline grabbed right before Meli was so young. Her name was Ciara. At twenty-five years old, newly mated for a scant six months, she was two months pregnant and the only redhead in the bunch. Her appearance didn’t matter to Erin but when she’d looked at the girl’s picture it had jarred her straight to her bones
.
Something heavy settled on Erin’s chest. Hurting a woman in that state when she was weaker, defenseless . . . it was just so wrong on every level. The heaviness seemed to grow inside her, pressing down until it was hard to breathe. The women must have been so terrified.
Noah had been silent, but his hand flexed once on her shoulder and she didn’t miss the soft growl he let out. He wanted blood as much as she did. The feel of his fingers clenching around her pulled her from her thoughts and back to reality.
She was going to hunt whoever was behind this like the monsters they were. But first she had to figure out who was behind the disappearances and why. She just hoped Noah let her handle this investigation her way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie Reus is a New York Times bestselling author who fell in love with romance at a young age thanks to books she’d pilfered from her mom’s stash. After changing majors too many times to count, she finally graduated with a degree in psychology. She now spends her days writing dark paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She currently lives near Biloxi, Mississippi, with her family. When she’s not creating stories she can usually be found spending time with her family or one of the many animals they’ve adopted over the years.
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