by Laken Cane
I glanced behind me. Once again, Shaun the cop was leaning against the wall across the hall, his attention on his phone.
I turned back to Angus. “They’re denying you your shift?”
His frown was fleeting, and he nodded. “I’ll heal, just slow.”
“I’m going to talk to the captain.”
“They’re his orders.” He tried to lift his fingers to my face, but his hand fell back to the cot. I grabbed it and lifted it for him. “Full moon soon,” he said, as I rubbed my cheek against his palm. “By then I’ll be contained some place secure, and I’ll shift and heal.”
“Angus, I’m so sorry.”
“No reason to be. Stop worrying about me.”
“Right,” I said. “That’s going to happen.”
We stared at each other, and I clung desperately to the familiarity of his eyes. Every other part of him was changed. Marked. But his eyes, those were the same.
“Angus…be careful. Don’t rile them. The next time they might…” But I didn’t need to say it. He wasn’t stupid. He had a hell of a temper, but he wasn’t stupid.
“Tell the kids I love them,” he murmured
“I will.” I leaned over to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head and pressed his lips against mine.
I lingered, because I’d almost lost him.
“When I come home,” he said, when I finally pulled away, “I’ll give you a proper kiss.”
I smiled. “When you come home, I’ll let you.”
“You’ve been in my dreams,” he told me. “In the woods, when you tried to molest me…” He smiled. “I haven’t been able to get that out of my mind.”
My face heated. “I…” Then I shrugged. “I’ve got nothing. I guess I did try to molest you.” My laugh sounded more like a sob.
He sobered. “Sweetheart, they won’t break me. I promise.”
And I had to get out of there, before I broke down and made everything worse, if that were possible. “I’ll bring the kids,” I whispered, and then I fled.
I grabbed my weapons from Shaun and hurried from the police station, my heart breaking for the big, proud supernatural man who lay broken and alone in a human’s jail cell.
Chapter Forty-Four
Two weeks later, I stood outside in the back parking lot of the RVPD, my nails biting into my palms, my face wet with tears, and watched four heavily armed guards and six cops prepare to load Angus into the reinforced supernatural transport van.
I hadn’t allowed the children to come. They’d said their goodbyes the day before. They didn’t need to see him hauled away.
Shane, Miriam, Clayton, and Rhys stood beside me, grimly silent. Miriam laced her fingers with mine, and though her eyes were shadowed, they remained dry. Miriam was a supernatural. She’d seen bad shit before.
“Angus,” I called. “We’re here.” Because I couldn’t let him think he was going off alone.
He listed in the big wheelchair, somehow diminished and pale and something more human than the huge, forceful shifter he’d been before the humans got their hands on him.
“Angus,” I called, my voice cracking. I started toward him, but the cops immediately created a barricade with their bodies. They waved their cruel batons and stared at me, waiting to see if I’d dare.
I held up my hands, for fear they’d hurt Angus, and I backed down.
It was only because of the captain’s insistence that we were permitted to watch him leave. To keep him company as they loaded him into the van and shipped him to the prison where he’d spend the next five years of his life.
The humans believed he was getting off easy. Five years, they’d scoffed. That’s nothing.
But to those of us who loved him, it was everything.
To the ones who existed there, it was everything.
Only to the humans was it nothing.
“Come on, honey.” Miriam squeezed my hand and urged me away. “Let’s go home. He’ll be out before you know it.”
But I refused to move until the van was out of sight and Angus was gone. Really gone. It was as though they were giving him the true death.
“Bay Town won’t be the same,” Rhys murmured. Then he turned and walked away, Shane at his side.
“We’ll visit him,” I said, watching them go.
“Supernaturals aren’t permitted to visit,” Miriam said, crisply. “We’ll take care of his kids, his home, and his business, and everything will be ready for the big dummy when they kick him out.”
“I will visit.” I thumped my chest, angry and fierce and determined. “Let them try to keep me away.”
She nodded. “You’re our champion, Trinity. The humans might think you’re theirs, but we know you’re ours.” She stared up at me, soberly. “You’re ours.”
“Yes.” I managed a small smile. “I belong with the supernaturals. You need me more than the humans do.” And I needed them more than I needed the humans. Much, much more.
I looked at Clayton, who stood quietly beside her, his pensive gaze turned in the direction the van had gone.
“He’ll be back,” he said, and there was no doubt in his voice. “He won’t die in there.”
I grabbed onto his words with everything I had. “How do you know?” I hadn’t wanted to appear doubtful, but God, I was afraid.
Miriam didn’t hit him or tell him to shut up. She watched him as intently as I did.
“Clayton,” I begged. “How do you know?”
He shrugged, uncomfortable. “Just a feeling.” And then he looked at me.
I gasped and stepped back, my hand to my pounding heart, my eyes wide and glued to his face.
Both Miriam and Clayton frowned and took a step toward me.
“Trinity?” Miriam peered up into my face. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
I looked from her to Clayton, unsure. Not about what I’d seen, but what it meant.
I knew what I’d seen.
“It’s…my stomach,” I said, finally. “I thought I might throw up.”
“Baby hunter,” Shane called, then pounded on the hood of his truck, against which he leaned. “Night is coming, and we have vampires to kill. Let’s go.”
With one final, tentative glance at Clayton, I murmured my goodbyes and jogged away, my thoughts churning.
I tried not to think about how badly I’d wanted to wrap my arms around Clayton’s waist, or how badly I wanted to be held in his arms.
How much I wanted to force him away from Miriam, even if it hurt him, even if it killed him.
I shoved away my longings and concentrated instead on what I’d seen when he’d turned his stare on me.
I’d seen something familiar, something unmistakable.
I’d seen the incubus.
He hadn’t left.
Maybe he’d fallen asleep, or had buried himself so deeply Clayton had been unable to feel him, but wherever he had gone, it wasn’t back to hell.
And Clayton didn’t know.
The incubus might live inside him, but it no longer had the power to free him. Clayton would have felt that immediately. Or the demon had the power, but was somehow keeping it to himself…
And I just didn’t know what that meant. “What can I do about it?” I whispered, to myself.
Shane slammed on the brakes, jerking me out of my thoughts, and tossed me a smile. “Grab your sword and get the hell out of your head, Trinity Sinclair. There’s a lot going on, and you can’t do a thing about any of it. But you can kill vampires.”
He was right.
So I jumped out of the truck, drawing Silverlight as infecteds ran toward me, and excitement began to sing through my body.
It wasn’t the end of the story.
The story was just beginning.
Angus would come home.
Clayton would deal with his demon.
The Bay Town supernaturals would survive.
And me?
I was going to love and hate and have sex and fight and kill vampires.
I was going to liv
e.
And I would be just fine.
Links to the Series on Amazon
The Rune Alexander Series
The Waifwater Chronicles
The Forsaken Series (Book 2 in progress)
The Silverlight Series
About the Author
The coffee addicted urban fantasy/paranormal and horror writer Laken Cane lives in Southern Ohio with her genius son, two Yorkies named Daphnis and Lexi, and one Golden named Chloe who rules them all.
Join Laken’s mailing list for news, updates, and more!
You can find all Laken’s books on her website or on her Amazon author page. Be sure to check out her newest series, the Silverlight series, a dark urban fantasy reverse harem.
Table of Contents
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Shiv Crew
Unbreakable
We, the Forsaken
Bloodhunter
Links to the Series
About the Author
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Part Two
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Part Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Prologue
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Part Two
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Part Three
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
