“My car used to be in that empty parking space,” she answered, her words clipped.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yep.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
“Your car was stolen?”
“Yep.”
“Damn.” He glanced around as though he thought her car was just misplaced, not stolen.
Nyla resisted the urge to laugh at his puzzled expression. If she actually owned a car and it really was stolen, she would be seriously pissed. She had to maintain her angry countenance in order to pull off this charade.
“I can drive you back to wherever you’re staying,” he said, sounding as though he really didn’t like the idea. “I assume that would be my motel.”
“Why would you assume that?”
“You’re stalking me, remember?”
“Trailing and stalking aren’t the same,” Nyla responded. “And I don’t need to stay at your motel to know your whereabouts.” Actually, it made sense, and Nyla could kick herself for not thinking of it before.
“How could you follow me and stay at another motel?”
“I’m exceptionally talented,” she answered before turning away and walking toward the parking lot and his car.
“You put a tracker on my car.”
Now there was a good idea, but knowing he wouldn’t find a tracking device, she said, “Maybe.”
“Are you always this evasive?”
She stopped and turned to face him. “Are you always this annoying?”
“You came to me for my help, sweetheart. I don’t need you, and I don’t have to help you.”
“You need my help too, Jakie. Do you really think you’re going to get this guy all by yourself?”
“Dammit! My name is Jake, and I always work alone.”
“You didn’t kill the other twin by yourself. You had help from the vamps, or maybe you just watched while they offed him.”
His eyes glittered with anger. “You weren’t in that house. You don’t know what happened.”
“I know three vamps walked in with you, and four vamps came back out with you. I also know that one of the vamps brought you there all tied up. They were in control, not you. Maybe you’re losing your touch.”
His nostrils flared, and his tone was hard and ruthless as he said, “I’ve lost nothing.”
“Then why didn’t you kill the vamps? Isn’t that your job?”
“At that moment, they weren’t the bad guys.”
“So you could accept a vampire as a friend?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” His face darkened, his eyes growing distant. “Come on. Accept my offer before I decide to withdraw it.”
Nyla banked down her disappointment at his response to her question and followed him to where his Malibu was parked. When she’d seen how Jake left Baltimore without killing Christian, or even causing him trouble, she’d thought that maybe he was beginning to accept that not all vampires were evil. With four simple words he’d dashed her hopes. He’d never befriend a vampire, and that made it hard for her to become his lover.
“Wait a sec,” he said, peering into the back of the car. He muttered something and opened the door, looking around the car’s interior.
“Did you lose something?” Nyla asked, fighting back a grin when she realized he was looking for her.
“My cat. She’s a little feisty.”
“Feisty?”
“Feisty, as in she likes to scratch the hell out of women.”
Nyla cleared her throat to keep from laughing while Jake stopped looking in the car and started scanning the parking lot. True, she had scratched up some of his female acquaintances, stopping their booty calls before they could happen. Jealous? Sure. Petty? Probably, but what was a girl to do?
“I didn’t take you for a kitty-cat person.”
He shrugged, continuing his perusal of the parking lot.
“Is she lost?”
“She’s never lost,” he answered quickly. “I’ve had her for years, but she’s an alley cat. She likes to wander off and do her own thing from time to time. Probably has found a boyfriend around here.”
“Well, if she scratches up all your female friends, maybe she thinks you’re her boyfriend.”
“Cats and people don’t mix, sweetheart,” he said, giving her a look that said he couldn’t believe she’d really said something that weird. Then he shook his head. “Let’s wait awhile. I know she’ll probably find her way back to my motel all right, but I’d rather take her with me. Just steer clear of her as much as possible. She’s small but vicious.”
“I’m sure she is,” Nyla murmured, struggling to keep the growl out of her voice. Well, what had she expected him to say? She was a vampire, and she was a cat. She could give up on the hope of him realizing she was his dream woman. His dream woman wasn’t the furry, bloodsucking, nocturnal type. Speaking of which . . .
“The sun will be up soon, Porter, which means I’ve officially gone twenty-four hours without sleep. How much longer do we have to wait on this fur ball?”
The narrow-eyed look he gave her wasn’t friendly. “A while longer.”
Yeah, sure. Wait so she could bake like a couple of eggs in a hot skillet when the sun came up and fried her ass. She didn’t do the day-walking thing unless she was in cat form. Maybe it was the fur, or just the fact that when she was a cat she was, well, a cat. When she was in human form she thirsted for blood like a vampire. The way she figured, if it walks like a vampire, talks like a vampire, well then, it probably gets extra freaking crispy when dawn breaks, so she’d rather not be standing outside when the sun decided to show its face.
“So, when you say cat you mean something exotic like a panther or tiger cub, right?”
“No, I mean cat. C-A-T.”
“That’s funny.” Nyla angled her head to the side, running her eyes down the length of Jake’s tall frame. “I never took you for a homosexual.”
“What?” She didn’t need to hear the outrage in his tone to know it was there. His eyes relayed the emotion loud and clear. “What is it with you chicks tonight?”
“For one, I don’t like being called a small yellow bird and for two, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing.”
“Someone else found out your secret too, huh?”
“What sec—” His eyes narrowed but the half-mast lids couldn’t hide his frustration. “I am not gay.”
“My bad,” Nyla said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. “I thought only gay guys got so attached to kitty cats. My mistake.”
“Haven’t you ever had a pet?”
“No.” When you grow up with feline DNA it’s hard enough taking care of yourself, she added silently.
Daybreak was getting closer, and Jake still hadn’t made a move toward the driver’s seat. Pissing him off hadn’t prodded him in that direction, as she’d hoped. That left Plan B.
“Jake, I seriously am worn out,” she said, swaying a little for effect.
“Twenty-four hours isn’t that long for someone in our field to go without sleep.” Judging by the way he said it, Nyla knew he had his doubts if she truly was what she claimed to be. “Haven’t you eaten?”
She did a cross between a mumble and a groan, leaning back against the side of the car, her hands cradling her head as if she were afraid it would simply detach and roll off her body.
“Are you all right?”
She mumbled some more unintelligible words, trying to sound pathetic.
“Lay down in the car and nap. I’m sure Alley will be back soon.”
Dammit. The man was determined to see her fry. If they left now they’d have just enough time to reach the motel before sunrise. Nyla did the
best thing she could think of.
She fell to the ground as ungracefully as a sack of potatoes.
Chapter Five
JAKE’S SCENT LINGERED in the air, but the room was empty, Nyla deduced upon first waking. She didn’t remember falling asleep.
She remembered that Jake barely caught her in his strong arms in time to keep her head from cracking against the pavement. She remembered the feel of those arms holding her against the solid wall of his chest as he struggled to open the car door without dropping her, finally getting her into the backseat where he laid her down gently.
She kept her eyes closed the whole time, letting him think she’d passed out from exhaustion. Fortunately, he immediately got into the driver’s seat and sped off, forgetting about Alley, er . . . her. Oh, what a twisted mess she was in.
She must have fallen asleep right after they left the club, which didn’t surprise her. She’d spent last night securing a motel room and finding a human to feed from. She’d been tempted to drink from Andre, the motel clerk, to save time, but that would have been a mistake. She couldn’t do the whole brainwash thing some vampires were able to do.
Instead, she’d wandered the streets and fought back her hunger until she found a bum. She hadn’t hurt him, and if he told anyone about the mystery woman who bit into his neck and drank his blood nobody would believe him. It’s kind of hard to believe the word of a man who talks to a Frisbee, which was what he was doing when she’d found him.
After that, she’d shifted back to cat form and ran back to Jake’s motel room, eavesdropping for any information she could get her paws on.
No wonder she’d fallen asleep so easily once she was in the back of his car, the motion of the ride lulling her as gently as a mother’s lullaby.
But what had she missed?
Nyla started to stretch, but her left arm wouldn’t move as it should. She sat up, twisting around awkwardly to see her wrist was handcuffed to a rail of the headboard of Jake’s bed.
Dammit. She quickly looked around the room. Her jacket and boots were beside the nightstand, but her clothes were still completely on. That was a plus. If she were going to get naked with Jake, she’d prefer to be conscious. How had he carried her all the way into his room and removed those items without waking her? More importantly, how had he managed to cuff her? Man, she had to be more careful . . . much more careful, she realized as she spotted her empty holster on the desk. Her sheaths, knives included, were missing as well.
She bit out a vile curse and dissolved into mist, changing back to human form once she was free of the handcuff and able to stand. Where the hell was Jake? Even as she asked herself the question, she knew the answer. She reached into her back pocket, ready to rip off Jake’s head when she withdrew her empty hand. He had the receipt with her motel room number on it and was, without a doubt, at her motel rifling through her belongings.
Thank goodness she hadn’t fed from Andre, whom she was sure Jake would question about her. But what would Andre say? She’d paid in cash, suspicious but not for a hunter, and she hadn’t completely lied to Jake about that. She hadn’t spent every minute of the past sixteen years of her life with him. She’d taken a few weeks off here and there to hunt for Demarcus and had slain some nasty vampires along the way. She might not have as many kills under her belt as Jake, but she’d definitely earned the title of hunter.
Reassuring herself that Andre couldn’t tell Jake anything she wouldn’t want him to know, she took a moment to review what she’d left in her room in the rundown motel. There were no personal items for Jake to find at the motel, with the exception of her underwear, so she would be all right. Unfortunately, that conclusion didn’t stop negative thoughts from crowding her mind as she paced the room.
Jake didn’t trust her. She hadn’t expected him to, which is why she’d planned to play the role of an adversary and then somehow work her way into his heart. But she’d made mistakes. She’d planned on acting as though she hadn’t followed him, but then she’d blurted out that she had. So what excuse did she have to stay at another motel? And how would she explain not having ID? She knew that Jake, and probably all the hunters, traveled with several different IDs.
Damn! How had she forgotten a detail like ID? Because she’d never needed ID to slay vampires or do anything else in her life. She just had to stay cool and not make any more mistakes, and everything would work out fine.
She hoped.
WHO WAS NYLA KATT? Jake wondered while he shoved his hands under the mattress of her bed. He frowned when he didn’t find anything there—or anything useful in the entire motel room.
He sat on the bed, heaving a sigh of frustration. He’d found out her last name by bribing the front desk clerk, but who knew if that was real? A complete and thorough search of her room hadn’t told him anything—except her bra size and that she had a thing for tiny, lacy black underwear, which was exactly what he didn’t need to know. It was hard seeing a woman as a possible threat when all you wanted to do was bang her.
He didn’t need this crap. Two women were dead, and instead of following leads on their killer, he was searching a woman’s motel room. But there was something about Nyla Katt that unnerved him. There was also something oddly familiar about her, something in the way she looked at him, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. And he didn’t care what story she gave him. He’d been in this business a long time, and he knew another hunter wouldn’t just pop up, asking for his help the way she had.
His cell phone rang, and the sudden sharp chirping sound in the silent room caused him to jump, a clear sign he was on edge.
“Porter,” he announced, placing the phone to his ear.
“It’s me.” Jonah’s voice spilled from the receiver. “How’s it going down there? Any progress?”
“Not too much. Have you got anything for me?”
“The name of the town where the second woman’s body was dumped. Hicksville.”
“Got anything on the vic?”
“Brunette. Early twenties. Body drained, two supposed fang holes in the neck. No identification has been made. The boys are all over my ass about this, seeing as how I supposedly had him in my grasp and let him get away.”
“After the condition you were in when they found you, they can shut the hell up. It’s not like they’ll ever be able to catch him.” Jake didn’t bother hiding his anger.
“Yeah, but everyone likes to point the finger.”
Jake snorted. “Yeah, I got a finger for them. You all right? Nobody’s looking at you funny?”
“Everything’s fine, bro. They totally bought the story I spun for them. You just handle yourself and quit worrying about me.”
“I always handle myself.”
“I’m not even touching that one,” Jonah managed through a chuckle.
“Shut up, ass-wipe.” Jake had to laugh himself. “Do me a favor, though.”
“Yeah?”
“See what you can find out on a Nyla Katt.” He spelled out the name.
“Do I get to know why I’m running a check on her?” Joe asked.
“Let’s just say I don’t know if she’s more my thing or yours.”
“I’m assuming that means you don’t know whether she’s human or . . . something else.”
“Exactly.” Jake let out a sigh. “She seems human, but more than human. You know?”
“Uh, no. I’m not the expert in that area. Is she dangerous?” Jonah’s tone took on a hint of worry.
Jake scoffed. “More like she’s in danger. It’s all I can do to keep from strangling her. She’s just . . . I don’t know. She’s not like anyone I’ve ever come across.”
“Do you have the hots for this girl?”
“I don’t get the hots,” Jake bit out, irritated that he could actually hear the grin in Jonah’s voice. “She’s just
a woman who popped up out of the blue, claiming to be hunting Dunn, and get this—she saw what happened the night Carter was taken out.”
“What?” All trace of amusement fled. “How the hell could she do that?”
“I don’t know. She said she was following me while I followed them. Yet, none of us picked up on her. She doesn’t actually know what happened inside the house, but she knows Carter was taken out that night, and she knows vampires helped make that happen.”
Jonah was silent for a moment before asking, “You’re sure she’s not a vampire?”
“She doesn’t put out the vibe. I can sense vampires before I see them.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Jake frowned, sure Jonah would have known that much. “Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t. You’ve never told me that.”
“Whatever, dude, just find me something on this woman.” Jake shrugged it off, his frustration growing. It would be dark soon, and he had a woman handcuffed to his bed that he had to get back to. Under other circumstances, that might have put a smile on his face, but he didn’t think Nyla Katt was going to wake up happy, warm and willing. He was definitely in for a confrontation.
“All right, man, I’ll check the woman out. Just watch your back. If she is a normal chick and she followed you all the way from here to Kentucky, you’re slipping.”
“Gee, you always know the right thing to say. You should have been a life coach.”
“Yeah, and you should have noticed you were being followed.”
Jake didn’t deny the fact he’d made a potentially fatal mistake. When you screwed up that big, you didn’t make excuses. You made damn sure it never happened again.
“I know, Joe. That’s why I want to know who I’m dealing with.”
“I’m on it,” Jonah said after a long pause. “I’ll get back to ya as soon as I get something. Be extra careful in the meantime, jerk.”
“Back at you, cake boy.”
With the conversation over, Jake rose from the bed and took a deep breath. He didn’t know who Nyla Katt was or how dangerous she might prove to be, but until he did, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight, he decided as he left her room with visions of lacy black panties dancing through his head.
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