ENTANGLED (23 page)

Billy laughed. “Alpha’s got plans. We all know it.”

Ava shoved the picture into her pocket. “Julian doesn’t have any plans. He and his pack aren’t going to hurt anyone.” She spun back toward the deputy. “Ken, we’re done here, let’s—”

“He’d hurt anyone who came after you.” Billy’s quiet voice froze her.

Ken frowned. “What’s he—”

“You’re wrong.” She spoke the words without looking back. “The alpha and I have no—”

“He marked you that first night. Alpha’s just been biding his time since then. Every supernatural can see the truth.”

What?

Now she looked back. Was this just more crazy bullshit? But…Billy’s eyes were shining. No, glowing, and she knew that her instincts about the bartender had been right all along. Billy wasn’t just a normal human. Far from it. She just wasn’t sure exactly
what
he was.

Then some of the puzzle pieces clicked for her. “You’re the one who started all the talk about Halloween. About how hell would be coming to Crossroads.” Gossip that said blood would fill the streets and every man and woman would start howling at the red moon.

Hello, Halloween. Hello, hell.

“I just warned folks.” The glow faded from his eyes. “Now those that are left…well, whatever happens, they chose it.”

Hardly no one was left. Her. Emergency personnel. The wolves.

And vampires? Not that she could find. “Your stories have made some assholes go crazy. They’ve killed humans. They torched the vampire houses, they—”

“Wolves and vampires never get along.” Billy picked up the glass. Began drying it again. “They like to battle under the moon.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Just where are you planning to be tomorrow night, Billy?”

“I’ll have me a good seat, Sheriff. Up close, so I can see all the action.”

Just great. Ava glanced back at Ken. His mouth gaped open, and he stared at Billy like the guy had two heads. Maybe he did. That news wouldn’t really surprise her then. She hurried forward and grabbed Ken’s arm. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

Ava pushed him outside. The deputy didn’t even wait until they’d cleared the door before he started asking, “I—is it true? Tomorrow, are them wolves really goin’ to—”

“The wolves aren’t going to do anything.” No cars drove on the road. The streetlights glinted off the black pavement. “I want you to get back to the station and help Charlie man the base for the rest of the night.”

“But what about—”

Her hand lifted to rest on the butt of her gun. “I want to finish questioning Billy.” Without the avid eyes and ears of the deputy. The kid wasn’t ready for the details that would be coming. She also didn’t want him learning any more about her and the alpha.
Billy knows too much
. Ava exhaled. “After I finish questioning him, I’ve got patrols to do.” Patrols in an empty city. “You hear about any trouble, you let me know ASAP, got it?”

Ken’s Adam’s Apple bobbed, but he nodded.

Ava watched the guy drive away. A little too fast, but she knew adrenaline had to be spiking his blood. Too fast, too eager—that was the story of that Ken’s life. But, luckily, he didn’t have far to go before reaching the station with his over-eager driving. A few miles.

Her newest recruit was in over his head, and she wanted to make sure that he—and everyone else under her guard—survived whatever Halloween horror was coming.

She headed toward her vehicle, another patrol car. Just as a precaution, she wanted a back-up. A girl could never have too many guns. Her hand lifted and started to open the car door, but Goosebumps rose on her arms. A quick shiver of awareness that told Ava she wasn’t alone.

Then Julian’s image appeared in the glass of the driver’s side window. He stalked forward, coming up quickly behind her.

This time, Ava didn’t draw her gun as she turned to confront him. Julian’s face was hard, tense, and she could see the edge of his sharpening canines.

He marked you that first night
.

The side of her neck seemed to burn. That night, that wild night when she’d lost control and lust had reigned, Julian had bit her on the neck. A light nip. Nearly forgotten once the heat of the moment had passed.

He hadn’t even broken the skin. Just given her a small love bite.

Right?

Every supernatural can see the truth
.

“What have you done?” Ava whispered.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone.” Anger hummed in his words. “After what happened to you before—”

“I’m not alone, am I? I’ve got the wolf alpha shadowing me.”

His gaze swept the dark streets. “Do you have a death wish?”

No, she didn’t, but she did want answers. “Tell me about the blood moon.” Maybe it wasn’t such bullshit after all. She’d asked her superiors about it when she first heard the stories, but as far as the government was concerned…there was
no
way for humans to become werewolves. Werewolves were born, a whole different race. Humans simply couldn’t become—

His hands wrapped around her waist, and he lifted her up against him. “You should know better than to ask such a dangerous question,” he whispered near her lips as his hands tightened on her, “out in public.”

“No one’s here.” She wasn’t afraid. Not of him or the answer that her gut was telling her would come. “Folks in this town went running scared. They won’t be back until the blood moon is gone.”

Or until the monsters were. But the vamps had vanished already, and that just left…

“Humans always fear what they don’t understand.” His eyes glittered in the darkness. “Why?”

She pushed her hands between them. Felt the hot, hard strength of his chest beneath her touch. “Because they don’t have the power to match the supernaturals.” A human was sure no match for a werewolf. Not in hand-to-claw combat.

“When they know our weakness…” His lips feathered over her cheek, and Ava fought to hold herself perfectly still. “They’re more than a match for us.”

“Silver is—”

“Not talking about silver.” His head lifted. “Some things burn even deeper than that.”

Her neck still seemed to burn. “What did you do?” she asked again.

His lips parted to answer, but in the next instant, Julian’s head jerked up. He glanced toward the bar, and she saw his nostrils flare.

Then he threw her back. Ava slammed into the pavement, stunned, breath lost as—

Julian’s body crashed down on top of hers. He covered her, holding her down as she fought against him.
No match in hand-to-claw combat
.

An explosion shook the night. A ball of flames lit up the sky and the heat of the blaze seemed to lance her skin. Debris from the blazing bar shot into the air and then struck the ground around them.

Billy
.

The heat stole her breath for an instant. Heat, fury.

Julian slowly lifted his body from hers. “Are you hurt?”

The fire blazed behind him. Glass covered the ground. The windows had broken, busted, from the force of the fire.

She shoved away from Julian and ran for the building. “
Billy!”
He’d been the only one inside. He—

Julian grabbed her and yanked her back against him. “He’s dead.”

No, no, she had to go in and find him. It was her job to protect—

“He’s
dead
, baby. There’s nothing you can do for him now.”

She knew…looking at that blaze…
she knew
. The building was a hollow shell. The flames eating everything in sight.

In the distance, sirens blared. Like the deputies, the firefighters had stayed in town. They hadn’t been run off. Yet.

Someone had to stay around to pick up the pieces.

Only…it looked like there weren’t gonna be any pieces of Billy left to pick up.

“I heard it when he died,” Julian told her, and her head bowed.

I’m sorry, Billy
.

“He’s gone, and if you go into those flames, you’ll just burn, too.”

Ava blinked away the tears in her eyes, tears that weren’t just caused by the flames. She grabbed Julian’s arm as the rage flared hotter inside her.
Too many dead bodies
. “Tell me you got the bastard’s scent.” He must have caught a whiff of—

He stared at her a moment, then nodded. Very, very slowly.

Ava pulled her gun from the holster on her hip. “Then let’s chase that asshole down.”

A fast smile, one that showed off Julian’s strong, white teeth, was his response. Then they were running through the streets. Twisting, turning, as Julian tracked the killer. As they hunted, he shifted, and soon a wolf was at her side.

Ava’s breath heaved in her chest, but she ran with him as her legs pumped. Faster, faster.

The killer wasn’t getting away from her. This hell would end…before Halloween.

Julian followed the mixed scent. Gasoline. Sweat. Fear. He tracked that stench all the way through Crossroads…and back to the sheriff’s station.

“What?” Ava’s voice, out of breath as she paused beside him. “Why are we stopping here?”

The wolf growled even as the man within seethed with rage. Ava didn’t understand—she was caught in a deadly game that wouldn’t end well for her. Couldn’t. Too many wanted power. Too many wanted blood.

She couldn’t even trust her own men.

Ava began to stride forward, toward the warm lights that glowed in the station. Julian turned and shoved his body against her.

No way.

She tried to walk around him. A snarl broke from him, and Ava stilled.

He saw the understanding on her face even as she shook her head and said, “No. You’re wrong, they’re not—”

The shift swept back over him. Brutal. Fast. The wolf left him with a wrenching burst of pain, and the man rose to stand before her. His hands curled around her arms, and he pulled her close. Since he was naked after the shift, her being close felt good. Better than good.
Later
. “They knew you were at the bar, didn’t they?”

She licked her lips. “Ken, he knew. He was with me just before—” She broke off and shook her head. “This is crazy. Those are my men, okay?”

“And they weren’t as careful as they should have been. Not this time.” He pushed her back into the shadows. “The jerks who ran us off the road were smart enough to use a scent blocker, but tonight, hell, I guess they figured I was far enough away that I wouldn’t even realize what was happening in town.”

But he hadn’t been able to stay away. Not when he knew that Ava was in danger. So he’d watched her. Stalked unnoticed through the shadows to make sure that she was safe.

And she’d nearly died
.

If she’d been closer to that building…If he hadn’t covered her with his body…

The fire had torn the flesh from his back. He hadn’t let Ava see the damage. No point. He’d sucked up the pain, and gotten her clear of those flames. The shift had healed him, for the most part.

If the fire had gotten to her, Ava wouldn’t have been so lucky.

Two times
. That made two damn times that someone had tried to kill her. Those assholes wouldn’t get a third shot at her.

“They set you up to die. They thought you were defenseless. Alone. And they just waited for you to burn.”

Her eyes were so big. So…lost. “Those are my men. My team.”

She had traitors on her team.

“Cops and deputies have access to the blocking chemical, don’t they?” He knew they did. A special spray could cover them, for a little while.

And a little while would be all the time they needed.

She nodded.

“Deputies could also cross right into vampire territory without raising suspicion.” Cross in…and burn those undead bastards with a fire just like the one that had taken out the bar tonight. A fire—a bomb.

Ava glanced back at her station.

“You haven’t reported in.” This was the delicate part. He narrowed his eyes and willed her to just
trust him
. “As far as those guys in there know, you didn’t make it out of that fire. You’re dead.”

Her breath rasped out. “And you want me to stay that way?”

Her death was the last thing he wanted. “I want you to stay with me. I want you to stay alive, until we can take these guys down.”

With the power of the blood moon coming, his pack could take out anyone dumb enough to get in their way.

But her gaze was returning to the station. “You’re
sure
the scent goes back…”

Just then, the station door burst open. Two deputies ran out. He recognized them both instantly—the young guy, Ken Billings was shadowed by Tom McGee, a guy who’d been patrolling since before Ava ever signed on board.