Eternal Flame (Night Watch #3)(45)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She paused and glanced over at Jana. “Just so you know, there was another fire in New Orleans tonight. Witnesses will say they saw you at the bar right before it burned. You and

Wynter.”

“It’s their M.O., Zane.” Jana’s lips tightened. “They make their recruits become the hunted. Make them run out of options.”

“No.” Beth said this instantly. “I’m not trying to make you run out of options—”

“Bullshit, Beth!” Jana fired back. “You took every one of my options away. You set me up for fires, and you turned me into a wanted woman!”

Beth inhaled a deep breath. “You set the first three fires.” One blond brow rose. “You’re not innocent, Jana. Don’t pretend to be for your new lover.” Then Beth made a mistake. She sauntered too close to Jana.

Oh, he saw it coming even before Jana shoved back against Davey with her upper body and slammed both feet into Beth’s stomach.

The blonde doubled over, gagging. Davey swore and hauled Jana back.

“Get her out!” Beth lifted her head. Her eyes glittered with fury. “Put her in containment.” Her gaze darted to Zane. “Put them both in there. Let them calm the hell down.”

“I’m plenty calm!” Jana shouted. “Calm enough to kick your ass even without the fire, calm enough to—”

“The last time I had you on my table, you were begging to live.” Beth’s scarred hand was over her stomach, and her eyes were icy cold. “You’ll be begging again soon enough.”

Jana’s chin notched up. “And you’ll be burning.”

Beth’s lips trembled, a small move, and he knew that she understood Jana’s words were a promise.

“Can you still feel the fire on you, Beth?”

“Get her out!”

“Can you?”

“Out!”

They were thrown in a meat locker. Well, that’s what it felt like to Zane anyway. A small, tight, metal room, with the temperature set to chill.

“Bastards,” Jana snarled even before Davey swung the door shut. A four-inch-thick steel door. She glanced over her shoulder at Zane. “Can you get us out of here?”

He let his powers push out, let them ease against the door and he immediately felt the containment field. “They’ve had a witch here.”

“Of course they have.” She shoved her hair out of her eyes. Her hand shook. “Probably the same witch who’s protecting Beth from you. Did she set up a field around the room?”

He nodded. “I can’t get out.” Flat. Well, technically, he could get out, but not without his psychic blast hurting her, maybe killing her, because in order to overcome the spell, he’d have to let his power surge through at full level.

He walked closer to Jana and skimmed his hand carefully down her bruised cheek. The bruise would be there for days. Humans. It took them so long to heal.

She flinched at his touch.

His gaze held hers. “Why did you follow me?”

She swallowed.

“You could have run.”

The blue of her eyes seemed so deep and dark. “And left you alone?” Her shoulders dropped a bit. “No. I couldn’t do that.” She brought her body close to his. “You know they have cameras on us. They’ve got this room wired for sound and video.”

He couldn’t see the cameras but he believed her.

“They’re watching us. Waiting for us to make a mistake.” Her voice dropped lower. “They like to use your weakness against you.”

Davey already thought he knew Zane’s weakness.

“I came back,” she said, her voice clear and loud. “Because Perseus ruined my life.”

True. But … her eyes said something different. I wasn’t leaving you alone.

“Are you really a hybrid?” she asked him.

His back teeth clenched. “Yes.”

Jana nodded. “And a level ten?”

That he wouldn’t answer. Not with those cameras on them.

She leaned up on her toes and pulled his head down toward her. Her lips feathered over his lips as she breathed, “Come in…”

Wrong time, wrong damn place, but at those words, a hot surge of need fired his blood. Her body was close, pressing so softly against his, and her rich scent was all around him.

But she’d been hurt. Drugged. And he f**king wasn’t planning on performing for an audience.

“Come in,” she whispered again. “I need you to see … me. “

It took a moment for the real meaning of her words to sink in, but then he understood. She wasn’t talking about sex. Not talking about pleasure.

She knew how strong level-ten demons were, and she was giving him permission to go inside her mind. Come in. Giving him permission to learn her every secret, her every thought.

I need you to see … me.

Jana eased back and stared up at him.

Come in.

His power wouldn’t work against the spell locking them in the room, but there was nothing locking him out of her. So Zane took a breath, stared into her eyes, and went in.

Straight into the fire.

Chapter 11

The fire was all around him, burning so hot and fast. Screams echoed. Screams that came from him-no …her.

The fire he saw, the twisting orange and gold flames-it was in Jana’s mind. Her memories.

Paint peeled off the walls, boiling and dripping even as she screamed for the fire to stop. Screamed and choked on smoke. Screamed for help that didn’t come.

And the flames wouldn’t stop.

Zane sucked in a deep breath and fought through the memories. Jana’s first fire. He could see the charred body of her stepfather. Hell.

Another scene flashed in his mind’s eye. Jana hunched over a wooden table as tears trickled down her cheeks. “I-I didn’t mean for it to happen!”

A balding man in a suit loomed over her. “So you admit you started the fire!”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“You started the fire. He died.”

Her eyes squeezed closed. “I want my mom.”

“Too damn bad because she sure as hell doesn’t want you. She knows you’re a killer, and she never wants to see you again.”

Jana’s fingers trailed up Zane’s chest. He knew she was right in front of him, but the images of the past were all he could see then.

Jana walked forward, one foot in front of the other. The juvie facility was behind her, the hard gray walls looming like thick fog in the light. Her clothes were clean, her steps slow. She stared at the cab that waited for her.