Eternal Hunter (Night Watch #1)(76)
Author: Cynthia Eden

No, this time, she might not get a vision.

Just a body.

“I don’t know if it will work.” Dee stepped to her side, moving almost as soundlessly as a shifter. A good hunter, for a human.

Dee’s response wasn’t the reassuring answer she’d wanted, but Erin was quickly coming to see that Dee wasn’t exactly a reassuring kind of woman.

“You’ve been on a lot of hunts with him, haven’t you?” Erin asked, but she didn’t take her gaze off the swamp. The twisting trees, the gentle movement at the water’s edge. This was where Jude ran wild. His sanctuary.

Dee hesitated. “Ah, usually Jude hunts alone.”

Like he’d gone hunting at that den.

The human turned toward her. “He’s the strongest shifter I’ve ever met,” Dee told her. Okay, that was reassuring. Erin glanced at her as she continued, “And believe me, I’ve come across more than my share of shifters since I joined Night Watch fifteen years ago.”

Fifteen years? But the woman barely looked thirty. Hell, more like twenty-five.

Dee laughed. “Don’t worry, I was legal.” A pause. “Barely. Jude took me under his wing. Taught me how to fight the supernaturals. How to survive. He’d only been in the Watch for a few years, but he’d already gotten a reputation.”

She’d just bet he had.

“Jude always gets the job done,” Dee said simply. “You can count on him.”

Yeah, she could.

A soft peal rang out from the area of Dee’s left side. She shoved a hand into the pocket of her jeans and dug out a cell phone. “Yo.”

Erin tensed.

“What? You’re kidding! That’s great! Does he remember anything? What? Yeah, yeah, we’re on our way.”

She ended the call with a flick of her thumb. “Givens is awake. That was McCall, he’s one of the hunters we stationed with Givens for protection. A few minutes ago, Givens woke up. McCall said the guy just opened his eyes and then he asked for his son, Tommy.”

Erin’s breath rushed out. Alive.

“The way I figure it,” Dee said, “we can sit up here with our thumbs up our asses or we can hightail it to that hospital, arrive before the cops do, and maybe get some info out of Givens.”

“I don’t really like having a thumb up my ass,” Erin muttered and jumped down the steps. “Let’s go.” Jude was already hunting, so the info might not be any good to him, but at least she’d be doing something.

Other than having a thumb up her ass.

They ran toward Dee’s SUV.

“You sure this is the place?” Jude demanded.

Kyler gave a grudging nod. “Yeah, yeah, this is the address he gave me.”

A cabin at the edge of the swamp. A place that looked way too much like his own home.

Gotta get a new place for Erin. Because a dump falling into the moss really wasn’t going to cut it for her.

He had the cash. Sure, he liked to run in the swamp, but Erin needed something different.

And after the way the ass**le had christened her home, she’d probably like a fresh start someplace else.

They could get that start together. Maybe another antebellum, one they could restore together. One with a lot of land for running…

Later.

“All right then,” Jude said, testing the ropes that held his hands. Damn tight, cutting-off-his-circulation tight. Zane knew his knots, how to tie ’em and how to place ’em. Thanks to Zane, the knots were perfectly positioned next to his claws. A few slices, and he’d be free. “Time to get your payment.”

A grunt came from the sweating demon. His black eyes darted from the left to the right. “This is a real assed-up plan.”

Jude grunted. “Who asked you?”

Zane eyed him with raised brows. “Guess I get to be the one to drag your sorry butt inside, huh?”

“No… he gets the job.” Because he didn’t want Kyler’s hands free for a minute.

“Fuck,” Kyler snarled.

Good thing demons were strong.

“Let’s get this shit started.”

Dee’s foot shoved the gas pedal to the floor. She took the curves and hidden twists with ease, her gaze never darting from the road.

At this rate, they’d be at the hospital in no time. The road was deserted. Dark and quiet. Well, quiet except for Dee’s revving motor.

“Does Lee know he was attacked because of me?” Erin’s fingers tapped against the side of the passenger door.

“No.”

Ah, that would be a fun conversation.

“He doesn’t know that you saved his butt yet, either.”

Headlights flashed in the distance. Maybe not so deserted. “Saving him has to count for something, right?” Erin asked quietly. She sure hoped it did.

Zane kicked open the door of the cabin. “We’re here!” He called out, pretty unnecessarily to Jude’s way of thinking.

Kyler tossed him onto the floor. “Got the shifter bastard you wanted.”

Jude didn’t grunt at the impact. He didn’t move at all.

Old floorboards squeaked around him as Zane and Kyler edged out in the room.

Jude’s nostrils flared. He couldn’t scent the wolf, but Erin had told him the guy could disguise his smell. So just because he couldn’t smell him, well, that didn’t mean the stalker wasn’t there.

His ears twitched.

Silence.

Thick and heavy. Too much silence.

He slashed through his ropes and bounded to his feet. “Where the hell is the bastard?”

Kyler was creeping toward the door. Jude grabbed him and slammed his head against the wall. Payback for the headfirst toss onto the floor. The demon went down and didn’t get back up.

Jude’s gaze raked the cabin. Not here.

But if the wolf wasn’t waiting to rip him apart, then where was the bastard?

“Yeah, saving the guy’s life has to count for something,” Dee said, her fingers tightening around the steering wheel. “It’s not like you could help the fact that this creep after you tried to kill him.”

The headlights were growing closer. The dark shadow of that other car—was it swerving a bit?

Erin licked her lips. “How many…other cabins are out this way?” She’d never seen another vehicle when she’d visited Jude before. The guy liked his solitude. Not real big into sharing property and—

Something big and black ran into the road.

“What the hell?” Dee slammed on the brakes.