Hotter After Midnight (Midnight #1)(68)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He wanted to take her anyplace but to that godforsaken warehouse.

“I can’t send any other men in with you.” McNeal was watching him with eyes that saw too much. “I can’t risk the humans finding out what we’re fighting.”

He understood that. When they got to the warehouse, the Butcher might not be in human form. And if the other cops saw him shift…

“And I don’t want you to ‘catch’ this guy, Gyth.” McNeal stared him straight in the eye. “He can’t see the inside of a courtroom.”

Colin nodded. He’d already figured that out.

“Do what you have to do. Just get the women back safe.” A pause. “And make certain that bastard doesn’t have the chance to ever hurt anyone else.”

“Don’t worry.” His voice had turned guttural. The wolf was close.

The Night Butcher had claimed his last victim.

Colin held his captain’s stare, let the other man see the intent in his eyes. “The bastard was a dead man the minute he asked for the trade.” No one would threaten his mate and live.

No one.

Time to hunt his prey…

And protect his mate.

Chapter 16

The night air was cold. Emily’s breath formed a small cloud before her as she walked through the darkened warehouse district.

There were rustles all around her. The scurry of rats and cockroaches. The howl of wind. The distant hum of a train.

Building 13 stood in front of her. Windows boarded up. Completely black.

The holster of her gun dug into Emily’s back. McNeal had given her the weapon and the bullets before she’d left the station.

“Aim and shoot,” he’d said.

And she would. She knew how to shoot, and she wouldn’t hesitate to fire when she saw the Butcher.

She didn’t hear Colin behind her, but she knew he was there. Tracking her, as the wolf.

His scent was already on her, so that had to work to their advantage. The Butcher wouldn’t be able to distinguish between them.

He’d think it was just one person.

The doors were in front of her. Emily lifted her hands and shoved against the old wood. With a loud groan, it gave way beneath her fingers.

A dark cavern waited for her. She stared into the darkness, knowing that the killer was waiting for her.

A faint moan reached her ears. Broken. Full of pain.

She licked her lips. Reached for the small flashlight she’d tucked into her jacket pocket. The light flashed on, cut a thin swath of light through the blackness. She wasn’t worried about the light giving away her position. If the killer was a hybrid like she suspected, he’d be able to see just as easily in the darkness.

The building smelled of mold and rotted wood. Cobwebs brushed her face and something ran across her left foot.

“Smith?” Emily raised her voice, tried again. “Smith?”

A whimper came from the darkness.

Emily crept forward. Swung her light to the left, the right—

There. Crumpled against the back wall. Head sagging to the side. A broken doll.

Smith.

Emily ran to her. The light hit Smith’s body, showing the cuts and bites that covered her skin. Blood matted her hair, trickled down her bare arms and legs.

“I’m afraid I got a little bored while I was waiting for you.” The voice came from the darkness, echoed all around her. No longer distorted. Male. Strong. Hard.

She stiffened. She knew that voice. Emily passed the flashlight to her left hand. Slowly inched her right toward her gun.

It can’t be, it doesn’t make any sense. How can it be him? I’ve felt his power before. He isn’t strong enough to—

There was a rush of wind against her body and then his hands were on her, jerking her around, spinning her to face him. “Tell me, Doctor,” Jake Donnelley murmured, his fangs bared and his eyes eerily black in the glow of her flashlight, “are you going to scream for me?”

Then his claws raked across her stomach, and she screamed as her flesh ripped open.

Emily! Her scream cut through him. Colin lunged through the open doors of the factory, his body springing through the air and landing in a deadly crouch. A snarl twisted the wolf’s lips as he searched for his mate.

The scent of blood filled the air.

Emily’s blood.

A red haze swam before his eyes. Kill. Destroy—

A man laughed. A sinister, cold laugh. “I thought you’d be joining us, Gyth.”

Emily appeared before him, and Colin could easily see the blood running down the front of her shirt. Her eyes were huge. Her lips shaking.

Behind her, Jake Donnelley stood smiling at him. He had a hand wrapped around Emily’s throat. His claws pressed against her flesh and a drop of blood trailed down her neck.

Colin scraped his claws across the cement floor, preparing to attack.

“Not so fast, wolf.” The claws dug deeper and a soft moan slipped past Emily’s lips. “If you move another inch, I’ll slice her open in front of you.”

Colin snarled at him, but he didn’t move, not yet.

“So now the question becomes, who to kill first?” Jake lowered his head to Emily’s throat, slowly licked away the drop of blood.

“Oh, I do like the way you taste…”

Emily steeled herself against the feel of his tongue on her neck. She wanted to scream, to howl in pain and fear, but she vowed not to cry out again.

Because he wanted it too much.

Colin snarled in front of her, snapping his teeth, his glowing eyes locked on Jake.

Jake. God, she’d been so wrong about him. She’d thought he was weak, harmless. How the hell could she have made such a mistake?

She’d never even sensed that he was a hybrid. Never seen the glow of the beast he carried. She’d thought he was just a low-level demon.

Wrong. So wrong. And her mistake just might cost them all their lives.

She’d kept her shields in place too long, Emily realized. She’d been so afraid of finding a being like the one who’d attacked her years before, and she’d guarded herself too well. Yes, she’d been safe, but she’d unknowingly let a killer run free when she could have stopped him.

Her stomach felt as if it were on fire. She didn’t know how bad her injury was, and she was afraid to look down. So she kept her gaze on Colin, knowing that they had to find a way to defeat Jake.

One unguarded moment. That’s all Colin would need. If he could just get one moment, she knew he’d attack.

“You don’t understand our kind nearly as well as you thought, Doctor.” Jake whispered the words into her ear, blowing his breath lightly against her. “You thought you were so superior, so damn smart, judging us all. Reading us. But you were wrong…”