Immortal Danger (Night Watch 0.5)(26)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She turned toward him, her chin raised, and he caught sight of the faint blue bruise along her jaw.

The bastard had hit her.

He reached for her, but she was already turning away from him. "Had to watch jerks like that with my mom. So many f**king bruises."

Like the one she now wore? "Wasn’t gonna let another woman die, not just gonna stand around and let it happen again."

She stood before the bed, hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"Another woman?"

Her back was stiff, her voice gruff as she said, "My mother."

Damn . No wonder she’d run to the other room when she heard old Chuck threatening the woman.

She climbed into the bed, fully dressed, and pulled the covers up to her chin. She met his stare with a glare. "I’m not talking about this, about her. Not now, not later."

Stubborn vampire. He bit back the questions that sprang to his lips and managed a nod.

A heavy sigh slipped past her lips. "I’m not like her," she whispered and her eyelids began to flicker. "Never was."

He sat on the edge of the bed and watched in silence until her breathing smoothed out and sleep claimed her again.

After a moment, he brushed the hair from her face. "You lied to me," he whispered, and realized that it shouldn’t change anything. It shouldn’t . "You helped that woman, that kid."

I’m not a helper, Slick.

Bullshit .

There was more to Maya than just the monster she carried. A hell of a lot more.

Just as there was more to him.

"You lied to me."

Tim Largent jerked awake at the angry snarl, blinking the sleep from his eyes and gazing around his office in dazed confusion.

He’d fallen asleep on the couch after a rather enjoyable, if tame, bout of sex with-Karen? Michelle? He just couldn’t remember-

"I don’t take well to liars."

Tim swallowed, rising slowly to his feet. He realized that Karen and Michelle didn’t really matter right then.

The thing that mattered-it, he would be the giant wolf shifter standing in his doorway.

Lucas Simone snapped his fingers and four other men walked into the room. "Neither does my pack."

Fear began to ice Tim’s veins. The packs-they were vicious. They’d been known to rip men and demons apart.

"I-I didn’t lie to you," he managed, putting the heavy desk between them. Shit, where were his bodyguards when he needed them? One of Lucas’s men dropped a small, dented, black box-like object onto the desk.

Tim got a really, really bad feeling in the pit of his gut. "What’s that?" But he already knew.

GPS. The tracking box.

"Funny thing," Lucas murmured. "We found that car you told us about, but there was no sign of the vampire or her companion."

His mouth went desert dry. "She was going to Mexico, I told you-"

"The coyotes have been looking for her, guarding the border." Tim knew the coyote shifters had long since taken over Mexico. "But they haven’t so much as caught a whiff of her scent."

The lying bitch. "Maya set me up." How had she known what he was planning? How? Lucas rubbed the tattered edge of his right ear. "Or you set us up." He jerked his thumb toward the door and a young, dark-haired shifter hurried to seal the room. "Something you should know about me," he said, and his fingernails began to lengthen into claws. "I get angry– real angry –when some ass**le tries to play me for a fool." His claws raked across the desk, leaving deep grooves in the wood.

Tim was very much afraid those claws would soon be used on something softer than the wood.

He swallowed. "I’ll give the money back." He didn’t need it, not really, and he had the cash in the office, right there in his safe.

A smile curved the alpha’s thin lips. "Oh, you’ll most definitely give it back."

His hands slick with sweat, Tim turned to the wall safe, fumbled with the dial, and managed to open the lock. He tossed the still-bagged money to Lucas. "Take it, and get the hell out of here."

The shifter didn’t look at the money as he caught the bag. His stare was on Tim, and his teeth were sharpening. "Not quite ready to leave yet."

Tim’s gaze darted to the circle of wolf shifters closing in on him. "Wh-what do you want?"

The pack leader’s eyes were colder than death as he said, "Our pound of flesh. Demon flesh."

The pack began to growl in hungry anticipation.

He woke her an hour before sunset. They didn’t speak about the incident in room 206. Not then.

Before they left the room, Maya used one of the disposable cell phones she’d picked up to call L.A.-to check in on Sean again.

He was awake, but not making much sense. She promised to call and check in with him again later.

Adam drove the SUV, following her directions to Red Rock Canyon. The sun’s rays looked like streaks of fire, blazing across the horizon.

Streaks of fire.

Or streaks of blood.

The vampires had long since claimed the canyon as part of their territory. Humans didn’t realize it, but tunnels crisscrossed the canyon. Hidden deep in the ground and stone, the vampires had created a near-impenetrable lair.

Blood Rock, that’s what they called it. Maya had heard whispers about the canyon before. She’d overheard tales in feeding rooms about the dark deeds committed beneath the heavy stones.

The caverns were said to be lined with skeletons.

The way Maya figured it, she was about to find out if all the gossip was true.

And, with any luck, find the girl.

They stopped a few miles from the canyon. Maya climbed from the SUV, her eyes squinting against the sun’s fading rays.

"You all right?" Adam asked, moving almost soundlessly to her side.

The sun had already half-settled beneath the horizon. She managed a nod. "Getting better every minute." And she was. Her strength was returning. Her power. She hated the curse of the sun. She couldn’t stand being so weak. So…human.

They started trekking through the desert, moving quickly, but quietly. She’d already warned Adam that the vamps could have human guards stationed in the area.

She wasn’t the only one of her kind to use a day watcher.

As they traveled, the sun inched even farther below the horizon. Maya opened her senses fully, straining to hear every sound in the desert and to catch any unusual scent.

But so far, she didn’t hear or smell anything out of the ordinary.

And that fact had her body tensing.

The twisted, thrusting sight of Red Rock Canyon soon greeted her. The Aztec sandstone gleamed a blood red in the light of the setting sun.

Blood Rock .

Her gaze scanned the area.