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“Erin saved your ass by getting the hell out of Lillian,” Jude told the cop. “Thewerewolfwho killed Trent is after her and, if she hadn’t left you behind, odds are high he would have killed you.”
“What?”
She managed to look away from Jude and turn her attention back to Ben. “Seems that I acquired an...admirer, of sorts.” Her lips pulled down into a frown, and she rubbed her temple. “He does things, hurts others, even kills, and he thinks he’s doing it for me.”
Jude eased closer. “He killed a perp here in Baton Rouge and smeared the bastard’s blood all over the walls in her house. Another guy, a lawyer, made the mistake of arguing too much with Erin in court. The freak put him in the hospital. ICU.”
Erin flinched at that. She’d gone to the hospital that morning, before work, hoping to hear better news about Lee. His son had been sitting in his room and holding his hand. She’d stepped away, ducking into the empty room beside Lee’s as she fought to control her tears.
Seeing that boy, praying for his father to wake up...
The bastard after me has to be stopped.
Clearing her throat, she tried to push the memory of that kid aside. Lee would wake up.Oh, but she hoped he would anyway. “I have very good reason to believe that this guy is also the one who attacked you.”
“Erin, there’s no way to know that!”
“I’ve got good reason to believe it, because he told me he did,” she broke across his words and dropped her hand.I took care of your lover. Fool wasn’t worthy.He’d been so proud of nearly killing Ben. He’d whispered his words to her that terrible night. “He’s been making my life hell for too long now. I tried running from him, hiding, but he just found me, and he started killing again.”
Ben’s mouth hung open. After a moment, he snapped his lips closed.
“It’s the truth,” she said. Might seem crazy, but crazy was her world.
“Wh-why didn’t you tell me? I thought you left because you didn’t care.”
“He’s a paranormal.” Simple. “You couldn’t have handled him. The other cops in Lillian are human, too. They wouldn’t have known how to stop him. He would have sliced right through them and?—”
The cop’s head craned toward a watchful Jude. “This guy—let me guess, he canhandlehim, right?”
Jude shrugged.
“Yes.” Erin was definite. “When Jude is in his tiger form, he’s the closest physical match the bastard has.” More than a match. Jude would be able to take her stalker down, she knew it.
“Werewolves?”Ben asked again and rocked back on his feet. “Come on, babe, I’ve dealt with some screwed-up killers in my time, but I haven’t?—”
“Shifters have been around for as long as humans have walked this earth.” Jude rolled his powerful shoulders rolled in a shrug. “Deny it if you want. If it makes you sleep better, do whatever the hell you have to do. But, the fact here is...you’ve got a paranormal killer out there. One who is obsessed with Erin, and you—well, you’re playing out of your league, human.”
There wasn’t room for Ben in this fight. “If you try to get involved in this, you’ll just get hurt.” The wolf out there would like his pain too much. “Go back to Lillian. We’re going to stop him, and when we do?—”
“What?” Ben’s voice snapped out, high and sharp. “When you stop him, I book a werewolf for murder? How’s that going to fly with the mayor and DA, huh? And what kind of cage am I going to toss him into?”
“This one won’t stay in a cage.” Jude’s voice was soft, deep. A calm opposite to Ben.
Erin knew he was right. The killer they were looking for was too strong for a human prison. “A cage won’t ever hold him,” she said as her stomach knotted. She’d known it would come to this.
“What are you saying?” Ben reached out a hand, as if he were going to touch her, but stopped, his fingers freezing in midair.
Can’t touch the shifter. Not normal.Her chin lifted. “I’m saying we’ll let you know when this threat is gone.” That was all she was going to offer. She couldn’t really tell a cop that murder was the only option. Not really murder, though. Self-defense. “Now, I’m sorry, but I have work to do.”
“If you’ve got more questions,human,I’ll answer them,” Jude said.
Ben’s gaze drifted over her face. “This is the last damn thing I expected.”
“I know.”
“Erin...”
But there was nothing more to say. Like she’d told Jude, they’d ended in Lillian.
