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“Smoke,” Jude said, and an instant later, Zane caught the scent.
Fire. Zane shoved open the door and rushed out of the truck.
“Wait! Zane, dammit, wait!”
But he wasn’t waiting. Jana was in there, the fire was raging, and he wasn’t just going to sit outside and watch everything burn.
A demon slammed into him. A guy with pale cheeks and a long, twisting scar on the right side of his face. When his gaze met Zane’s, the demon began to scream.
A hard hand grabbed Zane’s shoulder and spun him around. The demon ran away, still screaming.
“The woman controls fire. She can handle this,” Jude snapped at him, not releasing his hold. “It’s not like she’s some delicate flower. She’s?—”
“Bait?” he bit out as the smoke drifted from the open door of the den. “She’s just bait so it doesn’t matter what happens to her?”
“She’s not?—”
“You don’t know what the fuck she is.” And, friend or not, he let his fist swing out. Jude stumbled back, probably more in surprise than anything else because it was hard to knock a shifter on his ass.
Zane whirled and ran for the den. He shoved demons out of his way. Knocked them to the side and shouted Jana’s name.
The crackle of fire answered him.
Inside, he didn’t see anyone. Human or demon. Just an empty den. Had she gone out the back? Had she?—
“You shouldn’t be here.” She appeared in the thick smoke and came toward him with eyes flashing red.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her close. “And you damn well know better than to start a fire around you.” His hold was as strong as the cuffs had been, and he hauled her toward the door. She shouldn’t be around the smoke for too long, she knew that. Did the woman have a death wish?
They burst outside, into the night. The other demons had fled the scene, desperate to escape from the flames.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Jana said again, shaking her head.
“Oh, really?” His fury broke free. “Where should I be? Still at the cabin where you left my ass? Still sleeping off the sex while you get to burn this place to ash? I don’t think so, baby.”
She blinked. For an instant, she almost looked hurt. But then she snapped, “I was cleaning up your mess, demon. These creeps attacked you, remember? Were you just going to let them go?”
“No.” Now that was just insulting. “I handle my own business, my way.”
“Oh, really?” Her hands were on her hips. The building burned behind her. “Your way wasn’t working.”
“And burning the building down around them was gonna work? That’s execution, that’s?—”
“I gave them a chance to run!”
What?
She shook her head. “You really shouldn’t be here.” Her shoulders slumped a bit.
“News flash.” He stepped closer to her, making her tilt her head back to hold his stare. “Wherever you are, I’m gonna be there.” His breath rasped out. “Did you really think I’d just let you walk away? From the moment you slipped out of bed, I knew every move you made.”
She swallowed. “You…this is a setup?”
His gut clenched. All or nothing. “You’re the bait, baby. The juicy, tempting bait to bring out the bastards who torched Night Watch.”
Jana’s lips parted. Then she smiled, a sad twist of her lips. Her dimple didn’t appear. “Is that all I am?”
A police cruiser raced to the scene with its sirens wailing. An unmarked SUV flew up behind it.
