Page 90 of Cooper’s Passion

On the monitor she saw Haven cradle Yvette in his arms and bring his face to hers. “Baby, where’s Cooper? What happened to him?”

Anita couldn’t hear what Yvette said, or if she managed to say anything, and the seconds ticked by like hours. She couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t lose the man she loved. He had to live.

“She said the suspect from the sketch shot her, then overpowered Cooper and dragged him away, a silver chain around his neck. She couldn’t see the car he used to get away.”

For a moment, Anita felt relief. Cooper was still alive. But for how long? What was the killer planning to do with him?

“We’ll find him,” Thomas promised and hammered away on his keyboard. “Command center to all units in the vicinity of 22nd and Tennessee…”

Anita tuned out Thomas’s voice as he gave instructions to Scanguards staff to start the search for Cooper and the vampire who’d snatched him.

“Anita?” Vanessa said and put a hand on her shoulder.

Anita turned away from her father, and Vanessa put her arms around her. Overwhelmed by her kindness and sensitivity, Anita let the tears flow.

“We’ll find him,” Vanessa assured her. “That’s what we’re good at. Trust me, the reason the perp didn’t shoot him like he shot Yvette means that he needs him alive.”

Anita sniffled and nodded, trying to convince herself that Vanessa was right. “And Yvette? Will she make it?”

Vanessa sighed. “A silver bullet is very dangerous. It burns a vampire’s body from the inside out, like acid. She’s got about thirty to forty minutes to get it out, or the progression can’t be stopped.”

She didn’t have to ask what that meant.

“Haven is with her now,” Vanessa continued, “and my mother, Maya, has all the equipment to cut the bullet out. She just has to get there in time.”

Anita looked back at the main screen where Haven crouched next to Yvette, slicing away the clothing around her gunshot wound with his claws, evidently prepared to cut the bullet out with his bare hands.