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Still, the thought of her naked and passed out on the grass where she’d fallen chilled him.
He never wanted to see her injured like that again.
The beast inside him stirred, weakened, and yet...
Mine.It growled. Again.
This was getting tedious. Jace pushed the thought aside. There was no point in it.
She’d made a choice for her future and it didn’t include him. She’d only promised him one night after all.
He examined his leg, assessing the wound. It was bandaged up nicely, and he felt the pull of stitches underneath—professional level work. Shane must have been the one to dress the gash, and Jace shook his head and wondered if a medical degree was another item he could add to the long list of the hunter’s intellectual assets.
“Thanks for fixing me up, Shane.”
“You’re welcome." The other hunter nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Consider it payment for never calling me kid again.” Shane cast him a sly grin.
Jace shook his head with a chuckle. “Not a chance.” His gaze turned toward David then. “David, you shouldn’t have brought him into this.” He nodded toward Shane. “What the hell do you think Chet’s going to do to him when he finds out that we were at his place?” He glanced at Shane. “Thisisyour place, right?”
“Actually, this is my grandmother’s apartment. She’s out playing bingo tonight. We already took all the necessary precautions to keep Chet and any other members of the Execution Underground from finding us.” Shane’s smirk widened. “And I gave you a new phone for contact purposes. No trackers on it, obviously. It’s in the console of Chevelle.”
Jace had to admit. He was impressed, and his expression must have shown it.
“I’m a big boy, Jace,” Shane said, rolling up the cuffs of his button-downs sleeves. “Still going to call me kid?” He lifted a brow in challenge.
Jace frowned for show, though his heart wasn’t truly in it. “Don’t look so full of yourself.” The side of his mouth tilted with a barely hidden grin.
David cleared his throat as he managed to stand with the help of a large wooden crutch. “Jace, we can’t beat around the bush here. There is something seriously scary about that fucker.”
“Were you able to figure out what type of demon he is?”
Jace couldn’t believe he was entertaining this line of thinking. He’d been so convinced the killer was a wolf shifter, or something similar, but since they’d seen him pull a bullet from his chest like he was indestructible, there were too many other options to consider.
David shook his head. “That’s just it. When he was strangling me, I recited Psalm 91 three times. Add in a shofar and that’s the big fat Jewish mother of all exorcism rituals. He didn’t even flinch. He’s not a demon, J. And whatever the hell he is, I don’t like it.”
Francesca snuggled deeper into the blanket, as if to shield herself from the gruesome details. “If he’s not a demon, then where did that symbol come from?”
David shrugged. “I honestly have no clue. Maybe he’s got one of those hell-crawlers working for him. They’d do anything for a little bloodshed.”
“I don’t think it’s a demon. I’ve seen that symbol before, and I’ve never crossed paths with a demon in my life. As far as I know anyway,” Francesca said.
David’s eyes widened. “You know that symbol? He’s a werewolf?”
Jace snorted. “I thought so, but now… A werewolf hopped up on steroids, maybe.”
“No, he’s not a shifter. And no, it’s not one ofoursymbols.” She eyed Jace, forcibly including him with her people. “I can’t remember where I’ve seen it. I just know I have.”
“Well, that doesn’t give us much to work with.”
“Look, I’m sorry I can’t remember. I’ll keep thinking about it. But don’t act like that’s our only hope. We’ve got information to work with.” She held up a hand, ticking things off with her fingers. “First off, we know that heisable to shift, most likely into wolf form, since that’s what his scent smells like, but we can’t rule out any other possibilities.”
Jace and the other men nodded.
“Secondly, we know he has abilities that a regular werewolf doesn’t. Did you see how easily he lifted David and me together? He’s got extra strength. Not to mention the healing thing. That guy pulled a bullet out of his own chest, for God’s sake. I’m guessing a demon could have similar strength, but since he’s immune to David’s exorcism, that rules out the possibility that he’s a demon. Third, there’s the symbol. We have to figure out what it means.”
All three men stared at her in silence.
She sighed. “So, we need to take a different approach. There is no way we can fight this guy with just two men and one wolf.”
