AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A smirk crept across Jace’s face. “You were such a pansy back then.”
“Bite me.”
“Gladly.”
He and David fell silent for a beat.
“I was in love with her, J. Hell, I still am. People do crazy things when they’re in love. You’re no different. So quit sulking and go be the man your girl needs you to be, whatever that may be.” David stood like he planned to return inside, but instead, he lingered in the doorway, burning holes into Jace’s back with his heavy gaze.
Jace stared at the concrete in front of him. The image of the victim’s bodies, shredded and abused, was seared into his memory. Their faces would never leave. They’d had years of life ahead of them, families and loved ones to miss them. And so would any others who that bastard targeted. Yet here he sat, wasting precious time as he sulked about his pathetic issues and tried to preserve his own sanity. And for what? So he could spend the rest of his days alone, living like a drunken bum?
He hadn’t let her walk away from whatever this...feelingwas between them before.
Why let her walk away now?
Jace ground his cigarette butt further with his foot. “That was a shitty move, David, playing on a guy’s emotions like that. But I’ll do it.” Then he mumbled a few creative profanities to show what he thought about that decision.
David laughed and stepped inside the building.
“We’re leaving soon, for Headquarters. Get a plan together, before I change my mind,” Jace yelled after him. Then he let out a long sigh. The killer knew who he was, had known right where to find them. Why had Robert bothered with him? Dared to show himself? Why would he want Jace’s attention?
The bastard’s cold blue eyes lingered in Jace’s mind.
There was something familiar about them, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.
A gust of cold wind slapped against Jace’s back and sent a shiver down his spine. He forced himself to remember the contorted look of rage on his father’s face as he transitioned, stopping somewhere between man and wolf, the ripping sound his claws made as they tore into his mother’s clothes. His eyes had been as cold as Robert’s.
At only ten years old, Jace had wanted to carve out the man’s heart with a dull-bladed knife. The bastard deserved a slow and painful death, and Jace hoped he’d had one. And now he was about to become a monster, just like his old man. He was all in now.
With both shifting and Frankie.
And if there was a God, Jace really needed his help.
The doortothe apartment creaked open, and Frankie shot to her feet from the chair she’d been perched in, scrubbing the worry away from her face and straightening her clothes as Jace stepped into the room. His gaze darted between her and Shane while David disappeared into the kitchen.
Not accusing. Just acknowledging the other man.
Shane cleared his throat. “I’ll go downstairs and check in with Damon. David can go with me. I might’ve missed something when I was examining him earlier,” he said coolly, cleaning his glasses with the edge of his shirt as he went.
David grumbled from the kitchen. “But I was just out—”
Shane hushed him, quickly ushering the other hunter outside despite David’s muttered protests.
A moment later, the door closed and locked, and Jace leaned his weight against it.
He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “Shane is wicked smart, but kind of a nerd,” he said. “A badass nerd.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I noticed.”
A long moment passed. Frankie stared at her feet, while Jace shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. She watched him from under her lashes. She tried not to imagine where the zipper of those jeans, where those pockets led. She blushed.
I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that, especially now.
He was the first to break the silence. “I’ll do it,” he said.
She glanced toward him, hoping he meant what she thought he did. “Do what?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Do I need to spell it out? I’ll learn how to shift.”
