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“Birth name,” Bones prompted.
“Ellis Pierson,” the man replied.
Cat began writing, using the wallet as backing.
“Aliases, all of them.”
Ellis had many. He also had several industry contacts, a few prior handlers, and two sniper trainers, but all of them had been human. So had his prior kills, judging from how Bones didn’t recognize any of the names Ellis rattled off. Did the person who’d hired Ellis not know that Cat was a half-vampire?
“How did this contract differ from any others you’ve taken?” Bones asked when it was obvious that he’d learn nothing from Ellis’s history.
“The restrictions.” Ellis’s mouth turned down. “No bombs, poison, strangling, stabbing, garrote, bludgeoning, or physical contact of any kind. The hit also couldn’t take place at her residence, car, or place of employment because she’s a monitored government employee, and it had to be a head shot from a minimum of a hundred yards, with a second and third head shot, too.”
Bones neededallhis ice now. Otherwise, he’d tear at Ellis until there was nothing left except the bloody stains coating him. Oh, yes, whoever had hired Ellis knew what Cat was. They also knew that someone might try to raise her as ghoul, if she were killed. All it took to create a new ghoul was for a human to die while drinking vampire blood, and then have a willing ghoul trade hearts with that person while a vampire used their blood to activate the new heart.
With vampire blood running through her veins, Cat always met the first requirement, but she couldn’t come back as a ghoul if she no longer had a head. Three bullets from a high-powered rifle would have ensured that.
“Anything else you haven’t mentioned?” Bones asked when he was finally in control enough to speak again.
Ellis nodded. “The original contract came in last week, but today, the client got anxious and said ‘new circumstances mandated immediate results.’ The price increased by twenty percent if the job was done tonight. That’s why I followed her from her house to the restaurant. The steep vantage point made the shot harder, but being so far below a crowded place meant that it should’ve been easier to escape unnoticed.”
Ellis sounded dour at that last point, and he gave Bones an accusing look, as if Bones had cheated by flying after him.
Bones only smiled…and yanked Ellis’s throat to his fangs. One rip later, Ellis’s blood was overflowing Bones’s mouth. Bones had held back all his venom, not wanting a drop of it to soothe the prick’s pain. The only reason he wasn’t dying in more of it was because of how pale Cat was. She didn’t need to see Bones dole out the kind of death that Ellis truly deserved. She’d been through enough tonight already.
Bones shoved Ellis aside when his heartbeat stopped. With the deep jugular tear, it didn’t take long. Cat stared at Ellis’s body for a moment before raising her gaze to Bones.
“Did that hurt?”
He couldn’t tell from her tone whether she wanted the answer to be yes or no. Either way, he went with the truth.
“Yes, but not nearly as much as he deserved,” Bones said as he wiped a smear of blood from his mouth. Then, finally able to shed his ice, he touched the rent on her temple that the bullet had left when it grazed her.
“So close to losing you. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it, Kitten.”
He folded her in his arms, needing to feel how warm, solid, andaliveshe was. Her breaths were caresses against his skin, and each heartbeat soothed him more than his ice ever could. But those trembles…were they delayed shock, or something else?
“Cold? Want my coat?” he asked, starting to fetch it.
She stopped him, clinging to him as if the ground had suddenly left her feet again. Bones held her, running his hands down her back in long, soothing strokes. Between that and his body pressed against hers, her shivers soon eased.
“You’re warm,” she murmured, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “I’ve never felt you this warm before.”
No, she hadn’t. Fresh human blood was inside him, and a lot of it, raising his body temperature well past what it normally was. That heat would fade in an hour or so, but right now, he was nearly as warm as she was.
Cat suddenly yanked his shirt collar open. Buttons flew, and she rubbed her face against his bare skin and made a sound very much like a purr. A new kind of heat scorched him, and he had to fist his hands to keep from tearing at her clothes next. Not here. She’d had a shock, and her attempted murderer’s body was only a meter away-
Her mouth trailed over his bare skin. His cock nearly jumped to attention. Bloody hell, he needed his ice again rightnowif he was going to walk away from this.
“Don’t, luv,” Bones rasped with the last of his honor. “I have very little control left in me.”
“Good,” she whispered, kissing the hollow at the base of his neck. “I don’t want your control.” A lick seared his collarbone before her tongue slid lower down his chest. “And I don’t want to waste another moment of being alive-”
Bones yanked her head up and kissed her.
23
Cat’s mouth was sweetness and fire while her body taunted him with its perfection as she pressed against him hard enough to bruise herself. She tore at his shirt again, too, and Bones groaned when it split open and he felt her bare skin rubbing his, but not enough of it. Her dress was still in the way.
