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Killian doesn’t ask why. He’s manned the bar long enough.
After double-checking I have my wallet in my back pocket, I head for the exit, pausing to chat briefly with Terry and Jude, the two hulking security who watch the doors.
* * *
I’m reaching for the last of the limes when ragged breaths draw my gaze toward the grocery store entrance.
A young woman in her early twenties, with long dark hair and blue-gray eyes wide with panic, stands at the entrance.
I forget about the limes.
Straightening, I let my basket thump to the floor beside my feet. Her eyes dart so fast that she can’t be taking anything in at all. Not with the level of desperation radiating from her.
She needs me.
Two seconds later, the doors whoosh open and two men in leather with dark beards and predatory stares burst through. Her gaze swings their way and she retreats, her panic so loud I can taste it, touch it, and breathe it in the air. It becomes my panic, so sharp I couldn’t ignore it if I tried.
I head toward her.
A man in a black and fluorescent yellow jacket inserts himself between the girl and the two pimps because there’s not a fucking chance they’re anything else.
Rage fills me, surprising me. It’s not in my nature to want to kill the world. That’s always been Kade’s way. Or even Dariel’s, if it’s the wolf in control and not the man. But I see this girl, and I want to grab the nearest bottle and grind it in the pimps' faces for terrorizing her.
The security guard says something, what, I don’t know and I don’t care. All my attention is on her.
When she turns to grab a plastic basket from beside her, for just a second, she looks right at me. Whether she sees me at all isn’t important because I see her.
She’s ours.
If I approach her, she’ll run. There’s no way she won’t, not with the panic clinging to her, so I grab my basket nearly overflowing with limes, and make my way to the front counter, my eyes tracking her slow progress around the store.
My gaze runs over every inch of her. The white bandage on her forehead, hospital gown, bare feet, and man’s coat paint the image of someone who’s been through a night or more of hell. But that stops now.
Soon, she’ll finish tossing random things in her basket and go to pay. If she gets there before me, she’ll snatch up her bag and run out of the front door. I’ll never see her again, and I can’t let that happen.
When she heads toward the counter, and the cashier waiting on the other side of it, I walk faster, just beating her to it.
I feel the exact moment she queues behind me, stopping far enough away that I know I was right not to approach her before.
The sales assistant says something. I say something back with another of the smiles everyone believes is real, all the while feeling her presence behind me. When the assistant darts a glance over my shoulder and his smile fades, my eyes narrow.
He looks at her and sees someone who shouldn’t be in his shop.
I look at her and see treasure. Rare and priceless.
After I’ve paid, I grab my bag and move away from the counter. Stopping a foot away, I pretend that a jar on a lower shelf has caught my eye, before bending to examine it closer.
But all my attention, and all my focus, is on her, waiting for the perfect opportunity. It will come.
I just have to wait for it.
11
SAIGE
Just because I can’t see them, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
My eyes probe every dark shadow outside the grocery store. Distracted, I step into something wet and think nothing of it until I catch a whiff of what it is.
