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Swallowing, Erin tried to ease back.
“Erin—wait,you’re hurt!”
Yes, but he didn’t need to worry about her. The scratch she had was nothing compared to the wounds still on his body. “I’ll be okay.”
“Can’t you shift to heal?” Zane asked. The demon he’d hauled away lay bound near his feet. Good thing Zane carried his own cuffs—Otherproof cuffs she’d glimpsed in the car. They were made out of some kind of special titanium. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”
She’d lost more blood than she would have liked, but her wound had already started to mend
Jude caught her arm. Lifted it, turned it for better inspection. “You don’t...have to shift.” He sounded stronger. Good.
She shook her head. No, for her, the healing didn’t depend on the shift. A lucky thing, because otherwise, she’d be very easy prey.
His gaze rose to hers. “I saw...what you did.”
“I couldn’t let them kill you.” Her voice was rough and scratchy. She didn’t want to think about what she’d done to those men. No, demons, not men. Not human.
“You’re not…weak.” His eyes widened, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re the...next step, aren’t you? Evolution of the whole damn...species. Why shift when you’ve got all the power...in human form...”
Her brow furrowed. Next step? Jude must be confused. She wasn’t anything special. Far from it.
“Donovan!” The door at the top of the stairs banged open. Voices shouted in the background, but Antonio’s voice was clear as he demanded. “Donovan, dammit, you down there?”
“Help’s arrived,” Dee murmured.
“The cops?” Zane shook his head. “You called them, Dee?Them?”
“I called 911,” she told him as Antonio flew down the stairs. It sounded like a dozen men were behind him. “Told them we had an officer down.”
“He’s not an officer,” Zane said, rubbing a hand over his face and then staring at the demons littering the floor. “I fucking hate dens.”
“Yeah, well, Jude’s also not human, but I didn’t tell them that, either.”
“Donovan!” Antonio leapt over the last few steps. “What the hell happened here?”
Jude pushed up and staggered a bit as he rose to his feet. Erin wrapped her arms around him as she tried to steady him as much as possible.
“Ambush,” Zane explained succinctly. “Who would’ve thought these drugged out pricks could even manage something like this?” Disgust was rich in his voice. No, not just disgust, almost...hatred.
“That...one.” Jude lifted his hand and pointed to the bound demon. “He’s not using.”
“Aw,Christ, man, you’re naked!” Antonio spun around. “You trying to make me go blind or something?”
There was a line of cops behind him. Men and women. A few EMTs were sprinkled in the bunch. Erin moved quickly, putting herself between Jude and the crowd. Not that Jude probably gave a rat’s butt about his modesty, but she did.
One of the officers called out, “What happened to his clothes?”
Antonio’s hands went to his hips. “This is a crack house—who knows what the drug heads were doing? Maybe they cut them off, thinking he was hiding something.”
The man was fast on his feet, and his explanation sounded like a good cover story to her. Especially since Jude’s clothes were lying in a mangled pile to the right. “Dee,” she called softly, trying to catch the other woman’s attention. Dee worked with Jude. Did that mean she knew about his policy of keeping backup clothing in his vehicle?
“On it,” the woman said immediately and headed back for the stairs. “Uh, Tony, not to tell you how to handle your shit, but with all thisOtherstuff going on down here, don’t you think you’d better clear the scene?”
He gave a grim nod then ordered, “Bishop and Peters—get over there and see what kind of damage the assholes did to Donovan. The rest of you—upstairs. Make sure the scene is secured. None of these perps will be leaving the area until I’m done with them.”
Dee brushed by him.
Antonio snagged her arm. “Next time, could you let meknowwhat I’m walking into?”
