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Jaz stood strong once Adrian left. She hadn’t been tested this hard in a long time, but she hadn’t cared for a man like this ... ever.
She bathed again and dressed for her bar job. Regardless of what happened last night, she still had a mission to find Daisy and not much time. Being Saturday, none of the crew had to be there until ten, which gave them time to clean up and get food prepped.
If after walking through the woods to the bar she detected no new scents, she’d have to decided about remaining another day.
If none of this panned out, she’d have to start over digging for a lead.
Before she left, she’d also have to convince Thea to return to her family or find some place where the kidnappers couldn’t get to her.
Now that she thought about it, she’d run a mile down the road toward town and see if she could pick up the woman’s scent. Thea needed to get out of here now before the predators came back for her tonight.
Jaz would be ready for them this time.
When she walked out of the bathroom, her tiny apartment felt huge and empty.
No Adrian. Her heart hit the floor.
Her heart should not have come out to play last night. She should have kept a wall between sex and emotion, but something changed with touching him. More than that, something changed with how he’d touched her deep inside. His energy had joined with hers as she pushed her power around to heal him.
She’d felt him. Not just inside her body, but inside her very being.
At their first touch, his energy had seemed to seek out hers as if curious and interested.
When he’d told her what happened to him and Red in that enemy camp, Tarski had rushed to the surface. Her wolf had been there listening to every word with her and said, Red wolf dying. Hurt and confused by human. Only knows to rage. Human must save wolf or die.
She’d listened to her wolf and Adrian, sickened by what each shared. Then she’d given Adrian the best advice she could. Tarski had an innate ability to pinpoint what had to be cured when she asked for help healing someone.
Her wolf had voluntarily offered that information.
Jaz needed more time to help Adrian, but ... time would not play fair with her.
That he hadn’t wanted to leave curled a finger of happiness around her soul. She missed him already.
Driving her hands through her wet hair, she grabbed two fists full.
How had everything gotten off track?
For the first time in a long while, she’d left the world behind, content to be in the arms of a man who believed her words. He’d believed in her and was determined to help her. He had a steel core of integrity, which would not allow him to make a rash judgment on guilt or innocence. That’s why accepting her side of the battle meant even more.
And now, he stood in her corner.
The only way he’d change that stance would be if someone convinced him differently.
Tanza hadn’t. Who else could?
Adrian seemed to know only Leonard from that family. She hadn’t known Leonard long, but it had hurt to lose him. The one positive would be that he had died not knowing the truth about his brother and father.
She’d had so many questions for Adrian, too, but that phone call interrupted. If he hadn’t kept pushing for her commitment to call when she ran again, she would have told him what last night meant before saying goodbye.
She never seemed to get a chance to say goodbye to people who mattered, and this one mattered more than others.
Why had she agreed to call Scarlett?
Because her heart would not let go of Adrian.
She’d answered truthfully and would not break her word on that, but when she did call Scarlett, she’d ask her to keep Adrian from following.
Jaz did not want a second death from this trek south on her conscience.
Tarski had remained in a quiet mode, but now asked, How do you feel?
Jaz grinned at her wolf’s way of asking if she was okay and answered, Not too bad. I enjoyed last night.
Her wolf pressed. But you do not expect to see this human again, do you?
Jaz asked herself that and had no encouraging answer. I have no idea, Tarski. I want to, but he’ll get in my way or he’ll get killed. I can’t have either of those happen.
True. You must be careful today, her wolf warned. Your energy is very low after healing him this morning.
I know. I’ll have time to regenerate during the day at work, Jaz reassured her wolf.
Tarski changed the topic. I sense something new.
What’s new? Jaz asked.
You are happy inside. You fear this feeling.
She thought about it and realized Tarski was right. She hadn’t been happy in a long time, maybe never truly happy. Not like she’d felt last night and this morning.
She felt ... loved. Her Kodiak family cared deeply for her, but she hadn’t realized how big a hole had been left from her mother’s inability to love her. The hole seemed smaller now that Adrian had claimed a huge chunk.
She’d tried to brush off what she’d shared with Adrian as only sex.
It had been so much more.
Adrian hadn’t declared his undying love, but he showed how much he cared in every touch, every word.
You may be right, Tarski, she answered honestly. But we still have to find Daisy. We can’t depend on Adrian being able to help us. I’m concerned about him getting called back to his people. We’ll find Thea first and send her away from here.
Tarski said, We will be the bait.
Jaz got nothing past that wolf. Yes, they’ll come back and there will be no other female shifter. If it turns out to be a bust tonight, we’ll have to leave and hunt for a new lead on the kidnappers.
Her wolf suggested, The red wolf found us. He could help.
Tarski was spot on.
She’d bet Adrian and his wolf had been a deadly pair when tracking an enemy, but she couldn’t pull him into something that might require going against his rules. He had been military a long time, which meant he would not break laws.
She would never kill without reason, but ... she would not allow the Blood King to keep Daisy and the other kidnapped women if she found them.
Time had been ticking along faster than she realized. She hurried to leave the apartment and get moving. She could make a mile or so to Thea’s place, which was supposed to be a duplex down the road. It couldn’t be that hard to find in a small town, then she’d hurry back to scent around the bar.
She stepped out to a clear blue sky and comfortably cool temperatures. When she started down the steps, Tarski shouted, Shifters!
Jaz didn’t have a chance to search her surroundings before four large darts struck her stomach, arm, and thighs. She caught the sound of the weapon at the same time. Not silent, but that same dulled-ping sound of the one suppressed last night.
She’d been hit with a load of tranquilizers. The drug blasted into her blood stream. She called up her energy, but the drug interfered, blocking the flow.
Had more than tranquilizer been in those darts?
Gripping the rail, she couldn’t lock her knees that turned to jelly. Her body folded like a bumped house of cards and the world turned on its side.
Her fingers relaxed and slid off the rail.
She tumbled headfirst down the steps, unable to break her fall.
A male voice yelled, “Get her!”
She hit every step like a dog’s toy tossed down the stairway.
When the sickening movement stopped, her head fell to the side. She couldn’t lift it or open her eyes.
Noise scuffled near her. “Fuck. Think we broke her neck?”
“Maybe. Can’t deliver her like that. We’ll end up dead.”
They kept talking, but she slowly sank into a gray fog with Tarski yelling garbled words at her. She moved her lips, but the whispered words weren’t even loud enough for her ears. “I’m sorry I’ll never see you again, Adrian.”
