Chapter Twelve

 

 

Kayla dragged a brush through her wavy brown hair, grimacing as she worked through the tangles. Perhaps she should start taking a little more care with her appearance now that she and Nick were together. Maybe add some makeup. Break out her curling iron. Use some hair spray to try to keep her waves from bursting into unruly curls as soon as Houston’s humidity hit them. Wear a push-up bra. Short skirts instead of her favorite yoga pants.

Almost as soon as the thought arose, she rejected it. She had done all that for her ex-husband. Had it held his interest? Had it kept him from straying? No. All it had done was lead to him complaining when she didn’t do those things and make her feel as if she weren’t pretty enough on her own.

Nick saw her without makeup all the time and he made her feel beautiful. Desirable. Like she didn’t need any kind of embellishment to make his body burn.

She smiled.

Maybe it was his age. He said he’d been among the first colonists to settle in Canada. She couldn’t imagine many of the women back then wore makeup. Then he’d lived among the Iroquois. Perhaps his early years had simply given him an appreciation for the natural look that some men today lacked.

Her husband sure as hell hadn’t appreciated it.

Determined not to let thoughts of her ex ruin her good mood—the good mood Nick had put her in by giving her three fantastic orgasms earlier—she left the bathroom and headed downstairs. Her dentist had rescheduled her appointment for this afternoon. Kayla would’ve totally forgotten if the calendar on her computer hadn’t sent her a reminder.

Locating her phone on the kitchen counter, she sent Nick a quick text: Forgot I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. On my way out the door. See you when I get home.

Once she pressed Send, she grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the door.

Her phone rang. Pausing, she glanced down and saw it was Nick.

“Hi,” she said brightly. “Did you get my text?” The only person she ever texted was Becca, so she wasn’t very adept at it.

“Yeah. When’s your dentist appointment?”

“Four o’clock.”

“I’d like to go with you.”

She frowned. “Why?”

A pause followed. “Paranoia?” he suggested uncertainly, then sighed. “I don’t know. After what happened last night, I just want to stick close to you and make sure you’re safe.”

He’s such a sweetheart. “Those men targeted you, Nick, not me. I’ll be fine.” She glanced out the window. “Besides, you can’t come with me. The sun won’t set until six thirty.”

“I can withstand some sun exposure.”

“Can you withstand an hour of it? Because it takes half an hour to get to the dentist and will take even longer to get back home because rush hour traffic will have begun.”

Oliver spoke in the background. “I can go with her.”

“I’d rather go myself,” Nick murmured.

“And do what?” Oliver countered. “Sit in the back seat like Miss Daisy and scoot from side to side, avoiding sunlight every time she turns a corner or rounds a curve? Lie down on the floorboard when the sun dips low enough that you can’t avoid it any other way?”

Nick swore softly.

Kayla bit her lip, understanding better the limits his condition imposed and wishing it didn’t restrict him. Not being able to go out whenever you wanted sucked. As a night owl, she had on many occasions bitched about not feeling safe going out late at night in a city with as much crime as Houston. But at least she still had the option of doing it. Nick’s hands were tied.

“You sure?” Nick asked.

“Yeah,” Oliver responded. “I don’t mind.”

Kayla bit her lip. “Is that really necessary?” She didn’t know Oliver very well.

“For my peace of mind?” Nick said. “Yes.” He lowered his voice. “Look, I don’t want you to feel like I’m smothering you or being some domineering jackass who wants to control you, Kayla. It’s just temporary until I get this mess taken care of. The ambush last night kind of blindsided me. And every time I think about what might’ve happened if I hadn’t caught that last asshole before he burst into your house, I start to shake.”

Awww. He’s so sweet. “If you hadn’t caught him, I would’ve shot his balls off.”

He laughed. “Well, I know now that you’re fully capable of it. But I’d rather you not have to. That sort of thing tends to stick with you afterward if you’re not used to it.”

If you’re not used to it. Nick hunted and killed vampires every night and had been doing so for centuries. How long had it taken him to get used to it?

“Okay.” She relented, not wanting him to worry. “Oliver can come with me.”

“Thank you.” The relief in his voice filled her with warmth, confirming she’d made the right decision. “He’ll be there in a minute. I’ll see you when you get home.”

“Okay.”

“Be safe.”

She smiled. “I will.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Nick didn’t sleep while Kayla was gone. He could neither calm his tumultuous thoughts nor silence his worries.

Aidan and Dana arrived shortly before sunset.

Eliana accompanied them and gave him a hug as soon as she saw him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her. Eliana was what Oliver would call a touchy-feely person. She often expressed her affection through touch. And Nick thought one of the reasons she enjoyed hunting with him was because she could do so without fearing he would misinterpret it.

Most immortal males dreamed of finding immortal women they could love and with whom they could spend the rest of their long, long lives since relationships with humans always ended badly. Unfortunately the disparity in numbers between male and female immortals meant that dream wouldn’t become a reality for a lot of them. And though none would dare disrespect Eliana or try to force their attentions on her (Seth would geld anyone who did… if Eliana didn’t do it first), Nick imagined she garnered quite a bit of attention from immortal males and had to be careful not to do anything that might spark desire in those who didn’t interest her. Like hug them.

But Nick had been open with her from their very first meeting, confessing his feelings for his beautiful next-door neighbor. So she didn’t feel the need to hold back.

She gave him another squeeze, then released him. “What about Kayla? How’s she doing?”

“She’s good.”

Her brow puckered. “Rumor has it she saw you shape-shift.”

He loosed a sigh. “Yes. She pretty much knows everything now.”

She winced. “So much for breaking it to her slowly.”

Aidan and Dana studied him curiously.

Aidan was about six feet four inches tall with broad shoulders and a lot of muscle. Dana was a foot or so shorter with a slender build that looked downright delicate next to her husband’s.

Dana glanced up at Aidan, then at Nick. “I take it Kayla is your next-door neighbor?”

“Yes.”

“And you have feelings for her?”

“Yes.”

Aidan offered him a commiserating look. “How much did she know before last night?” His voice carried a Scottish accent.

“She knew I was immortal but not why. And she didn’t know I could shape-shift.”

“Yeesh,” Dana said. “And you…”

“Assumed the form of a cat to try to slip by her and ended up passing out and shifting back to my normal form right in front of her.”

Eliana bit her lip.

“Well,” Dana said, “if it’s any consolation, I didn’t know anything about this one’s”—she jerked a thumb in Aidan’s direction—“immortality or special abilities until Roland tried to kill him outside my shop.”

Aidan scowled. “The bastard outed me before I could find a gentler way to break it to you.”

Eliana stared at Dana. “I heard about that. Didn’t you taser Roland?”

A flush crept up her cheeks. “Yes.”

“That was ballsy as hell,” Eliana said with a grin.

Aidan smiled. “Yes, it was. And it all turned out well in the end because she accepted me for who I am.”

Smiling, Dana leaned into his side and wrapped an arm around him. “Because you’re so damn irresistible.”

He laughed.

They seemed to share the same closeness Nick and Kayla did, one he dearly wanted to continue.

“Hopefully Kayla will accept me, too.” Anxiety threatened to rise once more. “So far she has. But I don’t know what the hell else might come crashing down on her doorstep.”

Aidan shrugged. “Nothing will if we have anything to say about it. That’s why Seth sent us.”

Dana nodded.

Eliana smiled. “And it’s why I’m here.”

He frowned. “You make it sound like you won’t be staying.”

“I won’t.” She tucked her hands in her pockets. “I’m being reassigned.”

“You are? Where is Seth sending you? Somewhere close?” He hoped so.

“No. But don’t worry. I have enough time to help you take care of this before I leave.”

Damn. She was a good friend. He was going to miss her.

Before he could ask again where Seth was sending her, she clapped her hands together. “So. What’s the plan? I think the men should go hunting as usual while Dana and I stay home and have a girls’ night in with Kayla.”

Aidan shrugged. “Works for me.”

Nick hesitated. Dana and Eliana could certainly keep Kayla safe, but…

He sent Eliana a squinty-eyed look full of suspicion. “You aren’t going to pump her for information about our relationship, are you?”

She assumed an exaggeratedly innocent expression. “Who me? Would I do that?”

“Hell yes.”

She grinned. “Then I guess that’s a great big maybe, baby.”

Aidan and Dana laughed.

Nick groaned.

“So.” Oliver spoke from the passenger seat.

Kayla didn’t even have to look at him to know he was staring at her. He’d been doing it off and on ever since they left for the dentist. “So?”

“There’s something I think you should know about Immortal Guardians and their Seconds.” He had identified himself as Nick’s Second, whatever that meant. “Something Nick might have omitted mentioning.”

Dread coiled in her stomach, ready to strike. “What’s that?”

“We’re enormous gossips and constantly butt into each other’s business.”

Laughing, she glanced at him. “You do, huh?”

He grinned unabashedly. “Yep.”

She slowed to a stop at a red light. “Is that why you volunteered to accompany me? So you could pump me for information?”

“Nah.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “I volunteered out of a genuine concern for your safety. And for Nick. I love him like a brother and know it would crush him if you came to harm, so I want to do whatever I can to protect you. But I’m not above using my position to score some good gossip.”

She smiled. “I’m not really a kiss-and-tell kinda girl.”

“So you have kissed.” Narrowing his eyes, he pretended to write on an imaginary notepad. “Juicy gossip item number one: Nick and Kayla kissed.”

Again she laughed. “What’s a Second?”

“It’s what we call a mortal who is assigned to live with and watch over an immortal.”

She studied him. “Like a Renfield?”

“Yeah. Most are human. A few are gifted ones. Seth insists every Immortal Guardian have one.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Quite a few reasons. Before the past century, someone only coming and going at night would’ve drawn unwanted attention and suspicion. Unless they were of a criminal or salacious nature, almost all business transactions took place during the day. But immortals have to avoid exposure to sunlight. So having a trustworthy human around to conduct business for them while the sun was up and to provide a semblance of normalcy helped a lot.”

She eased the car forward when the light turned green.

“Seconds also provide protection and backup. If an Immortal Guardian gets into a bind and doesn’t make it home before sunrise, for example, his Second usually keeps tabs on him well enough to be able track him down and get him to shelter. If the immortal is injured, the Second is also trained to render first aid and, in extreme circumstances, can provide him with the blood he needs.”

She sent him a quick look. “Do you do that? Does Nick…?”

“Take my blood? No. Biting me repeatedly would cause me to transform. And that sort of thing really isn’t necessary anymore. We have our own blood banks to which employees of the network donate, and we always keep a few bags on hand.”

Kayla didn’t realize until then that she had been so distracted by the plethora of secrets she’d learned about Nick that she hadn’t devoted much thought to how he used the fangs he could grow.

“You know they don’t drink it, right?” Oliver asked hesitantly, as though reading her mind. “The blood? Did Nick explain that part to you?”

She shook her head.

“Well, they don’t. Drink blood, that is. Their fangs siphon the blood directly into their veins. It’s basically the same as you getting a transfusion in the hospital, except immortals don’t need the needles and the tubing. Their fangs do it all.”

“So he doesn’t bite people?” She thought of all the vampire movies and TV shows she’d watched that made vampires biting women seem erotic or vampires biting men downright vicious.

“No. The blood banks eliminated the need for that.”

“And before the blood banks?”

He swore. “Yes. He bit people. All the immortals did because they need frequent blood infusions to survive. But immortals are stand-up guys, Kayla. For a long time, they worried that the church might be right, that they were evil or damned or would become monsters like the vampires who turned them. So they avoided feeding from people who were kind and giving and basically just fed from the assholes. And, before you ask me, yes, they sometimes killed those they bit if the man or woman in question was a criminal. Hell, Bastien even convinced an entire army of vampires to only drain pedophiles.”

“I thought immortals killed vampires.”

“They do. Usually. But Bastien is the black sheep of the Immortal Guardians family and sort of has a history with vampires.”

It was a lot to take in. Again. “I wouldn’t think coming and going only at night would draw as much attention today as it did in the past since there are so many twenty-four-hour stores and fast-food chains.”

He smiled. “It doesn’t in the larger cities that have those, but still does in smaller communities.”

She turned into the dentist’s parking lot, unwilling to voice the next question that came to mind. She didn’t want to offend Oliver.

He laughed. “It’s okay. You can ask.”

“Ask what?”

“You’re wondering why Nick needs me around when he can keep bagged blood on hand and tell his neighbors he works the night shift, right?”

“Mmmmaybe.” She sent him a quick look.

He grinned. “Don’t worry. I’m not offended. It’s a valid question. The role of Seconds has evolved quite a bit over the past century.”

“How so?”

“You turned thirty-eight this year, right?”

She frowned. “How did you know that?”

“Becca let it slip.” He laughed when she made a grumbly noise in her throat. “Are any of your grandparents still living?”

“Two are.”

“How old are they?”

“One is ninety-one and one is ninety-seven.”

“How comfortable are they with smart phones and smart watches and laptops and all the wireless shit that’s available today?”

“Not comfortable at all.”

“Mine aren’t either. Nana calls me at least once a month, asking why her satellite remote won’t work. Grandpa thinks cell phones are the root of all evil. And Gram only uses her iPad to play solitaire and take pictures.”

Kayla smiled. “And that relates to Seconds how?”

“An overwhelming majority of Immortal Guardians are older than your grandparents. Like a lot older. In some cases, thousands of years older. If these guys didn’t have Seconds—and the network—to help clue them in to modern technology, how it works, and the danger some of it poses to them, society would’ve long since discovered their existence and hunted them to near-extinction… keeping a few alive to study like lab rats.”

Only one parking space remained in the small garage, way at the end. Swinging into it, Kayla cut the engine. “So you Seconds basically drag immortals into the present?”

“Kicking and screaming all the way.”

She laughed. “I did notice that Nick doesn’t like to text.”

Oliver sent her a wry smile. “Most immortals don’t. Having been born in times when there wasn’t even a telegraph with which they could send a message, they tend to think texting is too impersonal. Some even hate talking on the phone. They prefer face-to-face conversations.”

Kayla couldn’t imagine living in a time with no phones.

“It isn’t always an unwillingness to learn something new or a lack of interest though. Spending his nights hunting and slaying vampires to keep their numbers down doesn’t really leave Nick with an abundance of free time in which he can explore every new piece of technology that arises… particularly when he’d rather spend that free time painting.”

A cool breeze swept through the parking garage as she and Oliver strolled toward the building.

Kayla offered him a smile. “Thank you.”

His eyebrows rose. “For what?”

She shrugged. “Explaining what you do for Nick. Helping me understand a little more of his world. Coming here with me. Although I still don’t think the latter was necessary.”

He opened the door and held it for her. “Honestly, I don’t think it was either. But I hope you’ll cut Nick some slack. I’m pretty sure this is the first time he’s fallen in love.”

Her steps slowed to a halt as she stared at him in astonishment. “Really?” She had loved her ex until she’d discovered his perfidy. Since Nick had lived a lot longer, she had just assumed he had loved other women in the past.

Oliver tucked his hands in his pockets and nodded. “The last mortals Nick revealed his immortality to were the Iroquois who took him in after his family tried to kill him. When you had your accident, he could’ve easily had Seth alter your memories and kept things the way they were between you. But instead he risked everything by telling you what he is. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t love you. And he’s never shared the reality of his existence with a woman before. He would’ve told me if he had.” His features scrunched up in a comical wince. “He also probably would’ve been a little better at it if he’d had any practice. So I hope you’ll cut him some slack for that as well.”

Nick had never loved a woman enough to share as much of himself as he had with her.

“I haven’t done it either,” Oliver added.

Emerging from her reverie, Kayla bypassed the elevator and headed for the stairs. “You haven’t done what?”

“Told a woman what I do for a living. Since joining the network, I haven’t found a woman I care for enough to risk it.” He sent her a small smile. “I admit I envy Nick. I’m glad you two finally got together.”

“I am, too.”

If Oliver hadn’t found a woman he loved, it certainly wasn’t from a lack of charisma. Every employee in her dentist’s office was female. And Oliver charmed them all. So much so that Kayla didn’t worry about him being bored while she had her teeth cleaned and asked her dentist about the back tooth that had been bothering her. Oliver’s deep voice was a near-constant rumble in the background, accompanied by feminine responses and laughter.

“Nothing is showing up on the X-rays,” Dr. Fisher murmured. “You’ve had that crown for a while now. So it shouldn’t be the bite. Let me check it though.” Kayla opened, then bit down on whatever Dr. Fisher held in her mouth. “Nope. The bite looks good. Have you been clenching or grinding your teeth? I’ve been seeing that more and more with patients lately. Even some of the children. These are stressful times.”

“I do tend to clench them unintentionally when I get migraines,” Kayla admitted.

“Then you might want to consider a mouth guard to protect your teeth if you grind them in your sleep and also to wear during the day when you catch yourself clenching. That might be what’s going on.”

Kayla wrinkled her nose. A mouth guard?

Dr. Fisher smiled. “You work at home, right? So you don’t have to worry about anyone noticing it.”

Anyone but Nick. She cringed a bit at the idea of having to put a grind guard in after making love with him before going to sleep or having to take one out before a little wake-up sex. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay.” Dr. Fisher walked her to the front desk.

Oliver was leaning on the reception area side of it, chatting with the receptionist, and straightened with a smile.

“All right, lady.” Dr. Fisher smiled. “Good to see you again. Let me know if it continues to give you problems or gets worse.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Kayla paid the bill, scheduled her next routine cleaning, then met Oliver out in the hallway.

“All good?” he asked as they strode down the hallway and past the elevator.

“Yes.”

He tromped down the stairs beside her. “What is she worried might get worse?”

She grimaced. “My back tooth has been bothering me. It hurts sometimes when I chew. She thinks I might be clenching my teeth or grinding them in my sleep and wants me to consider getting one of those mouth guards.”

His brow furrowed.

“I know. Wearing a mouth guard would just be too sexy, right?”

He snorted. “Hell, Nick wouldn’t care about that. He’d want you to do whatever keeps you from experiencing discomfort.” He pushed the door open and preceded her out into the parking garage.

Kayla studied him curiously as she followed him.

He glanced around, his gaze sharp and searching like a Secret Service agent’s.

Had he done the same when they’d arrived? She’d been distracted enough by their conversation that she hadn’t noticed.

The cool breeze buffeted her back and swept her hair forward as they headed for the far end. “Then why the frown?”

He shrugged and returned his attention to her. “I was just worried that maybe… you know… recent events might be what’s causing you to grind your teeth.”

She waved a hand in dismissal. “No. My tooth has been bothering me for a while. I get migraines. And it often drives me to unconsciously clench my teeth. Dr. Fisher thinks that’s what it probably is.” Her voice echoed a little off the walls of the garage.

“You get migraines?” He left her and walked around to the passenger side of her car.

“For years now.” She inserted a key in the door.

“You should ask Aidan or Seth to—” Oliver grunted.

She glanced at him, wondering what he had been about to suggest and why he’d stopped himself.

Frowning, he looked down.

Kayla followed his gaze and stared. A long cylindrical object about the width of a pen but half as short with something red and fuzzy sticking out of the end protruded from his chest. It looked like one of those tranquilizer darts she’d seen animal control officers use on horses and other large animals that needed rescuing.

“Oh shit,” he muttered and drew a 9mm from she didn’t know where. Before he could even finish raising it, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.

Fear sliced through her. Then pain struck her upper arm.

She looked down and found a similar dart sticking out of her biceps. Dropping her keys, she reached up and yanked it out. Dizziness assailed her as she let it fall from limp fingers. Her knees turned to rubber. The ground rushed up to meet her. Pain exploded in her head as it hit the concrete.

Kayla tried to scream but couldn’t seem to make her mouth work.

Her purse lay a foot away.

She reached toward it, feeling as though she were trying to swim through quicksand. Her fingers brushed the zipper. If she could just grab her phone and call Nick, she wouldn’t even have to say anything. He’d know when silence greeted him that something was wrong.

Footsteps approached. A big boot kicked her purse away.

A blurry figure knelt beside her.

Then darkness descended.

Nick’s knee bobbed up and down as he glanced at the clock for the hundredth time.

He, Eliana, Aidan, and Dana lounged in his living room. The others shot the breeze and caught up while he consulted the clock for the one hundred and first time.

He drew his phone from his pocket and checked it.

No new messages.

Impatience getting the better of him, he sent Kayla a quick text: Everything okay?

He stared at the screen.

Minutes ticked past. Nothing.

He texted Oliver: What the hell is taking so long? Where are you?

Nothing.

Swearing, he rose, stalked over to the ottoman, and grabbed the television remote.

All conversation ceased.

He turned on the satellite and found a local news broadcast.

“Nick?” Eliana spoke softly, her voice imbued with concern.

“They should be here by now,” he muttered, switching to another local channel. The last time this had happened, he’d turned on the news and seen Kayla’s car mangled all to hell in the middle of an intersection.

“It’s rush hour,” she reminded him gently. “You know how bad traffic is here.”

He shook his head. “Kayla isn’t responding to my text. Neither is Oliver.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Aidan and Dana exchange a look.

Aidan rose. “Your Second isn’t responding to a text?”

“No.”

Eliana and Dana stood, too.

Nick waited for someone to tell him he was overreacting or being overprotective, anything to ease the dread accumulating inside him. When they didn’t, he shook his head. “The last time Kayla was late reaching her destination, she ended up broken and bleeding from an accident and might have died if we hadn’t reached her in time.”

Eliana bit her lip. “But what are the chances of that happening twice? I mean, two accidents on the way to or from her dentist’s office? I don’t think so.” She drew out her cell. “I’m going to have Henderson track their phones.”

Aidan caught Nick’s gaze. “Where was she going? Can you show me a satellite image of it on the computer?”

“Yes. Follow me.”

Nick headed into the study. Rounding Oliver’s desk, he seated himself before the laptop and did a search for Kayla’s dentist. As soon as a map with its location came up, he switched to a satellite view.

Aidan leaned down beside him and braced his hands on the desk as he studied the screen. “What route would she have taken?”

Nick zoomed out and used his finger to show Aidan the path Kayla would’ve likely driven from her home to her dentist’s office.

“Now show me a street view of the building again.”

He did.

“Can you get me any closer, maybe take me around behind it?”

Nick was able to get close to the front but could only show Aidan a partial view of the parking garage.

The elder immortal straightened. “Do you want me to shift into the form of a bird and fly over the route? I’m old enough that an hour in the sun won’t bother me. Or I can teleport directly to the parking garage.”

“The parking garage.”

“Okay. I’ll go have a look.”

Nick jumped to his feet. “Take me with you.”

The elder immortal nodded. “Let’s arm up.”

It only took them a few seconds to don weapons-laden coats and tell Eliana and Dana where they were going. Then Aidan clamped a hand on Nick’s shoulder.

Everything around him blurred and went dark. A feeling of weightlessness engulfed him. When his surroundings brightened again, he and Aidan stood in a nearly empty parking garage.

Bright golden light from the setting sun bathed them from the west.

Aidan drew Nick back into the shade of an outdoor stairwell. “Do you see her car?”

“Yes.” Shrugging off his hold, Nick hurried over to Kayla’s car.

It was empty, the doors locked.

Could her appointment have simply run long?

That might explain why Kayla hadn’t responded to his text. She couldn’t very well do so while the dentist was working on her teeth. But why wasn’t Oliver responding?

His skin began to prickle beneath the sun’s light.

One of the doors to the building swung open. A slender brunette stepped out.

His heart leapt, then sank when he realized it wasn’t Kayla.

Aidan joined him. “Go check the dentist’s office.”

Nick forced himself to walk at a normal human’s pace, nodding to the woman when he passed her. Once inside, he didn’t see any surveillance cameras but kept his pace to that of a mortal just in case.

The door to her dentist’s office was locked. He peered through the tall vertical window beside it. Darkness shrouded the interior. And his preternaturally enhanced vision caught no movement within. His hearing picked up no heartbeats.

Swearing, he returned to the parking garage.

Aidan waited beside Kayla’s car, his expression grim.

“They aren’t inside.”

Nodding, Aidan sank to his haunches. “I found this.”

Nick crouched beside him and studied the pavement to which the elder pointed. His heart sank. “Blood?”

Aidan nodded. “Not a lot of it. But it’s relatively fresh. There’s more on the passenger side.”

Nick touched a finger to it, brought it to his nose, and inhaled. Oil. Brake fluid. Transmission fluid. And… “This is Kayla’s.”

“I’m guessing the other is Oliver’s.”

Nick rounded the car and checked it out. “Yes.” His skin again prickled as sunlight bombarded him. Ignoring it, he drew out his cell phone and sent Kayla another text: Call me ASAP.

A chime drew his attention to a trash can by the stairwell.

Nick quickly crossed to it and found Kayla’s purse inside, underneath a bag containing complimentary toothpaste, dental floss, and a toothbrush. As he yanked the purse out, fear inundated him. What had happened?

“Over here,” Aidan murmured.

Nick rejoined him, the purse clutched in his hand.

“Is that hers?” Aidan asked, eyeing it.

Nick nodded. The prickling in his skin became a burn as his skin began to pinken.

Aidan rested a hand on his shoulder. Nick’s skin healed within seconds.

“I can heal the damage in real time,” Aidan murmured absently, keeping one hand on his shoulder as he pointed to a spot near the blood. “There’s something there. Close to the blood. A scent that’s different. Not like the usual ones cars leave behind on pavement. But not like the blood either. Do you smell it?”

Nick drew in a deep breath. “No.” But Aidan was an ancient with senses heightened more than Nick’s. “Where is it?”

Aidan crouched, keeping his hand on Nick’s shoulder and drawing him down with him. He pointed, his finger hovering an inch or so above the pavement. “There.”

Nick started to touch it, but Aidan stopped him. “Just sniff it. If it’s what I think it is, I want Henderson’s forensic team to see if they can collect a sample and trace it.”

Right. Nick leaned down and sniffed without touching the pavement, then sat back on his heels. “It’s familiar.”

“You’ve smelled it before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

He searched his memories, trying to pinpoint where and when he’d encountered that particular scent. It had happened recently. On a hunt maybe?

No.

When it came to him, he spat an epithet and met Aidan’s gaze. “It’s the sedative the men who attacked me used.”

Which meant those bastards had Kayla and Oliver.

And Nick had no idea who the hell they were or how to find them.