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She could rescue herself In the fairy tales, she wasn’t the trapped princess She was the fire-breathing dragon, and she’d burn anyone who got in her way She had

"I killed to protect irl anyht as he studied her "So the others you’ve killed? Were you protecting yourself then?"

The rush of anger broke through her control Did she need to give him a whole damn life story? Did she have to justify every move? "You want to compare kills? Your hands have blood on theht be one of the good guys, but you’ve crossed the line for duty, I know you--" His laughter stopped her cold

Jana blinked "Auy had a real piss-poor sense of huhter faded, but his lips ht twist of amusement "Ah, Jana…" He shook his head "I have to know … What in the hell ever uys?"

Chapter 9

A good guy? Oh, the wo When he’d listened to her story about her dick of a stepfather, the last thing he’d felt was good If he’d known Jana back then … I would have gotten rid of the bastard for you

Now he understood so much more about her, and Zane realized … he and Jana were a lot alike Maybe tooe first killed So much power

Jana shook her head and stared up at him a bit blankly, all that wild, dark hair loose around her face "You are a good guy, Zane You-you work for Night Watch You’re a hunter"

"You ed and tried to keep his voice careless Real hard when the wo him care more than any other had "They pay me to hunt, but even if they didn’t, do you really think I’d be doing anything else? Some of us were born to hunt To kill" He paused deliberately "But you know that better than anyone else, don’t you?"

That pink tongue swiped out again and his cock hardened Down, boy Not now He hadn’ttime But he’d watched her while she’d been out, he’d-dammit, worried-and when she’d woken, he’d wanted

He wasn’t used to not taking what he wanted So he’d taken her

And had one hell of a fine time But I still wantto do about that probleet us away froed "It wasn’t that hard"

"Bullshit I-I re in front of Dusk" Her forehead wrinkled "I re closer to her He had the feeling the woht break and run at anyto leave hio back to Dusk?" That point had been bothering him "Did you have a contact there?"

Her eyes-such a deep blue-widened "Guess you could say that" Her shoulders rolled "The bastards from Perseus came after us too fast I knew someone at Dusk must’ve tipped thenored the jibe

"So I figured if I shook soet somebody to talk" She frowned at him "And I did A demon named Morris The bastard with the scar who turned tail and ran when the fight got hot"

Exciteave you a contact?"

"No, I got him to call his contact I told ‘e den"

"Fuck The fire was your beacon?" Not real subtle, but then, she wasn’t exactly a subtle kind of woman

She smiled at him And it was … a real smile Warm Her dimple winked, and he sed

"No, Zane," she said, "the fire was for you"

"What?" She could always surprise hied up on you I wanted to send amy battles" He could handle any dee hiirlfriends would cook a guy dinner

Jana cooked his ene?

Her hand lifted and slid over the stubble on his cheek "You’re welco for those bastards froot there first" Her lips tightened "Actually, you got there first" She waited a beat then said, "Bait, huh?" She didn’t seery Just curious

Bait He didn’t like the sound of that

"Guess you realized there were bigger fish than ht Watch have a hard-on for Perseus now?"

"You could say that" And a hell of a lot ents in that fire We don’t take kindly to losing our own"

Her gaze searched his "What are you going to do? Do you really think you can take Perseus down?"

"Yeah, baby, I do And you’re gonna help me blow the bastards to hell"

He ditched the truck Jude would want to rip him apart when he found out, but Zane had to abandon the shifter’s ride Someone would have seen it at Dusk, and there was no point in continuing to advertise their presence

It wasn’t hard to find another vehicle It wasn’t legal, either But he’d learned long ago that you soet a job done

"The Feds and the cops are going to be looking for us," Jana said, turning to glance at hi fancy The kind of car you forgot two s twice, just as a precaution

"They’re not going to find us" They had about thirty o before theyto stop for highway patrol

"The FBI will have splashed our pictures all over the news Every cop in the area probably has our descriptions" Her voice was flat Just stating the facts

"Baby, every cop in the area got your description days ago Hell, those in New Orleans had it years ago, and you’re still not inside of a jail"

"I’ured that

"And when I orking for Project Perseus, they made sure the cops stayed off my back"

The car almost swerved off the road "You worked for theo after their kills or find lanced at her from the corner of his eye Her attention seeo back to jail," she said quietly

Then why did you kill?

Her head turned toward his aren’t black and white"

He frowned