Chapter 25
Hunter
Dying embers left a bitter tang on the night air as the redheaded paramedic and I eased Dagger onto the ambulance floor’s outer lip, letting him take some strain off his legs.
He cursed at the pain from the angry scarlet patches under his shredded jeans, but his following groan carried intense shame.
With good fucking reason. Not only had he abused his police authority to lie and take my Serenity on some half-assed night tour, no doubt trying to impress her with his master of the mean streets routine, but the fucking moron had then unwittingly delivered Serenity into the bloodthirsty grasp of that psycho, Conrad.
All of Bryce’s and my efforts to protect her, down the drain in one go.
Serenity had to be in a living nightmare right now. There wasn’t time to waste. But the paramedic had insisted we get Dagger to the ambulance. Fuck that, let the badass cop walk it off during our urgently needed search. We had to get after her!
Bryce, who’d at last pulled on his grass-stained pants and was now buttoning his shirt, was of the same mind. “We need to chase those bastards down.” He gripped my shoulder so hard his fingertips dug into my skin through my shirt. “Right now. We—”
“Completely agreed,” Dagger panted out, rattling a bottle of shifter-strength painkillers he’d asked the paramedic for. “But I need to chew on a few of these first so I can walk. Give me a few seconds.”
We didn’t have a few seconds. I seethed as Dagger hurriedly shook half the pills into his stupid, smoke-stained face, much to the paramedic’s protests about potency and dosages.
Not that I wasn’t relieved my twin hadn’t burned alive, or that I wouldn’t have helped him in a heartbeat if I could’ve, but now that he was safe from the inferno, I had a compelling urge to smash his head through every—
No use. His skull’s almost as thick as yours.
Oh fuck. I recognized that snarling voice in my head. No, it couldn’t be…
Think again, brainiac.
Shit. Somehow, my jaguar had broken free of the cage I’d corralled him into. Now he roamed free within my mind and body, his fury at Serenity’s capture and Dagger’s recklessness hammering primal blood around my brain and making his salty opinions extra loud.
After so long apart, with him stuffed away inside my consciousness, silent and tiny, he felt like an invader rather than an extension of myself. Even his voice seemed to have a new quality, deeper and raspier than my own.
I thumped the ambulance door with my fist. Goddammit! My jaguar was an extremely unwelcome addition to this ongoing crisis.
How the hell had he gotten free?
Adrenaline, motherfucker. You needed me, my jaguar snarled.
Bullshit. Get back where I put you.
His presence dug claws into my skull. Let’s put you in a cage you filthy traitor.
Watch it, I’m the boss here. You—
Boss? Ha! Some boss. You let our idiot brother lose our mate.
Mate? My retort died away. Dagger hadn’t delivered my girlfriend straight into Conrad’s salivating jaws.
He’d delivered my mate.
Holy shit. Dagger’s near death had loosened the lock on my jaguar’s pen, but what had torn open the door was the news of Serenity’s kidnapping. He’d come out to rescue my mate.
I knew she was special.
To think, a mate of my own. What I thought would never happen finally had, but it was bittersweet given her predicament.
Serenity, you are mine and I am yours. You’re my mate. My human mate.
Our human mate, dickhead. And what are you waiting for? Get after her!
“Right, we can’t wait any longer.” I spoke the thoughts aloud. “We have to move,” I told my jerk of a twin. “If you still can’t walk properly, point me and Bryce in the right direction and get in the ambulance.”
Dagger’s feet hit the ground. “While she’s out there, in those fuckers’ clutches?
No way.” He tilted the painkiller bottle and guzzled a mouthful more as another detective brought over his recovered Colt 45.
Sliding his pistol into its holster and clamping its velcro strap down tight, Dagger limped to my side, refusing assistance from anyone.
My jaguar grumbled in my head, That’s nice he’s finally getting off his ass, with his medicine and his gun. What else might help him? Herbal tea? Warm cookies? A brain larger than a grape? He put my mate in danger!
Our mate, remember? I snapped back at him.
Dagger nodded toward the deserted and shadowy boulevard beside the Missouri’s banks. “Come on, they went in that direction. Quick, follow me.” He did a fast hobble toward the river, sucking air through clenched teeth with each step.
Quick? If he moved any slower, he’d be going backward, my big cat huffed.
I need to focus. Stop distracting me.
You need to shift into a superior form, book sniffer. He’s barely got his two legs left, but I’ve got four fast ones.
You’ve got a fast temper too. So, no.
Temper? His roar filled my head. Keep me in here, and I’ll show you temper.
As we moved clear of the flashing sirens and camera lights held at bay by a police cordon, I peered into the path’s murky distance while trying to keep a hold of the faint vamp scent in my nostrils.
I can smell that wounded vamp’s trail strong as day-old meat. Shift! Or I’ll fucking force it…
The roaring demands of my jaguar were coming close to deafening. “Bryce, I have to shift. He’s coming out one way or another. Please, hang on to my clothes,” I began to strip.
Bryce’s worried frown loosened in surprise, but he didn’t raise any questions. Nodding rapidly, he stammered, “Of—of course. Yes, you should shift then. Whatever finds her fastest. That’s all that matters.”
My jaguar chuffed his approval. You’re all right, stallion.
Stallion?
Like you didn’t see that thing practically dragging in the grass.