Ivy eyes Jacob where he lays, his throat ripped open, blood pooling around his body far and wide. Hugging herself, she cuts her stare, seeking out mine. “There’s nothing that can be done?” she asks. “I mean, I know he’s dead but—”
“Nothing,” I confirm. “There are many things in this world outside your understanding right now, but dead is still dead.”
“That’s what happened to your Ivy?”
“Yes. That’s what happened to my Ivy.” My lashes lower and then lift to meet hers. “I couldn’t save her, no matter how much I needed to save her.”
We stare at each other, seconds ticking by, a million memories between us that she can’t even embrace or understand. But she feels them present, pulling us together at the same time they try to tear us apart once again.
Sirens shriek loudly, already approaching as police work this area heavily. In this case, it’s the EMS team who head straight to the victim. Next, the police arrive, and Officer Adams who knows me and Cam greets us. He is quick to home in on my shredded shirt and once he confirms I’m uninjured, and we’re all okay, I’m given a new shirt, while mine is to be handed over for evidence. I rip the shredded mess off and I can feel Ivy’s eyes on my body.
When I pull on the police-issued T-shirt, I arch a brow at her. She wets her lips and looks away. Officer Adams begins questioning her. While she’s alone with Officer Adams, my vampire hearing allows me to hear her report what she saw.
“The bear came out of nowhere. Everything happened so quickly. Thank God Eli was walking by or I’d be dead as well.” She’s not wrong on that.
Cam steps to my side and we turn to each other, huddling in closer to speak softly. “You think it really was Grayson?” he asks.
“I do, but I want to talk to Marcus.”
“Be careful. He dies if it’s ever discovered he helped you find her.”
“He didn’t.”
“Didn’t he? Do you really believe he sent you to Nashville to find her and when it didn’t work out, she just showed up here?”
I scrub my jaw. “Fuck. You’re right. No. I don’t believe that.”
“What about Ivy?” he asks. “There are rules you must follow to protect yourself and her. Claim her or wipe her memories.”
“She gets to choose,” I say.
“If she chooses wrong, she dies.”
“I’m not forcing her to spend eternity with me.”
“She loves you.”
“Maybe not in this lifetime.”
“If you don’t claim her, and you leave her human, she dies at Grayson’s hand over and over again.”
“Not if I kill Grayson.”
“And if that starts a civil war?” he challenges. “And don’t tell me Elijah wants him dead. Your thinking is cluttered up, and rightfully so, by Ivy’s return. But think about this, brother. This could all be a game to create war. Claim her.”
“I’ll do what is right for Ivy,” I say. “I’m a lead with law enforcement. I have to stay and see this out. I want her off the streets. Take her to my apartment and keep her there.”
It’s at that moment that Ivy approaches us when she could easily walk away or ask for a police escort. Instead, she makes a beeline for me. Cam backs away and gives us space. She halts right in front of me, close, so close I could easily touch her with nothing but a lift of my hand. She studies me, searches my face, a mix of confusion and something else in her eyes I can’t quite read. I want to climb inside her head and read her thoughts, but I don’t do that. I don’t take the privacy from her that she deserves.
“Now what?” she asks softly.
“Now you go with Cam to my apartment where you’ll be safe. Cam’s a friend. He’ll protect you with his life if needed.”
“And where are you going?” she asks.
“I have business to attend to here and then I’ll be there.”
“You’re going after Grayson,” she assumes.
“Not tonight,” I say and because I can’t help myself, I catch her hip, walking her to me, half expecting her to pull away from me, but she doesn’t. Her fingers curl on my chest as I add, “If he were that easy to catch, he’d already be dead.”
“Because he killed your Ivy,” she says softly.
“Yes,” I agree. “Because he killed my Ivy.”
I cup her head and lean in, my mouth above her mouth. “Don’t be afraid of me.”
“I’m not,” she says softly. “I’m not afraid—well, not of you.”
My mouth covers her mouth and I kiss her, a long stroke of tongue against tongue, that is too much and too little. I’ve been without her for far too long that everything with Ivy is too little.
Forcing myself to part our lips, I release her and step back. “Go with Cam.” I turn away from her and walk away, but I’m not leaving her behind. I won’t stay away. Not from her or Grayson. Fuck civil war. He will not live long.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ivy
Werewolf.
That’s what attacked Jacob. Unless—was is a bear? No. No, I heard the conversation between Eli and the man he called Elijah. They spoke as if—I don’t know what I heard. I’m losing my mind. Whatever the case, my clothes are covered in blood, and I’m wearing a police jacket to cover it all up. That’s a reality I wish I could deny because it’s Jacob’s blood and Jacob is dead.
Cam and I start the walk back to the hotel, and I glance over at him. He’s a tall, blond, kind of a beach guy, and good-looking. He’s also familiar.
As Eli is familiar, but on a far more intimate level. If I’m honest with myself, he’s a part of me, but that’s silly. I just met him.
“You okay?” Cam asks.
No, I think, but that’s not a good answer. I have to be okay. There’s no other option. So I don’t linger on myself. I glance up at Cam and ask, “Are you like him?” and I don’t even know what that means. Different, I guess. A monster hunter.
He gives me a side-eye. “Like Eli?”
“Yes. Like Eli.”
“I am, but as for any form of defining that meaning, I’ll leave that to Eli.”
“Monster hunter,” I repeat, trying to get my head around what Eli said and what I saw back there. I almost want to laugh at myself for even saying the words. “Are you a monster hunter?”
“I am,” he confirms.
“Are you a monster?”
He laughs. “It depends on how you define monster. If you ask Betsy, the chick I was with last week and didn’t call back, she’d tell you I’m most definitely a monster.”
“Why didn’t you call her back?”
“She was a bitch.”
Now I surprise myself by laughing, too. “But you still slept with her?”
He shrugs. “Shit happens.”
We approach the hotel and I’m thankful that I don’t know anyone at the door. I’m in the police jacket and I can’t imagine it’s covering up all the blood. We bypass the lobby quickly and head to the elevators.
“Why don’t you pack a bag to stay the night with Eli?” Cam asks, punching in my floor without me telling him which one to choose. I don’t ask how he knows where my room is located. I assume Eli told him.