Eternal Hunter (4 page)

The lady had said she didn’t fear much.

Jude sat up in an instant and his fingers tightened around the phone. “What’s wrong?” A call in the middle of the night was never a good thing.

“I need you.”

Okay, she’d said
that
in his dream, but not quite the same way.

“408 St. Charles Avenue. Come as fast as you can, okay?”

Click.

For one second, two, he stared down at the phone.

Then he ran for the door.

Because Erin was afraid.

There weren’t any police cars in front of the old house on St. Charles. No swirling blue lights.

Jude had expected to see them, or at least some sign of trouble.

The antebellum house sat quietly, time having ravaged the once beautiful frame. Azaleas did their part to hide the house, nestling it in perfumed security from curious eyes. But the beauty of the place had faded and only a whisper of glory remained.

A fixer-upper. There were plenty of old houses like it in the city.

But only one that had his Erin inside.

Jude’s gaze scanned the yard. His nostrils twitched. There was another scent in the air. Heavy. Drifting just under the azaleas and their sweet fragrance.

Blood.

He bounded up the steps and shoved open the door.

And slammed into Erin.

They fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and a cloud of curses. He tried to spin to protect her from the fall—and his weight—but it was too late.

They hit hard.

She didn’t even flinch.

Her golden eyes met his and Jude tried not to notice just how incredibly good she felt beneath him. Tried, failed.

Her breasts were crushed beneath his chest. Her thighs were spread, cradling his hips in just the,
oh yeah,
right way.

If the scent of blood weren’t clogging up his nostrils, he sure as all hell would’ve enjoyed the moment.

Later.

He levered up onto his forearms. “What the fuck is going on, Erin?”

She licked her lips. “Get up.”

No. Dammit. He wanted to stay exactly where he was.

And he wanted to find out why there were shadows in her eyes.

He got up.

Erin exhaled. “I—this has to stay between us, okay?”

Jude blinked. “
What
has to stay between us?” He had a real bad feeling about this situation, and much as he liked the sexy ADA and wanted to get her naked, he wasn’t about to break the law for her.

Well, he wouldn’t break it
much
for her. A little bending, he’d do that.

His nostrils twitched again.

That was human blood
.

Shit. Wary now, he kept a close watch on Erin as she rose to her feet. She still wore the sexy blouse from earlier. Her makeup was gone. Faint brown smudges were under her eyes.

He could all but smell the fear dripping off her.

“I thought you didn’t scare.”

She gave a rough laugh at that, kind of a desperate sound. Her fingers raked through her black hair. “No, hunter, I said there wasn’t much that scares me.
He
does.”

Jude tensed. “Someone else is here?” He didn’t smell him. Just that thick blood, coating every breath he took.

The animal inside loved the scent of blood. It was a response Jude couldn’t control. Primal.

Like the response he felt for Erin.

But the man knew the coppery scent was bad. Trouble.

“Not anymore,” she whispered. “He’s…gone.”

Jude’s hands fisted. His gaze swept the room. Caught sight of the old staircase, twisting up to the next level. To the left, he saw the gleaming wooden floors and the oversized doors that led out of the parlor. Doors that were firmly shut.

“I-I went back to the police station after I left your place. I needed to talk to Antonio and find out what the ME had to say about Burrows.” The words came out fast. “I was tired when I got back and didn’t even notice the smell until—” Her gaze darted to the left, to the white doors.

He crossed the room, body alert. His fingers curled over the old door knobs—two doors, French style. He wrenched them open, ready for any threat.

Sonofabitch.

The lights were on in the other room. Bright and stark. Shining perfectly on the bloody message that had been left on the far wall.

Missed you.

The blood had trickled down, blurring some of the letters a bit, but the message was clear.

What the fuck?
His growl filled the room.

This shit was twisted. “You searched the house?” Sprawling places like this one had too many rooms and far too many places for someone to hide.

With his nose…no one would hide from him.

He spun around, ready to stalk from top to bottom and—

She caught his arm. “I told you, no one else is here.” Plump lips tightened. “The bastard delivered his message and ran.”

“Some message.” Not every day a woman got a love letter in blood.

Her fingers tightened around him. “I need your help.”

“You need the cops. What the hell? You’ve got some psycho ex-lover stalking you—” With freaking blood.

“Not my lover.” She shook her head. “Never that.”

“Call. The. Cops.”

“Some jobs aren’t meant for the cops.”

“And some are, sweetheart. You’re an ADA—you know this shit.” She should. But he’d worked with victims before, and he knew that even the professionals would forget the rules when the deadly games became personal. “Erin, when someone breaks into your house and leaves—”

“He’s
Other.
”

He’d figured that. Well, either
Other
or seriously fucked up human.

Seriously fucked up
Other.

“The cops can still track him.”

“No one can track him. The bastard’s too good at hiding.” She exhaled, and, for a moment, he thought he saw…calculation in her gaze.

He tensed.

Be careful with the ladies, Jude. You can’t always trust a pretty face.

His grandfather’s warning. Given right before his senior prom, the night Susie Jo Hill had left him on the dance floor to make out with the quarterback.

He’d pounded the quarterback and come away with the scar on his lip, courtesy of a big-ass class ring and a lucky punch. Then he’d left a furious Susie Jo shouting on her doorstep.

Erin was no Susie Jo. She was something much, much more dangerous.

Her hand fell away from him and damn if he didn’t miss her touch.

Not. Good.

“I’ve got a stalker, Jude. A guy who has been trailing me and making my life hell for the last year.” Her eyes held his.

A stab of pain in his palms made him realize that his claws were out. He unfisted his hands and the claws sprang to their full length.

Erin didn’t so much as blink.

“I came here to get away from him,” she said. Her shoulders were straight, her chin up, but she still looked vulnerable.

And that made him want to roar with fury.

“He
scares me. I’ve caught his scent before. This isn’t the first time he’s come inside my home. He’s a shifter, I know that much.”

A shifter.
Like me
.

No wonder the lady hadn’t been so wild about gettin’ down and dirty with him.

“I-I don’t know where he got the blood.” She glanced over her shoulder at the painted wall and shuddered. “What if he hurt someone? What if…”

Oh, the odds were good that he had. “We’ve got to bring Antonio in on this.” That much blood, yeah, someone had been
hurt
. “It’s human blood.”

Her gaze darted back to his. “I know.” Whispered. And she looked like she was going to be sick right then. Her hand rose to her mouth and she paled.

“Erin…”

She shook her head, sending silky locks tossing back and forth. After a moment, her hand dropped. “He thinks he’s giving me a present, don’t you see? A gift. But I’m—I’m not like him.”
You.
Her eyes said it, even if her mouth didn’t. “The blood sickens me.”

A human reaction.

But he could have sworn she was a shifter.

No, no, dammit, he
knew
she was a shifter. The beast inside recognized her.

But shifters loved blood.

“I can’t stand the smell,” she whispered and stormed back into the parlor. “
I hate it
.”

Pretty unusual shifter reaction.

He followed her, closing the doors with a quiet squeak. He needed to get a blood analyst in there, right away. Because he was getting a really dark, sick suspicion.

Human blood.

Who’d bled out so nicely less than twelve hours before?

Burrows.

Antonio had taken Jude back to the crime scene at the station, after Erin had hightailed it to the DA’s office.

He’d seen Burrows. Seen the pooled blood on the floor.

But maybe, just maybe, some of that dark blood had left the holding area.

Judging by the way the letters had dripped on the wall, the killer would have needed to come straight to Erin’s house after the murder. The blood must have been used when it was fresh.

The Slasher’s blood?

Possible.

Not likely, of course. Could be from some other poor bastard. Then they’d have two sick shifters on the loose.

But he couldn’t discount the connection. This whole mess was too screwed up. And it set his teeth on edge.

The stalker bastard had frightened Erin, had
been
frightening her. Not an acceptable situation.

The guy had broken into her house. He could have so easily gotten to her—
hurt
her.

Jude’s teeth began to burn and lengthen. The claws were already out, time for the fangs.

And time to rip a shifter asshole apart.

A
t least the police had come quietly. No screaming sirens. No flashing lights. Just two silent black vans. One patrol car. And Antonio, in a red sports car.

Flashy.

Figured.

Erin paced the length of her porch as she watched the crime scene team file into her house. The night was hot, humid as all hell, but goosebumps covered her arms.

Missed you.

Dammit. She’d flushed her old life down the toilet for some freedom, but he’d found her.

Now he was back to playing his sickass games with her.

“What the hell were you thinking?” A hard bark of fury.

She raised a brow and turned to find Antonio glaring at her, the lights of the porch shining behind him. His hands were crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed. He shook his head. “You called in a civilian before you called the cops—”

“He’s the same civilian
you
called earlier, too,” she reminded him. There hadn’t been a lot of options for her. With the creep on her tail, there never were. Back when she’d lived in Lillian, there sure as hell hadn’t been a choice. As far as she’d known, the police hadn’t known about the
Other
.

So they certainly wouldn’t have been able to handle a supernatural who’d slipped over the line and gone straight psychotic.

“This is different! This is—”

“My life,” she fired back at him. “I
know
this isn’t protocol, okay, but this isn’t your average situation.” Her voice lowered to a hard whisper, “Not average at all.”

A grunt. “Trust me, blood on the walls is
never
average.”

True. Erin sucked in a breath and tried to push her fear and anger aside. Antonio was catching the brunt of her fury, but the guy had already done her a favor by pulling in his team so softly.

The porch boards groaned as he stepped forward. “How long has this guy been after you?”

She swallowed. “A year.” Maybe longer. Hard to say. She’d gotten her first “gift” almost twelve months before. But she’d read up on stalkers and their behavior. She knew they often watched their prey for months or even years before making a real move.

“Did you think running was going to stop him?”

Jude had briefed him on her situation. Well, Jude had told the cop as much as
she’d
told the shifter. Erin hadn’t revealed everything. Not yet.

She couldn’t.

“I’d hoped it would,” she said.

He took another step toward her. The scent of his cologne filled her nostrils. The guy always wore his cologne. Not too heavy but—

Another scent. Richer. Filling the air, surrounding her.

Shifter’s scent.

Erin looked to the right, just over Antonio’s shoulder, and she found Jude watching her, his big frame filling her doorway.

There was something in his eyes. A heat.
Anger?

Desire.

“Your crew’s working hard,” Jude said as he stalked toward them.

Antonio stiffened just a bit, then eased away from her. “They’re the best I’ve got, and they all know when we need…delicacy.”

So they knew about the
Other?
Or were they
Other?

Jude came to stand beside her, his arm brushing hers and sending some of the chill dissipating from her body. Handy talent, that.

“It’s human blood.” Flat.

The cop nodded. “You’d know.”

Yeah, he would.

“This guy has a real hard-on for our ADA.”

Antonio wasn’t exactly high on the tact scale. Erin lifted a brow and managed not to grind her back teeth.

“He’s chased you across the state,” Antonio continued. “The guy isn’t backing off.”

“We’re gonna
make
him back off.” The words were little more than a growl from Jude.

Antonio’s dark eyes locked on the shifter. “This gettin’ personal for you, man?”

Jude didn’t bother answering. “Send patrols out, have them keep an extra watch on the neighborhood.”

Erin gave a laugh at that, and she knew the sound held a desperate edge. “A patrol car isn’t going to stop this guy. He’s
Other
, and he’s damn strong.” Sometimes she worried that nothing could stop him.

She hadn’t been able to. Not that night, that cold night when he’d caught her in her bedroom and dug his claws into her arms as he pinned her to the bed—

No.

Not going back there. Never again.

“Tell us everything you know about him,” Jude said. The crime scene unit was still inside. Gathering their evidence. Walking through her life. They couldn’t hear this. Only Jude and the cop he seemed to trust.

If only she were the trusting kind. But, other than her father, she’d never really trusted anyone fully before.

When you had a lot to lose, trusting was a foolish mistake. Way too easy to get burned.

“Not much to say.” A shrug.
He found me. I tried to be so careful and he found me
. “He’s a shifter.”

I don’t want to run again.

“You’ve seen him?” From Antonio.

Careful. “I-I caught his scent once.”

Antonio just looked blank.

Jude’s fingers snaked down her arm and the heat burned through her shirt. “Shifters carry a distinct scent. It marks us.”

The cop sniffed. “I don’t smell a damn thing, well…those azaleas but—”

“It’s the way shifters recognize each other,” Jude told him. “Like to like.”

“Oh, shit.”
Antonio’s eyes widened as he stared at Erin, his jaw dropping.
“You’re a shifter?”

Way to go, hunter.
“No, I most certainly am
not.
” Her nostrils flared. “I just have very…acute senses.” That part was absolutely true. It felt good to be honest right then.

His gaze raked her. “You holding out on me again, ADA Jerome?”

Yes.
“What I am or what I am
not
really isn’t the issue here.” No, the issue was the psychopath who’d painted blood on her wall. “We could have a victim out there, someone who needs help.”

“That’s why my crime scene gang is here. They’re the best.” Simple. “If the bastard left behind any clues, they’ll find ’em.”

“Good.” Erin realized she was leaning toward Jude.
What?
She snapped straight back up.

She was tired, that was it. Hell of a day. Even worse of a night. So she’d gotten tired and she’d sagged a bit. That was okay.

But the tight feeling in her gut, the fierce urge to turn and push against him, that was
not
okay.

She needed to get in bed. Needed to forget the blood and the fear.

But the idea of walking into that house again…“I loved this house,” she muttered, shoving back the hair that had fallen over the side of her face. There had been no ghosts in this house.

Until now.

Antonio frowned at her and after a moment of silence, he said, “So you’ve never seen the guy.” Ah, trying delicacy now.

“I can’t give you a description. Sorry. I
wish
that I could.” Her shoulders lifted then fell. “Male, big, strong.” She’d caught that much in the darkness. “But I can’t tell you a single thing about his face.” Not much help at all.

“You got all that from a scent?” Antonio scratched his chin. “One fine nose you got there, lady.”

He didn’t understand. Maybe the guy didn’t know as much about the
Other
world as she’d thought.

One of the crime scene techs walked out. She had four evidence bags in her hands. Antonio waited for her to pass them, then he leaned forward and said, “You’re gonna need protection.”

She was stronger than any human he’d send to protect her.

A human wouldn’t be strong enough to help her this time. She needed—

“She’s got protection.”

Jude’s words had her head jerking toward him. She stared into his eyes. So deep and wild. “She’s got protection,” he repeated, the words fierce.

Protection…but at what price?

She could sure use his power and strength, but—

But Jude was a danger to her, too. Every moment she spent with him, Erin could feel the thing inside her tensing.

Hungering.

Like to like.

Wasn’t that always the damn way?

“Maybe you should think about moving to a hotel room for the night. The team’s gonna be here for a long while longer,” Antonio said.

“I-I will.”
Great idea
. The sooner she got out of there, the better.

Missed you.

Dammit. No.

She couldn’t let him do this to her. Not again.

The hotel room was small. The air conditioner buzzed with a steady whir of sound, and the bed, a queen that looked like a double, waited with perfectly smooth covers.

Jude scanned the room, hands on his hips. “You don’t have to stay here. You can come to my place and—”

“I’ll be fine here,” Erin said, her voice smooth as silk. No more fear. No worry. No anger.

Nothing.

The lady had frozen on him. Jude didn’t like that. Not one bit.

She tossed a small overnight bag onto the foot of the bed. “Thanks for bringing me over, but it really wasn’t necessary. I could have driven myself.”

“I wanted to bring you.” He’d wanted to make certain she was safe.

Blood on her walls
. What kind of sick freak was after her?

And why was she so calm now? His fingers clenched. “Tony will send a unit around here, just in case.”

“Nothing else is going to happen tonight.” She kicked off her heels. Suddenly became two inches shorter.

The lady had nice feet. Red toenails. Kinda pretty.

“That’s not the way this guy works.”

She would know.

Erin lifted her hands above her head as she stretched and he really tried—
for about three seconds anyway—
not to look at her chest. But her breasts stretched the front of the blouse and those buttons looked like they might pop at any moment.

Get a grip.
The lust was gonna have to take a backseat for the time being.

Romeo from hell was stalking her. She didn’t need him jumping her then, too.

Her hair brushed over her shoulders. Such a dark, thick curtain.

Focus.
“I can…stay here.” Hell, yeah. “Um, to keep an eye out in case—”

Her arms dropped and the stretching show ended. “Not necessary.” Clipped. She marched toward him, eyes glinting. “Look, hunter, I appreciate all of your help.” Her steps halted, a foot away from him. Her head tilted up, just a bit. “I-I know I shouldn’t have called you. I don’t know why I did.”

He knew. Jude caught her hands, closing that space between them. “Don’t you?” Oh, yeah, she felt the connection, exactly like he did. The hard hunger. The need.

Her lips parted.

Jude wanted those lips. Wanted the soft body that pressed against him. The bed was so close. He could ruin those perfect covers real fast.

He took a breath, tasted her, and said, bluntly, “You need me, sweetheart.”

Jude watched the flare of her golden eyes. Flecks of emerald circled her pupils. So beautiful. He knew the protest was coming even before she sputtered, “Look, you—You might think you’re God’s gift to the ladies, but I don’t
need
—”

“Not talking about sex right now.” That would come, later. “You’ve got a shifter on your tail, and as good as Tony and his team members are, I’m better.”

Her mouth snapped closed. No argument, because she knew he was telling the truth.

“That’s
why you called me.” Her breasts pushed against his chest, the nipples pebbled. He’d always been a breast man, and the lady had some
fine
breasts.

But business came first.

“I’m the best hunter in the area. You called me, before you called the cops, because you wanted my help.”

Still no denial.

“You want this guy stopped? Let me handle him.”

Secrets were in her eyes. Fair enough, he had his own hard stories to keep, too.

“You really think you can catch him?” Erin asked quietly.

A shrug. “I’m your best bet.” He believed that, one hundred percent.

“What will I…” Her gaze dropped even as her hands rose to push against his chest. Small hands with red nails to match her toes. “What will I have to pay for your services?”

He didn’t answer, not until that stare of hers rose slowly once more. And he didn’t back away from her either. “One hell of a lot,” Jude told her and enjoyed the widening of her eyes. “I don’t come cheap.”

Then he kissed her because he had to taste her. Her lips were parted and he drove his tongue deep.

Damn but she was sweet. He’d been a sucker for sweets as long as he could remember.

She didn’t fight him. Didn’t dig her nails into his chest or twist her head away. No, her tongue swiped against his and she gave a little rumble in her throat, a cross between a growl and a moan—and then he just stopped thinking.

And started feeling.

Lush female curves. Soft skin. Lips. Tongue.

His hands snaked down her spine, caught her hips—squeezed.

Nice ass.

His cock rose toward her, swelling and hungering.

Her scent teased him. Those roses…and woman. The rich scent of her need, a fragrance that only made his arousal stronger.

And…something more. Earthier. Subtle, simmering just below the surface, but something familiar in the air.

Her hands shoved against his chest and Jude stumbled back.

Forgot the punch the lady packed
.

Her lips, red and wet, tightened. “Is sex with me part of the deal?”

“No,” he told her truthfully. “It’s a bonus.”

Jude knew he’d said the wrong thing even as Erin sucked in a sharp breath. “Listen, shifter—”

He held up his hands and tried to ignore the hard-on that stretched the front of his jeans. “Easy. What I meant”—okay, so he’d never been real good with women and words—“was that the case and us—they’re separate.”

But he did plan on moving into her house, if not her bed, right away.

She’d be the most vulnerable at night. During the day, she’d be surrounded by lawyers and cops. Sharks and the police—they had to keep her pretty safe. But at night, when she went back to that big old house all by herself, she’d be a target.