lucky we got out of there with so little damage—other than my leg, that is.”
Jace’s eyes widened as he remembered. “How bad is it?”
Shane cleared his throat. “He broke it pretty badly. Then he was forced to walk on it to get you and Francesca into the H3 before I got there. Even with extensive physical therapy, he might still have a permanent limp, and he’ll definitely be out of commission for a while.”
Jace met David’s gaze. David’s eyes burned with rage, and Jace knew that if David had the ability, he would kill Robert with his bare hands. If there was one thing David couldn’t handle, it was people screwing with his job, and being physically impaired was practically number one on the list of things that would completely mess up David’s hunting skills.
“David, man, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
David shook his head and cut off Jace. “Don’t even go there, J. I’m a big boy. I can handle myself, and I chose to get involved in this, so just leave it be.”
Jace nodded and grumbled as he shoved himself into an upright position. Francesca was sitting in a brown suede La-Z-Boy with a blanket wrapped tight around her body. A sharp pang hit Jace hard in the chest; he’d never been so envious of a blanket. His body stiffened, and a slow ache throbbed in his groin as he pictured Francesca wrapped up in his arms, his hands stroking her smooth skin. He shifted, and a pain in his thigh snapped him back to reality. He was ass-deep in a hunt for a sadistic killer, and the last thing he needed was to be hung up on a beautiful woman, much less one who was a werewolf.
He examined his leg and assessed the wound. It was nicely bandaged up, and he felt the pull of stitches underneath—professional-level work. Shane must have been the one to dress the gash, and Jace shook his head and wondered if a medical degree was another item he could add to the long list of the kid’s assets.
“Thanks for fixing me up, Shane.”
“You’re welcome. All I needed to do was—”
Jace cut the kid off before he launched into another long lecture. “David, you shouldn’t have brought him into this.” He nodded toward Shane. “What the hell do you think Damon’s going to do to him when he finds out that we were at his place?” He glanced at Shane. “This
“Actually, this is my grandmother’s apartment. She’s out playing bingo tonight. We already took all the necessary precautions to keep Damon and any other members of the Execution Underground from finding us,” he said, speaking a mile a minute. “Oh, and I gave you a new phone for contact purposes. No trackers on it, obviously. It’s in the console of your H3.”
Jace gave him a thumbs-up. “Gotcha. Thanks.”
David cleared his throat as he managed to stand with the help of a large wooden crutch. “Jace, we can’t beat around the bush here. There is something seriously scary about that fucker.”
“Were you able to figure out what type of demon he is?”
David shook his head. “That’s just it. When he was strangling me, I recited Psalm 91 three times. Add in a shofar and that’s the big fat Jewish mother of all exorcism rituals. He didn’t even flinch. He’s not a demon, J. And whatever the hell he is, I don’t like it.”
Francesca snuggled deeper into the blanket, as if to shield herself from the gruesome details. “If he’s not a demon, then where did that symbol come from?”
David shrugged. “I honestly have no clue. Maybe he’s got one those hell-crawlers working for him. They’d do anything for a little bloodshed.”
“I don’t think it’s a demon. I’ve seen that symbol before, and I’ve never crossed paths with a demon in my life. As far as I know anyway,” Francesca said.
David’s eyes widened. “You know that symbol? He’s a werewolf?”
Jace snorted. “I thought so, but now... A werewolf hopped up on steroids, maybe.”
“No, he’s not a werewolf. And no, it’s not one of
“Well, that doesn’t give us much to work with.”
“Look, I’m sorry I can’t remember, but I’ll keep thinking on it. But don’t act like that’s our only hope. We’ve got information to work with. First off, we know that he
“Secondly, we know he has abilities that a regular werewolf doesn’t. Did you see how easily he lifted David and me together? He’s got extra strength. Not to mention the healing thing. That guy pulled a bullet out of his own chest, for God’s sake. I’m guessing a demon could have similar strength, but since he’s immune to David’s exorcism, that rules out the possibility that he’s a demon. Third, there’s the symbol. We just have to figure out what it means.”
All three men stared at her in silence.
She sighed. “So, we need to take a different approach. There is no way we can fight this guy with just two men and one female wolf. We’re going to need an advantage, something he isn’t expecting.”
Jace leaned back into the couch again. “And what exactly would that be?”
“You’ll need to shift, Jace.”
He blinked several times, unsure if he’d fully processed what she said.
“But Jace
Jace cringed. Hearing the words said out loud, in a room with two other hunters, stung like a bitch. Anything was better than being one of the monsters. Hell, the black plague would have been preferable.
Frankie sat forward. “It’s not that he can’t shift, he just
Jace gritted his teeth and swallowed his rage at the whole discussion. “What are you talking about?”
“With some training, you could learn how to shift.”
Jace shoved himself off the couch and hobbled from the room, courtesy of his damaged leg. “No, I won’t do it,” he called back over his shoulder. Anger ripped at his insides.
David caught him by the arm. “J, at least listen to what she has to say.”
“David, don’t you start this with me. You know—”
“J, we’re talking about people’s lives here! Would you stop thinking about yourself for one damn minute and listen to the woman?” David yelled.
Jace pulled his arm away but stepped back into the living room. In all the years he’d known David, the man had never so much as raised his voice to anything other than some sick demon wearing a human’s body like a swanky new suit coat.
“Thank you.” David turned to Francesca. “Continue.”
Francesca nodded. “As I was saying, all you would need is some training.”
“And you could train him?” David asked.
She let out a long sigh. “No, I couldn’t. He’d need to become a part of a pack in order to shift, at least temporarily. Shifting for the first time isn’t easy, and the presence of other wolves lessens the difficulty. Supernatural strength in numbers. There are a lot of things he’d need to learn after being approved by the packmaster and the pack.”
Jace scoffed. “There is no way in hell your asshole packmaster would allow a hunter into his pack.”
She shoved the blanket away. “It’s not the packmaster’s approval you’d need to worry about—it’s the pack’s. If you’re willing, I can guarantee that I can get you in far enough to let the pack vote on it.”
“How do you know you could get me past the packmaster? All he sent to look for that son of a bitch was you. No offense, Princess, but you’re only one person. If he cared so much about catching this killer, why didn’t he send more people?”
Her jaw set into a hard line. “Look, even though more people weren’t sent, it doesn’t mean anything. Just trust me.”
“How do you know so much about what he thinks?”
Her hands clenched into fists, and she stood. “Because I
