Shit.
Evan backed out of the room and strode down the hall toward his own, pushed the door open in a rush. Nicole was sleeping soundly, curled up on her side, hugging a pillow, her face relaxed.
He let off a sigh of relief and ran his hands through his hair, paced at the end of the bed.
Okay, if the killer was like Aric…if he could get into people’s minds, that was a huge problem. He wasn’t just some psychopath serial-killing vamp. He was a psychopath serial-killing vamp with a terrifying amount of power.
He could stake Shane. Fuck, Shane had been in the coven for so long. They didn’t get along all the time, but it wasn’t his fault if the monster was using him. He hadn’t betrayed them yet.
Okay, if he took Nicole from here, the killer wouldn’t have a reason to go after his coven. If he took the end game—Nicole—out of the house, he would disrupt the game, because that’s what this was to that asshole, right? A game. A lethal cat and mouse game.
If he took her out of here, he forfeited some of her protection, though. He took her from Sadey and Dawn, took her from her support system. And look what the monster had done to him? Evan had never sleepwalked in his life, but he’d just taken a wooden stake from Nicole’s purse and nearly killed Shane in his sleep, and for what? What if he took Nicole from here and he woke up like this standing over her?
He wanted to retch. Evan ran his hands through his hair hard. Think.
Maybe if Nicole left and hid somewhere not even Evan knew, she would be safe. On her own. With a very powerful vampire stalking her.
Shit, shit, shit.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand where it was plugged in and sitting on top of Nicole’s book.
She winced in her sleep, and he rushed to answer the unknown number that came across the caller ID.
Before he could answer with a greeting, a deep, rumbling male voice came through the phone. “You’ll stay there.”
Chills rippled up Evan’s forearms, and he sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. “Who is this?”
“The who doesn’t matter as much as the what. I just saw what will happen to you. What I see is that you will die. You all will. Everyone you love. I can’t change outcomes. I’ve tried so many times. I sat here knowing I can’t call you. It’s not my place to warn you, because what will that do? It will take time away from you. It will take joy. It will take the last happy hours of her life and yours. I’ve never given a shit about vampires, but your coven has changed. It’s allowed shifters and humans in, and over time, you’ve learned acceptance. It’s done good for a community. She deserves happiness. Nicole. She was supposed to be important.”
“Important how?”
“She was supposed to help rebuild your coven. She and Dawn and Sadey were going to teach it kindness. Fate had plans for you, and then she changed her mind. You’ve weeded out the bad ones and grown strong as three. Your coven was going to poison all covens. Poison them into being better.”
Supposed to, supposed to… Evan still wanted that for Nicole. Wanted a life! “If you can’t change our fate, then why are you calling me with this?”
“Because, for the first time, my father had a different vision than me. Stay where you are.” His last words cracked with power.
Chills, chills, chills, raising the fine hairs all over Evan’s body. Was it? Was it him? Could it be?
The who doesn’t matter.
“What are you?” Evan asked.
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
And then…
“I’m the Novak Raven.”
Chapter Nine
“Well, what did Weston Novak say?” Garret asked Evan from across the sprawling dining table.
Evan cast Nicole a quick glance, but she couldn’t read his expression. “He said there are two possible outcomes, but we need to stay here in the coven house.”
“I have a shift at work tonight,” Dawn said from beside Garret. “I can’t call in. The other bartender is in Cancun.”
“And I have two appointments with clients today,” Nicole uttered, tugging her sleep shirt down her legs so she didn’t show her lace thong to the entire coven. She couldn’t cancel on them when she had already been out for a week, healing up after the attack. She’d just gotten back into the swing of things at her office, and one of her clients today was close to crisis. She needed her session today.
“You look tired,” Sadey murmured to Aric.
“We’re all fuckin’ tired,” Shane growled out from his place at the end of the table. “Dipshit woke us all up with a vision from the Novak Raven? Really? He’s in the Bloodrunners. Remember them, Aric? Their alpha put your arm in the sun and gave you that handy-dandy burn scar. She shamed you, and now we’re going to listen to a bird shifter who had a bad dream? Really?”
“Speaking of bad dreams, what did you dream about, Shane?” Evan demanded.
“I dreamed of some asshole standing over me with a stake, Evan.” Fire ignited in Shane’s eyes. “Yeah, I fuckin’ know. The killer,” he said with air quotes, “showed me what you were doing. The killer of humans. Humans! Like all of us sitting at this table have hands clean of blood.”
“He’s killing innocent women in the woods,” Evan growled out.
“You don’t give a shit about those women!” he shouted to Evan. “You give a shit about a Nicole. That’s it. You’ve never even given a second thought to a feeder before, but you attached to this bitch, and I can’t figure it out. She must have a magical pussy because you are setting
