“Did the Hunter say when this intrusion was supposed to happen?” Maverick asked.
“It’s already begun.”
* * * *
Jordan had just cleaned up and was ready to head to the diner when someone pulled a car close to one of the open bays. He groaned. He knew he should have closed that bay door. There was nothing worse than last minute requests.
“Can I help you?”
The stranger closed his car door and walked over to Jordan. “Do you have any windshield washer fluid?”
“They sell it at the gas station,” Jordan replied. He had finished for the day and was ready to get over to the diner where Bailey was waiting on him. He knew they had a lot to talk about and Jordan wanted to set a few things straight.
“I’ll have to remember that,” the stranger said. “But I’m already here.”
Jordan really wanted to tell the guy to go to the gas station, but decided to save himself an argument. He would get out of here a lot quicker if he just grabbed a gallon of washer fluid and took care of the guy.
Walking back inside, Jordan snagged the plastic container containing the blue liquid. He turned, ready to hand it to the stranger when he saw that the human had followed him inside, holding a gun in front of him.
What was with humans holding guns at him lately?
“I have a file on you, Jordan Sommers. It says that you are a black panther.”
Jordan burst out laughing. “Do you know how stupid that sounds?” Who in the hell was this guy and how did he know about Jordan’s cat? There was no doubt in Jordan’s mind that the stranger was human.
His heart began to beat a little faster when the stranger smiled maliciously at him. “I don’t think it sounds stupid at all. Not when I witnessed you killing a vampire last night. No human could have done that. And then you came back later and shifted into a black panther.” Jordan watched as the guy reached into his back pocket and pulled out some pictures. He tossed them at Jordan. “There’s your proof.”
Jordan glanced down at the floor where the pictures had fallen to see exactly what the stranger had said. He was standing in Bailey’s backyard fighting the vampire. He saw another picture and it looked like the photographer had been peering through the window, Jordan shifting into his cat.
He left the pictures on the floor as he gazed at the stranger. Jordan could no longer deny the man’s accusations. He had the proof in colorful photos. His body coiled when the stranger lifted the gun a little higher.
“What are you after?” Jordan asked, never taking his eyes off the weapon.
“What I want is very simple,” the stranger sneered. “For humans to be the only species once more.”
Jordan shoved his arm out, the heel of his palm slamming into the stranger’s nose, driving the bone up into the guy’s skull. The stranger dropped to the shop floor, dead. That was two people he had killed within a twenty-four hour period. He was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on in Brac Village.
Mark came out of his office and came up short when his eyes landed on the dead body. “Care to tell me why you killed him?”
Jordan squatted and gathered the pictures, handing them to Mark.
“Was he trying to blackmail you?”
Jordan shook his head. “Wanted me dead.”
“Did you know him?”
Again, Jordan just shook his head. He had never met the man before in his life. He himself couldn’t understand why the guy had wanted to kill him. The human said that he wanted nonhumans gone from the face of the earth. Was he a single nut job or was he a part of a group?
“Lock the place up,” Mark said in a grave tone, heading back toward his office. “I need to make a phone call.”
Jordan did one better than that. He pulled the stranger’s car into the bay before closing it. The less people who knew the guy was here, the better. Now all he had to do was figure out how to dispose of the body. He honestly hadn’t meant to kill the man, but Jordan had seen in the stranger’s eyes that the guy meant to kill him.
It had all boiled down to who could kill the other one first. Since Jordan treasured his life and had done nothing wrong to the stranger, he had no qualms about preserving his own life. When Mark walked out of his office a few minutes later, Jordan did not like the pinched look on his boss’s face.
“It seems the guy you killed was a part of some group that hunts vampires.”
“He was hunting more than vampires,” Jordan replied.
Mark handed the pictures back to Jordan. “Destroy those. Some human name Kenyon is out to extinguish the paranormal world. He just recently found out about shifters.”
Jordan was stunned at the news. “How much does he know?”
“Enough to sink us if he wanted to.”
Jordan knew that Mark was human, but he had a shifter mate. This affected him just as much. What he couldn’t understand was why they had come after him. Jordan was just a mechanic, no one special or high up in rank. He knelt and dug the guy’s wallet out. The stranger had said he had a file on Jordan.
He needed to destroy that file.
After retrieving his wallet and looking inside, Jordan felt his hands shake. “He’s a lawyer.” It wasn’t going to be so easy to hide his death. Jordan handed the business card to Mark.
“Ah, man,” Mark said as he ran a hand over the back of his neck, his expression a mask of stone. “This is really bad.”
“We’re going to have to set this up to look like an accident.” Taking a deep, unsteady breath, he stood. Jordan was not a criminal
