since the cop didn’t even know his name.
Catching a whiff of fetid air, Kellan turned his head for a quick look, able to detect the vamp’s escape route from where he stood as easily as if the bloodsucker had left a trail of bread crumbs.
With one more glance over his shoulder to McKenna’s open doorway, he headed for the street.
McKenna stood in front of the bathroom sink, staring at her image in the mirror. She looked peaked, she thought, and gray. She was sporting an angry red ring of finger marks around her throat that would soon be a circle of bruises. Swallowing was difficult.
What she really didn’t need was another miserable reminder of some asshole’s evil intent.
Her gaze flicked to the scar on her temple. She touched the line of raised white flesh with her fingers before turning on the tap. Hot water felt good, soothing. She closed her eyes and let the water run as exhaustion again threatened to overtake her. Exhaustion aided by another close encounter with death.
She was finding it hard to breathe. The room was starting to spin, sending her stomach into free fall. Placing her hands on the sink, McKenna fought for enough breath to fill her lungs while attempting to get a handle on her wits. As a cop, she’d seen break-ins go bad on a daily basis. This one just happened to be hers.
“Mac? Are you ready?”
Her eyes found the image in the mirror of the man standing behind her. She wasn’t sure why she’d expected someone else, but her heart lurched in anticipation of a face that didn’t show up.
Derek had gathered ice cubes in a kitchen towel for her throat.
“I’ll stay here,” she said. “Unless you think I can’t remember how to keep out of the way when everyone shows up.”
Derek knew better than to argue. He said, “You won’t get any rest if you stay, and you look like you could use a little first aid and a lot of sleep.”
“I can take a day off tomorrow and sleep then.”
He nodded solemnly. “How about the ice pack?”
She took it from him.
“Does it hurt, Mac?” His voice was a gentle reminder of old times, which made the idea of her attempted bedroom liaison with the stranger seem even stranger. She knew that Derek still loved her. Finding a guy in her apartment must have surprised him. He hadn’t been able to hide the hurt in his eyes.
“It doesn’t hurt much, thanks to you and...”
Wise to that telling hesitation, Derek’s face became a mass of worry lines. “Seriously, McKenna? You don’t know the guy’s name?”
She didn’t answer that question. How could she? Offering a weak shrug, McKenna turned off the water, hoping to avoid more personal scrutiny.
“You’ll fill me in, Derek? You will let me know what the guys find?”
“I will,” he replied after a beat.
She wanted desperately to get away from Derek’s accusing expression.
“Maybe...maybe you can drive me back to the hospital? I’ve changed my mind about staying here. I’ll find a bed somewhere. You can do your job here, and having you in charge will make me feel better.”
Derek’s face registered relief. “Great. Grab your coat. You can’t touch anything else here. I’m sorry for that.”
McKenna turned to face him. “Thanks. I know the drill.”
What she didn’t dare mention to an ex-lover was that she doubted if she’d ever be able to forget the gorgeous stranger who had rescued her twice in the span of an hour, and that she hoped to God she’d never see the biker again. Because owing someone your life was awkward. So was the fact that her body desired his heated touch, even now.
* * *
Kellan’s arms were steamy beneath rivers of nerve-induced burn. His mind twisted with a new feeling of elation. He had found a contender for his search for the lost soul in Seattle. Her name was McKenna, and he knew where to find her.
He just had to make sure the vile creature that had attacked her would never bother McKenna again.
Where there was one vampire, there was usually another creature of the night. Monsters clung to others of their kind, believing in the power of numbers. This attack on McKenna might bring more danger to her doorstep.
There were many freaks amassing in the dark spaces that viewed humans as a kind of tasty dessert. And while ferreting them out wasn’t the reason for this Seattle visit, he now had to take an unplanned detour. His current objective was to save McKenna Randall—he’d noticed her last name on her lobby mailbox. Save her for himself.
Her image wavered in Kellan’s mind like a mirage. He could almost feel the softness of her smooth white skin. He rewound events for a replay of the look in her eyes when she appreciatively ran her hands over him, liking what she found.
He heard the lingering echo of the soft, sexy sounds McKenna made when they kissed, and the way she pressed against him. He revisited the look of anticipation on her face when he’d tucked his fingers inside that little scrap of blue lace crossing her hips, and how those hips moved to help him find what she needed.
He contemplated that rose tattoo on her arm.
If given more time, he could have discovered if the thing he sought lay curled up inside her.
Police cars were arriving at the curb to assess the situation in McKenna’s apartment. Since his presence was no longer wanted or necessary, Kellan climbed on the bike and took off, heading down the long block and around a corner, where he stopped to search the shadows with his highly defined senses.
The vampire that had hurt McKenna had landed and run, leaving in its wake a stomach-curdling mixture of odors: dried blood, dirt and the faint scent of lavender, picked up from its brush with McKenna’s things.
Broken window glass couldn’t have harmed this vampire. Vamps didn’t bleed. Their ability to heal miraculously when injured was another one of death’s creepy little bonuses.
This bloodsucker had been brazen, as most fledglings were. Hunger ruled them. Nothing else mattered but their need to feed. They weren’t aware of the fact that one mistake on their end could create another bloodsucker, and so on. All it took to make a nest of them was a couple of drops of undead blood on a mortal tongue.
Or maybe they did know this.
As always, if the shadows were allowed to spread unchecked, mortals would soon become outnumbered and overpowered by the dark side. Not many people believed in the existence of monsters. They made excuses for the injuries and horrific deaths around their cities, failing to recognize the real danger until it was too late, if ever.
Fact was, it took a monster to find a monster.
“And it just so happens that I’m your guy.”
Once he’d tuned in to the vamp’s frequency, Kellan saw the atmosphere shift with a phosphorescent green glow. Anything moving with unnatural speed left a similar residual imprint in the air. Kellan supposed that he did, as well.
“Got you.”
On foot, he followed the trail between buildings and into a narrow alley lit only by a small shaft of moonlight.
Carefully scanning the walls above him, Kellan called out a taunt, knowing he’d be heard. “Wouldn’t you prefer to pick on somebody your own size for a change?”
There was a hissing sound, followed by the clatter of a can. Kellan perceived three vampires hiding out in this area. Obviously, none of them were willing to show themselves. Seemed that his reputation had preceded him and that these suckers were at least aware of the extraordinary