She blinked up at him. Was it wrong that even in this blood-soaked horror of a room, he couldn’t miss the way she fit against him, or the way that thing in his chest happened again. What the hell was that anyway?
“Kyle? What are you doing here?” Eyes widening, she planted her hands on his chest and made room between them.
“When you didn’t show up for our date, I came looking for you,” he said. “What happened?” He gestured vaguely at the blood and the box on the operating table. “Is that a heart?”
Laina nudged him toward the door, away from what was likely the grossest thing he’d ever seen. “You need to leave. It’s not safe.”
“No kidding. Who did this? We should call the police.” He reached for his phone, but she caught his wrist in a surprisingly firm grip.
“No. Kyle, listen to me. I’ll do that eventually, but the person responsible is dangerous, and he could come back. You have to take Milo and go.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you. If it’s dangerous for me, it’s dangerous for you. Let me help you. We’ll go together.”
She frowned. “I’m sorry about our date, but—” Her eyes darted to the window in the door behind them. “Oh my God, Becca!”
Kyle started when the face of Laina’s assistant appeared in the window, blood dripping down her ghostly white temple. Laina rushed through the door to her, wrapping one of the older woman’s arms around her shoulders. Kyle rushed forward to help support her from the other side.
“Help me get her to my car,” Laina said. “I need to drive her to the hospital.”
“Let me drive. You can call the police on the way,” he insisted.
Becca mumbled something between them, but it was incoherent. Together, they staggered out the door. “My car.” Laina tilted her head toward the Audi.
He helped her lower the bleeding woman into the passenger’s seat. “I’ll follow you to the hospital.”
Laina stopped to face him, her spine going ramrod straight. She pointed at his chest. “Kyle, I’m sorry I missed our date, but frankly, any relationship with me was doomed from the start. I’m going to walk into that building, and I’m going to come out with Milo. You’re going to take him and go home, and you’re not going to say a thing about this to anyone. Do you understand me?”
Damn. The tone in her voice finally registered, and Kyle backed up a step. What exactly had he walked in on? Running the type of business he did, he was no stranger to backroom deals, although he’d tried his best to avoid mob activity. He hadn’t expected that type of thing in a veterinary clinic in New Hampshire, but now that he thought about it, the level of opposition she had to calling the police indicated something illegal was happening here.
She ran inside and, a moment later, appeared in the doorway with Milo. At least the dog was unharmed. Actually, the mutt looked one hundred times better than when Kyle had left him. She thrust the leash into his hands.
“I’m sorry, okay,” she said. “It’s…complicated.” Her phone rang, and she tore it from her pocket. “Silas… There’s been… Something awful has happened. I’m at Four Paws.”
Who was Silas?
“Becca’s hurt. I have to take her to the hospital. Can you meet me there? What…? Why?” She inhaled sharply. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
She slid the phone back into her pocket, her gaze meeting his. “I’ve got to go. Milo will be fine. Just give him lots of water and watch his diet.” She opened her car door.
“Right. Thanks for your help.” Kyle couldn’t keep the stiffness from his voice. “And good luck with…whatever this is.”
A quick nod later, she sped from the parking lot, leaving him and Milo staring after her.
ChapterSeven
“Ican’t believe he did this to her.” Laina stroked her thumb over the back of Stephanie’s hand, the whoosh of air in and out of her Zafka’s ventilator a constant reminder of the seriousness of her condition. At least Becca was all right. Her assistant, although rattled, had been released after an MRI showed no signs of concussion. Jason volunteered to escort her home. Stephanie was a different story. She’d been attacked in Laina’s apartment by someone who must have thought she was Laina, and they’d shown her no mercy.
“Whoever did this to Stephanie left her for dead. We’re hoping they were convinced it was you,” Silas said.
“The note in my surgical suite said,You’re next.Becca described a man who fit Jonah’s description.”
Silas ran both hands through his wild brown hair and paced the room. “It has to be Jonah, but who’s helping him?”
Laina sighed. “I don’t know, but blood waseverywhere, Silas. You were right about him having help from another magical creature. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was as if he blew that poor wolf apart.”
“I talked to every fairy and witch contact I have in the city. No one’s heard anything.”
“If Jonah’s been out there all this time, why now? Alex was killed months ago. Why wait until today to strike?” Laina shook her head.
