Hawk just groaned, looking up to the ceiling in appeal. “Why me?” he complained. “I don’t want to live in a safehouse. When am I supposed to see Saffy? She’s gonna kill me.”
“Sorry guys,” Flint said. “My hands are tied on this one. The rest of the team can’t be spared. They’ve got too many cases on the go. It’s your own fault for being so efficient.”
“Suckers,” Ice said, giving Eve a friendly shoulder barge.
She didn’t crack a smile. Her expression had frozen over, but inside she pulsed with violent heat. She couldn’t do this. She’d spent too many months wanting to kill every member of the damn Vipers and now she was supposed to protect one? Hell would freeze over first.
“I can’t do it,” she blurted.
She caught sight of Hawk’s glare and ignored it.
Flint frowned. “What do you mean you can’t do it? Sure you can. I know it’s not as exciting as our usual assignments, but that doesn’t change the fact it has to be done.”
“I…” She opened her mouth to give some sort of plausible lie, but nothing came to mind quickly enough.
“Kit?” Flint said. He cocked his head to one side and studied her closely. “Something you want to tell me?”
She heaved a sigh. “You know what one of them did to Mia, Flint.”
She’d told the team what had happened to her friend all those months ago, though she’d had the good sense to leave out the part about trying to mete out some vigilante justice on the gang on account on not wanting to get kicked off the team and locked up. She knew Flint’s stance on vigilante justice.
The team leader nodded. “I do, and if I could put someone else on this assignment I would, but there is no one else. I’m sorry, Kit.”
She nodded and exhaled heavily. “I get it. I guess I’ll just have to make the best of it.”
After all, just because they would be living under the same roof for a short while didn’t mean she had to talk to the man. She would just do her best to ignore him and hope the assignment was over quickly. Plus, if the trial went well, it could mean the end of the Vipers once and for all, so much as she didn’t want to protect one of the scumbags, at least there was some purpose to it. She’d have to count that as a win. It was the only thing that was going to help her get through this. And maybe shewouldmake time to talk to this Liam Marshall. Maybe they’d have a nice, quiet little chat about which of his friends liked raping and maiming pretty girls for fun. Her cat stirred beneath the surface, wordlessly sharing its agreement.
After the meeting ended and all the team members began to disperse to carry on with their respective jobs, Eve hurried out into the corridor, keen to get away from them all. A hand snagged her shoulder and she rounded on its owner, finding herself face to face with Hawk.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.
“I will be when this assignment is over,” she said curtly.
Hawk sighed then scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I know you hate them but are you gonna be able to get it together enough to do this assignment? I need to be able to count on you.”
She glared at him. “You think I don’t know that?”
He shook his head. “I’m not having a go at you, Kit, I’m just trying to make sure you’ve got your priorities in order.”
“Then you can sleep easy tonight because I know how to be professional.”
“Good, because I do not want to think about the paperwork I’d have to fill out if you killed our lead witness.”
Eve spluttered a surprised laugh. “You’re a dick, Hawk, you know that, right?”
He chuckled as he headed down the corridor. “See you tonight,” he said over his shoulder. “And don’t even think about leaving the country or I will hunt you down.”
“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath.
“I heard that!”
Damn shifters and their great hearing. She shook her head, her mouth curving into a grin as she made her way to her desk.
Chapter Two
Liam
Liam Marshall pushed his legs to work harder as he raced through the dark city streets, but it didn’t seem to matter how hard he ran, his pursuer was always just a few steps behind him, and it felt as if he was constantly gaining ground. Liam couldn’t recall any of the street names he ran through, but they were familiar to him, so he was pretty sure he was in Miami.
