“Stop it!” she yelled. “I can’t explain what I just saw, but I’m not like you.”
She ignored the devastated look on his face, telling herself she’d deal with it later, once she had time to process all of this. Right now she needed to get away from this situation—from Max—for a while. She started to edge past him, hoping he wouldn’t try to stop her.
He stepped in front of her. “Lana, you can’t leave. Not like this.”
“She can leave if she fucking wants to,” a deep voice said from behind Lana.
She spun around and found two guys standing there looking pissed. They were both big and brawny, one blond, the other dark haired. They must have heard her screams and come to help. She supposed chivalry wasn’t dead. She didn’t need their help, though. It wasn’t like she was scared of Max.
Okay, maybe she was scared of him a little bit. The mere thought of his fangs and claws made her shudder.
“You okay, lady?” the blond guy asked, looking back and forth between her and Max. “This dude messing with you?”
Lana had no desire to get Max in trouble—or a fight. But she needed to get out of the alley, and these two men were as good a distraction as any.
“No, there’s no problem,” she murmured. “I was just leaving.”
She moved to sidestep Max, but he blocked her path again. “Lana, seriously. It’s too dangerous for you out there.”
Lana opened her mouth to tell him that she needed some space to think and wrap her head around everything she’d seen, but she didn’t get the chance because the beefy, dark-haired guy took a swing and blindsided Max with a punch straight to the temple.
She screamed, sure the savage blow had killed him, but Max barely rocked on his feet. Jaw tight, he glared at the guy who’d sucker-punched him, his eyes glowing yellow-gold again, a low rumbling growl emanating from his throat.
The sound slipped under Lana’s skin, vibrating there and making her whole body tingle in response. Her teeth were aching so badly she thought they might tear right out of her gums.
In a blur, Max backhanded his attacker across the alley, bouncing the man off the redbrick wall of the far building. Lana was almost certain she heard something crunch and did everything she could to convince herself it had been the brick breaking. A part of her almost swore she could hear the dark-haired man’s heartbeat from where he lay unmoving on the ground. But that was impossible. She couldn’t hear something as subtle as a heartbeat.
Another blur caught her eye, and she turned to catch sight of her other would-be protector launch himself at Max, a wicked-looking knife in his hand.
She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. Her throat constricted in terror as the blond man plunged the blade deep into Max’s chest.
Lana hurried over to him only to slide to a halt as Max batted the guy across the alley. He hit the building with a thud and a crunch before dropping noiselessly to the ground. He was still alive—Lana knew because she could hear his heart beating—but he’d definitely need medical attention.
Max turned to look at Lana, his eyes glowing like the high beams of a car, his fangs extended so far she wasn’t sure how they could possibly have been hidden in his jaws, the blade still sticking out from his chest. She took a hesitant step toward him, but then stopped as he casually reached down and pulled the knife out of his chest, dropping it to the ground with an irritated flick of his hand.
The glow in his eyes didn’t dim as he regarded her, and she swore time ceased. In the near quiet, she heard his heart pounding loud and fast.
Then the smell hit her nose—metallic, harsh, overpowering.
She had no idea how she knew what the scent was or how she could possibly smell it, but she knew with a certainty it was Max’s blood.
This couldn’t be happening—the sights, the sounds, the smells, the way her body was responding to all of them was too much.
She was running out of the alley before she realized her feet were moving.
“Lana, wait!”
Behind her, she heard Max following. That only fed into the complete panic trampling rampantly through her body, and she ran faster. Soon enough, the sound of his footsteps died away, like he’d given up chasing her. The sobs coming from her throat made breathing difficult, but she kept going anyway. She didn’t know where she was running to, but she couldn’t stop.
* * *
Max cursed as he got out of his Camaro and made his way up the walkway to the Masons’ house. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved Lana had sought shelter in her parents’ home or not. Something told him the deputy chief and his wife wouldn’t be very happy to see him. But if he wanted to talk to Lana, he had no choice but to walk up there and ring that doorbell.
Shit, this would have been so much easier if she’d simply gone to Brandy and Miriam’s place. He snorted. Like anything about this was easy.
It had been nearly two hours since the fiasco in the heart of the downtown club area, and Max was hoping Lana had calmed down enough to talk to him. That might have been wishful thinking, considering how scared she’d been earlier.
She hadn’t answered her cell when he’d called—not that he’d expected her to—so he’d stopped by Brandy and Miriam’s apartment, assuming Lana had gone there. But she hadn’t. All he’d accomplished was freaking out the other two women when he’d mentioned that he and Lana had gotten into an argument and she’d run off. They weren’t too thrilled to help him find her after that, but he’d finally been able to convince them he was simply worried about her and only wanted to talk.
