“I don’t know,” Ronni said. “Could be a number of ways.” She’d gone over it so many times in her mind, and no answer came clear.
“It had to be somebody close to you,” Chalton said quietly.
“Not necessarily,” she said. “I’ve thought about it. Anybody could’ve spiked a drink at the club or even at work. And some poisons are deadly enough that one dose is all it takes to attack a heart.”
Jared nodded. “True. We’ll get you underground until we figure it out.”
Ronni reared up. “Not a chance in hell.” As her temper stirred, she caught a small smile crossing Ginny’s face from across the table.
Jared leaned in. “We’ll discuss it later, Mate.”
Chapter 7
Jared ignored the daggers shooting from Theo’s eyes as they escorted the women into the parking lot. He had his hands full with getting Veronica healthy, and Theo could just cover Ginny until she headed home to her family. She was smart and obedient and easy to protect.
Which was the exact opposite of Veronica. Oh, she was intelligent, but she truly didn’t realize how fragile she was. It was his job to teach her that, no matter how much he admired her spunk.
Ginny cast him a longing glance, and he tried to give her a reassuring smile.
At the moment, he had to focus. He’d made a commitment to Veronica, and he wasn’t the type of guy to put his mate in danger, convenience or not.
Plus, he wasn’t the youthful man he’d been centuries ago when he’d fallen for Ginny. Odd that he hadn’t realized that fact until meeting Veronica. His emotions jumbled, and he cut through them with hard logic. Veronica was his responsibility, period. A niggling voice in the back of his head laughed at him. At his cold logic.
Wind whipped around them, and he pivoted to shield her the best he could. Lovely color had filled her face after eating the delicious pizza, and her movements were smooth and graceful instead of the cautious and shaky she’d shown before the mating.
She was on the mend.
Every once in a while, out of the blue, it hit him how close the world had come to losing her forever. To having her light and energy disappear. He growled.
She glanced up, snow on her long eyelashes. “You okay?”
“Fine.” He scouted the quiet street alongside the parking lot. Whoever had poisoned her would beg for a quick death.
The air changed just enough to give him pause. His body tightened instinctively. “Chalton—” he started, just as his brother pivoted toward the street.
Tires screeched. A car careened into view, the weak moonlight glinting off the barrel of an assault rifle. Pattering instantly filled the night. Jared leaped toward Veronica, flattening her on the ice and covering her with his body.
Her breath whooshed against his throat.
The car slid to a stop, and the driver half leaned out the window, taking aim. A mask covered his face.
Shit. Jared rolled Veronica around the nearest SUV, taking cover. Ice slid down his shirt. “Status?” he bellowed.
“Not hit,” Theo snapped from behind a blue truck.
“Help, Jared,” Ginny cried out, her voice high and frightened.
“She’s covered,” Theo yelled before Jared could reply.
Veronica shoved against him, and he crouched to his knees. Bullets pinged off metal, and he ducked his head, keeping her between him and the car taking the assault. “Chalton?”
“We ducked back inside,” Chalton returned, slowly opening the back door, hunching low.
Good. Olivia must be secured inside.
A bullet ripped into Chalton’s shoulder, and he dropped, blood bursting from his shoulder. “That asshole dies tonight.”
Jared leaped for his brother and yanked him down behind the car. “How bad?”
