I grabbed Darnell by the shoulders and forced him to face me. “Don’t you fucking blame yourself for this shit, alright? This is not your fault.”
His muscles strained against his skin. He clenched his jaw, tears pooling in his eyes.
“The faster we remove any pieces of silver from their bodies, the greater their chance of recovery. And we need to actfast. I have someone outside, and she’ll be calling the police soon.”
In the following minutes, Darnell and I walked from body to body, checking for signs of life from werewolves and humans alike. We pulled silver out of a few of our kin using what few resources we had available, from napkins to bar towels.
But the humans needed medical care, so when sirens wailed in the distance, I released a harsh breath and let my muscles loosen.
Until I heard one voice amidst the chaos.
“Querido,” the weak voice cried. “Por favor… I can’t… I can’t…”
My eyes scanned the room until they found the woman who was crying out to me, begging for me to save her. She had a werewolf nearly three times her size on top of her… dead.
This woman who needed my help.
This woman who’d encouraged her friend to ask Joanna to dance.
This woman who, when her final labored breath left her body…
I smiled.
Chapter Seven
Joanna
“Joey.”
The smoky voice calling my name sent a warmth through my body. It made me shiver, as if someone had whispered it in my ear. I couldn’t respond, and I tried to at least open my eyes, but my lids protested as if they had a mind of their own.
This was peace. Any more relaxed and I would’ve known I was dead and gone to heaven.
But then a jolt snapped me back to reality.
My eyes shot open, my hand flying to the wrist of the aggressor who had the audacity to pull me from my dream. I twisted the wrist until I heard the man beside me cry out.
Pain contorted Agent Hill’s handsome face. His hazel eyes shimmered in the moonlight pouring through the windshield. “Miss Sullivan,please,” he pleaded with a grunt.
I loosened my hold but didn’t let go. “What happened? Where are we?” I stole a quick glance out the window, seeing my building standing in front of us—a beacon of refuge in the darkness. With a scoff, I released my hold. “Tell your boss I don’tappreciate being on the receiving end of magic. I prefer dishing it out.”
Hill froze, stopping the massage of his wrist. “You have magic?”
I smirked. “That didn’t make it into your file?”
The shock still chiseled on Hill’s face was reason enough not to tell him how pathetic my magic actually was. There was no way I’d be able to do what Li did to James—or to me.
I had no fucking clue how long I’d been unconscious. The last thing I remembered before coming to was Li telling me all the ways the fate of humankind rested in my hands.
Yay me.
“We’ll have to save that discussion for our first debrief,” Hill finally answered, his voice free of antagonism for once. “It’s been a long day. And because of you, now I need to go nurse my hand… But no hoods, right?” He tugged the door handle, and light flooded the SUV.
I couldn’t deny that Agent Hill was attractive, and his voice had been a problem from the beginning. He’d shed his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt at some point, allowing the veins in his muscular forearms to be the last thing I saw before he turned his back to me.
“What are you doing?” I asked once I regained my senses. But he was already outside the vehicle. I opened the passenger door and hopped out into the cold, cutting in front of him. “Where are you going?”
“My job comes with extra responsibilities, Joey—like walking my assignments to their front door, for example.” He pushed past me and continued forward.
