Confusion clouded Barry’s gray eyes. “You know, I have nightmares about it. I don’t know either. In my nightmare a huge wolf kills all the bad guys like some avenging angel, then turns into a man, drags my butt out of there, and then carries you off. Don’t tell the boss, though—he’s already got some psychiatrist hanging around my door,” Barry rubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t remember the man, only the wolf, the eyes. The way it looked at me. But I’d swear a man appeared out of nowhere to rescue us.”
It was you. You saved us. I should have known. She had known. Deep down inside was a memory—Lucian’s or her own, she wasn’t certain—but she had touched upon it and rejected it. There was blood and death and something so erotic and altogether wrong—some kind of bizarre healing ritual perhaps?—that Jaxon never wanted to touch on it again.
I was not about to allow you to escape me even through death, Jaxon. I enjoy your sense of humor so much. There was that gentleness that turned her heart over, that told her he knew she was frightened and alone and utterly confused.
Jaxon had the feeling that he was much closer this time, his presence stronger in her mind, not a mere shadow. Involuntarily she glanced nervously at the door. “Don’t worry, Barry, I think both of us need to stay as far from a psychiatrist as possible. They’d probably commit me. I’m having a few nightmares of my own.”
Barry shifted toward her, leaning close. He lowered his voice. “Since we’re alone here, I might as well tell you this isn’t the first weird experience I’ve had. Do you remember that serial killer who was terrorizing the city a few months back? Of course you do. I was first on the scene after the third murder. I was off duty and in the area. I swear I saw a wolf there. He turned his head and looked at me, and I saw intelligence in his eyes. Real intelligence. It was eerie. He looked at me as if he was measuring my worth or something, deciding whether or not to kill me. Just like in the warehouse. But then it wasn’t a wolf anymore; it was a man, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what he looked like. Not even his build. You know me, Jaxx. I remember the smallest detail, yet twice now I’ve seen a wolf where there couldn’t have been one, and I can’t describe a man I saw, not the one at a murder scene and not the one who saved our lives.”
“What are you saying, Barry?” Jaxon’s heart was beginning to pound in alarm again. Had it been Lucian? What was Lucian? Could he have projected the image of a wolf?
Barry shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I only know I saw the damn thing. It was real. And it looked like the one in the warehouse. It was massive, well-fed. Not some stray dog, like the captain suggested. It had peculiar eyes. Very black, different than an animal’s. They burned with menace, and I mean burned. And they held an almost… human intelligence.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I checked to see if a wolf could have escaped from a zoo or wildlife preserve, but no go, and no one else saw the thing. There couldn’t have been a wolf, but… I don’t know where I’m going with this, but you’re the only person I would admit this to.”
I was there hunting the vampire, Jaxon. Stop trying to scare yourself.
“I didn’t see a wolf, Barry, but I’ve had some strange nightmares myself. Maybe we’re both crazy.” She managed a faint smile. The sound of her heart pounding was so loud she thought she might go mad.
“Maybe it goes with the territory, Jaxx. By the way, are the rumors I’m hearing about you true, or another nightmare? I’m your partner. Wouldn’t I know something like whether you had a fiance? Especially if he was some hotshot billionaire?”
Jaxx heard the hurt in his voice, could feel his pain cut through her like a knife.