Page 11 of Hunt Me Down

Silence hung in the room, too thick.

Jude swore. “Fine. I’ll take a look at the body and see what I?—”

Erin grabbed his hand when he tried to push past her, and she kissed her new life goodbye. “It was a shifter.”

Antonio exhaled. “Damn woman.”

Jude’s skin felt warm beneath her fingertips. His eyes bored into hers, and she watched his pupils flare.

Dangerous.

She pulled her hand back and smoothed her fingers over the soft cotton of her pants. “It was a shifter, and,how convenient—there’s a shifter standing right in front of me.” Towering over her. Surrounding her with his heat and scent.

Jude began, “I didn’t kill him?—”

Even as Antonio fired, “Jude wouldn’t?—”

Their words twisted and blurred in her mind. She waited for the denials to finish, then raised a brow. “You said you could prove your innocence.”

His eyes narrowed, but Jude nodded.

“Good,” she muttered. “Because you’ll have to do that.” And she believed he could. After that whole alibi business was taken care of, it would be time to get down to business.

“Call Night Watch,” Jude said. “You can verify my whereabouts in less than two minutes.”

She’d do that, but first... “Are you up for another case, hunter?” She knew just how hard it was to catch a shifter, especially one who hungered for the sweet thrill of human prey.

“You trying to hire me?”

Yes, she was. She knew that Jude would be her best bet for catching this killer. The cops wouldn’t be able to track a shifter. It took a beast to catch a beast.

Oh, the games theOtherplayed.

“The DA gonna be up for this?” Antonio asked, inching closer.

Erin didn’t glance his way. “He’ll go for it.” She’d make absolutely certain he did. “But willyou?” she asked Jude.

His hard face was unreadable. Jeez but the man wasbig.She topped out at just under six feet, but he towered over her by several inches.

Just what kind of beast did Jude carry? Shifters—they were the beings who supposedly carried two souls. The soul of a man. The soul of an animal.

Most shifters were pretty harmless. They could transform into foxes, birds, or snakes.

Others were more dangerous. Bears, panthers, wolves.

Wolves.Some believed—with good reason—that those were the most dangerous of the shifters. Fierce, bloodthirsty, and, just for fun, every now and then...psychotic.

“I’ll hunt for you.” His gaze never left her face. “For a price.”

“The city will pay you.” She’d talk to the mayor and the DA. She wasn’t planning a big reveal to those men about theOtherworld. At least, not unless she wasn’t given a choice. But Gus and Clark were smart guys. They’d wise up real fast to the benefits of having this case handled as quietly and quickly as possible.

If Jude could contain the killer, they’d be more than willing to pay his price. A price she expected to beveryhigh.

Jude shook his head. “Not talking about the city.”

Antonio stopped his inching closer routine.

Her heart surged faster in her chest, but she kept her voice quiet and silky when she asked, “Then just who are you talking about?”

---