Page 2 of When He Hunts

Nope. Keep breathing. Keep moving. Keep fighting.Hadn’t that been her mantra ever since that terrible day in Atlanta?

“And let’s walk,” she urged him. “Fast.” Walk, run, whatever got them out of there.

He laughed, like she was playing some great game. She wasn’t. She was running for her life, and the stranger in the dark was an answer to a prayer.

Her stranger asked, “Do we have a destination?”

That voice of his…sex and darkness.If she hadn’t been so very scared, she might have melted. But, nope. She was scared. She was on the run. She was trying to stay alive. No melting allowed.

“St. Peter Street. Let’s hit the bars there.” Total lie. She did not intend to hit any bars. But her current safe house was close to St. Peter Street, so if she could get there, she’d escape her tall, dark savior and live to fight and scheme another day.

Oh, how she very much wanted to live to fight and scheme another day.

You show up at the wrong place at the wrong time…and suddenly, your life is over.

Tears wanted to sting her eyes, but she blinked them away. No pity parties were allowed. Hadn’t she made that rule when she packed up her belongings in Atlanta and raced from the city? That had beenafterthe first attempt on her life.

Her mistake had been thinking the cops in Atlanta could help. Correction, one of her many mistakes. But they hadn’t believed her—or at least, that was what she’d initially thought. Only to discover they were in bed with the devil.They sold me out. Watched me. Had me hunted.

And the first attack on her life had come in the darkness. But she’d been lucky that night. Luna had escaped with a deep slice on her shoulder that she’d had stitched up in Montgomery, Alabama, by a local vet, of all things. The stitches were gone now, she had a wonky scar as a souvenir, but she was still alive.Lucky.

“You want to hit the bars?” Her savior seemed mildly surprised by her request. “I told you that I thought the men behind you intended you harm. Wouldn’t you rather go to the cops?”

Those men one hundred percent intended to harm her. “Cops can’t help.” She’d tried that route and failed. Her hopes were resting on the Feds. Or, rather, on one Fed in particular. One man she thought could be trusted to save her ass. Hopefully. If she was wrong about him, she’d be dead.

“Helping is basically their job.” Mild.

She kept her grip on his arm. “Maybe the men watching just wanted to steal my bag. But then big, bad you appeared. I bet you ran them off.”

“I didn’t run them off. They are following right behind us.”

Dammit. When she strained, Luna could hear the faint pad of their steps.

But, up ahead, she could also see more lights. More people. That was the great thing about New Orleans. There were always people close by. One street might appear empty and dark, but if you just turned the corner…

Life waits.

And, sure enough, when they reached the corner and turned, she saw a slew of people sliding in and out of the restaurants and bars. A big crowd. Her breath heaved out in a relieved rush.

She started to pull away from her stranger.

“Come now, you don’t actually think you’ll get away from me that easily?” He angled toward her. Blocked her path.

Her heart kicked hard in her chest.

“Don’t I at least get a name before you disappear into the night? That is your intent, isn’t it? Now that I’ve walked you safely through the dark, you want to vanish on me.”

If only he really could walk her through the darkness, then maybe she wouldn’t be so afraid all of the time. But shewasafraid. And this stranger had helped—briefly—but there was no way she’d pull him or any other civilians into the madness that was her current life. Still, a name wasn’t so much to give in return for the help he’d provided. “Luna.”

“Luna.” He seemed to taste her name.

She wished that she could see him better. “Do you have a hobby of playing hero? Saving women in distress?” Why wasn’t she leaving? Why did she linger with him? His scent wrapped around her. Sandalwood. His warmth pulled at her. She found herself leaning toward him.

“No.” A shake of his head. “I’m not really in the business of saving.”

“Oh? Then what is your business?”

He let her go.

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