Page 56 of Walking in Darkness

He didn’t want to contemplate how either of them would’ve reacted if he’d been hurt. Never mind how they would’ve responded if he had beenseriouslyhurt.

Connie made the comment before about Hudson having the capability to burn the world down, but Kit took it as Connie sort of joking around. Now he wasn’t so sure.

He knew Hudson was an Ancient, and that he was very powerful, but he didn’t truly know his capabilities and wasn’t sure he ever wanted to find out.

And there was something he could do to ensure no one wouldeverfind out—all he had to do was drink their blood. His first response was to shudder, but by damn, was he really repulsed by the act itself?

Or was it because someone had taken his blood without his consent? He needed to think about this, because surely, they wouldn’t just pour their blood into a goblet and hand it to him to guzzle. Right?

There had to be a way to disguise the taste. Like wine, maybe? They’d promised they wouldn’t bite him, and at least right now, he didn’t have any desire to bite them either.

All he had to do was drink the fucking blood.

And after seeing what just went down, that was something he really needed to do sooner than later. He didn’t want to imagine how either of them would react if he died.

POLICE, AMBULANCES, and fire engines all seemed to arrive at the same time. Things became even more chaotic as emergency personnel swarmed over the place.

A cop stopped by their window, checked on them, took their information, then moved on when reassured they were okay.

Kit was glad the police officer didn’t force them to get checked over. It hadn’t dawned on Kit to ask if a paranormal could be exposed by seeing a human doctor. Or could they pass as human?

It took almost ninety minutes for Torres and Nelson to reach them. As they walked back through the wrecked vehicles toward where Nelson had parked, Kit noticed Connie and Hudson were on either side of him while Torres led the group and Nelson brought up the rear. He was surrounded by dragons.

He was joking with Connie about having a guard when a blur of movement caught his attention. There was something about the abruptness of it that caught his attention.

Glancing over, he caught a flash of a pale face and brown hair before the person disappeared. He’d barely gotten a good look at them, but still, a chill crawled up his back. Whoever it was, though, they kind of reminded him of—

“What?” Hudson asked, leaning over to whisper in Kit’s ear.

“What what?” Kit asked.

“Why did your heart rate suddenly go up?”

Damn dragons. But considering they had a lunatic after them, Kit knew better than to dismiss it. “I thought I saw somebody. No, not somebody. Don. I thought I saw Don. My ex-boyfriend. You know, the guy who set me up for Nox?”

Hudson grabbed Kit by the arm as they walked. “Are you sure?”

“Not entirely. I caught a glimpse of somebody out of the corner of my eye. Whoever it was ducked down suddenly when I glanced his way, so I didn’t get a good look, but something about the whole thing made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”

“Good enough for me. Connie?”

“Where, Kit?”

Kit pointed to where he had last seen the guy that he thought was Don.

Connie stared where Kit pointed. “Which vehicle? There are several in that little cluster.”

“The white Chevy truck. The one with the front-end damage.”

“What luck. I can see the license plate,” Connie said.

It wasn’t as if they were walking leisurely before, but now Hudson was flat out hustling him along. “Good grief, are you gonna drag me all the way to the other vehicle?”

Kit could just imagine what it must look like. Although Hudson wasn’t really dragging him. But they were definitely walking faster now.

“I’m not trying to drag you. I promise. But if thatwasDon, I want you in one of our vehicles as soon as possible,” Hudson said.

“I second that,” Connie said, his head swiveling left and right as they walked.