Blood Trails Read online

  She’d perceived some sort of threat.

  Jeremy didn’t waste time on questions. Keeping his arm securely around her, he pushed and shoved his way out of the crowd, then pulled her away from the commotion down a quiet side street. It was darker here and the farther they got the fainter the blaring noise of the procession became.

  His ears were ringing and everything sounded wrong.

  When they were far enough away he pulled Hailey around a corner and stopped underneath a streetlight. There he took both her hands in his to examine her claws. They hadn’t receded. And her eyes were glowing now as she scanned their surroundings.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

  “Nothing. Let’s just go back to the room. I think that was enough excitement for one night.” But she wouldn’t meet his gaze and her voice was too high-strung to even give a convincing impression of the truth.

  “Hailey, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me—”

  “I don’t want your help!” Now that was definitely the truth. “Let’s just go, okay?” Have to get him out of sight.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Stop snooping.”

  “Tell me, or I’ll find out on my own and then we’ll both be sorry.” No way was he taking them back. He could tell she was planning something. The moment he lowered his guard she would slip away and do something stupid. “Why do we need to get out of sight?”

  Hailey pulled her hands free to examine them herself. She curled her fingers into fists, pressing those sharp points into her palms. Eyes closed, she breathed in deep, ragged breaths.

  “Hailey,” he said, keeping his voice low, soothing. “Stop, you’re hurting yourself.” He could already see crimson drops seeping out from between her fingers.

  She didn’t react.

  “Hailey,” he tried again, reaching for her hand.

  “Back off!” Her eyes snapped open, glowing and furious. Her teeth were sharp. Not full feline fangs, just enough to make her a threat. She’d knocked his hand away but at least hers had uncurled. Her claws were even longer now, raised to strike.

  Jeremy held his hands up in surrender. “I can help. But you have to let me.”

  He caught only the trailing end of a thought: …could die… She wasn’t thinking it about herself. Images and impressions forced their way through his shields. She didn’t mean to but she was projecting everything she felt. He saw dozens of images flash past too quickly for him to make them out. Suspicion tinged every perception, bordering on paranoia, but it wasn’t. He had her memories of a strange scent, one that followed her from place to place. The sense of being watched. Not paranoia; a predator’s sense of a threat.

  A stalker?

  Someone dangerous. Someone who knew what she was.

  Someone who watched her, waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

  Not her, though. Never her.

  Just … people.

  People she’d met, people she’d just passed on the street. People she’d looked at.

  She’d learned not to look anymore but still more kept…

  There was that scent again!

  It made Jeremy’s hackles rise. He wanted to snarl and warn the presence off, whoever the hell it was. He wanted to hunt it. Be rid of the thing. Establish his territory and protect it.

  He was feeling what she felt.

  Hailey met his gaze. She knew he was picking up on all of it. She didn’t say anything but her mind echoed the same question over and over again. How does he keep finding me?

  Some noise he couldn’t hear made her gasp and whip her head in the direction of the crowd they’d just left. “We need to get back,” she said, not looking at him.

  “Okay. We’ll go back. Come on, it’s this way.”

  Hailey shook her head. “We go around.” …could die…

  Around meant the long way, probably circling a few times before entering the hotel. “All right, lead the way.”

  Because she was too close to the edge he kept a few steps behind her, eyes and ears sharp. He was no longer following the carefree girl who’d left the hotel earlier. This was a predator in fight mode. Anything could set her off, and another full change might very well kill her. And she led him as she would a cub, always checking behind her to make sure he was there, scanning the shadows for any threats. Jeremy felt her unease, her single-minded focus to get him out of sight. It took precedence over everything else in her mind. Hailey was protecting him? From what?

  Her hands were bleeding, dripping as they went. She noticed and brought each palm to her mouth, licking the wounds to stop the bleeding.

  “Here,” he said, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket. He shook the square out and ripped it in half. “May I?”

  She looked at her hands blankly then nodded.

  The fabric was big enough—or her hands were small enough—to wrap around her palm twice and knot securely. At the very least, it would slow the bleeding until they got to the med kit he now kept with his belongings.

  When he finished he took one of her hands in both of his. “Are you doing okay?”

  Again she nodded blankly.

  “Good. Let’s keep going, then.”

  It took them over half an hour to even get close to the hotel. Then another half hour of aimless wandering before Hailey allowed him to head for the hotel lobby. By then her teeth were back to normal, but her eyes were still glowing and her claws were still sharp. The fight had gone out of her, but the uneasiness remained. His step became heavy with the weight of it in his mind.

  Back in the room it was déjà vu all over again, with her sitting on the toilet in a daze and Jeremy washing her hands of blood. Was this what her life would be like now? Once he escorted her to Amelia and officially finished this assignment, would she even have anyone to do this for her?

  When he finished bandaging her palms, she caught his hand before he pulled it away and met his gaze. Her eyes were now back to normal but so lost and confused it made his chest ache.

  Jeremy brushed her hair back over her shoulder, cupped her cheek with his free hand. Her eyes closed and she leaned into the caress. He nudged her forward a little, met her halfway to brush his mouth over hers.

  He meant to pull back after that. A small kiss to offer comfort. But he found himself coming back for another, and another, and then one more, a real kiss this time, not a peck. Her lips parted and he caught the lower one, flicking his tongue over it. But he didn’t deepen the kiss. He didn’t press for more.

  When he pulled back, she looked better. A little color had returned to her cheeks and her lips were red again. God, he wanted another taste of them. Instead he cleared his throat. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  Jeremy led her out to her room and turned his back while she changed out of her clothes into a nightshirt of some sort. He tucked her in bed, feeling her eyes on him the entire time. When he said good night, she caught his hand again.

  “Don’t leave,” she said in a small voice. “Please. Stay.” Please live.

  “You know I can’t.”

  Hailey dropped her gaze, let go of his hand, curled into a ball, and closed her eyes.

  Boundaries, he reminded himself as he left the room. Whether she liked it or not he had to preserve some professional distance between them. She was his assignment, nothing more.

  That would have been far more convincing if only he didn’t see her naked in front of him every time he closed his eyes.

  But there were more pressing issues to think about now than his persistent case of blue balls.

  Someone was following Hailey. There was something about this whole mess of a situation that just didn’t … fit. Jeremy was missing a major clue.

  Back in his room he fired up the courtesy com console and set up a secure connection to the only person he knew who could give him some much-needed answers.

  Amelia answered almost immediately. She was wrapped in a big green towel. What was it about the Chase women and showers
? “Agent Calen? What is it? What’s wrong? Did something happen? Where is my sister?”

  He waited for her to fire all her questions at him but instead of answering he asked one of his own. “Who else knew about Hunt’s study?”

  She looked taken aback by the question. “Uh … my superiors at New Alaska got the gist of it but they never knew Tristan was able to successfully change his shape. Some of my colleagues had a vague idea about where I was headed but we didn’t share our research. Umm … I had some lab assistants, but they only knew the bare minimum, and no one else had access to my files. Except, of course, Hailey.”

  “What about your lab at home? Could someone have gained access to your files?”

  She frowned. “No,” she said vehemently then added with more hesitation, “I don’t think so. Everything was under lock and key. The physical facility has biometric security and password protection, my files were all saved and backed up, the originals were stored in a bank vault, and the copies were in a hidden safe. No one could have gotten to them.”

  “Your sister did.”

  She smiled, like he’d just made a joke. “My sister is a freak of nature whose favorite pastime is pissing me off.”

  Her tone gave him pause. Another piece of the puzzle. He’d promised Hailey that her sister would welcome her with open arms and treat her like family. Had he been wrong about that?

  Amelia continued. “The only reason she even went looking for anything was because I told her not to. She broke into the safe to prove that she could, to spite me.”

  “And what do you think was her reason for picking up where you left off with the study?”

  Amelia blinked, clearly at a loss for words.

  “That’s beside the point,” he continued. “The fact that Hailey had gotten past your security would indicate to me that it was insufficient. My question is, who else could have gotten in? Who else do you know, who would be interested in your work or its results? An enemy maybe, or a rival; anyone come to mind?”

  “N-no. No one knew. Why steal research that’s supposed to be a failure?”

  “The night Hailey … changed herself. You were the first to find her, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

  “Besides my lab being in shambles and my sister lying in a pool of her own blood? No.” Her tone was cutting now. She was getting defensive. It was Jeremy’s fault; he hadn’t done his due diligence. He should have asked all these questions the day Amelia had come to him with this case. He hadn’t because there had been no reason for it.

  Well, there was reason now. “You had video feeds from the lab. Were there recording devices outside the lab? In the hallway, or outside the building?”

  “Yes, some.”

  “Have you reviewed all of them?”

  Her mouth compressed into a tight line. “The ones Hailey didn’t shut off? A dozen times. What is this about, Agent Calen? Are you suggesting that this was somehow my fault?”

  “I’d like to review the feeds from that night myself.”

  “Well, you can’t. The system reboots and refreshes every month, unless someone overrides it. I did it once, to preserve the feeds in case you needed them, but then I forgot. They’re gone. Wiped.”

  His fault again.

  “Now what the hell is going on?” she demanded.

  “I have reason to believe your sister is in danger, besides the effects of the serum she injected herself with.”

  “And what reason is that? She told you?” Amelia rolled her eyes and her exasperation grated on Jeremy’s nerves. What the hell kind of reaction was that? “Agent Calen, she’s manipulating you. Can’t you see? She’s painting herself as a helpless victim so that you’ll do what she wants.”

  That just pissed him off. Sister or no, Jeremy wanted to put her in her damn place. The woman had no idea what Hailey was thinking. Who the hell did Amelia think she was, making accusations like that? “It occurs to me,” he said, striving for diplomacy he honestly didn’t think was deserved, “that this was a mistake. You’re not the one I need to talk to about this. I’m sorry to have alarmed you.”

  “She’s dying,” Amelia said quickly, just as he was about to close the connection. Jeremy bit his tongue to keep from telling her to piss off. “The computer I gave you for her … it’s linked to my systems here. I can see everything she’s doing. I know she finished the formula, and I’ve already synthesized several doses. They will not work.”

  “Why?” he asked impatiently, suddenly feeling as if she was manipulating him.

  “Her base, the constant in her equation, was the original serum she used. But that’s not what’s in her system now. It’s degraded, changed. This cure will most likely kill her and without it she doesn’t have much longer. You need to bring her back.” There was genuine concern on her face now. “Please, the only way to save her is to bring her to me.”

  “What will you do with her?” Cage, or tranq dart? The image of Hailey strapped to a table, immobile but awake while Amelia stood over her flashed across his mind. It wasn’t his creation. He glanced over his shoulder to see Hailey standing in the doorway.

  “You know what she will do,” she thought to him.

  “I’ll need to run some tests. A series of them to determine how quickly the compound is changing inside her. Whatever solution we come up with, it will have to be timed perfectly. Depending on the speed of transformation, probably down to the minute. This is not something she can do on her own, no matter what she tried to make you believe.”

  Ever the good old Ams, Hailey thought bitterly. Take whatever you can, sis, and give back only as much as you have to. Just enough rope to hang myself with.

  Jeremy rubbed his forehead, making an effort to block out her thoughts. He didn’t need another bias. “You will stream your findings to the computer you sent for Hailey,” he said. “All your findings. Your sister will want to verify everything you just told me.”

  “You’re taking my side?”

  “There are no sides here.”

  “Then that’s your first mistake. Thinking that there is no wrong in this case. There is. The sooner you figure out where, the better off all of us will be.”

  “You’re setting the terms now?” Amelia asked.

  “Look, Dr. Chase,” he said, ignoring Hailey and her gloom and doom. “You want your sister back, and I want to help. But do you think she’ll come back when she knows you’re withholding information?”

  “Then don’t tell her,” she snapped impatiently.

  “He doesn’t have to,” Hailey said, loud enough for Amelia to hear.

  “God, is that her?” Amelia’s eyes had gone wide as saucers. “Hailey, is that you? Oh, honey, are you okay?”

  “Ugh, spare me the sentiment, Ams, we both know how genuine it really is.”

  “Go to sleep, Hailey,” Jeremy ordered, putting as much compulsion behind the command as he dared.

  She just raised an eyebrow. “I can’t. You tucked me in all wrong.”

  “What?” Amelia screeched.

  Hailey grinned. “Come do it right,” she purred.

  “Hailey!” Jeremy snapped.

  She laughed as she spun on the balls of her feet and strode away.

  “Is there something I should know?” Amelia asked through gritted teeth. “About you and Hailey?”

  What the hell did I get myself into? “Listen, Dr. Chase, you hired me for a reason. You can’t get Hailey back on your own. I can. And I already told you what I’ll need in order to do that.”

  “You won’t get my sister, I promise you that.”

  It took him by surprise that the first response that came to mind was, Want to bet? “I’m good at what I do because I take my job seriously,” he said, wondering when the hell reason had left the building. “I can get your sister to you. But once that’s done, the rest is up to you. I can’t make her stay with you if she doesn’t want to, and I’m thinking you won’t be able t
o either. Think about that. I’ll be in touch.”

  He cut her off midsentence when he closed the connection.

  “Are you beginning to get the picture?” Hailey asked. She was once again in the doorway.

  “I think I am,” he said. “This is some sort of punishment for my past life misdeeds. That has to be it. I can’t think of a single thing I’ve done in this lifetime that would make me deserve this.”

  She grinned with true amusement and Jeremy caught a glimpse of the woman she used to be. “The boy learns.”

  Jeremy chuckled. “He does, indeed.”

  Her smile softened with something like affection. He really needed to get some sleep. All this excitement was getting to him. “So,” she said, “are you going to tuck me in or not?”

  “Out!” he commanded and in the privacy of his own mind added, Or I just might.

  Hailey shook her head slowly. She came forward silent as a ghost. “Poor, sad Mr. Calen,” she said, and he couldn’t be sure if she was mocking him. She reached out a hand and raised it as if to caress his face. “Who will be there for you, I wonder?” Both of them noticed the bandages at the same time. Hailey’s hand dropped back to her side before he could catch it and press it to his cheek. Backing into the doorway, her gaze still on him, she said, “All these long, trying days; who will be there at night to cushion your weary head in her lap?” She shook her head again and slowly retreated into the shadows of the dark main room. Her voice followed her exit. “Poor, lonely Mr. Calen.”

  Chapter Nine

  “So do you have everything you need?”

  Hailey was shaking her head reading through the huge data file Amelia had sent. “Short of my own lab, yeah, I guess.” She shot him a crooked smile. “Thanks for this. Remind me to call you in for all future negotiations with my sister.”

  He groaned. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  Hailey felt her smile soften. He was ready for the day, dressed in another perfectly pressed shirt and slacks, but not quite the perfectly controlled agent he liked to pretend he was. His feet were bare and his shirt wasn’t tucked, the top three buttons undone, the cuffs left open and loose. His dark blond hair was mussed, and he hadn’t shaved yet. Hailey wanted to purr.