Page 21 of Shadow Hunter

With her finally strapped in, Damon clamped his mouth shut and sped toward the Golisano Hospital at full speed, the city lights and few people roaming the streets blurring as they sped by. There was no way of knowing his next best move on his case without seeing the victim, and with Tiffany at his side, going after Caius or God forbid, Mark, was not an option.

Maybe with any luck seeing the victim would be enough to scare some sense into Tiffany, enough that he could drop her off safely at home and trust that she wouldn’t go running back into the line of fire the first chance she got each day. Crime scenephotos never did the actual carnage justice, and he needed to see the details firsthand. Maybe…so did she.

After several minutes of silence, Tiffany finally broke. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “Why do you care about me?” She fixed him with a hard stare. “I don’t know you.”

Damon bit his tongue and concentrated on keeping his expression flat, distant. He couldn’t let her know who he was. If he did, she would hate him and never trust him to keep her safe. But he couldn’t avoid her questions for long. He had to give her just enough to trust him. Just enough to keep her safe.

“It’s my job,” he said.

She shook her head, clearly not buying that for a single minute. “What about the other humans in there? What about them?”

He gritted his teeth. Boy, she had to hit him right where it hurt, didn’t she?

“I can’t save everyone.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “So, you save the one person in the entire building who needs the least amount of saving?”

He didn’t respond.

She huffed. “That makes total sense.” She rolled her eyes.

He shot her an icy stare. “That sort of attitude is exactly why you need saving, Shortcake. You’re not invincible, and with those shoddy moves, you were going to get yourself killed in there.”

“Stop calling me that.” Without warning, she yanked up the sleeve of his leather coat. “And you’re not invincible either. See, I jabbed you right...”

Her voice trailed off as she ran her fingers over his skin.

Electricity shot through his limbs, making him nearly pull the car over. One small caress and she could bring him to his knees.

He clenched his teeth.

She stared at his forearm, those amber eyes wide with shock and curiosity. The wounds had already begun to heal, the only remaining signs several pink crescent-shaped scars, which at this rate would soon disappear.

Her gaze shot to his, searching for answers.

Ones he wasn’t ready to give.

Even though he wanted to. Ever since she’d first walked through that alcove door.

“What are you?” she whispered.

Damon sighed, and for the first time in a long time, he felt himself hesitate.

Tiffany staredat Damon’s arm, her eyes wide as adrenaline coursed through her. Her fingernails had dug deep into his skin not even half an hour earlier, and already the healed wounds were nothing but faint pink lines and some residual dried blood. She ran her fingers over the skin once more, ignoring the desire that pulsed through her every time her skin connected with his. Her nipples hardened into taut peaks as she brushed the muscles along his forearm.

If she was honest with herself, she wanted to touch him all over. Run her hands up his thick biceps and onto his chest, down to places where she’d never touched a man before. The thought of their kiss lingered in her mind. She didn’t care that he’d only done it out of necessity. Her lips burned with the need to touch his again. Yet she didn’t even know him.

What twenty kinds of messed up was that?

She drew in a sharp breath. She needed to calm herself. She barely knew this man. There was no way she could want him, need him, so desperately. It was pure lust making her uncertain.

“What are you?” she repeated.

He didn’t look at her, just continued to watch the road as he drove. “A vampire slayer, a hunter.”

“My brother, Mark, was a vampire slayer before he died.” She held back her expression, watching the look in his eyes. “He’s the one who taught me how to fight.”

Damon stiffened like a rigid board, his hands squeezing the steering wheel tighter, the ice behind his eyes blazing a captivating blue.

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