Page 52 of The Hunted
I didn’t want to, and I wasn’t ready to discuss something that would or could happen. We had bigger issues at play. “No. Besides, we would never hurt each other. You should get some rest.”
She frowned. “You’re right.” She eyed the door. “Where’s Jordyn?”
Tension snapped my shoulders straight. I couldn’t tell her about Roman and the shifter. Not there. Sam and Dr. Vieira were outside in the lab area, and I had a feeling they were listening. I hated to do it, but for both our sake’s, I had to lie.
I schooled my features. “Waiting for us at the house.” I was going to hell. “Look, I had to tell these vampires about Dowell. Otherwise, they weren’t going to let me leave. Now I need to answer some questions and try to help them figure out who our benefactor really is.”
“We don’t know much about him.”
“I know. I shouldn’t be long.”
She yawned. “Fine. But hurry up. I’m hungry, I need a shower, and I don’t want to be hanging out with vampires.”
Not my idea of fun either but with the blizzard bearing down, I didn’t think we would be leaving anytime soon.
19
SAM
Ilifted Abbey up onto the lab bench next to Dr. Vieira, who was examining a slide under the microscope while Layla’s voice tickled my ears. Hell, her sultry tone was doing more than that.
I tried to tune her out. “Where’s your mom?” I asked Abbey, who was watching Doc intently. She was as fascinated with science as Jo.
Doc changed out the slide on the microscope. “Jo went to get some supplies from Alia. Hopefully, she won’t have a problem, given the snow.”
“Mind-blocking potion I hope.” I had a couple of bottles left, but I needed to replenish if I couldn’t get Layla out of my psyche. “The plows seem to be keeping up with clearing the main streets.”
“Uncle Sam, you need to be careful with Layla.”
“Where did that come from?” She didn’t read minds, and she wasn’t touching my face to see anything in my future.
Doc straightened. “Please tell me you haven’t developed a new power.” He sounded frustrated.
She shook her head as her gaze found Doc’s. “No. But Sam is falling for her, and if my vision comes true, I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
I tucked an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. “You think I’m falling for her?”
Her serious expression sent a wave of nerves churning in my stomach. “I know so.”
Dr. Vieira’s eyes went wide. I imagined he was worried that Layla was a vampire hunter, or maybe he thought I would end up draining her blood. The latter was more of a possibility than falling for her.
I understood how vampires could sense shit like that, but Abbey wasn’t a vampire yet. I couldn’t exactly discount her conviction on my feelings for Layla. Abbey was an extraordinary human who was slowly acquiring more abilities than Jo and me combined, and her visions were rarely wrong. She scared even me.
But her predications at that moment weren’t the issue. If Roman was in fact targeting Abbey, we had to do everything in our power to stop him. Not only that, Tripp had the tech team searching for Wyman’s former partner, Thomas. Given what Wyman had told us, we didn’t think he remembered anything from Patrick’s research or Edmund’s organization. Regardless, we had to be one hundred and fifty percent sure of that if we wanted to keep Abbey safe.
“What vision?” Doc asked her.
“That Rianne will kill Layla,” Abbey said as if she was talking about the weather.
Sensing Layla’s presence, my head jerked up.
She gasped, stopping in her tracks. “Hearing that again still sends a chill down my spine.”
Doc removed his nitrile gloves. “Sometimes Abbey’s visions are wrong.” Leave it to Doc to want to ease Layla’s worry. He was always trying to make sure people didn’t hurt, physically or emotionally. “How are you feeling, Layla? I suspect you might feel a little out of sorts until Sam’s blood filters through your system.”
“I feel okay,” she said. “Maybe a little lightheaded, but a lot has happened.” She eyed Abbey, who was fiddling with Doc’s microscope.
My phone pinged with a text from Tripp:Get your ass down to the interrogation room.
