Edge of Danger

And her “fascination,” for lack of a better word, was officially freaking her out.

Not knowing much about how Watchmen shifted into the shapes of their beasts, she wanted to ask him where the breathtaking black wings had gone, but bit back the oddly personal question, feeling as if it breached some intimate barrier that she couldn’t cross. Not when he was staring at her as if he couldn’t stop. “Hand me the photo,” she said instead, holding out one hand.

“Why?” His tone was odd…almost wary as he held her stare. For such a testosterone-oozing male, she couldn’t help but notice that he had the most amazing eyelashes, ones that actually cast shadows on his sharp cheekbones.

“Just hand me the photo,” she repeated, snapping her fingers like some kind of commando she-bitch. God only knew she wasn’t making much of a first impression, but she chalked it up to circumstance, seeing as how it’d been a bitch of a night—one that was only just getting started.

Saige took the picture from his grasp when he offered it to her, and the second her fingers touched the paper, she knew he was telling her the truth. Riley had given it to him. Damn it. She hated having to apologize, but knew it was the right thing to do.

Still, the words were tight in her throat as she said, “I’m sorry about what happened back there.” She ended the apology with a pointed look toward his injured brow and tried not to wince.

Instead of accepting, he made a rude, utterly male sound in the back of his throat. “You threw a goddamn bottle at my head, Saige. I don’t think some lame-ass sorry’s gonna cut it.”

She bit her tongue to keep from mouthing off, wanting information more than she wanted to argue—but Quinn had questions of his own. “What can you tell me about Paul Templeton?” he grunted, taking the picture from her and slipping it back into his pocket again.

Saige didn’t recognize the name. “I don’t know anyone named Templeton.”

“He’s the Watchman who was assigned to you,” he explained with a grim expression, rubbing one hand against his shadowed jaw. “And I’ll bet money you knew Paul was trailing you. You must have some idea of what happened to him.”

She shrugged, while a sour feeling slid through her insides. “I honestly don’t know. He just seemed to disappear a few days ago.”

“Christ,” he muttered under his breath, and she wondered if the missing Watchman had been a friend of Quinn’s.

It was ironic, how she’d always taken the Watchmen’s surveillance for granted, never really appreciating it, until this man he called Templeton had vanished. Suddenly, she’d been alone and afraid, reminding her of how she’d felt as a child, when all the men in her life had turned away from her, one by one. After her dad had run out on them, her brothers had been her world, until they, too, had drifted away from her. Ian had run away from home, unable to handle Elaina’s obsession with the family bloodline, and God only knew what had happened to make Riley so resentful. He’d changed after Ian had left, and they’d never been close again.

Turning her attention back to Quinn and the missing Paul Templeton, she said, “I got worried when I could no longer sense him watching me. I’ve been…more cautious than usual the past few days, unsure of what to expect.”

Liar.

Am not, she silently growled back. Maybe that wasn’t the complete truth…but it was a version.

A skinny one that isn’t going to do him a damn bit of good. You need to tell him about the Marker!

From the way he watched her, she wasn’t even sure he was buying it, but when he spoke, he simply said, “We can talk this out later. Right now we need to get on the move. I have a room in São Vicente where we can spend the night.”

“You still haven’t explained what you’re doing here,” she murmured. All the photo had told her was that Riley had asked him to bring her to Colorado, but it’d said nothing about why.

“Like I said, I’m here to get you back. Preferably in one piece.” His tone bristled with impatience, and there was an undercurrent of energy buzzing about him that told her he was completely in tune with the surrounding jungle, reading the signs and aware of any coming danger. “After seeing what happened when they came after your brother, I have no doubt that bastard is going to be gunning for you hard and fast.”

Her stomach dropped, and she wet her mouth, not liking the sound of that. She took a sudden step forward, the distance between them no more than a foot now, bringing the details of his gorgeous face into sharper focus. “What do you mean when they went after my brother?”

Around them, the forest fell silent and still, as if waiting with her in breathless suspense as Quinn quietly said, “He’s already gone through his awakening.”

Saige hadn’t expected the sharp stab of fear that twisted through her middle, along with something that felt uncomfortably like guilt. For a moment all she could do was hold that dark gaze, trying to find some kind of reassurance in it, and then she finally found her voice. “Is Riley okay? What happened? Was he prepared? Please tell me that Ian didn’t throw out the Marker.”

“Riley’s fine,” he told her, watching her closely. “But he wasn’t the one.”

She blinked. “Ian?” she said, her hoarse tone thick with surprise. “Jesus, it was Ian?”

“Yeah, but he’s all right. A little lost at first, but we found him in time to give him the information he needed.”

There was a note of censure in his graveled voice that cut her deeper than she’d have thought possible. After all, it wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to share what she knew with her brothers. Well, maybe not with Ian, but damn it, she’d tried to warn Riley. Not that she’d known then as much as she did now. She’d learned so much since she’d last seen him at their mother’s funeral—things that she’d planned on sharing when she made it back to America, whether he wanted to listen or not.

But time had run out…more swiftly for Ian than it had for her, if what this man claimed was true.

“Of course Ian’s all right,” she said, her voice soft, while her mind churned it over…and over, trying to grasp it. She should have figured it out before. If she hadn’t been so scared, she’d have realized that Riley wouldn’t have had any involvement with the Watchmen, giving Quinn her picture and asking him to come after her, unless something had already happened. And she could just imagine how furious Ian must have been to discover he was the first, considering how he’d always detested any talk about the Merrick. “According to Riley, Ian’s like a cat. He must have nine lives.”

“I imagine he lost a couple during the past few weeks,” Quinn commented dryly. “The thing hunted him down, Saige, targeting some of the women he’d dated. They’re making it personal, striking where it hurts.”

Stunned, she barely managed to scrape out her words. “Are you telling me that it killed human women?”

“Killed is putting it too lightly. It tortured them, and made it a slow, grueling process, just to mess with your brother’s mind.”

“But I thought they would come after us—after the Merrick.” She wrapped her arms around her middle again, somehow trying to hold herself together. “We’re the ones they’re supposed to want. The ones they need.”

“Oh, they’ll come after you,” he rasped, the husky notes of his dark-velvet voice stroking her senses, despite her horror with the situation. “And they’ll do everything they can to screw with your life until they’ve got you.” He shifted closer, making her want to retreat from his intensity…from that piercing gaze and his devastating beauty. “That’s where I come in.”

Her breath caught so hard that her chest ached. “Meaning?”

“Meaning you’re my responsibility now. Wherever you go, I go. I’m not letting you out of my sight, so you might as well get used to it.”

Saige could tell from his tone that he was hardly thrilled by the circumstances. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“Yeah?” he drawled. “Go ahead and ask me how much that matters.”

She was angrier at fate at the moment than with him—but fate wasn’t there to hear her complaints. “Are you always this aggravating?” she demanded, giving him her best glare.

For a split second, a funny expression crossed his chiseled features, and he lifted those mouthwatering shoulders in a wry shrug. “Believe it or not, I’m usually the most easygoing guy around. I guess you just bring out the worst in me.”

“The worst in you, huh?” Lowering her brows, she wondered what she must have done in a past life to have earned such cosmically crappy luck. “Funny how I always seem to have that effect on people.”

“Aggravating or not, I intend to keep you alive, and that thing back there is programmed on to you.” Saige knew what he meant. She’d heard about a Casus’s ability to lock on to a Merrick, as though she were some kind of metaphysical beacon for its hunger. “That’s why we need to get to the safety of Ravenswing, the Watchmen compound in Colorado, as soon as possible.”

Saige shook her head, a new fear quickly taking form, twisting through her like a physical pain as she reached down and grabbed hold of her backpack, hooking it over her right shoulder. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve checked on Javier.”

Dark brows drew together over darker eyes. “Who?”

“The boy I was with tonight,” she explained, adjusting her hold on the heavy pack. “He lives in Coroza with his brothers, not far from the bar.”

Quinn frowned. “You know he’d be better off if you just stay away from him.”

“But you said yourself that the Casus went after some of the women Ian knew,” she argued. “I need to make sure that Javier made it home okay. Give him enough money to get out of town for a while.”

“Then call him,” he said flatly.

“He and his brothers don’t have a phone,” she explained with a heavy dose of frustration.

He studied her posture, his hard, hypnotic gaze lingering on her face…her eyes, noting her determination. “It isn’t safe for you to go near him, Saige. If they’ve marked him, you’ll be putting yourself in danger again. Just going back into Coroza is a hell of a risk.”