“Big mistake,” Benny said softly. The line clicked, and the call ended.
What the fuck?
The window nearest her head shattered with a sudden, shocking crash. Emma screamed, throwing herself to the floor as shards of glass rained around her, sounding like tinkling chimes. She barely had time to think before another window exploded in a burst of glass that caught the light in infinite prisms.
Emma hugged the floor, so terrified she could hardly breathe. More shocking than the bullets flying through the window was the thought that she had now killed herself … and Ace … by trapping them in a kill zone.
I played right into their hands.
Chapter20
Ace
He was drifting in dreams.
Ace was almost within reach of Emma. She danced just beyond his fingertips. Every time he tried to touch her, he would feel the slightest graze of her skin against his before she slipped away.
Gray mist surrounded him, obscuring the environment. There was nowhere else to go except forward, following the haunting glimpse of Emma as she moved away in front of him.
The dream peeled away into a busy city street. For a brief second, he saw Emma ahead. He called out and reached for her, but she disappeared into the crowd. He cried out, running after her.
Suddenly, there was a terrific crash. He looked up to see windows exploding above, sending showers of glass down onto the street below. It was the most beautiful rain Ace had ever seen.
Then, he heard Emma screaming, and he knew it wasn’t part of the dream.
Ace’s body snapped up, and he shook his head. He really must have been tired to be so dragged down by sleep that he almost slept through an attack. He sat up on the couch only to have a bullet fly past his head, shattering another window.
He threw himself to the floor, crawling to the dining room where Emma huddled under the table. She had her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth and tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Stay here,” he ordered. She nodded.
Ace’s gaze lingered on her one second longer, then he turned and bolted out the door. For a moment, he considered grabbing Emma and running together, never looking back. But escape was impossible … from their enemies or their families.
Besides, he brimmed with anger at these two bastards that had kept him on his toes for so long, and he wanted to rend them into tiny pieces. If he could take them out, Emma really would be safe.
Ace charged down the stairs, barely touching them as he flew to the ground floor as quickly as possible. He was literally seeing red as the haze of anger hung around his head, narrowing his focus to a single point.
Kill them.
When he got to the bottom, he went down one more level to the underground garage. He didn’t want the shooter to see him come charging out of the building and making a beeline to him.
He wanted to surprise that fucker, sneak up behind him and sink his fangs into his neck and hear the sweet screams as the life drained out of him.
You will pay for this!
From the underground parking area, Ace took a side alley to the building across the street. He was sure where the shooter was, and as he entered the foyer and started up the stairs, his sense of smell confirmed the fact.
He slowed when he came to the right floor and stalked slowly down the hall. Ace heard the rifle being cocked and grinned, growling just a little. The idiot was still there, just waiting to be murdered.
He wasn’t sure which of the goons it was at this stage, but he knew it was only one of them. They were obviously still watching the apartment, waiting for someone to stick their head up.
They’ll never stop hunting her. Keep your head down, baby. I got this.
Ace smashed the door, splintering it off its hinges. The gunman turned and fired, forcing Ace to drop to the ground and hug the floor. As he moved like lightning to the corner of the room, he saw that the gunman was Fritz.
Ace took cover behind old furniture, and Fritz fired at him a few more times with the powerful rifle before dropping it and running into an adjoining room. Ace followed, keeping low to the ground.
Fritz would still have weapons on him. Ace just didn’t know what to expect. His claws extended a little more, and all his hair stood on end as his adrenaline reacted to the danger.