Vampire: A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella by Rebecca Zanetti (love letters to the dead .txt) 📕

chewed thoughtfully. “I don’t know. The sedative was a strong one.” In other words, it had taken down a four-hundred-year-old hybrid, so it was possible the enemy was immortal and knew exactly who he was.

Tabi reached for the champagne bottle to refill her glass. “There are several horse tranquilizers that could’ve been used. Strong ones.”

If that was the situation, then maybe the jerk was human and had just gotten lucky with the drug. “If that’s the case, they didn’t care if they killed me,” Raine mused. The quantity probably would’ve killed a human.

Mariana jolted. “How can you sound so casual about that? You could’ve died.” She reached out and planted her small hand on his.

The soft touch wound right through his body to the beast at his core, and the damn creature roared. Raine forced a smile. “I didn’t die, so let’s not worry about that.” It took every ounce of his control not to flip his hand over and capture hers.

Evan watched him. “Do you have any enemies we need to know about?”

Mariana jumped. “Don’t be silly. This was about me and that stupid stalker I can’t get rid of. He took the safety wedge out of my guest window so he can come back. Nothing else is missing, though.” She looked down at her still full champagne glass and removed her hand.

“We’ll get a new lock and wedge for the window.” Raine said, the hair rising on the back of his neck.

She paled. “I know, but it’s driving me crazy that I can’t figure out who this guy is.”

Raine caught an expletive before it emerged. Anger tornadoed through him, and he took another bite of eggs, but now they tasted like dust. He hid his expression until he could clear it. “We will find him.”

Evan drank some water. “Raine, I agree, but is there anybody in your life who might think you’re destined and have gone after her?”

Mariana choked and reached for water to drink. She set the glass back down. “Destined? Evan, that’s crazy.”

Except it wasn’t. Not at all. Raine sighed and reached for the champagne. Why not? “No. None of my enemies would think I have a destiny or would seek out Mariana.”

She looked at him like he was nuts. “You guys are missing the boat here about the stalker. He would think that he’s my destiny.”

Tabi chuckled and drank more champagne. Oh, the demoness loved seeing other people in difficult situations. There was no doubt if they all voted, she’d choose to just tell Mariana everything, which would break the most important law of every species and coalition. “That’s such a good point, Mariana,” she drawled in her husky voice. “But some of us do believe in fate. What about you, Raine?”

Oh, he was going to smack the demoness. Except that he kind of liked her, even though she was a pain. “No, but I do believe in action.” He finished his drink. “Mariana? Do you have copies of the case files from Dallas? We need to find this guy before he goes for you again.”

She nodded. “I have everything in the desk in the guest room. The Dallas police did everything they could to find him, but he stayed under the radar.”

Raine sat back. “Good. I have a brother who’s an expert technical analyst. We’ll have him take a look.” Cade could find anybody.

Tabi sat up. “Ohhh. The mysterious Maxwell clan starts to take shape.”

Mariana looked at her. “Huh?”

Raine placed his hand over hers this time, partially to distract her and mostly to appease his own need. “Also, I need to bring the rest of my stuff in from the truck.”

She blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m moving in until this guy is caught.” Raine pointedly ignored Evan’s narrowing of eyes, Tabi’s smile of delight, and Mariana’s look of pure argument.

Why hadn’t he just stayed in Montana? Oh yeah. He was dying. Until now that he was next to Mariana. He sighed.

Tabi laughed.

Chapter 5

Mariana stared at the murder board Raine had created across the wall of the guest room. Dates, times, theories—all of them from the Dallas Police Department.

“We really don’t have much,” Raine said, leaning back against the wall. “I’ve sent everything to my brother, and maybe he’ll be able to come up with something the cops couldn’t. If anybody can retrieve the video from your cameras, it’d be Cade.” He rolled his neck, and the muscles bunched in his upper arms.

Mariana tried to swallow and wet her suddenly dry throat. Having him near was too much for her libido, and if the guy had any idea of the dreams he’d starred in lately, he’d probably blush. Well, maybe. Something told her that Raine didn’t blush. “Why did you leave town?” she asked.

One of his brows arched. How could a freakin' eyebrow look sexy? “The job was done.”

Ouch. Okay. Well, then. He’d only been there for the job of watching Ivar and Noah. “Then why did you come back?” She looked away from him.

His sigh was long-suffering and didn’t tell her a thing. “That’s a long story, and I can’t go into it.”

“Seriously?” She whipped around to face him. “Are you kidding me? You show up on my porch, get kidnapped, admit you were in my group under false pretenses, take off for Montana, and then return without being able to explain why? Oh, I don’t think so. Either you start talking right now or you get the heck out of my house.” The place already seemed smaller and somehow safer with him in it, but she knew better than to start depending on him. He’d be gone again soon.

His eyes flared in a way that didn’t even look human. “I’m out of here the second we find this guy.”

Yikes. Okay. That hurt a little bit. She’d thought she’d gotten an interested vibe from him a couple of times, but maybe she’d misread him? He was the sexiest man she’d ever been this close to in real life, so maybe he went for