“I need to get a move on,” he said, breaking the silence and stepping away.

“I get to ask one more question.”

Hugh looked over his shoulder. “I believe you just asked it.”

She hadn’t budged.

He wheeled around and, without warning, tossed her back over his shoulder.

“Hey! Put me down!” she wailed.

Fists met his back while he tried not to let his hands roam too much. Or enjoy the feel of her body squirming against his. “You done?”

“Yes.” She surrendered, her body relaxing.

Once again on solid ground and falling in step beside him, she added, “You’re so going to pay for that.” Tugging her dress back into position, she let out a rankled sigh. “Believe me buddy, as fast as you want to be rid of me, I want to be rid of you faster.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Shmuck,” she whispered under her breath, obviously unaware that he could hear a pin drop. “So Night Runner, why would someone want to kidnap your friend?”

“That’s a good question. One I…” He halted and put a firm hand on Tess’s arm. His senses perked up. An acidic smell touched his nose. Whispers of breath, raspy and gruff, touched his ears. Someone or something was close. Very close.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, no hint of fear in her voice.

He looked around but saw nothing. Whatever was out there was very good at masking itself. “Nothing.” With his hand on her arm, he moved them forward with caution. “And to answer your question, I don’t know. I met you tonight because I thought you might be able to shed some light on the situation.”

“How the hell could I do that? I just met you.”

“Yeah. About that.” Only a few hundred more feet and they’d be out of the alley, closer to a safer part of town. Shit. Was he walking them toward danger or away from it?

“About what?” She didn’t seem to mind his hand on her arm. In fact, she lifted it and put her arm underneath his to join them in stronger companionship.

That small gesture was all it took to convince him to tell her the truth. “My name’s not Trey. Trey is my missing friend. My name’s Hugh. Hugh Langston.”

She doubled over at his admission, breaking their arm connection. Choking sounds and attempts to catch her breath followed. “Hugh. Langston.” She uttered his name like it was laced with poison.

Before he could reply to her charming echo of his name, the source of his apprehension made an appearance. With a thump that shook the ground, a savage, shaggy, burnt-orange-haired Banoth dropped from above in front of them. How the hell the giant had gone unnoticed was beyond him, but here he was.

“What the—”

“No time, Tess.” He yanked her behind him then turned and grabbed her hand. “Run!”

Holy shit.

Tess hated hearing the word run. She didn’t mind the act of doing so, just despised the fact that when yelled, it meant someone or something was chasing her. And she hated being chased.

But more than being chased, she hated not knowing what the hell was in hot pursuit of her ass.

He looked like a wooly mammoth on two feet—thick, clubbed feet, which right now moved too swiftly for his big size. Long hair hung over his extremely tall body, and spiraling, jagged horns protruded from his oversized head. Lips like an orangutan’s spread all the way across his face while thick saliva sputtered from his mouth. Hair covered his eyes too, allowing only a peek at his red, crazy stare. Yes, it was a he, she decided. No female creature would wear a beard that hideous.

With another quick glance over her shoulder, she found the beast a bit too close for comfort. And yet, excitement shot through her. She lived for danger. And the creature wanting to take a bite out of her was very dangerous. When she’d left to follow Trey—Hugh—she hadn’t imagined the evening turning out like this.

Hugh.

“Quick, down this way!” he yelled, his hand still firmly holding hers.

She matched him stride for stride. When her mind wandered to him shifting and what that might feel like, she gave herself a mental slap. Hugh was her assignment, the wolfen she had to investigate and e-l-i-m-i-n-a-t-e.

Nausea hit her so fast she was sure she’d throw up while running. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she yelled.

“Not here, you’re not. If we stop for even a second, that thing will overtake us.”

She swallowed the bad taste coming up her throat and tried to catch a breath. If he hadn’t been gripping her hand so tight, there was no way she would have been able to continue at the Olympic pace he’d set. “What the hell is that thing?” she asked, pushing aside the appreciation his protection stirred inside her.

He cut her a quick glance before looking over his shoulder. “A Banoth.”

“I’ve never heard of them.”

“They don’t make an appearance very often.” He sounded winded, but not from the running. It was more of a desperate, worried tone, probably from having to deal with the Banoth. And her.

He truly didn’t want to see her hurt. The thought made her want to throw up again. She should yank her hand from his and take off in another direction. Put distance between them and make her own escape. But she couldn’t. She’d found her next assignment, and like it or not, her investigation had started. The fact that he wasn’t like the marks she’d been assigned in the past complicated things, though. From the first second she’d met those Veilers, she’d known they were bad seeds. Hugh seemed like a genuinely good guy.

Which begged the question: why him? In all her years with P.I.E., not once had her investigation proved the mark innocent of any wrongdoing.

If she were smart, she’d figure out a way to let the Banoth have his way with Hugh. Let the beast do the job for her. The job that she’d been warned would be her last if she didn’t succeed.

Hot breath hit the back of her neck along with a little moisture. Eww. The lousy monster was breathing down her neck and spitting? He royally pissed her off.

“Faster,” she yelled, willing her feet to move quicker. Regardless of what she’d do about Hugh, at the moment she thought it wise to stay by his side. Two against one Banoth were pretty good odds, considering who they were.

“In here,” he called, making an abrupt left through an open warehouse door. He slammed it shut behind them and threw down the metal reinforcement bar.

A loud bang and some pretty serious bumps in the door followed, but it remained closed.

“I guess they can’t crash through steel.” She put her hands on her knees and bent over to catch her breath.

“No, but they’re very resourceful so it’s only a matter of time before it figures out another way in.”

Hugh looked around the expansive room filled with crates and machinery. Just enough light from the skylights overhead allowed Tess to see they’d snuck into some sort of manufacturing plant. After surveying the place in hopes of finding a blinking red exit sign, she turned and found Hugh staring at her.

More emotion—pain? Confusion? Trust?—crossed his face than she was comfortable seeing. Falling into those amazing eyes of his, she decided she needed to find out more before she, or anything else, took him out. She needed to play it cool and keep in contact. Do her investigating with her work face firmly in place. The face she’d perfected over the years. The face that allowed her to get close to her targets so they trusted her. Right before she eliminated them. This time was no different. It couldn’t be.

Could it?

“You’re not scared,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“I don’t scare easily.” Why oh why did he have to stir something warm and hopeful inside her?

He took a few steps closer before reaching out and wiping a drop of perspiration from her forehead with the pad of his thumb. “Glad to hear it.”