Trying discreetly to dart her eyes to the left and right, she searched for something to help her out. Once again she mentally reprimanded herself for going out alone at night without her purse. At the very least, she should have strapped a knife to her thigh. But nooo. She’d been too anxious to follow Trey. Who was really Hugh. Who was a Night Runner. And terribly hard to forget. Even now, under the present danger.

She found nothing to aid her in the overwhelming desire to shove something sharp into the Banoth’s chest, so decided there was only one course of action to take. She was a pro at it by now.

Run.

This time, knowing better than to turn her back on a stinkball-throwing giant hairball, she hoped its depth perception was off, and he wouldn’t notice her taking cautious steps backward. Holding her breath, she inched away from the Banoth. As soon as she reached the end of the aisle, she made a sideways beeline for safety.

Hugh wasn’t going to find Trey tonight. In fact, he doubted the information Dane had received was accurate at all. The more likely explanation included a setup to capture and kill Dane and himself. With the three top Night Runners out of the picture, the pack would be vulnerable to a takeover. Or worse.

Someone had orchestrated this whole thing, Hugh was sure of it. And whoever that someone was went to a lot of trouble and expense. Sending a Banoth to take care of business meant the stakes were high, the job top priority.

Right now, his priority was Tess. He’d ditched her to shift so that he could better protect her. It killed him to think he’d gotten her into this mess. Sharp pains jabbed his stomach at the thought of harm coming to her. Anger bubbled up inside him. He’d rip out the Banoth’s throat if the creature got too close to her.

In a matter of hours, she’d gotten under his skin. He knew because hot vapors rushed through his body whenever they touched.

He’d traveled beside her just now, his shadow under her feet, without her knowledge so he could figure her out. Her tough and fearless personality wasn’t for show. Her smart mouth not all talk. He knew she’d deliver every bit as good as she got. Watching her speak to the Banoth had made him ridiculously hard. She turned him on with her unwavering confidence, despite their predicament.

Pots suddenly crashed to the floor, and he bit the side of his mouth. In his haste to follow Tess as she ran from the Banoth, he knocked over a stack of ceramics. She turned on her heels and landed a right hook to his jaw.

“Ow,” he said, rubbing a hand over the painful spot. “What was that for?”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know what was behind me.” Her eyes widened as she took in his appearance. “So I decided to act without thinking.”

“You do that a lot?”

“All the time.”

“Duck!” he yelled, dropping to his knees.

She obliged as another putrid smelling ball of slime sloshed past their heads. “Can’t you do something about this thing?”

“Come on.” He took off toward a stairway he’d caught sight of, and taking the steps two at a time, raced to the second floor with Tess right behind him. The stairwell was small and narrow, and the Banoth would have trouble getting through it. That might buy him the few minutes he needed to figure a way out of the building. They reached a small landing, then turned to run up a second flight.

No matter what she said, he was determined to get her the hell away from the beast. If it sank its fangs into her, she was dead.

“By the way,” she said as they raced up the stairs, “thanks for leaving me alone. Really. I appreciate it. It shows how much confidence you have in me.”

He wasn’t sure if she was serious or not, but he didn’t have time to decode female speech at the moment. They were about to collide with a metal door. Why the fuck was there a steel door at the top of the stairs?

Tess bumped into him. Her eyes must have been on the steps and not where she was going. He couldn’t blame her. He saw just fine in the darkened stairwell, but imagined she didn’t.

“A little warning next time,” she said.

“We’ve got a problem,” he answered, releasing the locked door handle.

“Yeah, I know. And he needs a haircut.”

“There’s a steel door here and it’s locked. We need to go back the way we came.” As he stepped next to her, he noticed her blink a few times to adjust her vision. Or maybe it was to adjust to the sight of him in his Night Runner form.

“Huh. Probably two different companies lease the building. You can’t break it down?”

“I’m strong, but not that strong. The good news is I don’t think the Banoth followed us this way.” He started down the stairs with tentative steps. “Stay behind me.”

She grabbed the back of his shirt like someone would if they were in a crowd and didn’t want to get separated. The gesture felt too comfortable, too meaningful. He gulped. Whether he cared to admit it or not, he wanted much more than to see her to safety.

“So about these fangs,” she whispered. “Are they like vampire teeth, or worse?”

He didn’t answer right away, instead trying to keep his mind focused on the task and not her warm breath making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention again.

“Because the way I see it, with a mouth the size of my arm, I’d say worse. And where does all that stinky slime come from?”

Ignoring her questions, he turned the corner on the small landing. As he’d suspected—given the narrow passage—the flight of stairs was empty. That didn’t mean the Banoth wasn’t lurking nearby, but he’d take the opening.

“Also, you mentioned a friend. Do you think the second Banoth is about to show up? Because I’d really like to be prepared for that.”

The woman obviously talked when she was nervous. Or talked to hear herself. Either way, her voice made it difficult for him to concentrate. “Shh.” He took the last step to the warehouse floor. His ears perked up, his nostrils flared.

“Don’t shush me.”

“Okay, shut up.”

He visualized the building. Every inch of it, until he heard footsteps above his head and knew the Banoth was visiting the second floor. He had about thirty seconds to get Tess back to the door they’d entered through, and kick her ass out.

“Screw you.”

That warranted a glance over his shoulder. A few comebacks came to mind but he decided to smile instead. Let her stew in her own words. With a touch of pink in her cheeks to match a touch of want in her eyes, he didn’t need to say a thing. Really shouldn’t say a thing.

“Remember where the door is that we entered?” he asked, eager to get her to safety and out of his sight. If he had any hope of salvation, he needed to cut ties immediately.

“Of course I do.” She bumped his shoulder in a playful gesture that amazed him, given their situation.

“Good. We’re going to haul ass there. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” She nudged him to the side and took off. “First one there wins.”

Following her was no hardship. The dress wrapped around her body like cellophane and all he could see was every delicious curve. God, how he wanted to strip her. Lick her between the legs until she came on his tongue. Touch her until she came on his fingers. Move his cock inside her until she came screaming his name. His attention was so focused on the slope of her back and how much he wanted to enter her from behind that a moment later, he didn’t even see the terra cotta pot coming.

Pain blasted into the side of his head and he fell to the floor. Large, jagged pieces of brown clay surrounded him, one lodging into his palm as he cushioned his fall. He didn’t stay down longer than two seconds before jumping to his feet ready for battle, claws bared.

The Banoth had other ideas.

Tess’s scream hit him like daggers pelting his chest. Granted, the scream rang more ornery than frightened, which gave him some slight consolation, but not nearly enough to stop his heart from racing.