He put the car back in gear and hit the road. In a couple of minutes, they’d be at their destination. “The help you need is wolfen-related.”

His statement sounded so unbelievable to his own ears he almost laughed out loud. Discussing anything wolfen-related with a human, and an eliminator to boot, was in the realm of never going to happen. Yet, here he sat, opening the door. God help him, he hoped it didn’t slam in his face.

“It’s wolfen-related, yes. But I understand if you don’t want to help.” Her voice was tinged with understanding, acceptance. What she didn’t realize was he’d already set in motion his helping her.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. Who wants to kill me?”

“I honestly don’t know.” She let out an exhaustive breath. “I’m not given that information.”

“What are you given?” He needed to know exactly what she had on him and if other people would be affected. Gavin, for example. He didn’t know Hugh was a wolfen, and Hugh wanted to keep it that way.

“A dossier. But I haven’t even taken a look at it yet. I planned to start on it tomorrow. So Mr. Hugh Langston, I don’t know all that much about you.”

“You do work for P.I.E.?”

“Did I sign up for twenty questions?” She shifted and crossed her ankles. “I don’t remember doing that.”

He looked down at her legs again. They should be bare all the time. On a beach. In a cabin in the woods. Hell. Taking her with him had been a stupid-ass thing to do. He needed to return to the stoic, uninvolved, search and rescue guy. The guy most people saw on a daily basis, not the whipped one he’d been in her company. That guy he hardly knew.

“You don’t get to think. Answer the goddamn question.”

Silence reigned. Again.

Agitation thrummed through him. “I suggest you start talking, sweetheart, or it’s going to be a long night.”

Her lips formed a tight, thin line.

He turned into the driveway and slowed to take the quarter mile stretch to his house. “You help me. I’ll help you.”

“No questions asked.” She spoke right on the heels of his offer.

“For now.” He needed answers from her at some point. Yet, regardless of her current disposition, he had faith in her. Faith that she’d come around and do the right thing by him.

“Fine.”

Tess hadn’t been trained for this. Hadn’t been instructed on what the hell to do if a mark figured out who she was. Her track record grew shittier by the minute. Good onya, Tess. Score another goal for the other team. Never in her career had someone found out who she really was. Yes, the vamp in the airplane last week had discovered she was after his head, but he hadn’t known more. It had taken Hugh all of four hours. And she wasn’t officially on the job.

The adrenaline pumping through her blood wasn’t the sort she enjoyed. She was furious with herself. Disgusted. If she could open the car door and fling herself out of the moving vehicle in hopes of being injured, she might.

That was a lie.

Some good adrenaline did pump through her veins. The kind that flows through your system when the man sitting next to you is sexier than anything, smarter than you and a whole heck of a lot meaner. Well, maybe not a lot meaner, but not nice. That only made her want to double her efforts. To be nice or mean, she wasn’t sure. And she hated not being sure.

Hated even more that she wasn’t afraid of him. Because she should be terrified of the feelings rolling through her body like he had some sort of possessive hold over her. From the top of her head to the bottom of her broken shoes, she felt flutters. Tickles like her body was the road map for an ant picnic. That had never happened to her before. She’d also never saved someone’s life before.

That had felt pretty damn good.

The fact that she got to do it by kissing made it even better.

The car—her car—came to a stop outside what looked like a bungalow. Darkness enveloped the small house, making it difficult to get a clear picture. They were up in the Hollywood Hills somewhere, away from the traffic and hubbub of the city. The nearest neighbor, by her calculations, resided a good distance away.

Hugh put the car in park and turned her way. He looked annoyingly handsome with just a hint of moonlight across his face. Probably part of some wolf privilege. He’d masked his mood though, his features vacant of any hint to his intentions.

“Here’s the deal,” she said. “You can’t breathe a word of who I really am to anyone. Not Dane. Not anyone. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll help you find Trey if you’ll help me find the wolfen I’m after. I haven’t got much. Just a name: Dobson.” She tried to get comfortable but it was impossible with her arms behind her back. “Ring a bell?”

“Not off the top of my head.” He eyed her suspiciously. “Why so talkative all of a sudden?”

She couldn’t tell him it was because she wanted to escape, and the only way to do that was to get on his good side long enough for him to let his defenses down and take the tape off her wrists. “I’m tired. Hungry. And need to use the bathroom.” An honest-to-goodness smile spread across her lips. The one she’d perfected in front of the mirror over the years. “Plus, I really do think you’re my best bet to find Dobson.”

He made no move to rip the tape from her wrists or help her out of the car. Damn him. “Why do you need to find him?”

Here’s where things get dicey. A huge part of her wanted to tell him everything. Every little thing she’d kept bottled up inside for five years. Get off her chest the sadness, the anger, the failure she felt. What a relief it would be to share this burden with someone. Lay it all the line.

But she couldn’t. She had to remind herself this was a short-term deal. Once they helped each other, she’d have to eliminate him. She didn’t plan on making that job any tougher than it already was.

And she certainly couldn’t tell him she planned to kill Dobson once they found him.

“P.I.E. wants him in connection with a murder.” Making the hunt less personal seemed like the best way to go.

He raised one eyebrow as if he didn’t believe her. “You said it was personal.”

Damn. She had, hadn’t she? “It is. The man murdered was a friend of mine.”

She’d thought more about Jason tonight than she had in months. Time had succeeded in pushing him further and further from her daily thoughts, but it only took half a second to bring him back. And despite her heart’s mending, a piece of it had died with him. His death had hurt in more ways than she cared to analyze, and she’d do whatever necessary to never feel that contamination again.

“Man, huh?” Jealousy, however slight, clouded his voice.

A fresh wave of longing crashed through the promise of revenge she’d made to herself. She stared at Hugh, trying to decide if any man had ever looked at her the way he did. The sparks of interest that continued to ignite between them fanned brighter, and she fisted her hands, digging her nails into her palms. She should not want to kiss him again.

I hate wolfen. I hate wolfen. She’d keep reminding herself of that little point whenever the urge to do something stupid—like lean in and brush her lips against his neck—hit. Unfortunately, his magnetic pull was ultra strong inside the car. She needed to get out. Fast.

“Do you think we could continue this conversation outside or wherever it is we are?”

“Too hot in here for you?” A devilish quirk of his mouth teased her.

“Something like that.”

He exited the car and came around to her side. She swung her legs out the door as soon as he opened it, but had difficulty getting up without leverage from her arms. He chuckled. She wanted to kick him, good and hard, right where it mattered. Instead, she looked up and raised her eyebrows.

“A little assistance?”

His hands spread around her waist and he lifted her in the air before placing her feet on the ground. For longer than necessary, his hands remained, arms outstretched. He looked at her carefully, as if trying to discern whether or not he’d made the right decision in bringing her here.