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inside him. He reminded himself that he did not come equipped with a conscience.
    â€œIt’s too late to save anyone,” he told her.
    Then his attention was drawn back to the outside world. He smiled.
    â€œSomething wicked this way comes?” she asked, alert to his reaction.
    He nodded. “And just when I’m in the mood to do some damage.”
    She was suddenly hyper alert, and all business. “How many? Where are they coming from.”
    He reluctantly admired this side of the mortal, even though it was no way for a female to behave. “Modern women,” he murmured.
    â€œDon’t know our place,” she added for him.
    â€œI could rise to the bait and say something sexist and sexually provocative here.”
    â€œBut we don’t have the time.” She started the car and eased out of the parking space.
    He stroked her bruised thigh. “Remind me to kiss this and make it all better. Where are we going?”
    She turned toward the nearest exit. “We don’t want a riot at the mall.”
    â€œNo witnesses or collateral damage,” he agreed.
    â€œDo you think they’ll notice that we’ve been waiting for them to ambush us?”
    He chuckled. “Tribe boys? They have the same instincts as a greyhound—they see a rabbit and they run after it. In this case, a bug,” he said, patting the dashboard.
    â€œA tricked-out bug,” she answered. “Don’t let her staid outer appearance fool you.”
    Laurent looked the mortal woman over with growing hunger. “Oh, I won’t,” he told her.
    He felt the heat of her blush across the short distance between them, but resisted the impulse to stroke warm, soft skin. Her attraction to him was further balm to his frayed nerves, and he was going to make very good use of that attraction.
    Then he focused on their opponents. He let his shielding down for a moment, sending a bolt of surprise and fear, as though he had just discovered them. He’d felt a trio of them circling the perimeter of the huge parking lot; they’d been faintly aware of the mental scent he’d been broadcasting at a very low level. When he lowered his shielding he picked up more information, as well as broadcasting it.
    â€œA pair of Manticore,” he said. “And a Hydra, I think. The Hydra is hunting alone.” He pondered the meaning of this. “Two for me, one for you, maybe.”
    â€œWhat makes you think that?”
    â€œMy guess is that the Hydra is involved with the drug dealers. It’s likely that the dealers want the human hunters to leave them alone. He probably intends to make an example out of you.”
    â€œInteresting,” Eden said. “So if they aren’t together, can we use that against them?”
    â€œGet them to mix it up with each other? Turnit into a hunting dispute?” That would make an excellent diversion to get the Manticores off his tail long enough to get the computer. “I like your thinking, girl.”
    She gave him a disgusted look, but otherwise let the
girl
go. “We can take them out while they’re fighting each other.”
    He nodded, though fighting the others was not part of the plan he intended to carry out. “Good strategy. They’re all after us now. Let’s find a place were we can bring them together.”
    â€œStay in the car.”
    â€œI’m not staying in the car,” Eden answered. “Stop being chivalrous.”
    â€œI’m not being chivalrous. I want you to keep the engine running while I get the Manticores to chase me.”
    The night before, it had all happened so fast that she’d gotten through the action without thinking about it. Years of training fueled by adrenaline took her through the attack on the vampires. Now, with weapons and an ally by her side, she was nervous about the whole thing. She wasn’t sure if bickering with Wolf was helping her nerves, or making them