Gage stopped the backward walk they were doing. He lifted his hand and slammed it into the window. Glass shattered and rained down around their feet.

“Because she loves me,” Gage told him, voice clear and loud. And definitely with a duh edge. “And that’s why she’s leaving you assholes behind and joining me. ”

Kayla’s jaw dropped, but before she could speak, Gage spun her around and pulled her flush against his body.

“Put your arms around me,” he ordered with glinting eyes and a locked jaw. “And hold the hell on.”

She put her arms around him but shook her head. No, he couldn’t mean to take her with him. Not through the window. While he’d easily survive the fall and quickly heal from any broken bones, as a human, she didn’t have that luxury. A fall from the third floor could kill her.

Probably would kill her.

He brought his head in close to hers. His lips feathered over her cheek and he whispered, “Trust me, I’ll keep you safe.”

On a three-story fall? The hell, no, he—

Gage leapt through the window, holding her tight, and Kayla screamed.

Wind whipped past her. I’m dying. So this was the way she was going out. Better than getting slashed apart by a vamp or incinerated by a demon but—

They were on the ground. Gage’s knees had barely buckled. And . . . she was fine. Still held tightly in his arms.

No bruises. No cuts. Nothing.

Holy hell. They’d made it.

“Come on,” he muttered and put her on her feet. His hand still had a tight grip on her arm, and as he rushed forward, he pulled her behind him. Her boots crunched over the glass that had fallen from their window.

Cat shifters were supposed to be pretty freaking awesome at landing on their feet after jumps like that, but the wolf had shown her just how agile his beast could be.

“Kayla!” Jonah’s scream had her turning back. He was leaning out of the window, and he’d jerked off his ski mask. His face was white. His eyes wild.

“I’m okay!” She yelled back to him. “I’m—”

Gage grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Really, that was too much. No, the jump through the window had been too much. In a minute, she was gonna get pissed.

But she didn’t have a minute. Before she could do more than pound her fist into Gage’s back—hard, leaving lots of bruises—he tossed her inside an SUV.

Kayla could have jumped out. When he ran around to the driver’s side, she could have leapt for safety. If she’d wanted safety. But . . .

But she didn’t move.

And, technically, she could have gotten away from the guy when he tossed her over his shoulder. Her body was a lethal weapon, after all. Not much could subdue her.

But she hadn’t fought back too hard then.

Shewasn’t fighting now, either.

Gage jumped behind the driver’s seat. He bent low and hot-wired the ride. Sneaky and impressive. She liked a man with skills. Then he gunned the engine as he shot that SUV out of the parking lot fast enough to make her head whip back.

They’d be pursued, she knew that. Lyle wouldn’t just let them vanish into the night.

No way would he do that. The real hunt . . . well, it was only getting started.

CHAPTER THREE

Gage was good at losing any tails who thought they were dumb enough to be able to track him.

This wasn���t his first life-or-death ball game. Not even close. So he raced through the city, cutting down streets, twisting the SUV through tight alleys, and taking all the shortcuts that most wouldn’t know about in Vegas.

He switched vehicles at a run-down gas station. When they ditched the SUV for a pickup, Kayla didn’t even try to run from him. Huh. She wasn’t talking, but she wasn’t running either. Was that a good sign?

He wasn’t sure quite what to make of it. Or her.

So he just kept heading toward the desert. Dust trailed behind them, and in his rearview mirror, he saw nothing but an open road.

No tail. No more hunters.

It looked as if they’d gotten away clean. For the moment.

Gage exhaled slowly and some of the battle-ready tension started to ease from him. The beast who’d wanted to claw his way to freedom stopped fighting the leash Gage had wrapped around the wolf ’s neck.

“You’re not just gonna . . . dump me in the desert, are you?” Ah, his wife finally spoke. Pity her words just pissed him off.

Is that who she thinks I am? What I am? A killer. His hands clenched around the wheel. “I’ve got other plans for you.”

She took that in silence and the anger churned higher in him. He wanted Kayla to strike back at him. To yell. To explode. But she didn’t.

Kayla just sat there, looking too sexy and fuckable, with her hair mussed and her head turned away as she glanced out at the blurring terrain. Her profile gave no hint of her emotions, but she had to be feeling something. He was about to rip apart inside.

Stick to the plan. Stick. To. It.

He’d known all along that she had secrets. The fact that was she was a hunter—

“I let you escape.”

He laughed at her confession. Such bullshit. Did she even see it? “Sweetheart, I let myself escape.” That was why he’d booked a room on the third floor. That kind of jump was nothing to him. Always have an exit strategy—that was his motto.

Always.

He jerked the wheel to the right and barreled down the thin strip of road that most folks would never even notice, not the way it was nestled behind an old, run-down highway billboard.