Jaw locked, Todd headed after him.
“I’ve got to know,” Cara said, shaking her head. “Tell me, did you kill Lance?”
Niol’s hand lifted and pressed against her cheek. “Who’ve you been talking to, love?”
“Cameron.” The name seemed torn from her. “He found the body. Said he caught my scent on him and—”
“Cameron? ”
She ignored his surprise, her words coming faster and faster as she told him, “It doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, why would Cameron have gone to Lance’s place? He barely knew the guy.” But Cameron had always been protective of her.
Too protective at times.
He’d said that he knew what she had planned—but, damn it, why go to Lance’s apartment? If he knew that she was seeking vengeance, then why hadn’t he just confronted her instead of going after Lance himself? Cara swallowed back the pain and demanded, “Did you kill my sister’s lover, or did Cameron?”
“When did you see Cameron?” Fierce, growling.
“Damn it, answer my question!” A demand as fierce as his.
Niol flinched. “I went to his place, is that what you want? I knew what had happened between the two of you—”
He always knew. Everything.
“I went to stop him before the little bastard could hurt anyone else that I—” His jaw clenched, then he growled, “The fool stood in front of me—looked me in the eyes—and told me that he was going to hunt you down and kill you. Just as he’d killed Nina.” A pause. “He had to die.”
Her shoulders fell. That was as close to a confession as Niol was ever going to give, and she knew that he spoke the truth.
After her confrontation with Lance, she’d known that the man would come after her. As soon as he’d gotten his control back, yeah, she’d figured he would come gunning for her. There’d been so much fury in his eyes.
As much fury as she’d had.
In her heart, when she’d heard the news of his death, she’d always suspected Niol. She knew that he cared for Nina—knew that the bond he felt hadn’t disappeared when the two had parted ways.
And Niol was a man long used to the power of vengeance.
She’d suspected, but she’d never spoken of the crime to him.
Now, she knew everything. Well, almost. Niol had killed to make certain she was safe, and Cameron…“I-I thought—” She cleared her throat. “When Cameron said that he’d been there and caught my scent, I didn’t understand. Didn’t know what to think.” The certainty she’d felt before about Lance’s death had become a confused blur. “I never knew that Cameron was at Lance’s place that night, and if he’d been there—well, I thought maybe he’d been the one to kill Lance.”
Slowly, she uncurled her fists. “I guess—I guess Cam was there—trying to protect me, too, huh? But he just arrived too late—”
“I think he arrived too late, all right.” Niol’s eyes blazed with a dark fire.
Cara felt the power swell in the air around them. Her breath caught. “Niol?”
“Did he think it was you, Cara? Did Cameron think you killed Lance?”
She could only nod.
“Fuck. ”
The chill she’d felt back at her home iced her veins again. “Niol—what is it?” What was she missing? What—
He pushed her to the side, yanked open the door. “Brooks! Brooks!”
But her cop didn’t answer.
And that numbing cold spread within her.
The alley was empty. Impossible. Todd tracked his gaze to the left, then the right.
The incubus had to be there. Cameron had exited barely ten seconds before him—and no way was he buying that the guy was powerful enough to just vanish.
A whisper of sound. Fabric. Clothes? From up ahead, near the Dumpster.
Instinct had him reaching for his gun even as he called out, “Cameron Komak, is that you?”
Silence.
The gun was heavy in his hands, a weight he’d grown used to years before. The weapon was up, pointed into the darkness. Just in case the guy hiding wasn’t the incubus he was after, he said, “Listen up! I’m an officer with the Atlanta PD. I want you to come out now, where I can see you.” Shit, but it was dark. He caught the fast scuttle of bugs as he advanced. “I said, come out. ” Where were the two officers who’d been trailing Cara? He sure could have used some back up right then.
Every nerve in his body revved up, and with his instincts screaming danger, Todd was definitely on full alert.
So when Cameron stepped from the shadows, a smile on his face and his hands up, the gun never wavered.
“What do you want now, cop? Your partner’s already cleared me.”
Not really. Gyth had told him that he was suspicious as hell of the three incubi he’d interviewed, but since the guys didn’t have any wounds to match the injuries Susan had given her attacker…
“Can’t a guy just take a piss anymore without the cops getting called in?” Cameron drawled and began to lower his hands.
“Don’t move.”
The smile widened. “I saw your lady earlier. Cara sure looks good when she’s barely dressed, doesn’t she?”
A flash of fire heated his veins. Cara had been frightened. He’d seen the fear in her eyes.
Had she been afraid of Cameron?
“What did you do to her?” he demanded.
“Not a thing.” He rocked back on his heels. Shadows fell over his body, concealing too much. “Where is Cara? Shouldn’t she be with you, right by her lover’s side?”
Todd’s hold on the gun tightened.
Cameron laughed. “Ah, I see. She didn’t run to you, did she? After our talk, she went to…him. I always wondered about them, you know. Was Niol really in love with Nina? Or was it Cara all the time?”
The bastard was trying to push his buttons. “I want you to step out of the shadows and come fully into the light.” The guy’s hands were clearly visible, and he wasn’t holding a weapon, but Todd knew a threat when he saw one.
“How does it feel to know that when the chips are down, Cara turns to him instead of you?”
The bastard’s shitty mind games weren’t going to work with him. “Step into the light.”
“If that’s what you want…”
Cameron stepped forward.
The back door of Paradise Found shot open and slammed against the side of the building.
“Todd!”
His head jerked at Cara’s cry.
“Get away from him!” Niol’s order blasted through the night.
Cameron turned to run.
What the hell? Todd’s gaze snapped back to him as he sprang forward. “Freeze! Damn it, don’t you—”A woman stepped into the mouth of the alley. For a moment, the streetlight fell over the fire of her hair.
Todd’s lips parted to shout a warning.
Cameron barreled into her and knocked her onto the ground. Their bodies tangled, twisted.
Todd rushed toward them, Cara and Niol on his heels and—
The incubus rose with a sneer on his lips and his arms tight around Holly Storm. One hand locked around her neck, the other rose around her waist, so that his fingers pressed right against the middle of her chest. “Don’t take another step,” he snarled.
In that moment, Todd knew that things had just taken a serious shit turn. He froze, but didn’t lower his weapon so much as an inch.
“Cameron, I don’t know what’s gotten you so upset, but you just need to calm down. I only want to talk to you. Let go of the woman and let’s go back inside.” He pitched his voice low, tried to sound soothing. A hard task with alarms shrieking in his head.
The incubus shook his head. Holly twisted against him, struggling, cursing, but he easily held her prisoner.
Too easily, and with that damn demon strength of his, Todd knew that Cameron could snap her neck long before he’d be able to reach the reporter.
Hell. Hadn’t he told the woman to go home? Why couldn’t anyone take a simple order anymore?
The soft tap of a footstep had his eyes widening. He saw Cameron’s gaze fly to the left.
To Cara.
Oh, no damn way was he about to risk her. “Go inside, Cara. Go inside, now. ”
“Stay, Cara!” Cameron’s scream of fury. “After all, this is all about you.”
Aw, fuck.
Todd looked into Cameron’s black eyes and saw madness. Fury. Hate.
Love.
All directed at Cara.
Shit. He’d seen that same look before—in the eyes of men who’d murdered their girlfriends. Men who’d slaughtered their wives.
Their whole damn families.
He was staring at a killer.
A killer too fixated on Cara.
The signs had pointed to the obsession from the beginning. He just hadn’t figured out the case fast enough.
No, the incubus wasn’t clear in the Bondage Killings—he was guilty as hell.
Todd took a step toward Cara.
“Stay away from her!” A shriek of fury.
Todd froze. This bastard’s past control. He knew he had to distract him—no way did he want Komak focusing on Cara right then. “How’d you do it?” he asked, still keeping his voice easy while rage and fear pumped through his blood in a boiling mix.
“How’d you fool Gyth? You should have been covered with knife wounds and—”
Cameron laughed. Laughed. Then bent to press his nose into Holly’s hair.
Her struggles stilled, as if the woman finally understood just how much danger she was in. About time.
“It’s them.” He inhaled slowly, as if savoring her scent. “I never knew how much power humans had.”
“Cameron, no…” Cara. Horrified. Disbelieving.
“When you take everything from them, the fucking rush is unbelievable.” He turned his head, smiled. Madness. “I’m stronger now.
So much more damn powerful.” Another laugh, one that floated on the wind and twisted the air. “And I can heal ten times faster than before.”
So fast there hadn’t been a trace of the wounds on him. But Niol had said the guy was sick that morning. He hadn’t fully recovered by then, but—
But he had by the time Gyth found him and hauled his ass into the station.
Shit.
“Cara isn’t the one you want.” Niol’s voice and damn if the demon didn’t just saunter forward from the darkness. No weapon, well, hell, Todd guessed that wasn’t totally true. If he really was a level-ten, then Todd figured the guy’s powers were all the weapon he needed. Niol stopped just to Todd’s right, standing nearly shoulder to shoulder with him.
Just what I need, the devil for backup.
The incubus blinked. Shook his head. “Thought it was…her.” His voice was slower now, a bit confused. “For years…thought she’d done it.”
“Done what, Cameron?” Maybe if he lunged forward fast enough, he’d be able to break the demon’s hold and free Holly.
Unlikely, considering how strong the guy was, but if he caught him off guard—
“I thought…she killed…my brother.”
Snap. The last puzzle piece fell into place. Much too late.
Niol had told him, but he hadn’t fully understood…“Cameron’s mother left his father for a human.”
“…she had a new family to look out for…”
The words played through his head, too loud.
Todd would bet that new family included a brand spanking new human brother named—
“Lance.” Cara breathed the name. “You—you’re the one who told him how to kill Nina!” The agony in her voice pierced Todd like a knife.
The incubus was going down.
But first, he had to keep Cara safe.
And save the hostage.
Hell. Talk about not having an easy job.
Cameron’s hold tightened around Holly’s neck. “The bitch deserved it! She was always shaking her ass in front of me, acting like she was too good for my touch, but she laid down fast enough for Lance—and then she tried to get him addicted—”
“She loved him!” A scream of fury. Todd flinched, unable to control his emotional response to the pain coming from Cara.
“I told him what she was. Told him just how to stick the bitch so she’d go down and not lift that demon head again—”
“You sonofabitch.” Niol’s voice was ice cold, where Cara’s words had been fired with the heat of her rage. Niol stood, hands clenched, attention fully focused on Cameron. “You sold out your own.”
“Lance was mine—my brother, human, but mine!” The blasting rage matched Cara’s.
Todd could feel the change in the wind. The slight increase in temperature, the additional pressure of the air on his skin. Power was gathering. But whether it was Cara’s, Cameron’s, or, Christ Forbid, Niol’s level-ten hell, he wasn’t sure.
And he really, really didn’t want to find out.
“I was gonna make you pay, Cara!” The fury was leashed now, but Cameron’s eyes were still pitch black. The demon was out and ready to kill. “I waited—all these years, fucking waited until I was strong and you were weak. I found the perfect way to get back at you.” He licked his lips. “I was gonna turn your world upside down and leave you with nothing!”
“You bastard—you did that already! You and your brother destroyed my world when you took my sister away from me. She was all that I had! My flesh, my—”