Page 2 of Claimed

I scoffed.“I’m not leaving her in your hands, Jasper.”

His head flinched back. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“If I leave her in your hands, she might get lost in the deep dark cemetery of the Hudson Bay or something.”

He shook his head slowly. “Is that what you think of me—that I would murder an innocent woman?”

My anger had betrayed me by melting away because I had offendedhim and felt awful about it. “I don’t know what I think of you,” I said flatly.

His lips parted as he stared into my eyes. It was as though we were the only two people in the entire supermarket. I could tell he wanted to kiss me, but something was holding him back.

His breaths trembled, and then he cleared his throat. “Her name is Eve?” he whispered.

I felt my eyebrows pulltogether then release. “Yes.”

“Is she the result of your trip to Chattanooga?”

I nodded.

“Let me talk to her, and you stay close,” he said.

Suddenly, I was struck by a thought. “You said my name.”

He grimaced. “What?”

“You called me Holly. If she’s Eve, then she knows who I am.” I bolted down the aisle. Eve had warned me to leave her alone, and now sheknew I was in the place where she worked. Jasper had tipped her off because he was trying to be controlling. He couldn’t help himself.

Jasper matched me step for step until his powerful figure swept right past me. The number of shoppers in the store seemed to have doubled, and all the new bodies were in the way. My eyes found what I thought was the same cash register Eve had been working,but another girl was ringing up groceries at that station. Jasper stepped past me and searched the next line and then the next. Finally, we looked at each other in defeat. Eve had escaped us.