Page 8 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

“ M aredo is not a name you want to be dropping like that down here. I urge you not to repeat it and if you are somehow related to that man you should pretend like you aren’t aware of it. Pretend so hard you actually don’t believe it yourself. You need to get out of here now. Don’t worry though, I’ll be able to find you anywhere now.”

He grabbed my wrist and pulled, attempting to drag me somewhere but he paused and squeezed my wrist even tighter. “Just what the fuck do you have strapped to your body under this baggy hoodie, hmm? I knew you were no innocent little thing and I was right.”

I ripped my arm out of his hand as I snarled, “I may be human but I’m not stupid and I wouldn’t have ever walked into this place if I couldn’t take care of myself. I’m not stupid and I don’t have a fucking death wish. Now, please, do us both a favor and fuck off. The only person drawing attention here and causing problems for me is you. I don’t need problems. I need to find who I’m looking for and then get gone.”

His lips pursed into an angry line. “Alright, little demon. But let me help you find this person. Two heads are better than one and the search will go much faster with the two of us working together.”

I sighed as I considered his words. If he truly thought I was meant to be his mate then he wouldn’t be able to physically hurt me. Shifters would rather die than ever harm their mate.

I could absolutely use this to my advantage. Until I left that is and then I would never have to see him again because we certainly wouldn’t be exchanging numbers at the end of this night.

“Alright, you can help me,” I reluctantly said, hoping he didn’t see right through me. I really needed to do some research when I got home on how shifter mates worked. “I’m looking for either a vamp or a demon, I can’t be certain. But I have a picture of him on my phone that I can show you. And I’m also looking for two other men. Identical twins. Their names are Roan and Bane. I have a picture of them, I can show you that.”

He looked conflicted before saying, “I don’t need a picture of the twins and I can tell you now that you will not be running into them down here. They do not come here, and you have to promise me now that you will not go around asking anyone else about them while you’re down here. Now, promise me. I’m being dead serious.”

My heart sped up in my chest and I had to stop myself from grabbing him. This shifter obviously knew who my twins were. I wanted to demand that he take me to them right this very second.

I could not believe that after all this time I actually found someone who knew them. And it was the very first person that I talked to down here.

“What’s your name, shifter?” I asked him. “You know mine so it seems only fair that you tell me yours.”

“My name is Rally,” he murmured quietly as he cupped my jaw. He looked at his hand in shock, as if he either didn’t remember reaching for me or either couldn’t understand why he was touching me in the first place.

That made two of us.

“I’m a wolf shifter, if you’re curious.”

I absolutely was curious and so glad that he had told me. I never would have asked, even though I would have been dying to know.

“Thank you for telling me,” I murmured back as I stared into his brown eyes. The gold in them seemed to shine brighter all of a sudden.

“Hey, Rally, brother. Your food is getting cold.”

He dropped his hand from my face as if he were burned and turned to face the newcomer, attempting to hide me from view. Attempting and failing.

The man looked from Rally to over his shoulder at me with genuine curiosity sparking to life in his eyes. “My Prince?”

Oh no.

Say what?

No, no, no.

Fuck that.

I inched backwards while Rally spoke quietly to the man. Neither paid any attention to me as I skirted my way through people and turned around to head back towards the stairs so I could get the fuck out of there.

If what Rally had said was the truth then the twins would not be found down here.

I needed to find some way of showing the Detective pictures of the man with the red eyes without him seeing the recording with the twins on it.

I did not look over my shoulder as I practically ran up the stairs. But I felt eyes on me the whole way up.

And it wasn’t a good feeling.

“ R uby Jane,” a stern voice called out from behind me just as I reached for the driver's side door of Thomas’s car.

I whipped around and easily slid out one of my knives from my wrist sheath.

I relaxed immediately when I saw it was just the Detective. “What are you doing here, Detective Rowans?”

He eyed the knife in my hand and tilted his head to the side skeptically. “You mind putting your weapon away, please?”

Hmm… yes, it probably wasn’t the wisest idea to stand out here in the parking lot with a police detective while holding a knife at my side. I did not want to end up going to jail tonight. Not tonight or any other night. It certainly wasn’t something on my bucket list in need of being checked off, that’s for sure.

Though, I didn’t think I would mind if he wanted to use his handcuffs on me for other reasons.

I slipped my knife back into its sheath and arched an eyebrow at him cockily. “Is that better, Detective?”

He crossed his arms over his chest as he studied me. “It’s just Johnny to you, Ruby. And, no, it certainly is not better. What the fuck are you doing down here and why haven’t you answered your phone?”

I winced.

Shit. My phone. I forgot I had texted him when I got here and then I’d turned my phone to silent. I probably should have thought that one out a little better but, in my defense, I wasn’t used to people caring about me beside Thomas.

The old man had stopped trying to tell me what to do years ago and had resigned himself to either cleaning up my messes afterwards or being my emotional support when I needed it.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized quietly and very sincerely. “I turned my phone to silent because I didn’t want distractions while I was down there. I probably shouldn’t have texted you in the first place.” I shrugged uncomfortably. “I guess I just thought it would be nice to have someone care if something tragic happened to me. It was selfish, I know, and I’m apologizing for it.”

He sighed heavily as his shoulders drooped in what looked like defeat. “It’s not selfish, Ruby. I told you to text me any time about anything and I meant that. I’m just upset that you didn’t ask me to go with you and went down there by yourself. I don’t think you understand just how dangerous this place is and I don’t know what would possess you to go down there in the first place.”

Well, that last part I actually had an answer for him that wasn’t entirely a lie. “I went to see if I could find Thomas’s murderer.” It just wasn’t the entire truth from me either.

“That’s my job, not yours. You really need to leave the police work to the police. I’m going to do everything I can to find who killed your friend.”

I was glad that he didn’t make me any promises because there was no guarantee that he’d be able to keep them. Did I believe that he’d do everything he could to find the person responsible? Yes, absolutely.

But I wasn’t sure that was enough for me.

I looked over the Detective’s shoulder and my eyes widened at what I found there. The Detective followed my gaze and his hand immediately moved to his hip, where his gun sat.

Shit.

He really could not be drawing his weapon here if I still wanted to go unnoticed by the big, bad man himself. And I certainly did. I never wanted to see that bastard again.

Rally, the man who’d interrupted our earlier conversation, and three other shifters stood behind them, not ten feet away from the Detective and I.

“Johnny,” I said quietly as I reached for his hand, stopping him from drawing his weapon. “It’s alright. They’re not a threat. I know them.”

Okay, so… all of that was just a bit of a stretch because I did not know them just because I knew what they were and had one conversation with Rally where he called me his mate. And I had no idea if they were dangerous or not, but they were shifters so I would assume that they certainly could be.

The Detective froze under my touch and grew stiff. “How do you know them?”

Well… damn. Telling him I just met one of them down in the underground for the first time did not seem like the wisest idea at the time.

“You’re standing in between me and my mate,” Rally growled in a dark, dangerous voice that sent a delicate shiver down my spine. “I suggest you step aside.”

I didn’t like the way the shifters were eyeing the Detective, as if they were sizing him up for a fight.

That pissed me off.

“Where’s your car at, Detective?” I asked quietly.

He gestured towards the dark sedan parked two spaces down from my car. Of course, he drove a boring, non-descriptive car. I wondered if he’d taken a peek into my garage and if that’s how he knew this was my vehicle. Because my Jeep had been what I had parked in the driveway.

He probably had. I didn’t think he missed much, given his job description and all that.

“Right,” I muttered. I’d say it had only been for his ears but the shifters had enhanced senses and there was little doubt in my mind that they would hear every single word out of our mouths, even if we whispered. “Go and get in your car, now. We’re both leaving here together.”

He gave me an incredulous look and I knew he was pissed, this time at me. If I had to guess, I’d say the good Detective did not take orders from others very well. He was his own man, and he liked to be in charge.

He definitely wasn’t partner material.

Too bad, buddy.

“I came here to look after you,” he snapped at me, clearly out of patience and done with my bullshit for the night. “You get in your car first and I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safely.”

Oh, the male ego could be such a fragile thing.

I sighed because he wasn’t the only one out of patience. I hadn’t found what I had come here looking for but I’d still gotten more than I had bargained for. And it had been a very long night. I was ready to go home for the night and very much done with this shit.

Rally sneered at the Detective and there was nothing friendly looking about the Prince of shifters now. “She doesn’t need your protection, human. I told you, she’s my mate. I would never harm her, and neither would my men. You, on the other hand…” he trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging, and a manic smile spread across his gorgeous lips.

The shifters at his sides all radiated a very nervous energy that did not bode well for the Detective’s future.

I pulled both my knives out of their wrist sheaths as I snarled at the Detective. “You heard him. They can’t hurt me. You’re out of time now. My car is closer. Get in.”

The shifters were inching closer.

My knives were silver and they’d cause some real damage and slow a few of them down. I did not want to kill any of them here.

The detective pulled out his gun but thankfully did not point it at anyone.

It had the desired effect that my knives had not and the shifters stopped inching forward.

I rolled my eyes. Men, of all species it would seem, were stupid. There was no way the Detective was packing silver bullets. My knives would do far more damage.

Idiots.

The Detective walked backwards around the hood of the car and opened the front passenger door,

I backed up until I was able to reach for the handle on the driver's side door. I opened the door when Rally spoke directly to me, giving me pause and making me question all of my choices tonight.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, Ruby Jane. You can run from your mate but you’ll never be able to hide.”