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Cain shot him a fast glance. Saw that someone had already bandaged the agent’s throat. Cain’s fingers tightened around Miranda’s as his gaze zeroed in on her once more. “You’re definitely going to the hospital.”

Her head shook frantically, the inky black strands of her hair fluttering around her face. “N-no, I-I can’t leave. Paul⁠—”

“Is gone for tonight.” And now that the vampire knew they were hunting him, it was doubtful he’d be back. They’d have to try a new plan.

Her eyes were so wide. “You were hurt.” Voice softer now. An attendant began pushing her toward the back of the open ambulance.

His wounds were nearly closed now. Shifters healed very quickly as a rule, but when they transformed, the healing process sped up about five times the normal rate. “Don’t worry about me.”

Dammit, her blood was everywhere. He was going to make the vamp pay. Blood for blood.

Cain stepped back when the attendant loaded her into the ambulance. Time to go. Santiago could handle the scene while he⁠—

A hand landed hard on his shoulder. “Just what the hell is going on here?” Sam’s furious voice. “Why the hell was my cousin attacked? And just why the hell are the Bureau folks acting like you’re the man in charge of this mess?” The questions fired one after the other. “

Glancing back over his shoulder at the other man, Cain bared his teeth in the semblance of a smile. “Because I am.” The attendant was trying to close the rear doors of the ambulance. Miranda had been secured inside. One door slammed shut. As for the other⁠—

Cain’s hand flew out, catching the edge of the metal before it could close. “I’m coming.” He wasn’t about to take a chance that Paul would get another shot at Miranda.

“No,” Sam retorted, “not happening. You’re staying right here and answering my questions!”

He shrugged, breaking the deputy’s hold. “Straighten him out,” he ordered a watchful Santiago and saw the man’s nearly imperceptible nod. Cain jumped into the ambulance, and the young blond woman checking Miranda’s pulse looked up. Her gaze dropped momentarily to his bare chest.

The driver started the engine. The lights began to flash. Cain told Sam, “This isn’t your game anymore. So stay out of my way, and let me track Paul Roberts on my own.”

Sam’s mouth dropped open. “Paul Roberts is dead!”

Cain threw a hard glance to Santiago. “Straighten him out,” he repeated, just before another attendant slammed the door.

* * *

At the hospital, a too-friendly doctor—Dr. Ben Abrams—stitched up the jagged wound on Miranda’s shoulder after ruling it as nothing more than a flesh wound. Then the doc discovered she had a mild concussion—courtesy of Santiago’s nice hurling of her to the ground—so Dr. Abrams sent Miranda to a sterile white room with not-so-friendly instructions to stay overnight.

When she went to sleep, Cain was sitting in the chair beside her.

And when Miranda woke the next day, Cain was still there, but now he was wearing a shirt. One of the scrub tops that the doctors wore. Dark green. And he was sleeping.

She stared at him, noting the shadows beneath his eyes. The tension that still lined his mouth.

So much more than a man.

Shifter.

Power. Strength. He was⁠—

His lashes lifted. When he caught her stare, a little of that tension disappeared from his mouth as he smiled and said, “Hello, gorgeous.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right.” Oh, no. She sounded like some poor frog that had nearly been choked to death. What the hell was the deal with that? She cleared her throat and tried again, “I-I probably look like hell.” Better. Not perfectly normal yet, but a definite improvement.

She’d been bitten, mauled, shot—no way was she going to win any beauty prizes.

“You look beautiful.”

For a creature with supposedly superior senses, he seemed to be missing a few things.

Miranda tried to sit up and winced at the flash of pain. Glancing down, she saw the thick bandage that circled her shoulder. “How bad is it?” It hurt, ached more than anything, but she really hoped Paul hadn’t screwed up her arm permanently.

Cain’s smile stretched a bit more. “Don’t worry, in a few days, you’ll be as good as new.” A pause. “You just bleed like crazy, baby. You had everyone on the scene worried.”