Chapter One

“What does she mean to you?” The tip of the screwdriver shoved beneath Emerson Marlowe’s chin. Her head tipped back, and her wide, blue eyes met Gray Stone’s stare as her attacker held her against his fat, sweating body.

The attacker. A prick who got off on hurting those weaker than him.

Rain pelted onto the roof of the garage. A 1988 Camaro—sporting a bright red coat of paint—waited with its wheels off on the lift to the right. A million tools and parts were scattered around the dusty garage, and the owner of that garage—the man currently shoving the tip of that screwdriver into Emerson’s delicate skin—heaved out rough, gasping breaths.

Jake Waller. Age forty-seven. Divorced, three times. A loner who’d been unlucky in love and in life, thanks to the battered knee he’d got the first year he tried to play college football. Angry, jealous, disenchanted. Pissed at the world.

A man who fit the profile of the killer that Gray had been hunting to a perfect T.

One of Jake’s beefy arms had locked around Emerson’s waist. The other greasy hand held the screwdriver beneath her chin. If he shoved up that screwdriver, if he hurt her…

You will be a fucking dead man.

Gray had his gun out and aimed. He could pull the trigger and blow out Jake’s brains right then and there. He’d prefer not to take that path. But if you push that screwdriver up even a millimeter more, you are done, asshole.

“What does she mean to you?” Spittle flew from Jake’s mouth as he repeated his screeching question. His voice cracked on the words. He hadn’t been expecting a visit from the FBI. He’d panicked as soon as Gray had introduced himself and flashed his ID.

The perp had freaked and grabbed a human shield in the form of Emerson. An Emerson who should have been waiting her sweet ass in the car. Only the woman could not follow orders for shit. Truly. She’d prissed into the garage, thrown open the door, and Jake had pounced on her.

After all, Emerson was his preferred prey. The predator always took women. Delicate builds. Pretty faces. And he left them broken and dead.

He won’t be hurting my partner. But, as to the question the jerk had just posed…

Gray inclined his head slightly to Emerson before he took his gaze off her and focused completely on the threat. “Nothing.”

A deep furrow appeared between Jake’s brows. I can make that furrow deeper. I can plant a bullet right between those brows. Keeping his gun leveled at his target, Gray added, “The woman means absolutely nothing to me. Or, actually, if you want the brutal truth, she’s a complete pain in my ass.”

Emerson gasped.

Not because the screwdriver had moved. It hadn’t. Gray would have pulled the trigger if it had. She’d gasped because he’d called her a pain the ass.

She was one, though. Case in point, the woman was being held by a sweaty psycho who wanted to drive a screwdriver up through her chin when she should have been in the car.

“What?” Jake blinked his squinty eyes. He seemed to have trouble processing what Gray had just said.

So Gray said the words again. Slower. A bit more clearly. With a hint of relish as he took one gliding step forward. “She means nothing to me.” Another gliding step. “She’s a pain in my ass.” One more step. “A partner I did not want.” Hello, yet another step. “The current bane of my existence.”

Jake blinked more. Rapidly. Confused, he began, “The bane of your⁠—”

“But I can’t let you hurt her. No one hurts her.” Gray was inches away from Emerson and from Jake. “Because pain in the ass or not, she’s mine.” Wait, that had come out wrong. Time to clarify. “My partner.” There. Way better. “And either let her go, right now, or I will put this bullet into you.” Fair warning, he would be firing. Gray never bluffed. Correction, he bluffed when he played cards. He bluffed like a rock star when he was at a poker table with his former Marine buddies. But as far as the rest of his life was concerned…I never say shit I don’t mean. I will fire this gun and have zero regrets.

The rain struck the metal roof ever harder. Rat-tat-tat-tat. Thunder rumbled. The very building seemed to vibrate around them.

“I could count,” Gray mused. Counting was an option. Not one he planned to take, but, still, an option. “Start at five and count my way down. Tell you if you don’t let her go by the time I reach zero, I’ll pull the trigger.”

Jake’s mouth hung open.

“But I don’t feel like counting.” Seriously, he was just not in the mood for that crap. Not in the mood and he did not have the patience for a countdown. “I have the shot, and I’m taking it unless you let my partner go right the hell now.”

Jake snapped his mouth closed. He also didn’t release Emerson. A huge mistake. But Emerson used that moment to slam her right high heel down on Jake’s foot as hard as she could. Jake howled.

Emerson elbowed her attacker even as her other hand tried to wrestle the screwdriver from him. She managed to get it away from her chin, and she surged to the right.

“You bitch!” Jake screamed.

Gray’s jaw tightened as he pulled the trigger. The bullet blasted into his target, and a spray of blood flashed in the air as Jake fell down. The screwdriver flew from his fingers and clattered onto the cement flooring of the garage. Emerson hit the floor, too, her hands slamming into the cement as her dark hair flew around her face.

“Emerson!” Gray barked out her name as he surged toward his prey.

“I’m okay!” A quick yell back. She glanced his way, sending her hair swirling again. “I’m okay.” Less strained. More controlled. More Emerson.

With his jaw locked hard, Gray closed the last bit of distance between him and Jake.

The fool was trying to rise, so Gray shoved his big, gleaming dress shoe onto the bullet wound—a wound in Jake’s left shoulder. He hadn’t sent the shot into the prick’s head because at the last moment, when Emerson had gotten clear, he’d known that he didn’t have to kill the guy.

But I sure as hell wanted to send the bullet into his brain. I wanted to destroy the bastard for threatening to hurt Emerson.

Gray ground his shoe into the wound, putting the full weight of his body into the attack. Jake howled and jerked beneath him, trying to wrench up. And when the prick wrenched up, Gray put his gun to the man’s forehead. “Hi, there.”

Jake froze.

“Didn’t you ever learn that you aren’t supposed to be rough with someone who is weaker than you? That you are supposed to watch your strength?”

Jake’s breath shuddered out.

“Didn’t you ever learn…” It would be so easy to pull the trigger. One little squeeze, and there would be one less twisted predator in the world. So very tempting. But Emerson was watching. Emerson who’d gotten to her feet. Who was tip-toeing closer in her red heels. Her sweet, tempting scent wrapped around him. Summer nights. Jasmine. And, somehow… innocence.

He forced his teeth to unclench. “Didn’t you ever learn that you aren’t supposed to put your dirty hands on things that do not belong to you?”

Jake’s gaze darted toward Emerson. He tried to surge toward her. Tried to grab for the screwdriver that he’d dropped.

So Gray stomped his foot into the man’s wound. Hard.

Jake screamed in agony.

“Grayson!” Emerson’s shocked voice.

“Don’t look at her,” he barked to Jake. “Look right at me. Me!”

Jake’s gaze whipped back to Gray.

“You killed those women.” Three victims. Women who’d all been found, with very distinct wounds on their bodies. Some with the deep punctures made from a screwdriver. Grease and oil residue had been discovered in their wounds. The kind of grease and oil that you’d find in a car repair shop. The kind in this garage. “For those victims, you were their nightmare.”

Jake began to smile.

“Guess what? I’m your nightmare.” Gray pressed the muzzle of his gun a bit harder into Jake’s head. “I’m going to lock you away, and I’m going to make sure that you never see the light of day again. Where you’re going, you’ll be the prey. Trust me on this, the other inmates will love to have their chance torturing you.”

Fear flashed in Jake’s eyes. He lost his smile.

“Kick away the screwdriver, Emerson,” Gray ordered.

She kicked it away. Finally, the woman had actually followed an order. Miracle of miracles.

So he’d go for another directive. “Go outside and call for backup,” he added.

Only Emerson didn’t move. So much for miracles.

Gray sighed. “Emerson.”

“I can, uh, call for backup right here.”

Can’t follow orders for shit. His gaze angled toward her.

“Don’t,” she said before he could bark out another command.

His eyes narrowed on her.

“Don’t kill him. Don’t let your control break. He’s not worth it.”

Holy shit. She knows just how bad my darkness is. Because the beast that he tried so hard to keep chained inside was fighting hard to break past Gray’s control. The sonofabitch on the ground had been ready to hurt Emerson, perhaps ready to kill her as he’d killed those other women.

“We don’t have hard evidence yet,” Emerson reminded him in her cool, calm, and collected voice.

“He just attacked you,” Gray reminded her in his are-you-fucking-kidding-me voice. “That attack means we’re gonna have cause to search this whole place.” He glowered at the killer. “Thanks for making the whole search business easy, dumbass. Otherwise, we would have needed to do the full song and dance for a warrant, but now here I am, about to arrest your ass inside your business.” A low whistle escaped him as he considered the matter. “Betting you have some mementos around here, don’t you? Little trophies to remind you of your kills?” His foot lifted off Jake’s shoulder. The guy’s blood was everywhere. Gray was pretty sure the bullet had gone in and out of the perp. Gray was also pretty sure that his shoes were ruined. Dammit, he’d liked those shoes. Bought them less than a month ago.

Emerson really should have gone outside and made that call.

A quick glance from the corner of Gray’s eye showed that she did have her phone out. She was calling from right there. Asking for backup. Saying they needed assistance, stat, with a violent offender who had attacked them. Then she shoved her phone back into her little black bag and fiddled with the purse strap that was—somehow, despite her scuffle—still over one delicate shoulder.

Emerson cleared her throat. Smoothed her hair back into the sleek bob that normally skimmed her shoulders. “You should move the gun away from his forehead. The suspect isn’t armed any longer. He’s not a lethal threat.” She began to walk around the garage. “I do believe we also need to read him his rights, but I am the new one so…”

“What in the hell is she doing?” Jake wanted to know.

“Pissing me off even more,” Gray snarled. Pissing him off, plus giving him orders. As if she was the one in command when she was the one with practically zero field experience and thus…the whole reason she’d been taken prisoner by the perp just moments before. But he did need to move the gun because the longer he kept it on Jake’s sweaty forehead…

The more trigger happy I might become. “Jake Waller, you’re under arrest.”

“For what?”

Was the idiot for real? “How about for attacking a federal officer?” Gray threw back. Though, technically, Emerson wasn’t an FBI agent. She was more…freelance. More… problematic.

So very problematic.

Gray hauled Jake to his feet. Read the guy his rights. Gray pulled out cuffs and began to slap them on Jake’s wrists. First the right wrist.

“He would have his trophies close.” Emerson’s heels click-click-clicked on the cement floor. “He’d need to be able to access them anytime he wants, and this garage—well, it’s his sanctuary. Makes sense to keep the trophies in his sanctuary, doesn’t it?” She stopped near a shelf on the right wall. “Bingo.”

Bingo? His head angled so that he could keep both Emerson and his prey in sight.

“That’s a big, shiny lock on this toolbox,” Emerson noted. She glanced over her shoulder and eyed Jake. “What’s inside?”

“Fucking tools!” Jake bellowed. “Get away from my box! Get away!”

She did not, in fact, get away. Gray began to cuff Jake’s left wrist.

Jake screamed at an ear-splitting level. “My shoulder, my shoulder! Ah! Assault, assault—” Then the sonofabitch tried to slam his head back at Gray.

Gray dodged the hit. But in that instant, Jake leapt forward, with only one wrist cuffed. He ran not for the exit, but straight for Emerson as she leaned toward the locked toolbox. His hands flew out, reaching for her.

Gray knew he was going to have to shoot the prick again. “Freeze!” he bellowed.

But Jake didn’t get the chance to freeze because, calm as you please, Emerson lifted her hand from her little, black bag. She gripped a taser, and she immediately tased the ever-loving-hell out of Jake. His whole body shuddered, jolted, and he hit the floor. After wetting himself.

Then Emerson tipped her head back. Those plump, red lips of hers curved just the slightest bit, as if she’d enjoyed tasing the asshole. Slivers of dark hair slid over her high cheekbones, and she blinked her big, bright blue eyes at him. Sapphire blue. Yeah, fine, maybe he’d looked up that exact shade because her eyes were so distinct. His buddy Tyler had blue eyes, but they looked nothing like Emerson’s. Emerson’s eyes stared straight into your soul.

“He wasn’t freezing,” Emerson murmured. “So I stopped him.” She frowned down at the shaking man. “Did I stop him too hard?”

Gray bounded toward her. Put himself between Emerson and the still trembling perp. Then he snapped the second cuff around Jake’s left wrist even as the man bellowed and threatened and started screaming that Emerson would be next.

The hell she will, you bastard. You will never touch her again.

“You’ll pay, bitch! You’ll pay! I’ll fill you with so many h-holes that you’ll be begging me to stop. You’ll cry and bleed, and I w-won’t care. Just like the others—you’ll end up in a shallow grave, and no one will care! I’ll throw you away like the garbage that y-you are!” Some of Jake’s words shook and stuttered with his trembles.

Every muscle in Gray’s body locked down as he glared at the monster on the floor of that garage. One squeeze of the trigger, and there is one less nightmare in the world.

“Don’t.” For Gray’s ears alone. Emerson’s low, husky voice. Her soft fingers fluttered down his back and sent a weird, electric charge cascading through him in the wake of her light caress. It was a charge he felt every single time they touched. Hugely problematic.

But, then again, this was Emerson. Everything with her was problematic.

His breath huffed out. “You get to tase people, but I have to hold back?” In what world was that fair? Oh, wait, he knew. The world where he’d been forced to take on a partner he didn’t want.

“You got to shoot him once already.”

He had.

“And we both just got his confession.” Her fingers fluttered over Gray’s back one more time.

His teeth snapped together.

“Let’s call it a win, shall we?” Emerson murmured.

His head turned toward her. He towered over Emerson, even when she wore her heels. The woman always seemed to wear heels. Even at the most inopportune of times. “He had a screwdriver shoved under your chin. That’s not a win.” Not by any definition. Anger rumbled in each word. “That’s an assault.”

Her eyes widened as she searched his gaze. “Grayson?”

He’d told her over and over again to call him Gray. Just Gray. “It’s not a win.” Flat. “It’s the last mistake he’ll ever make.”

Gray thought she’d back away from him.

She didn’t. Emerson stepped closer. “Are you okay?”

The hell, no, he wasn’t. “His last mistake,” Gray gritted out, “and yours, too. Consider our partnership over.”

And, for the first time, real horror filled her gaze. She hadn’t been horrified when she’d been grabbed by the serial killer. Hadn’t looked horrified—or even particularly afraid when the freak had shoved that screwdriver beneath her chin but now…

Now…

Horror flashed in her incredible eyes.

So did fear.

Then she shook her head. Squared her shoulders and said, very, very definitely, “We’re not over, Grayson.”

“Gray.” Fuck. Who many times did he have to tell her? Gray. If she called him Grayson and she was Emerson, they were too fucking sing-songy with their names. Too coupley. Too—ah, fuck it. “Gray.”

The serial killer at their feet began to whimper. Somewhere in the distance, sirens screamed. Emerson ignored everything else as she stared straight into Gray’s eyes and promised him, “We’re just beginning.”