Hell, if Mathias had to call in favors from every Order commander in the United States and abroad to shake out his quarry, he damned well would.
The man who killed Ozzy, and was very likely still on the hunt for Nova, was going to pay.
With his lifeblood, if Mathias got to him first.
Seeing Nova’s pain--Eddie’s too--there was nothing that would satisfy Mathias more than to be the one to personally slay the son of a bitch.
That the killer could be Breed only made it more crucial that they find him. Bad enough to know there were human thugs like Doyle and his scarab-marked colleagues skulking around London with the potential to do harm to Nova. To think she could be in the crosshairs of a predator with the Breed’s deadly appetites and skills?
Mathias snarled through his fangs, prowling the studio like a caged animal as he waited for Thane and Deacon to arrive. The third member of the patrol, Callahan, would be hoofing it across town to meet them at the shop. Thane informed Mathias that the impulsive young warrior had gone off to find a blood Host and feed, after the team’s Rogue hunt had proven a bust.
As for JUSTIS, Sloane had been tied up on another investigation, but expected he could be there with his unit within the hour.
In the meantime, the waiting was making Mathias crazy.
The sense of helplessness wasn’t something he was accustomed to, but that feeling had less to do with the anticipated reconnoiter with his team and JUSTIS than it did with Nova.
After using her ability on Ozzy, she’d come away viciously nauseated, barely making it to the restroom in the back of the shop before she lost her stomach.
She’d been in the back room with Eddie ever since, a closed door standing as a barrier between them and Mathias in the studio.
That door wasn’t the only obstacle between Nova and him now.
She didn’t want to be near him.
She didn’t want his comfort or his concern.
She didn’t want anything from him.
And not that he could blame her. He’d been sick with himself too, cursing himself for the recklessness that had not only cost Ozzy’s life tonight, but had left Nova in the crosshairs of a killer. One who might be closing in on her even now.
As much as Mathias hated that she’d used her ESP gift to try to identify Ozzy’s murderer, he had to admit he’d been hoping the vision would have given him something useful to go on in his pursuit of the bastard.
He hadn’t wanted Nova to do it. He tried to stop her, knowing what that horrible glimpse would cost her. The experience of Ozzy’s death would be one she’d have to carry with her forever.
She’d already known enough pain and ugliness in her life. Mathias wanted to shield her from any more. Difficult to do, when she wasn’t even speaking to him now.
He cursed and sent his fist into the nearest wall.
He’d failed her tonight.
If he hadn’t been so caught up in his enjoyment of Nova’s body, of her sweet but fiery passion, maybe he would have heard the confrontation taking place in the shop two floors down. Maybe he would have scented the blood in the air before Eddie came to the door. Maybe he could have stopped Ozzy’s killing and spared Nova the grief that was tearing her apart now.
Maybe...
Fuck. All he had was maybes when it came to that woman.
His woman.
To his astonishment, he realized he couldn’t think of Nova in any other way.
He was about to turn around and tell her when the Order’s black Range Rover rolled up to the curb outside the tattoo shop. As Thane and Deacon jumped out, Sloane blazed in behind them in an unmarked vehicle with its dashboard LED flashing, another JUSTIS unit pulling up behind him. Not a few moments later, Callahan emerged from somewhere in the darkness and came jogging up to the shop.
Mathias walked out to greet the arriving warriors and his friend from JUSTIS.
His talk with Nova would have to wait.
Right now, he had a killer to hunt down and destroy.
~ ~ ~
Nova had done her best to clean up Eddie and herself in the shop’s small restroom.
There wasn’t enough water in London to wash out all of the blood that stained the shell-shocked kid’s shirt and trembling hands. She’d tried to scrub it off her too, from her fingers and bare feet, the knees of her dark sweats gore-soaked from when she’d knelt down beside Ozzy to relive his last moments of life.
The sink had run red down the drain for fifteen minutes straight before she’d finally given up. Nothing to do for their clothes but burn them.
She dropped Eddie’s ruined T-shirt in the restroom trash bin and gave him a tender look. “You okay?”
He nodded weakly, then shook his head. His eyes were still puffy and moist from his tears. His mouth quivered as he spoke. “What are we gonna do, Nova?”
She offered him a smile, but it felt wobbly and uncertain on her lips. “We’ll figure it out.”
The same words Mathias had spoken to her earlier that night, when she’d finally admitted to him that she didn’t have her shit together at all, that she was scared.
She was still scared, even more so now. Not only because Ozzy was gone, and she didn’t know what her life was going to be like without the old man being part of it, but because she had somehow let another man into her life.
Into her heart.
Mathias.
How had she been so careless as to let her guard down with him, after a lifetime of keeping herself safely closed off, her wants and desires sealed up behind steep, unbreachable tower walls?
How had he managed to crash the gate, when she’d barely had time to prepare for the battle?
As much as Nova wanted to blame herself--blame him--for Ozzy’s suffering tonight while they’d been so blissfully, selfishly unaware, there was another part of her that wanted nothing more than to open the door and run to Mathias. For his comfort, for his strength.