And it was going to hurt him a lot more than it was going to hurt me. Oh, small miracles.

He hit the ground first, and then I hit him, but my right hand hit the concrete beside him. I stared at it in absolute horror. What was I thinking? (I wasn’t.) Like I was going to break my fall with my f*cking hand?

The glove saved my skin, but not my wrist. I couldn’t help a shrill scream of pain before I bit it off, grinding my teeth painfully. It was definitely broken, but as far as I could tell nothing had ripped past my skin. I jumped up defensively, remembering Matthew, but he was unconscious.

“What the hell?” I finally said aloud, gripping my hip with my good hand, rotating it. Sh*t, that hurt. Another injury. My gaze flicked upward as I hoped once again that the chick didn’t call the police. God, I got tired of seeing the police! And they hated seeing me. I guess since there was always trouble if there was me.

I glared down at Matthew and thought about kicking him. Not hard, you know? Just a little? But I didn’t. I was a grown up. For the moment.

“Can anyone please just be normal?” I almost yell-asked. “Do you know how much of my life you’re eating up with…whatever you frickin’ have going on? Once you make it through Werewolf Bootcamp, that’s it, bud. I don’t want to see you anymore after that. I’m going to start charging. You’ll be the first charge, Mr. West.” My words echoed a bit in the alley.

Whoops, not very discrete of me. I glanced around, eyes darting back and forth. The alley remained empty; I couldn’t help thinking that if two people falling from the sky hadn’t alarmed someone, my yelling would have. I hobbled a little, almost losing my balance. Yeah, that hip was going to be a problem.

“And remind me to tell you that when you’re awake,” I tossed back at Matthew’s unconscious body. I reached under my arm and slid my bag off my back, retrieving my cell phone, which lit up as soon as I touched it. Yes! The phone wasn’t broken, or cracked and worked fine.

I had phone insurance, but it was pretty annoying to get a new one every other day; it got expensive. Insurance doesn’t mean they replace it for free. And in the last few months, I’d had it smashed, thrown into a pool, crushed under me with a snapping wolf in my face, snapped under a large man I’d thrown on top of it, and then stepped on. By me.

I had a missed call from Charles, but he didn’t leave a voice mail. I didn’t want to call him back and be cussed out, so I called his second in command, Noah. Noah also happened to be my ex.

Noah was like the opposite version of Charles— he was white, had short brunette hair and blue eyes. Like Charles, he was tall. Long, long legs and shoulders like a GI Joe doll. Nice guy, most of the time. That’s why we had dated. But sometimes he wasn’t so nice, and we broke up. We got along well enough despite that. It was a good thing I could connect my phone to a headset in my helmet, because I was so not up for the removal of my helmet with a broken wrist.

“Noah,” I breathed, so glad he answered. My hip was really starting to hurt. I winced as I considered the possibility that I had cracked something.

“Manny, my girl,” he said, a smile in his voice. I ignored that familiar tingle in my stomach. I pretended it was worms and that typically worked.

“I caught Matthew West, but some freaky sh*t is going on, and he’s knocked out. I can’t carry him on my bike like that. And I might not be able to seat the damn thing myself, the way I’m feeling.”

“A newb got the jump on you?” he laughed into the phone, incredulous. If he’d have been there, I’m sure he would have been pointing his finger at me, and laughing.

“No,” I said. “I tackled him off a building, so…”

“Well, sh*t, Manny! Did anyone see?”

“The girl whose blood he thought, and I quote, ‘would taste good’.” I looked at the unconscious newb. “Yeah,” I said in reply to Noah’s silence.

“Where are you? I’ll bring the truck.”

“I think…Moreland, in Jacksonville. I was on Kerrington, but I had to follow him. We’re in the alley behind a store.” I looked around. The store’s name was above the door where they took the trash out. Convenient. “Sweet Stuff,” I said slowly, then rolled my eyes. It was a bakery. “That’s creative.”

“I know where that is. On the way.” He hung up. He knew my style. I don’t drag anything out. Not fights, not good-byes, not sex. Mostly, anyway. I hauled my bum hip and myself closer to Matt and poked him with the toe of my boot; he groaned but didn’t wake up. I tried to roll the hurt wrist, and that just wasn’t happening. My eyes started to burn. Ugh. Ouch.

I took a deep breath, and noticed the faint smell of something familiar, something dangerous. Age, and dirt, and forgotten blood.

Vampires.

I took another breath, but my helmet was making it difficult. The smell was old and the vampires long gone but that smell persisted, that dirt and dried blood. It put me on edge. We were technically in our territory but some of the vampire stomping grounds overlapped ours.

I felt a chill and scratched my neck where the hair was rising. My helmet was making my head sweat and now I desperately needed to try to date the smell of our fanged neighbors. But I couldn’t quite get it off with one hand. I tried and tried, sliding my hand under the back but I just couldn’t shuck the damn thing.

“Let me help you with that,” a voice whispered. I went to turn around, my heart suddenly in my mouth but whoever he was, he held me still, facing away from him. He pulled my helmet off easily and then stepped in front of me, holding it out.

I took it from him and set it on the ground as I sized him up.

I knew his height immediately, since he was as tall as my ex. 6’1”. And he was thin, but it fit his high cheekbones. His skin was dark, dark enough that it was shocking, stunning. It only made him more alien. And more beautiful. He was definitely a vampire.

I hadn’t heard him. And I couldn’t really smell him. It wasn’t him that I’d smelled earlier because he smelled nothing like most vampires. There was no old blood, no earthiness. He was strange.

He also had to be pretty powerful. I didn’t know where he was exactly in his vampire brood but it was high. Often as a symbol of their stature, vampires wore trinkets of outrageous jewelry. Rings, necklaces, bracelets. I’d even seen tiaras, but he wore nothing.

And yet, he could sneak up on me. It did not bode well.