In a cold rush, she remembered the snap of a man's neck. And the black blade through the attacker's eye. And Hal's calm, vicious control.
Hal was... death. Death in a beautiful package.
"Get away from me." She tripped over her own feet and he reached out for her. "No! Don't touch me."
"Mary - "
"Stay away from me." She backed toward the restaurant, hands raised to ward him off. For what little good that would do against him.
Hal tracked her, moving with powerful shifts of his arms and legs. "Listen to me - "
"I need..." She cleared her throat. "I need to call the police."
"No, you don't."
"We were attacked! And you... killed someone. People. You killed people. I want to call the - "
"This is private business. The cops can't protect you. I can."
She stopped, a nasty shot of truth putting who he was into sharp focus. Everything made sense. The menace he hid behind the charm. His utter lack of fear as they got jumped. His determination not to involve the police. God, the fact that he'd cracked a man's head loose with such ease, like he'd done it before.
Hal didn't want her to call 911 because he was on the other side of the law. No less a thug than the men who'd gone after them.
She grabbed under her arm to hold her purse, about to make another run for it. And realized her bag was gone.
Hal cursed, quick and hard. "You lost your purse, didn't you?" He looked around. "Listen, Mary, you need to come with me."
"The hell I do."
She made a break for the restaurant, but Hal leaped in front of her, blocking the way, taking her arms.
"I'll scream!" She eyed the parking-lot attendants. They were probably thirty yards away. "I'll scream my head off."
"You're life's in danger, but I can protect you. Trust me."
"I don't know you."
"Yes, you do."
"Oh, you're right. You're handsome, so you can't possibly be evil."
He jabbed his finger toward the park. "I saved you out there. You wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for me."
"Fine. Thanks a hell of a lot. Now leave me alone!"
"I don't want to do this," he muttered. "I really don't."
"Do what!"
He passed his hand in front of her face.
And suddenly she couldn't remember what she was so teed off about.
Chapter Nineteen
Standing in front of Mary, her memories at his mercy, Rhage told himself to finish the job. Just wipe himself from her like a stain.
Yeah, and how was that going to work for them?
He'd left at least one, maybe two of the lessers alive in the park when he'd had to go after her. If those SOBs nabbed her purse, and he could only assume they had, she was in the crosshairs. The Society was already abducting civilians who knew nothing about the Brotherhood; she'd actually been seen with him.
But what the hell did he do now? He couldn't leave her alone at her house because her address would be on her driver's license and it would be the first place the lessers would go. Taking her to a hotel wasn't an option, because there'd be no way to be sure she'd stay put: She wouldn't understand why she needed to keep away from home because she wasn't going to remember the attack.
What he wanted to do was take her back to the mansion, at least until he could figure out how to handle this shit storm. Trouble was, sooner or later someone would find out she was in his room, and that would be bad news for everyone. Even if Tohr's command to scrub her didn't stand, humans were prohibited from their world: Too dangerous. The last thing the Brotherhood needed was for the race's existence and the secret war with the lessers to get out among Homo sapiens.
Yeah, but he was responsible for Mary's life. And rules were meant to be bent...
Maybe he could get Wrath to allow her in. Wrath's shellan was half-human, and ever since the two had gotten together, the Blind King had softened on the subject of females. And Tohr couldn't override the king. No one could.
Except while Rhage tried to make his case, Mary needed to be kept safe.
He thought about her house. It was off the beaten path, so if the shit hit the fan he could defend her without worrying about a lot of interference from the human police. And he had plenty of weapons