Page 31 of Nyx

"She's not safe. She won't be until he's no longer a threat," I growl.

Kincaid looks in my direction, and I know he can read my mind without the words ever having to work their way past my lips.

Monsters only stop when they're dead.

"I agree, but there are ways we can go about doing this that don't land one of us on a prison block," Kincaid tells me before looking back in Max's direction. "Let's get someone on him. I want him monitored twenty-four-seven, with reports back on his behaviors and habits. I don't want the man to eat lunch with his family without knowing what was on his plate."

"Cerberus or someone else?" Max asks, his fingers working on his keyboard.

"Do we have someone we can trust over there?" Kincaid asks.

"Yes," Max answers.

"Make it happen," Kincaid tells him.

Knowing this motherfucker is going to be monitored should make me feel better or at least give me some sense of relief, but it doesn't. I hate the idea that we have to sit around and wait for him to try and do something before we can make sure he'll never be a problem again.

"I can go," I say.

"No," Kincaid and Shadow say simultaneously.

Kincaid gives me a small smile, but it doesn't ease the ache of the sting at the immediate rejection of my offer.

"I love the enthusiasm, but you're needed here," Kincaid says.

I can't blame the man for refusing. He knows my behaviors enough to know exactly what I'd do the second I laid eyes on him, but hearing her story just gets inside of me in a way that a lot of other things I've been faced with haven't had the ability to.

I know I wouldn't waste a second watching this guy. Our first contact would no doubt be a bullet right between his eyes without a care for witnesses.

I pull in a deep breath and release it slowly, doing my best to calm my pounding heartbeat.

"Obviously, we're going to hire her for the shelter position," Kincaid says. "She'll be a good fit, but it also gives us the ability to monitor her while she's at work."

"And when she isn't?" I argue.

"Graham Whitmore doesn't seem like the type of man who is going to let someone else dole out his vengeance," Kincaid tells me. "He's going to want to do it himself. I fully believe that she's safe so long as he stays on the East Coast."

"I hope you're right," I mutter.

Chapter 10

Juliet

I smile as I read the email for what has to be the millionth time. The action feels less fake than it usually does.

I'm not an unapproachable person. I find honest joy in what I do at the women's shelters I've worked at in the past. I love helping these women, but the positions I take are more for me than them, despite knowing I'll help some while I'm there.

The smiles while there are frequent, but most of them aren't real.

It's hard to feel happiness when the last nearly twelve years of your life have been spent looking over your shoulder. When your body is in fight-or-flight mode all day, every day, it's impossible not to let certain emotions actually take hold of you long enough to deviate from the fear that's always coursing through your veins.

I pull in a deep breath, grateful to have gotten hired at the local women's shelter even after the interview that felt more like an interrogation at first. The pay is nice, but the added security Cerberus provides is the real benefit.

I look around my sparsely furnished apartment, hating that even after all this time, I still long for material things.

I know that some of my unhappiness and inability to feel like I'm actually living life rather than just surviving it is because I keep so few things. Maybe with the higher pay at this job, I can splurge a little and make coming home not such a dismal experience.

It wouldn't hurt to hang a painting on the wall or grab a plant from the local garden center.