Free Eternal Flame by Cynthia Eden

handsome, if soft face, and a perfectly pressed uniform.
    The cop also had his gun up and aimed at Zane.
    She straightened on the motorcycle.
    “Easy.” Zane lifted both his hands, which, unfortunately, made her hand lift, too.
    “The guy’s crazy!” No harm in trying a little maneuvering, right? Jana jumped off the bike and focused her desperate gaze on the cop. “Help me.” Her voice trembled. “He’s—”
    “What the hell are you doing?” Zane snarled at her. Then, louder he said, “Officer, my name’s Zane Wynter. I’m a bounty hunter with the Night Watch Agency. This woman’s a wanted—”
    “Undo the cuffs.” The cop had stalked closer. His clipped words cut right through the air. “Undo the cuffs and let her go.”
    Jana blinked. Ah, yeah, that had been easy. She could look desperate and pitiful when she wanted but-
Too easy
.
    Tension knotted her gut. That gun was aimed straight at Zane’s chest.
    Zane started to lower his arms. “I’ve got my I.D. in my back pocket, just let me—”
    “Take off the damn cuffs!”
Spit flew from the cop’s mouth.
    “Ease up,” Zane said, and his hands froze. “I don’t have the key on me.”
    The gun barrel jerked a bit. No, it didn’t jerk. The guy was re-aiming. Setting up his shot so that when he fired—
    Oh, hell. “Zane!”
    The cop fired.

Chapter 5
    T he bullet hit the middle of the handcuffs. It couldn’t break the
Other
proof metal, so the bullet ricocheted and blazed a path of fire down the side of Zane’s right thigh.
Fuck
.
    Zane fell to the ground, dragging Jana down with him. He rolled, fast, putting his body on top of hers.
Shield her. Keep her safe
.
    “Sonofabitch!”
Not his scream, though it sure could have been.
    He glanced up to see the cop charging him. “I just want her!” the guy yelled.
    Why the hell was everyone after his bounty?
    “He told me not to hurt you,” the cop threw out, the words directed at Jana as he strode forward and raised that gun. “But with him,
deadly
force is fine.”
    The hell it was.
    Jana trembled beneath him and her skin warmed. She was charging up, getting ready to unleash her fire on this jerk coming at her.
    “
We’re not armed!”
he shouted at the cop. “Stand down!” What the hell was the guy thinking? And who was this “he” the cop was talking about? “I told you, I’m a hunter with Night Watch, you need to—”
    The cop smiled and aimed that gun right at Zane’s head. His finger was already squeezing that trigger. Oh, screw this. Zane focused and sent a wave of power slamming into the cop. The trigger-happy jackass screamed and flew through the air. The gun fell from his hand just as he slammed into the front windshield of the patrol car. The cop didn’t get up.
    Zane did. His fingers curled around Jana’s, and he pulled her up with him.
    “Is he … dead?” she asked.
    “No.” The guy would be starting to twitch a bit soon. Zane had knocked him out, not killed him. “Come on.” They weren’t going to stand around and wait for another bullet to come flying at them.
    And if I killed a cop …
    The paperwork would be a bitch.
    They climbed onto the motorcycle. She wrapped her arm around him tightly. Blood dripped from his thigh. As they surged forward, he demanded, “Baby, why does everyone want a piece of you?”
    Hell, he needed to get in touch with police Captain Antonio Young. Tony would have his back. He always did. Tony knew the score, and how to keep the peace.
    Most days.
    “I don’t know.” Her whisper came softly to his ears and only his enhanced hearing let him catch the words. But it didn’t take enhanced senses to know she was lying.
    Fifteen more minutes until they were at Night Watch. Fifteen more minutes and he’d be there….
    But a cop had just tried to kill him. A cop who hadn’t cared about his position as a bounty hunter with Night Watch.
    He glanced in the side mirror. No sign of the patrol car following them. The road branched up ahead. One