“To die? No. At least, I don’t think so.” He prayed not. And if she had, well, that was over. She enjoyed living now—she’d said so herself. “She wanted to be the one to kill them all.”

Trace worked his jaw. “Does she have what it takes to do that? Is she capable of following through?”

“Says she is.” By the second, Jackson got edgier. Another minute and he’d implode. He needed physical release.

He needed Alani.

“All I have to go on is what she tells me.” And how she looked while telling it. “She hates traffickers enough. Could she pull the trigger? Has she pulled the trigger? No f**king idea.”

Trace came over and took a seat. “That’s what the school was about?”

“Yeah.” Jackson had to laugh at himself. “She told me all she knew how to do was hunt scumbags and defend herself. The idea of any legit job, according to her, gave her the willies. But now… You know, I think she accepted the idea of going to the school because it took her off my radar.”

Dare nodded. “She knew you disapproved.”

The reality of that sounded harsh and judgmental, when he hoped he hadn’t been. “Any sane man would disapprove of a twenty-year-old girl dabbling in blood-thirsty revenge against criminal maniacs.” With one hunger satisfied, Jackson sprawled back on the couch and concentrated on cooling his burning emotions. “You know the really strange part? She breezed through getting her GED. And even with her skipping out on the school for long stretches, the instructors had nothing but good things to say about her. Somehow, around all the crap she pulled, she was still on track with her credits to graduate with an associate degree. She even carried a 3.7.”

“Smart and brazen—it’s a dangerous combo.”

Jackson snorted. “Since that describes Priss—”

“Don’t,” Trace warned. He shoved out of his seat again and paced away.

Jackson knew Trace still suffered a few moments of panic whenever he remembered how close Priss had come to real harm. He was especially prickly about discussing her with Jackson, since Jackson got to see “the goods” before Trace when he swiped Priss out of the shower—all with altruistic motives.

“If I hadn’t let her get involved with the work,” Trace said with his back to them, “God only knows what she would have gotten into on her own.”

“She’s like an adrenaline junkie,” Dare said. “You have to admit, it’s addictive.” He stretched. “That is, it was addictive until I found a better way to expend my energy.”

That brought Trace back around, and he even smiled. “Wives do come in handy for working out the tension, don’t they?”

Given that he wanted to work off some tension with Alani, Jackson agreed. But since Alani wasn’t his wife, he wisely kept his mouth shut. Still, their discussion had given him a few ideas.

Could he bring Arizona around by giving her a lesser role to play? She’d be contributing, she’d be involved, but only to the point that he could maintain control of all situations. It was something to think about.

“Until Arizona calls me in the morning, there’s not much I can do.”

“You’ll stay here tonight?” Dare asked.

He nodded. “I don’t want Alani alone when I go to meet with Arizona, so it’ll be best if she stays here.”

Dare gave him a look he didn’t understand. “Meet her where?”

“My guess is she’ll head to a prearranged location. It’s what we talked about in case of an emergency.” But Arizona was so unpredictable, he couldn’t swear to anything—and that made him most nervous of all.

“Is the location close to your apartment?”

“Less than ten minutes away.”

Trace mulled that over. “Now that you know there’s a problem, can you make your place secure enough?”

“To protect myself?” He didn’t like that insinuation at all. “It’s secure.”

“Actually, I was thinking about Alani.”

Jackson did a double-take. “At my apartment?”

Aggrieved, Trace shook his head in a pitying way. “You do realize that she’s not going to stay behind willingly?”

Unconcerned with that, Jackson stood. “She’s been reasonable about it all.” And bottom line, he’d do whatever necessary to keep her safe.

“That was before you were going off to meet another woman.” Dare came to his feet, too. “Word of warning—if you don’t handle it right, Alani’s going to be pissed, hurt or both.”

Jackson wondered if he’d be getting unsolicited advice from Dare and Trace from now on. He wouldn’t mind so much, if it meant Alani stayed his a little longer.

Course, nothing yet guaranteed he’d be involved with her beyond sating her curiosity. He knew plenty about keeping a woman happy in bed.

Out of bed? He’d never really tried before.

Given Dare and Trace were both in long-term relationships, maybe getting a few tips from them wouldn’t be a bad thing. “So what’s your idea of handling it right?”

The look they shared screamed conspiracy, and Jackson didn’t like it worth a damn. “What?” Under the microscope, he bristled. “You got something to say, let’s hear it. I’m all ears.”

Dare made up his mind, then got Trace’s nod of approval. “This could be the perfect opportunity.”