Edge of Sanity: An Edge Novel by Shannon K. Butcher Page B

her and stow her body somewhere only the coyotes would find. Problem solved.
    Even the security system was a joke. It hadn’t been updated in at least a year, and Grady was good with tech. It spoke to him, revealing its secrets in a way that made complete sense, unlike people.
    Dawn would come soon, and with it all the inherent risks that daylight would bring. Mail delivery, newspaper service, meter readers—they all would come only with morning. Better to have the job done by then.
    Grady hiked in to where his man was keeping watch, and settled down to wait for all the movement inside to die down. The couple inside was up late, but that only meant they’d sleep harder when they finally crashed.
    It wouldn’t be long now.
    Chapter Six
     
    L eigh was a fool to trust Clay.
    She tossed in her bed, unable to sleep for fear that when she woke, he’d be gone.
    She flipped back the covers and padded to the window for the tenth time in the past hour. Both cars were still there. She hadn’t heard a door open or shut, but there was movement below on the ground. He was slinking around out there, sticking to the shadows, likely trying to figure out how to break a car window and hot-wire it without waking her.
    A quick glance at the security system showed that it had been disarmed. Apparently, picking handcuff locks was not his only hobby.
    Frustration scratched under her skin, and she barely held back an angry growl.
    I can handle the cold.
    Sure he could. He was all tough and manly. That didn’t mean he was smart enough to remember he was also human. Without any fat to insulate him, he’d get cold easily, and the thought of him out there in the dark, shivering, was enough to drive her out into the cold herself.
    Leigh eyed the loaded syringe sitting on the bedside table. She could dose him again, ensuring he stayed put for at least another few hours. Then she’d be able to sleep in peace.
    Of course, if she did that, he would almost certainl V to>

    Leigh slipped on a robe she found hanging in the closet and tucked the syringe in the pocket, just in case. She left her room and hurried down the hall, which was open on one side—a minibalcony overlooking the living area below. Shadows of tree limbs blown about by the wind danced across the thick carpet. The moon was bright, giving her plenty of light to see.
    Clay’s door was open. She could hear him snoring quietly. As she neared, she saw his bulk lying on the bed.
    If he was in bed, then who had she seen outside?
    A flicker of motion in the living room below caught her attention. She turned and saw a shadow of a man slide over the floor. In one of his hands was the unmistakable silhouette of a long-barreled gun.
    Fear stole her breath for a series of painful heartbeats. She heard blood roar in her ears as it flooded through her, carrying adrenaline to every sparking nerve ending. The urge to scream and run stampeded over her brain.
    Finally, after what seemed like an hour, she was able to move enough to push Clay’s door all the way open and slip inside.
    He bolted upright in his bed. Any signs that he’d been asleep were impossible to detect. His eyes were bright and alert, his movement both powerful and fluid.
    One look at her face and he was on his feet, heedless of his lack of clothing. Clad only in tight boxers, he seemed to glide across the space, and took her by the arms as if fearing she’d fall over.
    “There’s someone out there,” she whispered, feeling the dry stickiness of her tongue across the roof of her mouth. “He has a gun.”
    The look of concern he’d been wearing changed swiftly to something darker and far more frightening. “Stay here.”
    He grabbed a handgun from his nightstand and slipped silently out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
    Leigh stood there in the room for a long moment, trying to make sense of what was happening. She’d known when she’d agreed to help Clay that there’d be danger, but she hadn’t known that it