Harley was on top of me, his muscles coiled with the waning strength of the moon, and his hands tightened around my neck. He squeezed, and my fight mode turned into full-blown panic.
“This’ll teach you to mess with me,” the wolf growled. “Who has the power now?”
I trembled, a sob working its way up the back of my throat, but the hands around my throat caught it.
“No one would ever know it was me,” Harley said with a malicious grin. “I could toss you over the edge, and it would look like a suicide.”
I clawed at his hands, the broken remains of the acrylic nails Sierra had given me tearing at his skin.
Fight, Sloane! Fight! You’re the wolf who can transform at will. You’re powerful always. You can win.
“Eat shit,” I rasped. “Eat shit and die.”
I tensed, readying myself to buck with all the energy I had…but his hands slackened, and his head jerked to the side. He fell to the ground, his head cracking on the concrete roof.
Chaser stood over us, his expression full of rage. Deadly, chilling, pulse-pounding rage.
Harley didn’t get up. He didn’t even twitch. His head was at a strange angle, and I knew Chaser had broken the wolf’s neck. He’d killed a member of the pack and Marini—
Scrambling away from the edge of the roof, I coughed, my throat scratchy. “What did you do? What did you do?”
“I saved your life,” Chaser said as I climbed to my feet. “That’s what I did.”
“What did you do that for?” I shrieked, shoving him as hard as I could.
“What the hell?” His mouth fell open, and he threw his hands into the air. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m trying to win people to my side!” I exclaimed. “Then you come in and fight my battles. Mine!”
He cursed, rubbing his hand over his face.
“I had him,” I said, knowing full well there wasn’t much truth in that statement. “I had him.”
“Me fighting for you is not weakness, Sloane.”
“They won’t just follow anyone, let alone a woman. I need to give them a reason to follow me.”
“By more of the same?” Chaser asked, raising his eyebrows. “By being a bigger maniac than Marini?”
I shoved him, and he stumbled.
“Don’t lose yourself to this,” he said. “Don’t—”
The roar of an engine broke off whatever he was about to say, then an explosion tore through the air, the boom almost knocking us off our feet.
Agonised cries echoed form below and I rushed towards the edge of the roof. Chaser grabbed my arm, but not before I saw the carnage below.
The charred remains of a car stuck out of the garage door as smoke and flames billowed out of the compound. Men lay prone on the ground, while others crawled outside, their flesh sizzling as they dragged themselves over the concrete.
A car bomb.
“They’re burning!” I cried, my nose filling with the sharp scent of burned flesh…and something else. “What the hell?”
“Wolfsbane,” Chaser said. “Poison.”
A wolfsbane car bomb? It didn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together. “The Hollow Men.”
“Go back to your room and stay there,” Chaser said. “I’ll take care of this.”
“But—”
“Sloane.” He grasped my shoulders. “Vampires can’t go inside the compound, not unless they’re invited. Go inside.”
“What about Harley?”
“I killed him, it’s my responsibility.” He pushed me towards the door. “Go inside.”
I nodded and rubbed at my neck. Moving back into the compound, I was hit with a wall of stifling heat as I hurried through the halls. I was shoved aside by a group of wolves as they barrelled towards the garage, though none of them looked twice at me.
I stared after them, numb. I knew Harley’s revenge and an inevitable play by the Hollow Men was coming. But knowing didn’t make it easier to face or to deal with the aftermath.
Turning, I smacked into a hard chest and let out a yelp.
“Steady, girl,” a familiar gravelly voice said.
“Gasket.”
“What’s all the noise?” he asked. “And what are you doing out here?”
“It was a car bomb,” I told him. “Drove right into the garage.”
Gasket grasped my face in his big hand and tilted my head to the side. “What happened here?”
Twisting away, I scowled. “Harley.”
Gasket’s expression turned positively demonic. “Where is he?”
“On the roof with Chaser. I think.”
“Shit.” His expression didn’t change as much as I thought it would as he yanked me down the hall to my room. He pulled me inside and closed the door behind us, then grasped my face again. “The marks on your neck are gone, but I already knew that.” He wrenched my hand upwards and showed me the tattoo on my thumb. “Just like that, too.” His eyes narrowed. “Harley attacks you and now the compound has been bombed. There’s been a lot of coincidences lately, huh?”
“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked, my heart beating at a thousand miles per hour. “This whole time?”
He grunted.
“Gasket.”
He sighed sharply and looked at me. “You think you can rule Fortitude, but it isn’t for you, Sloane. Turning doesn’t make you an alpha, no matter who your father is.”
“You don’t know that. It’s been a long time since we knew one another.”
“If you think you can get away with staging a coup without Marini knowing it’s coming, you’re in for a rude awakening. My guess is he’ll be waiting for you long before you work up the nerve to strike.”
I slammed my palm down on his shoulder, forcing him to face me. “He knows?”
“He suspects, which for you is not a good thing right now. Those suspicions could easily turn into something else.”
Why hadn’t they, then? My mind worked overtime, dwelling on Harley up on the roof and what Marini did or did not know. If he suspected, then why wasn’t he acting? Suspicions were usually enough for him to pull the trigger. It could only mean one thing…
My eyes widened. “He’s got something planned for me.” This was the false sense of security I’d feared all along. I thought I was winning, but in reality, I was the one being manipulated.
“This is not the time, Sloane.” Gasket moved around me.
“It never is!”
“The Hollow Men attacked the compound and there’s likely dead wolves out there. When the dust settles, eyes will turn to you. Do you understand?”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “We’ll talk about this another time.”
“Gasket.”
He shook his head. “I’m not askin’, girl.”
I took a step towards the door, but his glare was enough to put me in place. He’d never looked at me like that before—like he wanted to show me what real discipline was. I wasn’t his daughter, but he sure as hell thought I was.
Gritting my teeth, I stayed put. With one last warning glare, Gasket slammed the door closed and left me alone in the safety of his room.
I didn’t want a bunch of men running off to my rescue, but here they were doing just that.
Chapter 15
Chaser
I lifted Harley’s body in my arms and leapt off the roof.
Smoke was pouring from the garage as the car burned and using the confusion to my advantage, I dumped the body near the wreck. Stepping over a wolf writhing on the ground, I ripped off the door and looked inside.
A charred body sat in the driver’s seat, the stench of burnt flesh filling my nose.
There was no way it was a vampire—the body wasn’t damaged enough for permanent death—it was a compelled human being. Poor bastard.
The backseat was wired with spent explosives, wires, and plastic barrels that’d once held litres and litres of a distilled wolfsbane solution. The remains of mo
re containers had melted over the side of the car itself. This thing had been rigged to make one hell of a statement.
“Harley?”
I pulled back, turning to see Spike kneeling over Harley’s body. I stood over him and wiped at my nose. It smelt like a rancid, grease-stained barbecue in here.
The wolf looked up at me. “Chaser?”
“The blast must have thrown him against the wall,” I said. “He’s dead, Spike.” I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to his feet, then pushed him towards the wolf whose flesh was searing with wolfsbane. “Help him. Get him inside and in a shower.”
Without another word, Spike hauled the injured wolf to his feet and dragged him inside.
I turned to survey the damage, my gaze raking over the smoking ruin. The entire workshop was damaged, the cars and motorcycles were impaled with shrapnel, and tools and equipment were strewn everywhere.
Snapping into action, I grabbed the nearest able-bodied werewolf, who turned out to be a stunned Ram, and pushed him towards the injured.
“Get your head on,” I barked. “Get these men inside and hose them down.” I snapped my fingers at another. “You, get a fire extinguisher.”
As the werewolves came out of their daze, noise filled the garage. Men were carried inside and the whoosh of extinguishers filled the space as the fire was put out.
I counted three dead, not including Harley. Wolves I hardly knew, but members of the pack all the same.
The door crashed open, and I turned to see Gasket stride into the garage. His expression turned to thunder when he saw the aftermath of the blast. This wasn’t going to be good, but he was the only person I trusted outside of Sloane.
“Gasket.” I nodded at Harley’s body.
“Don’t say another word, Chaser,” the wolf growled. “I already saw Sloane. Just tell me, was it you or her?”
“Me.”
He hissed. “Bloody hell, Chaser. Does he look like he’s been in an explosion to you?”
“Not yet.”
“Has anyone seen him?”
I shrugged. “Spike.”
Gasket ground his teeth and shoved me up against the wall. “If it wasn’t for Sloane, I’d force you to get rid of your humanity,” he snarled. “You’re getting sloppy, vampire.”
“Careful, old man,” I murmured. “There’s still ears in this garage.”
“No, you be careful, Chaser,” the wolf warned. “Spike is Marini’s.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He let me go and ran his hand over his face. “It matters.”
I grasped Gasket’s arm. “Marini threatened me with the talisman earlier tonight. He knows.”
Gasket gritted his teeth and glanced towards the garage. “We need more time. Sort out the body. Marini will be here any moment.”
As the old wolf pulled focus away from me, I found some wolfsbane inside the remains of the car and tore out the melted bottle. Dumping the contents over Harley, I made sure his flesh began to blister before I smeared him with ash. It was a hack job, but it was all I could manage.
Then I called for a wolf to drag him over to the other bodies.
“They’ll pay for this!” Marini’s voice tore through the garage, his rage pressing down on Gasket and the other wolves on the other side of the destroyed car.
Just in time.
“Chaser! I know you’re here. I can smell you.”
I stepped out of the gloom and saw the alpha had brought an entourage with him. Rocket, Rick, and DeLuca stood behind Marini, their expressions troubled.
“Wolfsbane,” I said, dumping the destroyed bottle at his feet. “The car was full of it.”
“The driver?”
“Human by the looks of it.”
Marini glared at me, his anger affecting me without the added pressure of the talisman. “Cowards,” he raged. “They get others to do their work for them. They don’t even fight their own battles.”
He began to pace, looking at the row of dead werewolves. When he reached Harley, he paused.
I glanced at Gasket, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“What do you want us to do, boss?” Rocket asked. “Take the fight to them?”
Marini lingered, his eyes still on Harley. After a moment, he held up his hand. “Not just yet…” He looked at me coolly. “Check the permitter and surrounding streets. If there are Hollow Men out there watching us, I want them found and dealt with.”
I nodded and took a step towards the street.
“Chaser.”
I paused.
“Where’s Betty?”
“Inside,” Gasket said for me. “I saw her in the hall and told her to stay in her room.”
Marini glared at the wolf. “At least someone around here has sense.” When no one moved, he shouted, “What are you still standing here? Go!”
The wolves scattered and I didn’t hang around. I didn’t want a talisman repeat, and I definitely didn’t want to be there when Marini worked out that Harley wasn’t killed by the car bomb.
Out on the street, Gasket fell into step beside me. “Rick.”
I saw the outline of the werewolf in front of us and nodded. If anyone knew what Marini was up to, it was his lap dog.
“It starts now, huh?” I drawled.
Gasket didn’t reply. He simply strode up behind Rick and thumped his fist into the back of the werewolf’s head.
I sighed. I guessed we were starting now.
We locked Rick in a disused storage closet that’d been converted into a cell. It sat inside the dank depths of the basement and had all the latest modern conveniences. Slate grey feature wall with artful werewolf scratches, white cornices, a rendered concrete bench to sleep on, and a heavy-duty lock on the unbreakable metal door. Conveniently, there was also a drain in the middle of the floor.
Gasket dumped Rick on the bench, and I locked the door behind us. Glancing at the wolf next to me—the man who said he cared about Sloane like a father—I didn’t need to explain to him what I was about to do. All he did was nod to let me know we were on the same page.
I grabbed Rick by the scruff of the neck and threw him across the room. He collided with the wall, the bang echoing through the room. The other benefit of being down here, where the wolves turned every full moon, was no one would hear his screams.
Rick was on his feet in a flash, looking for an exit that didn’t exist. Tired of his cowardice, I shoved him up against the wall and held my forearm on his chest. Levelling my gaze, I sneered. “You’ve got a smart mouth on you, huh?”
“Get off me!” He wriggled, but he was no match for my strength.
“What is Marini planning?” I asked, jamming my arm harder against him. “Talk.”
“He doesn’t tell me anything,” he said, snivelling like a little pig. “I just follow orders. Same as you.”
“You and I both know I can’t compel another supernatural,” I said, “but I can hurt you, then heal you…then hurt you again.” I inched closer, triumph coursing through my veins as his pupils dilated in fear. “Now…are you going to wet your pants, or are you going to tell me what you know?”
“D-don’t kill me,” Rick stuttered, showing off what a big man he really was.
Gasket shifted behind me. “Start talking, kid, or this won’t end pretty. You know what Chaser is capable of.”
Rick was shaking, unable to control his fear. Soon, he’d be catatonic and useless.
“What is Marini going to do to Sloane?” I shook him as my eyes turned back and my fangs began to elongate.
“He’s going to give her to them,” Rick exclaimed. “To make things go away.”
“The Hollow Men?” I growled, my anger turning into something more like rage. After all we’d been through to get here, Marini was just going to give her to them?
“I’m just the messenger,” Rick said. “I only follow orders. I deliver letters and stuff.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him close. “What letters?”
I hissed. “And what are in these letters?”
“How should I know?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t read them before you deliver, because I wouldn’t believe you.”
“Okay, okay.” Rick held up his hands. “He’s making a deal with the Hollow Men to hand Betty over for the sacrifice, but when he does, he plans to double-cross them.”
I shook him. “How?”
“By binding King’s bloodline with a spell,” Rick blubbered.
“Has the deal been made?” Gasket asked, pushing in between Rick and me.
I loosened my grip and stood back, wanting nothing more than to go back to Marini’s rooms and put a bullet in his head. He was going to sell off his own daughter in the name of revenge.
Rick shook his head. “Not yet. He’s got a witch to bind the bloodline, but he needs to get inside to make the connection.”
It was then that I realised the truth and my stomach dropped. He was going to turn Sloane into a bomb.
“Her blood is the binding agent,” I murmured. “The sacrifice is a smoke screen for his own spell. He’s going to let them kill her for his own revenge.”
“They won’t get their power,” Rick said, “and they won’t be a problem anymore. Marini will be the greatest alpha the Fortitude Wolves has ever had.”
Gasket shoved Rick back against the wall, and before he could move another inch, the wolf brought his fist down on his temple. The kid’s eyes rolled, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap.
I cursed and began to pace. A binding spell? The bloodlines…
“Chaser.” Gasket grabbed my arm to stop me. “You’re losing it. Keep your head on.”
“You don’t get it,” I rasped. “King is known to have sired all the vampires under the Hollow Men banner. It’s how he controls them. If Marini links the bloodline, then all he has to do is kill one vampire and they’re all dead. Every single one…”
Gasket’s expression faded. “Chaser… Who turned you?”
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