by Cynthia Eden
Yeah, that was Felix’s pompous ass voice. And the guy had sounded surprised.
“I found Isabella,” Griffin announced. He turned his back on the fire scene and stalked toward his waiting motorcycle. All of the wolves had come in on motorcycles. “Only you neglected to mention a few important facts about her to me.”
Silence. Griffin let that silence stretch. He needed to keep the guy on the line—
“I didn’t expect you to just…call me.” Now Felix seemed confused.
Griffin laughed. Isabella would have told him it wasn’t a real laugh. She would have been right. “We had a deal, didn’t we? I was supposed to find the woman you thought was killing innocent men. I was supposed to get you proof of her guilt.” He straddled his motorcycle, but didn’t start the engine. “Only, it turns out…she wasn’t the one killing.” He waited a beat. “You were.”
“Don’t be so sure of that,” Felix snapped. “After all, can you really trust a vampire?”
Yeah, I can. Tension had his muscles clenching. “I know about the other werewolves—the dead werewolves you left behind in your wake. And guess what, Felix? I’m on a new case now. I’m hunting again. Only this time, I’m hunting you.”
“Ah…you found your torched office, didn’t you?” Now Felix was pleased—and cocky. “Did that make you angry? I’m betting it did. I’m also betting that because of all the ash, you can’t catch my scent from that place. The big, bad tracker…with nothing to go on.”
Keep talking, asshole, just keep talking.
“You should be thanking me.” The guy’s taunt slid into Griffin’s ear. “I introduced you to your mate, didn’t I? I mean, you ran into that alley, and your whole life changed.”
The guy wanted a thank you? Not happening. But Griffin would go with, “Fuck you.”
“What I gave, I can take away,” Felix threw right back. “Actually, I will take her away. Let’s see just what that does to you. I’ve heard that once the bond is in place, if you separate the pair for too long, insanity follows.”
What? Griffin hadn’t heard that shit—
“At least, insanity for the werewolf. That’s one of the many reasons why the wolves stopped mating with vampires. If you go too long without your mate’s blood, without that sweet fix, you will plunge straight into madness. And won’t that be something to see?”
Felix ended the call.
“Uh…alpha?” One of the young werewolves with Griffin questioned. “What are we—”
Griffin lifted his right hand. “Hold the fucking thought.” Then he dialed again, quickly, his fingers too tight around the phone as he waited for this second call to be answered. Pick up. His contact picked up, and Griffin immediately said, “Tell me you got a lock on that bastard.”
“Absolutely,” Katie Fletcher told him. Sweet Katie—she was his contact at the Las Vegas PD. Katie had helped Griffin on more cases than he could count. Katie had a dozen grand-kids, a love for slot machines, and a very helpful job that allowed her to do a certain amount of side business for PIs in Vegas. Not that Katie’s bosses knew about her side job…
“Triangulated the call, got pings from the cell towers nearby…I can tell you exactly where the guy was when you contacted him.”
Griffin’s hold tightened on his phone. Damn straight. He didn’t need werewolf senses to track Felix. He had other methods. Had Felix forgotten Griffin was a freaking PI?
“Your target is heading out of the city, driving fast…” Katie rattled off coordinates, and when she did, Griffin felt his gut clench.
Oh, the hell, no.
***
“You look dead.”
The voice drifted slowly through Isabella’s consciousness.
“Do you feel this?”
And a sharp, white-hot pain pierced Isabella’s chest. Her eyes flew open, and she screamed—or tried to scream—but the sound just emerged as a weak cry. It took her a moment to realize—
There was a knife in her chest.
Shelly smiled down at her. “So that’s how you wake up a vampire. I’d always wondered.”
She’d wondered…so Shelly had stabbed her?
“But you are weak, aren’t you? Helpless.” Shelly pulled out the knife. Blood poured from Isabella’s chest. “I know what it’s like to be helpless,” Shelly added as her lips curled down.
You’re gonna know what it’s like to be dead. As soon as my strength is back…
Then Isabella heard thunder. Booming…
No, not thunder. Gunshots?
“Your mate should have stayed with you.” Shelly shoved the knife into Isabella’s chest once more. “Then we could have gotten you both at the same time.”
More gunfire. Blasting.
Shelly heaved Isabella up into her arms, and then the redhead tossed Isabella over her shoulder. “I’m stronger than I look.” She carried Isabella to the door. The table that Isabella had tried to use for protection was smashed into a hundred pieces. So much for that plan. “At least, I’m stronger now. It’s because I’ve been getting some upgrades.”
There were two werewolves in the hallway. Blood gushed from their chests.
“Silver bullets,” Shelly explained. Her steps never slowed. “I walked right up to them and pulled the trigger. Dumbasses didn’t know what hit them. Guess that will teach them to treat me like shit.”
Isabella tried to peer around the hallway. Where was Carter? Where was—
More gunshots thundered. It sounded as if they were under attack.
“Felix is outside,” Shelly told Isabella as the other woman carted her down the hallway. “It’s gonna hurt you like a bitch when the sunlight hits, huh?”
What?
And then…then Shelly was opening another door. Isabella could hear the creaking of the hinges. Sunlight fell on them, and Isabella began to scream.
Chapter Ten
Something hit her—something big and strong and hard—and Isabella found herself tumbling out of Shelly’s arms. Isabella flew through the air and landed back inside the mansion, on the marble floor of the foyer.
“You betrayed your own kind!”
Isabella glanced up. That was Carter screaming. Carter—he’d been the one to come barreling through the door. He’d knocked Isabella out of Shelly’s hold, and he stood—bullet holes in his body—glaring at the redhead who was also sprawled on the floor.
Shelly rose, laughing. “My own kind?” She tossed back her hair. “Hardly.”
Isabella sucked in a slow, deep breath. The sun had scorched her, but she was okay. I need to be stronger.
“My own kind treated me like shit!” Shelly screamed.
The gunfire had stopped. Carter was positioned a few feet away from the open door—Shelly was now right in front of it.
“You don’t know,” Shelly raged as spittle flew from her mouth. “You and Griffin, you weren’t raised in this area. You don’t know what my whole life was like. I wasn’t a real werewolf, so they made my life hell. Hell. Did you think I was going to take that forever? Did you think I was going to be weak?”
There was a knife on the floor. The same knife that Shelly had used when she’d stabbed Isabella. Isabella crept toward it, every movement requiring maximum effort. Was that a silver blade? It looked as if it was…
“I’m not weak any longer.” Shelly’s voice seemed to echo around them. “I was always meant for more! Felix showed me that!” Then she bared her fangs—fangs. Fangs that looked just like a vampire’s.
What. The. Hell?
“I’m strong…” Shelly lifted her claw-tipped fingers. “And you, Carter, you’re just another dead werewolf.”
She raced toward him. Isabella kicked out her feet, and she tripped Shelly. Shelly fell with a scream, and she was still screaming when Isabella lurched up and drove the silver knife into Shelly’s heart.
That’s what you get…for trying to burn a vamp with sunlight.
Boom!
The gunfire blast was far too close. And…Isabella loo
ked up just as Carter fell, slamming down onto the tile right next to her.
Felix stood in the doorway, his face twisted with fury. “You killed Shelly?” And behind him… was that the same bastard Isabella had fed on in the alley? The bastard who’d tried to attack her right before her fateful meeting with Griffin?
Carter was jerking beside her, and blood pumped out of him. Isabella slapped a hand toward him. Drink… She couldn’t manage to speak the command, but she sure hoped he could take a hint.
Luckily, he could. Isabella felt Carter grab her hand. And then she felt his bite. If he survived, would he be obsessed with vamp blood? She didn’t know, and right then, she could only focus on keeping him alive.
Felix bent over Shelly. His hand wrapped around the knife, and he yanked it from her heart. Shelly didn’t move.
“That’s a fucking waste,” Felix said with a long sigh. “After all the trouble we went to with her…and she was showing such promise! Her vampire traits were finally emerging! She’d been able to drink from the werewolves!”
The man with Felix—definitely the asshole from the alley!—had also bent at Shelly’s side. “I liked her. She was fucking phenomenal in the sack.”
“I liked her, too, Will,” Felix muttered. “She was a rare find.”
Carter let go of Isabella’s hand. His body had slumped on the floor. Had he taken enough blood to heal? Or had the guy just passed out? “Carter…” Isabella whispered.
The guy called Will looked up. His gaze met hers. “I am going to hurt you so much,” he promised. He surged toward her, but Felix shoved his hand on Will’s chest.
“We need her.” Felix turned his head and stared at Isabella. “I need her. She lives. You can hurt her, but she lives.”
Oh, damn, but this sucked.
Felix turned his back on Shelly. He moved toward Isabella, the gun still cradled in his hand. “The weakness is the worst part, isn’t it? I mean, here you are, with this incredible lifespan, this eternal youth, but during the day, you’re a prisoner to your own body. That’s the one part I hate. And I was so close to finding a cure.”
Her eyelids wanted to close. She fought to keep them open. Sunlight spilled in through the open doorway, almost reaching her feet.
“The werewolves are the key, I know it. Take Shelly over there…she was primarily a werewolf, but when I looked back far enough in her family tree, I realized that her great-grandmother was a vamp. Shelly was a very, very rare breed. Werewolves and vamps aren’t supposed to have children together, it shouldn’t be possible with the different genetics, but it happened. It happened. And the vamp’s power stayed in the bloodline. It was strong in Shelly, that’s why she couldn’t ever shift. Her vampire side was stronger than her wolf. I just needed to push her, to give her the right guidance, and then nature took over.”
Nature? Looked like nature hadn’t taken over that much…vamps didn’t die when silver hit their hearts, but Shelly was gone.
“A bit more blood and her transformation would have been complete.” Felix grabbed Isabella’s arm and dragged her to her feet. “You screwed that up.”
Good.
He put his mouth to her ear. “I’m going to kill your mate. It’ll be payback.”
Fear surged inside of her. No, not Griffin!
“I gave him to you, and now I’ll take him away.”
No, no.
“Carry her ass out, Will. We need to leave before the dead start stinking up the place.”
***
The blood was still fresh when Griffin arrived back at the mansion. The guards who should have been patrolling outside of the place were dead, their bodies were filled with silver bullets, and their blood soaked the ground beneath them.
Griffin raced inside the mansion, bellowing for Isabella, but he only found more death.
Shelly was on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her. A silver knife had been tossed at her side. And…there was a blood trail to her right. As if someone had been dragged down the hallway.
Griffin followed that trail. His claws were out, his beast snarling for freedom. He was so desperate to get to Isabella…
The blood trail led to the room she’d been inside. The same room where they’d made love. The same room—
Carter. Carter was slumped in the doorway, and the blood trail had come from him.
“She’s…not here, man.” Carter licked his lips. “Bastard…took her.”
Griffin crouched at his side. Blood covered Carter’s chest. Griffin reached for the guy—
“No.” Carter shook his head. “I…already got the bullets out. I’m healing. Isabella…she offered her blood to me.”
What?
“It gave me the strength to survive.” Deep lines bracketed his mouth. “Shelly…she betrayed us. She was working with that Felix…that bastard the whole t-time…”
“Where did he take Isabella?”
“Don’t know…but…h-he’s going to h-hurt her…”
No, he fucking wouldn’t. Felix was just going to die. Griffin slapped his hand on Carter’s shoulder. “I’ll bring her back.” Then he stalked past the dead. He went back outside. Fury hardened his entire body.
“Are you…are you going to call him again, alpha?” The quiet question came from the young werewolf who stood near the front door. One of the guys who’d been hunting with Griffin in Vegas. “And…use that contact you had at the PD for another trace?”
“Don’t need to.” He rolled back his shoulders. “I can find my mate anywhere. Anytime.” And he would. He’d go straight to her.
No matter where Felix had taken her, no matter how smart the bastard might think he was, Griffin would find Isabella. Her scent was in his very soul.
“And when I do find her…” A growl broke from him. “The humans will die.”
***
The sun had set. Isabella could feel the night wrapping around her. A faint smile curved her lips as she opened her eyes and gazed at the man Felix had called Will. “You’ve made a very bad mistake.”
He laughed at her. “No, we haven’t. Felix doesn’t make mistakes. While you were out cold, we flew your ass out of Nevada. It’s been hours. Your werewolf won’t find you. No one will find you. Felix can cut you open, he can run all of his tests, and you can just scream your head off. Scream as loud as you want—no one will hear you.”
She was in some kind of old, stone room, and heavy, metal chains were locked around her wrists. Those chains were attached to the stone behind her. A cell. Felix had obviously planned long and hard for this little end game of his.
He just hadn’t counted on all of the variables.
Will stepped closer to her. An evil grin twisted his face. “Gonna try working a compulsion on me? Go ahead, give it your best shot. ‘Cause it won’t work.” He pointed to his eyes. “I’m wearing special contacts that Felix gave me. He’s so fucking smart. Way smarter than you. He figured out a way to block the power of your gaze. According to Felix, all you’re doing is some hypnotic bullshit. With the contacts in—or the glasses that Felix wears—your tricks don’t work on us.”
You don’t even know all of my tricks.
The guy inched closer. She could feel his breath blowing against her face.
“He’s going to hurt you,” Will promised with dark satisfaction. “He wants to live forever, but not have your weaknesses. A link between a vampire and a werewolf is the key—I’ve heard him say that over and over again. You’ll be his key. He’ll study your blood, your body, he’ll use you in order to get at that werewolf mate you took and—”
She ripped the chains right out of the wall.
Will’s mouth fell open in shock. He started to scream, but she was on him before he could make a sound. Her fangs tore into his throat and his blood poured into her mouth. She drank, taking the blood to give her power, and then when she was done…
Isabella broke his neck. He fell at her feet. She swiped a hand over her mouth. “Your mistake…and Felix’s mistake. You don’t k
now me. You don’t know what I’ve done.” She broke the chains that bound her wrists. They fell to the stone floor in pieces so that she was completely free. “And you don’t know what I’ll do to protect what is mine.” The idiots had wasted their advantage. They hadn’t killed her during the hours of sunlight.
Now she’d destroy them in the darkness.
Because you will not hurt my mate.
The bond was there, undeniable. Bright and strong inside of her. She wanted Griffin, and no one would take him away from her.
Felix and any humans on his side would find out just how dark she’d been during her early years. They were about to see how vicious a born vampire like her could truly be.
Isabella stepped over the dead man and walked out of her prison.
***
Snow covered the ground. To the right, a long, sprawling building seemed to sweep into the side of the mountain.
Isabella was in that building.
Griffin had tracked her scent to the small airport outside of Vegas, then he’d beaten the hell out of the bastard who’d been left behind at that place—another of Felix’s goons. The human had been desperate to stop his pain, so he’d told Griffin exactly where Felix had gone.
Even without the human’s help, Griffin would still have found Isabella. His body had felt physically pulled toward her. As if they were connected by some invisible string.
They would always be connected.
He’d gotten a plane and followed her. A plane full of his pack because he’d brought plenty of werewolves with him. The better to attack. Felix had his own army—at least ten men patrolled the outskirts of that building. Griffin’s werewolves would take care of them. And he would get inside. He’d get Isabella.
They had a future waiting. A very long life. Nothing would come between them.
He nodded to the wolves, and they took their cue. Already shifted, the beasts sprang forward as howls ripped from their throats. The humans started firing, but the wolves easily dodged those bullets.
Not so easy when you’re the one under attack, is it?
Griffin tore off his clothes and let his own beast out. The transformation was brutal and fast, and the wolf snarled his fury at the night. He bounded forward, his whole focus on the building—and the precious prize inside.