“What you saw in the woods…it wasn’t what you thought. I gave Duncan orders. He’s going to keep Saul on a leash and use him so that we can find the alpha.”
So Duncan hadn’t been betraying the unit. Her lashes swept down even as relief rose within her.
“When I brought Duncan back here to you, I never thought you’d get his blood. Oh, sis, I swear, I never did.”
She heard the remorse in his voice, and Holly wanted to believe him.
But she couldn’t. Not entirely. Because she knew him better than anyone else. He could be so manipulative.
If he thought he was helping in the battle against the monsters out there, would he risk her life?
He’d risk everything.
She pulled away from him. The wooden bullet—covered with her blood—was in his hand. “Did anyone see?” Holly whispered.
What she was—it was their secret. One they’d protected the entire time she’d been working in the unit.
He shook his head. “I carried you inside. No one saw anything.”
Good. “What happens now?” She’d slipped up. Made the mistake that she’d always feared. Pate had been so confident that no one would ever learn about her. That she’d be safe, as long as she had access to the doses she needed. And in her own lab, a place guarded by a dozen agents, he’d promised that she’d have the security she wanted.
Only she wasn’t safe anymore. Neither was he.
I had Duncan’s blood.
“Nothing happens. We continue just as before.”
Her jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious! I almost killed you.”
His fingers closed over the bullet. “And I did kill you.”
Only she hadn’t stayed dead. She couldn’t. That was the way with her kind. As long as a wooden bullet was in her heart, her body would mimic death. Once the bullet was out…she came back to life, so to speak.
The real truth was that she’d died a year ago.
“Go home. Sleep. Wash away the blood.” His words were clipped, and they were also no longer given in the softer tone of a brother, but rather in the more demanding snap of a boss. “Then you come back here tonight, and you carry on the same as before.”
She rose to her feet. She was already stronger. Thanks to the dose.
The dose…call it what it is…the blood. Though often, the blood was combined with a special drug mix that was supposed to keep her urges in check. “We can’t keep on like this.” She was fighting her instincts. Trying to be something that she wasn’t.
Human.
“We’ll keep on until you find a cure.”
There was no cure. He didn’t get that. It wasn’t that she was sick. She wasn’t human anymore.
“Go home,” Pate ordered again as a muscle jerked in his jaw. “Everything will be better soon.”
Pate. So wrong. So lost.
He blamed himself for what she’d become.
Sometimes, late at night, she blamed him, too. That was her shame.
“If you can’t come up with a cure, then I’ll get another doctor in. You know I can pull any damn strings I want, and I heard that Forbes was in the area.”
Jonathan Forbes. The name had her tensing. He was good with DNA. He was also a prick. And her ex-fiancé.
They’d split when she’d suddenly developed an appetite for blood. “Jonathan is more interested in slicing and dicing paranormals than he is in helping them.” That had been one of the main reasons she ran from him.
She hadn’t wanted to wind up as one of his experiments.
Silence. Then, “But he can do the job. There aren’t a whole lot of doctors in the know when it comes to the paranormals.”
No, there weren’t.
Pate continued, “I’ll make sure that he monitors Duncan.”
While she—what? Hid in the shadows?
“I’m not telling you this as your brother. I’m giving you an order as the senior agent for this unit. You’re to stay away from Duncan McGuire from now on.”
Easier said than done. She could still taste him, and she was…craving him. “You sent him out there, all alone, to fight the Seattle alpha?”
“He is an alpha.”
“What if he gets killed?” Didn’t Pate get it? Duncan didn’t want to be a werewolf. Maybe facing off against the other alpha was his way of making sure his death wish was granted.
I won’t let that happen.
“We’re tracking Duncan through the chip in his collar. If necessary, we can send backup to him.” Pate shook his head. Narrowed his eyes on her. “Go home, Holly. Just…go. When you’re back in control, then you can come back to the lab later.”
In control. Right. Because she always had to stay in control. Always had to be so careful.
Maybe she was tired of being careful. She stared at her brother. Saw all the secrets he carried in his eyes. He’d told her the unit was necessary. For the protection of the humans.
Only she wasn’t human anymore.
Neither was Duncan.
And Pate was still using them both.
“Screw control,” she told him as she turned and walked away. It wasn’t about control. It was about helping a man who’d just lost everything.
Pate might be willing to sit back and watch the brutal battle unfold before him, but she wasn’t going to do that.
One drop of Duncan’s blood. Just one. That was all she’d gotten.
It was all she needed. She could feel Duncan now. Could sense him.
And could track him. She didn’t need the collar to give her his location. Now, with his blood, she’d be able to find him anywhere, anytime.
If he was facing off against the wolves, she’d make sure he had backup.
The supernatural kind.
***
Pate didn’t move so much as a muscle as his step-sister walked away. Holly was so small and deceptively delicate.
The perfect killing machine.
He hadn’t wanted this life for her, but…but there was no going back.
His nightmares wouldn’t stop. He could still see her attack, over and over again in his head like a broken movie reel that wouldn’t stop playing.
But now…Holly was finally becoming stronger. Not the broken doll, the one who hid in the lab because she didn’t want to face the world outside.
She’d tasted Duncan’s blood. Gone for my throat.
Her killer instincts were showing.
The doors swung closed behind her.
And Pate finally let his smile sweep over his face.
***
Holly went to her home first, mostly because she had a bullet hole in her shirt and the fabric was covered with blood. She jumped into the shower and let the water slide over her skin. She’d get clean, then she’d find Duncan.
He wouldn’t die before she washed the blood away. At least, she hoped he didn’t and—
Her alarm was beeping. A high-pitched whine that she still barely heard over the roar of her shower. Frowning, she hurriedly turned off the water until only a drip-drip-drip remained.
The whine was clear now. Clear and plenty loud.
Her gaze tracked to the left. She couldn’t see anything through the steamed-up glass door of her shower. But that alarm had been set off by something.
Someone.
She heard a creak then. Very soft. Too close. The creak had come from her bedroom.
Fingers trembling, she pushed open the shower door and grabbed for her towel.
“Hello, sweets.” A drawling, dark voice.
Her head snapped up.
Saul stood in the doorway of her bathroom. He inhaled deeply. “Followed that sweet smell all over town…” He took a step closer. His gaze drifted over her. “And straight back home to you.”
Oh, hell. She’d been so worried about tracking Duncan that she hadn’t even thought about Saul coming after her.
He snapped his teeth together. “That smell tempted me for weeks. Fuckin’ weeks. Didn’t even realize you were the one sen
ding out that sweet scent, not until you came into containment. And now I’ve just got to take a bite.”
The collar was around his neck. But the remote, hell, the backup remote she’d swiped on her way out of the lab was in her bedroom. In the nightstand drawer. Completely and totally useless to her at that moment.
Her hands were clutching the towel over her body. But it was weak protection. What she needed was a serious weapon.
Saul licked his lips. “Maybe I’ll fuck you and rip your throat out, all at the same time…”
Oh, yes, Pate had made a real brilliant move in letting this psycho out of his cage. Brilliant.
She swallowed—four times—and managed to choke down her fear enough to say, “That alarm—it will go feed back to the agency. P-Pate wired it. Agents will be here—”
He laughed. “I’m not as dumb as you think.” He was totally blocking the doorway. And his claws were out. “I cut the wires leading away from this apartment. The alarm might be screaming in here…”
It was. Just like she was screaming in her mind.
“But no signal is getting out.” He smiled at her, flashing his fangs. “No one’s coming to save you. It’s just you and me, sweets. You…” He leapt toward her and yanked the towel away. His claws sliced down her arm. “And me.”
She didn’t cry out at the pain. He wanted her to scream and beg. She could see it in his eyes. “You don’t want to…do this.”
He brought his mouth close to her neck. “I want nothing more. Your scent was in the air, did you know that? In the fuckin’ ventilation. I smelled you all those days.” His teeth raked over her skin.
She shuddered. Stay strong. Focus.
“Why do you smell so good?”
He hadn’t changed into a wolf. That meant she had the advantage. His mistake. “You want to know why?” Her fingers lifted and pressed lightly against his shoulders. “Because I’m not human.” Because she had a brew of drugs in her body that had tried to make her some weird mix of human and vampire. The drugs had the side effect of sending out that sweet smell. Vampires always smelled good, that was just one of the ways that they lured in their prey. But her scent had been amplified by the drugs. A bad side effect that she’d try to fix.
“What are you?” Saul demanded.
Instead of answering, she shoved him back, as hard as she could. He flew through the air, rammed through the doorway, and sent chunks of wood shooting up around him. She ran out after him. She wasn’t sure how her strength would stack up against him, but she’d get the collar’s remote and totally disable him—
He was already back on his feet. And between her and the nightstand.
Then he started to laugh. “Aren’t you…full of surprises?”
Her breath was panting out. Her heart racing too fast.
And she was naked. Dammit, naked, in front of that psycho.
Her gaze darted to the nightstand.
“Ah…looking for this, are you?” He lifted the remote from his pocket.
No.
“Why don’t you come and get it?”
Fine. She would. Time to see who was stronger…the beast or, well, me.
Holly pushed back her shoulders. Lifted her chin. Then bared her own fangs.
Saul’s eyes widened.
“You should have stayed away,” she told him.
He smiled at her. And crushed the remote in his hand.
Oh, hell. Holly swallowed, choking back her fear, then she attacked.
Holly raced across the room. This wasn’t about testing herself. This was survival. Kill or be killed.
His claws sliced across her stomach. More blood flowed from her.
No more.
She grabbed his hands. Held them tight. Then her mouth went for his throat.
Bite. Bite. Bite.
The temptation that was always in her mind. Only this time, she wasn’t resisting temptation.
“You fuckin’ bitch, I’ll slice you open, screw you while you bleed—”
It was his turn to bleed. Her teeth sank into his throat. His blood trickled over her tongue.
He howled then. A loud, inhuman sound. He tried to shove her off him. They wound up both falling to the floor. She held on tight, not about to let him go. She couldn’t let him go.
His blood was in her mouth. Werewolf blood. Powerful. Heady. The rumors she’d heard were true. She could already feel his blood making her even stronger.
He rolled, twisted, and came down on top of her. She kicked out at him, even as she kept her teeth in his throat.
He yanked his hands free from her grip. “Should have known…should have known…” His hands closed around her head, and he shoved her skull back against the floor. “I know what you are.”
Good for him. She knew what he was, too.
He lifted one hand. His claws glinted. “I know what you are…so that means I know how to kill you.”
Hell.
And, right then, her alarm stopped its wild shriek.
He smiled. “Ready to die?”
Again? “No.” Her chin lifted. “Are you?”
Chapter Five
He followed Saul’s scent—sweat, animal, fear—back to a small building on the outskirts of the city. From the outside, the place looked like an old fire station. One that someone had converted into a house?
He inhaled deeply. Saul had sent him on wild hunt. Racing in and out of buildings, in alleys, through a tangled maze that had led through the city…
And back here.
His nostrils flared as he pulled in the scents around him. The musky scent of Saul and—
Honey.
Fuck, no. He ran for the building, his heart pounding frantically in his chest and his claws bursting from his fingertips. He lifted his foot to kick in the door, but saw that someone had already beaten him to that chore—the door’s lock was broken. Shattered. He shoved the door open and rushed inside. The bottom floor was empty, but he could hear sounds coming from upstairs. He flew up those stairs, four at a time. Turned to the left—
And saw Saul, on the floor, on top of a naked Holly. She was bleeding. Saul’s claws here out. He was trying to swipe at her.
Duncan roared.
Saul’s head whipped up. His eyes locked on Duncan, then those eyes widened in horror. Before Saul could leap to his feet, Duncan had him. His hands locked around Saul’s shoulders, and he yanked the shifter away from Holly. Then he slung the bastard against the nearest wall. The whole building seemed to shudder at that impact.
“Duncan!” Holly’s voice was shocked, scared, and angry as she called his name. He turned back toward her. Pale flesh. Wide eyes. She was trying to cover her breasts with one arm and cover the juncture of her thighs with the other even as she bled from the gashes in her side and on her arm.
He reached for her.
And felt claws drive into his back.
“No!” Horror was the only thing he saw in Holly’s eyes then.
The hands that had been reaching for her balled into fists. “Run.” He could barely manage to get the word out.
She shook her head, sending her wet hair flying over her shoulders.
“Run!”
He spun back around and grabbed Saul’s hand. With one twist, he broke the bastard’s wrist. Payback, you SOB. Then he grabbed Saul’s other hand and broke that wrist, too.
Saul staggered back. Then he hit the floor. Fur burst along his skin as his bones snapped.
Saul was shifting, and…so am I.
The white-hot agony ripped through Duncan. Speech was impossible. He could only snarl and growl as his body reshaped. His muscles tore, his tendons stretched. When his hands hit the floor, they almost instantly became paws. Power beat through him. Power…and bloodlust.
He attacked what is mine.
Mine.
Duncan went for the other wolf’s throat. His paws slammed into Saul’s side, and his teeth snapped at the bastard’s neck.
But Saul’s claws drove into Duncan’s side. Sli
ced deep. The pain just made him angrier. Duncan attacked with his own claws. Blood matted Saul’s pale coat of fur.
“Duncan?” Holly’s quiet voice.
Mine.
He sank his teeth into Saul’s neck.
“Duncan, we need him alive!”
No, they needed him to die. Because he’d hurt Holly. Not once—
Holly’s arms wrapped round Duncan. “Please.”
His whole body vibrated, but he hesitated, barely managing to hold back from taking the other wolf’s life.
That hesitation was all that Saul needed. He staggered away from Duncan and ran for the big, bedroom window. The glass shattered as he jumped right through it, leaping out and falling to the street below.
Duncan jerked away from Holly and ran to the window. He stared below, snarling, as he watched the white wolf streak away.
“I don’t have any close neighbors,” Holly said quietly from behind him, “so I don’t have to explain to anyone why a wolf just jumped out of my second story window.”
He glanced back at her. The rage still burned within him, and he wanted to follow Saul but—
Can’t leave her.
It wasn’t just the wolf’s instinct to protect. It was the man’s, too.
Only she wouldn’t be seeing him as a man then. Just as a beast. He turned toward the window once more.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered.
His muscles trembled. Didn’t she understand? If he stayed—
“Please.”
She broke him.
He whirled toward her. Fought to pull the man back to the forefront and shed the body of the beast. He wondered if the pain of the shift would become easier to bear, or if it would always feel like he was being ripped apart.
But the pain, it didn’t last. In moments, he was one the floor, body trembling, hands and knees pressing against the hard wood of her bedroom.
“Duncan?”
His head lifted as the floor creaked beneath her footsteps. She’d grabbed some kind of robe and wrapped around her body. Her blood had stained the side of the robe.
He still wanted to rip Saul apart.
“It’s okay.” She kept talking softly and held out her hand, as if to a wild beast.
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