by Dena Christy
“We believe Horn has created a formula to genetically enhance werewolves. His goal is to make them stronger, faster and more able to produce viable young with human females.”
“Horn’s been talking about that for years. Don’t tell me he’s got the Order all stirred up about it. It’s nothing but talk.”
“We’ve been watching him, and I can assure you his work ceased to be just talk some time ago. We’ve discovered he’s done experiments on live subjects. His formula has a flaw, and it’s turning the wolves he’s experimented on feral.”
Eric’s distracted gaze followed her hand as it tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear. He blinked. What were they talking about? He shook his head to try to clear it. Get your head in the game, buddy. “How do you know it’s Horn’s formula? Wolves do go feral sometimes.”
“Yes they do, at a rate of one or two wolves every fifty years. So far in the past two months, ten wolves have gone feral.”
That wasn’t good. Feral wolves running amok among the human population would definitely ring a few alarms with the Order. Eric focused his attention on her as she continued to speak.
“All the feral wolves have had a relationship with Horn either in the past or the present. The situation has gotten serious. Seven human females are dead and a dozen more have disappeared and are presumed dead. All the women were last seen in the company of known werewolves. Destroying his formula is our only option to stop this.”
“Horn isn’t going to let me into his compound. I turned my back on the pack six years ago. He won’t welcome me with open arms.”
“He will if he believes you want to try his formula.”
Eric jumped up off the couch and paced in front of it. She was out of her mind. She had to be if she thought he was going to get himself injected with something that would turn him feral.
“You’re crazy.” He walked over to the door and held it open. “Don’t let it hit you in the ass on your way out, sweetheart.”
SAMARA RESISTED the urge to kick her own ass as she refused to budge from the sofa. She sucked at talking to people, preferring either to use mind control or beat the crap out of them until they agreed with her. Negotiations were for weaklings who couldn’t get what they wanted any other way. Still, she couldn’t control Eric’s mind and her being able to beat him into submission looked debatable. Ruthlessness radiated off him, which went beyond the normal wolf persona. His body oozed strength, his face compelling in its fierceness. She suppressed a shudder of longing as she continued to stare at him. Why hadn’t she remembered to mask her tattoo? She could have had him by now.
That she wanted him didn’t rate thinking about. It smacked too much of a loss of control, and she was nothing if not in control of herself at all times. She ignored his pointed look as his eyes bored into hers, indicating she should go. Just pretend he’s still listening.
“I didn’t say you would take the injection. I meant you would fake interest in taking part in his experiments. You will be travelling to the compound with a woman and Horn will think you’ve taken her as your mate. The problem is she’s human and you need his formula to increase your chances of having your young live.” She squeezed her lips together to keep the smile from showing on her face when he slammed the door. He must have realized she wasn’t going to walk out the door without giving her best shot to convince him.
“And who’s the lucky woman?” Eric asked as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door.
“Me.” She watched him with satisfaction as he straightened, his scowl deepening.
“No way.” Shaking his head, he came back to the couch to tower over her. She had to crane her head up to look at him. If she wasn’t enjoying his reaction so much, she would almost feel insulted by it.
“It’s the only way. You’ve burned every bridge you had six years ago when you left your pack. We need to get you into the compound. This is how we’re going to do it. It won’t be hard. I think it’s obvious you’re attracted to me. It won’t be difficult for you to pretend to be in love with me.”
“Attraction doesn’t equal love, sweetheart.”
“That’s why I said ”pretend,“ dumb ass. Of course I completely understand your reluctance, since your acting skills may not be up to par…” Samara let her voice trail off as she looked at him as if she found him lacking. His upper lip quivered as he curled it back.
“Speaking of acting skills,” he said, every word sharp. “How are you going to convince Horn you’re human? I’m smelling you right now and it’s obvious you aren’t.”
“You thought I was human in the bar, didn’t you? I can mask my scent to make you think I’m anything I want. I could even convince you that I’m a female werewolf in heat.”
She proceeded to prove it to him, but was unprepared for his reaction. He lunged at her, his mouth pressing against hers as he kissed her. Hard. His hand reached out to undo the snap on her jeans. She slipped her hand between them to push against his chest and stopped producing the female wolf scent. He drew back, his breathing harsh, his gunmetal gray eyes flinty and almost black.
“Don’t ever do that again.” He ran an agitated hand through his ink-dark hair. He moved away from her, going to the opposite end of the sofa, staring at a point over her shoulder. His chest rose and fell, rapidly at first, until it finally slowed and the flush across his cheeks disappeared.
“I was just trying to prove a point.” She straightened her clothes, disturbed by her reaction to what just happened. Sex was second nature to her species, and was something she used to manipulate others. She didn’t care one way or the other how she went about getting what she wanted. For a few seconds, while he’d kissed her, she wanted to let him continue. Until the thought that she wanted him to want her for herself and not due to any manipulation on her part stopped her cold.
“You’re going to have to find another way to get into Horn’s compound.”
“Like I said, our agent at the compound can’t penetrate the inner circle. This is the only way, and I need you to agree.”
She could tell she wasn’t making much headway when he folded his arms across his chest and his scowl deepened.
“Are you going to kill me if I don’t agree?” he said, his eyebrows drawing together. She didn’t think it was possible for someone to glower on top of a scowl, but he managed it. Obviously his mother had never told him that his face would freeze that way.
“I told you, I have no orders to kill you. I’m to present the scheme to you, nothing more.” Her orders were to seduce him and use mind control, but she didn’t think telling him that would go over well at all. “I’m an assassin, but I don’t kill for the pleasure of it. It’s my job and I do it when told. That’s all.”
“Then there’s nothing to compel me to do this?” Eric asked as he stood and retraced his steps toward the door. “If you’re ready I’ll take you home.”
Samara followed him, touching his arm so he would look at her. He turned, meeting her eyes for the first time since she’d used the wolf scent on him.
“Please Eric, you have to do this.” She hated begging, but that might be the only thing to convince him at this point. She did not want to go back to Cadric having failed, again, so beg she did.
“Sweetheart, I don’t have to do anything,” he said as he fished in his pocket for his truck keys and pulled open the front door.
“If you don’t, you are condemning countless women to death.”
“That’s not my problem. Do you know what my problem is? I have a missing brother I need to find, and standing here having this pointless discussion is not going to get him found. I’ve said no and that’s the end of it.” His lips tightened in a grim line as he spoke. He swept his arm out, indicating that she should precede him out the door. She refused to budge, knowing she had one more weapon in her arsenal to get him to do this, although she loathed to use it.
“Your brother is the reason you need to do this, Eric. Horn is the key to everyt
hing.”
“What are you talking about?” He took a step closer to her, looming over her, and she knew she was close to hooking him. She resisted the urged to step back. She had to be cool to pull this off.
“Didn’t I mention that your brother was one of the first wolves injected with the formula? Horn’s dirty fingerprints are all over this, and if you want to find your brother, this mission is the only way you’re going to be able to do it. So think about that, and let me know what you want to do. You have three days to decide.” Samara marched out the door and walked to the truck. Let him stew over that tidbit for a few days. She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling as he stormed out of the house. Checkmate, buddy, she thought as she let herself in the passenger side of the truck.
CHAPTER 4
Eric jolted when his coffee mug slipped out of his hand and shattered on his brother’s ceramic-tile floor. He’d been distracted and clumsy all morning. The house stood silent, empty, leaving him too much time to think. He hated it here. Why he had agreed to Nick’s request to stay in this house? Everywhere he looked he remembered Rowan, and the last time he saw him, when they’d almost killed each other.
All over a woman, Chelsea. Wasn’t it always a woman who could make two grown men come to blows? She’d been his woman first, until she’d met his twin. Rage had fired his blood upon seeing her in bed with his brother. He went after Rowan, who refused to fight him, which only enraged him further. Chelsea tried to pull him back, and he’d accidentally struck her with his elbow. His brother fought back at that point. Nick came in and separated them. Preventing them from killing each other.
Closing himself off from those thoughts, Eric fetched the broom and swept the broken bits of crockery from the floor, scooping them into the dust pan before disposing of them in the garbage bin. Paper towels took care of the coffee all over the floor. The busy-work did little to silence his thoughts.
He couldn’t get Samara out of his head, no matter how he tried to distract himself. He needed to find his brother, despite all that had come between them. Six years was a long time to let the old wounds fester, and the rot left behind colored everything he said and did. He missed his pack, missed his family, but he’d cut himself off from them and hadn’t quite known how to make his way back home. He still didn’t. Not even the death of Chelsea and his brother’s stillborn baby had compelled him to come home. He feared that seeing his brother would rip all those wounds open, and Eric’s bitter poison was the last thing his brother needed at that time.
Now he didn’t know if he would ever see his twin again. Considering the little piece of information Samara had imparted last night, finding his brother wouldn’t be easy at this point. Could the Order have had something to do with his disappearance? If that was the case, his brother would never be found.
“Enough,” he said out loud as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. He needed to get out of this house before the walls closed in on him. He yanked open the door and jerked back when he saw his brother Nick, hand poised to knock. Eric’s stomach tightened as he looked at his older brother for the first time in six years. Nick had weathered the intervening years well.
“Come in,” Eric said quietly as he took a step back. His brother charged through the door and pulled Eric to him, enveloping him into a hug. Eric could feel the distance of six years ebbing away as his brother’s arms tightened around him. He didn’t know if he was ready for all this, so he awkwardly clapped Nick on the back before taking a step back. He saw the muscle in his brother’s jaw jump for a moment, but Nick remained silent as he walked further into the house.
“How did you know I was at the door?” he said as he walked into the living room.
“I didn’t. I was just on my way out,” Eric said, trailing after him. Eric stuffed his hands in his pocket and clenched them into fists. He took a deep breath and blew it out silently and slowly. He hadn’t thought seeing his brother after six year would hurt this much. He realized now just how much he’d missed him.
“Have you got a lead on Rowan, then?” Nick stopped in the middle of the room with a look on his face that Eric couldn’t interpret.
“I don’t know if I have a lead on Rowan or not. Something strange and rather alarming happened last night, and I’m not sure what to think.”
“What happened?” Nick used his big-brother voice. It’d been a long time since Eric had heard it, and a smile involuntarily quirked the side of his mouth.
“I met someone at the club you sent me to last night, and brought her here.” Eric thought about how much he should tell his brother about what had followed meeting Samara at the bar, but was distracted when his brother folded his arms across his chest and scowled at him.
“How does you getting laid in any way, shape or form help you find Rowan?” Nick cocked one of his eyebrows at him, and Eric rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t get laid. She turned out to be working for the Order. I think she may know what happened to Rowan.”
“Did she say as much?”
“Not in so many words, but she did give me some information about him. Apparently all the years of talking and experimenting have finally paid off for James Horn. He’s created a formula that makes wolves stronger and faster. Not that we need it. It’s also supposed to help us with producing viable young, but there’s something wrong with it and the wolves injected with it are turning feral. The wolves have been preying on human females, killing some while others are disappearing. Rowan was one of the wolves injected with the formula.”
“I’m guessing she was more than just some random chick you picked up at a bar?”
“Turns out she’s a succubus with the Order.” Eric watched as his brother’s eyebrow climbed up his forehead and he let out a low whistle. “Yeah, I know. What the fuck has Rowan gotten himself mixed up in that he has tripped the Order’s radar? Whatever it is it can’t be good.”
“Okay, so what does the Order want with you?” Nick asked as he shifted to put his hand on his hips.
“They want me to help get her in to Horn’s compound so his research and formula can be destroyed. She’s given me three days to decide.”
Nick was silent for several minutes, and Eric could almost see the wheels turning in his brother’s head. He knew Nick well enough to know that he would talk when he was ready.
“I think you should do it. Horn has to be stopped if he’s turning wolves feral. If humans are being killed, the Order will have a hell of a time keeping it secret for long. Then who the fuck knows what kind of disaster that would cause? And Horn needs to pay for what he did to Rowan. Going to the compound may be the only way you’ll find out what happened to him.”
“If Horn is responsible for Rowan’s disappearance then he’s a dead man. Even if he’s not, he needs to be stopped.” Eric’s jaw tightened as he thought about the man who once belonged to his pack.
“Do what you have to, just keep me in the loop,” Nick said as he walked out of the living room and toward the front door. He turned once he got there. “I don’t want another brother to disappear.”
“I’ll keep you informed.”
Nick looked at him for several minutes without saying anything “It’s good to have you back. I just wish it was because you want to be here.” Nick left the house and walked to his car.
Eric closed the front door. “I wish the same thing.”
“SO HOW DID it go last night? When do the two of you leave for the compound?”
Samara looked over at Hadria, the woman who was her mother in every sense except the biological. When her real mother had abandoned her at the age of ten, she hadn’t been equipped to survive on her own. Her body may have been fully matured, but her mind had been like her human father’s, weak and closer to her biological age.
Hadria, a Valkyrie working for the Order, found her starving in an alley next to a brothel. Samara had gone willingly with her, and Hadria had taken her under her wing. The members of the Order taught Samara how to harness
her power, and were a family to her when she had none. She survived her childhood, and for that Hadria and the Order had her undying loyalty. And knowing Hadria as well as she did, she knew that the other woman was going to freak the fuck out when she told her how well last night had not gone.
“I don’t know if he’ll do it.” Samara took a deep breath and braced herself for the inquisition she knew was coming.
“Why? Didn’t he let you touch him?” A tiny frown knotted Hadria’s forehead as she cocked her head slightly to the side.
Samara paced the length of her living room. Great, now she’d have to admit she’d touched him and it hadn’t made any difference. She couldn’t control him. Hadria was definitely going to freak.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Hadria stepped in front of Samara, halting her progress around the room.
“I can’t control him. I touched his arm at the club and it should have been enough. He got pretty hot there for a while, but he managed to resist me. He has a very strong mind. I practically had to goad him into leaving with me. I went back to his place and he saw my tattoo, so I had to tell him what I wanted.”
“He saw your tattoo? How could he have seen it if you masked it?”
Hadria always knew just which questions to ask, usually the ones Samara didn’t want to answer. “I forgot to mask it.”
“You forgot?”
“I wanted him. There I was with my shirt off, breasts bare, and I forgot to hide my tattoo. Needless to say the mood shattered. I had to tell him why I’d sought him out.”
“You told him everything?” Hadria asked, alarm clearly written on her face. Samara blew out her breath. Did Hadria think she was that stupid?
“Of course I didn’t tell him everything. I told him who I was, and why I was there. I didn’t tell him the whole story. Only about Horn’s formula and its effect on wolves injected with it.”