by Kimber White
“Save it, Margaret,” he said. “I did my dad a favor.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
My father narrowed his eyes. The tiniest of smirks lifted the corner of his mouth, but that’s all he said.
“Get up,” the man with the knife barked. He hooked a hand beneath my arm and jerked me out of the chair. “Time to move.”
“About time,” my father said.
My captor pulled me to the door. The two guards stayed still as statues. I was led out into a long, pure white hallway. There were more closed doors on either side of it.
I turned, expecting my dad to follow close behind. Instead, my captor jerked his chin to the guards. They acted in unison, closing the path so my father couldn’t come out of the room.
“Hey!” he shouted.
My captor forced me forward. I craned my neck to see what was happening.
My father kept yelling. One of the guards slammed the door shut. His shouts were muffled, but I could still hear him swearing up a blue streak.
Part of it made me happy. Whatever deal my father thought he’d made with these shifters, it felt like they’d just changed the terms.
“Where are we going?” I asked. He was at least a foot taller than me and solid as an oak tree. It almost seemed like the man had no human side at all. He was like a robot, programmed just to head straight forward and keep an iron grip on my arm.
We turned the corner and went down another short hall. At the end was a service door. The window at its center showed the night sky with a full moon high above.
Nighttime. They’d kept me here the entire day.
Before I could ask any more questions, he shoved me forward, through the door. The cool air hit my skin. Just as I was about to turn back and demand answers, I heard a sound that cut through my heart.
Deep in the warehouse, I heard my father shout. Then, I heard the unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire and my father’s cries went silent.
I turned back, panic seizing my heart.
The black-eyed shifter had a hold of my arm. I was still numb from the bindings. It happened so quickly. I tried to pull away from him. I felt fire go through my arm, just below my shoulder. Then, a warm river ran down. He’d slicked me with the knife.
I staggered backward. There was something in the woods. I could smell it. Then, I saw it. Twin sets of red eyes glowed.
Two giant black wolves stepped into view, their tails down, their fangs dripping. They growled in unison and fixed those evil, crimson eyes on me.
Bloodlust.
I’d read about it in some dusty old book. Their human halves were suppressed. I was staring into the faces of two completely feral, dangerously lethal beasts. And they could smell my blood.
I stepped backward. My captor didn’t stop me. He looked toward the woods and cocked his head as if he were trying to figure out when the wind would change. I realized that’s exactly what he was doing.
Then, he lifted a hand and held it high. It reminded me of a starter at a drag race. Cold horror bled through me. I wasn’t too far off.
He brought his hand down hard. The wolves bit the air, then lowered their heads. They came forward slowly, stalking me. Any second and one or both of them would pounce.
Fated mates.
My mind went to a far-off place. It was as if I were trying to detach from what was happening right in front of me. From the same tome I’d read about bloodlust, I remembered studying some of the characteristics of fated mates.
A shifter will know his mate’s location. He will know when she is frightened. When she is in danger. He will go to her. Fight. Protect. Die if he must.
The wolves weren’t the only ones acting on primal instinct. My heart raced. I turned and sprinted toward the woods.
He held them back. Even in my panicked state, I knew I could never hope to outrun two feral shifters. I couldn’t help it though. I was fueled by pure adrenaline.
They were back there. One of them had broken into a run. I heard his sharp howl to the left of me. The other howled and I knew he had gone right. They were flanking me. Toying with me. Either of them could cover the ground between us in seconds.
With each beat of my heart, I was sending out a beacon. I was helping them set the trap. And I was powerless to stop it.
I reached a small stream and crossed it with a leap. In the shadowy distance, I could make out a clearing. These woods weren’t endless. I saw a high, barbed wire fence.
Another howl rent the air. This one brought me to my knees. Beneath it, I recognized a single command.
“Drop!”
Leo’s heartbeat blasted through my consciousness. It joined my own. My foot twisted. I dropped to the ground, crouching low between two bushes.
“Don’t. Move.”
His voice came to me loud and clear though I know he only whispered. One of the red-eyed wolves was on me. I thought my spine might crack under the weight of his massive paw as he pinned me to the ground.
Then, Leo was there. He hadn’t shifted. He stood just a few years ahead of me. My heart soared, even as I knew what would happen next.
No. No. No.
The black-eyed shifter came beside me. He seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
“Let her go,” Leo said. He held his hand out, palm up. The Kingsblood Diamond glittered as he held it up to the moonlight.
The wolf pinning me down snapped at my ear. Leo growled.
They couldn’t hurt him. No matter how many wolves bore down on him, no matter how many Dragonsteel bullets they fired into him, Leo Kalenkov was invincible.
But, I realized with icy terror that was never the plan.
Black Eyes finally spoke. “Drop it and she lives. You may be impervious, but she isn’t.”
I closed my eyes and prayed.
“Leo, don’t,” I whispered. It was over. I’d made every bad choice.
I could feel Black Eyes’s power. The wolf on top of me had no mind of his own.
He had no mind of his own!
It was such a small thing. One moment. One chance. I don’t know what made me think of it. Those red eyes. As I looked up, they drew me in. I felt along the ground. My fingers closed around a jagged rock.
“Don’t do it, Leo!” I yelled. “Don’t let him have the stone!”
But I let my red-eyed friend have my stone. With one swift movement, I swung my arm and drove that rock right through his red eye.
He never moved. I guessed right. He had no power to act without Mr. Black Eyes’s command, and his attention was focused on Leo.
The wolf wailed. I’d smashed his eye right out of its socket. It would heal, of course, but it gave me one precious second to roll away.
But Black Eyes moved just as fast. I heard Leo’s wolf howl. I saw a flash of movement as the other red-eyed wolf bore down on me.
Then...all hell broke loose.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Leo
Meg’s terror turned to anger. The wolf sitting on her chest didn’t seem able to move.
“He’s being controlled!” Payne yelled behind me. “The other one too. They’re Tyrannous is somewhere close.”
“There!” Meg shouted. “He just slipped into the shadows. He’s heading back toward the warehouse.”
I went to her. Erik and Edward’s wolves flew through the air. One of them caught the other red-eyed wolf by the throat. It was Erik, I think. From a distance, I couldn’t tell them apart.
“Wait!” Payne yelled. “Don’t kill him. He isn’t responsible…”
“The hell he’s not,” I said. I grabbed the wolf near Meg by the scruff of his neck and hurled him against the nearest tree. He was broken, bloodied, but the bloodlust in his eyes was still there. But I sensed what Payne did. He was mindless. He didn’t even fight me. His body stayed in the same position, fixed like a statue the way he’d held Meg to the ground.
“Are you okay?” I gasped. My heart leaped as I drew her to me. She was bruised, shaken, but she
was whole.
“Yes,” she said. “My father’s inside. Leo, there are others. At least two more and they’re armed. I think it’s the same two who shot at you in the parking garage. And I think their leader is heading back for them. There isn’t much time. We have to get out of here. If he comes back with those assault rifles, you’ll get hurt.”
I had the diamond in my hand. “They’re not touching me. And they’re never touching you again either.”
“That won’t help the rest of us,” Payne said. He stepped over me and checked the wolf I’d hurled against the tree. I couldn’t look at him. I could almost feel sorry for him. He seemed trapped in his own injured body.
Val, Erik and Edward came out of the brush. Erik shifted out of his wolf. Edward’s wolf stayed by his side, dragging the other red-eyed wolf’s limp body in his mouth.
“This one’s not going to cause anybody else any more trouble,” Erik said.
Payne’s shoulders dropped. “Dammit, I told you I wanted at least one of them alive. Meg, did you see who’s controlling them? Would you know what to look for?”
She nodded. “I said he ran that way. While the others were always in their wolves he stayed human except for his eyes. Pure black. But you can’t go after him. They’ll kill you. I told you, they’re armed to the teeth with Dragonsteel ammo.”
Payne shot me a look. I knew what he wanted. It’s what we planned. Now that we were about to execute it, it tore at me.
Sensing my conflict, Payne stepped forward and held out his hand. “Then give it to me.”
“No,” I said, barely recognizing my own voice. “That one’s still alive. You’ve got a job to do here. And I have a score to settle.”
“Leo,” Meg said.
I went to her. I cradled her face in my hands. Even with the adrenaline coursing through me, even with my uncle, cousins and Payne standing just a few feet away, I wanted her. The urge to mark her took my breath away.
“My family will protect you. They can shoot me as many times as they want, it won’t hurt me.” I held up the stone.
To prove my point, Milo, Val, Erik and Edward closed ranks around Meg. I helped her to her feet. I knew what Payne worried about, but I had complete faith in all four of these men. If Payne could deliver what he promised, he’d know what I already knew in my heart.
“We don’t have much time,” Payne said. “If this one’s Alpha figures out he’s still frozen like this, he can issue a kill order. He might already be fighting against one.”
“Leo,” Meg said, her voice cracking.
“I’ll be careful,” I said. “And I swear I’ll be right back.”
I kissed her hard. She pressed her body against mine. I could have done it then, quickly. Other Alphas had claimed their mates in the heat of battle as a way to ensure their safety. The urge to do it was strong, but I still needed to know it was Meg’s choice.
“Come back to me,” she said.
Those four words gave me just as much strength as that cursed Kingsblood Diamond did.
“And my father,” she said. “He might...I think they shot him.”
“I’ll find him if I can,” I said.
It tore me in half to leave her.
“We’ve got this,” Milo assured me.
There was movement behind him. I went into a ready stance.
Payne’s deep growl held me back. His wife Lena stepped through the brush. He must have called her to tell her it was safe enough. We’d left her waiting in one of the cars. Dangerous as this was, Payne would need her for what he meant to do next. Although it killed me to leave Meg even for a second, I didn’t want to be here to see it.
A howl from inside the complex drew my attention. I tucked the diamond firmly into small satchel I’d strapped across my back and shifted into my wolf.
I could instantly see the heat signature of another dominant Alpha. I followed it straight to the side door of the warehouse.
As I burst through, I heard tires screech. I ran to the source of it. A black SUV pulled away, rocketing out of the garage.
I heard a hiss then a thousand tiny bee stings across my back. Two men dressed in black from head to toe and ski masks took positions on either side of the door and peppered me with gunfire.
It struck me but bounced off. I felt the heat and power of the diamond even through the satchel. I went up on my paws and lunged at the men.
Their wolf eyes flashed and I could feel their need to go feral. Something held them back. It made their movement jerky. The bigger of the two arched his back and bared his teeth but couldn’t get any farther than that.
I leaped through the air, landing with my front paws on his chest. He never even tried to defend himself. He just raised his rifle and tried to shoot where I’d been standing a moment before. It was as if his hands were frozen to it.
I hoped Payne would have enough with the one outside. Once I started, I wasn’t sure I could hold back.
I drove the man back against the wall. He landed with a loud, spine-crunching crack. From the angle he lay at, I knew at least his legs were broken, maybe his back too. Either way, he wouldn’t move again for a bit. I kicked the rifle out of his hands.
I dodged the second hail of bullets and lunged at the other man. He dropped his rifle, but he couldn’t seem to shift into his wolf. His eyes went red as his bloodlust overtook him.
I swiped one deadly paw across his face, sending blood spraying against the wall. He went down. I stood over him, waiting for his wound to heal.
It didn’t.
“My God,” I said. “He doesn’t even release you to heal yourself.”
I wasn’t on a mission to free these two. I know it’s what Payne wanted. He’d told me over and over that their Alpha was making them do things they couldn’t control. He was the one man on our side who understood the nature of that kind of power. And tonight, he was willing to dance with it himself.
Payne may have been a better man than me, because at that moment, I didn’t care what was truly inside of these men. They tried to hurt Meg and for that they had to pay.
They were neutralized for now. I could feel Meg’s steady pulse inside me. She was still running on adrenaline, but she was safe. She was protected.
I moved further into the warehouse, finding a long hallway with many doors on either side. I took a ready stance, kicked open each one with my back paws and cleared it.
The last door on the left was open. I crouched low, emitting a vibrating growl.
There was blood seeping into the hall. I sensed no other shifter. Strange. The Alpha had definitely come through this way.
As I entered the room, I found Meg’s father immediately. He was lying faceup, his eyes staring at the ceiling.
The man was dead. His body riddled with Dragonsteel bullets that would have brought down a full-blooded shifter. In Emerson Crossley Junior’s case, he’d been nearly cut in two.
I closed my eyes. Damn. I had no love for the man, but he was Meg’s father. The only original family she had left. It was then that I heard another growl. The hair on my back rose. I dropped my fangs.
He was here. The Alpha.
Black Eyes. That’s what Meg had called him. He had them, all right. Only now, he’d shifted into his wolf. He was big, all black, with sharp, yellow fangs. He stood on a desk in the shadows, ready to pounce.
Suicide, I thought. He knew I had the Kingsblood. He had to know all of his men were neutralized.
The back of my neck tingled. He dropped his head low and snapped his jaw.
It would be too easy. I might enjoy it too much. I waited for him to make his move. From his height, when he lunged I’d have a perfect shot at his jugular and I intended to take it.
One beat. Two.
A light settled into his eyes. He lifted his head and let out a howl that blew my ears back and ruffled the paper on the desk.
He did lunge then, in a high arc right over me. His neck was exposed. I could taste my fangs sinking into his most vulnerable s
pot.
One inch away. I felt his fur brush my nose.
Then...he was gone.
That same strange green vapor lingered in the air like it had when Alonzo Fry died. I sensed that putrid whiff of magic. But the wolf completely vanished.
I rose on two feet, letting my wolf recede. I adjusted the satchel on my back, feeling for the diamond. It was still there, its heat enveloping me. I pulled out the spare pair of jeans I kept tucked beside it and put them on.
I walked out of the room past the carnage of Emerson Junior. Past the two immobilized wolves in the exterior garage.
One of them had already died, the one I’d clawed. The other was paralyzed, but his eyes had gone from red to blue.
“Are there any others?” I asked him.
A tear rolled down his cheek.
“No,” he said. “Thank you. Thank God. No.”
I couldn’t feel sorry for him yet. I pushed my way out the door and headed back to the woods.
Meg rushed me the moment she saw me. I got my arms up just in time to catch her. She felt warm, supple, solid against me.
“Payne!” Lena shouted to her husband. She stood off to the side as he held the wolf Meg wounded. Payne’s eyes flickered from yellow to red then back again.
Lena put a hand on his arm. He shook his head as if to clear it from something.
“Did it work?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Meg said. “Payne just kind of...went...for a second. But, I think that wolf told him some things. He was in his mind.”
“Subjugation,” I said. “It’s how an Alpha claims a beta wolf into his pack. These men have been under the control of a Tyrannous for God knows how long. Payne’s the only one of us who knows what that’s like. He’s the only one who had a chance of breaking through that.”
I didn’t tell her the rest. Flying that close to that darkness could have turned Payne himself. The risk he took was serious. But, Lena’s strength tethered him. And now, Payne was back. I could see relief flood Lena’s face as she went to him.