Blood poured from his arm as his eyes glazed over. If he died…then there was no surviving this…not for me. If the damn immortals didn’t kill me, then this shit in my chest would. I glanced down at the glowing green fragments embedded in my flesh, fragments that were slowly sinking deeper into my skin. A wave of sickness washed over me as I lifted my gun and took aim. “Get the fuck off him, you filthy fucking vermin.” I squeezed the trigger, Boom, catching the Vampire in the cheek.
Focus roared back in the Wolf’s eyes as I clutched my side and stumbled forward, squeezing the trigger as I went. Boom. Boom. Boom…there was nothing but the kick in my hand, nothing but blood and bone blooming. Nothing but the Vampire as he stumbled backwards.
“Kill that fucking thing, for Christ's sake,” I roared.
The Wolf snapped to attention. That silver shine in his eyes was both frightening and magnificent. I’d never seen anything like him, not so big…or brutal. He jerked his gazed to the Unseelie monster as I shifted my focus to the Vampire.
“You know what you need, motherfucker?” I asked the cockroach, drawing my gun close and winced as agony slammed into me. I pressed the release on the side and dragged the magazine free. “You need a fresh fucking clip, that’s what you need.”
The Vampire hissed, its face a bloody, broken mess. I slammed the new magazine into place and pulled back the slide, hearing the click. My heart thundered, tearing through my head with a deafening beat…more than panic…more than fear. Poison. The thought rushed toward me. It’s poison.
But there was no time to loose my shit…no time at all, as the Vampire in front of me lunged.
We collided hard and went down. My head hit the concrete and bounced. Fangs came for me as it rolled. I drove the muzzle into the thing and squeezed the trigger. The muffled shot was barely audible over the sounds of the Wolf and the shadowed beast fighting.
I fired…again and again…and again. The Vampire's hold slipped for a second. I scurried free and shoved against the ground, until I was grabbed and my head yanked upwards.
“Fucking bitch,” the Vampire hissed in my ear. His nails dug into the sides of my neck before he slammed my face to the floor.
Stars burst behind my eyelids, blurring the blood splatter on the floor in front of me. I was wrenched upwards again, stunned…barely able to kick. Growing agony spread out through my chest, burning and searing like a brand. Through the distorted shimmer came that midnight beast once more, striding across the warehouse.
“No,” I cried out, my arm feeling like lead as I lifted the gun and took aim.
“I’m one of the good guys,” the other Unseelie snarled, then scowled. “Kinda.”
The Vampire dropped me back to the floor as the terrifying beast lunged. I hit the floor, and that’s where I stayed. Breathing. Alive. For now. The sickening battleground of rage quietened behind me.
Harsh breaths took their place.
“It’s a mortal,” the kinda-good-guy growled above me.
Shadows swallowed me. I blinked and tried to focus, finding the Wolf instead.
“Saved my fucking life.”
“Pussy.”
Big hands slid under me.
“Wait till I tell Shrike.”
“Eat a dick, Mojin.” the Wolf growled, and lifted me. But there was no jerk of my hair, no wrench of my body, nothing but a slow lifting until my side met his warmth.
A wave of agony blasted through me, turning pain into something else…something that howled inside me, something that swept through me like a fever.
“Don’t,” I whimpered. “Put me down.”
“I’m not going to hurt—”
“Poison,” I moaned. “I’m poisoned. Don’t want you to be…”
He settled that unwavering focus on me, then lowered his gaze. I felt the sweep of his eyes and I quaked in response. “What the fuck?” he snarled, and jerked his head upwards. “Mojin.”
I felt that hunger move deeper inside me, like glass rubbing against stone. I’d break soon…I’d shatter into a thousand pieces.
Footsteps resounded before the shadowed beast looked at me once more.
“What is that?”
“Fuck me…” the growl deepened with disgust. “She’s not going to…”
The world swayed around me, blurring into nothing as his words slipped out of reach. Scrape…scrape…scrape…still that glass moved against the stone, wearing and grinding. Movement dragged me to the surface. I tried to force open my eyes.
Steel was all I saw.
Steel and him, the Wolf
He drew me closer, his nostrils flaring as he drew in my scent. “You’re going to be okay, mortal.”
“Special Ag….” The words were a mumble. He needed to know…needed to get me to help. I summoned my last strength. “Special Agent Carina Chase.”
He gave a hint of a smile, one that both warmed and chilled me. My body jolted in his arms, pressed against his massive, tattooed chest. He curled his arms, lifting me higher against him as he lowered his head. The sweep of his nose through my hair set that hunger inside me to a fever pitch.
A deep rumble resounded in his chest. “You just saved my life. So, I’m giving you fair warning. I’m not kind,” he warned as he walked, carrying me where, I didn’t know. “Not even in the slightest. I’m fangs and claws. Sinew and sin. I’m a bad guy…and even badder Wolf.” He closed his eyes for a second, and that purr in his chest moved deeper.
There was something utterly terrifying in his eyes when he opened them. He clenched his jaw and bared his teeth for a second, as though he fought a battle for control, then gently licked the blood from my head.
“Fuck me,” he snarled, and stared into my soul.
As that glass wall inside me cracked, something pushed to the surface.
Predatory.
Agonizing.
Lust.
2
Desire hit me, raw and dangerous, plunging down the back of my throat to fill my lungs. It pulsed and throbbed like a mindless beast. Still, it wasn’t enough to occupy my chest. It drove deeper, more ravenous, searching for a way to slide through my body and lick between my thighs.
“Take it away,” I growled, and the glass wall inside cracked a little more. “Just…do something.”
I closed my eyes with the hunger, clawing his body closer, writhing in the Wolf’s arms. Until cold clarity hit me. This isn’t me! That rational voice inside my head screamed. Still my body strained to get closer, my hands drifted over corded muscles, lips kissed. I even licked a bead of sweat from his skin and shivered.
I heard what I was saying…saw what I was doing…knew what I wanted…from him.
I whimpered and shoved, fighting as desperation roared.
This wasn’t right.
Wasn’t normal.
Panic moved through me like a freight train. My gun…the Costellos. I have to get back to them. Have to arrest…a wave of bestial need blasted through me. I moaned and stiffened. Every nerve stung and burned like I was on fire…
He could help me. “Wolf.” I half growled, half whimpered.
Sweat broke out across my brow. I shivered with a fever. I craved this man. Hungered for his power, his control…and that hunger was dangerous. A battle raged. One without guns and claws…one with heat and need. I clenched my jaw, clenching until my head shuddered with the strain.