His world is about to implode. If they didn’t get him away from the humans, Paris wasn’t sure what would happen. He could already hear the pop and snap of Aidan’s bones. The alpha’s wolf wanted out.
Paris shoved his hand into his pocket. His fingers closed over the syringe that he’d been carrying, just in case.
Because Annette isn’t usually wrong.
“Jane?” Now her name was louder, more demanding as it burst from Aidan. The alpha used his teeth to slice open his wrist and then he put that bleeding wrist to her mouth. “Drink, Jane. Drink.”
It was ripping his heart out to watch his friend suffer. Paris eased toward Aidan. “The cops are coming.” Cops who weren’t in on the whole paranormal secret. “We have to go.”
“Drink, Jane.” Aidan kept his wrist at her mouth. “Please.”
Jane’s chest was bloody and her neck was tilted at an…unnatural angle. Her eyes were closed. Her body totally still. It was obvious she was dead. It was also obvious that Aidan wasn’t going to let her go.
“Jane.” Aidan pulled her against him, holding her tight. “No, Jane, no. Don’t do this to me.”
The two werewolf guards closed in on Aidan. They reached out to him.
“Stay the fuck away!” Aidan’s roar echoed around them.
The werewolves froze. They looked at Paris.
The sirens were louder.
“Jane.” Aidan began to rock her in his arms. Tears slid down his face. Paris had never seen the alpha cry before that moment. “Don’t leave me. I don’t…I don’t want to be without you. Please, Jane, please…”
She’d already left. The alpha had to see that.
But how long will she stay gone? Unease slithered through Paris.
“I love you, Mary Jane,” Aidan whispered. “You are my world. The person who always makes me smile. You bring me so much happiness…why, Jane, why? Why did you take that fucking bullet?”
Paris didn’t know what Aidan was talking about. “We have to leave.” They had only moments before the cops were there. And he could see a few of the college kids peeking out at them now.
“Help m-me!” That pain-filled bellow came from Jane’s brother.
Still alive.
Still—
Aidan’s head slowly turned toward the human.
Goosebumps rose on Paris’s arms.
“You’re dead,” Aidan told the younger man. “Dead. And it will be a long, slow, terrible death. I will peel the skin from your body. I will make you scream. I will ensure that you leave this world in more agony than anyone else can imagine.”
Oh, shit. This scene was getting bad.
Paris slowly pulled the syringe from his pocket. He didn’t want to do this. “Aidan…we have to leave.”
But Aidan was still rocking Jane in his arms and his gaze still promised death to her brother. “Are you ready to see my hell?”
Paris couldn’t let that happen. The police were almost there. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Then he lunged toward his alpha, the syringe gripped tightly in his hand. He sank the needle into Aidan’s back. The alpha roared. His claws flew out and slashed across Paris’s stomach and then—
Then Aidan collapsed, falling down so that his body was over Jane’s, and their faces were just inches apart.
Paris’s breath heaved out and his chest jerked as he stared down at his alpha…and at Jane. She looked almost peaceful right then. Hardly like some terrible, sinister threat.
She will be.
Paris grabbed Aidan. He slung the alpha over his shoulder. And he gave Jane one last look. I will remember you as you were.
And not as she’d become.
“What about him?” One of the werewolves jerked his hand toward Jane’s brother. The guy wasn’t calling out any longer. He barely seemed to be breathing.
“Leave him.” There was enough blood already on the ground. And too many witnesses lurking nearby. Eyes were on them now. “Let the cops deal with him.”
Or maybe Jane’s brother would die from his injuries in the next few moments. Save them all the effort.
Maybe…
Paris rushed toward his vehicle, Aidan was still slung over his shoulder. He jumped inside, the others helping him to secure Aidan. Moments later, he was gunning the engine and racing away.
He didn’t let himself look back at Jane. What was the point? The woman he’d known was gone. Soon enough, Aidan would understand that.
Just as…soon enough…the alpha would have to stop the beast that Jane would become.
***
“I’ve never seen the alpha like this.” Dr. Bob Heider was obviously hesitant as he studied Aidan’s prone form.
They were inside Aidan’s office at Hell’s Gate. Paris had gotten them to the nearest safe place so that Heider could examine the alpha’s wounds.
But the wounds are already closing.
“He’s out cold,” Heider continued. “But his vitals are good. The wounds are healing rapidly and—”
“I drugged him,” Paris said. “So don’t focus on him being unconscious. Just…just check everything else, okay?”