“No.” Then he turned back to the cop. The bitch who’d dared to call him a coward. He let his claws out as he closed in on her. She gave a low moan when he approached, and Quint smiled. A moan meant she was conscious. A moan meant she was about to feel all the pain he would give to her. “I think I’ll start with your face,” he decided. “Women can be so vain. Let’s take that pretty face away first.” He lifted his claws.
But…but she moved. She was bleeding heavily, but she lunged up at him and she sliced into his stomach. His blood pumped out. “What the—”
“Did you think…” she panted, “you were…the only one?” Her hand lifted and he saw claws sprouting from her fingertips. “Think…fucking…again…”
Quint stumbled back. “No.” He put his hand to his stomach. “No.” Thatch had tried to tell him some bullshit about there being other werewolves in town, when Quint had made the mistake of flashing his claws at the guy one drunk night. Thatch had heard tales…tales about wolves going into Hell’s Gate, but Quint had gone there and seen nothing.
No one else is like me. I’m the power. I’m special. I am everything.
“Yes.” Vivian Harris dragged her body upright. “There are more…and you…you broke our laws. Werewolf laws. Human laws.” Her eyes seemed to glow. “You will die. The alpha is coming. He will come…for me.”
“The who? The fucking what?” Quint surged toward her but she slashed him again—right across the face. He howled in pain.
Vivian laughed, the sound pain-filled and mocking. “Now…who’s the vain bitch?”
Rage nearly blinded Quint as he jumped on her.
And—
He heard another howl split the night.
***
She was so hungry. Thirsty. Pain burned through her constantly, and Jane just wanted that savagery to end.
This wasn’t living. This was hell.
Her mind was trapped in chaos. The need to feed controlled her. Her lips were swollen, raw, and—
A howl.
Jane stiffened. She’d just heard a howl. Aidan’s howl. She knew the sound of his wolf. Her nostrils flared and she caught the scent of blood in the air. Only…it wasn’t human blood.
Werewolf blood.
Jane began to salivate. She yanked at the chains that bound her. Jerked again and again. The scent of that blood grew stronger. Her need burned hotter.
Her wrist broke—the right wrist. She kept jerking against her bonds. Harder. Harder.
The chain snapped free from the wall. Her broken right wrist slipped from the manacle and she shattered the manacle that had bound her left wrist. Then Jane looked at the chains around her ankles.
I need that blood.
Snarling, she locked her fingers around those chains. She pulled and pulled and pulled—
Free. The chains broke. Jane stood there, breath heaving, fingers broken. Blood covered her ankles and her hands.
Her nostrils twitched. The werewolves are close.
And she liked the way they smelled.
Jane straightened. She was still wearing his coat. Aidan’s coat. His scent was on her. She pulled the coat closer. Zipped it up her body. The jacket fell to the top of her thighs, shielding her nakedness. Her bare toes slid across the dirty floor as she crept forward.
I’m free now.
Get the blood.
Get the werewolves.
Free.
Jane started running.
***
“Get the fuck away from her,” Aidan roared.
The young alpha froze, his body crouched over Vivian’s. Then, in the next instant, he whipped around, staring at Aidan in shock.
“You’ve got my pack member there.” Rage pumped through Aidan’s body. “You dared to hurt her?”
The soon-to-be-dead bastard laughed. “Who the hell are you?”
Aidan rushed toward him. He slammed his body into the younger wolf’s—had to be freaking Quint Laurel—and Aidan put his claws to the guy’s throat. “I’m the alpha of this town, and you’re the bastard I’m here to put down.”
But Quint was strong. He laughed up at Aidan…and began to shift beneath him.
Like that’s supposed to impress me. “Get Vivian to safety!” Aidan bellowed, knowing Paris would obey. Aidan hadn’t come to that cemetery alone. “And get the human out of here!” The blond woman just stood there, watching them, a phone in her hands as she filmed the scene. Quint had probably put her under his control, using his power to manipulate her. “Erase that fucking video!”
Paris scooped Vivian into his arms.
Garrison curled his hand around the blond woman’s shoulder. “Why don’t you give me that…?” He took the phone from her.
And Aidan…he let his own beast take control. I want to kill. I want to destroy. I want to rip this bastard apart. Because Aidan was being torn apart. Ripped apart by his own emotions. The needs that just wouldn’t stop.
Jane.
His claws burst out and his wolf took over.
***
“That was…” Annette drew in a steadying breath as the world stopped spinning around her. “Not a way I ever want to travel again.” She jerked away from the vampire. “Which building?”
He pointed straight ahead. She ran inside the old BDSM club. Maybe she’d been there a time or two before, back in the place’s heyday.
“In the back,” Vincent said, “last room on the right.”