So that meant…
She bared her fangs at him, ready to attack if he so much as took a step her way.
He raised one brow. “Easy vamp. I might be pissed as all hell that you even exist…”
Her whole body went tight. Bastard.
“But I’m not here to hurt you.” A muscle jerked along his jaw. “And isn’t there supposed to be a certain panther at your side? I specifically told that cat to keep you with him, all the damn time.”
Wait, wait…he’d told Julian to stay with her?
Leo crossed his arms over his chest. “If he isn’t going to keep up his end of things, then the deal is off.”
What deal?
But…
She looked down at Rayce. He was out cold, but when she touched his neck, she felt his pulse beating.
“A tranq gun,” Leo offered, as if she hadn’t already figured that out. “I’ve got to say, the Collector is certainly playing a smart game. He’s created a tranq more powerful than any I’ve seen before. It worked amazingly fast. I thought the werewolf would be able to take a couple of hits before he went down.” He made a humming sound. “Wonder if that’s the case with all shifters or if the werewolves just have a particular weakness to this new brew?”
Her head jerked back as she glared up at him. “Why? Are you thinking you might use it against them?”
He shrugged. Shrugged. And he was supposed to be the good one. “Get away from me,” she barked at him.
Leo’s eyes widened. “I’m the one who just saved the day.”
“You’re the one,” she gritted out, “who just admitted he watched while Rayce got shot. What were you doing, hovering out of sight with your dragon wings, just waiting to see how all of this was going to shake down?”
“I did want to see what the tranq would do to the wolf.” He made the confession as if it were perfectly acceptable to just hold back while someone else was hurt. But then, to him, a werewolf didn’t exactly have a great deal of value.
She rose to her feet. “Screw off.”
His lips parted in surprise. “That is not a thank you.” He straightened his broad shoulders. “And it’s not like I lingered in the air for hours or anything. I arrived just as she was pulling the gun. The bullet missed you, so I paused. Just a pause.”
“Sometimes, a pause means death. If there had been silver in her gun and she’d hit Rayce in the heart, he would be dead.”
His expression didn’t change.
“You really are as bad as they say,” she muttered, disgusted.
“I’m the good one.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” She glanced at the woman. “What did you do to her?”
“She’s under my dominion. Not a bad soul, just one that was tainted by magic.”
A compulsion.
“I simply put her to sleep. I figured that would be less painful than what you had planned for her.”
“You know nothing about me.”
“Sure I do…I know you hate being a vampire with every cell of your body. You think vamps are horrible monsters, just as I do. You think—”
“I think I want you out of my damn way.” She glared at him. “No, scratch that…I’ll take you out of the way.” Something had just seemed to switch off inside of her at his words.
You think vamps are horrible monsters…
She ran at him, racing fast because he was standing between her and Julian. Julian was at the bottom of that snaking path, down at the dock. Julian hadn’t appeared yet and he should have. That meant the human had probably tranqed him—or done something worse to him. And while Julian was suffering, Rose was wasting time with the jerk who hated her and her kind.
Before she reached him, Leo seemed to just vanish. But she felt the hot swirl of air around her and she knew he hadn’t disappeared into thin air. He’d just taken flight. She didn’t slow down. She raced to the dock and saw the Devil’s Prize tied up. She jumped onto the boat.
Julian was sprawled out, his body next to Marcos. Only Julian…he seemed to have become trapped mid-shift. His bones were twisted, his limbs at odd angles. His claws were out, and faint fur lined his body.
She fell to her knees beside him.
“Julian?”
Hot air beat around her once more as her hands curled over Julian’s shoulders.
“That’s…certainly interesting,” Leo announced as he drew closer. “When shifters are drugged, their animals usually go out first. But with him…” He touched down onto the boat. He peered at Julian. “His panther is fighting to break free even as the man remains unconscious.”
More bones popped. Snapped. The fur on Julian’s body grew thicker.
“Get away from him,” Leo told her, his voice sharp. “This isn’t right.”
“You get away!” She held Julian tighter. “He needs my help.”
“No, that isn’t what he needs.” Then Leo grabbed her. She was surprised by just how strong he was—though she shouldn’t have been. After all, he was just like Luke.
Or not.