I lifted Harley’s body in my arms and leapt off the roof.
Smoke was pouring from the garage as the car burned and using the confusion to my advantage, I dumped the body near the wreck. Stepping over a wolf writhing on the ground, I ripped off the door and looked inside.
A charred body sat in the driver’s seat, the stench of burnt flesh filling my nose.
There was no way it was a vampire—the body wasn’t damaged enough for permanent death—it was a compelled human being. Poor bastard.
The backseat was wired with spent explosives, wires, and plastic barrels that’d once held litres and litres of a distilled wolfsbane solution. The remains of more containers had melted over the side of the car itself. This thing had been rigged to make one hell of a statement.
“Harley?”
I pulled back, turning to see Spike kneeling over Harley’s body. I stood over him and wiped at my nose. It smelt like a rancid, grease-stained barbecue in here.
The wolf looked up at me. “Chaser?”
“The blast must have thrown him against the wall,” I said. “He’s dead, Spike.” I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to his feet, then pushed him towards the wolf whose flesh was searing with wolfsbane. “Help him. Get him inside and in a shower.”
Without another word, Spike hauled the injured wolf to his feet and dragged him inside.
I turned to survey the damage, my gaze raking over the smoking ruin. The entire workshop was damaged, the cars and motorcycles were impaled with shrapnel, and tools and equipment were strewn everywhere.
Snapping into action, I grabbed the nearest able-bodied werewolf, who turned out to be a stunned Ram, and pushed him towards the injured.
“Get your head on,” I barked. “Get these men inside and hose them down.” I snapped my fingers at another. “You, get a fire extinguisher.”
As the werewolves came out of their daze, noise filled the garage. Men were carried inside and the whoosh of extinguishers filled the space as the fire was put out.
I counted three dead, not including Harley. Wolves I hardly knew, but members of the pack all the same.
The door crashed open, and I turned to see Gasket stride into the garage. His expression turned to thunder when he saw the aftermath of the blast. This wasn’t going to be good, but he was the only person I trusted outside of Sloane.
“Gasket.” I nodded at Harley’s body.
“Don’t say another word, Chaser,” the wolf growled. “I already saw Sloane. Just tell me, was it you or her?”
“Me.”
He hissed. “Bloody hell, Chaser. Does he look like he’s been in an explosion to you?”
“Not yet.”
“Has anyone seen him?”
I shrugged. “Spike.”
Gasket ground his teeth and shoved me up against the wall. “If it wasn’t for Sloane, I’d force you to get rid of your humanity,” he snarled. “You’re getting sloppy, vampire.”
“Careful, old man,” I murmured. “There’s still ears in this garage.”
“No, you be careful, Chaser,” the wolf warned. “Spike is Marini’s.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He let me go and ran his hand over his face. “It matters.”
I grasped Gasket’s arm. “Marini threatened me with the talisman earlier tonight. He knows.”
Gasket gritted his teeth and glanced towards the garage. “We need more time. Sort out the body. Marini will be here any moment.”
As the old wolf pulled focus away from me, I found some wolfsbane inside the remains of the car and tore out the melted bottle. Dumping the contents over Harley, I made sure his flesh began to blister before I smeared him with ash. It was a hack job, but it was all I could manage.
Then I called for a wolf to drag him over to the other bodies.
“They’ll pay for this!” Marini’s voice tore through the garage, his rage pressing down on Gasket and the other wolves on the other side of the destroyed car.
Just in time.
“Chaser! I know you’re here. I can smell you.”
I stepped out of the gloom and saw the alpha had brought an entourage with him. Rocket, Rick, and DeLuca stood behind Marini, their expressions troubled.
“Wolfsbane,” I said, dumping the destroyed bottle at his feet. “The car was full of it.”
“The driver?”
“Human by the looks of it.”
Marini glared at me, his anger affecting me without the added pressure of the talisman. “Cowards,” he raged. “They get others to do their work for them. They don’t even fight their own battles.”
He began to pace, looking at the row of dead werewolves. When he reached Harley, he paused.
I glanced at Gasket, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“What do you want us to do, boss?” Rocket asked. “Take the fight to them?”
Marini lingered, his eyes still on Harley. After a moment, he held up his hand. “Not just yet…” He looked at me coolly. “Check the permitter and surrounding streets. If there are Hollow Men out there watching us, I want them found and dealt with.”
I nodded and took a step towards the street.
“Chaser.”
I paused.
“Where’s Betty?”
“Inside,” Gasket said for me. “I saw her in the hall and told her to stay in her room.”
Marini glared at the wolf. “At least someone around here has sense.” When no one moved, he shouted, “What are you still standing here? Go!”
The wolves scattered and I didn’t hang around. I didn’t want a talisman repeat, and I definitely didn’t want to be there when Marini worked out that Harley wasn’t killed by the car bomb.
Out on the street, Gasket fell into step beside me. “Rick.”
I saw the outline of the werewolf in front of us and nodded. If anyone knew what Marini was up to, it was his lap dog.
“It starts now, huh?” I drawled.
Gasket didn’t reply. He simply strode up behind Rick and thumped his fist into the back of the werewolf’s head.
I sighed. I guessed we were starting now.
We locked Rick in a disused storage closet that’d been converted into a cell. It sat inside the dank depths of the basement and had all the latest modern conveniences. Slate grey feature wall with artful werewolf scratches, white cornices, a rendered concrete bench to sleep on, and a heavy-duty lock on the unbreakable metal door. Conveniently, there was also a drain in the middle of the floor.
Gasket dumped Rick on the bench, and I locked the door behind us. Glancing at the wolf next to me—the man who said he cared about Sloane like a father—I didn’t need to explain to him what I was about to do. All he did was nod to let me know we were on the same page.
I grabbed Rick by the scruff of the neck and threw him across the room. He collided with the wall, the bang echoing through the room. The other benefit of being down here, where the wolves turned every full moon, was no one would hear his screams.
Rick was on his feet in a flash, looking for an exit that didn’t exist. Tired of his cowardice, I shoved him up against the wall and held my forearm on his chest. Levelling my gaze, I sneered. “You’ve got a smart mouth on you, huh?”
“Get off me!” He wriggled, but he was no match for my strength.
“What is Marini planning?” I asked, jamming my arm harder against him. “Talk.”
“He doesn’t tell me anything,” he said, snivelling like a little pig. “I just follow orders. Same as you.”
“You and I both know I can’t compel another supernatural,” I said, “but I can hurt you, then heal you…then hurt you again.” I inched closer, triumph coursing through my veins as his pupils dilated in fear. “Now…are you going to wet your pants, or are you going to tell me what you know?”
“D-don’t kill me,” Rick stuttered, showing off what a big man he really was.
Gasket shifted behind me. “Start talking, kid, or this won’t end pretty. You know what Chaser is capable of.”
Rick was shaking, unable to control his fear. Soon, he’d be catatonic and useless.
“What is Marini going to do to Sloane?” I shook him as my eyes turned back and my fangs began to elongate.
“He’s going to give her to them,” Rick exclaimed. “To make things go away.”
“The Hollow Men?” I growled, my anger turning into something more like rage. After all we’d been through to get here, Marini was just going to give her to them?
“I’m just the messenger,” Rick said. “I only follow orders. I deliver letters and stuff.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him close. “What letters?”
“The witch,” he blubbered, his fear sending his heartbeat into overdrive. “I take letters to the witch.”
I hissed. “And what are in these letters?”
“How should I know?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t read them before you deliver, because I wouldn’t believe you.”
“Okay, okay.” Rick held up his hands. “He’s making a deal with the Hollow Men to hand Betty over for the sacrifice, but when he does, he plans to double-cross them.”
I shook him. “How?”
“By binding King’s bloodline with a spell,” Rick blubbered.
“Has the deal been made?” Gasket asked, pushing in between Rick and me.
I loosened my grip and stood back, wanting nothing more than to go back to Marini’s rooms and put a bullet in his head. He was going to sell off his own daughter in the name of revenge.
Rick shook his head. “Not yet. He’s got a witch to bind the bloodline, but he needs to get inside to make the connection.”
It was then that I realised the truth and my stomach dropped. He was going to turn Sloane into a bomb.
“Her blood is the binding agent,” I murmured. “The sacrifice is a smoke screen for his own spell. He’s going to let them kill her for his own revenge.”
“They won’t get their power,” Rick said, “and they won’t be a problem anymore. Marini will be the greatest alpha the Fortitude Wolves has ever had.”
Gasket shoved Rick back against the wall, and before he could move another inch, the wolf brought his fist down on his temple. The kid’s eyes rolled, and he crumpled to the ground in a heap.
I cursed and began to pace. A binding spell? The bloodlines…
“Chaser.” Gasket grabbed my arm to stop me. “You’re losing it. Keep your head on.”
“You don’t get it,” I rasped. “King is known to have sired all the vampires under the Hollow Men banner. It’s how he controls them. If Marini links the bloodline, then all he has to do is kill one vampire and they’re all dead. Every single one…”
Gasket’s expression faded. “Chaser… Who turned you?”
I met his gaze, my heart twisting. “Who do you think?”
This time, it was the old wolf who began to pace, his brow furrowed deeper than I’d ever seen it.
“Marini has a talisman,” I went on. “It’s the thing that binds me to the pack—the tattoo is just an anchor. If I try anything, he’ll use it against me. He’ll use it to make me kill you. That thing… It’s made from me, Gasket. The spell on it… It’s unbreakable. While Marini has it, I’m screwed.”
The old wolf’s frown deepened.
I fisted my hands into my hair. “If I’d known, I would’ve let her go. I would’ve let her go.”
“You didn’t know,” Gasket said, watching my meltdown with a raised eyebrow. “You were only following orders. Hell, even I didn’t know.”
“Something’s gotta be done. Sloane’s timeline… There isn’t going to be enough time to pull it off.”
“Marini’s becoming more and more erratic. I don’t know what you’ve got going on, but you’re right. This isn’t the time to play the long game.”
“Do you think you’d have the support?” I knew Sloane wanted to challenge for alpha but with our shortened timeline, Gasket could have the following we needed.
“Don’t know,” the wolf replied. “I’m well-liked, but that doesn’t always translate.”
I grunted. We had to work fast, then.
“What are we going to do about him?” I nodded at Rick’s comatose body. “He’s going to rat us out. No questions. We can’t afford any leaks.”
“I’ll take him for a ride,” Gasket replied. “A long one.”
I nodded, glad I wasn’t the one taking another body out to the bush or planting one in the remains of a car bomb.
“Marini will ask questions,” I warned.
“And I’ll have a story for him.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”
“More times than I care to remember.” That was something else we had in common.
I was so done with this whole night. Turning, I took a step towards the stairs, but Gasket grabbed my arm and wrenched me back.
“Don’t tell her,” he said. “Don’t tell her about Marini’s plan.”
I narrowed my eyes and pulled my arm away.
“She’s not ready, Chaser. She’s not supposed to be part of this world.”
“I think you underestimate her capabilities,” I drawled. “You’ve seen her break Harley’s nose and change a few tires. That’s not everything she is. Sloane is…” I didn’t know the right word to describe the power in her. Holding it together was one thing, but sacrificing her freedom, knowing what fate might’ve awaited her, to fight back? It was something special. Even I hadn’t been able to do that.
“She’s not ready,” Gasket repeated more forcibly.
It wasn’t the ending to the night I had planned on and not the way I wanted to see Sloane again, but around here, I couldn’t choose my fate. It was all up to the roll of the dice.
“It’s not about being ready,” I said, walking away from him. “No one is ever ready to fight for their lives.”