A vision of dark blue eyes tempted Killer to claw his way out of the haziness clouding his mind. They were the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. He wanted to look upon the face of the woman they belonged to. Touch her skin. Breathe in her scent. Feel the sigh of relief flow through his body.
He couldn’t. Something always blocked him from conjuring her image. A wall of glass that obscured his view. She could see him, though. She watched him.
Pitied him.
Killer snarled. Rage as he’d never known slithered through his mind. He hadn’t allowed himself to be captured. He’d been protecting his little white-haired sister. She’d thought herself unstoppable, always getting herself in trouble and forcing Killer to rescue her. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. He’d promised.
A sense of disappointment settled over him.
Growling, Killer slammed his clawed hands into his thighs. Blessed pain cleared the fog.
Using metaphysical hands, he swiped at the misty haze. She would not view him inferior. Worthless. He was doing what he had to in order to survive. It was what he’d always done. Except for when it came to touching his mistress. That had sickened Killer. Made him hurt her.
On a snarl, he punched the air. His fist collided with the thick glass. Cracks formed. He grinned. More punches and a cobweb of cracks formed. Warm, essence-scented air washed over him.
He inhaled deeply, greedily. The smell of life permeated him. He wanted more. All of it. Never wanted to let it go.
Killer rammed his shoulder into the glass. A chunk fell. Another wave of heavenly air washed over him. He laughed with the sense of victory swamping him. The musical cadence of a woman’s voice surrounded him. The ground shook. The glass began to reseal, closing in the hole he’d made.
“No.” Killer gripped the edges of the hole. The jagged glass tore open his fingers. Pain lashed his body. The heated air enveloping him intensified, searing his lungs. He opened his mouth and dragged in a deep lungful, welcoming the agony as his insides burned. The memory he’d been chasing crashed over him, dropping him into another cell.
Smooth metal bars blocked him from the woman who’d come to him. Killer wrapped his hands around them and pulled, needing to get to her. The bars wouldn’t budge. On a snarl of rage, he punched them, then rammed his body into them.
“Stop.” The woman rushed forward. “Please, stop.”
Her voice froze his body. Not sweet. Not lulling. It was liquid fire.
Groaning in pure need, Killer dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the bars. She couldn’t reach him otherwise. She was too short.
Her hands covered his battered knuckles. The small bite of pain from ripping them open eased. Warmth spread up his arms. Energy rushed down his spine. His shaft stirred. His eyelids closed. Peace slipped through him.
“More,” Killer demanded.
Her fingertips mapped his face—eyes, nose, jaw. The moment she touched his lips, he opened his mouth and sucked her fingers in. The taste of his blood hit him first. Below that came her flavor. She tasted spicy, hot, addicting.
The ache in his shaft grew, matching the hollowness in his chest. He needed this woman’s touch. Wanted to pull her into his arms. The bars separated them.
“Touch me.” Killer delivered the order on a low breath of sound. If he was too loud, she’d have to leave him. She wasn’t supposed to be in here. She wasn’t supposed to love him.
“I can’t.”
The regret in her voice forced his eyelids open. Her dark blue eyes stood out against her flawless porcelain skin. He let his gaze map her features the way she’d traced his. Her delicate nose fit with her defined cheekbones and the small cleft on her chin. A shine of gloss drew attention to her plump, kissable lips, and shiny black hair framed her perfect face.
Beautiful. She was the most beautiful female who’d ever been born, and she was his.
“Yes, you can. It’ll strengthen me for tonight’s fight. I’m going to break free, then come for you and the girls, just as I promised.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “You can’t.”
“Yes. I can.” Did his true mate doubt his strength? He would do anything—kill anyone—to save her as she’d saved him from the crazed thoughts eating away at his mind.
She reached through the bars and skimmed her fingertips over his chest. Energy rushed through him. Gods, she made him feel powerful, as if she alone could nourish him. “I know you can, but you mustn’t. You’ll endanger us. We need to leave today, before the full moon.”
Killer slid his hand to the back of her neck and drew her closer to the bars. He brushed his lips over hers. “Before or after. It won’t matter. Trust me. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be safe within my pack’s territory.”
She exhaled against his mouth. “You do not understand. I need to get the girls out of here before the moon reaches its peak. They want me to perform another ceremony. I won’t do it, Killer.” She tipped her head back slightly and caught his gaze. Fire burned in her eyes. “I won’t hurt my girls.”
Killer snapped his teeth together. His woman flinched. The involuntary reaction enraged him more. She needed to trust him. “Then release me. I know you can. You have the keycode to every door in this hospital.”
She took his hand in hers and pressed a kiss to his skin, then released him and stepped back. “I can’t.”
“You can.”
“No, I must make a choice.” She held his gaze for a long moment. Moisture pooled in her eyes. No tears fell, though. She cracked her jaw. “And you are not it.”
“No.” Heart beating hard, he stretched an arm through the bars. His fingers fell short of her body. “Don’t leave without me.”
She shook her head, then turned her back on him and made her way to the door.
She was going to leave him. Actually leave him.
The door opened. She stepped through it.
“Ryanne.” He whispered her name instead of bellowing it as he wanted. The guards would come. He couldn’t endanger her life, even if she chose to destroy his.
Flexing his hands, Vlad frowned at the odd ache in his bones. He’d never encountered anything like it, nor could he imagine what had caused it. Immortality had the added benefit of eradicating any disease or affliction that might plague him.
“You okay?” Devin asked.
Vlad shook his hands as tingles spread from his wrists to his fingertips. He leaned against the tree at his back and studied the woods. Although he couldn’t see Gwen, he caught her scent on the breeze every few minutes. The reminder of her nearness stopped him from chasing her down. She’d wanted privacy with Molly. He’d give it to her even if it killed him.
“Yeah. Fine.”
Devin pointedly looked from Vlad’s hands to his face. “You’re sweating and acting strangely. You sure?”
“Sweating?” Vlad brushed the back of his numb hand over his forehead. Dampness met his skin. “Honestly, I don’t know.”
Head tilted, Devin studied him with the unnatural and colorfully streaked eyes both he and his twin Mira were famous for. He glanced over his shoulder, gazing in the direction Gwen and Ezra had gone close to an hour ago.
“Ezra says Gwen is fine.” Devin met Vlad’s eyes. “How’s your other mate?”
“Xander isn’t my mate.”
Devin shrugged. “Call him what you like, but your souls are linked through Gwen.”
“Not yet. We’re not soul-bonded.”
“But you have walked through each other’s souls, through Gwen’s. Shared things together.” Devin twisted off the cap of the water bottle he held and drank a long swallow before recapping it. “Intimate things in your pack’s circle, from what I’ve heard.”
“Yeah? Who’d you hear that from?”
“Dante.” Devin smirked. “My brother thought I’d be interested knowing how concerned I was about my mate’s sister, but my point is that when the wills of the goddesses are enacted, powerful bonds can be formed, bonds that no man or shifter have any hope of breaking.”
Vlad snorted. “Since when did you get to be so spiritual? The male I remembered hated the goddesses for not protecting Mira from suffering at her rapist’s hands.”
Devin squeezed the water bottle, distorting the sides and spewing water from between the cap and the neck of the bottle. His nostrils flared. He closed his eyes. After a moment, he exhaled slowly. “My faith in our goddesses has been restored since Mira was able to mate the human she loves. My twin has been blessed, and for that I will be forever grateful.”
Vlad dipped his head in understanding. “My apologies. I too believe in the will and influence of the goddesses. Without them, Xander and I never would’ve found Gwen again.”
“Then trust in their subtle hints.” Devin caught Vlad’s gaze, a warning in his expression. “Remember, they can’t stop the evil in this world. They can only guide us through the darkness.”
It wouldn’t hurt to call Xander. His meeting with Brock was likely over by now. Vlad’s curiosity had been spiked along with Xander’s at the secretive request for a private meeting.
The numbness in his hands faded almost as quickly as it had set in. Vlad wiggled his fingers once more, then breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had caused the odd sensation wasn’t something he’d soon enjoy repeating, even if it had been a sign from his pack’s goddess.
“You’re right.” Vlad pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Hello?”
The sound of Dante’s voice on the line tightened a noose around Vlad’s chest, sucking the life out of him. “Where’s Xander?”
“Gone. Kidnapped by the Ulgran clan.” Dante’s harsh tone reflected a dark emotion he kept tightly leashed.
“How?” Xander was the strongest male Vlad knew. His friend…his partner wouldn’t be taken down easily.
“Drugged is my best guess. I found a syringe with some chemical inside it. There’d been a fight with the Ulgran clan. Brock lost his head, and Xander…”
“Xander what?” Vlad growled the question, needing the answer now.
“Xander lost his hands. Severed at the wrist.”
Vlad cursed. He flexed his own hands that had been tingling moments before. “So he can’t fight back.”
“Yep, and my guess is that if we don’t find him soon, his head will follow, right after those scientists rip the spirit of the Winchester pack from his soul.”
The sight of Vlad running toward her stopped Gwen’s heart. He didn’t have to tell her something was wrong. She felt the ache in her hands. One of her mates had been hurt. And Vlad looked perfectly fine.
She pushed from the rock she sat on and hurried to meet him. “Xander…what’s wrong with him?”
Vlad drew her close, steadying her body. “The Ulgran clan has him. They drugged him. Took his hands, Gwen. He couldn’t fight back.”
Gwen slapped a palm over her mouth, not to stifle her gasp but to stop her curse. Molly might be listening, even if she still remained in her lioness form.
“We’ll get him back.” Vlad pulled her hand away from her mouth and kissed her palm. “I promise you. We won’t lose him.”
There was no other choice. Their lives were entwined. She wouldn’t be complete without Xander. Neither would Vlad.
“Of course.” She straightened her spine. “What do we know about the attack?”
Vlad studied her face a moment, then nodded, a look of pride in his eyes. She was glad her reaction pleased him, but this wasn’t about proving her strength any longer. This was about surviving.
“He and Brock were ambushed. Xander’s cell phone had been found nearby along with a wrinkled picture of you.”
“Of me? Did they leave it deliberately?”
“Dante doesn’t think so. If one of his attackers tossed Xander over his shoulder, his sporran would’ve opened. It was an ancient one without a clasp. They likely wouldn’t have noticed in time to go back. A human alerted the police, claiming he saw bears go inside the place. Dante got the call to investigate. He says he got there minutes afterward.”
Gwen fought the hysteria trying to take hold. It wouldn’t help. She had to focus on facts. “Does he have any leads?”
“A few. Dante and a couple other Shifter Affairs agents are following up on them. Dante will call us once he knows more.”
A sharp tug on Gwen’s sleeve drew her gaze down. Molly’s pale blue human eyes met hers. Gwen inhaled sharply. Molly had shifted and slipped on the dress Gwen had brought.
Tears burning and her throat tightening, Gwen knelt and wrapped her arms around her sister. Molly awkwardly patted Gwen’s back as she often did whenever Gwen hugged her. “Molly.”
“You need to find your mate before the full moon. It’s the only time they can steal his pack’s spirit from him.” Molly’s quiet and childlike voice delivered a warning an adult would give. Although only five, Molly didn’t act her age. She was a pride leader in a child’s body. “And if they manage to sever his ties, he and his pack will die. Every last one of them. Their souls shattered. Only the spirit will survive.”
Oh God! Gwen tipped her head back. “How do you know this?”
“They took his hands. That’s how they captured the Leon alpha before they ripped the spirit of his pride from him and joined it with me. Magic, mind-altering drugs, and the power of the full moon.”
Gwen pressed her forehead to Molly’s. “I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve stopped this.”
“Why? The Leon spirit loves me. Chose me to be its new leader. To protect it. It could’ve let me die, but it didn’t.”
How to explain this? Gwen bit her lip before exhaling. “Of course, the Leon spirit loves you. How could it not? You’re smart, strong, and honorable. What I meant was that I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you from those shifters who hurt you and the Leon alpha.”
“You are now. You came back.”
“Of course, I did. I made a promise to you.” Gwen pushed to her feet, then held out a hand. “Now come home with me, and we can protect each other, just like we used to do.”
Molly glanced from Gwen to Vlad to the coloring book Gwen had laid on the blanket next to the fallen newspaper. “Can I have my crayons?”
Vlad gathered the things she’d brought, shoving them into the tote. “You can have a whole art room, filled with paints and charcoals too.”
“Really?” Disbelief laced Molly’s voice.
“Really.” Vlad dropped to a crouch. “I bet Xane will even let you mold clay at his house.”
Molly’s eyes widened. “Clay? Yes, I’d like that.”
“Then let’s go. We need to get you settled so we can save our pack.” Vlad took Molly’s hand, then held his other one out for Gwen.
Her throat burned. The range of emotions choked her. Gwen swallowed hard and took Vlad’s hand. She’d won one battle, getting Molly to shift. She’d win the others looming over her too. Xander would be rescued, and so would Eli. She wouldn’t stand for anything else.