The Wolf Within (36 page)

“You locking us up here. Killing us here. Three against one. It’s hardly a challenge.”

“There are two of you.”

I looked down at Dan, let my face twist into an expression of disgust. “He’s in no position to do anything much. He’s braver when he’s with his Taskforce cronies anyway.”

Tate moved to the chair at the far end of the table and sat, resting his chin on one hand. “Interesting, though, that you still seem to be here, trying to save him.”

I raised my own eyebrows. “Like I said, I’m following orders. He’s pack, the Alpha wants him saved. God knows why when there are plenty of other males but I need the pack. I wouldn’t survive as a lone wolf, not with less strength than the others.”

“So you are buying your place in their affections?” Tate seemed almost amused by the thought. “That is very . . . calculated of you.”

“I’m an accountant. I make my living by minimizing risk. I don’t like what he did to me,” I jerked my head in Dan’s direction. ”But I have to live with it. The pack is my best option.” I watched Tate’s face. I had him, I could almost feel it. He was intrigued again.

“What exactly are you proposing?”

I made a vague gesture. “You like to hunt. So hunt us. Outside. Let us free, give us a head start then come after us. There’s all that wood out there, we’re not going to get away. Anyway you have the advantage.”

“How so?”

I nodded at Dan again. “He’s wounded. And you know the area.” I wanted to appeal to the predator in Tate. Hoping that his sick enjoyment of the game would make my offer irresistible. He could still be confident of catching and killing us; he thought he had us at a disadvantage. And outside, Dan and I had a slightly higher chance of survival. “Two vampires, against two werewolves.”

“There are three of us,” Tate pointed out.

“Rio stays out of it,” I said.

“Why should I even the odds?”

I didn’t know if he would and I remembered, all of a sudden, that my silver knife was still stuck in the table.

Closer to me than Tate.

Maybe I could just about even the odds myself. I didn’t give myself time to think about it, I lunged for the knife, grabbed it and just had time to send it arcing—putting all my strength into the throw—in Rio’s direction before Tate grabbed me from behind.

Almost in slow motion I watched the knife travel through the air. Rio started to dodge but Dan threw himself backward, tugging the other man off balance and the blade buried itself deep in Rio’s ribs. Rio fell back, clawing at his chest, letting go of Dan’s chains.

Dan lunged for him, only to have Kyra bring him up short as she caught the chains and held on. Rio made a few gurgling noises then went silent and I realized I could only hear four heartbeats. Rio was dead. I must have hit his heart. Silver to the heart was enough to kill a wolf if you hit the right spot.

Vicious satisfaction swept through me. I’d only meant to wound him, disable him somehow. I couldn’t have hit his heart on purpose if I’d tried. So somebody up there was smiling down on me.

Tate’s arm clamped around my throat, tightening. “You killed him.”

I laughed, half-hysterical. “Sorry, it was an accident, I swear.” More laughter bubbled up. I tried to stop it, without success.

Tate’s answering snarl turned my spine to ice water. I bit back the rising hysteria. Had I pushed him too far?

“Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now.” The pressure against my throat grew stronger and I struggled to breathe.

“You wanted worthy prey. I guess I just proved myself worthy.”

He snarled again and shoved me away from him. I stumbled into the table but managed to stay upright. Really, adrenalin was a wonderful thing when you were a werewolf.

“Rio was useful.” Tate said softly.

“I’m sure you can find other henchmen. So do we have a deal?”

He hesitated.

“What? Do you have to wait for permission? Do you want to go ask Smith? Or your other masters?” The taunt was a long shot but I was gambling on the fact that Tate liked the illusion of control. Would hate anyone he saw as lesser knowing he didn’t have it. He was a psycho and everything the Taskforce had told me about his profile told me his pride in his superiority was paramount. Being leashed for years—if indeed he wasn’t running things—had to be wearing pretty thin.

Apparently, the profilers were right. Rage flashed over his face. More than rage . . . something closer to madness.

“I have no masters,” he snarled.

I didn’t believe him but I didn’t care. My ploy was working. He might have been sent to kill me but he wanted to do it his way. Prove he was better. “Prove it,” I said, trying hard to make my voice sound scornful, not terrified.

“If I catch you, I will kill you slowly.” His voice was flat.

I nodded. “
If
you catch me.”

“Kyra, fetch another manacle.”

She obeyed and I watched in horror as she approached me with a silver cuff like the ones on Dan’s wrists. Tate meant to bind me to human form.

I tried not to panic. It had worked. Tate was going to let us go free. We had a chance. We could do this. The Taskforce would be here soon. Outside we could hide and then they’d arrive and we’d be fine.

I took a deep breath as Kyra locked the manacle around my right wrist, locking her scent in my memory as she slipped the key into her pocket. The silver burned my wrist like I’d dipped my hand into molten metal. I wanted to scream but choked it back, gritting my teeth as I focused on Tate. I nodded toward Dan.

“Take the chains off him. The manacles are enough to hold him to human form.” I said, holding my shackled wrist away from my body in case I brushed the silver against any other bare flesh.

Tate nodded at Kyra and she obeyed, using the same key, I was happy to see. Dan didn’t resist her, which sent renewed fear through me. Just how far gone was he?

Maybe I couldn’t count on him at all. So. New plan. Before either of us could fight properly, we needed the manacles off. Once we were free, we had to find Kyra, get the key and then get the hell out of there before Tate found us. I didn’t want to try and kill Tate. That was what the Taskforce was there for. Fighting him by myself would be suicidal.

“You will have three minutes once you get outside,” Tate said, softly. “Then we will begin.”

I nodded. “Agreed.” I tried to picture the distance from the house to the trees, wishing I’d paid closer attention. Three minutes should be enough to get to some sort of cover. The place was probably full of cameras but Tate would be outside. So unless he had a Dick Tracy super video watch or something, he couldn’t rely on surveillance.

Assuming there weren’t others in the house doing the surveillance for him.

Kyra hauled Dan up and I stepped over Rio’s body as I followed her out of the room and back down the hallway, fear fuzzing my mind. But I had killed one of them already. I had to believe I could do it again.

Kyra opened the front door. I looked past her to the darkness beyond and knew with certainty that if she and Tate teamed up, Dan and I were going to die. We needed an advantage.

We needed the key.

“Have a nice death, Pretty,” she said as she pushed Dan through the door.

I bared my teeth at her. “Right back at you.”

She smiled, opened her mouth to say something and I lunged for her, propelling her backward out the door with all my strength. She fell and I went with her. We landed in a snarling heap on the porch. I screamed as her fangs sank into my left bicep. Luckily my right arm was the one with the manacle. I swung at her head and it connected with a crack that pulled her teeth free of my flesh and made her head hit the wooden floor hard enough to buckle the boards.

She went still and I pushed up my sleeve and tore the cross free, holding it ready as I plunged my hand into her pocket. My fingers closed around something metallic and key shaped. It burned.

Silver. I forced myself to keep hold and pulled it out.

I knew Tate had to be coming for us. The sound of our fight couldn’t have escaped him. Kyra was still unconscious but her chest rose and fell. I couldn’t leave her alive. But I didn’t know if I could kill her in cold blood. Or how to do it.

While I hesitated, Dan knelt beside me and put his hands either side of her head, twisting. Her neck snapped with a hideous crack that made me want to retch.

I didn’t know if a broken neck was enough to kill a vampire, but it had to at least seriously slow her down. Leaving only Tate. Tate who would be after us any minute. We needed to get away from the house.

I shoved the cross deep into the pocket in my cargoes. “Run,” I yelled at Dan. I staggered to my feet, put my hands around one of his arms and yanked him up. “We have to get to the trees.”

We hit the stairs, half-running, half-lurching. It felt as though we were barely crawling as Dan leaned his weight into mine, making my arm throb harder where Kyra had bitten me. Panic and pain and the searing ache of silver against my flesh made my head spin. I ran blindly, conscious only of Dan’s breathing beside me, and the deafening thump of my own heartbeat.

I didn’t look over my shoulder, didn’t know if we were being pursued, just ran on instinct, keeping pace with Dan until we hit the tree line. Once we got deeper into the woods, I forced myself to listen. Even if Tate hadn’t heard us with Kyra, it had to be almost three minutes. He would be coming for us.

He’d have a nice blood trail from my arm to follow.

The key still burned my hand. I pushed Dan to our left, the direction of the road. When the trees started to thicken, I slowed. “Stop,” I gasped. “We have to stop.”

We leaned against the nearest tree, both breathing like racehorses. I pried the key loose from the blisters it had raised on my palm, ignoring the sting against my fingers and tried to unlock the manacle from my wrist. I almost dropped the key once and swore. Dan had his eyes closed, panting. He wasn’t going to be able to help. On the second try, the manacle clicked open. I flung it from my wrist into the darkness. The pain burning up my arm eased back from acid fire to mere burning.

I set to work on Dan’s manacles, using my sleeves to protect my hands from the silver. I had to pry the cuffs from his flesh and almost fainted from the waves of nausea the sensation of flesh peeling back from the metal under my fingers invoked.

Dan didn’t make a sound until I’d finished. Then he opened his eyes. “You should change. Get away from here.”

I looked at him. There wasn’t a lot of moonlight under the trees and he looked horribly pale. “Can you change?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, it hurts. I need Ani or Sam.” An Alpha could help a wolf change. I knew that much. Problem was neither Ani nor Sam was available.

“Then I can’t. I can’t help you run in wolf form.” Werewolves were big but I didn’t think I could carry Dan on my back. He needed help. So I was stuck.

“We need to keep moving,” I said, lifting his arm and putting it around my shoulder. “Let’s go, Gibson.”

“Leave me,” he said. “Get free.”

He slumped against the nearest tree, breath rasping. But I hadn’t come this far for him to give up on me. I grabbed his face and kissed him, willing him to stay with me. He tasted like blood and salt and fear. When his mouth moved under mine, I pulled back.

“I’m not leaving you,” I snarled. “Just move.”

We lurched back into motion, plunging through the forest, no hope of staying silent with Dan so weak. The wind was coming from behind us and, as it strengthened, it carried the stink of old blood and rot. Tate.

“He’s coming,” I said to Dan. “Run faster.”

We stumbled through the next stand of trees and into a small clearing.

I heard Tate laughing behind us, knew he was nearly on us. I shoved at Dan. Maybe I could delay Tate long enough for him to get clear. “Keep going.”

He stopped in his tracks. “Not without you.”

I looked around frantically, searching for any signs the Taskforce might be anywhere near us.

This way
. I didn’t know if I was imagining it or if I’d actually heard something but I grabbed Dan’s hand and started moving again. I suddenly glimpsed a pair of green eyes in the darkness and smelled heat and the musky smell of cat. Esme. They were here. Tears started running down my face in relief. The Taskforce agents were here.

“Left,” I hissed at Dan and we swerved in unison, Dan getting a little ahead of me as my foot tangled in a dead branch. “Keep going,” I yelled.

Then something hit me from behind and fangs raked down my neck. Tate had found us.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I twisted frantically, trying to dislodge Tate but his fangs went deeper, tearing at my flesh. Wetness gushed over my skin. Blood.

I fought harder, reaching behind me to claw at his face. It worked. He pulled free, swung his fist at my head.

I heard Dan yell “Ashley,” and I tried to move but misjudged as Tate twisted with me and the blow connected with my shoulder, rocking me back.

“Run,” I shrieked at Dan. “
Run
!”

I couldn’t protect him and fight Tate. If Dan got free, then all this wouldn’t be for nothing.

Tate blurred toward me, hitting me like a truck. We flew backward and I landed in the dirt, his weight on top of me, fangs slashing at me again.

I remembered my cross, and scrabbled for my pocket. My fingers caught the chain and I pulled it free, pressing my hand into Tate’s face as his fangs caught my cheek.

The cross sizzled as it met his flesh. There was a blinding flash of light as he recoiled, snarling and swearing.

“You’ll regret that,” he said as I scrambled back, pushing to my feet.

I lifted my hand, dangling the cross. “Want to try it again?” Over his shoulder I saw black shapes gliding toward Dan, herding him backward into the trees.

Safe
.

He was safe. That was what mattered. I knew the Taskforce couldn’t easily take Tate down, not while I was in the way. So it was him and me.

The wolf raged under my skin, the need to change roiling through me, a howl burning in my throat. But I pushed it away. There was too much anger. Too much need and hate and rage. I didn’t know how I could possibly control it if I changed. I couldn’t risk going berserk.