Unleashed by Shadows (By Moonlight Book 10) (22 page)

“Thank you. What’s this for?”

“Things that don’t concern you and won’t be of use to me unless your performance is as impressive.” She drew several vials, storing them carefully.

Cale grabbed for his clothing, tugging it on briskly. “Can we get on with things now?”

“I have everything I need. We’ll talk later. Depending.”

On whether or not he was still alive.

“What was that about?” he demanded of Lee when the female had left the locker room.

“As I told you, different benefactors have different interests. You don’t need to trouble yourself with what they might be. Not when you have to concentrate on the next hour. You need to be ready.”

“Can I get a minute?”

Casper smiled and handed him another capsule. “Take this. You won’t need a minute.”

The almost eager way he capitulated embarrassed him more than baring his all moments earlier. Cale swallowed down the drug and in the time it took to draw another breath that glassy heat sluiced through his system, bringing all his nerve endings prickling to life. He rolled his shoulders, reveling in the surge of power flushing away every weakness, every flaw. Making him the perfect instrument of destruction.

“A collar’s been requested in case she decides she has use for both of you.”

“No.” He had no intention of letting the Mahogany Mauler walk away. Vengeance boiled through him, heating his brain, hardening his heart, narrowing his intent to just one. Killing the man who’d tried to do the same to him.

“Not an option. You may have to take care of your personal business another time. Win and the options are all yours,” he added with extra emphasis. “I’ll leave you to collect yourself. Good luck, Mr. Terry. Stay alive.”

“That’s my plan.”

After Lee left, Cale faced Silas MacCreedy with a slice and dice glare. “Some comment just dying to get out?”

“Not a one. How are you holding together?”

He glanced at the mirrors over the row of sinks, catching a glimpse of his solid black stare, of the taut guywire tension making veins and tendons bulge. “I’m fine.”

“Can you take him?”

“I’m gonna tear him to fucking pieces,” was the low promise made to his reflection. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Nica caught Silas’s arm. When he tried to object, she tugged him from the room, leaving Cale with his savage likeness. Where he saw nothing his mate could ever love.

His breaths deepened into rumbles. The black holes of his stare ringed with unholy fire as lips drew back from sharp teeth. He gripped the sink with massive claws. This was what he was. What he always had been.

With a roar, he ripped the sink from the wall, sending water spurting all around him. His fist smashing into the mirror, fragmenting his image the way the fury inside him shattered his self-control.

He stalked out of the locker room. Terriot pride and prowess didn’t fuel his aggressive brawler’s stride. It was payback, pure and simple and soon to be fatal.

Dwight waited in the ring, leaning back against the corner ropes, his body gleaming darkly, his smile a wide goading flash of white beckoning him forward. Cale paused to let them place the collar about his neck. He barely felt its weight, unconcerned by its purpose. No electrodes would deter him. No silver spikes were going to interfere with his plans.

He could feel Nica and Silas on either side of him but didn’t acknowledge their presence. He saw the icy doctor seated at ringside in the company of several hulking males and the dapper Casper Lee, but he wasted no more than a second on them. His lungs burned. Each exhale jetted flame. His muscles knotted, coiled, until they shook with fiery anticipation, scarcely restrained, eager to unleash hell upon his mocking rival. His every function simplified to a primitive state of rage until nothing existed beyond his targeted prey.

Silas spoke to him, but words couldn’t penetrate the sound of fury flooding through him. Beyond talk, beyond rules, he only recognized action and result.

He strode to the ring, a storm of power and deadly force. Effortlessly, he vaulted the ropes. Ready to rumble and roar.

No fanfare, no announcer, just Lee’s calm command.

“Gentlemen, you may begin.”

Before Dwight could move away from the ropes, Cale’s spin kick smacked the side of his head, his other leg hooking about the thick neck as his body torqued, hauling his opponent to the canvas like a felled tree. After quick, hard strikes from fists and heels to face and solar plexus, Cale rolled to his feet, letting his human appearance drop like a disguising cloak.

The rapid expansion of chest and shoulders ripped through his shirt. Before a dazed Dwight could stagger to his feet, Cale had completely transformed to a deadly and determined foe.

“You’re fast, little man,” Dwight conceded with a grin. “Let’s see how long it takes you to die.”

The big man crouched and lunged, shifting as he hit Cale like a linebacker, driving him to the mat with near crippling force. Soon as he found his breath, Cale was all elbows, knees, and butting head levering some distance between them. Enough for him to fracture ribs with a short, hammering blow and follow through with a raking move that almost tore the mocking grin from the other’s face. He shoved his way free and tumbled to his feet, en garde and in search of another opening.

Dwight mopped the blood from his face. He’d lost an ear but none of his motivation. A quick swipe of his leg dropped Cale on his back, the breath kicked from his lungs. Dwight’s huge hand darted out, planning to snatch them through his ribcage before they could fill with air.

His knuckles met empty canvas. Cale tossed to one side, twisted and rolled up onto his knees, delivering a crushing punch to the other’s scrotum. The big man staggered, crumpling to his knees, howling. Cale leapt on his back, teeth latched into his shoulder, shredding muscle and crunching bone. His legs knotted about the writhing male’s waist and hips, pinning him, wrestling him onto his side where Cale tugged his head to one side, releasing the savaged shoulder to go for bared throat.

“Separate them.”

Shocks of electricity jolted through the collar, stunning Cale, but only for a moment. His bite closed about the thick, corded throat, jetting hot blood into his mouth.

“Stop him!”

A circle of sharp silver needles pierced Cale’s neck, the pain excruciating. Instead of deterring him, it enraged him that much more. Clawed fingers drove into the heaving sternum of his adversary, digging deep, curling and yanking with enough force to break his chest open like a crayfish shell. At the same time, Cale whipped his head back to rip away the side of his neck.

Another tremendous charge sizzled through the collar, searing flesh, jolting Cale into immobility. Muscles jerking, spasming for long helpless seconds, until he lost consciousness.

While the remains of the Mahogany Mauler were dragged away, Casper Lee turned to his patron expectantly. She seemed dazed.

“I’ve never seen such strong will. To ignore such punishment.” The doctor shook her head, at a loss with her own amazement. “I’m not sure if he should be rewarded or destroyed.”

Lee put out his smooth palm. “Let’s start with the reward and discuss the rest when Mr. Terry recovers himself.”

*

Silas and Nica crouched over the senseless figure twitching and whining in their spare bed. Dwight’s blood had been washed away and blankets tucked about him to prevent shock, but both regarded Cale Terriot with a mix of wonder and uncertainty.

“Holy shit,” Silas finally concluded. “Think he’s going to be all right? He took a lot of juice.”

Nica finished dotting ointment on the wounds ringing his throat where silver had eaten into skin. “He’s tough.”

They’d whisked him into the car the minute the collar was removed without waiting to collect their fee, more concerned with his safety than their objective. In the drive back, there’d been a real fear he might not survive the near electrocution.

“Maybe we should call Kendra,” Silas broached.

“Not yet.”

As if her name alone had the power to restore him, Cale’s eyes flickered. He blinked up at Silas, uttering a faint, “Hey.”

“Hi. How you doing?”

“I don’t know. How am I doing?”

“Dammit, Cale, what were you thinking?”

A blink and vague, “I don’t know. What was I thinking?”

“Do you know where you are?”

“Where am I?”

“Safe.”

That satisfied him. “Okay.” Eyes closed. “Is Katy here?”

“No. Do you want me to call her?”

“Yes.” The confusion began to clear. “No. No.” His voice strengthened. “Don’t call her.” His brows came down in a pucker. “What happened to the other guy?”

“You tore him to fucking pieces.”

A rough laugh rumbled from him. “Guess he won’t dick around with me again, will he?”

“No. I guess not.”

He swallowed hard, the movement painful, his body all pins and needles itchy. “They pretty pissed off about it?”

“We’ll find out.”

At that grim prediction, Cale’s focus steadied long enough for him to vow, “I’ll make it right.”

“Cale—”

“I’m tired. Go away.” He rolled onto his side, shutting them out so exhaustion could suck him down.

But in his restless slumber, images prowled, dark, distorted. Shadows just out of sight. Safety just out of reach. Until Kendra’s appeared. She knelt before him, the golden virgin from his unrequited teenage wet dreams, eyes passion bright, mouth soft, slick and determined, tugging an unimaginable pleasure from him as he gripped her hair, groaning her name. Katy, baby . . . oh, baby.

Until he glanced down to find Casper Lee’s mocking gaze gleaming up at him instead.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

He rode without consciously picking a path, cool night wind on his face, heart hammering with agitation, his soul thrumming with underlying ferocity. He wasn’t aware of what he needed to quiet the raw panic and prickly angst inside him until he saw the gates of Savoie’s mobster estate opening to let him pass.

He had no business being there. Not the way he was. Not when violence and desperation tore at him like combatants in a ring. But he couldn’t stay away.

Cale drew in her scent on a shaky breath, but instead of calming him, the heat of her wound him so tight his insides trembled. If she woke and saw him there, eyes black, the blood of the man he’d killed streaking his soul like war paint, would she shrink back in alarm or open welcoming arms? If smart, she’d scream as if confronted with a demon, because that’s what he’d become for Casper Lee.

Kendra made a soft sound, catching his heart like a barbed hook. Her hand stretched out, palm brushing over the empty sheet beside her. Her disappointed sigh echoed his anguish. Need, urgency, and lust raked savagely across his conscience, scoring like the claws that had earlier ripped flesh and sinew. Leaving wounds that pained just as fiercely.

He took a step toward the bed, hoping it was the need to comfort compelling him forward. Terrified it wasn’t. Then he couldn’t stop himself.

He eased up onto the foot of the bed, stalking silently on hands and knees toward that irresistible fragrance burning hot in his nose, searing his mind like madness. His fingertips slid under the hem of the shirt she wore. His shirt. Skimming over smooth, warm skin, pushing fabric up to bare sleek thighs, tempting bottom, and narrow waist.

She stirred, instinctively arching so his hands could scoop beneath her. Lifting her hips as she murmured sleepily, “Cale?”

Darkness slashed him. Who the hell else would it be?

“Shh, baby.” His voice sounded like ground glass. “Don’t turn around. Just close your eyes. Close your eyes.” So she wouldn’t see the madness in his own.

Trustingly, she obeyed, unaware of what crouched over her.

She shivered as his lips scorched down the curve of her back, moaned expectantly as palms pushed her knees wide, tore at the sheets as he ravished vulnerable pink flesh with mouth, tongue, and teeth until she bit her lip to silence her cries.

As the first spasms spiked through her, avid mouth became hard thrusts, banging into her with ferocious strength until both found explosive release. But before Kendra could catch her breath, Cale pulled out, saying with the same abruptness, “I gotta go.”

“What?” Now fully awake and aware, Kendra twisted, unable to see his face clearly in the darkness. Overcoming her shock that he was actually zipping up, that he hadn’t even taken off his coat, she quickly rolled and reached for him, catching him about the neck, delaying him with a surprisingly strong grip.“Stay.”

“Baby, I can’t.” His voice snagged, broke. “I can’t be here.”

She didn’t ask why. She only knew she couldn’t let him leave, not with the way panic and something more terrifying hurried his breaths into such a frantic rhythm. “Until morning. Then we can talk.”

He hesitated. Sensing weakness, she showed no mercy, curling one leg over the backs of his thighs, tugging to layer him over her, pulling his head down to her shoulder.

“Let me hold you. Stay with me.”

He remained so taut she feared he’d bolt at any second. Bravely, or foolishly, she relaxed her grip to allow him the freedom to escape without struggle. If he still chose to leave. Stroking his hair with a gentle hand, she knew the battle was over when he sagged against her with a shaky sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

She didn’t ask why. Questions would have to wait. Just holding him as his tension trickled down to a fragile shivering, she whispered, “I won’t let you fall.”

“I love you, Kendra. Don’t let me go. Don’t let me go back.”

But when she opened her eyes at the first pale slivers of dawn, she found him gone.

*

A stealthy figure slipped out into the hall, pausing to see if the coast was clear before padding quickly, with stilettos in hand, to the elevator. As she ducked inside and leaned back against the wall to express a huge sigh of relief, a large hand insinuated itself between the doors to pry them open.

“Leaving without saying good-bye?”

It wasn’t until Cale brought it up that Colin recalled the first glimpse he’d had of her in Lee’s cabana, whispering into his ear. He’d been too stunned by her beauty to put one and one together and come up with betrayal. But he was good at math.