Unmasking the Wolf (18 page)

Dominic’s love for Laura was left unspoken, but it lingered in the air. The need for revenge probably consumed him even more than it did Luke. Although he wanted to avenge his sister’s murder, concern about Gina took the forefront of his mind. Laura was gone. Nothing he could do would bring her back. But he had a chance to save Gina. He didn’t know what he would do without her.

“Fine. You can have her as long as she doesn’t harm a hair on Gina’s head.”

“Deal.”

At the Mason Building, they were met by a visibly frantic Tony Moretti. Dominic had called his uncle on the ride over and filled him in on what was going on. When Luke reached him, the alpha wasted no time in going for his throat. He wrapped a beefy hand around Luke’s neck and lifted him a couple of inches above the ground. “This is your fault. My daughter would be at home safe if she hadn’t gotten tangled up with you.”

Luke totally agreed with him, but now was not the time. They had to find Gina.

He pried Tony’s hands from his throat. “Meredith only gave us an hour. Do you really want to waste time arguing?”

Anger and frustration flashed in the older wolf’s eyes. “No.”

“We need to gather everything and meet Meredith.” He glanced at his watch. “We only have forty minutes left.”

Racing against time, they hurried to the lab and grabbed anything that had to do with L-12. They stuffed the pills, files, and flash drives in a bag and rushed back to the car. Dominic ducked into the backseat, leaving Tony to ride shotgun. If the ride over had been filled with tension, it was nothing to compare with Gina’s dad being in the car with them.

Tony went right to the heart of the matter. “Why would this bitch want to create shifting vamps?”

“No clue,” Luke answered.

“She’s an evil genius,” Dominic piped up from the backseat. “She can change history with her research.”

“You sound jealous,” Tony remarked.

“I am a little. It’s brilliant what she’s done, but it’s not worth the innocent lives.”

Tony cleared his throat. “And Laura? She was part of the research?”

Dominic fell silent. Luke glanced over at Tony and nodded. “Yes.”

Tony gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry.”

Luke looked in the rearview mirror to see how Dominic was dealing with the situation. He was silent and withdrawn. He’d turned to look at the window, but seemed to notice nothing.

“If they hurt my baby girl . . . ”

Luke cut him off. “Don’t even think like that. We’ll get her. We
have
to.”

“You really do love her, don’t you, son?”

Was it really that obvious? He spared Tony another quick look. “She’s my mate. Even had fate not chosen her for me, she would be mine.” Much like Laura had been Dominic’s.

“Do we have a plan or are we just going to break in there and start busting heads?” Tony flexed his fists and cracked his knuckles.

“We’re going to follow Meredith’s instructions to the letter. Once Gina is safe, we will bust heads.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Tony agreed. He twisted in the seat to look at his nephew. “Dom, you remember those moves I taught you?”

Dominic chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Moves?” Luke questioned.

Dominic leaned forward. “Tony is a master of jujutsu. He taught me when I was younger.”

Their skills would come in handy. Luke mostly relied on his brute strength in wolf form to defend himself.

Tony chuckled. “You should see Gina in action. Even though she complained the entire time, she soaked it up like a sponge.”

“Gina can
fight
?” He didn’t know why he was amazed. She’d already defended herself more times than he cared to remember.

Tony snorted. “She is the daughter of an alpha. What did you think I would teach her, how to knit?”

Somehow the thought of Gina knitting was even more incongruous than the thought of her doing jujutsu. “Apparently there are things I don’t know about my mate.”

Tony clapped him on the shoulder, the first friendly gesture he’d made since they’d met that morning. “You’ll learn, my boy, that you never stop learning. The missus and I have been together thirty years and I discover something new every day.”

Dominic consulted the GPS on his phone. “Turn right here.”

Luke did as Dominic instructed. They pulled into the parking lot of a two story brick building. The façade was unadorned. “Is this it?”

“Yes.” Dominic put away his phone. “I’ve been here before. With Laura.”

Luke studied the building before him. Gina was in there somewhere. Was she hurt? Was she scared? Unintentionally copying Tony, he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go.”

On the way to the door, Luke felt someone was watching him. He lifted his gaze and studied his surroundings, but couldn’t see anyone.

Dominic eased up next to him. “You feel them too?”

“Yeah.” Luke sniffed. The rotting meat smell made his nostrils flare with disgust. “Vamps.”

“And dead wolves,” Dominic quietly added.

Praying Gina was still alive, Luke opened the door and entered first. The bottom floor was a long hallway with several doors that appeared to lead into offices. A black iron staircase twisted toward the second floor. He wasted no time in approaching the stairs. Meredith had clearly stated to meet her on the top floor.

He caught a whiff of something familiar.
Gina
. The closer he got to the floor, the more the scent intensified. She was okay, for now.

“Ah, so you came.”

He turned to the sound of a female voice and bared his teeth at Meredith. She’d changed into a black cat-suit. The outfit would seem out of place on her if not for the deadly looking knives strapped to her waist and thighs. Knee-high leather boots completed the ensemble.

“Whoa,” Tony breathed.

Dominic nudged him. “She’s the bad guy, Uncle Tony.”

Tony’s dazed expression quickly faded into one of fury. “Where is my daughter?”

Meredith lifted a slim blonde eyebrow. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

Luke wasted no time in tossing the bag to her. She caught it one-handed and untied it to look inside. “Very nice,” she murmured.

“You got what you wanted. Now take us to her.”

Meredith’s heels clicked on the tiled floor as she came over to him. A whiff of expensive perfume stymied Gina’s fresh scent and he waved a hand in front of his face to clear his nose.

She smiled, but it lacked any true emotion. Luke looked at her, the woman he’d known for months, and hardened his heart. “Why did you do it?”

A haughty look passed over him. “You wolves think you’re so untouchable, but you’re not.”

“Had much experience with wolves then?”

Anger mottled her features. “Wolves killed Owen.”

Dominic whistled softly between his teeth. “Your husband.”

“Yes,” she sneered and turned to the younger wolf. “Owen was a vampire. We were going to be together for eternity, but one of your mongrels killed him.”

“But you’re not a vampire.” Luke was quite sure of it. She had no scent.

Her blond hair tossed about wildly as she turned back to face him. “No. Owen was about to change me. We’d planned it down to the tiniest detail.”

She laughed, the sound low and keening. “But I can avenge his death. Today I can take one of yours.”

Gina!
Luke reached out his hand. “You promised she would be unharmed.”

Tony and Dominic flanked him on either side. Their growls and snarls indicated they were close to shifting. Luke was damned close himself. “Why punish us for something another wolf did? We had nothing to do with it.”

She continued to laugh, her beautiful features hidden behind a mask of insanity. Sadly, he realized a brilliant mind had cracked due to excessive grief. There would be no saving her. “Let her go, Meredith.”

She withdrew a blade and snapped the fingers of her other hand. “Make us.”

Six overgrown vampires stepped from the shadows and encircled her. Their lupine eyes glowed with pure evil.

Three against seven. He kinda liked those odds.

•●•

What in the hell was happening out there?

Gina struggled against her bonds until something warm and wet dripped down her fingers. Blood. Her blood.

Something heavy pounded into the door. The walls shook with the force of the impact. Vials and bottles clanked in the cabinets above her head. She’d heard voices, muted and threatening, right before the pounding had begun. Sniffing, she recognized the scents of Luke, her father, and Dominic. There was a female voice, most likely Meredith’s.

The vampire hadn’t returned like he’d promised. He was probably involved in the fight taking place outside the door. She wanted to be out there, wanted to help bash in the heads of the soulless vampires, the murderous heathens who’d taken the lives of innocent wolves.

The door splintered and fell off its hinges. She gasped at the sight before her. A vampire, or what appeared to be a vampire, lifted its furry claw and swung it at her father’s face. Tony easily jumped out of the way and brought his fist up into a bone-crunching upper cut. The vampire stumbled backward, clearly dazed from the hit.

A vampire and wolf mix? “What in the hell are those?” she screamed.

“An experiment gone bad,” her father shouted back and continued fighting. He moved out of her line of view, but the sounds of fists making contact continued.

She caught a small glimpse of Dominic. He appeared to be holding his own against one of the vamps. Where was Luke? Her pulse raced with trepidation until he finally appeared. He had a vampire in a headlock when his gaze met hers. His eyes widened and she could smell his fear for her. The brief lapse of concentration was a mistake. The vampire got out of the hold and swiped his claws across Luke’s chest.

Gina screamed, the sound high and panicked. “Someone help him!”

Luke ignored the ripped shirt and blood welling from the injury and kept fighting. She felt sick to her stomach. The gruesome injury was sure to be painful. She lost count of the number of punches being thrown. Caught in a mix of horror and jubilation, she watched as the vampires slowly fell. Four lay unmoving on the floor. Tony and Dominic were dealing with the last two. Tossing aside a vampire’s limp body, Luke strode toward her. His face was pale and his ruined shirt soaked with blood, yet he’d never looked better to her.

“Are you okay?” He crouched before her and touched her bruised cheek.

She hissed with pain. He cursed beneath his breath and looked as if he wanted to go back to fighting. “I’m fine, Luke. Honest.” Up close, the wound appeared worse than she’d imagined. “What about you?”

Luke glanced down at his chest and shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

She was about to ask another question, when she saw a beautiful blonde stumble into the room. She had to be Meredith. Blood splattered her arms and darkened the black material of her clothing.
A cat-suit. Really? Can you be anymore stereotypical?

There was no scent of a paranormal about her, yet the knife in her hand was deadly enough. Gina quickly realized her intent and yelled. “Luke, watch out!”

He turned and dove to the side, using his body to block hers, as Meredith expertly threw the knife. It grazed his shoulder before clattering to the floor. His eyes glowed green, his hair ruffled and standing on end. “I’ll be right back,” he said to her before he turned to face the enemy.

With a low growl, he stretched his arms and bent backward. His human form shimmered and then disappeared, replaced by his wolf form. A sleek golden wolf took his place. Gina sucked in a breath at the beauty of his animal form. He launched himself at Meredith, who attempted to block him with raised arms.

They were joined by a black wolf, with glowing amber eyes.
Dominic
. He strode between them and turned his head to Luke. Luke eased away, retreating to Gina’s side. Unlike Dominic, he didn’t play with her. A fierce growl escaped him as he swung his powerful claws at Meredith’s face. Her head twisted to the side, neck clearly broken, and her body slumped to the ground.

Dominic turned his head toward them, his amber eyes full of sorrow, before he slunk out of the room. Luke changed back to human form. Nude, his wounds stuck out in stark relief. Four claw marks cut diagonally across his chest, the wounds deep and jagged. A long scratch covered his arm.

He bent down and gently touched her neck. “What are these marks?”

She grimaced. “Taser.”

“I’m so sorry.” Luke cradled her head and pressed a kiss to her bruised cheek.

Shaking with the latent effect of her horror and fear, she forced words past her aching throat. “Is it over?”

“It’s over,” Luke said in a consoling voice. “Meredith was responsible for Laura’s death.”

“Oh,” Gina gasped. She wished her hands were free so she could hug him. “I’m sorry.”

He clung to her, both needing the comfort of each other for several moments. Dominic stumbled into the room and they quickly broke apart. “Gina, it’s your father. Come quick.”

Luke and Dominic proved strong enough to break the chains binding her to the chair. She shook her hands, attempting to get the blood flowing to her fingers again. Her wrists were chaffed and sore, but not as bloody as she’d thought.

On shaking legs, she left the lab and hurried to the form crumpled on the floor. Her father had his head and shoulders propped against the wall. He had left hand clamped to his right upper arm. Blood poured from a hideous wound.

“Papa!” Scared out of her wits at his pallor, she dropped to her knees beside him.

“Bambina,” he whispered, a soft smile gentling his craggy features. “Did those bastards hurt you?”

She touched his cheek, frightened at the clamminess of his skin. “I’m fine, papa. Don’t worry about me. We need to get you to a doctor.”

“No doctor.” He tried to stand, but the attempt was weak.

Luke and Dominic both urged him back to a reclining position. The look in the other men’s eyes assured her the wound was just as bad as she envisioned. “Oh, God. Papa, I’m so sorry.”

“Hush.” Her father shook his head. “It’s not your fault.”

Despite his words, guilt filled her. If she hadn’t been so headstrong, none of this would’ve happened. Her father, a man who’d never shown weakness in all her life, slumped against her. He’d fainted. It was almost too much to believe.