heard another scream, distant. It was only when the world began to fade to gray that she realized it had come from her.
The blood ran fast now as her delicate skin tore. Mia could feel her life’s essence flowing from her, soaking her clothes, running down her arm and chest. The world began to tilt beneath her feet, and she felt herself leaning into Jeff’s body, only because he was all she had to cling to before going under.
She was afraid that if she let herself, she wouldn’t come up again.
He seemed to revel in her groggy embrace.
“We’ll finish this now,” Jeff growled, his voice resonating with anticipation. He lowered her to the ground, gently, as though she were only a sleepy child. “Illuria tira. Illuria m’ar hemana.” The words, foreign and yet strangely familiar, resonated in the deepest part of her, and she felt herself opening to the night. Power, dark and forbidden, swirled through her. It was the other half of her gift that Jeff called forth. The malignant seed never allowed to grow, forced to shoot and bloom all in one breathless instant…and it had been waiting.
No, Mia thought. And right on the heels of that, yes.
“Look at it glow,” Jeff whispered reverently as he drew back. Mia managed to open her eyes just enough to see him looming over her, covered in what seemed to be spatters of pure light. A hazy glow surrounded both of them, and she knew at once, with numb horror, what it was.
Oh goddess…that’s me. My life. She saw the flash of a blade as he lifted it above his head, and she closed her eyes against it, against what she knew was coming.
But the final blow never came.
Even in her half-conscious state, Mia managed to lift her head, sensing the subtle shift in the air, as though it had taken on an electrical charge. Somewhere in the distance, a howl rent the night in a mournful song. Then there was another. And another.
Jeff’s body went rigid, and fury began to pump off of him in hot waves, intermingling with the madness that already burned like fever. Whatever was happening, he didn’t like it.
Hope bloomed, small but fierce, deep in Mia’s chest.
“Hang on to me,” he snapped. “I don’t care whose territory this is. You’re mine.”
Then she was lifted, carried through the rushing blackness, dimly aware of short, sharp barks and snarls in the world that existed beyond her closed eyelids, rapidly increasing in volume.
The sounds of pursuit were everywhere around them now. Search-and-rescue dogs? Could she be so lucky? But something about the sounds surrounding them, without a single human voice shouting commands, told her these were no dogs. Pictures flashed through her mind from the book she’d stolen from her grandmother’s library, the one she was never to read. Sketches of men wearing the skins of animals, becoming the animals…beautiful men and women, full of light, dancing wildly beneath the moon…dark creatures with shining eyes that were always watching…
Werewolves, she thought, her mind struggling to stay in the moment. More of them, a pack of them. To save me…or to finish what Jeff started. It seemed impossible. But then, she of all people should know better. Whoever was pursuing them, whatever their intent, Mia knew without a doubt that taking even the smallest chance at rescue was far, far better than dealing with what was going to happen to her should she not struggle. Her will to live, rearing its head with surprising force even as her strength ebbed, gave Mia the drive to try, one last time, to stop this madness.
She caught just a glimpse of Jeff when her eyes snapped open, his eyes glowing a burning gold, lips peeled back over glistening fangs as though he were a creature straight out of Hell. Then she threw back her head and screamed one last time, thrashing in his arms so suddenly and violently that he stumbled.
She thrashed again, and he couldn’t hold her. Mia slammed into the hard earth, barely feeling the jolt of it, forcing limbs that seemed to have gone liquid to move and propel her backward. But nothing seemed to work right, and her frantic motions seemed far too slow. Nightmare slow.
Jeff whirled on her, his lips peeled back over teeth that were far too sharp.
Oh my God, he is a monster….
She stared right into his blazing-yellow eyes when she cried out this time, giving it all she had left.
“Help! Help me, I’m here! He’s going to kill me!”
“You’re not going to get away from me that easy, Mia,” he breathed. “I marked you. The ritual is already begun. You belong to me.”
But she knew it was at least half a lie, because the glow from her life blood was already dimming where it covered him. She knew so little, so much less than she should. But she knew when Jeff’s chance was slipping away. And from his expression, so did he.
“There he is!”
A man’s voice, deep and strong, bellowed nearby. The ground, cold and solid beneath her, was oddly comforting. She would rather the earth held her than the monster.
Jeff’s face contorted with raw fury before he vanished with a single inhuman roar, his figure already lengthening and changing as he rushed past her into the yawning darkness beyond. And then there were other voices, surrounding her as the world began to swim again. Humans, after all. Relief coursed through her. But it died, a short, brutal death as she looked up into eyes that glowed as bright as the moon. And no amount of willpower could convince her that she was imagining it. Not anymore.
“Just hang on,” someone said. “We’ve got you now.”
I hope that’s a good thing, she thought faintly. I really do.
Then, blissfully, reality finally went dark.
Chapter 1
If there was one thing you could count on, it was that things always got weird right before a full moon. Still, Jenner held out hope, month after month, that there would come a night when his fellow creatures of the night would collectively behave themselves.
Tonight was not that night.
You’re gonna want to get over here, Jenner. We’ve got a biter.
“Hell.” Nick Jenner gave a low growl and shoved away from the pool table, where he’d been about to make the shot that would relieve a couple of his pack mates of twenty bucks. Dex’s voice had sounded loud and clear in his head, and there was no mistaking the urgency in the message. Being able to communicate telepathically with the other members of his pack came in handy, and it sure beat walkie-talkies, but there was also no hiding from it when you didn’t want to be bothered. Especially when you were your pack’s Lunari, second only to the Alpha in both power and responsibility, and said Alpha was giving you a dirty look from across the room.
Bane was linked in to the conversation, of course. He always was. Jenner gave him a sharp nod.
I’m on it.
Bane nodded back, then returned his attention to the pretty blonde who probably had no idea she was being hit on by a werewolf, much less one who headed up one of the larger packs in this part
