She swallowed the sour taste from the back of her throat. “This is barbaric.”
“I won’t argue with that. But once I master the process, it’ll be much more efficient. Finding the right balance of blood loss and venom is proving impossible, but you can help. If I attack them, you can heal them right before they die. Then if the change doesn’t take, we can try again and again. We’ll be a team. What do you say?” His charming smile returned as if he’d asked her to go to an amusement park rather than become an accessory to murder.
“You’re sick.” And deranged. Werewolf venom? There was no way in hell she’d take part in this. She backed toward the door.
He wiped his hands on his pants and stepped toward her. “We could be more than a team, babe. If I’m going to be alpha, I’ll need a mate. We already know we’re compatible in the sack.” He reached for her hand.
Her wolf revolted, the thought of going to bed with him making her skin crawl. She crossed her arms and took another step toward the door. “No way. I want the money you owe me, and I’m leaving.”
He winked. “I’ll give you the money if you stay.”
“Keep dreaming.” She stumbled through the threshold into the hallway. Sure, she was broke, but no amount of cash made any of this okay. She’d find another job somewhere. Sell what few belongings she had left. Hell, she’d cut out her own kidney and sell it on the black market before she’d take part in Eric’s macabre plan. “Does your dad know you’re doing this?”
“That dick wad doesn’t know shit. I’m not the fuck-up he thinks I am.” He prowled toward her. “C’mon, Alex. Don’t make this difficult. You know I care about you, and you care about me too.”
Her lip curled. “No, I don’t.”
“You used to.”
She clutched the doorframe, every muscle in her body tensing to bolt. “That was before I got to know you.” When she’d had her blinders on. Before she’d figured out she couldn’t fix a broken soul. Eric wasn’t the fuck-up his father thought he was…he was worse.
He sighed. “You know I can’t let you leave. I’ve told you too much. Stay with me. Be my mate, and I’ll take care of you. You’ll never have to worry about money again. My old man’s cash flow will cover everything.”
She backed down the hall toward the front door, never tearing her gaze away from the deranged man who pursued her. He didn’t know it, but his dad’s money had been the reason she went to Pearl River in the first place. He was the one who’d financed her undercover mission, and now it seemed she’d have to do some pro bono work for her old boss. “You can’t make your own pack out of innocent humans. I won’t let you do this.”
“How are you going to stop me?” He lunged, wrapping his arms around her waist and dragging her to the floor. Her head hit the fireplace hearth with a crack, and splitting pain shot through her temple. Darkness tunneled her vision. She blinked away the stars that swam in her eyes as she struggled beneath him, but she may as well have been wedged beneath a concrete block. He had the strength of an alpha, but no pack would ever accept Eric as leader.
He pinned her shoulders to the ground. “Please don’t make me kill you. I’d much rather make love to you.”
As her vision cleared, she spotted a canister of fireplace tools to her left. If she could get her hands on the poker… Her breathing slowed in spite of her racing heart. She tried to relax. To play the part of the lesser wolf giving in to the alpha’s advances. She curved her lips into a seductive smile and sighed. “You’re right, Eric.”
“I am?” He loosened his grip on her shoulders.
“Of course. It’s a genius plan. Making your own pack from scratch, they’ll do whatever you tell them to. You can train them.” She licked her lips. “Think of the power.”
He released her and rose to his feet. “Exactly, baby. And with your healing powers, no one else has to die. Think of all the lives you’ll be saving.” He didn’t offer her a hand up. Typical.
The room spun as she stood, but she held her seductive expression, running her fingers along the mantel and stepping toward him. “I’d be a fool not to stay with you, wouldn’t I?”
“I knew you’d come around.” He grinned and adjusted his crotch. “Let’s go back to the bedroom and make things official.”
She rested her hand on the handle of the poker. “There’s one problem with that.” She tightened her grip.
He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “Oh, there is?”
“I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole.” Gripping the poker, she swung it at his head. The pointed end sliced through his cheek, the shock of impact knocking him to the ground.
“Three foot, maybe. But not ten.” Her weapon clattered on the floor as she turned and sprinted out the door.
“Damn it, Alex! I didn’t want to kill you.” Eric barreled after her, gripping his bloody cheek in his hand.
Alexis tore through the front yard and darted across the country road into a field. She didn’t dare look back. She could feel him getting closer as she ventured farther and farther into the grassy pasture. As she hurdled a barbed wire fence, her pant leg caught on a spike. The fabric ripped, and she crashed to the ground, taking in a mouthful of bitter grass and dirt. Spitting out the mess, she scrambled to her feet as Eric leapt the fence and caught her by the arm. He hauled her to his body, gripping her from behind.
His breath was hot against her ear. “Maybe I’ll kill your sister too. That’s a fair trade, huh? Stay with me and Macey lives.”
He lifted her from the ground, and she planted her boot square in his knee. His scream muffled the loud pop of the joint dislocating. She wiggled free and sprinted through the field. The gash on his face had already healed; his knee wouldn’t take long. She’d bought herself seconds at most.
She could shift and fight him as a wolf. At least the fight would lean toward fair. But to shift in public, in daylight, and expose herself to humans, would earn her one of the harshest punishments the werewolf congress handed out. Rogue or not, some rules simply could not be broken. She could never beat him anyway. The guy was a machine. Her best option was to run, but to where?
She poured on the speed, but not enough. Even with the injured leg, he gained on her. He caught the hem of her shirt and yanked. She stumbled. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he tackled her to the ground. She scrambled away, kicking him in the face, and jumped to her feet again. An electrical transmission tower stood ten feet away, and she darted toward it.
Gripping the cold steel beams, she hauled herself up. Hand over hand she climbed the structure towering one hundred feet into the air. She didn’t have a clue what she’d do once she reached the top, but it didn’t matter. Eric wouldn’t follow her ascent.
She climbed until her palms bled and her arms shook with exhaustion. Eric grabbed the tower and pulled himself onto the first crossbar. Alexis froze. Was he actually going to climb it? Cursing, he jumped to the ground and spat at the steel.
“Damn it, bitch, you know I’m afraid of heights.” His body shook with rage. “You can’t stay up there forever. As soon as you come down, you’re dead.” He fought the urge to shift; his eyes strained with the pain and concentration it took to hold back his wolf. The intensity of the situation called on her own beast as well, but even Eric knew better than to shift in public.
The wind picked up, whipping through her hair and cutting through her clothes like knives. She gripped the cold steel tighter, wrapping an arm around the bar and hooking it with her elbow, using all her energy to hang on. Her muscles trembled, fatigue threatening to make her fall.
What the hell was she supposed to do now? Like most times in her life, she’d acted rashly, climbing the tower without considering the consequences. Now she was screwed—like a kitten stuck in a tree, but no fireman would come along and rescue her. Unless…
Eric stood on the ground below, smiling as she struggled. “You might as well come down. What else are you gonna do?”
“What’s going
on out here?” A heavy-set woman wearing a bathrobe and rubber boots stomped toward Eric. “What’s all this racket about?”
This was her chance. She couldn’t out run him. She couldn’t beat him in a fight. But she could always outsmart him. “I’m going to jump,” she called to the surly neighbor below. “It’s all his fault.”
The woman’s head snapped up, her eyes widening as she realized Alexis hung at the top of the tower. “What did you do to her?” She smacked Eric on the shoulder, and he flinched, ducking his head. A wannabe alpha…scared of an old woman. Alexis chuckled.
“Me? I…I didn’t do anything. I don’t even know her. I saw her out here climbing the tower, and I came to see what she was up to.” He glared at Alexis, and a vein throbbed on the side of his forehead.
For her plan to work, she needed a bigger crowd. More witnesses. “I’ll do it.” She pretended to slip on a beam and let out an emphatic scream.
“You stay put, young lady. I’m calling for help right now.” The old woman pulled a phone out of her bathrobe pocket and pressed it to her ear.
“Help me! I can’t hold on!” She smirked at Eric, and his vein throbbed harder.
More neighbors appeared from their houses and rushed into the field. Eric held up his hands, swearing he had no idea who she was. The police were on their way. If she came down now, with all these witnesses, she’d be able to get away.
But she knew Eric too well. He wouldn’t stop until she was by his side or dead, and she wouldn’t give him the pleasure of achieving either.
He’d threatened her sister’s life, though. There was only one thing she could do to keep Macey safe. He had to think she was dead.
She swallowed hard and leaned away from the tower. A square of concrete surrounded the structure—not a soft landing pad. If she jumped out far enough, she might be able to make it to the grass. Either way, the fall would be fatal for a human. Even a normal werewolf wouldn’t survive, but she was banking on being not normal, hoping her enhanced healing powers would keep her alive.
If she didn’t survive, at least Macey would be safe. Eric would have no reason to go after her if Alexis were dead. Her sister’s life was worth more than a miserable rogue’s.
Closing her eyes, she said a prayer to whatever gods might be listening and let go. The collective gasp from the crowd rang in her ears as she plummeted to the ground. The impact shattered her bones. Searing pain rolled through her body like a wildfire, consuming her in its torrid hell. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She lay there an eternity before blissful darkness swallowed her whole.
“No! Oh, God no.” Eric Anderson watched in horror as Alexis fell from the tower. She hit the ground with a jarring thud, and silence engulfed him. He rushed to her side and pressed his fingers to her neck. No pulse. A pool of blood spread on the concrete beneath her head, and her legs jutted out at unnatural angles.
Broken. Everything was broken.
Old Mrs. Livingston waddled over to him. “Ambulance is on its way, but it looks like we’re too late for that.”
His mind reeled. She couldn’t really be dead. Any second now, she’d start breathing again. She was a werewolf; she had to survive. She was supposed to be his mate. She was the answer to all his problems. Shit! What had he done?
A siren sounded in the distance. He dropped to his knees to compress her chest. Maybe he could get her heart beating again. As soon as he pressed on her breastbone, a rib snapped. He jerked his hands away. “She can’t be dead.”
The paramedics arrived and ushered everyone away. Eric peered over their shoulders as they examined her. An EMT checked her pulse in her neck. Another one tried her wrist. He covered her mouth and nose with a mask and squeezed a plastic bubble, forcing air into her lungs, and a sickening, gurgling sound resonated from her throat. They started chest compressions, but they didn’t try hard enough. Within a few minutes, they gave up.
“What are you doing? Get your ass back over there and use a defibrillator or something. She’s not breathing!” He needed her powers, damn it. They couldn’t let her die.
A dark haired EMT shook her head. “I’m afraid there’s nothing else we can do. She’s gone.”
The words slammed into his head like a baseball bat shattering his skull. “No.” She couldn’t be.
A police officer tapped him on the shoulder. “I need to ask you a few questions, Mr.—?”
“Anderson.” The police? What the hell was he supposed to do now? His father would shit a brick if he got into trouble with the fuzz again. He might even cut him off. Technically, Eric belonged to the Biloxi pack. He had to obey their laws.
“How did you know the victim?”
“Victim?” His hands trembled. Alexis wasn’t a victim. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “She killed herself.”
“Right.” The pig pushed his glasses up his greasy nose. “And how did you know her? Girlfriend? Relative?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know her at all. I looked out my window and saw her climbing, so I came out here.”
“Why didn’t you call for help?”
“I…Mrs. Livingston called. I was trying to talk her down.” If he acted innocent, like he had nothing to do with it, they’d have to let him go. He’d lost his potential mate, but at least she wouldn’t be able to screw up his plans.
The pig asked him a few more questions and seemed satisfied with his answers. As soon as he left him alone, he stepped away from the crowd and pulled out his phone.
“Trevor, it’s Eric. We’ve got a problem. That Jane Doe you picked up for me this morning?”
“She met your requirements.” Panic raised Trevor’s voice an octave. He was about as useless as a werewolf could be, but at least he followed orders. “I did exactly what you asked.”
“I know, but she got away. I need you to go find her. Now.”
He paused. “Umm…I would, boss. But I’m at work, and if I miss any more shifts, they’ll fire me. Can I go find her this evening?”
“I don’t give a damn if you’re in the middle of open heart surgery, you’ll go find that woman now or I will make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?” He had to get that Jane back before she went around spreading stories about werewolves. The last thing he needed was to have the congress on his back about exposing their kind. And if they ever found out he was trying to turn humans, he’d be a dead man.
Trevor cleared his voice. “Yes, sir. I’ll get right on that.”
“Good.”
He shoved his phone into his pocket and strolled toward the scene. The paramedics loaded Alexis’s body onto a stretcher and covered her head with a sheet. If she hadn’t started breathing by now, there was no way she’d recover.
A pang of regret flashed through his chest, and he winced. He’d miss the blonde bombshell, that was for sure, but he’d miss her healing powers more. That shit would have come in handy. He’d master the art of making a werewolf soon enough, though.
He ran his hand along the small dent in the back of his skull where his dad had hit him with a baseball bat when he was a teen. He’d spent his entire life trying to make that man happy and avoiding the beatings that ensued when he failed. Then the dick wad had banished him to this God-forsaken town to “keep him out of trouble.” He’d show the old man trouble. Once he ran a pack of his own, his dad would have to respect him.
Chapter Three
Bryce parked on the curb in the Central Business District and popped a stick of gum into his mouth as he stepped out of his car. A brisk December breeze tumbled through the streets, stinging his cheeks like the cold slap of an ex-lover. He zipped up his jacket and squinted toward the top of the twelve-story brick building. The structure seemed squat compared to the towers of steel and glass soaring around it, but it was tall enough to be deadly. Shielding his eyes from the sinking sun, he could barely make out the jumper’s silhouette. A heavy-set man balanced on the ledge, his back pressed against the brick.
Bryce strode toward the police tape cordoning off the area and nodded at the officer in charge of crowd control.
The officer returned the nod. “Sergeant.”
“What have we got?”
“Seventeen-year-old male snuck into an empty office,” the uniform replied. “Johnson’s been up there thirty minutes. No luck talking him down.”
Christ, he’s just a kid. “Got a name?”
The officer mumbled into his radio and nodded as the reply came through. “Michael Benson.”
Bryce choked on his gum, the mint burning its way down his throat to sour in his stomach. “Shit.”
“One of yours?”
“My neighbor.” He shoved his way through the crowd that had gathered and jogged into the building. Jabbing the button for the eleventh floor, he twisted his brother’s college ring on his finger and prayed he’d make it up there before the kid did anything stupid.
The elevator doors opened, sending a blast of frigid air into the compartment. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. The drab beige hall stood empty, save for a lone guard standing outside the office doorway. Bryce nodded to the man and stepped inside. Papers lay strewn across the floor, the winter wind having scattered them in its wake. Most modern buildings in the Central Business District didn’t have windows that could open, but this structure was from a time before central AC rendered them obsolete.
“Why don’t you come inside, and we can talk about it?” Lieutenant Able Johnson, lead negotiator, reached a hand toward the kid on the ledge, but Michael scooted farther away.
“I got this, boss.” Bryce waited for Johnson to crawl down from the window before sliding into his place.
Johnson nodded. “Remember. Start gentle. The kid’s scared shitless.”
“Have a little faith.” Bryce had only been in the unit two months, but this was Michael. If anyone could talk the kid down, it was him. He latched on a harness and eased his way out onto the ledge, careful to keep his legs inside the window.
Bound by Blood (Crescent City Wolf Pack Book 3) Page 3
