He growled low in his throat. Talons leapt free of his fingertips, and he plunged them into the prey that squirmed on the end of the knife-like tips, which were as sharp as finely honed razors. He cut its throat with his dominant left hand and caught the lifeblood as it sprayed from the death slice. When the creature's life hung from a string, he sliced the body open, neck to crotch. The steaming entrails became his next feast.
He fed.
Satisfied, he flung the corpse in the pile in the corner of the metal room.
The food settled and began to work its magic on his body, his senses springing to life, his sense of smell the most keen of all.
A dim memory was upon him, and he felt compelled to move. He did, as dropping to the ground, he reversed his wolf into his human form again. His hands bit the ground, and he allowed his body to assume a plank-like position. He raised and lowered himself until he lost count, and the rivulets of sweat ran off his face and pooled beneath him.
*
When the female returned to collect his dead meals, their eyes met, and she looked away. He was above her. Even he understood that. She was behind a partition that was made of a clear substance.
His mind knew from somewhere before that it was called acrylic. It was two feet thick. Even he couldn't overcome its strength.
He was very strong now. He smelled the fear on the female through the holes that were drilled like Swiss cheese in the clear wall.
When he lifted his nose to scent her, he caught another scent, very faint.
It caused the wolf that rippled underneath his human flesh to roar to the surface in a grinding purge that blew his body apart, skin and tendons tearing in a sickeningly painful mesh of wolf and human flesh.
His half form emerged, seven feet tall and covered with a deep wine-colored coat of fur. In the light of day, it would have looked like the sun had set on his back.
He howled. The scent of the female was one he knew.
He despaired.
He rushed the partition, his talons scraping the acrylic where deep grooves appeared like quartz scars on its surface.
The female backed away. Soon, she would run outside the door and close the bolt that barred entry—and escape.
The werewolf howled and bayed until his voice box no longer cooperated.
The female covered her ears and ran away, hot tears beating a burning trail down a face that held but one expression: shame.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Julia undressed and stepped into the shower, the hot spray hitting her body, the aches lessened but the headache remaining.
There was absolutely no peace as Adriana kept talking while she bathed. Thank God for opaque glass.
“You're probably wondering why I can't be somewhere else while you're de-scuzzing.”
Actually, Julia totally was wondering that.
“Gotta keep an eye on you. The boys are all frothing at the mouth about you escaping. Like that's even remotely possible. Duh.” Julia could feel Adriana rolling her eyes.
Julia rinsed her hair and body, eyeing the razor. She'd have loved to do a full groom. Now wasn't the time, though. How could she even give a crap about shaving when a pack of werewolves were sniffing around? Julia guessed that she was getting used to her strange life.
It made her want to cry again.
Just as she thought she might lose it, a skinny arm stuck a towel through the shower curtain.
“For your hair,” Adriana said.
Hmmm. Julia wrapped her head in the towel and stepped out, naked.
Adriana tossed a second towel into her hand, walked to the vanity, and busied herself with getting the necessities out: toothbrush, paste, floss, comb.
Julia patted dry and wrapped herself in a towel that had been washed with the same detergent Aunt Lily used. She bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying again, the taste of copper filling her mouth.
She widened her eyes to keep the tears from falling.
Adriana turned with a grin. It dropped like a sack of stones when she saw Julia's expression. “You're not gonna start bawling or something? Like, right now? Because I'm not equipped for female sniveling.”
That stopped Julia's tears and made her grin despite herself.
“Good. You had me worried.”
Julia said, “You don't seem very…”
“Werewolfy?” Adriana asked with a sarcastic lilt to her voice.
Julia nodded. “Yeah, that.”
“Well, what did you expect anyway? All shaggy mutts howling at the moon or some shit like that?” Her hand held her hip and eyebrows rose to her hairline. She was ready to fight.
She is hell on wheels. “I didn't know. I just woke up.” She shrugged. It was impossible to explain.
Adriana smiled. “It's okay. You'll get used to me. It's the boys you'll have to keep an eye on. You're like their bitch in heat.”
So subtle, too. Hell.
Adriana saw her expression. “Nah, it's not that bad. Can't you feel her?”
“Feel who?”
“The moon, silly. She's not full. You're safe till then.” Her eyes became warm, the brown fading to a molten chocolate, and Julia saw the wolf underneath her human flesh.
It was disconcerting as hell.
Julia knew she shouldn't ask. She did anyway. “Ah, what happens then?”
“Nothing special. My brother and a bunch of other wolves will fight to the death to mate with you.”
Julia's hand flung out and grabbed the vanity to steady her sudden vertigo. The other hand clamped onto the knotted towel at her breast.
“Are you okay?”
No. I am definitely not okay. She started a slow stagger that led to falling.
The wisp of a werewolf caught her and looked down on her with a flicker of compassion. Just as Julia was sucked into unconsciousness, she heard Adriana say, “We're gonna have to toughen you up.”
Julia's eyes fluttered closed, and she slept dreamlessly and deep.
*
Were
They looked down at Julia as she slept. New jammie bottoms had replaced the others, which were dirty.
“How'd she do?” Joseph asked his sister, resisting the urge to tuck her dark-blonde hair behind her ear the way he'd done when she was a whelpling.
She wouldn't appreciate it. He smiled at his reflection.
Adriana looked up at him and scowled. “Obviously, great! She fainted when I glossed over the mating ritual.”
“Glossed over?” Tony asked.
She waved her hand around. “I just mentioned, yʼknow, you guys were gonna fight to the death over her and she'd be with one of ya. No. Big. Deal.” Adriana put her hands on her hips, daring them to contradict her logic.
Tony's mouth opened and closed and Joseph put his a palm on his forehead and scrubbed his face.
“What?” she all but shrieked.
Julia turned, moaning in her sleep.
“See! She's gonna be fine. Better to have radical honesty, guys. You should try it sometime. Works like a charm with the chicks.”
“Yeah, I see that!” Tony said, clearly pissed.
Joseph knew it had been a mistake to have his sister be the first one who greeted the Rare One.
*
Julia opened her eyes and saw two men standing over her bed. She scuttled into the corner where the wall met one side of the headboard. She clutched the sheet and hoped for some handy telekinesis. And why the hell hadn't that come when she needed it last night as the tranquilizer darts flew? She winced where she'd bitten the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.
No worry over tears right anymore. She was pissed instead.
“Who are you?” Julia ground out, her voice hoarse, her body tensed.
Adriana grinned. “See? She's just fine. You jackasses got off on the wrong footing, and now you're gonna have to romance her,” Adriana finished, supremely satisfied with herself.
Julia and the two werewolves glared at Adriana from separate corners.
�
��Fine!” she fumed. “You guys can figure it out on your own. Good luck with that!” Adriana took a look at Julia, shook her head, and marched out the door, slamming it off its hinges on the way out.
The one who seemed to be in charge, who looked a little like Adriana, cringed when the wood slapped together with a resounding thwack.
“That, ah…” he began.
“Nice family,” Julia said.
The larger werewolf laughed. Julia looked at him, and his smile faded.
She was acutely aware of being in a bedroom, wearing nothing but a cami and jammie bottoms, with two men she knew to be werewolves. She pulled the sheet up higher, clutching it underneath her chin.
The first man—probably Adriana's brother—watched when she moved into the corner defensively. He seemed distressed about it.
“Julia,” he started and then abruptly stopped. “Let's get some food.”
“Yeah, okay. Just as soon as you gents get out of this room and let me get dressed.” Her eyes searched theirs, the one that hadn't said much giving her pause. He was a big guy even without being a werewolf. Julia was guessing he had a foot and over a hundred pounds on her. There was something in his eyes—the predator never really left them, she decided. She was going to keep him—all of them—in her sights, for sure.
They left the room, and Julia ran over to the door and slid the bolt to lock it. Like that's going to be any help. She took her hand away. It had a slight tremor.
Julia spied some clothes on a lone chair in the corner and pulled the drape as she passed in front of the window, shutting the forest from sight.
Her head snapped up a few seconds later when a plaintive howl sounded.
It pierced her gut. There was something so sad about it. Tears actually flooded her eyes at the mournful call.
What was wrong with her? She shook it off with difficulty.
Julia dressed. She moved toward the door and put the flat of her palm against the wood, calming her wildly beating heart. She pressed her forehead to the wood for a moment, closing her eyes tight, her mind touching on William and just as quickly shoving the thought away.
He couldn't help her now.
She slid the bolt back, opened the door, and walked out of the sanctuary into the unknown.
*
He knew the routine and would bide his time. They assumed that he was crazy. They were right. But he was also determined. He had something worth escaping for. He now knew so much more than he had, the memories of others a part of the fabric of who he was now, centuries of genetic thought processes and experiences crowding his skull.
They kept him in this holding cell to study him. They fed him, allowed him to kill, and forced him to exercise and maintain a standard of hygiene.
Not that he cared.
He had died that night.
Now he waited to be reborn.
The feral watched the lock turn, and three of his kind came inside. They came in greater numbers than before, since he had taken the head of one of them.
“Time for your bath, feral,” the larger of the three said without compassion.
That would be the first of them he would kill, he thought with satisfaction. His patience had become its own force to be reckoned with. Soon, they would taste it. He repressed a low growl, some of it escaping like a breeze in the quiet room.
*
Joseph looked at the feral warily, his eyes flicking to Tony's. “It's not helpful to call him ʻferal,ʼ and you know it. He can't help what he is any more than you can. Now, let's herd him in there and get it over with. And be careful.” Joseph eyed the wolf in front of them. While big in human form, he was huge as a wolf and was one of the rare reds. It was a shame that he couldn't be part of the pack. But he'd been turned, not born. That branded him other in the pack's eyes. He had all the benefits of the Were but without the protection of the den at his back. He was an anomaly—and feral. His mind was nearly gone.
Who could blame him?
Tony snorted a laugh. “He is not Alpha to me!” He rolled his big shoulders in a muscular shrug of irritation that would have been impressive, but next to the huge red wolf, it just wasn't.
“Are you sure?”
Tony looked at the rare red Were that stood in front of him, spinning emerald eyes laying an unspoken challenge at his feet. He thought he was Alpha enough, those eyes said. Tony flicked a glance at his Alpha. He wasn't sure, but he sure wanted to test the theory—sooner rather than later.
Instead, Tony threw a palm out at the large walk-in shower meant to accommodate all things not human.
The feral allowed his shape to melt into human form again with so seamless a transition that Joseph sighed.
He and Tony looked at the feral with envy.
The moon did not rule his Change—only theirs.
*
Julia
Julia let her legs swing back and forth as she pushed scrambled eggs around on a plate with big blue flowers on it. The cook, or mom-of-everyone, started to chatter again but Julia was only half-listening.
“Eat up now, hun. Keep your strength up!” She busied herself, wiping her practical hands—toughened by a thousand meals cooked and ten thousand dishes cleaned—off on her apron. She plopped her elbows on the breakfast bar opposite Julia. “Dontcha like what I made you?”
Julia did like the food, but her appetite wasn't top-notch—not by a long shot. Let's recap, Julia thought. Husband killed almost two years ago. Best friend gone. Taken by crazy vampires because I'm some kind of genetic prodigy. Check. Then kidnapped by crazier werewolves.
Please eat and exchange pleasantries.
Riggghhht.
She was so into that.
Not.
But she made small talk anyway. “I do… like it. I'm just a little tired after the whole getting kidnapped thing. That'll make hunger…” She trailed off, and Maggie picked up the thread of her thoughts easily. “Unimportant?”
Julia quirked her eyebrows.
Maggie smiled.
“Oh, right. Yeah, I guess.” Julia forced another bite in her mouth, everything tasting the same.
Adriana stalked in and grabbed a couple of grapes from a fruit bowl, popping them inside her mouth. Chewing vigorously, she said, “Hey Maggie, what's for breakfast?”
Maggie slapped her hand as she went for more fruit. “Good for you, but you need some protein in your craw. You know the routine.”
Adriana glared at Maggie and she glared right back.
Interesting dynamics with the werewolves, Julia thought, remembering how civilized everything was with the vampires. With the Were, everyone was passionate, yelling, and boisterous, hitting each other… different.
Julia thought about it more. She had almost forgotten the bloodletting episode with the vampires.
That hadn't been civilized. She repressed a shudder. Julia watched the girl and the older woman circle each other warily, and she resisted the urge to push away from the bar and get out of the way.
“Sit your rear end down and stuff some breakfast down your pipe before the men come. They'll clean everything out, you know.”
Adriana parked her butt next to Julia's, sullen. “Okay.”
“Humph!” Maggie said, ladling a plate with twice as much as she'd given Julia and sliding it across to Adriana.
She dug in with gusto. When half the plate of food was put away, Adriana caught Julia staring.
“What?” she asked, shoveling in more food.
“It's just… so much food…” Julia began, looking at her own barely eaten breakfast.
She shrugged a slender shoulder. “Gotta fuel up. Eat more as the moon waxes.”
Julia cocked a brow.
“You know—” slurp, gulp, “—getting bigger?” She looked at Julia as if she were mildly retarded.
“I understand what a waxing moon means,” Julia said, insulted despite herself.
“Well, thank God. I was starting to really worry about you!” she said, giving Maggie a significant look
. Maggie nodded back.
What? She wondered if they thought she was dumb or something. Julia frowned as the two werewolves from before came into the kitchen.
Julia did get up then. She backed up against the wall closest to the door she had used to enter the kitchen.
Their eyes flicked to hers, and she did not miss the subtle flare of their nostrils.
That was a creepiness factor of about one thousand.
They were scenting her.
Her eyes met Adriana's, and she smirked then added, as if Julia needed clarity, “Bitch in heat, baby, bitch in heat.”
Nice. Julia flattened herself even harder against the wall.
Adriana's brother glared, and Adriana blithely ignored him, gulping some more orange juice and stabbing a sausage that was impaled on the tines of her fork.
While the one werewolf smoldered at Adriana, the other stared at Julia, his eyes boring into hers.
She shifted uncomfortably underneath that gaze.
His eyes weren't right.
*
Tony watched the Rare One with barely contained ownership. She'd have to bow to him. He would be Alpha to her. He didn't care what Lawrence said. Maybe he was Alpha enough to take him, but the Packmaster didn't get to play in the sandbox. Tony's lips curled in a predatory smile. The bitch Rare One would free him of his status in the pack. He would be able to change at will, the moon nothing to him. No pull, no more domination. He could taste the freedom that she'd provide. And all that bullshit about honoring Singers? That was for the old ways.
It was going to be his way.
Tony looked at her again and saw that she interpreted some of what he was thinking from the expression in his eyes. He hooded his gaze and looked away. Better not to let her in on my plan. As it was, Joseph was Alpha enough to understand what he wanted.
Tony hated looking away from her first. He didn't want to give her the impression that her gaze was dominant to his.
After all, she was a weak female. She was of rare blood, but female nonetheless.
*
Julia backed farther against the wall. The look the big Were gave her scared her. She saw Adriana catch the glance between the two and shoot her arm out in a sucker punch that landed expertly in Tony's solar plexus.
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