by Kali Argent
Nodding, she stepped back and stripped out of her sweatshirt, laughing when Rhys growled and moved to shield her nude body from the other males. Before the Purge, her transformation had been almost instantaneous, with only a dull ache at the back of her skull, but the virus had changed everything.
The pain was excruciating. Her bones crunched as they snapped and realigned, her face contorted and lengthened, and her fingers snapped, breaking in several places before swelling out into big, padded paws. When the pain passed, she stood and shook her massive head, clearing the remnants of confusion. Flicking her tail, she butted against Rhys’ thigh, purring when he reached down to scratch behind her ear.
“I should have known you’d be beautiful like this as well.” He winked when her purring sped, increasing in volume. “Now, go.”
After giving him one last nuzzle, she whipped around and darted off across the field, following the sounds of gunfire. The wind breezed across her face and ruffled her fur, the cold exhilarating rather than biting. It had been weeks since she’d been able to shift and run, and she rejoiced in the sense of freedom it gave her. She felt strong and powerful.
She felt invincible.
Paws pounding across the frozen ground, she darted up a grassy knoll and turned on a burst of speed, letting loose a rumbling roar that echoed through the night. The male guards might be bigger than her, but she was faster.
Sprinting through the field, she passed Lynk first, chuckling internally when he growled at her. A few yards later, she sped past the twins, bounded across the open courtyard in front of the art museum, and threw herself into the battle that stretched to the north parking lot of the zoo.
The gunfire slowed as the combatants ran low on ammunition, most already turning to hand-to-hand combat. Shifters prowled through the feuding bodies in their animal forms, cutting down foes, their claws slashing through the air with deadly accuracy. Vampires and werewolves dueled, their movements so fast, she could barely track them.
Twenty feet from her, Joseph Haymaker pointed his gun at the back of a Revenant guard she didn’t know. She’d pegged the enforcer for a bully the moment he’d stepped into the cabin the first night of her captivity, but she hadn’t realized the depths of his cowardice.
With an angry screech, Thea pushed off from the ground, leaping through the air, her front legs extended in front of her. Her claws found their target, sinking into the enforcer’s back as she dragged him to the ground. Rolling to the side, she landed on her feet and prowled in a semi-circle, watching, waiting for her opening.
Clumsy and reacting with anger instead of skill, Haymaker whirled toward her, teeth bared, and lunged, trying to tackle her. Thea skirted left, chuffing when he fell face down into a pile of snow. Staggering back to his feet, his face red, his eyes bulging, he dove at her again. This time, she swatted at his cheek as he fell to the grass.
“I’m going to rip your goddamn head off and mount it on my wall!” Scrambling sideways, he fumbled with his left pant leg, pulling a pocket pistol from his ankle holster.
Thea froze when he swung toward her, the barrel pointed directly at her head. She was fast, but not that fast. Her fight or flight instinct fired on overdrive, and with nowhere to flee, she crouched low and prepared to attack.
A shot rang out, and she flinched backwards, but there was no pain, no blood.
Stumbling, the enforcer stared down at his chest and wheezed. The grip on his gun faltered, relaxed, and the weapon fell to the grass with a quiet thud, the werewolf tumbling down after it.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to play with your food?” The guard she’d saved from being shot in the back stood behind her, his gun still pointed at the werewolf.
Thea imagined rolling her eyes at him but settled for a grunt. She lowered her head in thanks, then dashed back out into the fray. She had an alpha to find.
Bodies lay scattered across the field, some wounded, some dead, most of them werewolves from what she could tell. Slinking through the battle, she kept her head up, sniffing…searching. She stopped to help where she could, taking down one enforcer before he could open the throat of a fellow Revenant guard.
She didn’t see or smell any sign of Alpha Chase.
At the edge of the fight, three SUVs pulled to a stop, the flare of their headlights shining out over the field. Deidra and Roux jumped out of the nearest, hurrying back up the hill toward the museum. They disappeared into the shadows, returning moments later with several pack members who’d clearly decided they weren’t willing to die for their deranged alpha. Thea recognized the female from the café who’d given her coffee. An average-looking male ran beside her, his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, and she guessed him to be her mate.
Deke waited by the SUV, ushering the wolves inside while maintaining a close watch on the battle for signs of encroaching danger. Irati slid out of the driver’s door of the second vehicle, leaving it hanging open as he ran into the battle, gun drawn, eyes alert.
Rhys and Luca exited the remaining SUV, their movements more reserved, their gazes cautious. Her mate came directly to her, dispatching a werewolf with a single blow as if the male had been made of nothing but dust. There, he dropped to one knee and smiled. The hands that had just doled out such violence cradled her face gently, and he bent his head to rest his brow against hers.
“Did you find him?”
The fur along her spine stood on end, and she hissed.
“We will,” Rhys promised. “He’s not going to get away with this.”
“You bitch!” a familiar, feminine voice squealed from behind her. “You’ve ruined everything!”
Thea looked up, eyes wide, watching as Kara’s clawed hand swept toward her face.
“Now, is that any way for a lady to behave?” Luca taunted, catching Kara’s arm in its downward stroke. His lips parted again, but he froze, his gaze fixated on her wrist. “Where did you get this?” Jerking her arm up, twisting it at an unnatural angle, he tore the thin, silver bracelet from her wrist and shook it at her. “Tell me where the fuck you got this!”
Thea recognized the amber charms that dangled from the delicate chain, had seen them a hundred times. It pissed her off that the female had it, that she’d even touched it, but she didn’t know why the hell Luca cared so much. It wasn’t as if he even knew Abby.
Kara stared back at him defiantly, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She betrayed her next move by flexing her shoulder, and when she swung at Luca with her free hand, he ducked it easily and shoved her away. The female just didn’t know when to quit, though.
Pulling a dagger from a loop on her waist band, she roared as she drove forward, swinging the blade wildly. With a sigh, Luca stepped to the side, grabbed her wrist, and wrapped his arms around her from behind, redirecting the blade directly into her heart.
“I really didn’t want to do that.” Carefully, he lowered Kara’s limp body to the ground and shook his head. “Go,” he told Thea and Rhys. “Find the alpha. I want this done.”
He stomped off into the fight, head down, Abby’s bracelet still clutched between his fingers.
Thea wouldn’t exactly mourn the loss of Kara Chase, but she understood what the captain had meant. The female hadn’t needed to die. She could have walked away. Even if Luca had rendered her unconscious, they didn’t have the means or the authority to arrest her, and if they let her go, she would have just taken her fury out on someone else, another innocent.
War was Hell.
Thea dropped her head and swung her sleek body around, but Rhys touched her back, stopping her. Sitting back on her haunches, she stared up at him, watching as he scanned their surroundings. The battle was drawing to a close, most of the pack either dead or having escaped with Deidra and Roux. A few of the enforcers knelt in a line, their hands behind their heads, while guards stood watch over them. Maybe the rest of the pack wasn’t as crazy as their alpha after all.
“Brick won’t be here. He’s too selfish for that.�
� Rhys shuffled around in a slow circle. “He’d want to watch, but not be in the crosshairs.”
They were running out of time. Alpha Chase might want to watch the carnage, but when the fight ended, he wouldn’t stick around for long.
“The KC guys shut down the security cameras when they came in, so he’d have to be close.” Stopping, Rhys cocked his head to the side, his eyes narrowed. “There.” He pointed to the second-story roof of the museum. “Let’s go.”
Charging back up the hill, Thea pulled ahead of her mate, passing the giant statue in the courtyard, and hurdled up the front steps to the entrance. Forgetting she didn’t have opposable thumbs in her current form, she snarled at the offending door, scratching at the wood with her claws until Rhys arrived.
He smirked when he pulled the door open, but she didn’t wait to see if he’d say something witty. Claws clicking across the linoleum, she hurried into the empty atrium, slinking through the dark to the service stairwell near the welcome desk.
Again, she had to wait for Rhys to open the door for her.
“Maybe we should stick together,” he suggested.
She was already gone, taking the steps three at a time to the second-floor landing, where she paced while waiting once more for her mate.
Rhys knew he shouldn’t laugh, but he couldn’t help it. “You are so stubborn.” Footstep beyond the door drew his attention, and he flattened himself against the wall, motioning for Thea to do the same. “He’s coming.”
The door swung open, and Alpha Bricksten Chase hurried through it, right into Rhys’ waiting grip. Tightening his fingers around the male’s throat, Rhys spun them around, slamming his former alpha against the wall.
“You have a lot to answer for, Brick.”
“Go ahead,” the alpha challenged, his throat constricting beneath Rhys’ hand. “Even if you kill me, this won’t stop. They own everything.”
“Who?” he demanded. “The Abraxas coven?”
Behind him, his mate paced, growling and chuffing, clearly impatient with the conversation. Rhys had the distinct impression that had he not been blocking her way to the alpha, Bricksten Chase would already be dead.
“They have dozens of packs working for them,” the alpha said in answer, clearly more afraid of the coven than the immediate threat of death. “You’ll never find them all, and you’ll never stop them.”
Rhys pulled the alpha forward, then slammed him back against the wall with a dull thud. “Tell me why. What did they promise you?”
“Oceanfront property.” Bricksten grinned sardonically. “You’re not going to kill me, Rhys. You never had the stomach for it.”
Preoccupied by what he’d learned, by the implications of what it would mean if there was any truth to the information, Rhys didn’t see the wolf’s hand move until it was too late. He jerked back, twisting to the side, but he didn’t move fast enough.
The deafening sound of gunfire resonated throughout the stairwell.
White-hot pain seared through Rhys’ shoulder, and he stumbled backwards from the impact of the bullet. Disoriented, he lost his balance and crashed to the ground, sending a new kind of pain ripping through his wound. At his side instantly, Thea hissed and snarled, her lips pulled back and her ears flattened against her skull. She coiled her powerful body, her front paws clawing at the floor.
Smirking, the alpha turned his weapon on Thea, his finger curled around the trigger. “It was fun while it lasted, but it’s time to say goodnight, kitten.”
Reacting purely on rage, Rhys roared and dove forward, wrapping his arms around the male’s legs as he twisted his torso to the side and jerked upward. Yelling, arms flailing, Bricksten flipped over Rhys’ shoulder, sailing into the dark stairwell behind him.
The wolf’s head cracked against the railing, and he dropped his weapon, sending the pistol skidding across the tiles as he flipped and rolled to the bottom of the stairs. He landed with a snap, his neck bent at an odd angle, and he didn’t move again.
Rhys couldn’t detect a heartbeat, but he still growled when Thea crept down the steps to sniff at the body. Once satisfied, she returned to the upper landing, a loud purr rumbling in her chest as she rubbed her head against his cheek, his neck, and his uninjured arm.
“I’m okay, angel.” The hole in his shoulder hurt like hell, but it had been a clean shot, straight through. “It’s already healing.” When she lapped her rough tongued over his jaw, he laughed and pushed at her playfully. “Knock it off. I’m injured here.”
Crouching, the big cougar groaned, its fur receding, limbs stretching, body transforming, until finally, Thea knelt on the floor beside him, gasping and panting. A sheen of perspiration coated her caramel skin, and her long hair fell in tangled waves around her face. The marks from his claiming bite had healed into small, white scars, a testament to anyone who met her that she was taken.
Rhys still felt bad about the way he’d claimed her, but he didn’t regret it. She was his, and now, everyone would know it.
“I can’t believe that asshole shot you.”
He arched a brow at her. “Really? After everything he did, you can’t believe he shot me?”
“Okay, that was stupid.” Crawling to him, she caressed his face with her fingertips. “How are you feeling?” She paused, pursed her lips, and shook her head. “Okay, that was dumb, too.”
He didn’t heal as quickly as he had before the virus, but the pain had already lessened. At the very least, he could breathe without wanting to rip his arm off or vomit, so he considered that a good start.
“We did it, angel. We’re free.”
“Do you think he was telling the truth? Do you think there are more packs that are kidnapping people for this vampire coven?”
“I do.” There had been no reason for the alpha to lie about that. “I don’t think that’s our biggest problem, though.”
“The Abraxas coven.”
Rhys nodded, but forgot what he’d been about to say. Damn, his mate was gorgeous, and all of her smooth, soft skin on display distracted the hell out of him. She couldn’t walk back outside like that, not without him committing murder.
“We need to find you some clothes.”
“Hello?” Deke yelled, his voice ringing through the stairwell. “Rhys? Thea? You up there?”
“We’re here,” Thea called back. “Did you bring clothes?”
“On it.” Sidestepping the body on the landing with a wrinkle of her nose, Roux rushed up the remaining steps, a stack of black fabric folded in her hands. “Deidra saw you head this way, then we heard the shot.” She pushed the clothes into Thea’s hands. “You know, being mated to a shifter is weird. I never realized it would involve so much nudity.”
Thea just chuckled as she pulled on the borrowed pants, and buttoned them. She donned the shirt next, pushing the long sleeves up to her elbows and flipping her hair out from beneath the collar. Dressed, she stared down at her bare toes and shrugged.
“Thanks, Roux. I owe you one.”
“They’re just clothes, and they aren’t even mine.” The female nodded down at Rhys’ shoulder. “Are you okay to move?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Can I come up, or is Thea still naked?” Deke asked.
“All clear, Captain.” The corners of Thea’s lips twitched as she offered her hand, helping Rhys to his feet. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” He loved that she cared enough to worry, but there was no need. “A kiss would probably make it better, though.”
Rolling her eyes, Thea arched up and pecked his lips. “Better?”
“Always.”
“You guys are adorable, but we really need to go.” Stopping on the top stair just below the landing, Deke jerked his head to the side. “All that gunfire is bound to draw attention, and we don’t want to be here to see who comes calling.”
He made a damn good point. Raiders, Hunters, Ravagers—all would be drawn to that level of noise, and Rhys didn’t want to be the
re to greet them when they came. Holding his injured arm pressed tight to his body, he followed his mate down the stairs to the main lobby, laughing when she held the door open for him this time. Then they slipped out into the night and jogged across the courtyard to the waiting SUVs.
“Where is everyone else?” Rhys scanned the vehicles, surprised to see only Deidra and Irati waiting for them.
“The group from Valley Falls took off with refugees from the pack not long ago. We’ll round up everyone else and meet them there.” Curling her shoulders inward, Roux stared down at her toes. “Uh, the KC guys are dealing with the Ravagers back at the maze.”
“We can’t let them go.” Tucking his mate against his side, Deke blew out a long breath through his lips. “It doesn’t feel right to just leave them there to starve, though. It was a tough call, and I’m glad I didn’t have to make it.” He looked Rhys in the eyes, his expression guarded. “Deidra told me about your mom. I’m sorry for my part.”
Sadness still welled inside him when he thought of his mother, but he no longer felt anger. Deke had reacted to protect his mate, and Rhys couldn’t fault him for that, not when he’d do whatever it took to keep Thea safe. Besides, he’d lost his mother that night in the woods seven months ago, and it was time to finally let her go.
Extending his hand, he nodded when Deke took it in a brief shake. “We’re cool, man.”
“Guys?” Deidra lifted a hand over her head and twirled it at the wrist. “Load up. We really need to go.”
Rhys and Thea climbed into the back of one of the vehicles while Deke slid behind the wheel, Roux strapped into the passenger seat beside him. As they drove out of the city that had been his home for his entire life, Rhys reached across the middle seat and took Thea’s hand. He loved St. Louis, and he had many fond memories from his childhood, but he never wanted to step foot in the city again.
“What are we going to do about the coven?”
Twisting away from the window, Rhys slid his mate across the seat, wrapping her in his arms so that her head rested on his chest. “I think that’s a problem for tomorrow, angel.”
