by Bec McMaster
The pain shot straight up her jaw, toward her ear. Another blow – a chop of his hand – cut toward her throat, and she caught it somehow, deflecting the main thrust of it. The blow still slammed her head back. All she could see was sky, and then she was on the ground on her back.
“Colton!”
She blinked as the howl of utter rage swept through the alley. Then there was a blur of movement and Wade was there, shoving Colton against the wall, his expression a mask of fury and long, sharp teeth bared in his opponent’s face.
Not fully human.
Lily screamed as the men grappled. Riley tried to sit up, her face aching. Colton threw Wade across the alley with remarkable ease, then swooped to pick up the pistol she’d dropped. He pointed it coolly at Wade just as McClain shoved around the corner.
The gun didn’t waver. Colton turned it on McClain and pulled the trigger.
“Shit!” Riley scrambled across the ground as McClain went down.
McClain coughed, blood spattering across his face, his eyes wide and panicked. Blood soaked his black shirt and Riley tore at it, trying to see the damage. “Eden!” she screamed as bare flesh met her gaze. And blood. Lots of it. Shoving her hand over the hole in his chest, she looked around desperately. “Somebody help me!”
Behind her, Wade rolled to his feet. Riley watched helplessly as Colton grabbed Lily and yanked her back against him. This time, he put the muzzle to her forehead. Wade froze and Riley stilled. Beneath her hand, she could feel McClain’s heart thumping in his chest, wetness leeching out over her hands, but the world seemed suddenly silent.
“Back away,” Colton said coolly. “I don’t wish to hurt her, but I will.”
“Let her go.” Wade held his hands up, still in a half-crouch.
“Cane wants her.”
“Don’t,” Wade said shortly. “Don’t do this. You know what he’ll do to her.”
Colton’s dark eyes narrowed slightly. “He wants you. You have three days to come for her. I’ll keep her safe until then, you have my word.”
“Fuck your word,” Wade snarled, taking a step forward.
The gun shifted to him. “My advice is to heal. And quickly.” Then Colton lowered the gun and shot Wade in the knee.
Riley flinched as Wade went down. He arched on the dirt, teeth ground together in pain as he curled over his knee. She looked down, but blood was pumping through her fingers, and McClain’s pupils were starting to dilate. She couldn’t leave him. Wade would live.
Colton nodded shortly at her, “Don’t do anything foolish.” Then he swung the frightened girl gently over his shoulder and disappeared.
“Oh, shit.” Eden staggered around the corner, falling to her knees beside Riley. “What happened?” She tugged Riley’s hands aside, then shoved her own over the wound. “Damn it. Damn it. Adam,” she called. “Don’t you dare!” Her eyes were wild as she turned on Riley. “I need my medical bag!” she screamed.
The world was chaos. McClain’s men pushed past, rifles raised. Riley pointed them after Colton, then met Wade’s gaze. Pain twisted his features as he dragged himself into a sitting position against the wall, panting hard.
“Get her bag,” Wade gasped.
Fourteen
THE KNEE CAP was shattered.
Riley bit her lip and leaned over his leg, dragging the light closer. Wade sucked in a sharp breath as she probed at the wound. This needed Eden’s attention, but at the moment it wasn’t going to get it. They’d dragged McClain into the surgery, and the doctor was hastily working on her brother. Colton had shot to kill, and the bullet was lodged deep in his chest, having nicked the heart. He shouldn’t have been alive. He very nearly wasn’t. But nobody had the guts to tell Eden that.
Riley’s heart clenched. She’d faced the same dilemma days ago when the man she loved lay still and bloodless on the table in front of her. “Why isn’t McClain healing?” she whispered.
Wade looked exhausted. “McClain’s men pack silver-tips,” he said quietly. “His body can’t heal while the bullet’s still inside him.”
“And?” She looked up. “There was an ‘and’ on the end of that.”
His blue eyes locked on hers. “By that stage, it will probably be too late.”
The thought made her feel ill. “If you gave him your blood—”
“It’s not the blood loss that’s killing him.” Wade flinched as her tweezers slipped. “Give them here. You need to dig in and get the bullet out instead of playing with it.”
“I’m not playing with it,” she snapped, though the idea of digging inside his knee made bile rise in her throat.
He knelt over his leg. “Hold the fabric of my jeans out of the way.” When Riley obeyed, he took a deep breath, then shoved the tweezers into the gaping hole in his knee.
“Jesus,” she muttered, licking her lips as her stomach rebelled.
Sweat stained his face as he felt around. His lips quivered, and a small gasp escaped him as he pulled the bullet slowly from the wound. It was whole, though badly crushed, and he tossed both the tweezers and the bullet aside carelessly before collapsing back on the bed.
“Fuck,” he said breathlessly, raking his hands back through his hair. The muscle in his abdomen twitched as his shirt rode up, and she could see the toll pain had taken on him.
“Its okay,” she whispered, stroking a hand through his hair. “You got it all. You got—”
“It’s not okay,” he snapped. It was the first time he’d even remotely referred to Lily since the incident in the alley. His eyes closed, and he trembled. “Give me a minute. Then get me a crutch. And a gun.”
Riley’s hand stilled. “You’re not going after him tonight. You can barely move.”
Those luminous eyes opened, and she saw the mixture of pain and fear there. “I failed her once,” he said, and light shimmered off the suspicious wetness in his eyes. “I am not going to fail her again.”
“You never failed her,” Riley protested, but he cut it off with a sharp jerk of the hand.
“I walked away,” he said. “I left her and her mother alone without protection. I won’t ever forgive myself for that, Riley.” He dragged a trembling hand over his eyes. “I feel like I’ve made a lifetime of fucking mistakes, one after the other.”
She could see this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Lips thinning, she sat up, reaching for the bottle of iodine and a bandage. The knee would heal itself better than any doctoring she attempted on it. “Tell me about Cane,” she said. “Tell me why you’re so afraid of him getting his hands on Lily.”
He sucked in a ragged breath and visibly shuddered. “Cane’s an evil man. I’ve seen some of the things he’s done, Riley. If he sets you in his sights, he doesn’t stop until he’s torn apart your whole world. Colton tries to rein him in, but it’s like trying to control a rattlesnake.” Letting out a breath, he turned his head toward her, eyes stark. “He’ll hurt her, Riley. Just to prove that he can. Just to hurt me. I have to get her back before it’s too late. I swear, if he touches her—”
Anguish tore through her, and she slid her fingers through his. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”
Wade stilled. “We?”
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to let you go after them alone?”
He rose onto his elbows. “No way. You’re not coming. If Cane gets his hands on you—”
“He’ll do nothing that he won’t do to Lily,” she snapped. “He’s got at least two other wargs with him, and who knows how many reivers. You’re not thinking clearly. You need help. Go in alone, and you’re only going to get yourself caught, or killed.” She squeezed his hand. "Then what happens to Lily?"
“No.” Something hot and possessive burned in his gaze, and his fingers clenched hers back. He shook his head. “No, Riley. No. One man can get in and out alone. The same way Colton did.”
Riley poured a capful of iodine over a piece of linen. “How are you going to fight with Lily there? She might need to be carried.” W
hat she didn’t add was, She might also be frightened of you.
His lips thinned. Riley didn’t let him speak, just gently swiped the iodine over his knee. With a hiss, he sucked his tongue between his teeth.
“And you’re not going anywhere until you can stand,” she warned. “Let alone fighting three wargs. You’re an idiot.”
“I don’t have a choice,” he snapped, glancing toward the open door to the surgery. “McClain can’t back me up. Even if he would.”
“You know he would,” she shot back, sliding the bandage under his knee. She’d cut his jeans open horizontally, and the pieces flapped around his muscular calf. “And you don’t need McClain. You have me. If we gather some of his men—”
“They’ll shoot me the second I give them my back,” he muttered.
Riley slowly wound the cotton bandage around his knee, then clipped it in place. He was right, of course; she’d had to stop one of the men from shooting him in the alley when he was down. “We’ll deal with that when we get there.”
“We are not going anywhere,” he said between his teeth. “Here, help me up.”
“You need to rest.”
“Either you help,” he told her, “or I’ll do it myself.”
Riley cursed and slid a shoulder under his arm. She helped him sit up, gently easing his leg over the side of the hospice bed. “Don’t push yourself. You need to let that heal, or you won’t be much use to anyone.”
“I need to shift,” he muttered.
Riley met his eyes, but he dropped his gaze. “I heal quickly in this form, but something in the shift regenerates the body. I’ll be able to walk by morning.”
When the moon no longer rode through his blood, forcing the beast to the surface.
He finally looked up, light gleaming off the silvery shine of his eyes. “I need a warg cage, Riley. And I need you to watch my back for the night. Make sure nobody takes it into his head to get rid of me while I can’t protect myself.”
“And in the morning, you’ll let me come along with you?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Another muttered curse. But that one sounded like defeat.
Riley smiled. “I’ll watch your back,” she promised.
* * *
The door of the warg cage clanged shut. Wade limped toward the center, a shudder running through his large body. He could feel Riley’s eyes on him, but he didn’t want to turn and look at her. It was hard enough doing this in front of her. If he didn’t think someone would put a bullet in his head while he was trapped, he’d have never allowed it.
There were no windows in the room, but he didn’t need one. The moon was rising. He could feel it in his blood, a shiver under the skin. A burning itch. Yanking the black shirt over his head, he tossed it through the bars and started working on his belt. The jeans were destroyed. No point bothering to remove them.
The itch spread, as if it knew exactly what was going through his mind. As his hand closed over the cool pewter of the charm, he flinched. A long time since he’d voluntarily removed it. Entrusting it to someone else for the night was the craziest thing he’d ever done, but he knew bone-deep that Riley would never betray him.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
He jerked his head in a nod, then slid the charm over his head. “If I get out, then make sure you shoot me.”
“I will.”
And he knew she would. He trusted her to do it in a way he’d trust no one else. With a sigh, he reached through the bars and held the charm out.
Soft footsteps crossed the floor. Already the itch was growing unbearable, as if ready to boil over his skin. Wade met her eyes. “Take the charm, and get as far across the room as you can. No matter what I say or do, don’t come close to the cage. I’ll be quicker than you, and you don’t know how far I can reach when I want to.”
The candlelight warmed the soft blonde halo of her hair. Riley gave him a shaky smile. “I know what to do,” she said, the shotgun over her shoulder. Her fingers hesitated over the charm though.
“Take it,” he said sharply. The fever was rising in his blood. He didn’t think he could hold off much longer.
“Just one last thing,” she whispered, and reached up on her toes to kiss him.
The shock of her hot mouth made him flinch. How could she do this, knowing what was about to happen? Luc groaned and reached for her, dragging her up against the bars, his fingers wrapped tightly around the charm. Her mouth was wet and eager, and he lost himself in it, his entire body quaking with the urge to restrain himself.
Pain lashed along his spine. Luc yanked back, feeling the heat in his face and gums. He shoved the charm at her hand and pushed her back several feet. “Get back.”
The moment the pewter left his grasp, the itch turned into a conflagration. Luc screamed as pain laced him. It tore through his bones like molten lava, cramping through every muscle in his body. He was on his knees, the pain in his damaged one nothing compared to this as his body jerked itself into a new alignment.
His spine bowed, huge muscle tearing through his skin, which was sprouting fur. Teeth erupted in his mouth, and his claws shot out. The last thing he saw as the fury rose to take him was Riley’s frightened face.
* * *
It seemed to take forever. Riley swallowed hard, her back to the wall as she watched him. Wade lay on the floor of the cage, breathing hard. Or the thing that used to be Wade.
Caught between man and beast, he whimpered in pain and stirred. Riley let out a shaky breath. Hell, he was huge. Muscle distorted his body, and it just looked... wrong. Like every nightmare cobbled together, and given flesh.
She’d seen wargs before, but never this close or in such clarity.
Another moan caught her ear as he tried to lift his head. Riley frowned. “Are you okay?”
No sign that he’d heard her. His massive shoulders bunched, and he lifted his head. His jeans were torn, hair sprouting through the rips. From the size of him, he would be close to seven and a half feet tall.
“Wade?” she whispered, edging forward. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Here was the monster every borderlander feared. But if he could be tamed, if he could be—
He snarled and sprang at the cage, his claws raking off the bars with a high-pitched screech. Eerie silver eyes narrowed on her as he shook the bars, howling at the sudden pain as his hands burned.
Riley scrambled backward, tripping over her feet and hitting the ground. Wade’s lips curled back off his teeth, as if he sensed her sudden vulnerability. That time, the bars shifted, the steel warping as he tore at them. Her heart thumped madly and she scrambled across the floor for the gun, coming up with it in shaking hands.
He let go with a snarl, his palms curling toward his chest. Riley’s finger jerked on the trigger then eased. She couldn’t stay there. She was too frightened, and the fear was ratcheting up his hunger.
She’d been wrong. There was nothing human left in him tonight. The part of him that was Wade was submerged beneath nothing more than vicious need.
Jerking open the door, she slammed it shut behind her and jammed the heavy iron bar into place. Then she slid down the wall, her knees curling up in front of her. Her hands were shaking. She put the gun down and pressed her face into them, the tremble sweeping through her entire body. Inside the room, Wade howled in thwarted fury, a sound that chilled her to the core.
There was something hot on her cheeks. Riley dashed at the tears. “Damn it!” Damn her. She’d promised him she’d stay, but she hadn’t been able to handle it.
Hadn’t been able to handle the monster inside him.
And come morning, she would have to face him and she knew, deep inside, that he would remember that.
* * *
The howling rang on, low and eerie. An almost mournful sound.
Riley buried her head between her knees and tried not to listen. She’d tried to go back in, but Wade had gone berserk again, and she’d staggered back outside, slamming the door shut w
ith a final clang. It had taken her a full hour to work up the courage, and as soon as he’d seen her all of her bravery had fled.
Nothing for it but to wait for morning.
Down the hallway, the infirmary door suddenly jerked open. Riley looked up as Eden staggered out, her pretty face ravaged with tears. As soon as she saw the healer, her heart gave a painful squeeze. “Eden,” she called softly, pushing herself to her feet.
Eden didn’t hear her. Instead, she kicked the wall viciously, then started pummeling it with her fists.
Shit. Riley’s gut dropped. No. She ran toward the other woman, grabbing her upraised fists. “Eden! Eden, stop it! I’m here. Stop it, you’re going to hurt yourself!”
The other woman turned into her arms with a sob and collapsed, her knees giving out. Riley caught her, staggering back into the wall at the sudden weight. “Adam,” Riley said hoarsely. “Is he…?”
Eden cried out, shaking her head against Riley’s chest. “I can’t—I can’t do anything,” she sobbed. “He’s dying, and I can’t fucking do anything!” The sudden weight as she slumped took Riley by surprise.
Somehow, they ended up on the floor, on their knees. Riley locked her arms around the other woman, her eyes swimming with tears. Christ. She’d never gotten along well with him, but she’d never wanted this. The man had always seemed invincible, radiating such an aura of control that you knew he would never fail.
Stroking Eden’s hair, she tried to crush her close, to somehow reassure her that everything was going to be all right. But it wasn’t. Her tears turned bitter. Lily was in a monster’s hands, Wade was a monster, and Adam was dying unless—
Unless—
She went so still she almost stopped breathing, Wade’s words an echo in her ears. Something in the shift regenerates the body....
“Eden,” she whispered, excitement a hot flutter in his chest. “Has he still got his amulet on?”
Eden shuddered, lifting her sticky face off Riley’s shoulder, her eyes glazed. “What?” she croaked. “Of course he does.”
