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 with 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.”
Riley slid her hands to Eden’s wrist and squeezed. “You need to listen to me. Is there another warg cage somewhere?”
“Of course. We always—” Eden’s face suddenly drained of color. “No,” she whispered. “No, I can’t. He’ll never forgive me.”
“And if he’s dead?” she asked harshly. “Can you live with that?” She eased her grip as Eden’s face crumpled, feeling like a bitch. “Wade told me that something in the shift regenerates the body. If we can get McClain into a warg cage, and get the amulet off him, there might be a chance.” Her gaze lifted to the windows at the end of the corridor. A faint softening on the dark horizon bore the testament of time. “We don’t have long,” she said. “The sun’s going to come up soon. If you want to save his life, then we’ve only got an hour or so to do it.”
Eden stared at her helplessly. Red blotches made a mess of her face, and her brown hair hung in loose tangles.
Riley ground her teeth together and dragged Eden to her feet. “Come on,” she said. “Do you want to save him or not?”
The words jolted the healer. She drew a shaky breath and nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.
Opening the infirmary door, Riley found a pair of guards watching over the bed. Bloodied bandages filled the wastebasket, and the bowl of water beside the bed was crimson. Stepping closer, she saw that McClain’s chest had been sewn together with thick, dark thread, but he laid so still, his face so slack that for a moment, she thought he was dead already.
Eden ran a trem
bling hand over his shoulder. “Jory?” she asked softly.
“Ma’am?” One of the guards cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“I need the warg cage in the prison. Bring it here, and be quick.”
His gaze flickered to Riley’s as if questioning the order. She nodded sharply. “Bring it as fast as you can.”
The two men left the room. Eden sagged onto a chair beside the bed and slid her hand into McClain’s unresponsive one. “If he survives he’ll never forgive me."
“Yes, he will.”
“No.” A fresh surge of hot tears slid down Eden’s cheek, as she stared hopelessly at her brother. “You don’t understand how he feels about this. I can’t keep this secret. We can’t do this by ourselves.” Her lip quivered. “They’ll know, and then they’ll want him dead. We don’t allow wargs to live here at Absolution. If they realize what he’s been hiding all along—”
“Maybe,” Riley said. She knelt on one of the chairs, watching the still form. His heart was barely beating. “Maybe not. You've lived here all along, so you don’t see the way they look at him. They might forgive him.” She shrugged a shoulder helplessly. “Hell, I didn’t think I could ever forgive something like this, but...” A deep breath. “It’s been a long, life-changing week.”
“They won’t,” Eden whispered. “They won’t change.”
Silence as they waited, illuminated by the steady tick of the clock on the wall. Riley was half-tempted to tear it off and smash it by the time the men returned.
The knock at the door startled both of them. Riley crossed to it and eased it open, glancing down the hallway to where Wade raged. If she concentrated, she could still hear the rabid snarl.
Four men heaved a warg cage between them, faces straining. Riley stepped aside and gestured them in.
Four men.
Four witnesses.
No help for it.
Once Eden had the cage in place, she took a deep breath. “Put him in it,” she said.
The man she’d called Jory frowned, “Ma’am, what’s going on? What’s—”
“Just do it,” Riley snapped. “This is hard enough for her as it is.”
His hooded gaze cut toward her, his lips thinning. With a jerk of his head, he stepped toward the bed. “Yes, ma’am.”
McClain never moved as they eased him off the bed and into the cold bars of the cage. Riley shut the door with a loud clang and locked it. If this worked… Please, let it work....
Reaching through the bars, her fingers closed around the cold pewter charm. His skin was almost as cool to the touch, reminding her that they were running out of time. Even as she lifted the pewter from his skin, she saw a pulse thud heavily in the vein in his throat. Muscle crawled beneath her outstretched hand, like something obscene rippling under his skin.
“Mercy,” Jory whispered in a horrified voice.
Riley jerked her hand back through the bars, tearing the chain from his throat.
The response was instantaneous. McClain’s back arched off the floor, and his eyes shot wide as he screamed. “No!” A hollow, gut-wrenching sound of thwarted fury.
Riley leapt out of the way, just as Eden’s knees gave out. Jory caught her as she fell, his gaze locked on the cage and the tableau within.
“Hell,” one of the guards muttered in a sick tone. “He’s a fucking warg.”
McClain’s skin tore along his arms, fur ripping through with a vengeance. The change was faster, far more violent than Wade’s had been. His spine bowed, the scream in his throat thinning until it was almost a howl. His mouth elongated, teeth lengthening on a snarl, and as he turned his head she saw the desperation in his beautiful, still-human eyes.
Then it was gone. The monster tore itself free, shaking off its humanity as if it were a horrific butterfly emerging from its cocoon. His feet jerked, claws ripping through the skin, his jeans swelling as muscle bulged. They finally tore, and thick, tawny fur sprung through.
Finally, it was over. McClain lay on his side and panted, a vicious glitter in his eyes as he watched them. Riley didn’t trust that look an inch.
“Oh, God,” Eden whispered, taking a step toward him. “What have I done?”
Jory jerked her out of the way. “No,” he said. “You can’t go near him, not like this.”
Another guard had his hand on the gun at his hip, indecision warring with violence on his face. Riley caught his gaze. “Leave,” she suggested, her own hand dropping to her gun.
His lips worked, then he nodded, tearing his gaze away as he stormed from the room.
“Christ,” one of the other men whispered, sinking onto his haunches and staring in horrified fascination at the cage. “What happened? Did that warg get him today?”
“No,” Riley replied. She couldn’t let Wade take the blame for this. And maybe Absolution needed to see that a warg could live amongst them safely, without any of them even knowing. “He’s been like this for ten years.”
The guards all looked at her, a medley of horror, fear and confusion written across their faces.
“How?” Jory asked.
Riley held up the pewter charm. “The same way Wade controls himself. With this, neither of them have to turn.”
“Fuck this,” one of them whispered. He shook his head, sidling toward the door, unable to tear his gaze from McClain. “You can’t control this,” he said. “You just can’t.”
As he left, Riley’s heart sank. She met Eden’s gaze, her lips thinning as she turned to the growling beast in the cage. She’d saved his life – McClain would live.
But at what cost?
15
Soft, silvery sunlight streamed through the window.
Luc lifted his head, his arms shaking as the last of the pain left him. He sucked in a sharp breath, bringing with it the scent of rage and blood, and the lingering remnants of woman.
A soft intake of breath caught his attention. Riley. Luc stiffened, clenching his eyes shut against the horror of the night. There was an old story told in some settlements about how a warg could never remember the change, how each morning brought with it the fear of what had he done. How he wasn’t responsible because the beast had made him do it.
Easier to think that. Easier to hope that when their fathers and brothers and sisters changed, they didn’t have to live with the horror of what they’d done. That, secretly, a part of them didn’t want to rape and slaughter.
But he remembered it all.
The rage. The fury. The need. Riley’s face as she jerked away from him, horror printed all over her features as she ran, unable to bear it. The sound of her harsh breathing as she slammed the door behind her and locked it.
His fist clenched, nails scraping over the cold floor. Her expression was like a mirror, showing him just what type of monster he was. She’d said she could handle it, but she hadn’t been able to. Pain choked him up and he bit it down sharply, along with everything else in his miserable life.
It didn’t matter.
Lily mattered, and that was all.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, though she hadn’t moved.
He nodded, opening his eyes and wiping the expression off his face. “I’m fine.”
Fabric shifted as she pushed to her feet. Luc risked a glance, saw the stain of exhaustion on her features. His gaze sharpened. “Did you sleep?”
She shook her head, sorting through the keys sluggishly. “I couldn’t.” She jammed a key into the lock, and the door swung open with an iron squeal. “Eden’s a mess, and—”
His lungs were a sudden vise as memory flooded back. “McClain?”
Riley wouldn’t look at him. “You got your wish. Your revenge.”
His mouth suddenly tasted like ash, and he stumbled as he stepped over the lip of the cage. “Mercy,” he said, through a voice rough with grief. “I didn’t—I never wanted—” Not truly.
Riley caught his arm, and Luc looked down. “I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s still alive. I didn’t mean to make you thi
nk he’d died.” She took a shuddering breath. “He was dying though. Then I remembered what you’d said about the shift regenerating the body.”
The breath went out of him. “You took the charm off him?”
She nodded bleakly. “We put him in the cage, and took the charm off.” A bitter smile tugged her lips. “It worked perfectly. One warg, not even a sign of the stitches in his chest.”
The smile faded, and her eyes suddenly swam with tears. Luc slid a gentle finger over her cheek, and she turned into his body with a sudden sob, pressing her face against his chest.
His arms closed over her back slowly, stroking the soft silk of her hair. Her tears didn’t come easy. It were as if she fought them, each racking sob tearing out of her in a way that made her whole body shake.
Hell. He clutched her tight, running desperate hands over her shoulders. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “He couldn’t keep living the lie forever. Nobody can.”
He’d never bothered to try.
As if becoming aware of where she was, Riley’s shoulders tensed. He could feel it, running all the way through her, as if she suddenly fought not to push away.
Luc let her go. Stepped back. It was like a bullet to the chest.
Riley dragged a hand over her wet face, her nose running. “I know.” She sucked in a huge breath, trying to ground herself. “I just feel responsible. It was my decision, and I pushed Eden into it. He was dying.” Shadows swam through her eyes. “They’ve got him locked in the cage still.”
“No chance of parole,” Luc murmured. He knew the way of it. Something bitter soured his thoughts, but he fought it away. The world had changed in the last few days. Not even McClain deserved that. “Where do they think I am?”
She wiped her eyes, a hint of determination crossing her features. Trying to put herself back together. “In the cage. I told them I’d put you there.”
“Then they’re not likely to appreciate it if they find me out of it,” he said. “Especially with tensions running high this morning. We need to move.” He hesitated. “If you still intend to come?”
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