by Lola Taylor
Gage strained to turn his neck enough to be able to see the SUV he could hear driving away in the woods. That’s when Danica shouted something at him through their bond—a license plate.
Gage’s tail wagged. Perfect.
What?
She gave us a lead. He started to sit up, and this time Nik let him. Shifting back to human form, Gage stalked toward the house, not caring in the least he was naked. The only thing that mattered was getting Danica back as soon as possible before anyone could hurt her.
If Onyx hadn’t already.
Gage’s throat tightened with worry.
Nik had shifted back as well and followed him into the house. Gage reached out telepathically to his packmates. One of the perks of being the Alpha was the ability to reach out to his fellow wolves whenever and wherever they were. Board room—now.
Soon as Mary spied him, she just sighed. “I’ll get you both some pants.” Muttering something about “indecent, knucklehead wolves,” she scurried off to one of the guest rooms. She’d seen so many naked men wandering around the manor that it was commonplace for her now. Mary got it—she was were after all.
Mary returned with pants for both Gage and Nik about the time the first wolf rolled in, a youngster named Jason.
“What’s happened?” he asked, toweling off his still-damp hair. His face was flushed and the scent of pine body wash clung to his pores.
“My mate’s been kidnapped,” Gage said, pacing. If he didn’t move about, he’d go mad.
Jason’s face turned serious. “What do we need to do?”
Gage had to admit, he was impressed with the kid’s maturity. He had almost not let him join the pack with him being only nineteen, but not once had he felt like he was babysitting. The kid had pulled his own, more so than some of the older members.
“I have a license plate we’ll need to get one of our friends in the DPI to do a quick trace on,” Gage said.
Nik whipped out his cell phone. “On it.”
“After that,” Gage went on, “we’ll need to track it down, which is why we can’t waste too much time. For all we know, the vehicle could be stolen.”
“Got it,” Nik announced two minutes later. “Thank God for witchcraft. It seriously scares the shit out of me sometimes, but times like this, I have to admit tracing spells are pretty handy. Verika said she’d even put a Trail on the vehicle.”
Gage’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and he made a mental note to take her out to dinner for all the help she’d been. It was a good thing Nik was on such good terms with his ex. He was actually on remarkably good terms with most of his exes, a quality that astounded Gage.
“Well, then, let’s not waste time.” Gage paused. “Where are the others?”
Jason and Nik looked around, then at the floor.
Gage didn’t have to ask to see what had happened. They’re abandoning me. They must still be upset with him over what had happened in the woods.
He warred with himself. No, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—force them to do his bidding as Malachite had. If anything was to change, he needed to set as good an example as possible, to show he was not Malachite.
“Let’s go,” Gage said at last, walking purposefully toward the door.
“Don’t we need backup?” Jason said, striding after him with Nik at his side.
“That’s what you’re here for,” Gage said with a wicked smile.
Jason gulped.
Nik just shook his head and muttered a curse. “You should reconsider your plan, brother.”
“No,” Gage said without hesitation. “I knew their loyalties would have to be earned, and I would be tested. I failed one test with the massacre that happened with the wraiths. I’m not failing another by forcing them to do my will.”
Nik let out a long breath. “Too good for your own good,” he grumbled under his breath.
Gage looked at Jason, who’d gone pale despite the determination burning in his eyes. “You don’t have to do this. I’m not going to hold it against you.”
“I want to go! I mean, I never got to help with anything at home. No one trusted me. I want to do this. Please?”
Gage softened, his respect for the kid growing by the minute, and grunted a response.
He swallowed hard, praying he wasn’t leading them all to their deaths.
Hold on, Danica. I’m coming.
“Wakey, wakey, little wolf.”
Sound, color, and smell swirled together in Danica’s foggy mind. It felt like her brain had taken a beating. The lights of the warehouse were way too bright, causing her head to throb more.
As she slowly came to, she looked around her. She sat in a chair with her hands tied to the arms and her ankles to the legs. The warehouse was empty and chilly, with dirty concrete flooring and long, bright lights stretching across the high ceiling.
There was something else about the air, a tingling sensation along her skin she couldn’t quite place. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere your wolf won’t be able to hurt me.” Onyx pulled out a dagger encrusted in blood-red gems. The blade glowed with a pale blue light as shadowy tendrils wrapped around it.
Danica swallowed, her eyes never leaving the dagger as Onyx stalked toward her. “If you were going to kill me, why didn’t you just do it back in the car? Or back at the manor?”
“Because I don’t want to kill you. I was just bluffing to get you to cooperate.”
“What about the parking lot?”
He grinned. “I did want to kill you at the time. It was the reason I was getting paid, after all. Then once I saw what Gage was willing to do for you, I had another idea. You were far more useful to me alive. With you, I can kill two birds with one stone.” He forced her palm up and raked the sharp edge of the blade across her skin.
She hissed at the sharp pain. The skin puckered as it split, and blood welled between the edges of the cut.
Onyx held up the blood-drenched blade, his eyes wild. He closed his eyes, whispering fervently, “I trust you, Mistress.” Grabbing the hilt of the blade with both hands, he plunged the dagger into his heart.
Danica’s mouth dropped open in shock as Onyx’s eyes widened and he fell to the floor on his knees, staring at her. She was unable to look away as black ooze dripped from his eyes and down his face and from the wound in his chest. The inky liquid spread all over his body, consuming him until he was completely covered. He writhed, moaning as his body grew in size and transformed into a familiar shape—a wolf, the biggest she had ever seen. This one was more like the werewolves of old Hollywood legends, with long legs and the height of a grizzly. He laughed in a deep voice as he rose to his full height. The dagger shimmered with red light, becoming a pulsing crest along his bulky chest.
Danica trembled as Onyx’s gold eyes landed on her and he bared his fangs.
“Do you fear me, girl?” he said in a low voice, taking a step toward her.
“What have you done?” she whispered as his muzzle loomed near her face, taking a sniff. She cringed, biting her lip to keep from yelping.
“I have evolved,” Onyx said, rising again with a wicked flash of his great fangs. “I am what no wolf has been before—I am darkness! I am death!”
He’s crazy.
Danica wriggled in an attempt to break free, but she might as well have been cemented to the chair as tightly as Onyx had secured the binds.
“This feels incredible,” Onyx said, flexing his massive paws, which were tipped in black claws the size of dinner knives. “I should have let my mistress imbue me with darkness long ago.”
Danica looked up sharply. “Mistress Black?”
Onyx wheeled about, gripping her hands with his paws and growling in her face. The dark magic moved along his body like ink, shifting and writhing with a life of its own. Every fine hair along her body pricked at the proximity of the darkness cloaking what was once Onyx. “How do you know of my mistress?” he demanded.
Danica swallowed hard, mind racing. “Gage put out the w
ord for any information leading to your whereabouts. That name crept up.”
“From whom?”
Danica’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”
“You’re lying. I have ways of making you talk.” A big black claw raked across her throat. She could feel it cutting her skin, and panic started to creep in.
Gage’s heart started pounding harder as Jason, Nik, and he neared the secluded warehouse on the other side of the county. As promised, Verika’s Trailing spell had led them right to Onyx’s vehicle. Gage now owed that woman more than ever for this favor, and he had every intention of repaying her loyalty.
That is, if they survived.
Nik slammed on the brakes; the car squealed, the tires spinning on the gravel before the Dodge Charger ground to a halt. Wolves were fast, but their speed couldn’t compete with a four-hundred-and-seventy-horsepower V8. The trio got out and headed toward the building.
Jason looked ready to vomit but no less determined for it. “What’s the plan?”
“Not get killed?” Nik said with a grin, shoving the pup.
“I’ll enter first,” Gage said in a more serious tone, “and you and Nik will flank me. If we can get the element of surprise, we’ll take it. We just need to find a door—”
Gunfire erupted from in front of them, and the group split apart, narrowly avoiding being hit. They dove behind the car as the other side was pummeled by bullets. One rolled by Nik’s foot and he stomped on it to stop it. “Silver,” he hissed, holding it up.
Gage loaded a clip into his handgun, as did his packmates. “Just makes things more interesting. On three, we run. One, two—”
Nik rolled along the ground and came up firing, a gun in both hands. That bloodthirsty grin that sometimes made Gage shiver was plastered over his brother’s face. There never was a better shot than Nik.
“Impatient show-off,” Gage muttered, then motioned to Jason. The two men rose, following Nik as he ran toward the back end of the building, the three covering each other’s backs. The guards who’d been charging them tried shifting, realizing too late they’d be faster in wolf form, but Nik made quick work of them. Silver wasn’t as deadly to humans as it was wolves, but bullets sure as hell would finish off anything.
Within minutes, the first wave of guards lay on the ground, dead, in varying stages of shifting. “Amateurs,” Nik muttered, reloading both cartridges and taking weapons off the dead.
Gage’s chest tightened as he stared at the carnage. It jarred memories of the bloodbaths his pack had endured while under Malachite’s reign.
Did this make him no better than his adversary, all this killing?
“Heads up,” Jason said, wiping sweat off his brow with his forearm. “We’ve got more company.”
Gunfire outside diverted Onyx’s attention from Danica. She took in a shaky breath as the humongous were stalked to the front of the warehouse.
“What’s going on?” Onyx bellowed to the guards who now poured from the side rooms.
“Security footage picked up on a Charger parking out front. It’s Gage Johnson, sir.”
“Good,” Onyx purred. “Let them come.”
The guard hesitated. “Do you not want us to fight them off?”
“Of course, you idiot! If you get a killshot, take it!”
“Sir!”
Killshot.
Danica’s blood ran cold. Focusing through her terror, she thought of Gage’s face. Gage! she shouted telepathically. It’s a trap! Onyx is using me as bait! Don’t come in!
Danica! came Gage’s reply. Are you all right? Has he hurt you?
I’m fine. He performed some kind of ritual. He’s huge.
What do you mean?
I mean, he’s a bigass freaking werewolf! Were-zilla!
Stay calm. We’re coming for you.
No, Gage—
An explosion rattled the front of the building, blowing chunks of metal siding everywhere. Guards shouted as bullets sailed out of the billowing smoke, killing them, and then Gage, Nik, and a teenage boy stepped into the room.
Nik spit out the grenade stub. “Evening, bitches.” He stepped over the bodies of the fallen guards, his eyes landing on Danica. “Gage, she’s over there!”
Her heart filled with hope as her mate stepped out of the smoke and his gaze found hers. He looked haunted, like a man who thought he’d lost everything and was seeing hope again for the first time in ages.
Gage took a step forward when a black shape charged out of the smoke, pinning him to the wall.
Nik’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Holy shit—”
“It’s Onyx!” Danica screamed. “He cast some sort of spell using that jewel on his chest!”
Gage’s feet dangled in the air as the oversized were choked him out. “You should have just let me kill your mate. Now you all know too much, and my master won’t tolerate that. The Order cannot let you live.”
Order? She remembered Gage telling her about the witching mafias of the Order of the Sun. He was right—Onyx was working for them.
Gunfire lit up the back of Onyx’s hide, bouncing off him as if he were made of steel. Irritated, he growled and lunged at Nik, dropping Gage in the process.
“Jason,” Gage sputtered from the floor as he stumbled to get back up, “get… Danica.”
“Right!” The kid shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts, and bolted for her. “Hi,” he said as he began untying her. “I’m Jason.”
She could barely mange to speak she was so shaken by all that had happened. “Danica.”
“Hang on. I’m gonna get you out.” Her wrists were free; now he was going for her legs. “There. Can you stand?”
“Yeah.” She winced as blood rushed back into her extremities, and she rolled her ankles and wrists to work out the kinks. “I’m fine.” She was lying through her teeth. She was anything but fine. Scared out of her mind, maybe, but she couldn’t focus on that now. She had to push through her fear and find a way to help Gage and the others.
Snarls erupted from in front of them. Gage and Nik were both in wolf form and were tackling Onyx to the floor. The larger wolf might have had size and strength on its side, but it didn’t possess the ruthlessness and brutality of the two smaller wolves. They clung to Onyx like leeches, snapping and clawing and biting. Black ooze spilled from the open wounds in Onyx’s hide, making him more desperate as he began bucking and running into the walls in an attempt to knock the other wolves off.
Jason reloaded his gun and started forward. “I need to help.”
“Wait.” Danica clapped a hand on his arm, staring at the gargantuan wolf and the flashes of red she caught when the gem on its chest hit the light. “That’s it. Shoot the gemstone.”
“What?”
“Look.” She grabbed him by both arms, forcing him to face her. “I don’t know anything about Black Magic or whatever he used to get this way. But I’m guessing since that gem made him this way and it’s still there, he’s drawing his power from it. It’s worth a try.”
Jason deliberated, shifting his weight.
“It might be our only chance.”
Otherwise, we might all die.
She couldn’t say that last part aloud, though it was a very real possibility.
Jason finally set his jaw and nodded. “Okay.” Holding up the gun, he aimed and waited. The moment the gem came into view, he fired—and missed.
Onyx’s eyes snapped onto him, and he growled, stalking toward him.
Jason’s eyes went wide, and Danica screeched, “Shoot again!”
Jason fired another round, but Onyx was prepared. He moved at the last second so the bullet went toward his chest, bouncing off it.
Jason swore and Onyx lunged, forcing him and Danica to dive to either side. Danica landed hard on her elbows, hearing them crack. She cried out, and the next instant, Nik had Changed back to a man and was beside her. “You all right, love?”
“I’m fine,” she gritted out. “The gem. We hav
e to destroy it.”
Jason was now in wolf form and was fighting for his life. The big, white wolf she knew to be Gage had taken a few knocks. His beautiful coat was marred by bloody patches, which smeared across the floor as Onyx tried fighting them off.
Nik grabbed the gun without question and checked the clip. “Three rounds. Better make this count. Hey, shitface!”
Onyx turned around just as his jaws were about to close around wolf-Jason’s neck.
Nik grinned and held up the gun. “You sure you’re a wolf or a pussy? To be as big as you are, we’re sure holding our own.”
Onyx barked, a deep sound that reverberated around the warehouse, and ran toward Nik.
Nik fired once. The bullet skimmed the stone. The second round hit the floor as Onyx leapt out of the way, and Nik swore. Onyx was air-bound now, paws outstretched toward Nik, jaws opening wide to literally bite his head off.
Nik shoved Danica out of the way of the wolf and ran forward, sliding along the floor below Onyx. He aimed straight at the gem, which was directly above his head now, and fired. The bullet sailed true, embedding in the gemstone. It cracked, and Onyx groaned in agony before the gem exploded. Onyx screamed as shadows swirled around him, leaking out of him as he fell to the floor and rapidly shrunk in size, snapping back to his human form. Within a few seconds, he lay on his back, naked and covered in blood from the many bullet holes, lacerations, and bite marks all over his body.
Gage immediately shifted back and stumbled over to Danica. She rose and went to him, hugging him fiercely.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he breathed into her hair.
“It’s going to be harder than that to get rid of me,” she said with a shaky grin.
He smiled, kissing her forehead and holding her close.
“What’s up with all the wounds?” she asked, gesturing to Onyx. “I thought he was practically Superman.”
“Must be a loophole of the spell. As long as he remained in wolf form, the dark magic protected him and absorbed the pain. But the moment he turned back, he took on all the injuries as if he’d fully received them.”
“Ouch.”
Nik knelt beside Onyx and placed the barrel of his gun to his head. Though Danica and Nik knew the gun was empty, Onyx did not. “I’d start talking,” Nik said.
