When they disembarked, he stayed by her side. “That’s a lot of blood,” he said, indicating to her shirt after he’d maneuvered her toward the warehouse.
She didn’t like being herded, but it was taking her where she wanted to go anyway.
But fuck, what did she say to that?
“Is it? One of them got me on the ground so I had to take his head off.”
“With what, your bare hands?”
Damn! She hadn’t thought about that. She’d didn’t think anyone would be looking at her hands.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Me too.”
Him too, what? So she just rolled with it. She considered just taking this one’s head before he could cause her any more problems but there were eyes everywhere.
“You killed one, too?”
He smiled at her and pushed her against the wall of the warehouse.
“Man is not man,” he said to her.
She looked at him blankly. So he repeated,” Man is not man.”
Mari had read that somewhere before. Her brain scanned through the hundreds of thousands of books she read, but she kept coming up blank. She realized it was some kind of secret passcode.
Her brain finally alighted on the proper quote. It was from a Roman philosopher and it sprang to her tongue. “But a wolf to those he does not know.” She finished the Plautus quote.
“Thank shit you answered correctly, or I’d have had to kill you. And you’re too pretty to kill.”
“That would’ve sucked,” she agreed easily.
He laughed.
She wanted to ask him his name, but she had the feeling it wasn’t the done thing.
“Tonight is going to be epic. These stupid fucks. Don’t know how they survived so long. Am I right?”
“Totally. Stupid fucks,” she parroted.
“To rebirth,” the guy chattered on. “Stand by me for the frenzy?” he asked.
“For sure,” she agreed.
A sick feeling twisted in her gut.
His tone changed now. He’d gone from being this commanding threat to almost child-like. “If he doesn’t Turn me Himself, you will, won’t you?”
She nodded absently.
“What’s he like? I know we’re not supposed to ask about him, but you’ve met him. Had his teeth in your throat. I can’t imagine it.”
Mari was going to be sick.
“I’ll trade you stories. I don’t know how it’s going to go down and I need to. I want to be prepared so I honor him. We can trade deets. You seem like you’re in the know here.”
He turned to look at her with wild eyes. “Why don’t you know? If you were worthy of his bite?”
“Oh, you know. He wants me to be resourceful. I came from the first he Turned back in Italy after he was infected by that De La Luna bitch.”
“Fucking bitch,” he agreed. “So, don’t tell anyone I told you.”
“Swear.”
“Tonight, Peter is going to tear himself out of that guardian wolf. The new breed pack is going to devour the pieces so they take his power and there won’t be anyone to stop him anymore. His sister is going to get what’s coming to her, too.”
Mari watched him carefully. “Not like you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s an honor to be Turned. Even if she doesn’t think so.”
“He’s going to eat her, not Turn her.”
“No, I’m pretty sure he’s going to Turn her. All he’s ever wanted is for her to join him. He married her best friend just to be closer to her.”
“He didn’t.”
Mari couldn’t stop the smile on her face. “Oh, but he did. And now she’s married to some werewolf.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“If you think werewolves are disgusting, why do you want to be one?”
“New breed. Peter’s breed. We’ll hunt every last one of those fucking mutts until all that’s left is us and we’re going to rule the supes. We’ll be immortal.”
And Peter’s everlasting bitches, she silently added.
One question kept burning hot in her brain. How did they know that Peter was inside Warner?
The simplest answer was often the easiest.
Would Lenore or anyone who’d been present at the picnic say anything?
No.
What did that leave?
Warner said he’d felt a darkness growing inside of him, something that seemed too evil to be the Dark Champion.
The only answer was that Peter lived inside of him and he’d been taking the reins.
Bile rose in the back of her throat. Had she mated with Peter?
No, no. That wasn’t possible. Peter would never have… but wouldn’t he?
She swallowed the bile down. No, she refused to allow it. When she’d looked into Warner’s eyes, even when they’d been savage and red, it was always the wolf she knew looking back at her.
Mari wouldn’t think about that now, anyway. It didn’t matter.
All that mattered was saving Warner.
Peter was going to get out. She’d accepted that. Something about that knowledge was immutable. It had to happen. It was supposed to happen.
She wondered when the Wendigowould come. Mari hoped it was soon.
It was sooner she’d have to say goodbye to Warner, but it was sooner everything would be as it should be and her pack, and everyone else’s would be safe.
Warner. Her heart splintered as she thought of him. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through. The pain and horror he’d have to endure.
She needed a plan.
“We should get ready,” he said. “The rest of the new breed will be here soon. The other hunters underestimated their tracking abilities. They should be here by dusk.”
Warner could deal with Peter. Along with the Wendigo.
But he couldn’t do it if the pack tore him apart.
She needed a diversion.
Blood.
She’d need a lot of it. That would be the only thing that would distract the pack long enough.
“Meet me back here soon?” the guy said.
“Yeah. I’ll be here.” She watched him go, and as she did, her sensitive ears caught the sounds of something happening inside the warehouse.
It was Lenore.
“Jesus Fucking Christ,” was all she said.
And Mari knew it had begun.
16
Warner awoke in a cage, but that wasn’t the part that really upset him.
It was the stabbing, slicing pain in his gut.
It felt like something was trying to rip its way out of him and when he turned to see Lenore in the cell across from him and the expression she wore, he knew it was more than a feeling.
By the powers, Peter Breslin was going to rip his way out of him.
Warner wasn’t afraid of the pain to come.
He was afraid of his failure. Afraid for what it meant for the packs and for humankind. If he, the Dark Champion, couldn’t keep Peter from rising again, who or what could?
He knew the answer.
The Wendigo.
An evil such as Peter’s must be swallowed twice, the softer, quieter voice inside his head told him. First, by the daywalking world’s defender—the Dark Champion. Then by the underworld’s champion—the Wendigo.
“This is going to suck,” he muttered.
Lenore had put her hand over her mouth, as if the act could hold back her revulsion.
The infected pack watched him with great interest and no small amount of glee.
He realized this was what they were after. If they could get Peter as soon as he was reborn… if they managed to stop the cycle before the Wendigocould do her part, he didn’t know what would happen.
But it would be all bad, of that he was sure.
“Lenore, you should get your hunter friends in here,” he ground out.
“I don’t think any of them are my hunter friends any longer. And those left who are hunters, well… I think they’re fucked. They can�
�t help us.”
“Damn right,” one of the infected said.
“Shut up. Or I’ll make you,” Lenore threatened.
“What are you going to do from over there?”
She murmured words of a curse that made the bottom of their cage catch fire.
“It won’t kill us,” it said.
“No, but it’ll hurt. And that’s good enough for me.” Lenore smiled a devil-may-care grin.
Then Warner’s stomach twisted, and grew, billowing out to a horrific size and they could all see something moving inside.
“Jesus Fucking Christ,” Lenore said.
Warner sensed Mari before he saw her. Her presence sent a cool, calming sensation flowing through his veins.
“You’re here,” he managed through grit teeth.
“Of course I am. You called. I came.” She reached through the bars to hold his hand.
The burning wolves were strangely silent and much to Lenore’s obvious chagrin, the flames died down much too soon.
“Have to work on the longevity of that one,” she said, more to herself than anything.
“Has she come?” Mari asked him.
“You came,” Warner said, drinking in the sight of her.
“You must be out of your head with agony. She’ll come. Arianna will. I know it.”
“It’s not Arianna. It’s you.”
Mari closed her eyes. “No, it’s not. That’s okay, I will still do everything I can.”
Warner was about to argue with her when another bolt of pain wracked his body and the shape inside of him twisted and claws tore at the flesh, but still couldn’t quite break free.
“Hold on, I’m going to get you out.”
“No, stop! Don’t. The infected want me out.”
“Because the rest of their numbers are coming. You can deal with them better out than in.”
Warner cringed. “Word choice, Mari. Word choice.”
She looked down to his distended stomach. “Sorry.”
Lenore cackled and Mari wondered if the badass hunter had finally cracked.
“Goddess, you’re worse than Parker. Now is not the time for a fart joke.”
“It’s just… my brother.” Lenore kept laughing. “For all of his scheming, and plotting and evil… he’s been reduced to... The Great and Terrible Peter Breslin. A fart in a cage.”
The infected snarled at her and she laughed harder.
Mari scanned the room for a way to open the cages. They were high tech, the very latest in werewolf containment.
Lenore managed to contain herself long enough to point at the master console. “Over there.”
“Would they really be so stupid as to use a code that you’d know?” Mari said.
“Fuck the code. Just bash the console. The doors will open.” Lenore grinned.
“I don’t want all the doors to open. Just yours and Warner’s.”
Lenore shrugged. “These fuckos aren’t going to be a problem.”
The howls that suddenly echoed from outside indicated that the fuckos would indeed be a problem.
Warner’s whole body surged. It was as if his skin tried to crawl off his body. Or maybe just what was under it. The new version of Peter Breslin.
Mari knew they were running out of time.
And so was the Wendigo.
Goddessdamnit, where was she?
Mari shifted her claws and ripped out the console, and all three cages opened.
Mari expected an immediate bloodbath, but they were fixated on Warner. Lenore immediately headed over to the gun locker was loaded for bear.
Err… werewolf.
Although, nothing she did would make them stay dead. The Dark Champion had to devour them, but he couldn’t exactly do that while hell on earth was ripping its way into the world from his insides out.
She had to get them away from him so he had time to regenerate.
A knot formed in the back of her throat and she went to Warner, helping him move from the cage to the corner of the room where his flesh began to tear and his bones shattered and tried to reform.
“Run, Mari. Get to safety,” he said through grit teeth.
She looked up at him, love shining in her eyes. “I’ll never be safer than when I’m with you, Warner Woolven.”
“Mari, I don’t know what you’re planning, but don’t.”
She smiled at him. “But I have to.” She kissed his cheek.
“Mari,” he ground out and reached for her as she pulled away.
“Do you remember when you told me that I was too pretty to be of use?”
“Goddess, no. I was just…” he trailed off as another spasm ripped through him.
Mari’s time was oh-so short.
“It’s okay. I’m not reminding you now to punish you. It’s important. Because I believed it then, but I don’t now. I know what I can do. What my use is. It’s to buy you time.”
Warner reached for her, but she knew she couldn’t be weak. She couldn’t hide her face in his arms, or let her save her.
In this moment, it was her, or the rest of the world.
She knew what she had to do and what she had to choose. For him, for Lenore, for Noah… for the humans who didn’t know about the things that went bump in the night.
For all the sacrifices who’d come before her.
She didn’t understand why she’d feel the mating bond with Warner when his true mate would come back to him. Why would the powers do this to her?
Aside from the fact she must’ve burned down an orphanage and kicked puppies in a past life.
It was so she’d be willing to do this. To sacrifice herself in this moment. To give the Champion the time he needed to survive until the Wendigocame.
“I love you, Warner. Be happy.”
Warner howled as the monster known as Peter Breslin finally tore through from the underworld, using Warner’s flesh as the passageway.
Mari used her nails to tear open the skin on her wrists and the blood began to flow, hot and sweet.
All of the wolves’ attention was suddenly focused on her. It was like flipping a switch.
The one who seemed to be the leader spoke. “Nice try, but it won’t work,” he snarled as a strange shift came over his face.
His teeth grew bigger, and more awful, somehow. As did the rest of him. They were adapting. Dear Goddess, she had to make herself run.
Lenore snickered. “No? I think it will. Look at you. You can barely contain your teeth. If you’re not going to use them, put them away, big boy.”
The wolf snarled at her, half-turning his face toward Lenore, but seemingly unable to break away from Mari completely.
“Uh, Mari. Mari?” Lenore questioned. “Your blood, it’s not slowing. Your wounds aren’t healing.”
Mari knew that. She could feel it.
In truth, she’d known somehow they wouldn’t.
When this plan had formed in her mind, she hadn’t ever allowed that she’d survive. She’d never considered her superhuman healing ability. Her body had known before her conscious mind that something had changed.
“Come get me, fuckers.” Mari forced her feet to move, to carry her to the door.
“I’ll come for you. Stay alive, Mari.” Warner lay, his sternum split open and a howling, ravening beast crawling from his body. “I swear it.”
Peter roared and to Mari’s intense dismay, he joined the hunt.
She could run faster as a wolf, but had less blood to spare. All that was left was her warrior form. It was always the hardest for her to attain.
Except now, it seemed to happen with a thought.
Her own howl joined the chorus of the damned and she ran. She moved at superhuman speed through the makeshift village the hunters had set up and many of them joined the chase.
The infected began to turn on each other, and the hunters who’d helped orchestrate Peter’s return, Changing them to increase their numbers and to replace the comrades they ate to build their strength.
She had the vague notion that’s what was going to happen to her.
Mari could only hope she’d be dead before it happened.
Which meant she needed to run until she had nothing left.
She grew cold first, her limbs beginning to become heavy and her lids weighted. Then the cold gave way to numbness. That numbness was the sweet spot she needed. It dulled her thinking, her fear, and let her move faster. Faster than she’d ever run before.
They were still on her trail.
The farther she ran, the more time she could give Warner and the Wendigo.
Peter gained on her.
She couldn’t have that. Dear Goddess, not that.
But she was no match for the reborn devil as he ran her down. He tackled her to the ground, sending them both crashing down a rocky embankment. Mari kept waiting for the darkness to take her, but unfortunately, she was still all-too present when they came to a stop in the cool, clear water of a wide, shallow river.
“What a lovely birthday present,” he said, his horribly twisted face so close to hers.
He looked like some caricature of a werewolf caught mid-shift. It was like really well-done horror movie makeup. Except it was all real. All him.
And all evil.
His red eyes were still shedding mucus and buried his snout at her throat, but the pain didn’t come.
“You smell like flowers.”
“You smell like shit,” she managed. “If you’re going to do it, just get it over with.”
“I haven’t decided how. Do I want to let you linger until Warner comes for you? Because he will come for you. The Dark Champion would damn the world for you. I could feel it in his bones, when I chewed through them.”
“Don’t be stupid.” The darkness was closer now. The numbness was colder, somehow. “Even if he did feel that way, he would never put his own needs over that of the pack.”
Peter snorted. “Is the world his pack now? Ridiculous.”
Mari could see the truth in Peter’s words. Yes, the world had become Warner’s pack. Supe and human alike, and Mari thought it was beautiful. He was the savior the world needed.
So for these last few minutes, Mari could be the savior he needed.
She was honored to be part of it. To be of use.
“You’re so pathetic. I don’t know how to hurt you. You don’t value yourself enough that I can take anything from you.” He shook his head and spittle spattered her face.
Stealing the Heiress Page 12
