by Kimber White
I took a deep breath and held it as I pressed my hand flat against the door. 1...2...3…
I shoved it open, waiting for hell to break loose.
It didn’t. The hot summer air hit me in the face, but nothing else. Though it was early still, the downtown area had already begun to wake. Street sounds assaulted my senses and for once gave me comfort.
I chanced a look back up at the building. Erik. I could sense him watching me, high above. I shielded my eyes against the sun and tried to figure out where he was. I’d never be able to see him from this distance and angle. And yet, I knew he was there.
“Goodbye.” I mouthed the words. Somehow, I knew he could hear me. Would he try to stop me? Did I want him to?
I adjusted the backpack I’d taken and turned to the street.
“You looking for something, ma’am?” A middle-aged man stood at the corner, waiting for the light to change.
“The nearest bus stop,” I said.
“Where you headed?” he asked.
“I’ll figure that out when I get there,” I said, finding a smile. He gave me one back.
“Three blocks that way.” He pointed east. “But you better hurry.”
I was already on my way. Adrenaline coursed through me. Once I set myself on this path, I was eager to get on with it.
I scanned the street. I sensed nothing. No other shifters. No one even noticed me. They were far too busy hurrying to get to their own destinations. I started to think maybe I had city life all wrong. Maybe I’d do well to disappear in plain sight for a while somewhere else.
Maybe later I’d send word to Erik. Just to tell him that I was all right and that he could stand down. Move on. Tell his boss his contract was fulfilled.
I saw the bus stop up ahead just where the gentleman had pointed. A handful of people had already lined up near the bench waiting for it. A few more hurried down the street to catch up.
A few blocks to the south, I saw the bus stop at a red light on its way to us. Perfect timing, I thought.
I found a place in the line. No one even looked my way. I let my gaze travel back to the Wolfguard building. It loomed so large against the skyline. It stayed dark though, still an hour from opening. I wondered if Erik saw which way I went. Would he chase after me? Did I secretly want him to?
A few breathless stragglers ran to the bus stop. There were about twenty of us now, waiting. The bus chugged its way down the street. Its hydraulic brakes screeched as it slowed down.
I let an elderly couple get ahead of me and waited for my turn to board. Another man got in line behind me. The elderly woman stumbled a bit as she tried to take the first step. I shot out a hand to catch her.
“Thank you, honey,” she said. “I thought I had that.”
“No problem,” I said. I climbed up after her and popped the fare into the driver’s collection machine. The man behind me crowded in close.
I went for an empty seat three rows down on the driver’s side. The man smiled and started to sit beside me.
Not wanting to make conversation, I looked out the window. I felt something hard press against my side. Shocked, I turned to him.
Then, heat speared me. A tiny pop filled my ears. The man was smiling. His green eyes glinted told and he was up and moving toward the door.
My breath left me. I pressed a hand to my side. It was covered in blood as I drew it away.
The man pushed his way past another couple boarding the bus. The woman swore at him as he ran down the sidewalk. I saw a flash of metal in the man’s right hand. A gun.
My claws came out. Agony ripped through me. He shot me. He shot me. I existed outside myself as the driver pulled the doors shut and the bus lurched forward, pulling away from the curb.
Fire burned through me. My blood turned to lava. As I struggled to breathe, I knew. The gun was loaded with Dragonsteel bullets. Its magic ate through me. I reached out, trying to stand.
I heard a scream as my blood spilled over the seat and down the aisle. Then, the lights went out.
Chapter Fifteen
Erik
I couldn’t get to her fast enough. She lay sprawled in the alley, her dark blood a widening pool beneath her. She stared straight at me, her brown eyes searching my face as I gathered her in my arms and begged for her life.
“Erik?”
Her face shimmered like the reflection over water. Her eyes went from brown to amber. Her hair from gossamer blonde to silken jet black.
Irina became Nova. But the ending was the same.
“Erik.” Nova’s ragged voice reached me.
She was alive. I knelt in the aisle, cradling her in my arms.
“Did someone call 911?” a female voice shouted. The bus driver stood behind me, gasping for air.
I got my feet under me. I lifted Nova out of the seat and charged back down the aisle. The other passengers stumbled out of my way. I gave one glaring look at the bus driver. He tripped over himself to open the door again.
“Don’t you dare leave me,” I whispered to Nova.
She was limp. Lifeless. I ran with her, drawing stares and shouts as I headed back to the Wolfguard building. There was no time for anything else.
As I approached the lobby door, Payne stood in my path.
“Get her to the main floor conference room,” he said. “It might not be too late.”
Too late. I would always be too late.
The last ten minutes replayed in my mind. Edward and I watched in horror from the window as Nova made her way on foot out of the building. I rattled the windows with my fists, calling to her. She looked up and I swore she could hear me, though I knew that was impossible.
Then, I was on the run. I felt the danger closing in on her though she was unaware. Edward was at my heels. I called Nova to stop. Wait for me.
The bus doors closed with her inside. Then, I saw the hulking stranger mount the stairs right after her.
I felt the bullet go into her side.
I crashed through the office doors on the first floor. Nova coughed up blood. I swept an arm over the desk, sending everything on top of it crashing to the floor. Then, I carefully laid Nova there.
“Nova,” I whispered, cradling her face in my hands. She was too pale. Her breathing too shallow. But, thank God she was still breathing.
Payne came in behind me. His own color drained almost as much as Nova’s.
“Did you bring it?” I shouted.
Payne froze for an instant. I turned and growled. “Did you bring it?”
He shook his head to clear it then held out his hand. In it, he held a small, glass vial with glowing red liquid inside.
“She only needs a drop,” he said.
“I know what she needs,” I snapped. I used my teeth to pull off the rubber stopper. Slipping my hand under Nova’s head, I gently lifted her head.
“Baby,” I whispered. “You need to drink this.”
God. She was so far gone. I felt her spiraling away from me into darkness.
“Nova!” I growled, shaking her. She stirred. I brought the vial to her lips and tilted it. Careful to let only a single drop fall between her lips, I waited.
Payne was there and I handed him the vial. He replaced the stopper and guarded the precious liquid.
“Nova,” I whispered. “Nova, come back to me.”
“She’s all right,” Payne said. “She’s going to be all right. We got to her in time.”
He put a light hand on my shoulder and I stiffened. My wolf was too keyed up. I was ready to strike.
“Dammit, Nova,” I said. She was so close to the edge. I could feel the pull of the other side. She found peace in it. She could rest in it.
“No!” I shouted. I shook her more violently. “Don’t you dare go there. Open your eyes!”
Then, I kissed her. I ran my hand over her, caressing her soft curves. Beside me, Payne cleared his throat and quietly stepped out of the room.
“Nova,” I said, more gently. This time, her eyelids flutter
ed. When she opened them, her pupils were two black pinpoints. I kissed her once more, gently.
Her eyes came into focus. Color flushed her cheeks. She drew in a great, shredded breath, then sputtered. I rolled her to her side as pain seized her. It would leave her in a moment as her body expelled the Dragonsteel bullet and the Dragonsblood did its work.
I held her as the waves of pain went through her and finally dissipated.
“You’re okay,” I said as I clung to her.
She wasn’t Irina. And I’d gotten to her in time.
I don’t know how long I held her like that. She shook violently for a few minutes as the magic warred within her, then finally loosened its grip. She faded from human to jaguar than back again. Then, sweat-drenched, she finally got her legs and pushed up until she was sitting on the edge of the desk.
“What was that?” she said. I went to the table in the corner of the room and poured her a glass of ice water
“Dragonsblood,” I said. “You were shot with a Dragonsteel bullet. The blood counteracts it.”
She took the water from me and drank it all down. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she eyed me. “How the hell did you get a hold of Dragonsblood? They’ve been extinct for a thousand years.”
I cast my eyes downward. That was but one secret Wolfguard and the Kalenkovs guarded. Dragons weren’t quite as extinct as everyone believed. For now, Nova would have to live without that knowledge.
“It’s a long story,” I said. She regarded me for a moment, but accepted the answer.
“Thanks,” she said.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I said, finally letting my anger rise. “Nova, if I hadn’t been close by. If we didn’t have the antidote. You’d be dead right now. You get that, right?”
“You said I’m not your prisoner,” she said, defiant.
“Let me guess,” I held up a hand. “You got it in your head that you’re better off on your own. That might have been true before, but not now. Whether you like it or not, you need me.”
I needed her too, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“I don’t like it!” she yelled. “Not at all! I was doing fine on my own. Now it’s all...it’s just a mess. And you…”
I was ready for her tirade. She could be as angry at me as she wished, but at least she was alive to do it. And I had no plans to ever let her out of my sight again.
She didn’t get the chance to vent though. Edward came to the doorway, breathless, his wolf eyes flaring.
I turned to him. He gave me a slow nod. My fists curled and my claws came out. It was then I saw the marks on the side of Edward’s face.
“He put up a fight,” Edward said, then his face broke into a grin. “But I put up a bigger one.”
“What’s going on?” Nova asked.
“Glad to see you’re okay,” Edward said. “You gave us a little scare there.”
“Erik,” she said, sensing my wolf stir.
“Where?” I asked, keeping my gaze fixed on my brother.
“Downstairs,” Edward answered. “They’re chaining him up now. Payne’s going to…”
“No,” I said, my voice dark and thick. “He’s mine. You make sure Payne understands. He talks to me and no one else.”
Edward raised a brow but didn’t argue. I gestured toward Nova. My brother understood. He’d stay with her for me.
As Nova shouted questions at my back, I charged out of the room and headed straight for the basement with murder in my heart.
Chapter Sixteen
Erik
Payne had three guards posted in front of the door, two inside. Had I wanted to kill the man I came for, they couldn’t have stopped me.
I shot a cold look at one of them, and he opened the steel door and I stepped inside.
Heavy loops of Dragonsteel wrapped around the man. He sagged under the weight of it and his color had gone gray. He was big though. My height. I’d seen it when I watched him board the bus behind Nova.
“What’s your name?” I asked, kneeling down to his level. Sweat poured into his eyes. He turned away.
I could feel his wolf struggling to get out. Even now, he tried to shift even though he knew the Dragonsteel would make that impossible.
“Did you check him for marks?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Just the one,” the bear shifter beside me said. His name was Toby, I thought. A big grizzly from the Yukon. “Left bicep, interlocking circles.”
I tore the wolf’s sleeve off so I could see the tattoo for myself. It was just as Toby said, an infinity symbol. It was the mark of someone loyal to the Ring.
I snarled. It didn’t make sense. “You tried to kill her,” I said. “Why?”
There was no way agents of the Ring would have sent someone to assassinate Nova like that. Wound her, maybe. But, she was far too valuable to them alive.
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” he said. It took me half a beat to realize he’d spoken in flawless Russian.
My wolf came out a bit. Growling, I fisted his shirt and dragged him forward. The chains cut through his skin, making him cry out in agony.
“Who the hell are you?” I said. “Who sent you?”
He shook his head. “You might as well kill me now. I’m dead either way.”
“Don’t try to tell me you were acting with orders from the Ring. They’d never send you to murder a female jag. No, they kill their women only after they’ve used them up, you pig. She’s worth way too much. You want to tell me you’ve had some change of heart? You trying to strike some blow to them?”
Blood spilled from his lips.
“Oh no you don’t,” I said. I took the bullet he’d shot into Nova from my pocket. “Where’d you get this?”
I pressed it to his forehead. He cried out in fresh pain. I jerked the chains.
“You can end this,” I said. “Tell me what your mission was. If it’s the Ring, why kill her?”
“Your time is coming to an end,” he said, again in Russian.
My time. With cold horror, I began to realize this might not have to do with the Ring at all.
“They don’t know you’re here,” I said. “No one’s coming for you.”
“She suffers, you all suffer,” he said. “Just like the last one.”
My heart turned to stone. The last one. I cocked my head to the side. I let my claws out and swiped them across his chest. He screamed but could do nothing. The Dragonsteel’s magic kept him immobilized. It also kept his pack from finding him.
I dragged him to his feet and turned him, searching every inch of his skin.
There, right over his heart, hidden beneath a bit of hair, I found it. It was a faint, circular scar about the size of a quarter. He’d cut the mark away.
“What are you looking for?” Toby asked.
Edward had just come into the room. He came to my side. I knew he’d heard just enough to follow my train of thought.
“Son of a bitch,” Edward said.
I was too far gone. I let my wolf out. Saliva dripped from my fangs as I cornered the wolf against the wall.
“Erik,” Edward said. “Easy.”
Edward leaned down and got in the wolf’s face. “You lose. Here and in Moscow. You’re all alone now and I’m not going to stop him.”
“Then you’ll never know the truth,” the prisoner said. “But you’ll know this. She’s not safe. Not from me. Not from the Ring. And now the Vadims know she’s yours, Kalenkov. Show her mercy and kill her quick. Because we won’t.”
He found just enough strength to let his fangs drop. He lunged for me, trying to throw a loop of chain around my neck.
It was never going to work. He knew it was suicide. Edward stepped back and I defended myself.
Weakened as he was, the wolf died far too quickly as I sank my fangs into his neck. When I was done, I staggered backward and shifted. The wolf had a smile on his face as the light went out of his eyes.
“Vadim,” Toby said. “Wha
t the hell was he talking about?”
“The Vadim pack are the ones who overthrew our family in Moscow twenty years ago. They killed our parents. Many others,” Edward explained.
“But your uncle has taken power back,” Toby said.
“He has,” Edward answered. “This one...found himself in the path of the Ring.”
“He went rogue,” I said. “The Ring didn’t send him to kill Nova. He did that on his own. Because of me.”
Irina haunted my heart once more. This wolf may not have been the one to stab her, but he was working with the pack who did. They would never stop. They would try to take away the things I loved over and over again.
It meant Nova might not ever be safe as long as she was with me.
“Erik,” Edward said, practically reading my mind. “This isn’t on you. This goes far deeper. We need to get Uncle Andre on the phone. He needs to know some of the surviving members of the Vadim family are part of the Ring now.”
Nodding, I wiped the blood from my mouth. “I trust you to take care of it.”
For now, even though it might be both of our downfalls, I couldn’t be away from Nova for another second.
Chapter Seventeen
Nova
I wore a path from the kitchen to the hallway as I waited for Erik. I could sense him, twenty floors below in the bowels of the building. He had killed. For me.
I felt trapped in this building. Trapped in my own skin. Trapped by the knowledge there was something far bigger than me out there. Something dark. Something that wanted me dead.
Then, he was there. Erik stood in the doorway, his skin glistening with sweat. His wolf eyes glowing bright blue. His animal shimmered so close to the surface. So did mine.
