Page 19

Shit.

A light was shined in my eyes, and my flight instincts kicked in before I could think about it.I bolted, sprinting for the locker room.A growl rolled through the room, followed by the pounding of heavy boots behind me.

Pumping my arms, I leaped onto the bench seat and dove for the open window—my ankle was grabbed and I was yanked back down so hard that my ribs collided with the side of the bench a second before my head slammed into it.

Hissing, I struck out with my claws that had extended all on their own, long and black and pointed, while my arms flailed like windmills.The male roared, cursing as I scrambled to my feet and bounded back up on the bench and all but dove through the window.

My shoulder slammed into the ground on the other side, hard.I tried to drag myself back up and screamed.My arm was useless, hanging limply at my side.Groaning, I forced myself back to my feet and, trying to hold my dislocated shoulder steady, ran for my car.

Snarls and growls echoed around the parking lot.I spun.Wolves, a lot of them, had me surrounded and were closing in.I fumbled for my keys, and they slipped from my fingers, hitting the ground.Before I could scoop them up, I was grabbed around the waist and slammed into the hood.

My fear turned me into a feral creature.My eyes were a red haze as I went wild, hissing and fighting, trying to slice my captor with my claws.

The wolf fisted my hair and slammed my head against the hood, then wrenched it back.“What the fuck are you doing here, demon?”

Blood poured from my nose and lip, the slice in it reopening.To them I was all demon, and they were going to kill me for it.If I couldn’t explain who I was and why I was here, they would tear me to shreds—and even if I did explain, they might still kill me.

The wolves had been warring with the feral demons in Oldwood Forest, forcing them back, fighting to regain the territory they’d lost a long time ago.To them, I was the enemy.I was just another demon encroaching on their home.

The wolf curled his fingers around my throat and spun me to face his pack mates.Their glowing eyes stared back, filled with fury and hatred, their chests heaving, veins bulging, all of them out for blood.

“Speak, scum,” he snarled.“Or I’ll fucking make you speak.”He shook me roughly.I tried to unlock my jaw, but fear had me frozen, had thrown me back several months, to the basement of our coven house, trapped by another monster who wanted to hurt me—who had hurt me.

“Put her in the van,” he growled.

ChapterFive

Sutton

I hadno idea where they were taking me.

The wolf who’d grabbed me held me now, totally mobile as we bumped along a dirt road, heading toward the goddess only knew where.

“Ugly demon bitch,” he said low.“Either you talk, or I make you fucking scream.”

I tried to unhinge my clamped jaw to speak, to explain what was going on, but the fear was just too great.I was in a full-blown panic attack, and all I could do was sit there paralyzed, trying to breathe, while this wolf told me over and over how much he despised me for what I was, and how much he was looking forward to hurting me because of it.

When I was afraid, there was no holding back my transformation, and I knew my eyes were glowing red in the back of the van, that my nails were still black claws, and my veins also black in stark contrast to my pale skin.The combination was more than a little disconcerting to look at, and the half dozen pairs of glowing wolf eyes watching me with equal amounts of hatred and disgust told me exactly how they felt about my appearance.

One of the wolves stood suddenly and rushed to the doors at the back of the van, looking through the dirty windows, and cursed.

“We’ve got company.”

“Who—”

The deafening sound of motorcycles rumbling around the van was suddenly so loud it was like they were on top of us.

“Why the fuck are hounds following us?”

My heart slammed against the back of my ribs a moment before the van was hit by something heavy.The large vehicle abruptly jerked to the right, fishtailing a moment in the mud before the rear of the van swung into a large tree, stopping it in its tracks.

“What the fuck?—”

The door shrieked, the steel groaning a moment before it was torn off completely, then it went flying, crashing somewhere in the forest.

I sucked in a stunned breath.

Standing in the now gaping space, illuminated from behind by moonlight, was Jagger—and at least two other hounds.