Page 2 of Wed Or Dead

Chapter Two

The knife was a light weight in her hand. She’d killed before with a weapon like this one, and Kayla had no doubt that she’d do so again. But…

Killing Gage ? Ice seemed to fill her veins.

Yes, she knew that had been Lyle’s plan all along. From the first moment, when he’d told her to head into Gage’s bar and to charm her way into Gage’s world. She’d known Lyle wanted her to take out Gage. Another target. Another mission.

She’d always been such a good soldier. No, hunter.

Only the plan had changed for her. Gage was supposed to be a monster, she knew that. Lyle had told her all about Gage’s crimes. She’d read his file. Read it over a dozen times.

But when she looked at him, she didn’t see the monster. She just saw the man.

A man who’d wanted to marry her.

So on her thirty-fourth birthday, she’d headed to the chapel with him. And now, with dawn coming, the game was supposed to be over.

She was killing close. Lyle had that bit right. Gage trusted her. This was the time her group had been waiting for. They’d planned this attack for months.

Carefully, she opened the bathroom door. The door made just the softest of creaks as it slid over the carpet. Gage still slept in bed, but he’d rolled so that his back was to her. Such a strong, muscled back. There were faint scars on his back. She’d touched them in the dark. Just as he’d touched her scars.

He’d kissed her scars. The lines that sliced over her skin. He hadn’t asked her about them. Hadn’t questioned like her other lovers had done. He’d just stroked them with his fingers and his tongue and made her feel perfect.

She’d never been that.

Kayla glanced at the knife. Was she really supposed to just shove it into his heart? Then walk away while he bled out?

You know what he is. Don’t be fooled. Gage’s kind was so good at deception. She had to remember that. He’d been born to lie. To deceive.

She’d met others like him before. So many over the years. More than most people realized.

Her own family had been attacked by someone like Gage long ago. A man, hiding a beast inside. One dark night, he’d killed her mother and father. Left her brother in a pool of blood, struggling to breathe. Attacked her.

Monsters lived and breathed in this world. Most folks didn’t know that truth. They thought the world was all happy and shiny and full of birthday parties, play dates, and football games.

She knew better. Monsters are real. And her handsome husband, with his slow smile and strong hands—he was a monster.

Kayla took a step forward. One foot in front of the other. The mantra was the same one she’d used when she’d walked down the aisle. Only no beaming wedding official waited for her this time.

The robe she wore rustled around her legs as she took another slow step. Another.

When she felt something wet on her cheek, Kayla stopped. What the hell? Her left hand lifted and swiped across her face. Was she crying? She never cried. She hadn’t, not since the men at the cemetery had put her parents in the ground.

“Come back to bed,” Gage said, his voice rumbling out and making her jump. He faced the window, not her as he added, “I miss you.”

He wouldn’t miss her for long.

Kayla took a deep breath and forced herself to keep walking. A few more steps, and her legs brushed against the edge of the bed. “Th-there’s something you should know about me.” His back was still to her. Why did he have to make such an easy target?

Having his back to you should make it better. You don’t have to look him in the eyes when you attack.

But stabbing a man in the back had never been her style.

Liar. The insidious whisper came from deep within. Her secret shame.

Her hand clenched around the knife’s handle. Gage was supposed to be dangerous. Lethal. The strongest paranormal badass to claim Vegas in years.

Because he was a paranormal. The supernaturals were real and breathing, and many were hiding in the shadows of Sin City.

He was the perfect target right then. Tousled hair. Sated male. Defenseless. It would be so easy. Just lift the knife. Drive the blade into him.

“Oh, I think I already know all the secrets you have, sweetheart,” he murmured, his voice a low and sexy growl.

Kayla shook her head. Damn tears. “No, you don’t?—”

In a flash, he rolled toward her. He leapt up and came at her with claws ripping from his fingers.

Not defenseless.

Claws...because Gage Riley wasn’t human.

Shifter.

His blue eyes shined at her with the light of the beast, and he put those too-sharp and too-long claws of his at her throat.

The move actually seemed only fair, considering that she had her knife pressed over his heart.

“Hello, hunter,” Gage whispered.

Her own heart shoved hard against her chest. “How long…” Kayla licked her lips. Why was her mouth so dry? “How long have you known?”

He brought his head in close to hers. Inhaled her scent. Pressed a light kiss to her cheek. Did he taste the salt of her tears? “Since the first time you walked into my bar.”

What? Kayla shook her head, lost, confused. He’d known since then, and he’d still married her? Still fucked her?

His claws skated lightly over her throat. He didn’t break the skin. Didn’t hurt her. But she knew one slice would cut open her jugular.

“Are you really going to kill me now?” Gage asked as he pulled back to study her with a cocked head. “Just hours after our wedding?”

She was supposed to.

That was her job. As a hunter, she was the one sent out to keep the humans safe in this world. When a supernatural crossed the line and started killing, her team was sent in. They delivered justice. They were the heroes.

Only she didn’t feel like any kind of hero.

She felt like a killer.

“Was screwing me part of the deal?” Gage demanded as his voice roughened even more.

Her eyes narrowed at that insulting question. Maybe it was deserved, and maybe it damn well wasn’t. Instead of stabbing him, she wanted to punch him.

“If so,” Gage continued with a shake of his head, “that was a rather fatal mistake.”

They were at a supernatural standoff. Claws versus silver. If he’d just sheathe his claws…

“Because now that I’ve had you,,,” Gage smiled at her, and revealed his growing canines. Sharp. “I think I want another bite.”

He’d kept his fangs from her. Kept the claws away last night. But it looked like he was done playing nice.

So was she.

The bed was rumpled. The air smelled of sex. He was naked.

She stared into his eyes. If he knew what she was, then Kayla had no idea why he’d married her. Sure, she’d been ordered to say the “I do” bit. She’d been told to do anything necessary in order to get past his defenses.

Gage Riley ran the wolf pack in Vegas. Since the wolves had moved to town just eight months ago, hell had hit the city. Supernatural madness. Attacks. Killings.

The pack had to be stopped. By any means necessary.

But sex wasn’t a means. Making love was more. Far more.

“Lower your claws,” she told him and managed to keep her voice totally calm. Rather impressive under the circumstances, but she’d been trained to be cold. Passionless. I’m not that way with him. “You aren’t going to kill me.” Those words were the truth because she’d learned a few things about Gage during their time together.

More than a few.

He wasn’t a heartless bastard. Not a cold-blooded killer.

I won’t be wrong about him.

His gaze hardened as he studied her. Then the half-smile that had always charmed her curled his lips. “Killing you isn’t what I have planned at all.”

He dropped his claws and there still wasn’t so much as a scratch on her skin.

Gage glanced down at his chest. She’d nicked him with the blade, and drops of blood trailed over his skin. Blood—and the faintest plume of smoke.

The old legend was true. Werewolves—or, in this case, wolf shifters—and silver just didn’t mix.

“Now are you gonna cut my heart out?” he asked and his smile hardened. “Though to confess, sweetheart, it sure feels like you already have.”

Her lips parted in surprise. Wait, what? Did he mean?—

But then Gage’s head jerked up. His nostrils flared, and she knew the wolf was pulling in scents. “Company.” A snarl. His eyes had never looked so cold before. A chill skated over her. “Guess that’s your backup, huh?”

No. She wasn’t supposed to have any backup. Not yet. And she couldn’t hear anything.

But Gage had a shifter’s sense of smell and hearing. Far, far more advanced than a human’s. That was why it was so hard to take out shifters. They always saw their enemies coming or smelled them. You couldn’t sneak up on prey that could hear you from a mile away.

“I won’t go down easy,” he promised, and she believed him. It would be a bloodbath for whoever came in that door.

Kayla shook her head and dropped the knife. It fell to the carpet without making a sound. “You won’t go down at all.” She’d be punished for this. No question about that

But I won’t kill him.

Sometimes even a hunter had to break the rules. Especially when she’d started to go soft for her prey.

Kayla turned away from him. If more of her team members really were heading down that hallway just beyond their hotel room door—and why hadn’t Lyle told her that he was sending in a team so soon? — then Gage would have to act fast. “We’re three floors up, but that shouldn’t be an issue for you.” Shifters could easily survive a fall from that height. He could jump out of the window and vanish. Simple. With dawn just breaking, there wouldn’t be too many folks out to see him, and if any did, they’d just think they were having some kind of hung-over delusion in Vegas. “Go now, before they arrive.”

She dropped her robe. Jerked on her own clothes. She wouldn’t be naked when her team swarmed. Swarmed—and took her into custody because she’d sided with the enemy.

An enemy who attacked your own family.

Kayla yanked on her boots. She could hear the careful tread of footsteps in the hallway now, and her gut clenched.

What would happen to her? Those who disobeyed Lyle didn’t exactly get the chance to hang around the unit for long and make amends. There weren’t any second chances for hunters. Lyle sure didn’t believe in them.

If Lyle cast her out of the unit, what would happen to her brother?

Kayla glanced around the room with its trampled rose petals. She needed to get the silver knife and strap it back to her ankle. She had to have her weapon close by in case?—

“Looking for this?” Gage drawled and the faint hint of Texas she’d heard a few times before slipped into his voice again.

Gage had dressed, but he sure hadn’t fled yet. The window waited behind him, just begging for the man to leap through it and get the hell out of there. But, no, he was just standing near the wrecked bed and waving her knife between his claws.

“Go,” she gritted out. In about thirty seconds, maybe less, the team would be breaking down the door. She knew their MO. They would have already cleared the third floor. Gotten all the nearby guests relocated during the night.

While I was making love to Gage.

Oh, hell, had the team heard them making love?

She hoped the walls were thicker than they looked. She hadn’t exactly been playing it quiet last night. Gage had made her scream.

She’d made him growl. Maybe roar.

The silver knife was blistering his fingers. She could see the smoke from across the room. The more powerful a wolf shifter was, the more the silver was supposed to burn. If that old legend was true, Gage had to be very, very powerful, indeed.

“You think I’m gonna leave you?” Gage asked, and he threw the knife. It flashed, tumbling end over end, before embedding hilt-deep in the bed’s headboard. Her gaze darted to the shaking knife handle, then back to him. Gage lifted one brow at her. “Think again.”

“It will be your funeral,” she whispered. Why couldn’t he leave? She was trying to help him. Didn’t he get that? She didn’t want him hurt. Kayla wanted him to have a chance.

A chance the guy wasn’t taking. Dammit. Fine. Whatever. Maybe she could buy him some more time so that he could get his sanity back and flee like a smart shifter.

She turned and headed for the hotel room door. Took two fast steps.

And she was jerked back against her husband’s hard, muscled body. “You’re not leaving me,” he told her, his words whispered right into her ear. “You promised forever, remember?”

He’d obviously gone insane. Kayla jerked against him, but there was no give to the shifter at all. She’d always known he was much stronger than he looked, but Gage’s arms wouldn’t budge no matter how much she twisted and shoved against him.

Then the hotel room door flew inward, driven by a powerful kick, and three men dressed in black, from toe to ski mask- covered heads, burst into the room. They were all armed, and their weapons were pointed right at?—

Me.

Shit. Kayla gulped and stopped struggling.

Gage had pulled her in front of him, and he was using her as a human shield. His claws were back at her neck. Again with that? And a growl rumbled from his throat. Her husband was definitely showing the beast-like tendencies that he’d kept so carefully hidden for weeks.

He sure wasn’t so easygoing any longer.

“Stand the hell down,” Gage ordered, voice cold and deadly, “or watch her die.”

The masked man in front lifted his left hand immediately in a signal she knew meant the others should freeze. She couldn’t see the hunter’s face, but she didn’t have to. She’d know Jonah anyplace. The tall build, the wiry strength. He was the lead on this mission, and the others would do whatever he commanded.

“Let her go,” Jonah said, and his own voice matched Gage’s in arctic chill. The perfect hunter. Cold and emotionless. Jonah hadn’t always been like that.

But then again, she hadn’t always been a killer, either. They’d both been more, before.

Before a night of blood and screams. Death and hell. And monsters.

“Let her go?” Gage repeated, sounding surprised. He actually laughed, then said, “I don’t think so,” as he began to back up—with her still clutched tightly against him. His slow, deliberate steps eased them across the room.

Oh, so now he was heading toward the window? Kayla kept her movements timed with his and made sure to use her body to shield him as much as possible. At least he was fleeing now. Better late than never. He’d drop her before he made his exit. He’d be safe. She’d be?—

Um, well, something.

Jonah took a step forward.

Gage’s hold tightened on her. “Move again,” he told the masked intruders, “and you’ll find yourself walking in her blood.”

Kayla’s breath froze in her lungs. Were the vicious words an idle threat or the real deal? In that moment, she wasn’t sure. Claws were at her throat. A shifter at her back. And guns waited in front of her.

Hardly the perfect morning-after that most brides experienced.

Jonah holstered his weapon. He gave a quick hand-motion to the two silent men behind him. They lowered their weapons.

“Why isn’t he dead?” Jonah asked her.

Did he really want her to go into that now ?

Gage stopped the backward walk they were doing. He lifted his hand and slammed it into the window. Glass shattered and rained down around their feet. Wow. Shifter strength. Humans would never be able to break the reinforced glass so easily.

“I’m not dead because she loves me,” Gage told him, voice clear and loud. And definitely with a duh edge. “And that’s why she’s leaving you assholes behind and joining me. ”

Kayla’s jaw dropped, but before she could speak, Gage spun her around and pulled her flush against his body.

“Put your arms around me,” he ordered with glinting eyes and a locked jaw. “And hold the hell on.”

She put her arms around him but shook her head. No, he couldn’t mean to take her with him. Not through the window. While he’d easily survive the fall and quickly heal from any broken bones, she wouldn’t. As a human, she didn’t have that amazing healing luxury. A fall from the third floor could kill her.

Probably would kill her.

Gage brought his head in close to hers. His lips feathered over her cheek, and he whispered, “Trust me, I’ll keep you safe.”

On a three-story fall? The hell, no, he?—

Gage leapt through the remnant of the window, holding her tight, and Kayla screamed.

Wind whipped past her. I’m dying. So this was the way she was going out. Better than getting slashed apart by a vamp or incinerated by a demon but?—

They were on the ground. Gage’s knees had barely buckled. And...she was fine. Still held tightly in his arms.

No bruises. No cuts. Nothing.

Holy hell. They’d made it.

“Come on,” he muttered and put her on her feet. His hand still retained a tight grip on her arm, and as he rushed forward, he hauled her behind him. Her boots crunched over the glass that had fallen from their window.

Cat shifters were supposed to be pretty freaking awesome at landing on their feet after jumps like that, but the wolf had shown her just how agile his beast could be.

“Kayla!” Jonah’s scream had her turning back. He was leaning out of the window, and he’d jerked off his ski mask. His face was white. His eyes wild.

“I’m okay!” Kayla yelled back to him. “I’m?—”

Gage grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Really, that was too much. No, the jump through the window had been too much. In a minute, she was gonna get pissed.

But she didn’t have a minute. Before she could do more than pound her fist frantically into Gage’s back, he tossed her inside an SUV.

Kayla could have jumped out. When he ran around to the driver’s side, she could have leapt for safety. If she’d wanted safety.

But she didn’t move.

And, technically, she could have gotten away from the guy when he first tossed her over his shoulder. Her body was a lethal weapon, after all. Not much could subdue her.

But she hadn’t fought back too hard then.

She wasn’t fighting now, either.

Gage jumped behind the driver’s seat. He bent low and hot-wired the ride. Sneaky and impressive. She liked a man with skills. Then he gunned the engine as he shot the SUV out of the parking lot fast enough to make her head whip back.

They’d be pursued, she knew that. Lyle wouldn’t just let them vanish into the night.

No way would he do that. The real hunt...well, it was only getting started.