Bound In Death (Bound #5)(48)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“I knew he’d leave you…leave you waiting for me.” Liam leapt toward her.

She didn’t back away from him. Her own claws ripped free, and she attacked him. They collided in a tangle of limbs and claws.

“Get away from her!” Ryan’s yell.

Liam wasn’t getting away from her. She raked her claws over his stomach. This man—he thought to hurt her Alerac? Thought to destroy the pack? “You were his friend!”

“I was his f**king shadow,” Liam snarled right back. “No more.”

“You’re right.” That booming voice was Alerac’s. And he was—he was standing right behind Liam. “No more.”

Liam whirled to confront him. But even as he turned, shoving Jane to the side, Alerac was attacking. Alerac’s claws sank into Liam’s chest.

“You’re not the only one who knows how to disguise his scent,” Alerac told him as he sank his claws even deeper in Liam’s chest.

Liam cried out.

But Alerac wasn’t showing mercy. Alerac was taking Liam’s heart. Just as Liam had taken Finn’s heart. Part of Jane wanted to look away from the horrible sight, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move at all.

Ryan pushed into her back. Zoe gasped.

“You were like a brother to me,” Alerac told Liam, voice thundering. “Why? Why betray me?”

Liam shoved his hand, no, his claws—right over Alerac’s chest.

“No!” Now Jane was moving. Because she was desperate. She grabbed Liam, but couldn’t pull him away from Alerac. The werewolf was too strong. If she couldn’t get him to break free, then both werewolves might die.

Not happening.

Jane sank her teeth into Liam’s neck. Liam jerked his hand back as he tried to attack her.

And images, dozens of them, immediately swam through her mind.

Liam. Vampires. Fangs and claws and blood.

Voices that wouldn’t stop shouting in his head. Dark desires that could never be satisfied. Desires that just grew worse as the blood flowed. Urges to hurt, to kill, to destroy.

It’s not me anymore. I can’t stop. Help me. Help me!

Jane wrenched her mouth away from Liam. Alerac yanked his hand back at the same instant.

And Liam fell. He slammed face-first into the floor.

She swiped her hand over her mouth, trying desperately to banish his taste and those terrible, twisted memories. She’d seen Liam hurting so many people. Humans and vampires and werewolves.

He’d hid his darkness for so many years.

No longer.

His heart was gone. His body was still. Liam was dead. Killed by his alpha’s hand.

Jane looked up at Alerac. He stood there, bleeding, chest heaving, staring at her with the eyes of an enraged beast.

Part of her was afraid of him. He’d taken the heart straight from Liam’s chest.

Alerac stepped toward her.

Her own heart raced faster.

His nostrils twitched.

He smells my fear. Oh, crap. “Alerac—”

But he’d whirled away from her. He stalked outside. Other werewolves were there. When had they gathered?

“It’s done.” His voice was flat. “The traitor is dead.”

Ryan’s fingers brushed down her arm. “Are you okay?”

She was. She just needed to talk with Alerac. To make him understand how she felt. “I need Alerac.” Jane stepped toward him.

But the visions from Liam’s head—those images of blood and pain and torture, flooded through her once more. She tried to stop them, but it was as if a dam had broken. The images wouldn’t stop. They slammed through her, over and over again.

Was this what it was like for him? She could feel her sanity draining away.

She tried to call out to Alerac again, but couldn’t.

Jane didn’t hit the floor when she fell.

Her brother was there to catch her.

But there was nothing to stop the bloody visions that filled her mind.

Chapter Eleven

She thought he was a monster.

Fitting, considering that was exactly what Alerac was.

I killed Liam. Alerac had done what was necessary. Liam had been a menace, turning on his own kind, attacking Jane.

And when I killed him, I could have sworn I saw relief flash in his eyes.

“Jane?”

He frowned at the note of concern he heard in Ryan’s voice. Alerac glanced back and saw Jane being cradled in her brother’s arms.

Jane’s eyes were closed, her long lashes dark against her pale cheeks.

“I think she fainted,” Ryan muttered. He shook her gently. “Jane?”

“Vampires faint?” Zoe asked. “Here I thought blood-suckers were tougher than that.” But a thread of concern had entered her voice, too.

Fear uncurled within Alerac. Fear, when he’d forced that emotion away for so long. But Jane seemed to be unlocking all of his emotions. The good and the bad. Helpless, he went back to her.

Had Jane fainted because she realized she was bound to a monster? To a man with a heart just as dark as Lorcan’s?

He took her from Ryan. “Jane?”

She didn’t stir.

She had blood on her clothes. On her skin.

“I’ll take care of her,” he said. He would. Always.

He cast a hard stare around the area. The witch was dead. Dammit, he’d needed her. He’d had plans for her. Now she was gone. Maybe I can find another witch. But her kind wasn’t exactly thick on the ground, especially the powerful witches. “Take care of her,” he ordered his men as he inclined his head toward the woman’s still body.

Ryan glanced over at her bloody form. “She had no magic to help us.”

“She didn’t deserve to die!” From Zoe. Her cheeks were flushed. “She thought she was just getting to live, then Liam took that all away! She had hope, and he destroyed it.”

Liam had taken much away from them.

No more.

Alerac turned and began to carry his precious burden up the stairs.

“What about Lorcan?” Ryan shouted after him.

Alerac paused. Until he found a way to break the link between Jane and Lorcan, there was nothing that could be done. “He lives.” That was all he could say. “No one goes after him without my express command.” Because any attack would hurt Jane, and that he could not allow. “If anyone catches his scent on our land, alert me immediately.”

He left the others and carried Jane into the bathroom upstairs. The shower there was huge, easily big enough to accommodate them both.

“Jane?” Why hadn’t her eyes opened?