The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(18)
Author: Cynthia Eden

She shuddered. Stay strong. Focus.

“Why do you smell so good?”

He hadn’t changed into a wolf. That meant she had the advantage. His mistake. “You want to know why?” Her fingers lifted and pressed lightly against his shoulders. “Because I’m not human.” Because she had a brew of drugs in her body that had tried to make her some weird mix of human and vampire. The drugs had the side effect of sending out that sweet smell. Vampires always smelled good, that was just one of the ways that they lured in their prey. But her scent had been amplified by the drugs. A bad side effect that she’d try to fix.

“What are you?” Saul demanded.

Instead of answering, she shoved him back, as hard as she could. He flew through the air, rammed through the doorway, and sent chunks of wood shooting up around him. She ran out after him. She wasn’t sure how her strength would stack up against him, but she’d get the collar’s remote and totally disable him—

He was already back on his feet. And between her and the nightstand.

Then he started to laugh. “Aren’t you…full of surprises?”

Her breath was panting out. Her heart racing too fast.

And she was naked. Dammit, naked, in front of that psycho.

Her gaze darted to the nightstand.

“Ah…looking for this, are you?” He lifted the remote from his pocket.

No.

“Why don’t you come and get it?”

Fine. She would. Time to see who was stronger…the beast or, well, me.

Holly pushed back her shoulders. Lifted her chin. Then bared her own fangs.

Saul’s eyes widened.

“You should have stayed away,” she told him.

He smiled at her. And crushed the remote in his hand.

Oh, hell. Holly swallowed, choking back her fear, then she attacked.

Holly raced across the room. This wasn’t about testing herself. This was survival. Kill or be killed.

His claws sliced across her stomach. More blood flowed from her.

No more.

She grabbed his hands. Held them tight. Then her mouth went for his throat.

Bite. Bite. Bite.

The temptation that was always in her mind. Only this time, she wasn’t resisting temptation.

“You f**kin’ bitch, I’ll slice you open, screw you while you bleed—”

It was his turn to bleed. Her teeth sank into his throat. His blood trickled over her tongue.

He howled then. A loud, inhuman sound. He tried to shove her off him. They wound up both falling to the floor. She held on tight, not about to let him go. She couldn’t let him go.

His blood was in her mouth. Werewolf blood. Powerful. Heady. The rumors she’d heard were true. She could already feel his blood making her even stronger.

He rolled, twisted, and came down on top of her. She kicked out at him, even as she kept her teeth in his throat.

He yanked his hands free from her grip. “Should have known…should have known…” His hands closed around her head, and he shoved her skull back against the floor. “I know what you are.”

Good for him. She knew what he was, too.

He lifted one hand. His claws glinted. “I know what you are…so that means I know how to kill you.”

Hell.

And, right then, her alarm stopped its wild shriek.

He smiled. “Ready to die?”

Again? “No.” Her chin lifted. “Are you?”

Chapter Five

He followed Saul’s scent—sweat, animal, fear—back to a small building on the outskirts of the city. From the outside, the place looked like an old fire station. One that someone had converted into a house?

He inhaled deeply. Saul had sent him on wild hunt. Racing in and out of buildings, in alleys, through a tangled maze that had led through the city…

And back here.

His nostrils flared as he pulled in the scents around him. The musky scent of Saul and—

Honey.

Fuck, no. He ran for the building, his heart pounding frantically in his chest and his claws bursting from his fingertips. He lifted his foot to kick in the door, but saw that someone had already beaten him to that chore—the door’s lock was broken. Shattered. He shoved the door open and rushed inside. The bottom floor was empty, but he could hear sounds coming from upstairs. He flew up those stairs, four at a time. Turned to the left—

And saw Saul, on the floor, on top of a naked Holly. She was bleeding. Saul’s claws here out. He was trying to swipe at her.

Duncan roared.

Saul’s head whipped up. His eyes locked on Duncan, then those eyes widened in horror. Before Saul could leap to his feet, Duncan had him. His hands locked around Saul’s shoulders, and he yanked the shifter away from Holly. Then he slung the bastard against the nearest wall. The whole building seemed to shudder at that impact.

“Duncan!” Holly’s voice was shocked, scared, and angry as she called his name. He turned back toward her. Pale flesh. Wide eyes. She was trying to cover her br**sts with one arm and cover the juncture of her thighs with the other even as she bled from the gashes in her side and on her arm.

He reached for her.

And felt claws drive into his back.

“No!” Horror was the only thing he saw in Holly’s eyes then.

The hands that had been reaching for her balled into fists. “Run.” He could barely manage to get the word out.

She shook her head, sending her wet hair flying over her shoulders.

“Run!”

He spun back around and grabbed Saul’s hand. With one twist, he broke the bastard’s wrist. Payback, you SOB. Then he grabbed Saul’s other hand and broke that wrist, too.

Saul staggered back. Then he hit the floor. Fur burst along his skin as his bones snapped.

Saul was shifting, and…so am I.

The white-hot agony ripped through Duncan. Speech was impossible. He could only snarl and growl as his body reshaped. His muscles tore, his tendons stretched. When his hands hit the floor, they almost instantly became paws. Power beat through him. Power…and bloodlust.

He attacked what is mine.

Mine.

Duncan went for the other wolf’s throat. His paws slammed into Saul’s side, and his teeth snapped at the bastard’s neck.

But Saul’s claws drove into Duncan’s side. Sliced deep. The pain just made him angrier. Duncan attacked with his own claws. Blood matted Saul’s pale coat of fur.

“Duncan?” Holly’s quiet voice.

Mine.

He sank his teeth into Saul’s neck.

“Duncan, we need him alive!”

No, they needed him to die. Because he’d hurt Holly. Not once—