The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(8)
Author: Cynthia Eden

His c**k was aching. His muscles trembling. And if she came close to him again, with that scent, with those dark eyes…

I will hurt her.

Because it wasn’t just the man who wanted her. He’d been right about that fear. The beast he was becoming wanted her, too.

Maybe he wanted her even more.

“Duncan!” She was rushing after him. He didn’t stop. He entered Cell A. Slammed the door behind him. Then he took five quick steps away from the door.

Her breath was panting out. Her br**sts rising and falling.

“Lock it,” he snarled.

“What’s happening? Are you—”

“Lock it, or I’ll be on you.” He couldn’t get any more clear than that. Or maybe, he could. I’ll be in you.

Her eyes widened. She yanked a keycard out of her pocket and swiped it over the electronic lock. The lock engaged and bolted.

She stared at him. The bars of Cell A were thick, reinforced, and supposedly designed to keep even the strongest of paranormals inside.

There was a cot to the left of Duncan. A toilet. A sink.

She wrapped her hands on the bars. “Duncan, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

He stiffened. “I don’t need your pity.” Was the woman missing the whole bit where he was close to ripping her clothes off? “You need to get away from me. Stay away. Get another doctor to—”

“There is no other doctor here. Just me. You know that.”

But she usually had an assistant who came in. At least during the days. The man who actually took the blood from the other werewolves.

Wait, before, Pate had said…“It’s the reason I wanted you away from the other wolves.”

What was the reason?

But the heat inside of his body started to build even more. It felt like he was being ripped apart by that fire.

Like…like the wolf was coming out.

“Get away.”

She let go of the bars, and her fingers skimmed over the remote on her belt. “Maybe I should adjust the silver intensity.”

“It’s not the f**king silver! It’s you!” And, in an instant, he lost control. He leapt across the cell. Freaking leapt and was in front of her in less than a second’s time. “I can smell you. I can taste you. And I want to f**k you.” As if she’d missed that part before when he’d been driving his tongue into her mouth. “So you need to walk away. Walk away now. Run away. I don’t know how strong this thing is inside of me, and if something should happen, if I got out of this cell…”

Don’t want to hurt her. Don’t ever want to hurt her.

“You need to be away from me,” he finished.

Her gaze held his. Then she gave a slow nod and backed away from the cell.

He sucked in a deep breath. Dammit, he still tasted her.

Holly turned away. Her dark hair brushed over her white lab coat. She took two steps, then paused. “I wasn’t saying no.”

He didn’t know what in the hell she was talking about.

Holly glanced over her shoulder. “I was kissing you back. And I bet I left more marks on you than you left on me.”

His jaw wanted to drop.

“You told me what you wanted.”

I want to f**k you.

“Maybe next time, you’ll ask what I want.” One dark brow climbed and she smiled. Wait, smiled? “Could be that it’s the same thing you want.”

It felt like she’d just punched him in the chest.

“Get some rest,” she told him with a small nod. “The change is going to keep pumping through your body. It’ll drain your energy. So just…rest, okay?”

Then she was heading down the hallway.

Leaving him alone in the cell—in the cage.

Leaving him with her scent still around him.

And leaving him with a wolf howling within him.

***

It was the snarls that woke her. Holly jumped when the sounds pierced her consciousness. Her eyes flew open, and she realized that she was half-sprawled over her desk. She’d been waiting for the results of the screen on Duncan’s blood, and she’d fallen asleep.

The snarls came again.

She leapt to her feet.

The clock on the desk said it was nearing 6 a.m. A fast glance toward her blinds didn’t reveal the trickling light from dawn, not yet, but the fact that she’d fallen asleep told her that sunrise must be getting close.

Holly hurried toward the swinging doors of the med unit. With every step that she took, she heard—

Snarls and growls.

The sounds were getting louder. And she could hear yells. Screams? The cries weren’t coming from Duncan’s cell, but from the containment area on the opposite side of the base. She grabbed for her master remote, one that she kept as a precaution in case any of the wolves ever got loose.

I do believe in having a Plan B.

She ran toward those growls and screams.

When she shoved open the doors that led to the main containment area, the scent of blood hit her. Blood and—beast. Because wolves were there, wolves not in any cells. These weren’t wolves that they had captured. She knew because there were no silver collars on the giant, snarling beasts. She counted four fully shifted wolves running near the cells, wolves that were attacking the guards who’d been stationed at the main containment area.

Not just attacking them…The guards were dead. Their screams had stopped.

How had the wolves gotten inside? How had they even found the base? The place was supposed to be secure, with guards on the exterior of the perimeter and—

The wolves were closing in on her.

Holly froze.

The remote wasn’t going to do her any good. The three collared werewolves were still in their cages. They weren’t moving at all. Just watching the carnage, still in human form.

Silver didn’t bind the beasts coming toward her.

“Don’t try to run,” this came from the man in the first cell. His light green eyes locked on her. “They like it when prey runs.”

So she was just supposed to stand there and let them eat her? Hell, no. She stumbled back a few steps—then slammed her hand on the alarm. The guards hadn’t been given the chance to ring that alarm. Backup hadn’t come for them.

Please, let that backup come in time for me.

The sound was high and shrill and designed to have the extra benefit of including multiple frequencies when it was activated. The techs had created the alarm after they’d studied canines for months. Humans couldn’t hear the part of the alarm that would send a werewolf to his knees.