The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(9)
Author: Cynthia Eden

The Para Unit had wanted to be able to fight back against the beasts.

The wolves started to howl and snarl. One ran blindly forward and shoved his head into the wall.

They were distracted. Hurting. The alarm was driving them crazy—just as it was supposed to do.

“Don’t!” The sharp order came from the green-eyed man. Saul. A werewolf who’d ripped the throats out of six homeless men in Seattle. “Don’t run!” Saul said again. His face tightened with pain as he slammed his hands over his ears. Her frantic gaze locked on him. He was sagging to the ground as the alarm echoed through the facility. “They’ll…kill you…”

No, they wouldn’t. Not then. She’d get out. Seal the room up and—

“And…I…want to do that…” Saul’s hands pulled from his ears. His fingers wrapped around the bars. “I want that sw-sweet blood…”

The bastard was saying he wanted to kill her? She yanked out the remote. Found the frequency for his collar and punched in the code to amp up his silver concentration.

He hit the floor, and she started to run.

Only she hadn’t seen the fifth werewolf. The one who was blocking the exit. And coming at her even as he howled in pain.

***

Duncan heard her scream.

The alarm was shrieking, pain throbbed through his head, and Duncan heard Holly scream.

He didn’t even know how he knew the high, desperate cry belonged to Holly, but…

I f**king do.

“Holly!” He yelled as he grabbed at the silver bars. The silver burned his hands, but he didn’t let go. He jerked, yanked. Nothing. The bars didn’t so much as bend. “Holly!”

He only heard the continuing shriek of the alarm. He strained, trying to make out anything else, and…was that a growl? A snarl?

Werewolves.

Where the hell were the other agents?

Holly was in trouble. Holly could be hurt.

His claws were out. His lengthening canines stretching in his mouth. His fingers curled tightly around the bars, and he yanked once more and—

Blood.

He could smell blood, fresh blood.

Her blood.

“Holly!” He roared her name, and the cell bar snapped in his hand. One bar. Another. Another. Then he was breaking out of that cell, ripping away anything in his path. His muscles were stretching, aching, as he ran toward that scent.

But then…something happened to him. The fire that he’d felt in his body ignited into an inferno. Duncan fell to the floor, convulsing. Fur burst along his skin. His bones snapped. His muscles contorted.

He couldn’t speak, not any longer. He could only growl and howl as the transformation swept over him. Brutal, excruciating, but lasting only for a matter of seconds. Then he was on his feet. All four of them. Running toward the blood because the scent was even stronger now.

He wasn’t a man.

He was the beast.

And he was…hungry.

Chapter Three

The big, gray wolf had slashed Holly’s arm. Her blood dripped on the floor as she edged back away from him. She had managed to retrieve a gun from one of the fallen guards—a gun he’d never had the chance to use—and she lifted the weapon now. The bullets would be silver. They’d better be. And she was about to fire a bullet right into that werewolf’s head.

The door flew open behind the gray wolf and another wolf—this one even bigger, but with thick black fur and some damn huge teeth—came flying into the room.

Her gun swung toward the new threat because…yes, that wolf was focusing on her. Coming right toward her. Her hand tightened on the gun.

I know those eyes.

The black wolf had bright blue eyes. Blue eyes that were streaked with gold. Duncan’s gaze.

She lowered her gun.

The gray wolf leapt at her.

She jumped back, barely avoiding another swipe from those powerful claws.

A howl of fury seemed to shake the room. Duncan’s howl.

Then the black wolf slammed his body into the other beast. The gray wolf went down and Duncan—she turned away just as his teeth sank into the gray wolf’s neck.

“Alpha…” The stark whisper came from Saul.

Her head jerked toward him. He was still clinging to the bars. Smiling, ignoring the shriek of the alarm and the smoke that drifted up from his clinging fingertips. “We can…smell him…others will want to fight…to see if they can take down…an alpha…”

“No one’s taking him down,” Holly snapped, but then she glanced back at Duncan.

The other wolves were up and circling Duncan now. Going in to attack while he was fighting the gray wolf. They thought they’d gang up on Duncan?

Not on her watch.

“Get away from him!” She yelled and fired her gun. One bullet hit a white wolf in the flank. The wolf yelped.

She aimed again.

The doors burst open. Armed agents spilled into the room. About freaking time.

The wolves turned on this new threat. With their fangs bared, they lunged toward the agents. The agents began to fire at them.

To fire at Duncan? They wouldn’t realize that Duncan was in wolf form. They’d think he was an attacker. They’d kill him, too.

“No!” Holly ran to Duncan and wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t shoot! He’s one of ours.”

“Is he?” Came Saul’s mocking voice.

She held Duncan tighter. His fur was soft against her skin and his sharp teeth were way too close to her neck. But she didn’t back away from him. He needed her.

Howls and growls and the thunder of gunfire shook the room. When Duncan’s body tensed, as if he’d spring to join the fight, her arms just held him tighter. “Don’t,” she whispered. “You’ll just get shot, and I won’t let you die like this.” Shot down as a beast. That wasn’t the end that waited for Duncan.

Then the gunfire stopped. The growls died away. She lifted her head and searched the area with a quick gaze.

Saul was laughing. “They’ll…keep coming…”

Pate ran toward her. “Holly? Holly, are you all right?”

She nodded, but she didn’t let go of Duncan.

“They’ll keep coming…for him…already one alpha in this town,” Saul said, voice deepening. “Already one.”

What? Like one werewolf was going to dominate everything? The werewolves in this city needed to realize there was room for two alphas. Because Duncan wasn’t dying.

Pate reached for her arm. Duncan lunged at him, snapping with his fangs.