Never Cry Wolf (Night Watch #4)(76)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Lucas froze when he saw her. She shouldn’t have been there. She should have been with Maya. The vamp and her dragon were supposed to be protecting Josette.

Piers snarled behind him and leapt forward, racing right toward the woman who was tied to a chair and slowly dying in front of them.

Bait? A trap?

Lucas’s gaze scanned the room. He couldn’t smell anything but the fire. Couldn’t even catch the scent of Josette’s blood.

She shouldn’t be there.

Fuck. A growl built in his throat. Piers, no! He snapped out the order in his mind. Get away from her!

Piers stopped, his claws digging into the hardwood. Look at her. She f**king needs help!

Appearances could be deceiving.

Dane edged around the room. Sniffing. Or rather, trying to sniff.

Lucas advanced on Josette. He could feel the heat from the fire burning in the next room. Josette’s eyes were open, glistening with tears, staring right at him.

Go search in the other room. The room that smelled of smoke and hell. Go, Piers! Go!

But Piers didn’t move.

Shit.

Go! He shoved the command at him once more, but Piers had his entire focus on Josette.

She needs me. Piers advanced toward her. I won’t leave her to die.

Fuck. He’d suspected this, feared it. Damn well not the time. Dane—get in the other room!

Dane raced forward and drove his body into the door. The wood smashed and smoke seeped through that hole.

A faint, weak smile curved Josette’s lips and her hands were pulling at the ropes. Only those ropes didn’t look that tight.

“Help me,” she whispered. “I came . . . I came to kill him . . . to avenge my grandmother, but he caught me—”

Fuck the lying bitch.

Lucas lunged forward, his front legs kicking the other wolf out of the way. She screamed, a high, desperate scream that was Piers’s name.

Smart. Damn smart.

No, Lucas! The desperate roar in his mind came from Piers. Don’t hurt her! I think she’s my mate!

The tip of a knife scraped Lucas’s side. He stopped wasting time. Lucas attacked. His teeth went for her throat even as a gunshot echoed in his ears.

Then claws sank into his back. Get away from her! Piers bit him, digging his teeth into Lucas’s flesh.

Snarling, Lucas twisted and shoved back against the other wolf. What the f**k?

She’s. Mine.

Josette wasn’t screaming anymore. Piers blocked her body with his, and the white wolf’s eyes blazed with fury. Mine.

It really was one hell of a time for Piers to think he’d found a mate. The rich flavor of blood lingered on Lucas’s tongue. He stared at the other wolf, sides heaving.

Mine. Piers snarled again.

No, she’s not.

Because that wasn’t Josette Dusean. The smells might be off thanks to magic or drugs or who-the-hell-knew-what, but Lucas was certain of one thing.

Demon blood always tasted the same. Bitter to the last drop. Stay away from her!

More gunshots blasted.

Then “Josette” lunged out of the chair, the knife he’d felt before still gripped in her hand—

Piers! He screamed the psychic warning.

—and she sank it hilt-deep in Piers’s back.

Fire crackled, greedily eating its way up the walls of the interior room. The red and gold flames twisted and heaved, and in the middle of the hell, Dane saw a woman lying on the ground.

A woman with long black hair. Perfect coffee skin.

He jumped over the fire, feeling the heat lance his fur. He went in carefully, ready for an attack.

But the woman didn’t move.

He tried to catch her scent but the smoke seemed to burn the inside of his nose. Can’t smell a thing.

His muzzle pressed against her back. She coughed then, her body heaving, and he saw her face.

Josette Dusean.

The same face that had stared at him in the other room.

Demons could really piss him off. Dane growled.

She didn’t move.

But the fire seemed to tighten around him. Those flames were definitely higher now. Higher, fiercer, stronger. Like a net of fire that was closing in. Fucking magic.

Sonofabitch. He was an idiot. They’d raced right into the bastard’s trap. But then, Rafe had used very, very good bait.

Piers howled in agony and twisted, but he didn’t hit his attacker with his claws.

Of course not. Piers thought the woman was his mate. Lucas’s muscles bunched as he prepared to leap.

She laughed, yanked the knife out and plunged it in again.

Hell, no.

Lucas flew at her. But instead of catching her flesh, he barreled into Piers. Piers lifted his head and met Lucas’s stare. The white wolf’s eyes were filled with pain and fury and fear.

Back away. Lucas didn’t want to hurt him. That’s not Josette.

Piers just snarled at him.

And then the bastard came out of hiding. Rafe sauntered into the room as if he didn’t have a f**king care in the world.

“I think he’s past caring, or maybe even hearing what you say.” Rafe smirked at Lucas. “And your boy Dane . . . well . . . the fur’s about to burn right off his body. You won’t be getting help from him.”

Lucas lunged for the ass**le.

But Piers caught him, held him tight with claws and teeth.

“Everybody always said Piers was close to the edge,” Rafe’s smirk turned into a cruel grin. “Good thing they were right, or otherwise, you both might be at my throat right now.”

I will get your throat.

Rafe lifted his hand and pointed at the woman. “This time, use the knife on Simone.”

The bitch came at him, bloody and strong.

But she didn’t stab him. Lucas didn’t give her the chance. One swipe of his claws and he ripped open her throat.

The roar of fury that filled his mind told him that Piers had gone over the edge.

And wasn’t coming back.

“Bad move, Simone. Very, very bad . . .” Yet Rafe sounded so pleased. “Of course, I was hoping to kill you myself, but getting killed by your own packmate—ah, fitting, isn’t it?”

Lucas twisted and barely managed to keep Piers’s teeth from biting into his throat. Piers didn’t even seem to notice that Josette’s image had changed in death. Her skin had lightened, her hair shortened, her face—not Josette anymore.

Marley.

A demon’s glamour spell ended in death, and the illusion was totally gone now.

If only Piers would f**king look!

“Haven’t you learned anything since I’ve been in town?” Rafe’s mocking drawl was really pissing him off. “You can’t trust your pack. You thought they had your back, didn’t you? Now, well, they’re after you. First Caleb. Now Piers.”