Never Cry Wolf (Night Watch #4)(81)
Author: Cynthia Eden

But she didn’t move.

Jordan stumbled back, his hands bloody. “Got some, I got—”

Fur burst over Lucas’s skin.

“Hell, yes,” Dane shouted.

The wolf within scratched and clawed his way to the surface. The silver still inside burned like a bitch, but something was different now. Maybe his brother had managed to get out enough silver, maybe Josette had worked some of her grand-mère’s magic. Either way, the wolf was coming out.

Sarah.

She’d be able to link with him now. She had to hear him. Sarah.

But when he reached for her mind, he only touched darkness. No, not just darkness . . .

Love . . . Lucas . . . The faintest trace of her voice. It seemed almost like a muted echo, as if he were catching a whisper she’d already voiced.

Free . . . no extermination list . . . free.

Sarah was leaving him. The wolf felt it with absolute certainty. He rushed to her, his muzzle pressing against her throat.

No, stay with me. The man’s order. She was supposed to stay. He’d claimed her in front of the pack. That meant they were mates. Together always.

Stay. He was desperate now.

He howled, fear and fury building.

“The wolf’s spirit is strong.” That was Josette, and when his head whipped toward her, he saw her sitting on the ground—her eyes were cloudy, a glazed blue. Just like Marie’s. “But what will you give, wolf? To fight Death, what will you give?”

Everything. His muzzle pressed against Sarah once more. Stay with me. Not an order. Not anymore. He couldn’t hold the shift, already the wolf’s body was trembling, weakening, and the muscle and flesh of man would be back soon.

Sarah.

“Are you strong enough to fight for her?” Josette asked.

Fur disappeared. The wounds on his chest weren’t as bad. Healing, slowly. Lucas coughed, choked, and rasped, “I’ll do . . . any . . . thing for her . . ..”

Because she was in him. In the heart that others thought he didn’t have. She’d worked her way inside, slipped right past his guard, and he wasn’t about to go back to the emptiness he’d known before her.

With Sarah, it wasn’t about pack and responsibility. It wasn’t about the wolves and their safety.

Just a man and a woman.

Just . . . life.

If only she wouldn’t die on him.

His hand touched her chest. Her heart pounded beneath his touch. Growing stronger, stronger . . .

“Sarah? Come back . . . to me.”

“She can’t ever leave you.” Josette. Still with the blind eyes and faraway voice. “Bound—spirits, minds, hearts. If you live . . .”

Sarah’s eyes opened.

“She lives.”

His arms curled around her and he yanked Sarah against him, holding her tight. “You scared the hell out of me.” Still was scaring him.

“The battle isn’t over . . . more to come . . . so many years . . . so much blood . . .” Josette’s voice drifted in the air, slurring a bit.

Lucas eased back and stared into Sarah’s eyes. Such a deep, beautiful green.

“Give everything . . .” Josette was almost whispering now, “you’ll survive all that comes, give nothing . . .”

“Josette?” Maya sounded worried. “Dammit, Josie, what the hell is happening? You can’t do this stuff—”

“I’ll give you everything I have,” Sarah whispered. “I love you, Lucas.”

Love.

He hadn’t really been given a lot of that in his life. Didn’t understand it. Didn’t know . . .

Her lips brushed his jaw. “I . . . should have told you sooner . . . I don’t really understand what . . . the hell happened here tonight . . .” With every word, her voice grew stronger. He grew stronger. “But we’re okay, right? We’re . . . gonna make it?”

He nodded and held her tighter. Death had been too close. Life and death—the line between them was so very fragile. And humans weren’t the only ones weak enough to fall over that line.

Linked. Bound. When she left this world, he’d leave, too. Her lashes brushed against his cheek. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.” Not in life and not in death.

Sarah looked up at him. “Promise me.”

He’d do more than that. “Sarah . . .”

Josette gasped, her breath wheezing. Lucas glanced over as her eyelids fell closed. Maya grabbed her, holding tight. Brody ran from the woods, heading toward them. “Maya!”

“Help me!” She yelled to him. “I don’t know what’s happening to her!”

A shudder rippled over Josette’s body. Her palm opened, revealing Marie’s ring.

Behind Josette, Lucas saw Piers’s body. Josette’s left hand was touching his side.

A groan broke from the man’s lips. He rose, blinking. “L-Lucas?” His gaze swept the scene. Saw the remains of Rafe. Saw Lucas holding Sarah tight. Saw the limp arm of the woman who’d been touching him. “Josette.” Need and raw hunger shook his voice.

But Maya came at him with her own claws. “Don’t even think about hurting her, wolf.”

Lucas knew he wouldn’t. Piers looked at him, shaking his head, his eyes wide and horrified. “Alpha . . . I—”

Sirens wailed in the distance. Not like the humans would have been able to overlook Brody’s fire and the fire from Marie’s house. Even in this part of town, two blazes wouldn’t go unnoticed.

“We have to get out of here,” Jordan said, grabbing Lucas’s arm. Dane took Sarah’s. “Now.”

He knew they had to flee because he wasn’t healed. Wasn’t ready to bullshit an explanation about the savaged bodies there and the dead demon inside.

Maya’s gaze raked them. “Go. I can handle the cops.”

Probably, since she’d been a cop . . . once upon a time. Before a vamp’s bite had changed her life and taken her from that world.

Piers reached for Josette. “No damn way, wolf,” Maya snapped and Brody pressed closer to her. “You’re not taking her.”

Piers growled.

“Piers!”

The blond wolf shifter’s head snapped toward him. Right then, he understood. Oh, did Lucas f**king understand. His mate was against him, her body trembling, and there was no way he’d separate from her.

But . . .

Josette didn’t know what was happening. “Heal first, then claim her.” An order from the alpha.