Abby's eyes widened. "No-"
The faint sound of music drifted into the room, a familiar melody that was coming from upstairs. It was the song that had triggered his wolf into killing Melissa. Jace's body stiffened, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. "Son of a bitch."
"Headphones!" Kiernan slammed his headphones on, and so did everyone else...
Except there wasn't a set for Jace.
"No!" Abby grabbed his face through the bars as the music grew louder. "Listen to me, Jace. Focus on me."
He closed his eyes, pouring all his focus onto Abby. He concentrated on the feel of her hands against his skin, on the sound of her voice, on the warmth of her breath against his cheek. But the relentless, insidious song began to get louder, whirling through the air like flames flickering in a rising storm.
"Jace!" She framed his face with her hands. "Kiss me."
He didn't hesitate. He slipped his arms through the bars and kissed her desperately. Her mouth was his respite, a soft, delicate sanctuary from the rising beast inside him. He poured himself into the kiss, breathing in her familiar scent, forcing himself to focus on the softness of her hair beneath his hands, on the taste of her mouth. But still...the song rose in intensity, beating at him with ruthless furor. His wolf paced inside him, angry, restless, hungry.
He knew he should push her away, but now that he was facing the moment, the return of the slathering beast, he clung to her, desperate to use every resource possible. It was the depth of his terror that had made him decide to use the gun on himself instead of succumbing, but now that it was here, that same terror had shifted to survival mode. He wasn't ready to die. He wasn't ready to succumb. He wasn't ready to have his life chosen for him.
I love you, Jace. Abby poured her emotions into the kiss. Warmth encircled him, cocooning him in her protective embrace, battling to protect him from the rising tension inside him.
He took her love. He accepted her kiss. He basked in her touch. He opened himself to her completely, grabbing desperately to the love she shared so freely, to the forgiveness she'd showered him with from the first moment she'd met him. He angled his head, deepening the kiss through the bars, until the song was obliterated by the raging need thundering through him. He needed Abby. His woman. His mate. His everything.
He dragged her against the bars, crushing her against the steel as he deepened the kiss, trying to get closer, to wrap her around him, to lose himself in all she was. But he couldn't get close enough. He couldn't kiss her the way he wanted. He couldn't feel her body against the length of his. Just flashes of her softness entangled with the cold, hard steel.
Frustration roared through him, a split second of anger that cracked the web of serenity she'd woven around him. The song burst through that crack, flooding him. He roared with anguish as it invaded him. His body seemed to catch on fire, heat exploding through him as hunger roared through him. He shifted so fast that he fell, crashing to the floor in a show of clumsiness unheard of for a shifter.
The moment he landed, a ravenous hunger raged over him. He leapt to his feet, focused on Abby as she backed away. He knew her, deep in his subconscious, he knew her, but it was so distant, obscured by the frenzied howl of his wolf. Bloodlust tore through him and he lunged at her. His body slammed into the bars, throwing him back. He lunged to his feet and charged her again...again slamming into the steel bars.
Pain shuddered through him, but he barely registered it. He just lunged to his feet and raced at her again. And again, slammed into the bars. His mind wasn't even functioning any more. All he could think of was Abby, of tasting her blood, of owning her...
Of killing her.
Chapter 19
"Jace, no!" Abby screamed his name, but it was as if she didn't exist. The wolf just kept running at her, crashing into the bars with a yelp of pain, and then doing it again. His eyes were glazed, his ears pinned against his head, his teeth bared with fury. He couldn't take his gaze off her. He wasn't even aware of the others in the cell, shouting at him, trying to catch him.
He had eyes only for her.
He lusted only for her.
He wanted to kill only her.
Stunned, Abby fell to her knees, watching in horror as Jace tried to break free and kill her. He was a creature possessed, driven by a primal hunger that controlled him completely. He was a monster, just like all the others she'd created, only this time, it was so much worse, because it was Jace. The man she loved. The kindest, most moral man she'd ever met had been destroyed by her song.
Dear God. She was the demon, not him.
She'd thought their connection would be enough. She'd been so sure that his moral code would save him. She knew he loved her, even if he couldn't acknowledge it.
But he'd been right about the effect of the song on him, and she'd been wrong. Grievously wrong. She'd completely underestimated the sheer power of her song to obliterate any sense of the man within. After years of watching innocents succumb, she'd still held out hope that she wasn't the monster the evidence proved she was, but as she watched Jace slathering to get to her, there was no way to deny the truth.
He believed he should be dead instead of endangering the world, but the truth was, she was the one who needed to be destroyed...along with every recording of her song...which was, of course, impossible. Grigori and Lucius had replicated it so many times, there was no way to destroy them all...because she'd been too weak to fight back that very first time.
"I'm so sorry, Jace," she whispered, her voice cracking in agony. "I'm so sorry-"
The door to the upstairs suddenly crashed open. Abby leapt to her feet in horror as booted feet thundered down the stairs. "They're coming!"
Drake whirled toward the door and raised the gun, aiming at the door to the upstairs, his hand steady on the gun. "Get the key," he commanded her. "Let us out."
"But Jace-"
"Now!"
Abby raced to the coffee table where Kiernan had left the key. She ran over to the cage, but the moment she got close, Jace threw himself at the bars so hard that they bowed under his assault.
"Son of a bitch." Drake pointed the gun at Jace. "He's going to free himself!"
"No!" Abby screamed and lunged at Drake. She plunged her hands through the bar, trying to shove him off balance, but he didn't even flinch.
"I'm sorry, Jace." Then he pulled the trigger.
"Jace!" She screamed as the bullet slammed into Jace...but he didn't even slow down. He just threw himself at the cage again, bending the bars even further. She realized that the song was driving him beyond reason, beyond what his body was capable of.
"He's going to get out," Kiernan yelled.
"Jace," she screamed. "Stop it!"
He threw himself at the bars again, bending them even further. With horror, she saw him jam his head through the bars. Kiernan grabbed him and tried to haul him back, but he wrenched himself free, slipped through the bent bars, and charged her. "Jace!" She screamed again, scrambling backward as he broke through. He sprinted across the living room toward her, his teeth bared, blood staining his side.
The sound of a gunshot filled the room, and, as if in slow motion, Jace's body lurched sideways. He skidded past her, tumbling over his head as he let out a howl of agony, and then fell still in a bloody pile against the wall as Drake's second shot took him down. "Jace!" She fell to her knees beside him, sinking her fingers into his matted fur. "Please, Jace, don't do this-"
Another gunshot echoed along with shouts, but she didn't turn around. She just bent over Jace. His eyes were half-open, and he was panting heavily, his teeth bared as he watched her. She could see the torment in his eyes, and she knew the silver from the bullets was poisoning his already vulnerable body. She grabbed the scruff of his neck, and forced his head up so he was looking at her. "Don't you dare die on me, Jace Donovan. I need you. So pull yourself together, stop trying to kill me, and be the man I know you are-"
Someone grabbed her hair and jerked her backward. She clutched her hair, twisting to try to get free, but she was slammed against the floor, her face smashed into the burnished wood. Pain shot through her as fingers dug into her head, pushing her even harder into the hardwood. "If you fight me, I will disembowel him right now."
Icy cold fear gripped her as Lucius's voice scraped across her flesh. She went still, trying to think, trying to focus. She twisted her head just enough to look into the cage. All four shifters were down on the ground, unconscious, their headphones crushed in a pile of black plastic on the floor. The song, her voice, blasted through the room, like fingernails clawing across a blackboard.