Dark Wolf Unbound (Heart of the Shifter #2)(32)

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.