Oh, God. Lucius Stevens. Her sister's husband. She went cold with terror, and for a split second, she forgot how to breathe, as the familiar voice of Grigori's beta slithered over her like a knife blade. The scars on her stomach from his teeth burned with the reminder of the night he'd attacked her as punishment for standing in the way of what he'd wanted. He was involved? She'd thought he was dead. She'd thought this was about Grigori. Dear God, not Lucius.
"Get inside the apartment," he said, his finger sliding down her wrist and around her gun, prying it from her stiff fingers.
God, no. She could never go anywhere with him. Death was better than being in his hands. As terrified as she was of Grigori, it was Lucius who haunted her nightmares.
His fingers tightened around her neck, and he pressed his body into her, forcing her forward. She knew she couldn't go into the apartment with him. She couldn't be alone with him. Never again. "No!" She flung herself backwards, slamming the back of her head into his throat. He gagged and stumbled back, releasing her.
"Jace! Help!" She spun around and raced past Lucius, her feet flying as she tore down the hall and hurtled down the steps toward the street. She had to get outside. She had to get to the car. She had to get where there were witnesses. She had to find Jace-
Lucius tackled her, his lithe body shoving her down the stairs. She screamed, grabbing for the railing as she catapulted forward. Her fingers slipped off the slick wood, flailing through empty air as she lunged for it again, the scream lodged in her throat-
Lucius leapt past her and reached the landing below a split second before she did. He caught her just before she hit, and hauled her against him. His ruthless eyes bore down at her, as he fisted her hair and yanked her head back. "Did you really think I'd let you die?" he snapped. "There's so much to do before you get that reprieve, Abigail."
He raised his lips in a snarl, and she saw his face and incisors start to lengthen. She screamed and tried to slam her knee into his groin, but he was ready this time. His arms were like steel bands as he locked her against his body. He shifted partially, with the head of a wolf and the body of a man, a feat that should have been impossible. For a split second, she was too horrified to struggle, and then, too late, she saw his teeth coming for her throat.
She had no time to react before his teeth sank into her neck.
Chapter 5
Abby's scream knifed through Jace's subconscious, jerking him awake. He lunged to his feet, then swore as he went down, his head spinning with dizziness. Swearing, he touched his head, gritting his jaw when he felt the open wound from the hit he'd taken. Someone had knocked him out with a single blow when he'd burst into the apartment. What the hell was going on? He hadn't seen or heard anyone before being struck. He'd just come through the door and been hit from behind. How had his assailant evaded detection?
Abby screamed again, jerking his focus off his injuries. Jace spun around, swiftly assessing the situation. He was in an alley, the same alley where he'd attacked Melissa, just outside her apartment. The air was filled with the scent of wolf, a scent he didn't recognize, a wolf that had apparently attacked him and then dumped him. It was mingled with Abby's scent, and it was coming from the apartment. "Abby!" He tried to take a step, but pain exploded through him, dragging him down to his knees.
He twisted around and saw his ankle was locked in a bear trap, the rusted teeth deep in his already injured ankle, blood oozing from his boot. The moment he saw it, pain ratcheted through his whole body, a searing, burning pain that made every muscle tremble with weakness. Who the fuck had he run into in that apartment?
Swearing, he grabbed the jaws of the trap and tried to pry them apart, but it was impossible. The sheer force of them was too great, crushing the bones in his ankle. He closed his eyes and summoned the wolf he'd fought so hard to suppress ever since he'd killed Melissa. Greedy for power, his wolf surged, ripping him from his human form with breathless ferocity. The split second his leg shifted, Jace jerked it free of the trap in the millisecond before the jaws closed on his smaller, wolf leg.
Shedding his clothes, he lurched to his feet and broke into a three-legged sprint, hurtling down the alley he'd had so many nightmares about. He shoved aside the guilt, focusing on Abby. He raced up the fire escape and leapt through the open window of the apartment. He paused long enough to scent Abby, and then followed it out the door. He tore through the open doorway and down the hall to the exit.
He slammed his shoulder into the stairwell door, and it flew open. The moment he entered the stairwell, the scent of fresh blood assaulted him. Abby's blood. His wolf roared with fury, and he sprinted down the stairs, every muscle tensed as he rounded the corner of the landing. At the bottom of the stairs, a man with a wolf head was bent over Abby, his jaws wrapped around her throat.
Jace vaulted off the top step, howling his challenge as he leapt. The wolf raised his head, his white teeth pink with her blood. The moment he saw Jace, he shoved Abby aside and whirled toward Jace, his lips curled in a menacing snarl.
Jace twisted in midair, evading the wolf's bite, and then sank his teeth into the soft flesh of his arm, which was still in its vulnerable human form. The wolf snarled and shifted, but it was too late. Jace's grip was too tight, too secure, his teeth buried deep. Blood poured from the wound into Jace's mouth, igniting a raw, primal hunger, feeding the wolf he'd contained for so long.
Bloodlust poured through him, and his gaze shifted to a scarlet-haze. The need to kill raged through him, and he bit deeper, searching for the artery that would bleed his victim out in minutes.
"Jace," Abby's desperate whisper broke through the frenzied hunger in his mind. Protectiveness surged through him, tearing his wolf's focus from destruction to preservation. He had to break away. He had to help her. But his wolf was too focused on the kill. He wouldn't be diverted-
The half-man kicked Jace's injured leg.
Pain screamed through him, shocking his body into agonizing pain. Jace lost his grip on his victim, falling to the ground as his muscles convulsed in agony.
"Jace!"
Abby! He lurched to his feet and spun around. She was curled on her side, gripping the front of her neck. Her face was ashen, but her eyes were bright and alive. "Your leg," she whispered.
He knew about his leg. Yeah, he fucking knew about it.
The half-wolf lunged to his feet and Jace whipped around to face him as he finished shifting into full wolf form...a massive black wolf that outweighed Jace by at least twenty pounds. Jace positioned himself in front of Abby as he raised his lips in a snarl.
The black wolf went into the same position, its silver eyes gleaming with the thrill of the fight. His weight was evenly spread on all four legs, and the wound Jace had inflicted upon him appeared to be healing already. He was pure muscle and menace, eager to kill, ready to fight to the end.
Jace knew he had to hide his injury, but his leg was dangling uselessly. There was literally no way he could put his foot down, and the other wolf knew it. Jace's entire body was shaking with the effort of holding himself upright. He was losing blood fast, and the sheer magnitude of the injury was so extreme he couldn't block the pain as well as he needed to. His body was starting to go into shock, and he knew he had to fight to stay in control.
Ruthlessly, Jace shoved the injury aside, summoning every last shred of discipline he possessed to keep his body functioning. The other wolf began to circle around him. Jace turned with it, keeping himself between the wolf and Abby. Get to the car, he ordered her, unsure whether she would be able to hear him. He communicated with his pack telepathically when he was in wolf form, but Abby was completely human.
But she rolled to her side, and started to crawl toward the door, as if she'd heard him.
The wolf's silver eyes flicked toward Abby, and Jace saw the glint of possessiveness in the animal. He knew then, without a doubt, that the wolf would not let her go. Abby was personal to him. What the hell was going on?
Jace growled to get his attention off Abby, and the wolf looked back at him, his gaze going to Jace's dangling leg. He turned toward Jace again and raised his lips in a silent snarl. He was going in for the kill, and they both knew that Jace, with his injured leg, had no chance against him.