Dark Wolf Unbound (Heart of the Shifter #2)(9)

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.