The Mate Mistake(The Woolven Secret 3)(39)

Tirigan narrowed his eyes.

Maybe he did know.

"I have proof. Surveillance video. Bank statements. The owner of that place sold her to the hunters. He's lucky I let him die so easily. I was going to take him back to Dubai and make him an exhibition in my menagerie where my inquisitors practice the art of flaying. I could keep him alive and without skin indefinitely."

Parker was torn. Part of him was revolted by the idea, but his beast thought it was work well done, if in fact, the fucker had done as Tirigan said and sold Belle.

"She'll appreciate your mercy, I'm sure. Why don't you messenger your proof to Aphelion for Belle to look at. And an invitation to meet."

"What?" Tirigan wrinkled his nose.

"An invitation. You know, how you ask someone to meet you? Share a meal—er, maybe not a meal. A public place. And your promise that she's free to leave whenever and however she likes."

The expression on Tirigan's face was as if he'd just smelled something rather disgusting. "Ask? Asking is not for gods."

"Maybe not. But asking is for Belle."

"I've decided I definitely don't like you." Tirigan grumbled.

"That's too bad. I'm warming up to you, bloodsucker." Parker grinned.

Just when he thought that maybe this wouldn't end with his blood all over the alley, the most intense agony he'd ever known split through his chest. His beast surged to the forefront, but he couldn't Change. Not here, in an alley in the middle of the city where anyone could see. That would be a death sentence.

So was the pure silver grappling hook that had been shot through his chest.

The worst wasn't even the pain, it was the stench of his own smoking flesh in his nose.

From the expression on Tirigan's face, he had no part in it. Which wasn't the least bit comforting as another grappling hook pierced his side from the opposite direction and they both began to pull.

His beast surged again, and he was faced with choice. Let him run free and risk death by Council, or let them rip him in half.

He promised Belle he would protect her. He couldn’t do that if he was in pieces on the street.

He howled and as his humanity slipped away, he saw one of the hunters step from the shadows. Parker could smell the UV bomb in the grenade launcher he'd held up to his shoulder.

Deep in his marrow, both human and wolf, he knew that even though Belle had spent years on the run from her father, that she still needed him. She'd never be able to find the truth of herself without resolving things between them.

She couldn't do that if this hunter killed him.

So he wrapped his body around Tirigan, shielding him from the worst of the UV blast even as the silver grappling hook pulled his heart out through his back.





Chapter 12





He'd been gone too long.

Belle waited with Imre in the car, fidgeting with her hands. Every second seemed like a million years, but even allowing for that, she knew it had been too long.

She looked up at the dragon shifter and he looked at her, and a knowing passed between them.

"Yeah, I agree," he said out loud.

She wasn't sure what to do. Not until a sharp pain lanced her chest. She knew he was in trouble.

"There's something wrong." She got out of the limo, and she was pleased he didn't try to stop her. She really didn't want to go claw to claw with a dragon.

No, he didn't try to stop her at all. Instead, he said, "Which way?"

The storm clouds that had gathered began to clear and as she neared the back of the alley

Belle fought the panic as it rose like bile in her throat. She wasn’t sure what kind of carnage she’d find on the end, but she became increasingly sure of three things.

He wasn’t dead. Yet.

Her father was involved.

And the hunters whose scents were in her nose had just signed their own death warrants.

The stench of burned flesh overwhelmed the scent of Parker’s blood. It had the cool metallic undercurrent of silver. So while she could feel in her bones Parker wasn’t dead, she knew he didn’t have long.

Something unfamiliar uncurled in her stomach and radiated outward, filling her chest until it felt like she was going to explode. It tingled through her limbs, made her head and face hot, and caused her fingers to feel like she was being stung by a thousand scorpions.

That legion of scorpions manifested in the blue power sparking around her fingertips.

Belle was vaguely aware of Imre at her back as she followed the scents of blood and charred flesh.

She found a circle of what looked to be hunters, all outfitted with silver and tactical gear. She knew that what was in the middle of that was Parker.

“I’ll call reinforcements,” Imre whispered.

“No,” she ordered, drawing the attention of the hunters.

“Belle, it’s full daylight and humans—”