Howl for It

  Cause you want to watch us bleed.

  Kayla spun back to face him. Her lips were still swollen from his mouth, but her face was so controlled, so determined. She was a brave one. “Once we’re out of the cage, that’s when we have to attack.”

  As long as they didn’t get tranquilized or shot first, yes, that was the plan. Not a very good plan, but all they had for the moment.

  She pulled on the chain. “They think this will keep us in check.”

  Because silver could be such a bitch to his kind.

  “But you can stand the pain.”

  Yes, he could.

  “So the silver’s not a weakness. It’s our advantage.” She lifted the chain and met his eyes. “It’s our weapon.”

  Hell, yes, it was. Because Lyle might not be so good at handling the pain. The bastard wasn’t an alpha, no matter what he might be telling himself.

  Gage smiled at her. “Anyone ever told you . . . you’re beautiful when you’re planning to kill?”

  Her lips seemed to curl, just a little. “Only you.”

  The metal screeched as the holding room door opened.

  More footsteps. Lyle came in, wearing that smug grin of his. He inhaled, then laughed, “I knew you’d just have to take that one last chance to fuck her.”

  And Gage had known that the guy would catch the scent of sex on Kayla. A human wouldn’t have known, but a shifter’s nose . . . no fooling it.

  Kayla’s shoulders stiffened. “You’ve got it wrong. I’m the one who wanted the chance to fuck him.”

  Now Lyle’s grin slipped.

  Good.

  But then Lyle pulled a gun out from the holster on his hip. “This isn’t loaded with tranqs, Kayla, my dear. And you know I’m one damn good shot. After all, I taught you, didn’t I?”

  The chain hung between Kayla and Gage.

  “So this is what’s gonna happen,” Lyle said as he came closer to the cage. “I’m gonna open the cage and Kayla, you’re gonna come out. I’ll unchain you, and if either you or your wolf try to come at me . . .” He lifted the gun. Aimed it at her. “You’ll get a shot right to the head. Between those pretty gold eyes of yours. Then Gage can howl over your cold, dead body.”

  Fury and fear swept through Gage. He’d been worried the guy would try some shit like this—

  “So you’ll free me from this cage, and then do what?” Kayla demanded. No fear from her. Just anger. “Let me waltz out of this place?”

  Lyle laughed. “No, of course not. I’m gonna torture you until you break.” His gaze met Gage’s through the bars. “Or until he does.”

  “I’m not the breaking type!” Kayla snapped.

  “Everyone is, after a while.” Lyle punched in a key code on the cage’s lock, then scanned his left thumb. A soft click and whir sounded. Lyle stepped back and aimed his gun at Kayla’s head once more. “Now push open the door and come on out. Then I’ll un-cuff you.”

  So the torturing fun could begin.

  Kayla glanced back at Gage. “I’m not afraid of pain.”

  “That’s what they all say,” Lyle told her, “at first.”

  Gage’s claws were out. He wanted to rip into that bastard. He would.

  As soon as that gun wasn’t pointed at Kayla’s head.

  Kayla walked from the cage. Because of the chain that bound them, Gage had to step forward, too. Slowly, carefully.

  “Stop right there, Gage, that’s far enough,” Lyle commanded and Gage caught the scent of the guy’s sweat. Good. Lyle was afraid. He should be.

  As Gage stared at him, Lyle’s left hand lowered and came back up with a set of keys. But his right hand—the bastard lifted his right hand and pressed the barrel of the gun between Kayla’s eyes. “Now be a good girl,” he said, “and unlock your handcuff. Then drop the chain.”

  Kayla’s fingers were rock steady as she reached for the keys. Gage couldn’t see her face, just the perfectly straight line of her back.

  He hated the sight of that gun barrel pressed against her head. Hated—

  Lyle pulled the trigger.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The shift hit Gage instantly. A wild burst of fiery pain ignited within him as the wolf inside erupted in fury.

  He fell to the ground, landing on all fours, as his hands began to twist into claws. The man couldn’t control the beast this time.

  Gun. Kayla. Shot.

  There was too much fury. Too much pain and rage. Too—

  Lyle’s laughter echoed in his ears. “Don’t worry, the first chamber was empty.”

  Gage managed to lift his head. The man he’d been was slipping away. Too much hate burned inside of him.

  Lyle could have killed her.

  “The second one, though . . . it’s not empty,” Lyle promised. “So stay in the cage, wolf, or you really will watch me blow her brains out.”

  The silver chain burned against his flesh. Burned even hotter now that the wolf was coming out, but the shift was exactly what he needed to lose the cuff that circled his wrist. Because he didn’t have a human wrist anymore. The bones snapped. Elongated. Became narrow enough to slide from that silver cuff, and, sure enough, the cuff fell from his paw a few seconds later. The lock on Kayla’s cuffs clicked open. She caught the chain, not letting it fall to the stone floor.

  Lyle looked back at him. “I knew the beast wanted her.”

  More than he wanted breath.

  “So I figured I’d see just how much control the man had over—Ah!” Lyle’s words ended in a scream. Kayla had jerked the chain back toward her. Since it wasn’t anchored to Gage anymore, it flew easily into her grip. Then she slammed that silver right at Lyle. Right into the bastard’s face. The gun fell from Lyle’s hands. A bullet fired out, slamming into the side of the cage’s bars.

  The scent of smoking flesh filled Gage’s nostrils.

  And since the cage door was conveniently open . . .

  The wolf just leapt right out of the prison.

  Kayla kicked out with her foot and sent Lyle stumbling to the floor. Then she jumped on top of him and wrapped the silver chain around his neck. Once, twice. “You’re gonna play Russian roulette with me?” She snarled. “I don’t think—”

  Lyle tossed her away. She flew back and her body crashed into the side of the cage.

  Lyle grabbed at the chain and the silver burned his flesh. Your turn to enjoy the pain, asshole. Before the guy could get free, Gage was on him. His claws dug into Lyle’s chest as he penned the bastard to the floor.

  Then he lowered his head for the kill.

  Lyle started laughing again. “D-do it . . .” He dared and Lyle’s face was showing the pressure of his own impending shift. The guy’s wolf wanted out. It was there to see, in the bright eyes, the hollowed cheeks, the lengthening canines. “Do it . . . and her—her brother’s dead . . .”

  Like a human was really supposed to matter to him. A human who’d shot Kayla.

  Gage’s teeth sank into Lyle’s throat.

  And Kayla’s hands closed around the back of Gage’s head. She yanked on him, trying to pull him up. What? Was the woman crazy? You didn’t grab a wolf by the head. She jumped back when he came up snarling.

  Then she grabbed him by the tail.

  The fuck, no.

  “Please,” she begged him, voice strained and desperate. “Let’s just make sure my brother’s safe first, then we can kill him, okay?”

  No, that was not okay. He wanted Lyle dead then.

  Kayla hurriedly backed away. He’d expected her to keep fighting. Blood dripped down Lyle’s face. “Y-you’re so . . . fucked . . .”

  Said the man who was about to lose his throat.

  “I’m . . . already in . . . your pack . . .”

  Yeah, Gage knew that shit. Betrayal was a bitter, burning pill to swallow. But he’d suspected the truth, ever since the first wolf had gone missing. A wolf, one of his own, had sold him and the pack out to the hunters.

  To this wolf in a damn hunter’s guise.
br />   Who is it? The demand of the man inside the beast. But the beast couldn’t speak. He had to shift back to manage that. But...

  But he heard the sound of racing footsteps just outside the door. The holding room might not have audio surveillance, but the hunters patrolling the area hadn’t missed the sound of a gunshot. They weren’t that clueless.

  And speaking of that gun . . .

  Kayla was back at his side. Now her retreat made sense. She’d gone for the weapon. Kayla aimed the gun at Lyle’s head. Payback. She was a sexy bitch.

  “Where’s my brother?” Kayla demanded.

  Gage kept Lyle penned. Kept that bastard bleeding as he let his claws sink even deeper into his flesh.

  Lyle spat blood. “Gettin’ . . . sliced open—”

  She fired the gun. The bullet sank into Lyle’s right shoulder. The shifter howled in pain and rage.

  “My bad,” Kayla murmured. “I thought that chamber would be empty.”

  Before Lyle could do more than growl in pain, the door of the holding room flew open.

  Gage glanced up. Huh. Guess we found her brother.

  Because Gage was staring straight into eyes the same golden shade as Kayla’s. The man’s hair was curly and dark, just like hers, but his face was harder, all lines and stark angles.

  The guy was wearing black, shoulder to damn toe, and he was armed.

  More men rushed in after Jonah. All wearing black like it was some sort of hunter uniform—probably because it was. All of ’em were holding weapons—weapons they aimed at him and Kayla.

  “Shoot them!” Lyle screamed as he bucked beneath Gage’s hold. “The bitch is . . . helping him! They’re . . . trying to escape!”

  And that was why Kayla should have let him kill the prick when he’d had the chance.

  Now at least six weapons were pointed at him and Kayla. Not the best odds.

  But he’d had worse.

  “Don’t anyone fucking fire!” That was Kayla’s brother screaming that order. Would the others actually listen? Right then, they all looked confused. A little scared, too. Maybe they hadn’t faced off against too many shifted wolves before.

  Sometimes, the hunting was easier to do from a distance. When you got up close and personal with a wolf, the fear could slip past any man’s guard.

  “Jonah!” Kayla cried out her brother’s name and tried to rush toward the hunter.

  Gage leapt forward and put his body between her and the armed men. Had the woman missed the guns? He opened up his mouth and snarled a warning at her—and them. Stay the hell back.

  “Shoot the bastard!” Lyle yelled. It sounded like the prick was getting stronger. Shifters always healed fast.

  “My pleasure,” Jonah said with a slow, mean grin.

  “No! Dammit, don’t!” Kayla was screaming now. The woman’s voice shook with fury. “If you shoot him, I’ll put a bullet in Lyle’s head!” Then she scrambled back.

  Scrambled back—and pressed the gun barrel to Lyle’s head. If the hunters had just arrived five minutes sooner, they would have seen their boss toying with her. Getting off on her fear.

  But now . . . they just saw Kayla. Threatening to kill the guy they all probably idolized. Dumbasses.

  “Kayla . . .” Sorrow whispered through her name as Jonah spoke. “You can’t do this.” The faint lines around his eyes deepened. “You can’t—”

  “He’s a shifter!” She snapped back at him. “Lyle’s a wolf! He’s been lying to us all for years! Haven’t you ever wondered why he didn’t go into any of the interrogations with the other shifters? It’s because they would have known what he was! They would have—”

  “She’s crazy,” Lyle tossed right back as spittle flew from his mouth. “She’s screwing that shifter, and she’s lying to-to try and save . . . his ass! They broke . . . out of the cage and tried to . . . kill me!”

  Right . . . who were the hunters going to believe? Their boss? Or the woman who’d just shot him, right in front of their eyes? Gage didn’t wait for their reaction. He attacked.

  The first swipe of his claws went toward her brother. Shouldn’t have shot her. He sliced deep into the guy’s arm, and Jonah stumbled back.

  Kayla’s scream grated in his ears. He hated the sound of her pain. But he couldn’t stop, not now.

  A bullet sank into his side. Asshole hunters. He clawed the nearest one. Slammed his head into the legs of another. Used his teeth to take down a third.

  “Told you!” Lyle shouted. The guy’s voice was definitely stronger now. “I told you he was a killer! Twisted, sick son of a bitch. Take him out—”

  A gun blast destroyed the last of his words.

  Gage whirled around. He saw Lyle groaning. Grabbing his leg.

  This time, Kayla had shot Lyle in the upper thigh.

  “That’ll slow you down,” she whispered. Then she looked up at Gage. Her gaze burned with fury. So much rage.

  Directed at me. So he’d made her brother bleed. The guy had deserved it.

  An alarm sounded somewhere down the hall. No doubt, more hunters would be there soon in response to that shrill cry. Over-eager men and women who couldn’t wait to pump his body full of silver.

  They had to get out of there before the back-up arrived.

  Kayla hurried to her brother’s side while Lyle continued to scream.

  “Jonah?”

  Her brother’s head had slammed into the stone wall—courtesy of Gage. He vaguely remembered shoving the guy back after he’d clawed into him. Jonah’s right hand bled, the muscles near his wrist slashed deep.

  The guy was trying to stop the blood flow, but his shirt was already stained red. “Why?” Jonah rasped. “Why . . . for him?”

  She put her hands over his wound. “It’s going to be all right. I promise, everything will—”

  “It will never be okay, sis . . . never.”

  Gage rushed toward her. They had to leave, now. Still in wolf form, his head pushed against her shoulder.

  She shoved him back. “Get out of here, Gage.”

  That screeching alarm hurt his ears. And it must have messed up his hearing because there was no way she’d just said—

  She yanked at her shirt, ripping the material, and wrapped it around her brother’s wrist. “He’s going to bleed out if I can’t get this stopped!”

  Were those tears in her eyes? The wound wasn’t that bad. She just needed to take a breath and see that. If he’d wanted, he could have made the dumbass lose that whole arm.

  I just gave him something to remember me by.

  He closed his teeth around her wrist. Pulled lightly.

  She shook her head. “Go! I’m not leaving. I can’t leave him.”

  But he was supposed to just turn tail and leave his mate behind?

  “Stop them!” Lyle was shouting again. Hell. Could this shit get any more screwed?

  “Go,” she told him again, and dammit, those were tears. He hated the sight of them.

  More hunters were coming. Gage could smell their sweat. Excitement and fear. They’d come in, and he’d attack.

  They’d shoot.

  Who would survive?

  Get to the pack. There was a traitor in their midst. As alpha, it was his job to keep them safe.

  Even if it meant leaving her behind?

  Kayla’s gaze held his.

  No more time.

  The wolf turned away from her and leapt through the doorway. He raced down the hallway, using his enhanced senses to guide him. Fresh air and freedom to the left. More containment rooms and prisoners to the right. Guards coming—

  He dodged, leapt—and flew straight through the window. Glass rained around him and when he landed outside on the dank earth, Gage didn’t look back.

  Even though he knew the hunters were giving chase.

  Fools. Didn’t they know that in this hunt, they’d be the prey?

  No one listened to her. She tried to tell Jonah the truth about Lyle. She tried to tell the other hunters.

&nb
sp; They’d ignored her.

  Cuffed her.

  Tossed her into another cell.

  Dammit.

  Jonah had been taken away. Rushed to the med unit. He’d be okay. He’d be okay.

  They’d stop the bleeding and her brother would survive. There just wasn’t an alternative for him—or her.

  Gage had attacked Jonah. She should have expected that move. You weren’t supposed to trust wolves. Everyone knew they had a tendency to bite the hand that fed them.

  Like he’d nearly bitten off her brother’s hand.

  A guard came inside. Curtis Latham. She knew him. The guy was new but she’d worked with him in the field once. Saved his ass that day, too. The guy had better remember that. Kayla ran toward the cell door. “I’m telling the truth!” Telling it to anyone who’d listen, only no one would believe her. “Go check Lyle’s wounds. He’s burned because I used silver on him.”

  Curtis narrowed his gaze on her. “You shot him. Twice.”

  True. Was she supposed to be sorry for that? “He put his gun to my head and pulled the trigger. He’s a sick SOB that needs to be put down.”

  Curtis glanced away. “He’s the reason I’m still alive.”

  Yeah, well, she’d thought the same thing, just days before. “He’s lying to you. To us all! Please, Curtis, just go and check his wounds.” Before Lyle healed himself.

  Curtis glanced back at her. His eyes were confused, angry. “He said for me to guard you.”

  She grabbed the bars and jerked on them. “Where am I supposed to go?” Kayla all but screamed at him. “Just go look at him. His neck and his hands. The silver burned him. He’s a wolf, I swear!”

  A muscle jerked in Curtis’s jaw. Then he slowly shook his head. “Lyle’s the one who gave the order—he wants you to stay alive. If he’d really tried to kill you, then why would he do that?”

  So that he could use her later. But that wasn’t going to happen. Her time being bait was over. Didn’t the guy get that? Gage was gone. He knew the full deal about her—about all the hunters. He’d escaped the grounds, and the guy wasn’t coming back. Not for her.

  Not for anything.

  “I’ve fought with you,” she told Curtis and knew that desperation threaded through her words. “Stood by your side. Covered your back. And I’ve never lied to you.” She just had to make him listen. “Please . . . check his wounds. All you have to do is—”