Howl for It

  The door opened. Lyle walked in, limping heavily Her gaze immediately went to his neck and—healed. No burns.

  Bastard. Damn quick-healing wolf.

  Lyle smiled at her, then winced, lifting his hand to his shoulder. She could see the bandages clearly. What a load of bull. If his burns had healed, then that bullet wound had healed, too. He was just playing a game in front of Curtis and the other hunters.

  “Boss—you okay?” Curtis asked at once.

  Kayla rolled her eyes. “Of course, he is. The guy’s a wolf, he can heal—”

  “Is she still screaming that story about me being an animal?” Lyle’s steps were slow, as if he were hurt. He kept dragging his “injured” leg. Now that she knew the truth about him, the guy’s acting skills were pretty impressive. He’d sure fooled her for years.

  Why can’t anyone see through the lies? Why couldn’t I?

  Maybe people just saw what they wanted to see. What they needed to see?

  A hero. A man who’d saved her from the wolves. A friend who wanted to protect her and make her stronger.

  Not a lying killer who’d just wanted to use her.

  “Someone had to see your wounds,” she told him. “Not just the bullet wounds—the burn wounds from the silver.” There’d been too many other hunters in that holding room. Someone would have noticed his burns. “All your lies are about to come out.”

  Curtis glanced nervously between them. “Boss . . . I, uh, I thought I saw some blisters on you—”

  “She’d been punching me. The flesh was red from her attack.” Lyle gave a little shrug with his “uninjured” shoulder. “I’ll probably bruise later.”

  “Bullshit,” Kayla called.

  Curtis shifted from one foot to the other. “I . . . I know the difference between blisters and punch marks.” He peered at Lyle’s neck again. Yes. He was getting suspicious.

  “Pull back his bandage!” Kayla urged. This would do it. “Check out the bullet wound at his shoulder, because I bet it’s already healed, too.” Curtis was starting to believe her. This would work. She’d get out of there and together, she and Curtis could take Lyle down.

  “You’re so desperate,” Lyle said, sighing, as a frown pulled down his mouth. “When did you become like this? Did Gage make you this way?”

  If Lyle had been just a few feet closer to the cell, she would have attacked. But he wasn’t heading toward her. Lyle was closing the distance between him and Curtis.

  “I don’t want you to doubt me,” Lyle told the hunter. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Just a heavy white bandage around his shoulder. A loose pair of sweat pants. “If this is what it takes to prove the truth to you . . .” His hands rose to the bandage.

  Curtis nodded. He leaned forward. “I just need to know—Kayla’s always been so—”

  Lyle grabbed him by the head.

  Kayla screamed.

  And Lyle broke Curtis’s neck in one powerful swipe of his hand. The hunter never even had a chance to cry out.

  Lyle let Curtis’s body drop to the floor. Curtis hit with a thud. Shaking his head, Lyle stared down at the hunter’s twisted body. “You shouldn’t have doubted me, kid.”

  Ice filled Kayla’s veins. Horror and nausea spun in her gut, and she could taste bile rising in her throat. Dead. “You bastard—why?”

  He looked up at her. Frowned. “It’s your fault that he’s dead. You should have just kept your damn mouth shut, and he’d still be breathing.”

  Only Curtis wasn’t breathing. He was dead. And how many more would fall before Lyle was done?

  How many had he killed over the years? When she’d thought that the hunters had been protecting humans, fighting the monsters . . .

  Oh, God, we were the monsters.

  Lyle grabbed the body and dragged Curtis’s limp form over to the cell. Lyle dropped him near the bars. “There. When the body’s discovered, everyone will just think you killed him. Curtis got too close, and you attacked him. We all know how lethal you can be.”

  Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She couldn’t stop shaking. Tears burned her eyes.

  “He got too close, trusted the wrong person, and you snapped his neck.” Lyle snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”

  Her knees wanted to give way. She stood only because of her desperate grip on the bars. “What do you want from me?” Curtis. Dead.

  “I want your wolf.”

  She shook her head. “He’s gone. Gage isn’t coming back.” Lyle smiled. “We’ll see about that.” Then he turned away and headed back toward the door. Was that psycho actually whistling as he walked away and left her with a dead body?

  “Gage chose his pack!” She cried after him. “Not me. That’s why he left! He went to keep them safe.”

  Gage wasn’t coming back.

  Lyle glanced over his shoulder. “Then I guess you’ll be the next one to die.”

  When he left, the metal clang of the door seemed to echo through the whole room, through her. She looked over at Curtis. So still. His eyes were closed, his head turned toward her.

  He’d been a good man. He hadn’t deserved this . . .

  She let go of the bars and her knees buckled. She slipped to the floor and her fingers, still stained with her brother’s blood, rose to cover her eyes.

  We’re the monsters.

  Why hadn’t she seen the truth sooner?

  Gage tracked silently through the compound. He knew where Kayla was, of course. Her scent was one he’d never forget. So he eased through the hallways, slipped around the corners, and tracked back to her as quickly as he could.

  Outside of her new holding room, he paused. Inhaled. Kayla wasn’t alone in there. But the one with her . . .

  Shit.

  Gage used the key card he’d “borrowed” from the guard station and swiped it across the electronic lock. The lights flashed green, and he shoved open the heavy, metal door.

  Kayla was in the cell, on the floor. Her hair fell in a curtain around her. A hunter was slumped close to her. His neck was twisted, and his hands were stretched out on either side of his body.

  “I didn’t do it,” she said, without looking up. “I swear, I didn’t kill Curtis.”

  “Sweetheart, you don’t have to tell me that.”

  Her head whipped up. Her eyes widened. “You—you shouldn’t be—”

  He glanced back down at Curtis. “There’s something you should realize, though . . .” He made sure the door was shut behind him. “Curtis isn’t dead.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Gage advanced slowly, letting his claws rip from his fingertips. The guy smelled human. Well, mostly. But he didn’t have the stench of death about him, and usually, that scent came quickly once the heart stopped beating.

  He put his hand out on the guy’s chest. No heartbeat. That should have meant the fellow was dead. But with the supernaturals, should didn’t really apply so much.

  Then the one she’d called Curtis sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes flew open, and beneath Gage’s hand, his heart started to beat once more.

  Son of a bitch.

  Gage had never seen anything quite like that.

  Then the guy’s head and neck snapped back in place.

  “Oh, my God.” Kayla’s whisper.

  “Not quite,” the guy said, and his eyes—the eyes that still held Gage’s, changed. The blue color faded until only black remained. “But I have heard that demons are distantly related to angels, so who the hell really knows?”

  Demons.

  And that’s exactly what Gage was staring at.

  Curtis glanced at Gage’s hands. “I really hope you aren’t planning to use those claws on me. Especially since I was gonna help you out.”

  “You’re a demon?” Kayla asked. She was back on her feet now. “What the hell? A demon hunter at my side and a shifter for a boss? Are there any humans other than me and Jonah in this place?”

  Curtis shrugged. “Probably.” He lifted a brow at Gage. “Uh, those claws?”


  Gage backed off, for the moment.

  Curtis took another deep breath. “Thanks. I’d prefer to die only once today.”

  “Only you didn’t die!” Kayla snapped back. “Dammit, I was crying over you.”

  “And that was really sweet,” Curtis said instantly. “I was touched that you cared—”

  She tried to grab him through the cage bars.

  He leapt away and jumped quickly to his feet. “I had to play dead. Okay? What? You think I was gonna take him on? I’m a low-level demon. He’s a shifter. If he’d found out what I actually was, the guy would have just sliced off my head.”

  That was a fast way to kill a demon.

  “Broken bones . . .” Curtis sighed. “I’ve always had a special knack for healing them. Guess that’s my talent. But there’s no coming back once you actually lose your head.”

  Not for any supernatural. Beheading would pretty much kill them all.

  “I was just waiting for Lyle to clear out,” Curtis said, voice reeking of sincerity as he faced Kayla. “I had to be sure he was gone, then I was going to let you know I was all right. I was just about to move when he pushed open the door.”

  “Get. Me. Out.” Kayla gritted. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes sharp, golden glass.

  Curtis yanked his keys from his pocket and fumbled to free her. The second that door opened, the guy tried to scurry back. Too late.

  Kayla slugged him. Damn. That was a powerful right hook. Good thing the guy could heal so fast. “Don’t ever make me think you’re dead again!”

  “Ow! Shit, I was trying to help!” Curtis rubbed his jaw. “I was waitin’ for the coast to clear, then I was gonna help you get out.”

  “And you still will,” Gage told him. He didn’t know what the demon was doing working there as a hunter, and right then, he didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to get Kayla out of that place.

  He had to hurry up and go check in on his pack. Once they were secure, and once he’d destroyed the fool who’d betrayed him to Lyle, then he could come back and bring this compound to the ground.

  Curtis nodded. “Right. I-I still will.”

  “We need transportation,” Gage said. Number one priority. They were in the middle of the desert. They needed a fast ride, one that wouldn’t be traced.

  “Got one.” Curtis nodded and rocked forward on his heels. “But I’m going with you.”

  Like he wanted another hunter riding shotgun.

  Before he could refuse, Kayla nodded. Her eyes met Gage’s. “If he stays, he really will be dead.”

  She kept acting like he was supposed to care about the hunters. But . . . fine. Gage pointed at the guy. “Demon, I don’t trust you.”

  “Fair enough,” Curtis said instantly. The demon was sweating. “I don’t trust wolves either. One just tried to kill me.”

  The demon was a dick.

  Curtis grinned. “Want to know why I’m a hunter?”

  “Because you’re a screwed up demon?” Gage tossed back as he scanned the area. No cameras in the room. No audio surveillance. Good. They were clear. Let’s haul ass.

  “Because two years ago, a wolf shifter killed my mother. A shifter I’ve spent months tracking.”

  The guy was staring at him a little too intently. “I didn’t kill your mother.” He hadn’t killed a demon in at least three years, not two. And he sure hadn’t killed any women.

  He had a rule about that.

  “She wasn’t a demon. She was human.” Sadness whispered through Curtis’s words.

  So the guy wasn’t a full demon. A hybrid. That explained the human scent that clung to him—and that had to be the reason why he’d managed to fool Lyle.

  Gage had an enhanced sense of smell, even among wolves. But Lyle—that guy might not have been able to pick up on the slight difference in Curtis’s scent.

  Lucky for the demon or else he would have gotten a broken neck much, much sooner.

  Or maybe that beheading . . .

  Curtis told him, “Lyle found her body, so he said. And he promised that he’d help me find her killer.”

  Only Gage figured that Lyle had been the killer.

  “He promised me that, too,” Kayla whispered. “He swore we’d stop the wolf who’d hurt my family.”

  “I can’t forget her,” Curtis said and the pain hardened his voice. “Her throat was sliced open. He’d . . . clawed her. Torn her open. I-I just wanted to find the shifter and make him pay.”

  Rage was something Gage could understand. So was vengeance.

  Kayla’s glittering stare told him that she understood just as well.

  “Don’t worry,” Gage promised as they headed for the door. Get out. Get the pack safe. Then destroy. “We’ll make the bastard suffer.” They’d make him burn.

  Kayla knew they couldn’t leave. The SUV was there, just about twenty feet away. The perfect escape. But . . .

  But she couldn’t do it.

  Jonah. Dammit, there had been so much blood pouring from his wound. Was her brother okay?

  Did Gage really think that she was just gonna race out of the compound and leave him behind?

  Leave Jonah . . . and the others?

  Can’t get to Jonah while he’s in the med unit. There’d be too many eyes and ears on him then. But while Jonah and the other hunters were getting stitched up . . .

  We can save the wolves.

  “They’re in containment,” she softly revealed to Gage. She wasn’t looking at him yet because she was still plenty furious. He’d hurt her brother.

  The guy would pay for that, but now wasn’t the time to go at him for her pound of flesh. Now was the time for fast action.

  Curtis wasn’t with them. He was off getting ready to steal that sweet ride of an SUV that seemed to just wait for them.

  Crouching, staying low behind a line of boxes, Gage turned to look at her. “What? Who’s in containment?”

  The breath she sucked in felt cold in her lungs. We’re the monsters. Time to be something else. Better. “Your wolves aren’t dead.” She wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Neither were the other hunters. They were doing their jobs. Or what they thought had been their jobs. “They’re in containment at this facility. I don’t—I don’t think they’ve been transferred out yet.”

  Shipped out to a far more secure location—one that no one had escaped from since she’d been in Vegas. The hunters weren’t just attacking supernaturals blindly. They had a . . . hit list. Of sorts.

  Most of their orders came from Lyle, but he was on a leash, too. Or at least, she’d always thought he had been. The hunters were tied to good old Uncle Sam—or maybe not-so-good. The government sent them out on missions that normal channels just couldn’t cover.

  When they caught their prey, they turned them over to the federal agents for holding. Or for extermination.

  So the story went. Only now she wondered just how many “exterminations” had truly been necessary?

  Her gut clenched. How much blood was on her hands? And could she ever get it the hell off? She was afraid that no matter how hard she scrubbed, the stain would always remain.

  “We can get them out,” Kayla said. They had to get them out. Now that she knew the truth about Lyle, leaving the two wolves behind wasn’t an option for her. “We just have to move fast.”

  Before Lyle realized that Curtis wasn’t dead and that she wasn’t still locked in her own cage.

  Gage’s eyes hardened. “When were you gonna tell me they were still alive?”

  “Uh, now?” Okay, yes, she should have mentioned it earlier. Would have if it hadn’t been for the whole drugging and gun-in-her face thing. Jeez. She was doing her best.

  “Both of them?” He gritted out. “Shamus and Faye?”

  “Yes.” And, well, they’d been mostly all right when she last saw them.

  Before she’d headed out to say her “I dos” with Gage, Lyle had told her that the wolves weren’t due for transport for another two days. So as long as those plans hadn??
?t changed, “They’ll be in Block B.” Sequestered. Monitored. Getting inside that area would be tricky, but they could do it.

  She wanted this blood off her hands.

  Curtis hadn’t returned yet. If they were going, they needed to move, now. They’d get the shifters, then haul ass back for that SUV. If luck was on her side—yeah, right, since when?—they’d bust out of this place before any trigger-happy hunters could spot them.

  “Come on.” She barely breathed the words. She had her hair shoved under a black cap and she’d donned the black uniform of a hunter, just like Gage. The better to try and blend in with everyone else. That blending would last only for so long.

  But most of the hunters were in the infirmary or out on a mission. Only a skeleton staff walked the hallways and with Gage’s enhanced senses, they would be able to dodge those guys easily enough.

  He always knew when someone was coming. From what she could tell, Gage seemed to smell the hunters long before she heard them. Such a handy talent.

  He nodded, and the hunt started.

  Adrenaline raced through her blood, keeping her tense and edgy. But this wasn’t her first op, and she knew how to hold on to her control. They crept soundlessly down the stairs that led to Block B. The transport area. The prisoners housed here were all due to ship off for continued confinement.

  The only ones housed there now were the wolves. Category H—for Hostile Holding. “We have to take out the surveillance first,” Kayla whispered. Her hands were sweating. Her heart beating so quickly. Escape had been at hand, but now they were in the belly of the beast again. All by her choice.

  You owe the shifters. Do this.

  The door to the surveillance room was shut. Her fingers lifted and punched in the access code. Lyle wouldn’t have been able to reprogram all the access codes, not yet. At least, she hoped he hadn’t.

  The lights flashed green. Yes. She shoved open the door.

  The hunter watching the monitors for Block B spun toward her in surprise. “Kayla? Why are you—”