“Someone on our fucking team let them in!”

  “Exactly. And now we’re going to find out who it is.” I barely got the words out through my clenched teeth, I was so filled with rage. Someone from my pack was working with my enemies to take my mate from me!

  We moved silently but quickly through the forest, stopping frequently to scan our surroundings. I raised my hand to Jay for him to stop when I caught the faintest sound of movement. We both quickly took positions behind cover and waited, listening to the smallest sounds.

  A small group of vamps was approaching, now I had to know who covered this area…who was the traitor!

  We waited until they had almost passed us before we leaped out, snapping necks and slamming knives home until four piles of dust littered the ground. I motioned to Jay to be silent and follow me. We followed the vamps trail, creeping ever so slowly forward. Jay veered to the right as I continued on, stopping to scent the air.

  Tammy! Fucking Tammy!

  I fought hard to contain the growl that wanted to tear from my throat. She thought she’d take my mate from me! I spotted her sitting with her back to a large tree, with her fucking phone in her hand!

  I sprinted toward her and when she saw me coming, she made to run. Before she got five feet, I grabbed her by the throat and spun her back to the tree, slamming her against it so hard the bark broke off the trunk and fell on her. A furious growl tore from my throat as I got right in her face and yelled so loud her hair blew back from her face!

  “You fucking traitor!”

  She couldn’t answer because of the grip I had on her throat, but her hands clawed at my arm to release her. Fuck that, I’d kill her right now!

  Jay appeared by my side before I finished her off. “We need to talk to her.”

  I knew in my head that we should talk to her, find out how much she knows, but squeezing the life out of her felt too good to let go. No one threatened my mate and lived!

  Jay, being much too fucking calm for me said, “Another ten seconds and she won’t be able to talk.”

  I released her neck and she fell to the ground unconscious, but still breathing…for now.

  “You need to pull the line in, make sure every fucking one is doing their job. I’m taking her back to the house to get some fucking answers from her.”

  I slung Tammy over my shoulder like the sack of shit she was and made my way back to my house, seething inside. To think I had ever fucked her! It made my balls try to climb up into my stomach just thinking of it!

  I slammed inside the house and took the cellar stairs two at a time. The utility room in the back corner had a heavy chair in the center for just this type of situation. I dropped Tammy into the chair, holding her by the arm and her dead weight snapped her arm. Oh well, she’d heal before she regained consciousness. I really did not give two fucks. I’d be snapping her neck myself when I was done.

  I quickly zip tied her arms and legs to the chair before I got a bucket of ice water and threw it in her face. She came to sputtering and screaming.

  “They’re gonna take that fucking whore you call a mate from you and have lots of fun with her before they snap her scrawny neck, you bastard!” I steeled my gaze, letting my expression give away nothing.

  “Who are they?”

  “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know, Mr. big fucking alpha. You were supposed to be my mate, we were meant to be together, and you threw it away for a fucking human piece of shit!” She spat at my feet, but I refused to let her see any emotion on my face.

  “You will tell me what I want to know. The question is how long it takes, and how long you want to hold out for.”

  She paled a bit before regaining her misplaced confidence. If she thought there was any way for her to leave here alive, she was kidding herself.

  “You won’t hurt me, you loved me.”

  “Hah”, I barked out. “Loved you. You were a convenient lay and that was it… not even a very good one, kind of lazy, but it’s hard to remember exactly, there were so many.” I sneered at her, letting all my disdain for her show on my face.

  I lowered my voice, letting the alpha in me free. “I have zero problem hurting you. It’s up to you how much. Talk now and save yourself a world of pain.” I let my alpha power flow over her, bending her chin to her chest and making it impossible for her to raise her head. I left her like that and strolled out of the room.

  I got myself a bottle of water and tried to bury some of the fury bubbling up inside me. My hands shook from the effort. After I drained the water, I grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the bar in the family room and gulped two large swallows. The burn felt good and with better control I returned to the cellar.

  Tammy’s head still hung so I treated her to another bucket of ice water. She screamed at me, her red hair wet and plastered to her face.

  “Ready to talk now?”

  “Fuck you!”

  I walked to the back of the room and took a taser from a drawer, walked up behind her and held it to her neck, hitting the charge button. She screamed and her whole body stiffened, shaking so hard the chair moved on the floor. As soon as she stopped, I did it again and again.

  When I walked in front of her, blood ran down her chin, she’d almost bitten her tongue in half.

  “Ready to talk now?”

  She just glared at me, so I began to walk around the chair again.

  “Stop”, she spoke brokenly around her injured tongue.

  I held the taser to her neck and pressed but didn’t activate it.

  “You have one minute to tell me who you were working with before I tase you again.”

  “It’s Darvon”, she lisped. “He’s the one organizing against you.”

  I jammed the taser harder against her neck.

  “He’s not doing this by himself, who’s in charge.”

  “I don’t know”, she whimpered.

  “Don’t play stupid Tammy, I know you must have overheard something. You’re a fucking sneaky bitch.”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know”, she cried. “The only name I ever heard him say was Stephan, on a phone call. He seemed scared of the guy.”

  I walked back and put the taser away before walking back to Tammy. I put one large hand on each side of her head and gave her neck a quick snap.

  Once outside, I let my wolf out and circled my property, running larger circles with each lap until I was at the outer perimeter with my wolves. I shifted back to talk with Jay before letting my wolf run. I scanned the terrain, not believing for one minute that the twenty or so vamps who’d come at us was all we’d face today. I knew in my gut that something big was coming!

  I crested a small rise and caught the scent of vamps… lots of vamps! I scrambled to the top of a rock outcropping and saw a group of close to one hundred vampires in a clearing not more than a quarter mile away! They all appeared to be facing one direction, listening to whoever was in charge. It looked like they would be heading the same way as the others, thinking there was still a gap in our coverage.

  I leapt off the rock and took off back to where Jay was, running through plans in my head. We needed to let them move in until they were in an area where we could easily surround them and take on such a large group.

  After deciding where we would ambush the vamps, Jay ran back to let Trey in on our plan, so they would be ready for anyone who made it past us.

  As the first of the vampire group approached, we waited. When the last of the group made it past us, we would encircle them and bring them down! I lay with my belly to the ground, utterly still. Ten wolves crept behind the vamps, closing them in and I leapt forward! As one unit, fifty wolves tore into the vampires, massive jaws ripping out throats and tearing limbs from bodies! Fucking vampires were fast! If you let them get their arms around you, they could crush your chest or skull!

  I lost myself to the violence, barreling into one vamp after another, knocking them to the ground with my massive size, then ripping their throats out. The sounds of battle filled the air, growls, snarls, thuds and tearing all mixed with the dust of dead vamps. Unfortunately, blood also covered the ground from injured or dying wolves. I pushed myself harder, to end this before we lost anymore wolves!

  Charging across the space to where Jay was battling, I hurled my body at the vamp trying to end him, my paws hitting the center of his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. I leapt onto him, grabbing the back of his neck in my huge jaws and wrenching his head right off his body.

  A quick glance around me and I saw only wolves in the clearing, some standing, some on the ground. I shifted and yelled, “Track them!” We needed to take down any that had escaped. At least ten wolves took off running into the forest.

  The rest of my wolves moved quickly to assist the injured and determine who had been killed.

  I raced back to the house, worried that any vamps had made it that far. Jules!

  The forest around me was a blur as I raced to get back to my mate. I didn’t slow when I reached the house, just barreled down the stairs to the bunker. Thankfully, the door was still intact! I shifted back before quickly punching in the code and wrenched the door open when the green light flashed.

  Thank fuck! Jules’ startled expression greeted me from where she sat on the couch. Raife crouched next to the door where he’d obviously been ready to take down any enemy that made it inside. I gave Raife a brief nod, our eyes meeting before he slipped out the door.

  I dropped to my knees in front of Jules and wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in her lap and breathing in her scent. She smelled of sunshine in the spring and newly opened flower buds. I stayed on my knees, clinging to her as she stroked her fingers through my hair.

  “Are you okay? There’s a lot of blood”, she said, her voice shaky.

  I realized I was probably a mess, but I really needed to just hold her for a few more minutes.

  “I’m fine love, just let me hold you.”

  Reluctantly I pulled away and stood up. I frowned when I looked down at myself, covered in blood and dirt, scratches covered almost every inch of me and a chunk of flesh was hanging from my shoulder where some vamp had tried to get to my throat.

  “I’m going to jump into the shower love. Sit right here and I will be back in a couple of minutes.” The bunker had a full shower so I quickly made use of it and pulled on a pair of sweats before returning to find Jules right where I left her. It was after eleven o’clock and I was annoyed at myself for not having left her anything to eat. She’d been in here for hours with only water to drink and I was pissed at myself about it!

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I pushed the door shut behind me before running up the stairs to the kitchen and throwing sandwiches together. I piled them on a plate and grabbed a couple of beers from the frig and dove back down the stairs.

  Jules watched as I placed the plate of sandwiches on the table in front of her and twisted the top off a beer before handing it to her. I downed two sandwiches and my beer and was surprised to see she’d only eaten half a sandwich and had a few sips of her beer.

  I raised my brows and tried to tease her in a joking tone. “Don’t like my sandwiches?”

  “Oh no, they’re good, I’m just not very hungry I guess. I feel a little warm, does it feel stuffy in here to you?”

  I frowned, because the air in here was set to sixty eight degrees and it was pleasantly cool. I placed the back of my hand against her forehead.

  “You feel a bit warm. Is anything else bothering you?”

  “I have a bit of a headache actually. Maybe I should just lay down a bit, I’m sure it’ll go away.”

  I arranged the pillows and laid her down on the couch, pulling a light cover over her legs. Her eyelids began to droop right away, though I could see a light sheen of sweat on her forehead. I didn’t really know what kind of sicknesses humans got, shifters never got sick, ever. I needed to find Raife to see what he thought.

  Chapter twenty-four

  Jules

  I was cold! Like teeth chattering, body shaking, cold! I lifted one eyelid and it hurt, like sandpaper across my eyeball! My head was on someone’s lap and I managed to turn my head enough to see Raife’s worried blue eyes looking down at me. Just moving that little bit felt like my bones would shatter, the edges sharp enough to pierce my skin where it was stretched impossibly tight over muscles that throbbed with an intensity that brought tears to my eyes. I closed my eyes, more tears streaking down my cheeks as I labored to draw small breaths that brought stabbing pains in my chest. What the hell was wrong with me? Had I contracted some kind of a rare flu or jungle fever? I’d never felt this awful in my life, right down to my feet that I was sure would never be able to bear weight again.

  “Shhh, it’s okay Jules, we’re here.”

  Ahhhh, how could his voice be so loud?

  I clapped my hands over my ears at the sound of Raife’s voice. Why the fuck was he talking so loud, my ears were ringing from the sound!

  “What is it Jules, what’s the matter?”

  I groaned and what the fuck? That sounded almost as loud as Raife’s voice! Trying to whisper without making any sound I pulled on his shirt to bring his head closer to me.

  “Stop screaming”, I mouthed.

  Trying to swallow brought more agony, like shards of glass ripping down my throat!

  His head jerked up, a confused look on his face when he sought out Dallas at the other end of the couch. I hadn’t realized my feet were propped up on Dallas’ lap. They exchanged worried looks as I closed my eyes for another moment. It didn’t hurt as much as trying to keep them open.

  I tried not to move, willing myself to calm, to slow my breathing and ignoring the feel of my pulse pounding through my veins.

  I tried to make sense of what was going on, but my brain felt muddled and all the noise was about to drive me crazy. What sounded like drumbeats kept up a steady rhythm with a fainter swooshing sound, kind of like water in a hose. Mumbled voices and the whirring sound of a fan pushing air filled the space. I couldn’t figure out why this room was so noisy now, when it had been very quiet before.

  I was still cold, but not shaking quite as hard, so I opened my eyes again and stared up at Raife. I mouthed the words to him, “What’s going on?”

  He managed to answer in the faintest whisper and I heard every word clearly.

  “We think your abilities are beginning to manifest sweetheart. It’s your birthday.”

  I let my eyes sink closed as I took in a deep breath… the sound of it filling my head and causing pain to tear through my chest. What. The. Actual. Fuck!

  “Tell me what hurts sweetheart, what can we do?” Raife implored me, his eyes begging me to tell him how to fix it. How could I tell him when I had no idea.

  I mouthed my answer as tears coursed steadily from my eyes, “Everything hurts! Everything!”

  This was not some cool kind of superpowers! This was fucking torture!

  A shaky breath left me, and I realized that I could hear every small nuance in the sound. Following that line of thought, I knew that the drum beats I was hearing were in fact, mine, Dallas’ and Raife’s hearts beating. How the hell was I supposed to function with this amount of noise around me all the time!

  I couldn’t move and yet lying still was no better as even the smooth leather of the sofa was like the coarsest sandpaper against my skin that was stretched so impossibly tight it felt like any movement would cause it to tear open!

  I opened my eyes looking up at the ceiling, following the sound of the fan. The air conditioner is what I was hearing, though I didn’t know how far away it actually was, just that the air passing through the vents was what I heard. Holy crap!

  My gaze met Dallas’ and the ache I saw there surely matched mine as I didn’t know what to do and he looked just as helpless as I felt. The gold flecks in his beautiful chocolate brown eyes swirled as the tears he held there spilled over trailing through his heavy black lashes before falling. I longed to reach up and catch his tears on the tip of my finger before they dropped onto his chest and were lost there amongst the scattering of black hairs.

  I closed my eyes, too paralyzed by the pain to keep them open and prayed for sleep to escape this agony, if only for a little while.

  The sound the leather made when I moved startled me enough that I pried my eyes open enough to let in a sliver of light. When that didn’t cause extreme pain I dared to open them further.

  Gazing at the ceiling I saw a tiny spider spinning its web, the almost microscopic filaments held by its legs that were no bigger than a hair in diameter! I blinked and everything came immediately into focus! The miniscule lines in the paint of the ceiling, the individual threads making up the blanket on top of me, and the hundreds of tiny gold flecks that swam in Dallas’ deep brown eyes. Eyes that now stared at me with fear. Was Dallas afraid of me? No, no, he was afraid for me.

  I took a quick appraisal of my body and realized that the majority of the agony I’d been in was gone. I tried swallowing and no pain, just a very dry throat.

  I tried to speak as softly as possible. “Water.”

  Dallas leaned forward and grabbed a water bottle from the table before holding it to my lips and tipping it slightly. Cool water slid down my parched throat and dribbled off my chin. No pain.

  Raife smoothed the hair from my face, his fingers calming and soothing.“Jules, how do you feel?” Raife spoke very softly, his words no louder than the exhale of a breath.

  I whispered, my tongue still thick in my mouth. “The pain is gone, but I’m afraid. What if it comes back when I move? I don’t know what to do.”

  “Let’s try this very slowly, okay? I’m going to touch your hand sweetheart and if that’s okay, we’ll move your fingers. That sound okay?” Raife smiled down at me and I swear my skin warmed under his perusal.

  His fingers skimmed the back of my hand where it lay across my stomach and I held his gaze. He slid his palm under mine, lining our fingers up and slowly I curled my fingers around his, the sensation of his skin against mine was exquisite.

  I could feel our bond even more strongly than before, where it lay around my heart, pulsing in time to the beat. Warmth infused my chest all around the bond and spread through me, all the way to my feet.