Nights Embrace (Others of Seattle) (19 page)

It felt good to slam the bat into Roxy’s head. Dina wanted to do it again, and again, until the bitch was dead. Unfortunately, William would kill her if she did, and worse he’d make her suffer first.

Boyd growled at her.
“You’ll be ripping into her flesh soon enough, Dina. Watch it. She needs to be alive.”

“Fuck you, Boyd. Get her ass in the trunk,” she
ordered as she marched over to the old Buick. She threw herself into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.

“You’re a damned bitch,”
Boyd muttered.

The pressure was building in her head. The anger swelling, pushing her sanity further and further away as Boyd climbed in and took off.

“You remember the plan?” he asked coldly.

“Yeah.” Her
icy green eyes flashed toward him, narrowing. “You beat the shit out of her, I chew her a new one and leave her for her mate and his pack to find. I still hope she fucking dies when we’re done.”

“You kill her, and William will
be livid. You do realize he will torture you for days, weeks even, if you fuck this up.”

“Yes, I realize that. Unfortunately his damn spells keep us from running. I’ve already learned that the hard fucking way.” They both had, right after Trevor threw William off the
cliff. Kathryn had barely brought him back to life.

“
You’ll get to hurt her, Dina. That has to be enough.” Boyd reminded her.

“Just drive. As soon as you’re on the freeway, I’m going to change.” Her smile was cold as she leaned forward in the seat, anticipation
humming through her.

* * * *

The world bounced, sending Roxy rolling until she slammed into something hard. Her eyes snapped open and her wrists burned as she tried to grab her head, but she couldn’t move.

Rope dug into her skin, pulling her arms back
at an awkward angle. Her feet were firmly bound the same way. Her head was throbbing, and her hair felt sticky and wet.

She managed to get one eye open, but the other was gunked shut.
Not that she could see a damned thing in the dark. Then she heard the muffled voices, little snippets, only enough to catch the accents, but not the words. Her blood ran cold.

Trevor was right. She should have stayed put.
Why didn’t I stay put?

The phone call came back to her. Someone at Swedish Hospital telling her Mikey was going into surgery.

Fuck, is he even at the hospital?

She was running, and then something hit her and she
went down. Now she was hogtied, most likely in a trunk, or so she assumed by the sounds of the road and constant movement.

Who
are they? The fucking Scottish mafia?

Trying to move hurt. Her face stung around her eye,
there was a split in her lip, and she could hardly feel her hands or feet for the rope being so tight. She tried to shift her weight, and the whole world spun wildly, making her already pounding head thunder.

Roxy tried to slow her breathing and think for a moment. She
attempted to turn her wrist, but that burned and she got nowhere. Her stomach rolled as dizziness washed over her.

Tears burned her eyes. All she could think of was Trevor and how disappointed he would be in her. It wasn
’t rational, and she knew it somewhere in her head, but it was easier to focus on him than her rising panic.

Then everything tilted and she rolled again, slamming into the back of the trunk. Her vision swam, even in the black she could see waves of darkness with sparks of light.

Perfect, a concussion,
she thought with a harsh laugh. A howl rent the air as the tires slipped on gravel before coming to an abrupt stop, sending her rolling again.

She heard Boyd
’s harsh voice before another howl chilled her blood. Dogs scared the hell out of her, always had.

The trunk was thrown open and Boyd
’s cruel smile greeted her. She fought back the whimper, refusing to show fear.

He reached in, grabbing her roughly, and hauled her from the trunk.
Boyd threw her down, and moved over her as he pushed his sleeves back. She saw brass knuckles glinting in the fading sunlight.

“Do you have any idea why you’re he
re?” Pure evil shone in his eyes.

“You’re an asshole who likes to pick on people smaller than you
?” At least her voice sounded strong.

He drew his foot back and slammed it into her ribs. She cried out, the air forced from her lungs as he straddled her waist and grabbed her hair, yanking
roughly. “You think you’re funny?”

“Sometimes,” she managed to say.

He slammed her into the ground as a snarl pulled her attention. She looked over to see the biggest wolf she’d ever seen stalking her way. Its teeth were huge, the eyes so icy they were nearly white. She couldn’t get past the monstrous face.

“What the hell do you want?”
There was a tremble of fear in her voice, but there was no hiding her terror. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t fight, and they were in the middle of nowhere.

“This is the only way to teach loverboy a lesson. Don’t worry
, Dina won’t kill you, but I promise it’s going to hurt.”

Her anger returned with a vengeance.
Roxy tore her eyes from the beast and glared up at Boyd. “Where is that bitch?”

His fist came down on her face and pain exploded.

Boyd cried out in pain when he grabbed her jaw and turned her gaze back to the thing that couldn’t possibly be a natural wolf. Then, strangely, let her go with a scream.

He took a shunted breath, and
pointed to the wolf. “She’s right there, princess.”

“What the fuck
?”

He leaned over, putting his mouth against her ear.
“You heard me. That’s Dina.”

Then he stood as the beast circled. Roxy tried to catch her breath, but the chilled wind tore into her, making the pain worse. She was flipped over, and in seconds free of the rope.

Roxy pushed herself up and tried to run, but the wolf… beast… whatever the fuck that thing was, tackled her to the ground, its teeth embedding into her arm, ripping flesh as it growled. Then it yelped, as it backed off.

Roxy tried
to crawl away, but those monstrous jaws clamped down on her thigh, tearing a chunk of flesh as the beast dragged her.

She
screamed out as she heard more howls in the distance. Then another crushing bite on her ribs before the beast howled in pain and backed away once more.

“Come on, Dina.
That’s enough. William told you she needed to live.”

There was a snarl and then she heard Boyd, and
… Dina walk away. Tears streamed down her face, as she tried to pull herself to the trees, but every movement sent another wave of agony through her.

Her skin felt like it was stretching and constricting, her blood was on fire, and her bones ached
as though they wanted to snap out of place. The cover of trees was too far, she was losing too much blood, and it hurt too bad to keep going. She rolled to her side and curled into a ball as tears streamed down her face.

More howls were closing in. She was in too much pain to look. She hoped they would put her out of the agony that threatened to tear her apart.
Only the end was left.

* * * *

Trevor felt momentary fear from Roxy as they made it to the mountains, but that faded moments later. Shane coaxed him into shifting and running with their pack. He hoped hunting would clear his head, but his gut twisted with fear.

An hour later he felt pain that wasn
’t there and his head jerked in the opposite direction. He could feel Roxy getting closer. She was traveling fast.

Dina and Boyd.

His beast snarled as he ran faster. Joey and Sorcha were the first to turn and follow, but soon the rest of his pack sensed his urgency and were hot on his trail. He could feel every blow, every tear, every bite. Massive fist pounded into her body, sharp teeth tore at her flesh.

She
’s going to change. She’s going to be a wolf.

Terror
rolled through him. He was right back to ground zero. What if she wanted nothing to do with werewolves and the supernatural? Well, it was too late, she couldn’t go back. She was going to shift tonight. If she didn’t, she would die.

Faster, he ran and broke through the trees to see her
lying on the gravel logging road. She was crumpled on her side, hugging herself tight as she whimpered in pain. The sound tore at his heart. Blood was pooled around her, making her death a very real possibility.

He ran to her, shifting back to
his human form as he did. Falling to his knees beside her, he scooped her into his arms. She cried out, curling into him. He could hear Joey and Sorcha both.

He could smell
the terror rolling off her in waves. “Back off, guys. She’s afraid of… of us.” His heart broke as he said it. “Roxana,” he whispered sweeping her hair out of her face. She was bruised, a deep gash above her swollen eye socket “Roxy, look at me.”

Her good eye cracked open and she sobbed.
“Trevor? How?”

“It’s okay. I’m here. I need you to listen to me,
A Chroí
, I need you to follow your instinct and shift.”

Clearly in denial, h
er head jerked back and forth. “What do you mean shift. They don’t exist. This is a nightmare. Has to be. Not real,” she stammered.

Tears filled his eyes.
“We’re real, Roxy. We’re real. It hurts because the curse is spreading through you. You’re one of us now. You need to shift though. You’re losing too much blood.”

“Werewolf?” she whispered, one eye wide, the other swollen shut.
“You all are werewolves?”

He nodded.
“Yes. Please trust me, Roxy. You need to shift. I can’t lose you. I won’t survive it.”

“I don’t know how, and it hurts. Fuck,” she croaked. “Hurts so bad, Trevor.”

“I know, but let your beast takeover. Stop fighting and let go. I’ll be right here with you. I won’t let you go.”

Her eyes darted away and she gasped.
“Full fucking moon.”

“
Remember, I told you I couldn’t get out of this trip? I wanted to tell you why, but I didn’t know how.”

She let out a strangled laugh. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

Trevor traced her cheek with his thumb. “I’m going to have to shift soon. I won’t be able to fight it much longer.”

“I’m scared,” she whimpered.

“Don’t be. I’m right here. You’ll heal, almost immediately. Please, Roxy, shift,” he begged.

Her eyes closed and she started to relax, but then her body jerked as the shift settled over her. Her
whole body realigned, white fur flowing down her skin. In an effort to make her first shift easier, he tore at her clothes.

Her pained cry turned into
an agonized canine whimper.

“I’m sorry, Roxy. I wish I
’d known how to tell you before now,” he apologized.

* * * *

She had a million questions, yet could no longer speak a word. She rolled out of his lap and sat down to look into his jade green eyes. His irises were surrounded by gold. Tears streamed down his face.

There was no need for forgiveness as reality settled in. She couldn
’t imagine telling anyone any of this. At least the pain was gone, but she was starving.

Looking around, she found six other wolves in varying colors and sizes. Not wolves
… but werewolves.

Holy shit, werewolves.

I’m a werewolf!

Her eyes moved back to Trevor who knelt in a puddle of her blood, completely nude. He
’d been a wolf.

She shook her head in disbelief and her,
“Oh shit,” came out as a howl.

“
Don’t panic
, A Chroí
. I’m going to shift back, but I’m going to take my other form so I can talk you through. Okay?”

Her head bobbed
, but she couldn’t figure out what the hell he was talking about.

The
red wolf scooting on her belly toward her pulled her attention. Big amber eyes barely meeting Roxy’s as she made her way over. Roxy knew it was Sorcha, but she wasn’t sure how.

Tilting her head,
Roxy lay down, whining. There was still pain, but it was fading. Sorcha nuzzled her face with her muzzle. Joey was right behind her, a giant gray wolf with nearly black eyes.

The rest of the wolves stayed back, watching her
.

When her gaze drifted back to Trevor, she watched him stand, but as he did
, dark fur flowed down his skin. His muscles rippled and she heard audible cracking of bones as he gained a foot and a half. Then she saw his face distorting to more wolfish. He was huge.