The Wolf Within (23 page)

He kept pounding with his fists. Started to carve up that metal with his claws.

“Stand down!” A shout from above. Duncan guessed they’d just realized the silver wasn’t working to control him. “Stand down, or we
will
fire!”

Let them. He had to get out of there, and if it took some silver bullets to the back in order to get the job done, he was ready for the pain.

Holly was in the infirmary. He suspected that Connor was there, too.
He sliced open the last new werewolf.
If he needed to bleed in order to get his ass taken there, so fucking be it.

He slammed his fists into the door again.

And the silver bullets slammed into his back.

***

“You bitch!” But the words were said with admiration. Admiration? The werewolf with Duncan’s eyes stumbled back and yanked the scalpel out of his shoulder. He’d been too close for her to hit his heart.

Next time.

The doors swung open behind him, and guards came in. Gray uniformed,
armed
guards. “Help me!” Holly cried out. “The prisoners are—”

They were dragging someone in behind them. A man with blond hair. His green prison jumper was soaked with blood.

He moaned, the sound heavy with pain.

Connor?

“Leave him,” the werewolf—
he shouldn’t have Duncan’s eyes—
snapped to the guards.

They dropped Connor and turned for the door.

“Stop!” Holly shouted at them. “Help me!”

But they kept going.

And the big werewolf laughed as his men grabbed Connor’s body and tossed him onto the nearest gurney.

“Helping you isn’t on the agenda for tonight,” the werewolf told her. “Those men…they know they need to get someplace safe and hunker down if they want to survive the night.”

She jumped back. Grabbed another scalpel. She held it in front of her. “Who are you?”

He tilted his head. “Isn’t it obvious?” He lifted his hands. “I’m the alpha, and I’m gonna be clawing you wide open.” His gaze drifted to Connor. “Just like I did to my sorry excuse for a son.”

Son
. She’d already known that. Her fingers clenched around her weapon.

“The monsters are breaking out tonight, and I’m leading them to freedom.”

His men laughed behind him. They were blocking the door. Locking her in.

“I just needed an excuse to be brought here. Attack the new werewolf, get him so injured he had to be brought to the infirmary…and, of course, the guards were only too eager to do my bidding.”

“You attacked your own son?”

“Not like it’s the first time.” Anger tightened his face. “Fool thinks he has what it takes to be alpha. Only Con never had the killer instinct.”

“Y-you do.”

He leapt toward her. Shoved aside the table she’d stupidly hoped would be some kind of protection. “Yeah, I do.” His gaze fell to the scalpel. “Where you gonna shove that one?”

“I was thinking in your heart.”

He smiled. “Let’s see how that works for you.”

She would have to be fast. Because she knew he was planning to sink his claws into her this time. If he took her head, then—

The infirmary doors swung open.

“I told you to stay the fuck out!” The big werewolf bellowed as he swung around.

Only this time, the guards were different. Not the quick-to-obey men before.
Men who’d been working with the werewolves.

These guys looked shocked to see the werewolves in the infirmary, and they immediately drew their weapons.

Immediately wasn’t fast enough. The wolves close to them attacked. Holly screamed as the humans went down, fighting desperately.

And the man that they’d been transporting, the man on the gurney that lay so still, he was dropped to floor in the middle of the attack.

Duncan.
So bloody, so—

Duncan leapt off the floor. He sliced into the two werewolf flunkies, sending them flying away from the humans before they could go in for the kill.

The humans were bloody, unconscious, but still breathing.

Duncan rushed toward the other werewolf. Then, just a step away from him, Duncan froze.

Holly’s heart was thundering in her chest. Duncan’s eyes had widened as horror washed over his face.

“Well, well…” The werewolf was smug. Shocked, but smug. “Knew I’d find you again someday, son.”

“You…” Duncan’s voice was hoarse.

“Ian,” the werewolf said. “Name’s Ian, and I’ve been looking for you a very long time.”

She was just
standing
there. Screw that. Holly ran toward Connor. The breath hissed from between her teeth when she saw the damage that had been done to him. He needed to transform in order to heal from those injuries, but he’d lost so much blood that she feared he was too weak for the shift.

“He’s already dead,” Ian said, without looking at her. “Boy was always useless. Always fucking crying.” He crept toward Duncan. “For you. He thought you’d come and save him.”

“Y-you killed my family.” Duncan sounded lost, almost like a child.

Holly started trying to apply pressure to Connor’s wounds. If she could stop the blood flow…

Connor’s eyes opened. His hand flew out and wrapped around her wrist.

“I
am
your family!” Ian roared this. “That bitch of a useless mother tried to take you from me. I found you, and I made sure she never betrayed me again!”

“Her blood…” Duncan’s voice was a whisper. “I was in her blood. It ran under the closet door.”

Ian swore. “I
knew
I smelled you in that house, but the cops were coming. I had to hurry, and then they hid you.”

Connor stared up at Holly. There was so much rage, no, hate, in his stare.

Then Connor’s gaze cut to Ian and Duncan.

“And here you are…at the perfect moment.” Ian’s voice rose. “You can help me. We can take over this prison, bust out, just like I planned, and then we’ll make the humans all fucking sorry.”

“How’d you plan it?” Duncan asked, and his voice held no emotion.

Connor was nearly breaking her wrist.
Been there, done that once already.
She’d prefer not to have the bones snap again.

“I got connections…thought gettin’ tossed in here was the end for me. I didn’t realize it was just the beginning.”

“No.” Duncan shook his head. “It is the end. For you.” His shoulders pushed back. There was so much blood on him, but he didn’t seem to be weak in any way. “I remember you.”

“Do you?” Ian’s claws were at his sides.

“I remember hearing my mother scream. She was begging for you to stop.”

Ian laughed. She hated his laugh.

“I remember the sound of my brother’s voice, asking me to help him.”

Ian was still laughing.

“I was too afraid to move then. Too afraid to speak. My mother had told me to stay quiet. No matter what happened…
stay quiet
.”

Connor was lifting Holly’s hand toward his mouth. His claws sliced her skin, but she bit her lip, refusing to cry out. She knew what he wanted.

What Duncan wanted.

She was trying to help them both.

“I’m not going to be quiet any longer.” Duncan smiled at Ian, and the sight was chilling.

Her blood dripped into Connor’s mouth.

“The first time I saw Connor, I knew he looked familiar. But it was your face that I was really starting to remember.” Then Duncan jumped forward. His claws wrapped around Ian’s throat. “You took my life away.”

Ian didn’t look scared. Didn’t act scared either. He drove his claws into Duncan’s throat.

Holly screamed and jerked away from Connor.

But Duncan didn’t so much as flinch from the attack. “I’m not some little whelp that you can kick around any longer.” His fangs were lengthening. “I’m the alpha now, and you’re just the killer that needs to be stopped.”

A low hiss filled the air then. And Ian’s chilling laughter sounded once more. “You think I’m alone in this?”

The gas drifting from the vents was just like the backup security system that Pate had installed at the containment center in Seattle. Was this where he’d gotten the idea? Or had he taken steps to have his system also installed here?

She covered her mouth, but the gas didn’t seem to be doing anything to her. It wasn’t even stinging her throat.

Connor was motionless on the gurney.

“The gas is the first wave. Only it’s not taking out the paranormals. It’s gonna knock out all the humans. Then it won’t matter who has the controls to the fucking collars. It won’t matter who has the silver bullets. The guards who aren’t already paid off will fall, because the others—the ones working with me—they’ll be the ones in gas masks running for the doors.”

Holly’s gaze flew around the room. There were no controls to the collars in there. There were more surgical instruments though, against that back wall. She could rush over there and get more silver to help Duncan.

“Who set this up?” Duncan gritted.

But Ian wasn’t looking at him any longer. Ian’s bright blue gaze had come to rest on Holly. “What did you make him?”

She wouldn’t, couldn’t, speak.

“I tried to get a vampire to convert me once, but the bitch wouldn’t do it.”

Good for her.

“So I cut off her head.”

Not so good.

“If you cut off
her
head, Connor, I’ll take you back.”

What?

Then she felt the hand on her shoulder. Connor, not so still anymore. Standing right behind her. She could feel the press of his claws on her skin.

“Kill her,” Ian ordered, “and you can walk out of here with me. All will be forgiven. We can start fresh.” His gaze darted to Duncan. “My two sons. We’ll fucking rule this new world.”

“The new world?” Duncan repeated. “You mean the world where you start attacking the humans.”

“We’ve lived in the shadows long enough!”

“No, you’ve just
lived
long enough.”

Connor wasn’t attacking her. Whatever he’d done, she didn’t believe he was like his father.

Neither was Duncan.

She broke away from Connor. Grabbed for the scalpel on the back table.
I can’t let his father’s death be on him.

Some sins shouldn’t be carried.

Duncan yelled her name, but she didn’t stop. Her fingers were tight on the scalpel, and she moved as fast as she could. What good was being a vamp if you never used your power? So she amped up her power and moved faster than she’d ever moved before.

It seemed like everyone around her was moving in slow motion. Connor was lunging for his father with bared fangs.

Duncan was reaching for her.

Ian was smiling.

Smiling…

And lifting a weapon she’d never seen. A wooden stake that had been tucked in his prison overalls.

So even as she stabbed down with her knife—slicing over the bastard’s throat—he shoved that stake into her heart.

“Told me…be ready.” Blood spurted down the front of Ian’s throat. She hadn’t cut the bastard deep enough. “Vamps…coming…”

And the slow motion ended for her. She sank to her knees and stared at the stake hanging from her chest.

She felt the cold whisper of death on her skin. The same whisper she’d felt in that alley, a year ago. Goosebumps rose on her even as a strange numbness filled her extremities.

Duncan was shouting for her, and she wanted to answer him, but she couldn’t.

The gas kept filling the room. The stake—it had sank into her heart.

She knew it had found the mark because her heart had stopped beating.

I’m sorry, Duncan.

She’d just wanted to protect him, but now, it looked like she’d just left him to face his nightmare without her.

I’m sorry.
Her lips formed the words, and then she could say no more.

Ian’s claws came toward her, and she knew he planned to take her head.

I’m sorry.

He couldn’t hear the words, but he could read them on her lips and they ripped right through him. Duncan shoved his father aside—
his father, his fucking father—
and grabbed for Holly.

Her eyes were sagging closed. Blood pulsed from her wound. No, this couldn’t be happening. Not to her. He’d left her in the infirmary so that she’d be safe.

Not so that she could be staked while trying to fight his past.

“Vampires. For all their strengths, they can still be so damn weak.” Disgust had thickened Ian’s voice.

You have no weaknesses.
Pate had promised him that, but the guy had been wrong.

He had a weakness. She was bleeding out in his arms.

A dull roar filled his ears. His hand was on her throat, trying to feel for a pulse, but nothing was there. “Holly?” He shook her.

Her eyes weren’t opening.

“
You won’t leave me!”
He whispered the desperate words to her.

She hadn’t let him slip away, and there was no way that he’d let her—

Claws pressed into his back. Sank into his spine. Twisted. The agony burned through him, but he didn’t let Holly go. He couldn’t.

“Worthless piece of shit,” Ian snarled into his ear. “You think I didn’t smell you all over her? I knew…” His claws yanked out of Duncan. Drove in again. “I knew you were linked to the bitch. Mated to a vamp.”

Mate
. Yes, she was his mate. She was everything.

“I just had to get to her…” Now the claws were at his throat. “In order to make you weak. Just like
he
said…”

The claws were about to slice across his jugular. His father’s claws.

Stay in the closet, baby. No matter what happens…stay in and stay quiet.
In his mind, Duncan saw warm golden eyes, swimming with tears, staring down at him.
Mommy loves you.

Love.

Holly wasn’t moving.

“Who. Said.” The snapped words didn’t even seem to have come from him.

Ian still had his mouth near Duncan’s ear. “You thought you were stopping us, didn’t you? But when you started hunting the paranormals, he got smart to you. He’s
in
your precious FBI, and he’s not gonna let his own kind be caged.”

“
Tell me who the fuck he is.”

“He’s a werewolf, an alpha, just like me. We’re gonna rule. Gonna make the humans scream. Putting us all together was a mistake. Now we’re just stronger. We’re—”