“Knock it off!” Eidolon roared, stepping between them. Shade ignored E and lunged for Wraith, but E caught him around the waist and slammed him back into the wall. “You need to check up, brother.” Eidolon snarled, a vicious, nasty sound. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I’d rip Wraith’s head off!”
Eidolon shoved him again. “Beating on Wraith isn’t helping anything.” Shade wasn’t listening. He wanted a piece of Wraith.
Wraith moved in close. “Ask him why he won’t take his gloves off, E.”
The taste of blood filled Shade’s mouth. “Shut the f**k up!” he snapped, still glaring at Wraith, who glared right back.
Eidolon released Shade. “What’s this about?”
“I was just heading to Ireland to hunt for Roag when Luc stopped me.” Wraith didn’t take his eyes off Shade as he spoke to E. “Said he’d seen Shade fading out. That’s why I came here. To talk some f**king sense into Shade.”
“Yeah, that was working real well.” Eidolon stepped back, mouth thinned in irritation.
“Go ahead, Shade. Take off the gloves. Prove you aren’t falling for your little wolf.” Wraith shook his head. “She helped you through The Change, but you don’t need her anymore. You said you’d kill her. Stop stalling.”
Eidolon frowned. “Shade? You okay?”
No. No, he wasn’t. Splinters of pain ripped through him. But it wasn’t his pain. It was Runa’s. He craned his head around to the door, where she stood, her face pale, her chin trembling.
She’d heard. Her sorrow slammed into him. Tears. Betrayal. Oh, hell’s f**king rings, she knew.
“Runa,” he rasped, but she dropped the soda in her hand and bolted down the hall. Cursing, he tore free from E’s grip, but before he made it to the door, Wraith tackled him, slamming him back against the wall again.
“We’ll get her. You need to let her go. Now. Forever.”
“No!” Shade didn’t possess half of Wraith’s fighting skill, but somehow he exploded out of Wraith’s grip and out of the office. He had to get to Runa before his brothers did. Before E or Wraith killed her out of love for Shade, or before Roag did the same … out of hate.
Runa careened through the hospital, her eyes stinging. The burn of betrayal swept through her veins like wildfire, searing everything in its path. That son of a bitch! She’d thought he cared, even if he didn’t admit it. For the second time, he’d betrayed her, and she’d let it happen. This time, though, he would take more than her heart.
He’d take her life.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice … I end up dead. She had to get out of this hospital.
Panic made it hard to breathe as she searched for an exit. They were underground, but she knew ambulances somehow drove from the hospital through New York City streets, so there must be a way out. She knew about the Harrowgate in the ER, since that was what they’d been using to come and go, but could she use it? She’d watched Shade operate it … surely she could at least get herself to safety. Somewhere close to the Army base. If Arik could get to her before Shade did, the Army could protect her.
You don’t need her anymore.
Wraith’s words cut through her like a chilled knife. She’d stood there, waiting for Shade to tell his brother to f**k off. He hadn’t. Then Wraith’s next words had stopped her heart cold.
You said you’d kill her.
Oh, God.
She burst into the ER, and when a blue-skinned nurse brought her head around a hundred and eighty degrees to stare at her with blinding white eyes, Runa skidded to a halt. Calm down, she told herself. Calm. She couldn’t afford to attract attention.
Ahead, the Harrowgate shimmered, a curtain of undulating light. She walked toward it with purpose, as if she owned the hospital and knew exactly where she was going.
As she reached the gate, the lab technician who had taken her blood joined her. “You leaving?” Frank asked. “I’m off shift. I’ll share the gate with you.”
“Runa!” Shade’s voice, faint but strong, echoed from down the hall.
Her heart skipped a beat. She had to hurry, and maybe this guy could help her use the gate. “Yes. That would be nice. Thank you.”
They stepped into the arch and were instantly engulfed in eerie darkness. The only light came from the glowing maps on the smooth, black walls. Frank seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move. Her heart pounded as she searched for the crude map of the United States she’d seen Shade manipulate.
“Looking for this?” he asked, tapping an outline she didn’t recognize. Instantly, a map of the States popped up, and he tapped New York.
“No … I wanted—” She snapped her mouth shut. She couldn’t let a hospital staff member know where she was going, to Washington, D.C., and the secret military installation where she worked. “Yes, yes, that’s fine. Thank you.”
“New York City … which gate?”
She had no idea. She studied the map, looking for an exit point near her house. There were two. She fingered one, and instantly, the gate opened up into a dark, wooded park. It occurred to her that trotting through a park at night wouldn’t be the brightest thing she’d ever done, but it was probably far safer than being at the hospital where demons wanted to kill her. Besides, she could shift into a werewolf if she ran into trouble. She was definitely safer among even the worst humans than …
Humans. Frank was human.
Humans couldn’t use the Harrowgate.
Which meant that the person standing next to her was not Frank.
Oh, my God. Chills skittered up and down her spine, but she forced herself to remain calm, to take deep, even breaths. She mumbled a polite, “Thank you,” and stepped out of the gate and onto the grass, her knees trembling.
She took one step. And another. Another … so far, so good.
And then, a low, ominous growl sneaked up behind her, growing louder. Swallowing the lump of terror in her throat, she turned.
The demon in the archway was charred, twisted. Evil radiated from it like the devil’s furnace.
Roag.
The scream built in her throat even as he reached for her with his ruined, clawlike hands. “You little bitch. I’m going to skin you alive for what you did to Sheryen.”
She ran. Ran faster than she ever had, stumbling once and nearly going down. A flapping sound reached her ears at the same time as a brush of air, and a winged demon landed with a hard thump in front of her. It grinned, revealing huge, serrated, sharklike teeth. Red eyes drilled hatred directly into her skull.
She didn’t stand a chance against Roag in her current form, but she couldn’t shift—she’d be vulnerable for the few seconds of her transformation. She needed time.
She plowed her fist into the creature’s scaled belly, followed by a brutal kick to its groin. Thanks for the training, Arik.
Roag roared, spitting yellow bile that stung her skin as it landed on her arm and neck. She darted to the right, toward an area of the park she knew well. The foliage was dense, difficult for a demon the size of the winged thing to navigate.
Her lungs burned with the need for oxygen, but she kept going, until the stitch in her side became crippling and her legs were ready to give out. At the edge of the park, she dived into the ditch running alongside, and the moment she hit it, she concentrated, bringing out the wolfy side of her.
The snap of bone and tear of skin brought with it the ecstasy of power, and in moments, she was crouched in the grass behind a shrub, her enhanced hearing picking up the crunch of tree leaves and twigs as Roag ran toward her.
He burst out of the trees, only this time, he’d taken the one form that frightened her more than Roag’s burned-out shell.
Shade.
“Runa? It’s me. You’re safe now.”
Not only was she not that stupid, but if Roag thought that she’d run to Shade like a well-trained dog, he was not just insane, he was delusional. She remained where she was, waiting for him to come closer.
Roag’s gaze swept the area, and then his eyes zeroed in on her hiding place. “I know you’re there.”
She launched herself. Over the shrub and into his big chest. They went down in a tangle.
“Fuck,” he grunted, and wow, Roag definitely had Shade’s mannerisms down pat.
He swept his arm in an arc, throwing her against a tree trunk. She slammed into it but came immediately to her feet. In this body, she was bigger than Shade, her strong, furred legs holding her upright as she looked down on him.
“Runa, listen to me. ” His voice was soft and comforting, and, she realized, it was his paramedic voice. Roag really knew his stuff, because it damned near worked on her. “I don’t want to hurt you. Change back to yourself, and we’ll talk about this.”
She lunged. This time, her jaws closed around his throat as her claws sank into his shoulders. Warm blood coated her tongue, spurring her on. She clamped down … only to get a mouthful of fur.
Suddenly, the demon beneath her was a warg, the huge black beast Shade had turned into the nights of the full moon. His snarl vibrated both his body and hers. They rolled, a knot of claws and teeth, slashing at each other until fur flew in tufts through the air.
She held her own until Roag hooked a leg around her and flipped her, face-first, into the grass. His low growl hung in the night air as he held her down, his jaws clamped down on the back of her neck, his sharp claws digging into her ribs. He outweighed her by half, his weight keeping her pressed into the ground … and oh, God, his erection pressed into her hip.
Tears of rage and helplessness stung her eyes. Roag was going to kill her. She knew that. But not before he tortured and raped her. In her head, she screamed, hoped Shade could sense her terror. Then again, maybe he’d ignore it, hoping someone else would take care of her for him.
She should have stayed at the hospital. Shade wanted to kill her, but at least he’d have made it quick.