your debt for what you’ve given me.”
“Get me out of here and back to my mate and we’ll call it even.”
“Will do. You have my word you will get home if I have to slaughter everyone here.”
“We might have to do that. None of these people can be allowed to live if they’re hurting humans or other wolves. I wish Gareth was here. It’s his department to decide who lives and dies.”
“As head of the Vampyri, my life was also about making those decisions. I hated that part of the duty, but I can still do it. And you’re right. These people who trade in bodies deserve no mercy. If we can take them alive to face your Alpha’s punishment, then so be it. If not….” He shrugged. “We will do what we must.”
It made sense as far as Deke was concerned. They’d hurt and murdered, and some of them had probably eaten flesh. They deserved what happened to them. “Time to get into my fur.”
The change came over Deke slowly. It hurt more than normal, but that had a lot to do with him not having any real sustenance for nearly two weeks. Bones elongated, then snapped and reformed. His ribs tightened as they drew in, sucking the breath from him until his lungs were capable of drawing a breath for the wolf. It was painful, but so damned glorious that when he was finally able to be his wolf again, he had to stop himself from howling his pleasure.
“You are a beautiful wolf,” Zach said, peering down at him.
Deke preened a little. With his hesitance at going out, Quinn had yet to see more than a glimpse of Deke’s wolf. Deke had often thought about showing him but feared it would hurt Quinn’s feelings that he couldn’t shift. Or didn’t believe he could. When Deke got home, that would change. He would work with Quinn to let his wolf know it was safe for him to come out again, and the two of them would run the lands of Lydon.
“Good luck,” Zach said as he stepped into a dark corner of the room, all but disappearing into the inky depths.
They didn’t wait long. A few minutes later, two voices sounded from down the hall.
“Klein said you need to try this. He said it’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.”
“I don’t know. I’m not a fag, and this is really weird.”
The guy, a guard Deke presumed, chuckled. “I gotta admit, he’s got some pretty lips. And Klein swears by his talents.”
“You tried him?”
“Nah, he’s Klein’s, and he’d kill us if we touched him.”
The door opened, and before the guard could react, Deke was on him. Zach stepped out of the shadows and raked his talons across the other wolf’s throat. He fell to the floor, choking on his own blood. Deke, meanwhile, had the advantage in his own fight. The shock from the other wolf was evident, and Deke used those few precious seconds to sink his teeth into the guy’s throat and jerk his head to the side. The guy’s eyes widened, then went dark.
“We can’t stay here,” Zach said. “The scent of blood will draw them, and we’re probably going to have to fight several at once.”
Quinn, if anything happens, my heart has always been yours. I love you.
QUINN, IF anything happens, my heart has always been yours. I love you.
“They’re fighting,” Quinn said, a pit forming in his stomach. “I can feel Deke’s fear.”
It crawled over him like ants on his skin. His mate was out there, fighting and maybe dying, and Quinn couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Mother said they’d get together. She’d promised. Why couldn’t Quinn help him? Why—
A strange feeling slid across Quinn. A sense that something wasn’t right. He tensed, straining to hear a sound that couldn’t be there. A whisper in the darkness, calling to him. He turned his senses inward, wanting to find the familiar but foreign sound. He traveled the path, encouraged by the sound, to find it. It was as though Quinn were traveling the corridors of his mind.
He stopped when he saw a shadow in the distance. It lay in the dark; the only thing making it visible were two gold orbs. Quinn knew he should be afraid, but he wasn’t. Instead, he felt… at peace. He approached, no hesitation at all, and in the space of a thought, he knew who it was.
“You’re my wolf.”
The wolf dipped its chin, appearing scared. Quinn sat beside it