Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,3

against him, desperation wild in his eyes as more police cars arrived.

“We have to run!” I grabbed his arm, yanking him with me.

The Escalade was abandoned as four more unmarked police cars screeched to a halt with screams of “Police! Get down!”

Arran gripped my hand, dragging me as we blended with the last of the partygoers running from the club. “We have to go!” he growled, scanning the terrified faces of those rushing toward us. “Now.”

The police were everywhere, guns raised, plunging through the crowd. I caught sight of Harlan as we stumbled toward the other side of the club. Hate darkened Harlan’s eyes, the kind of rage that made a home in someone. The kind of rage that made an enemy of someone…only that someone was us.

I ran, half dragged by Arran as I watched for Phantom behind us. “We have to go back. We have to find Phantom!”

“He’ll find us!” Arran barked. “Now, move!”

I trusted the Wolf, trusted the Alpha, so I ran from the Hunting Ground and, as the men and women stumbled toward the bright lights of the other clubs, Arran led me into the darkness.

The kind of darkness I’d felt before.

One that made the power in my chest shiver and throb.

Arran led me down the tight space between the buildings, leaving the flickering lights behind. We exited from the rear of the Hunting Ground and kept on running. The thud of our footsteps sounded like thunder, but still we ran, hit the dip at the back of the parking lot, and speared into the darkness.

I lost my bearings as we turned and turned again, and by the time we finally slowed, we’d lost sight of the lights altogether. There were no clubs here, no glinting lights, not even the red and blue flashes accompanied by sirens.

There was just dark empty streets and towering skeletal buildings, ones that shimmered a deep steel gray.

“Shit,” Arran muttered and turned, scanning the street in all directions.

“What is it?” My lungs were so damn tight, I could barely breathe.Then I caught the dark blotch of his blood on his shirt. I stepped closer, my heart hammering, and touched the warm wetness. “Arran, you’re bleeding.” I jerked my gaze to the silver shine of hi eyes.

I yanked on my collar and tried to find air as Arran pulled me closer and let out a low snarl. “There’s no time for that. We shouldn’t be here.” He stumbled forward, dragging me back the way we’d come. “We have to leave, now.”

“Leave where?” I yanked my hand from him, fighting a wave of dizziness as that unseen belt around my lungs drew tighter…and that sickening green glow brightened in my chest.

“We’re in Unseelie territory.” Arran backed away. “This is not good…not good at all.”

Shadows moved as he spoke the words, spilling from darkened doorways to stain the ground.

From one of those doorways came a scream. One so faint that for a second, I thought it was the wind…until the wind howled with desperation. “Help me! Please HELP ME!”

“Don’t listen to it.” Arran shoved me behind him, his tone hardening with fear. “It’s not real.” He jerked his gaze toward me. “None of it is real. Get out of here, Carina…run!”

2

“Please help me!” The woman’s scream drifted from a hollowed out concrete building. “He’s coming for me…he’s coming!”

But that was no trick of the wind, and no whisper of the dark.

That was real.

And so was she.

I took a step forward, then glanced back the way we’d come. There were no police here, no fleeing dancers and drunken horny men. There was just us, the darkness…and her.

“We can’t leave, Arran” I winced and wheezed. “She sounds like she’s in—”

“Carina, no.” Arran grabbed my arm and dragged me backwards. His lips curled, and white teeth shone as he bared his teeth and shoved me. I froze at the sudden aggression and stumbled as he pushed. “Listen to me. We need to get out of here now!”

Something scared the Wolf. No, something terrified him.

Panicked glances, and wide glinting eyes as he scanned the buildings, and I stilled.

It was this place…that unfathomable hunger in the air. A hunger I carried with me…a hunger I couldn’t escape. I’d never seen this part of the city, didn’t even know something like this existed. Towering concrete was barely kissed by the silver glow of the moon. It had a feeling about it, a cold, ominous feeling. One that made me shiver.

But I couldn’t leave, not like this. “Is anyone there?” I