Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,81

teeth.

That black beast reared inside my head, all fangs and fury, all hate and rage. I knew he was the one who'd killed Murphy, knew he was the one who'd attacked Wry. My stomach clenched at the young Wolf's name. He was still out there, and so was Walker.

Whatever it takes, Chaos whispered, and that chill slithered along my spine once more. “And you won’t match them, because it wasn’t any of these Wolves. It was one of the rogue packs who entered the city, the same one who attacked one of Phantom’s own crew, a young male Wolf by the name of Wry. He had his throat torn out and when he healed…he healed damaged. He can’t speak, but everything points to this Alpha Wolf who isn’t Phantom.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

"So it’s not any of Phantom’s pack doing this. It’s the ones we’ve allowed to come in and try to take what’s Phantom’s in the first place. But the real danger here isn’t the turf war, it’s the bloodlines. It’s the Inner Circle. It’s the one that will bring not just Crown City to its knees…but the entire country. Ruth Costello carries the blood of a powerful Vampire in her veins, and if you think her wrath is over…I guarantee you, it’s barely begun.”

Harlan straightened. His lips parted, and his eyes were riveted on mine. It took the wind out of his sails, snatched away every battle cry he had stored for the fight against his perceived enemy.

That flicker of his despair unleashed a cry inside me, that time part of me that knew what I was doing…and hated me for it.

Chaos rose, just as swiftly stealing away the thunder of my heart and that sickening feeling I was falling into a chasm of my undoing. Eyes on the prize, Chaos whispered, and Phantom’s tortured face filled my mind. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“What?” Harlan questioned, drawing me back to the moment.

I lifted my gaze as that sense of hopelessness filled me. “I never asked for this.” I rose from the seat and lifted my hands, my fingers working the top button of my blouse.

Harlan stiffened, his eyes going to the closed door behind us. “Chase, what the hell are you doing?” But there wasn’t anger in his tone, quite the opposite. There was hunger.

The Unseelie glow spilled out as I opened my top as far as I needed. Shards of green jewels sparkled against my pale breasts, glittering and shining, embedded deep into my flesh.

He stiffened, stared, then jerked his gaze to mine, his words almost choking. “What the hell is that?”

“That is what happened to me that night in the warehouse. That, Harlan, is what Phantom saved me from. I was spelled by an Unseelie, given some dark power, an uncontrollable power that Phantom and his pack have helped me to control.”

I took a step closer, the swell of my breasts in line with his eyes. He couldn’t look away, captured by the way I moved. “Without them, this…Chaos inside me will consume me. It will tear me apart until there is nothing left of me anymore.”

His chest rose and fell with hard breaths as he continued to fix on my plunging neckline. “This spell causes you to what?”

“Drive men to the point they want to hurt me.”

He flinched, jerking his gaze to mine.

“At first it’s the looks, then it’s the comments, then it’s cornering me in the building as they try to kiss me.”

Energy crackled in the room. He knew now, knew it wasn’t just his own emotions at play here. It was Chaos, as well.

“That night in the warehouse, I was attacked, and hurt. But I would’ve been hurt even worse if Phantom hadn’t helped me.”

“Helped you how?”

I didn’t want to tell him the truth, didn’t want that flare of jealousy to drive the final nail into my Alpha’s coffin. “He helped me to control it, helped me to push it down until it seethes inside me. But without his power, without my pack around me, it takes over. It consumes and controls. You feel it now, don’t you? That hunger, that…lust. It makes you want to touch me, makes you want to cross that line between being honorable and a savage.”

He wanted to be a savage. I could see it in his eyes, and the way he clenched his jaw, and fisted his hands, as though the mere thought of touching me might…just…bring…him…

undone.

“The Vampires?” he asked breathlessly.

“Ruth Costello and the Vampires” I urged. “It’ll be