moment, as I flew beside him. I might have been a magical, but I was still—at my core, completely human. He was something else. Even rational, devoid of bedlam-level bloodlust, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing—a hunter wearing his prey’s skin.
What would that mean for Matthew? Would it be the same? Even after the serum, would my brother send chills down my spine and fill me with unacknowledgeable terror?
My fears were as cold as the night around me.
We descended before I could address them. Gray hovered us right next to the front door.
A terrified guard’s face peered through the glass pane in the door at us, his hand on a rifle, a jagged silver hunting knife strapped to his belt.
Pity lanced my stomach as I held up my free hand to blind the man’s eyes so that he couldn’t aim.
Callum launched himself forward, the hand not gripping mine transformed, fingers warping and elongating into raptor-like claws that burst through the glass and grabbed the guard by the neck. A geyser of blood erupted as Callum retrieved his claw; his shirtsleeve was shredded and tiny bits of glass fell from his arm as his cuts healed before my eyes, pushing the shards out of his skin.
Two seconds into the evening and there was a body for each one of them.
Fuck my life.
Our feet touched down. I stayed on the stoop as Callum ripped open the door and claimed his prize.
If he gets shot or spelled because he couldn’t control his appetite, that’s his problem—I started to allow bitter thoughts to cloud my judgement. But that was wrong.
I reminded myself that magic had warped him. He hadn’t chosen to become what he was. Just like Matthew hadn’t. It was all an accident.
I twisted my lips and tried not to look as I pulled open the door and stomped past Callum, trying not to step in the blood that coated the tile floor.
Another guard ran toward us, radio held to his lips. I killed the radio. Callum killed the guard.
In under five minutes, Gray had sent the rest of the team catapulting through the air to land on the stoop. We gathered in the foyer, where Potts had once taken me to check in with a bored, disinterested desk-rider.
The desk was empty now, a dark lump in the shadowy room.
Callum’s vampires gathered behind him and my crew did the same behind me.
Only Gray and the brunette with the appetite remained on the Institute’s perimeter, watching for signs of the Pinnacle police and keeping our exits clear.
The one guard outside and two inside were all we had seen or heard, which made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Or perhaps that was due to the fact that Callum stood close, bloody breath polluting the air with a hint of iron.
My heart trilled like a bird as my eyes darted around. “Be on alert,” I said.
There was no way the Pinnacle would make it this easy.
A second later, I spotted something that explained the lack of guards. An amulet was tucked into a crack between the stones of the hallway wall. The seam between stones had been chipped away and the amulet had been shoved inside and whitewashed to match the rest of the dreary wall. But my eyes spotted the faint purple glow, one that would have been just on the edge of the normal visual spectrum, probably invisible to most eyes.
“Stop!” I whispered, holding up a hand.
But one of Callum’s vampires didn’t listen. He slid in front of Callum and I as he checked the numbers on the doors. He got closer to the door we wanted—too close to the amulet.
“Stop!” I called again, louder.
But he took another step, putting his hand on the door.
“Room 33 is here,” he announced.
A second later, he screamed.
At nothing.
His hands turned into claws, his fangs descended, his brown eyes grew darker as his pupils blew until his eyes were full black with barely a hint of white and he looked just as insane as any of the vampires trapped inside these walls.
The other vampires made to rush forward, but I grabbed Callum’s arm, yanking on his ripped shirt. “There’s an amulet over there. In the wall. Tell them to stay back.”
“Wait!” Callum’s command was met with instantaneous obedience. Where his crew member had ignored me, the rest listened to him, almost like I’d heard shifter alphas could do, almost as though magic was woven into his tone.
Even the vampire who’d led the way,