Instinct had his hand flashing up, jerking the gun to the side as it discharged and his elbow slammed back at the same moment the voice penetrated his mind.
"Dane!" Ria screamed the name as Mercury's vision cleared, his eyes locking on the pale blue gaze, the bulging eyes of Ryan DeSalvo, the bodyguard who traveled with Dane Vanderale.
Mercury loosened his grip only enough to keep from killing the other man before turning, his eyes falling to Dane himself as Ria bent over him, her gaze locked on Mercury in horror.
He loosened DeSalvo slowly, watching as the other man sort of slid down the wall, choking on the oxygen pouring back into his system.
Dane was also breathing.
Mercury snarled again as Ria lifted Dane's head to her lap. He couldn't stop himself. Naked, enraged, he gripped her arm, dragging her to the side of the bed as she fought him.
Her fists struck his chest, tears fell from her eyes.
"Do you want him to live?" he snarled into her face, the feral adrenaline still surging through his body as he gripped her shoulders and shook her just enough to force her to stare up at him. "Touch him, and he dies." He didn't recognize his own voice. "Do you understand me?"
"You're crazy!" she screamed. "He wasn't here to hurt me."
"And I knew this how?" He meant only to yell, but it came out as a primal roar. "How did I know? No scent, Ria. No warning." He shook her again. "How did I know?"
"I have to help him." She was crying. Crying for another man and she had never shed tears for him.
He lowered his face until they were nose to nose.
"Touch him, and he dies."
If she could have paled further, she did. Her face was stark white as he released her, growling. He was growling like a rabid animal. Releasing her slowly, his finger pointing at her as he stepped back for his clothes, warning her.
A movement from behind him had him turning and snarling furiously again. Half roar, half enraged growl. Ryan DeSalvo halted, his hand within touching distance of the weapon he had carried.
Behind Mercury, Ria's sobs were wrenching, tearing him apart.
He kicked the gun beneath the bed, spared a glance for the still living Vanderale and jerked his pants from the floor.
As the zipper locked he jumped across the bed, ignoring Ria's scream, and pressed her to the wall as the door slammed open and Breeds raced in.
Lawe and Rule, Jonas and Callan. They came to a jerking stop, staring in horrified shock at the tableau that met their eyes. Then swung to Mercury as he growled back at them warningly.
"Easy, Merc." Jonas was breathing harshly as he jerked the silken robe Ria had worn earlier from the floor and tossed it to him. "Take care of your woman. We have this."
Merc caught the robe, feeling his blood pounding in fury at the thought of anyone seeing Ria naked. Seeing her bend over Dane, naked, her long silken hair flowing around her, he had wanted to kill Dane. Rip his throat out. Had Dane been conscious, Mercury wondered if he wouldn't have done just that.
He turned back to her, helping her into the robe as the tears continued to fall from her eyes.
"Keep crying for that bastard and I'm going to lose my mind," he bit out, that hard, violent rasp of his voice causing her to flinch.
"You've already lost your mind." She slapped his shoulder, hard. She could have punched him in the face and he knew it. The fact that she pulled back was a testament to her fear.
He tied her robe around her waist gently.
"Get dressed." He was fighting the surge of adrenaline now. "Get enough clothes on that I don't go crazy. Do it now."
Ria stared up at him, swallowing tightly as the blue burned in his eyes now, mixing so deeply with the hammered gold that it was hard to tell the true color of his eyes. They glowed in the savage features of his face. Feral rage tightened every plane and angle and warned her that he hadn't yet gotten control of the fury raging through him.
She slid around him, casting a look toward Dane despite Mercury's growl of protest. He was alive. Bloody, but Callan and Jonas and the two Breeds surrounded him, as did Ryan. Or Rye, as Dane had a habit of calling him.
Rye was battered, bloodied, his shirt nearly torn from him and his throat bruised. Dane looked worse. Blood matted his tawny hair, smeared across his face, and his lips were bleeding, his nose.
She glanced back at Mercury. He had his back to her, his hands braced against the wall, ignoring all of it as he obviously fought to get hold of himself.