men to take a quick search around the outside of the warehouse. Once they were gone, Billie started to grow impatient. She fisted her hands at her sides and growled low in her throat.
"Easy, Billie," Beowulf warned. "Don't let the wolf rule you. Wait until the others come back. We don't want to walk into a trap."
A minute ticked by, and then another. As she waited, Billie felt the muscles in her legs tighten with the strain of keeping herself reined back. She closed her eyes and looked for Royce. Her eyes quickly snapped open. She growled and bared her teeth.
"Billie." Beowulf reached out to stop her, but she shook him off.
"We have to go now, Beowulf. I can't wait for them to get back. Gren is making his move."
She took hold of the locked doorknob and wrenched it until the lock broke. Pushing the door open, Billie rushed inside with Beowulf close on her heels. Her nose zoned in on Royce's scent. Without missing a step, she crossed the large open space to the back of the building. There, she found the storage room. The door stood wide open.
Reaching for the magic inside her, Billie went wolf as she launched herself through the open door. She didn't stop her forward motion until she rammed into Gren who was standing over Royce. She hit him with enough force to push him away. Landing on her feet, she stood next to Royce and growled.
Gren easily regained his balance. "What do we have here? It would seem someone has been using my spell."
Billie felt Royce's gaze on her, but she knew better than to take her eyes off Gren. She edged closer to Royce until her side was pressed up against his shoulder. She bared her teeth and gathered her muscles under her, ready to strike if Gren so much as moved.
From across the room, Finn asked, "Billie, is that really you?"
Beowulf, who had slipped into the room, moved to stand over Finn. "There will be more than enough time for questions later."
Gren snarled with rage. "Have you come to take me to your bitch, Beowulf? It would seem she has taken something of mine."
"The spell was never yours to take, Gren," Beowulf snarled back. "You have gone too far this time. Roxie will decide what needs to be done about you. And I can guarantee you it won't be as simple as chaining you outside in my backyard for a day either."
That seemed to incite Gren even more. Turning away from Billie, he leaped across the room and grabbed Finn. Before Beowulf could stop him, he jabbed the syringe he held in his hand into Finn's neck with what Billie assumed was Royce's blood.
"Now we'll see if Roxie is the only who can change an ordinary mortal into a werewolf."
Gren let Finn go and stepped back. He recited the words to the spell Roxie had used earlier on her. Billie knew it wasn't going to work. She knew Roxie's blood was the key, not Royce's. Moving lower to the ground, she stalked closer to Gren.
When Finn showed no reaction, Gren threw back his head and howled with rage. Then everything seemed to happen at once. The men Beowulf had brought rushed into the room just as Billie leapt at Gren. This time she didn't have the element of surprise, and Gren proved to be just as quick as any of his kind. Sensing her coming, he spun around and caught her in midair. With a grim smile on his face, Gren squeezed her ribs until she stopped struggling.
"You may be a werewolf now, girl, but you're still no match for me."
Billie quickly shifted back into human form, which caused Gren's hold on her to shift. "We'll see about that."
Using the same strikes she taught in her self-defense classes, Billie stomped on the inside of Gren's foot hard enough to cause him to release her. Next she brought her knee up into his crotch. As he sank to the floor bent over, Billie brought her linked hands down onto the back of his head. He fell to the floor like a stone where he lay stunned and moaning in pain.
Panting from her exertion, Billie looked around the room. She met the stunned expressions of the other men in the room. While she had been battling Gren, someone had freed Royce of his bonds. He took a step toward her. As he grew nearer, his look of surprise left his face to be