“Right,” I say with a mock sigh. “Because clearly, I’ve been having trouble with my memory.”
Laughter ripples through them. “Any words before we start, Alpha?” the third man taunts, raising a fist.
“Make it count,” I challenge, locking eyes with each of them in turn. “So who’s first?”
Their laughter turns uneasy, a shadow of doubt flickering across their faces as they exchange glances. But it’s too late; I’ve already planted the seed of uncertainty, already taken control even as I hang from these darn chains.
“Let’s just get this over with,” the first one growls, stepping forward with clenched fists, while the others sneer and laugh.
“Then I guess it’s time to introduce you to my wolf,” I say, my voice low and steady, the calm before the storm. The laughter dies abruptly, replaced by a tense silence.
“Let’s see how well you dance with Zarek,” I say, the edges of my vision tinged and changing rapidly, the heat of shiftbeginning to simmer just beneath my skin when my wrists crack and I hold Zarek back.
And with that, I let Zarek forward, giving him enough control to break out of the chains. The chains that bind me are nothing to the fury that fuels my wolf. My captors step back in shock.
The concrete room becomes a blur as Zarek takes over, and I cringe as he breaks our wrists to get out of the cuffs. His only thought is to protect our mate as he melds with my human form merging with me.
Chaos erupts as the men scramble, their bravado melting into pure terror. Their shouts and curses fill the dank chamber like a discordant melody of their deaths, but it does nothing to shake Zarek. We are one force now – a brutal, merciless storm they’ve brought upon themselves.
“Come on, gentlemen. Don’t be shy.”
Their terrified eyes dart around the room in a panic, seeking an escape that isn’t there as I stand between them and the door. I can smell their fear seeping through their pores, heavy and intoxicating in my nostrils.
One of them breaks from the group, lunging headfirst toward me. With an instinctive snarl, Zarek meets him head-on. It’s not even a fair fight; within seconds, his limp body crashes against the dusty floor and lies motionless.
The others watch in stunned silence as I turn toward them once more. One down, three to go.
The deafening silence is broken when another gathers his wits and charges at me, trying to catch me off guard, not realizing Zarek and I are one and we sense the attack even before he launches it.
Zarek forces the shift taking control completely, and his powerful jaws clamp onto the man’s throat. A strangled cry echoes around the room before being abruptly silenced.
Each punch thrown our way is met with a swift counterattack, leaving them whimpering on the cold concrete floor. The once cocky bunch is reduced to panicstricken lambs ready for slaughter.
By now, terror dictates their every move. One tries to run, while another lunges with a knife he’d apparently concealed. Neither poses any real threat - their fate is sealed just as much as their companions was. One by one, we take them down before turning to the door.
The door to my prison bursts open under the force of my escape, and I’m out. My senses tuned to one thing only; finding Cleo as we run through the rest of Dane’s men. We barrel out of the council chambers only for me to run directly into Alpha Greyson and Vance coming to rescue me. Greyson tosses his arms in the air in exasperation. “Ten more minutes, you couldn’t wait a few extra minutes?” he snaps and folds his arms across his chest.
“Dane would have felt their deaths, you know? Always getting ahead of yourself,” Greyson snaps and Vance tosses his tranquilizer back through the car window. I am about to leave and go get her when Vance speaks.
“Maya alerted Lydia. Lydia got to her in time. You aren’t ruining this because you’re a hot head,” Vance snarls. Great, now we have Lydia involved, but it was fast thinking on Vance’s and Maya’s end.
“You wanna take them down, we stick to the plan. Dane has every news outlet covering that wedding,” Greyson reminds me.
Zarek shifts back, leaving me standing naked in the old council chambers parking lot.
“Not a chance.” Greyson snaps, stepping into my path. “We have a wedding to crash, and there are only a few hours left to figure out the rest. Get dressed. Cleo is fine,” Greyson tellsme, and I press my lips in a furious line knowing he’s right. The worst part is I can’t even check on her. She needs to think Dane still has me. I can’t risk her refusing at this point. We need those cameras there, and if Dane gets wind of us closing in more than he already knows, he may just hurt her.
Chapter 34
• Cleo •
The morning light filters weakly through the curtains, casting a pale glow that does little to warm the chill in the air or the ice in my veins. The makeup artist’s hands tremble slightly as she applies foundation, her brush strokes trying to cover the marks of last night’s terror. Alpha Dane came in during the night forcing more sedatives on me. The bruise on my cheek, a harsh reminder of Boyd’s brutality, resists concealment along with the large gash marks that will be forever etched into my skin since I couldn’t shift or heal them without my wolf.
“Sorry, darling, this is the best I can do under the circumstances,” she murmurs, sympathy in her eyes that I can’t meet in the mirror.
I nod, my stomach a knot of anxiety. Today is supposed to be my wedding day.
Instead, it feels like I’m dressing for a funeral—my own.
