Their father had learned the truth for far too long.
“When I left, Sean came with me.” Sean had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. Orphaned, Sean had always been treated as the runt of the pack when they were kids. But Jamie hadn’t let the others ever hurt Sean. He’d fought plenty of battles for his friend until Sean had finally grown big enough to fight back.
When they’d left the only life they’d ever known, Sean had said, “It’s time for me to have your back.” Sean could be a smart-ass, but the guy was loyal. True through blood and bone.
They’d gone out, ready to start a whole new life.
But…something had happened. “Maybe it was you,” Jamie whispered to her. “There was talk that Latham had become obsessed with a vampire. That he wanted her for his mate, but she…she turned away from him.”
Smart choice.
“The years passed, and Latham just started to grow stronger. Crazier.” This was his shame. Jamie hadn’t returned to the pack then, despite the stories he’d heard. My father told me if I left, not to return. So he’d stayed away, thinking his father would finally see Latham for what he was—thinking that his father would stop the other wolf.
“But when my parents realized the truth about Latham and tried to fight back, he killed them.” The memory was a knife in his heart. “I came back—too late—and found their bodies.”
He’d never forget the sight. He’d heard tales of more bloodshed in the O’Connell pack. Tales of torture and death, and he hadn’t been able to stay away a moment longer.
“Latham tried to kill me, too, but vampire blood—your blood—saved me.” His breath rushed out on a rough sigh. “Didn’t thank you for that, did I? No, instead, I just went right ahead with my plans. I wanted revenge. I wanted Latham taken out, and I didn’t care who stood in my way.”
He leaned over her. “I f**king care now.”
And he heard the faintest of rustles in the hallway. Footsteps. Someone closing in.
He brushed his lips over hers. “I care now,” he said again, and went to face the threat coming for them.
***
“Are you sure about this?” Sean demanded as he glanced around at the two dead bodies that littered the ground. The dead werewolves were slowly shifting back into their human forms.
Jamie straightened his shoulders. She could feel the determination coursing through his veins. “The Blood Queen is inside.”
And he’d just defeated a small army in order to get to her.
Sean grabbed his arm. “How do you even know the witch is telling the truth? That whole story about waking her could be a bunch of BS. We might get in there and just find Latham waiting to gut us.”
Jamie glanced at him. “Brian burned himself out casting the spell for Latham, and he understands…my brother hates weakness. It’s only a matter of time before Latham kills Brian. The witch knows it, even if he can’t see his death coming.”
Sean frowned. “Can’t ‘see’ it? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Witches can see much in this world, and beyond it. Brian saw how to trap the Blood Queen, and he set the spell so that only a werewolf alpha could free her.”
“An alpha like you?”
Jamie nodded. Then they were running down a hallway. Attacking more wolves. Killing their own kind.
As Jamie gazed around, searching for more enemies, Iona realized that she knew this place.
Her prison.
Jamie stopped before a too-familiar metal door. “I’ll wake her, and she’ll be my weapon.”
She didn’t want to hear—
“If she wants to keep living,” Jamie said as he lifted his claw-tipped hand toward that door, “then she’ll need my blood. So she’ll do what I want.”
And she knew…He was just like Latham. Not caring what happened to her. Not giving a shit at all.
Maybe he deserved the same death as his brother.
Then Jamie and Sean were inside the room. Jamie inhaled the scent of the ocean. Saw the wispy curtains. Saw the body lying in the bed. So still.
Dead.
Jamie’s stare locked on her prone form. Sean grabbed him again. “This is a bad idea. There’s a reason she’s under, man. The woman is evil.”
No, she wasn’t. Sure, she’d done bad things, but only to those who’d come after her. She’d never hurt an innocent. Iona didn’t care what the twisted lies claimed about her.
Only Jamie didn’t think she looked evil. She was in his head, and she knew that he thought she looked…beautiful.
Insane man. She looked like a corpse.
“Go outside,” Jamie ordered Sean. “Guard the door, just in case…”
“In case the crazy bitch gets loose and kills you?”
She felt his annoyance. “In case we’ve been tracked. I don’t want anyone stopping me. Not until I put the bond in place.”
Bond. The word trembled through her.
Jamie cut his wrist. It was so strange to watch as he put his wrist—his blood—to her mouth. He tried to force her to drink. Frustration churned within him when her eyes didn’t open. “Maybe you are dead.”
Then she saw her own eyes open. “I’m not dead…” A weak, raspy voice. Her voice. “But you are.”
***
Jamie yanked open the door and put his claws at the werewolf’s throat. Sean froze with his hands up in the air. Then he demanded, “Fuck me, man, is that how you answer a door?”
“It is when I smell Latham’s scent.” And his brother’s scent was definitely on Sean. Jamie grabbed the guy and hauled him inside. “Want to tell me what the hell is happening?”
Sean swallowed. “He’s coming for you.” His gaze darted to the bed. “For her.”
That had been the plan. Before.
“You’ve changed your mind, haven’t you?” Sean charged. He shoved away from Jamie. “Dammit, I knew this would happen. I saw the way you were looking at her in that bar. When she said she was gonna drink from me…shit, you went postal.”
Postal? Huh. Jamie had thought that he’d held onto his control pretty well. All things considered. He had remembered that Sean was his best friend. So he hadn’t shoved his claws into Sean’s side.
“She was the big secret weapon.” Sean marched around the bed. “You were supposed to use her, not fall for her.” Sean’s gaze drifted from Iona’s still body back up to Jamie. “I guess you are more like your brother than you want to think.”