The Wolf Within (Purgatory 1)

You’ll live. You’ll f**king live.

Only then had he ended the vampire’s life. After she’d gotten her transfusion. She didn’t really remember the specific details. She’d just opened her eyes to find that the vampire was missing his head.

I don’t want to think about that night. She hadn’t been lying about that part.

“It’s over.” Her lips felt numb. “There’s no sense looking back.”

“Sometimes, we can’t go forward until we go back.” His hand fell away from her chin. “I was selfish that night. I couldn’t let you go.”

She grabbed his hand. “And I wasn’t ready to leave you.”

His gaze held hers. They’d been together for so many years. She’d been three when her mother married his father. He’d been ten. A hero in her eyes. When their parents had died in an auto accident eleven years later, Pate hadn’t let her go into foster care. He’d taken care of her. Always.

He could be an ass**le sometimes. Overprotective. Too controlling. But he was family.

The only family she had.

“There is a cure.” His voice shook now. “It’s a virus. You said it yourself. An infection. If you can catch it, you can cure it.”

He wanted to think so.

She just didn’t believe that was the case. The virus changed the body. Mutated it. With that kind of change, all of her research was showing that there was no going back. There might never be a cure. Instead, the best she could hope was treatment—that was what karahydrelene had done—treated the symptoms so that she could function almost normally.

She stepped away from him. “Duncan isn’t going into a cell. I won’t let you cage him.”

Pate’s gaze dipped behind her. “He’ll go if he can’t stay controlled.”

She turned her head back to look at Duncan just as he snapped right through the bindings that held him. In an instant, he leapt to his feet. Hmm…he shouldn’t have been quite so agile after the dosing.

Pate’s gaze said he realized the same thing.

Dangerous.

As dangerous as a vampire. As dangerous as me.

Holly put her hand on Duncan’s arm, stilling him before could get any closer to Pate. “He’s not putting you in a cage.”

“I won’t do it,” Pate agreed, but one eyebrow rose and he added, “I think you’ll put yourself there.” Then he headed for the double doors. “In case you’re curious…” Pate said, throwing the words over his shoulder, “the other alpha is in Containment Area Five.”

Then he was gone. Holly was all alone with her werewolf.

Not mine. Why did she keep thinking of him that way? Duncan wasn’t hers. Was he?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I had no idea they were going to drug you.”

His hands curled around her shoulders. He pulled her body closer, forcing her to face him.

Did he seem…um, bigger? He did.

“Duncan, I—”

His mouth was on hers. Hot. Hard. And she just decided to forget talking right then. She kissed him back, almost desperately, as her fingers locked around his arms and her nails sank into his skin.

He had her flush against his body now. That wonderful heat of his seemed to singe her right through her clothes. She could feel the heavy thrust of his arousal. Okay, yes, he’d come out of that drugged state very aware.

Her heart raced in her chest. Her body trembled. Not with any kind of fear, but with pure eagerness.

His head lifted. His eyes were shining. Definitely not the stare of a mortal man. She didn’t care.

“Why aren’t you afraid?”

Because I’m as much of a monster as you are.

He shook his head before she could think of a response that didn’t sound so brutally cold. He wasn’t a monster. Or…hell, she didn’t think of him that way.

Even if she saw herself as the nightmare in the room.

“You’re the only one I trust here,” he told her.

Her breath rushed out. “Duncan…”

“Something’s going on. Holly, I know that alpha.”

“Well, you’ve been hunting in the city. You probably—”

“I’ve seen him in my nightmares.”

That froze her.

“Werewolves killed my family when I was just a kid.”

She knew that. That attack had been what had placed him on the path that led to Seattle’s Para Unit. He’d wanted to protect others. To stop the same fate from knocking on their doors and leaving a trail of blood behind.

“When I look at Connor, I hear the screams from the attack.”

She barely controlled her flinch.

Sometimes, when she looked at Pate, she could hear her own screams. From my attack. She’d tried to hide that weakness from him. Pate carried enough guilt on his shoulders. But after what she’d said minutes before, she knew that he already realized she saw hell when she saw him.

“I. Know. Him.”

His arms were still around her. Her nails still digging into his skin.

“Help me,” he said.

Holly nodded, and she knew that she could refuse him nothing.

***

Connor was caged and collared. And he looked pissed off.

Duncan marched into the alpha’s containment area. Elias was stationed near the cell door. When he saw Duncan, Elias immediately straightened to his full height. “Jeez, I’m so sorry, man—”

Duncan lifted a hand. “If you’re really sorry, then you’ll give me ten minutes with this guy. You’ll walk out, get yourself a drink, and not mention to anyone that I’m here.”

Elias stared back at him. His partner’s eyes—ex-partner—were guilt-ridden. “I’m sorry I couldn’t kill you.”

Connor started laughing from his cell. That bastard laughed a lot.

Elias shook his head. “I know it was what you wanted.”

Death? Duncan glanced over his shoulder. Holly was behind him. It had been her security card that had gotten him access to this area. Seeing as how his access had been revoked.

But she’d come with him, not hesitating even a moment when he had to sound straight-up crazy.

Maybe I am crazy. Maybe the madness of the wolf was setting in, but right then, “Death’s the last thing I want.” He figured Elias needed the warning. Things had changed. Fucking fast. “You come at me with silver, and you could be the one to die.”

Elias backed away from him. “But…your family…”