The Wolf Within (Purgatory 1)

Connor had fallen to the floor, but he was trying to stand once more.

“I think it’s supposed to burn.” Duncan’s fingers wrapped around the hilt of the knife. “Or at least it would, if I were just a werewolf. But I’m not.”

And silver didn’t hurt vampires.

All of the strengths. None of the weaknesses. Pate hadn’t been bullshitting after all.

So he pulled out that knife. Saw his blood dripping from the blade. “You destroyed my life that night.”

“She took you away from me! My flesh! My blood—”

The blood kept dripping from the scalpel. “It is your blood.” Duncan glared at him. “But I’m not you.”

Ian attacked with fangs bared and claws out. Kill or be killed. The way of the wolf.

Duncan wasn’t in the mood to die.

So he twisted his hand and pushed the scalpel into Ian’s heart, and this time, it did burn. Ian screamed. He clawed at his chest, but Duncan just drove the weapon in deeper. Smoke rose from Ian’s chest.

When Duncan finally stepped back, Ian hit the floor. His features were frozen in a final mask of horror. Shock.

Death.

“I’m not you,” Duncan said again. His mother had protected him from this monster. Given her life to keep him safe.

Duncan’s gaze rose to Connor. The other wolf was shuddering, but he was back on his feet. His wounds seemed to be closing.

Was he going to have to fight another battle? Duncan had just killed his father, he didn’t want to kill his brother, too.

“You…”

“I wish I could have saved you,” Duncan said, when Connor’s voice just trailed away. “I wish you’d been in that damn closet with me.”

Connor looked away. “You don’t…remember it all, do you?”

No.

“I-I was supposed to go in, but I was afraid of the dark.” His voice was hushed. “Mom told me that you would keep me safe inside, that we had to be quiet, but I was afraid.” He swallowed, and the small click was painful to hear. “So I ran out, screaming. That’s how he found us. He heard my scream. He killed her when she was reaching for me, and he took me away.”

Hell.

“I’m sorry,” Duncan said. Sorry for the life that Connor must have lived. For all the pain and suffering he’d endured.

“So am I.” Connor stared at him. The lines on his face seemed so deep. “I wish I’d stayed with you in the dark.”

“Duncan?”

His head turned at Holly’s call. She stood there, blood on her, but alive.

He ran to her and pulled her close. She was trembling against him, and he knew her body was weak. Because she’d been f**king staked. “Drink from me,” he ordered as he forced her mouth to his neck.

He’d never forget seeing her so still.

His hands tightened around him as her teeth sank into his throat. The pleasure of her bite rocked through him. Holly. His Holly.

His.

Always.

Her tongue whispered over his skin as she fed lightly from him. “Take more,” he said.

Take everything.

The gas was still leaking from overhead. The humans would be down. They’d need help. They’d need—

The infirmary doors burst open. Duncan spun to face the new threat, shielding Holly with his body.

But the new threat was just Pate. With…Shane standing behind him. Pate had a gun in each hand. So did Shane.

Pate’s gaze raked the room, then landed on him. That stare hardened a bit when he saw just how tightly Duncan was holding Holly.

“Thought you might need a hand,” Pate said.

“He’s alpha…” These soft words came from Connor. “He doesn’t need anyone.”

Yes, he did. He needed Holly.

Shane approached Ian’s body.

“He’s the one who was working the escape from inside the prison,” Duncan said, voice flat. “He was also my father.”

Shane hissed out a breath. “And who put the silver in his heart?”

Holly’s fingers stroked over Duncan’s chest, as if she were trying to soothe him.

“I did,” Duncan told him.

Shane nodded. “It’s a bitch when the worst monsters are the ones who made us.” He turned away from the body. “Know how you feel. I had to take my father’s head in 1396.”

Thirteen—

“Did he tell you who was helping him on the outside?” Pate demanded. He hadn’t put his weapons up yet.

“Uh, you think we can work on turning off the gas?” Holly asked, and Duncan loved the slight snap in her words. “If Ian was telling the truth, it’s knocking out all of the humans.”

Pate finally put up his guns so that he could yank out a radio from his coat pocket. A few seconds later, he started talking to someone. Brent?

“Turn it off,” Pate ordered. “Now.”

The gas shut off. An alarm sounded.

Pate lowered the radio. “We’re on lockdown,” Pate said. “You, Shane, and I need to secure the prison and make sure no one gets off this island.”

“Just the three of us?” Duncan nodded. “Right. Piece of f**king cake.”

“I can help,” Holly said.

And he knew she could. Holly was strong. She was fierce.

But she was also more than just a killer, and they needed her skills. “The wounded are gonna come in. You’ll have to take care of them.” Because there was no telling how injured some of the guards—and prisoners—would be.

Her gaze slid to Connor. “I’ll start with him,” she murmured.

His Holly. A healer, not a killer.

Holly flashed her fangs. “But if you need me, you yell, and I’ll have your back.”

Or maybe, maybe she was both.

Duncan pressed a kiss to her lips. He loved her little fangs. Hell, he loved everything about her.

“I love you,” he said the words against her lips and felt the surprise that rippled through her.

Holly shook her head.

He caught her chin. Forced her to look straight into his eyes. “I love you.”

Maybe he’d been falling for her from the very first day—when she jabbed a needle in his arm and took his blood.

His Holly…always after his blood.

But he’d known for sure how he felt about her when he saw Holly lying so still on the infirmary floor. When her heart had stopped, his had, too.

Her lips began to lift in a small smile.

“Uh…we’ve got an island full of blood-thirsty monsters. A prison gone wild. Get your horny hands off my sister and follow orders, McGuire.”