“The partner didn’t know who it was. It was information he was supposed to get later, but didn’t, because I killed his little friend. But if it’s because of you, after the shit Ranger was spouting and now his presence in the ravine, I’m guessing it was him.”
That wasn’t the man he’d known, Cullen thought bitterly. The man he’d known had been a friend and a confidant. But the hatred Cullen had glimpsed in Ranger’s eyes now made him a very dangerous stranger.
Drawing on the cigar he frowned, that restlessness and sense of wild fury clawing at him again. Lowering the cigar to his thigh, he drew in the scents of the night and still couldn’t place what was bothering him so deeply.
Just to be sure, he directed his senses to the Wolf Breed. What he sensed from the Wolf was the same as it had always been. That core of animalistic honor, human will and Breed fury. A silent, soul-deep fury they all felt, but fought to hide even from themselves, Cullen knew.
At least, until they mated.
“Whoever it is,” Cullen said softly, the knowledge of it a certainty that filled his head, “they’ll try again. I can feel it coming. I’ve felt it for days now.”
His gaze swept the night beyond the patio and still couldn’t detect anything, but he could feel it. Like a tendril of sullen fury reaching out to him, he could sense it.
“Yeah,” Draeger agreed, a hiss of sound that would have done any feline proud. “I can feel it like a breath at the back of my neck. Tobias has been itchy too. Tonight that feeling’s particularly irritating, ya know?”
Yeah, he knew exactly what the Wolf was talking about. That feeling had his nerves on edge.
“You should get her out of here, Cullen,” Draeger told him quietly. “Get her to Graeme’s. She’d be safer there.”
Yes, she would be. Hell, he should have stayed there instead of bringing her back.
Maybe he should move her tonight.
A faint sound from Draeger had his head jerking around, his gaze finding the Wolf.
He was slumped against the post he’d been leaning on, his eyes open, panicked as he slowly slid to the ground.
Aware but unable to move. Helpless.
Stunned by the paralytic the Council had created to hold Breeds’ bodies completely still, muscles relaxed, no matter how much pain the scientists inflicted.
Even as his gaze found Draeger, Cullen was jumping for the back door, desperate to get to Chelsea. And it was already too late.
He felt the dart bite into his neck, the instant, burning, paralyzing effects sweeping through his body as the wild fury he’d sensed trapped inside him broke the bonds containing it.
His mate was defenseless.
GRAEME’S ESTATE
The report in his hand fluttered to the metal table as Graeme froze, becoming completely still, the Primal jerking awake. Instantly the twin bond he shared with Cullen snapped into place; everything his brother sensed or felt in that moment, Graeme knew with crystal-clear awareness.
The absolute fury and maddened rage of Cullen’s Primal struggled against the paralytic, fully awake now and pushing past Breed resistance.
There was no time to warn his mate.
Bengal markings burned over Graeme’s skin, claws ripping through the tips of his fingers as strength surged through his body and a roar echoed through the caverns.
Within seconds a powerful black motorcycle shot into the night, the creature riding it enraged and out for blood. And it knew the faces of its victims and the scent of their malevolence.
Hell, he should have killed Ranger and Arthur Holden when he’d wanted to, years ago.
CHAPTER 23
From Graeme’s Journal
The Recessed Primal Breed
Once called to protect his mate, and given freedom by the Breed pushed to the last edge of hope, the Primal will know no mercy.