Unleash the Night (Dark-Hunter 8)

Chapter 14

Wren lay naked, spooned up against Maggie while she slept in his arms. He had his cheek pressed against hers as he listened to her breathe. She had the faintest little snore that warmed him through and through. He was tired, too, but he wanted to hold her as a man at least for a little while longer while the scent of her hung heavy in his senses.

It was heaven to be in her arms, and he cursed the Fates for not allowing them to mate. It wasn't fair or right. Surely they were meant to be together...

Suddenly he heard something out in the hallway.

Wren moved slowly from the bed as he felt an odd fissure ripple down his spine. It wasn't like the one he got when his father was nearby.

It was...

Eerie, powerful, disturbing.

He crossed the room, his attention focused on what he'd heard outside.

Closing his eyes, he dressed himself and Maggie an instant before he felt a presence behind him.

Wren spun around to find one of the tigers in human form who had assaulted him in Sanctuary.

The tiger moved forward to try to put a collar over Wren's neck.

Wren shoved the Katagari back, into the wall. The collar fell to the floor with a thud as the tiger growled at him.

Maggie came awake with a gasp.

"Run, Maggie," Wren said as he put himself between her and the tiger.

Two more tigers popped in.

Marguerite's eyes narrowed at the sight of the tigers and man after Wren. An unbridled fury started deep inside her. She'd never felt anything like it as it rose up.

It was the beast inside her. She knew it. She actually felt it straining and hissing.

Aching.

And it wanted blood. Their blood.

Acting on pure animal instinct, she launched herself from the bed at the tiger closest to her. It turned on her to fight. For a fleeting instant, fear gripped her, and then it was gone, washed away by her fury.

And in its place was a confidence the likes of which she'd never experienced before. Trusting herself completely, she stood her ground and caught the tiger by the neck.

Wren was stunned as he watched Maggie take the tiger. He smiled an instant before something shocked him. He couldn't breathe as the electrical energy went through his entire body, flashing him from tiger to human and back again.

He hit the ground hard, terrified of what would happen to Maggie while he was completely incapacitated.

Marguerite froze at the sight of Wren. He was on the floor writhing as if in excruciating pain as he changed forms back and forth at an alarming rate.

The tiger she'd been fighting manifested itself as a human male. "Collar the bastard."

She didn't know what that was, but she was sure it was bad. She changed back to human form. "No!" she shouted, rushing at them. She threw herself down on top of Wren and wished herself out of the room.

Please let this work!

Two seconds later, she was in his father's bedroom.

Aristotle looked up from his desk with a frown. "Maggie?"

Before she could answer, the tigers poofed into the room with them.

"They're trying to kill Wren," she warned his father.

He came out of his chair ready to battle them.

As the human moved for Wren, Marguerite sprang at him. She shoved him back so hard that he actually cracked the wall.

"Stay out of this, woman, or die," he warned her.

She glared her hatred at him. "The only one who's going to die tonight is you, asshole."

Aristotle caught the man as he lunged toward her. He twisted the man's head around until a gruesome crack sounded. The man turned into a tiger before he slid to the ground, where he lay motionless.

The other two tigers vanished.

Only partially relieved, Marguerite knelt beside Wren, who was still flashing back and forth between his forms.

"Baby?" she said, wanting to help him.

"They must have hit him with a Taser," Aristotle said. "You should probably be told that if you get shocked at all, this is what will happen to you, too. You can't hold on to a form after such a thing."

Well that was nice to know, but it didn't help Wren. "What can we do to help him?"

"Nothing," Aristotle said sadly. "The electricity has to stop bouncing around his cells. Once it does he'll be back to normal, but in the meantime he's helpless."

Aristotle locked gazes with her. The heat and fear in his blue eyes scorched her. "And you two are out of time. Now that they know you're here, they'll be back for both of you. In force."

"What are we to do?" she asked, willing to fight or do whatever was necessary to protect Wren.

His father placed a hand on Wren's arm. "The full moon is cresting. It's time to send you both back to where you came from."

Marguerite shook her head as a new fear gripped her. "It's too soon. We have no proof of his innocence."

Still those eyes burned her with an intensity that was frightening. "Trust me. Go to the Laurens law office and ask them for a package. I will send it from here and they will have it in their safe, waiting for the two of you. It will prove Wren's innocence."

It sounded way too easy. "Are you sure?"

"You have no choice, Maggie," he insisted. "If you stay here, you're both dead. I only hope I have enough of my powers left after turning you to accomplish this."

"And if you don't?"

He looked away. "It's all in the hands of the Fates. Let us hope they're not entirely lacking in compassion."

Marguerite opened her mouth to argue, but before she could, everything around her went hazy.

A minute later, she found herself on a grassy lawn not too far from her small house in New Orleans.

Shocked and a bit confused, she looked around. It was the middle of the day, and everything looked as if it were normal. The sun was bright and shining over her head. The day appeared calm and tranquil.

Only there was nothing tranquil about what was happening to them right now. There was nothing tranquil about the fear and anxiety she felt.

In human form, Wren hissed, then slammed his head against the grass. She held her breath, expecting him to transform into a tigard again.

He didn't.

He lay still against the grass, his eyes open with a distant gaze that was filled with remorse and guilt.

"Wren?" she asked hesitantly.

"Damn it, Dad," he breathed angrily. "How could you?"

She saw the anguish in Wren's eyes and it set fire to her own. "I'm sorry, Wren. I should have stopped him."

He looked as if he wanted to scream out at the injustice. It only lasted an instant before he was up on his feet with a grim determination on his face.

Wren held his hand out to her. "C'mon. Let's go settle this. I'm not about to let him have died in vain."

She understood exactly what he felt and she was every bit as ready to set this right. "You got it."

As soon as she touched his hand, he flashed them from the street to a small alcove in the alley behind the Laurens Law Firm. Much to her relief, their clothes changed back into their usual 2005 attire.