The Lycan was with the woman, and fuck was he fast. Antonia swore under her breath as she followed their frantic flight through the night-darkened forest. Even carrying the woman didn’t seem to be slowing him much, and Antonia struggled to keep up, despite the fact she wasn’t carrying anything heavier than a pistol in a shoulder holster.

She’d ditched her rifle. It would only snarl her up as she travelled through the treetops far above the ground. Besides, she had natural weaponry, and they were far more effective than any bullet.

He pounded along the ground, moving low and fast. The woman’s weight didn’t seem to bother him. In fact, from his breathing and heart rate, Antonia suspected he hardly noticed the weight across his shoulders at all. He didn’t slow his pace, not even to leap over fallen logs or to clamber up the rock formations that littered the forest floor like some giant child’s discarded playthings.

She switched direction when he did, following the lee of the mountain range above. The trees were denser here, which slowed her down. Not much, but enough she had to expend more energy than she liked to boost her speed. More energy expenditure meant she burned through her resources quicker. She would have to feed before the night was out and, being this far from the base, that meant a live donor.

The obvious choices were the men under her command. Her lip curled. They were pumped full of shit to keep them from being infected, which meant their blood would taste…well, like shit. But unless she got lucky and came across a civilian camping out in the woods who’d somehow missed the firefight when they attacked the cabin or the numerous werewolves stampeding through the trees, then she had no option.

Unless… An image of being wrapped around the cute as all hell Lycan she was chasing popped into her head. His arms ’round her waist, hers across his shoulders as she bent his head to the side to bare his throat. The big vein pulsed under his tanned skin, calling to her. His amber eyes shone with lust and need as she bent her head, her fangs full and aching in her mouth—

No! That is so not fucking happening. Not in a month of Sundays. Ever. She shuddered and carried on moving, ignoring the heat that washed through her body. Lycans were filthy creatures, the lowest of the low. No way would she lower herself to drink from one. Even one as sexy as the Lycan she was chasing. Besides, she had enough crap going on with the virus already in her veins. She didn’t need to add another to the mix, even for kicks and giggles.

Reaching a clearing, the pair below her stopped. Clinging to a branch, she stopped herself in the same instant. Her nails, elongated and razor sharp, bit deep into the bark. A silent shadow she watched what was going on underneath her branch. She wasn’t worried they would look up and see her. If Lycan eyes couldn’t distinguish her from the darkness, then a human had no chance. And the wind was the wrong way for him to catch her scent. She crept forward on her branch until it dipped under her weight.

“…someone will find you.”

Find her? What was he going on about? She wished she’d caught the first part of the sentence. Was the wolf cutting the human woman loose or something? Out here in the darkness, miles from anywhere?

Wriggling, she gained another couple of inches. The wood beneath her creaked. Below her, the Lycan’s head snapped up as, beside him, the woman drew closer. His eyes glowed amber-green as the light from the moon struck them. She froze.

He could see her. Instead of that preternatural gaze sweeping the shadows among the branches seeing just the darkness, he focused directly on her. Surprise was stark on his face.

“Go.”

He pushed the human female away, detaching her hand from his arm and shoving her toward the small, barely visible track they’d been following. Antonia’s lip curled back in a snarl, hatred and anger welling up inside her. What was the female doing near him, why was he touching her? Her talons retracted, freeing her from her perch. She dropped to the forest floor and landed in a crouch.

“Run. Now!” her Lycan bellowed at the human, his eyes not leaving Antonia’s as he dropped into a fighting crouch. She scuttled to the side, trying to find a way around him. Instinct and rage rode her. Her gaze locked onto her target, the delicate woman behind the Lycan. She was pathetic, human and weak. Nothing like Antonia.

She wouldn’t be able to defend herself, not against the claws and ferocity of a Blood’s anger. Just one swipe of her extended claws and the woman’s throat would be ruined, her lifeblood pouring from her veins. A low rumble left her throat. The human was a dead woman—she just didn’t know it yet.

Their eyes locked, blood darkness against human warmth. The human gasped as she read her own death in Antonia’s eyes. Her hand flew up to her throat as she stumbled backward. She almost fell, her feet slipping on the wet leaves underfoot.

“Run!”

The human did as she was told, triggering every predatory instinct within Antonia. All she wanted to do was run, chase her rival down and put her out of commission. The Lycan sidestepped, putting himself between Antonia and her prey. She snarled at him in fury, flashing her fangs.

“Now, now,” he chided, shaking a finger at her. “Put them away unless you intend to use them, there’s a good girl.”

She wanted to rip that finger off and shove it where the sun didn’t shine…she wanted to close in and lick it before sucking it between her lips, then watch the heat flare in his eyes. The urge to rip into him with claws and teeth warred with the need to throw him to the forest floor, tear his clothes from his body and ride him until they both screamed in pleasure.

She staggered, the internal battle tearing her in two. What the fuck was wrong with her? He was a Lycan, a freaking dog. A mutt she’d been ordered to put down. Or catch and muzzle.

“Get out of my way.” Her words were low and guttural, the presence of full extended fangs in her mouth made speech difficult. “Or I’ll rip your head off and dance in your entrails.”

“Sure you will, sweetheart.” He blew her a kiss, his words light and joking. “And I’ll put you over my knee and spank that luscious backside of yours.”

She snarled a wordless sound of anger and frustration. He beckoned her on, his eyes as hard as the amber stone they mimicked.

“Come on, gorgeous. Let’s dance.”

* * *

“Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod.”

The litany fell from Lillian’s lips as she crashed blindly through the trees. Her sensible flats, more suited to walking the wards of St. Mary’s than a mad dash through the woods, slipped on the wet leaves underfoot. Branches reached out grasping fingers to tug at her clothes.

Her heart pounded so hard it filled her hearing and competed with the harsh rasp of her breathing. Follow the mountains. She had to follow the mountains. The moon overhead disappeared behind a cloud. Panic clawed its way up her back as she was dropped into darkness. How could she follow the mountains when she couldn’t see the freaking things?

She couldn’t see, but she could hear. All around her, the once-silent forest erupted into a cacophony of noise, every little sound amplified and playing right into a fear of the dark she thought she’d left behind in childhood.

Every skitter of wind-blown leaves behind her was a zombie creeping up. Every creak of a branch above was one of those creatures dropping like death from above. A vampire…no, Blood…whatever the things were called. She shivered as she remembered the look on the woman’s face. Rage and a soul-deep hatred she’d never expected to see in another person’s eyes. Not directed at her anyway. She was a hospital manager, for heaven’s sake. People didn’t look at her as though they’d happily rip her limb from limb. Or if they did, they saved their ire for a complaints form.

The moon came out from its hiding place, the silvery glow illuminating the path ahead of her again. How Darce had seen where they were going, in the pitch black and at the speed he was going, she had no idea. It gave her a new appreciation for just how inhuman he and the others were.

“Oh, thank God.”

She darted down the newly revealed path, her eyes wide as she scanned the woodlands either side of her. Just one glimpse of a furry hide was all she wanted. She didn’t care which one of them she found, all Lillian wanted at the moment was the feeling of safety being near one of the werewolves gave her.

A hysterical snort escaped her as she rounded a corner and clambered over a fallen log. Her foot slipped again, and she lost precious seconds retrieving her shoe. What kind of twisted world had she fallen into where she looked to the creatures of nightmares for protection?

“Well, well. What do we have here?”

At the new voice she squeaked and shot upright, her wayward shoe clasped in one hand as an impromptu weapon. Not as effective as an axe for dispatching zombies, about all she would manage with the flat heel would be to spread its nose over its face.

Durr…zombies didn’t speak and they certain didn’t have the tonal range to manage lewd.

Standing in front of her was a soldier. At least, since he was dressed in black and carrying a rifle, she assumed he was a soldier. He had that vague military air about him that proclaimed him as such. Knowing her luck, she’d probably found the only soldier fan-boy serial killer in existence.

“Hello, sweetheart, going somewhere?”

She opened her mouth, intending to go for the “little woman in need of protection” act. Anything to get someone between her and the vampire in the darkness behind her. But the glitter in his eyes stopped her. There was no concern, just a predatory gleam in his pale blue eyes. Human or not, she knew in an instant she wasn’t getting out of this alive. If he got hold of her, she’d wish for death long before it came.

Without thinking about it, she hurled the only weapon she had, her shoe, at him. Her aim was bang on. The slight heel hit him right in the nose. Blood splattered across his camouflaged skin, the scarlet vivid even in the silvery light of the moon.

“You bitch!”

She didn’t wait around. Spinning on her heels, Lillian ran back the way she’d come. Her arms and legs pumped as she tried to put as much distance between her and the soldier she’d assaulted with a ballet flat as quickly as possible. Lillian Rosewood, master of origami and the ancient art of shoe-kung fu. Yeah right, she was so scared right now that if even something as small as a rabbit jumped out of the shadows in front of her, she’d lose it.

Hitting a turn in the path, she slipped again but made it around. The heavy sound of booted feet thundered behind her. He was gaining, shouting threats as he ran. Looking around wildly, she tried to find somewhere to hide. He was human, not a wolf nor a vampire. If she could get out of sight, she had a chance.

Time was running out. She turned, still looking, her hair getting in her eyes. There, off the path. A huge broad trunk spilt by lightening, half of the wooden giant lying in state across the forest floor whilst the other reached majestically for the sky, as though unaware it was already dead.

Perfect. Her breathing rasped like a chainsaw in her ears as she raced through the undergrowth and scrambled under a loop of the fallen trunk. The warnings behind her got louder as she tucked herself into the charred hollow of the trunk and tried not to breathe. The gap was so small she felt as if she was in a coffin, her breasts squashed her knees. Breathing was bad; she might as well trumpet her location to the world.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are. Don’t make me find you. That’ll just make me mad. You won’t like me when I’m mad.”

Why, asshole? Do you turn green and dumb…no, wait, you’re already dumb. Despite her sarcastic thoughts, fear made it easy for her to keep quiet. Ignoring the burn in her legs, she didn’t make a sound. Hidden from sight, sound was the only thing that would—

“Got you, bitch.”

A hard hand closed around her arm. She screamed, fighting to stay concealed but he was too strong for her. The charred bark cut into the soft flesh of her knees, then snapped as he hauled her from her hiding place and into the open.

He wasn’t alone. More shadowy figures surrounded her as he threw her to the ground and started to unbuckle his belt. “Now, let’s have some fun, shall we?”