My face kissed snow, ice slicing into my skin. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Growls and yips of triumph assaulted my ears. A rough wet tongue laved the side of my face, and rage burned away the horror of my predicament.

“Get the fuck off me!” I slammed my palms onto the ground and pushed up with all my strength, but my 140-pound human form was no match for the 250-pound Loup on my back. And then the weight lessened, and hands shoved the back of my coat up.

Hands.

The fucker was in human form now, grunting and panting in excitement as he fumbled for the waistband of my jeans.

“Fuck you!” I twisted, bringing my elbow up to smash into the side of the Loup’s head. He let out a bellow and released me long enough for me to attempt to scrabble free, but another set of hands grabbed me.

I fought, twisting and bucking to get loose, but it was two on one, and they had me pinned to the snow much too quickly.

One straddled me while the other pinned my hands above me. Too much naked muscled flesh, leery faces, blazing eyes. They were in a frenzy of lust. Incoherent with it.

Oh, fuck, they could smell my heat.

I bucked and twisted my hips as the one on top tried to undo the button on my jeans.

“Get off me. Get the fuck off!” Panic flared in my chest as the button popped open. “No!” Tears blurred my vision, and rage clogged my throat so that my next words were a strangled gasp. “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you.”

A growl of rage ripped the air, and the Loup straddling me was torn off. Hot blood splattered my face, and the Loup holding my hands released me with a cry of alarm.

For a moment, I was paralyzed with relief, but only a moment. I rolled to my feet to face Hunter in wolf form as he padded toward me. He was huge, his coat so dark it ate up the moonlight. In wolf form, his eyes were golden, and right now, they burned with fury. He locked gazes with me, and the admonishment slammed into me, taking me back a step. The impulse to lower my gaze in submission was almost too much, but I held my ground, neck stiff, maintaining eye contact, and then Hunter bared his bloody teeth and turned his attention to the other Loup.

The rogue bastard had shifted back to wolf form, lips pulled back from fangs in a lethal snarl, and it hit me that this rogue wolf was bigger than Hunter. Powerful haunches prepared to launch him into the air, and terror tore through my chest—terror that Hunter would be hurt—and my Loup surged up, wanting out, wanting to fight to protect my mate.

The wolves attacked at the same time, connecting in a flurry of fur, claw, and teeth. Blood splattered the ground in crimson patterns that stood out starkly against the snow.

I fought the urge to jump into the fray, willing my body back up. I’d be in the way. I’d be a distraction, a weakness for Hunter. I had to let him do this.

And he was winning.

Smaller but faster, Hunter was more skilled than the rogue. He slashed, twisted, and snapped until he had the bigger wolf pinned to the ground, jaws around his throat.

The rogue fell still, conceding defeat.

Golden eyes speared me, alight with triumph, and an answering bloom of euphoria unfurled in my chest. He’d done it. He’d saved me.

And even though a part of me was whispering that it was because of him I was in this fucking mess in the first place, the bigger part, the Loup in me, was starstruck with gratitude.

The Loup beneath Hunter whimpered. This was the part Hunter let go, and the other Loup ran off, tail between his legs.

But instead of releasing him, Hunter ripped out his throat. Blood soaked into the snow. The rogue’s body jerked a few times and then lay still.

I stared at the dead Loup and then back up at Hunter, torn between berating him and thanking him. This fucker had held me down so his companion could violate me. He’d have violated me too, given the chance. The Loup in me saw that this punishment was fitting, but the human, the one bound in societal norms of trials and judgment by jury, was horrified by this primitive justice.

Hunter pulled himself to his full four-foot Loup height and padded toward me, slowly, as if afraid I’d take off. But where would I take off to now? There was nowhere to run. A sob caught in my throat, and then movement dragged my attention to the left. My scream shattered the night as a brown blur slammed into Hunter. The two Loups rolled, snapping and snarling, and then two more wolves appeared, both as large as the one Hunter had killed.

They surged toward Hunter and their companion, ready to join in the attack, three on one.

“No!” I rushed forward on instinct, landing on the nearest Loup’s back. He swung his body sharply, dislodging me. I sailed through the air, hit a tree, and crumpled to the ground, winded, but only for a second. I was up in a heartbeat, rushing back into the fray.

Fuck these bastards. Hunter was mine to punish, not theirs.

Hunter twisted, throwing a Loup off long enough to look my way and growl urgently.

The message in his eyes was clear.

Run.

This was my chance to get away. I could leave Hunter to the mercy of these rogues, so incensed by the death of their comrades, they barely looked my way. I could run, and no one would blame me…No one except me.

Hunter deserved to pay for what he’d done to me, but I’d be the one meting out the punishment, not these fuckers. Even as I convinced myself this was the reason for the angry buzz in my veins, another voice deep inside urged me to protect him.

Hunter growled again, rage an inferno in his golden eyes, rage aimed at me for not running. The moment cost him, and he caught a claw to the head. The spot in my solar plexus burst into a thrum like an engine about to catch fire. One of the Loup opened a path across Hunter’s flank, and Hunter’s howl of pain was the ignition I needed.

A red haze stole my vision, and the Loup surged up, twisting and morphing my limbs. Muscles elongated, and claws burst from my fingertips.

I was in half shift.

The realization was a poignant human thought, and then my roar shook the trees, and bloodlust took over. Blood in my mouth, flesh splitting beneath my fingers, the crunch of bone, and the crack of ribs. Copper on the air, pungent and delicious. On and on.

Attack, attack, attack in a frenzy until there was nothing but blood, fur, and bone.

I surfaced to find myself facing Hunter, chest heaving in victory.

He was safe.

He was alive.

The adrenaline that had flooded me a moment ago abandoned me in a rush, and my legs buckled. I hit the ground with my knees, vaguely aware of the snow seeping in through the rips in my jeans. My body pulsed as it dropped out of half shift, aching as muscles regained their human form. Darkness edged into my vision.

I was about to pass out. No. Not here. I couldn’t. I swayed, fighting to stay conscious, and then Hunter’s warm body was up against me, silken fur caressing my cheek as he held me up. He nudged me with his nose, and I grabbed hold of him, sliding my arm around his neck and hauling myself up onto his back with the last of my strength.

He was solid and safe beneath me, and the darkness retreated a little as his body heat brought mine back to life. I fisted his fur in my hands and gripped with my thighs and then we were moving, and I abandoned myself to the motion and the fact that there was no escape.

Not tonight.

Chapter Six

Cora

I materialize outside a derelict building on the edge of Necro, and a wave of dizziness hits me. An arm wraps around my waist, and I’m pulled back against a familiar taut body.

Jasper.

His lips caress the delicate shell of my ear, breath enticing and warm. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I shrug out of his grasp. “Looking for Fee.”

“How many jumps have you made in the last hour?” he asks, keeping pace with me as I stride toward the dead-looking, crumbling structure.

“I’ve lost count.”

“Cora,” he snaps, and grabs hold of my arm to haul me back. “You’re hurting yourself.”

Once again, I pull free of him. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, Jasper. You may be bound to me, but you don’t get to control my actions.”

I set off toward the building again, jogging across the empty road and past the husk of a car propped on bricks.

“She’s not inside,” he calls out.

I stop and stand, hands on hips. “I need to find her.” I hate the quiver in my voice. The weakness. “Hunter has her.”

“Her fated mate?”

“She doesn’t want him.”

“She might not want him, but maybe she needs him.”

“Urgh, enough with the cryptic bullshit, Jasper. If you’re here to help, then great; if not, then fuck off and let me get on with my search.”

He watches me with piercing eyes that make me feel like I’m naked. I fucking hate the way he looks at me as if he can see into my soul. I hate the way he can bring my body to life with his hands and his mouth and his cock. I fucking hate that I’m standing here waiting for him to give me a decision.

“She’s not in Necro,” he says. “I can’t sense her.”

“Of course you can’t. Vi put a muter on her. It blocks her reaper power and my connection to her. Why do you think I’m jumping all over the fucking city?”

He walks casually across the street until he’s standing so close I can smell his minty-fresh breath, and then his hand whips out to grab my throat, not too hard, just tight enough to let me know he means business.

“Extra nights between your thighs,” he says. “Extra hours with my cock deep inside you.”

His words make my head swim with carnal memories, and I fucking hate it. I grit my teeth. “If I agree, you’ll help?”

“Yes. If you agree to the price, I will find your Fee.”

I close my eyes to maintain my equilibrium. “I’ll pay.” My eyes snap open as something sharp scrapes my neck. My blood is on his nail and dribbling over his finger. “What did you do that for?”

“Your blood is her blood, and I can use it to find her.” He tips his head to the side. “I’m surprised your witch friend didn’t come up with this solution, she knows you’re Fee’s tulpa…”