I saw red, heard the rush of blood in my ears, and was vaguely aware of Adryan speaking on his cell.
“We clearly have a traitor in our ranks.”
It was then that the small, nagging whisper in the back of my mind at the other house reared its head and shouted in my brain over and over again.
The house not only had a human alarm, but it had been mystically protected. It should have kept the location hidden from being tracked and found.
I snapped my head in Adryan’s direction. “Ye said it was safe,” I growled, no longer human except for a sliver that still kept me in this body. “Ye said there were wards in place.” I hadn't been able to do anything but trust him. But she’d been found, taken. Because of him.
He slowly looked over at me, no doubt feeling the pure fury spilling from me. He disconnected the call, and his eyes flashed red.
“Wolf,” he said slowly, “I want you to think good and hard about what you’re about to do, about where your mind is taking you with those clear conclusions.”
My body got even bigger, the shift almost upon me. I was barely hanging on as it was, but hearing that, hearing Adryan talking about a traitor, the fact that whatever ward he’d said was in place was either not the truth or someone on his side—maybe even him—had given the information to our enemies, had the rest of any fucks I had leaving violently.
“Even if ye aren’t the one who told them where my female was, it’s ultimately yer fault.” I bared my canines. “Ye have a rat in your ranks, and ye’re just as much tae blame.” I let my upper body lean forward slightly in a purely aggressive move.
“I’ll find who the traitor is, Cian, but you need to think before you fuck things up and cross the line with me that can’t be uncrossed.” He shoved his cell phone into his pocket and took a step toward me.
I held my ground, my head lowered slightly, my eyes locked on him.
I was vaguely aware of several vampires stepping into the living room, no doubt sensing the pulsing aggression filling the room. But Adryan just slowly shook his head as he stared at me, keeping them in place. “I don’t need my fucking soldiers as backup,” he said deeply, his voice low and vibrating with menace.
“I’m not the traitor. But I’m more than happy to go a couple rounds with you if it’ll make you feel better.” He started cracking his knuckles and rolling his head around his neck. “I know it’ll probably make me feel fucking better.” He winked at me, and I felt my pulse race faster. He was itching for a fight. “But if we do this, if you want to place blame before we get the proof and get the fuckers who actually took your girl, you do it knowing we will not be in a good place afterward. You’ll have drawn a line, Cian.”
I was breathing hard, my nostrils flaring. I was trying to take in more oxygen, trying to calm myself, hang onto my human side that could actually think rationally. I closed my eyes again, counting the beats of my pulse, trying to steady myself.
But it was no use. I couldn’t control it. I had to get to Evie. I let the shift take me over, my skin tearing, bones breaking and realigning, body growing massive as I landed on all fours and shook out my heavy coat. I eyed Adryan, the dangerous glint in his eyes telling me he was still prepared to fight, even when I was in my wolf form.
I growled low and turned, slamming my body into vampire fuckers who were in my way, and ran out of the house. I felt the thrum of the mating mark ripple through the air, still scented the lingering sweetness of my female’s essence in the breeze.
I took off in the direction where I sensed my mating mark on my female. I was vaguely aware of Adryan shouting something at me, but I could only focus on one thing, and that was getting to my Evie.
24
Evelyn
The pain woke me, something hard digging into my back, my head aching, this splitting sensation encompassing my entire skull. I groaned softly before I could stop myself and shifted on whatever I was lying on. The sound I made caused vibrations in my head, and the pain became worse. Even though my eyes were already closed, I squeezed them tighter.
I lay there and breathed in and out, pushing through the nausea, trying to sort through my thoughts even though my skull was throbbing and in agony.
Memories of the fight back at the house flooded my mind. Odhran being beaten and bloody before collapsing on the ground, unconscious or worse. Somebody tackling me to the floor before I passed out. They moved through my memory like a broken record, bits and pieces of images and sounds filtering in before they all grouped together and became one.