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Make the charge, Kye said, I’ I puthi over him as I raced for the door Kye appeared beside h heaven We neared the ra after us

Up the top of the ramp, the shadows moved, and the scent of humanity-of a woman-washed over me Jessica, not Hanna Then I felt the burn of silver and heard the soft click of a safety being disengaged

I slid to a stop Kye did the sa intoa wall of flesh through which there’d be no easy escape Not that there was anywhere to go behind theet past Jessica and whatever forht with her

She rolled out of the shadows, the gun held unwaveringly in her hands There was a zo a second weapon

"I underesti that edge I’d noticed earlier

"I get that a lot," I said, even as I added telepathically to Kye, the weapons are loaded with silver "Tell ers? It iven Hanna has already paid theuarantees silence one hundred percent If any of theot the ao to such lengths to protect a woman who’s not exactly chummy with sanity?"

"Sane or not, she cared for me when no one else would, and for that I owe her loyalty" She gave me a twisted half-set to clean up her er I threwme lose my balance He stumbled then went down, hard There was blood on his face, blood in his hair, blood on the ra inside me went numb

For too many seconds, I couldn’t react, couldn’t think I just stared at his unht ed for the weapon that had fallen frorabbed it and fired, all in one swift o lian to leak blood and brainthe wrist of the zo it clean fro a deep, shaking breath But the danger wasn’t over yet, I realized as fingers began to dig intoed forward at the rest, hitting the

Then I turned and ran back to Kye, dropping tofor his pulse It was there, fast but strong, and so my insides relaxed a little But only a little The bullet had hit at an angle, s a trench across the side of his head, and both wounds were bleeding profusely If he didn’t wake up, didn’t change shape and stop the bleeding soon, he would die

I pinched his earlobe as hard as I could, then said, "Kye, get up"

A zo, knocking him off his, then pinched Kye’s ear harder "Damn it, wolf, wake up You have to shift shape"

He didn’t respond, and the fear that had been partially ain I didn’t care for thisdeep within simply didn’t want to see hi onto-or rather, lusting after-totally unsuitablezorabbed Kye’s ariven her creatures final orders before I’d killed her, and I couldn’t concentrate on waking Kye with the zoles I needed to at least restrict their options So I hauled hian to walk backward up the ramp

And suddenly I realized that there was someone else in the room Someone as alive and who breathed, and whose scent was all too farip on Kye and twisted around, the gun in one hand and ht, I sih

The bullet hit with the force of a ha me sideways, away fro, and I knew then that the bullet was silver

Then that thought died and there was nothing

Absolutely nothing

Chapter Eleven

Waking was a slow and painful process My head throbbed so badly it madeache in ht shoulder An ache that pulsed down my arm as it went numb

Fear hit led to breathe

I knew that burning Knew it all too well

I’d been shot with silver and the bullet was still lodged into knohere I was and what had happened while I was out of it A white ceiling loo they’ddidn’t actually look like one of the club ceilings, either The cornices were too ornate, the ceiling itself too high

Plus, the air here s and roses rather than the club’s seedier aroma of alcohol and lust

Which didn’t ic here There was, but it wasn’t as strong It was more a wisp of darkness that occasionally stained the fresher scents rather than so that overwhel to ease the ache incold and hard I shifted ers and touched the surface

Metal And unlike the table in the cavern, this one didn’t sh that aroma was in the air, if only faintly I drew in a deeper breath, sifting through the s around the tang of old blood This table and this room had been washed down an to return, I also realized that the burning nuree-by similar sensations at both ankles and my left wrist

I turned my head, saw the silver shackles and chains attached to my arm, and swore softly

Behind lad you’re awake, little olf," Hanna said, her voice friendly, almost conspiratorial "I did so want you to see your death co line of theet the chance, because we don’t give you a second go"

"Well, this tiuardian And your blood will provide excellent fuel for ic and potions"

Like hell it would I twisted around, trying to see her Thefarther into h the rest of my body as my shot shoulder protested the action Sweat broke out across h clenched teeth It took several seconds for the tears to clear enough to see her