Lori Handeland - Marked by the Moon

Boosted by his anger, Julian covered miles in an instant. He would have barreled right into Cade’s back if he hadn’t seen the flash of silver, caught the scent of flames and blood, then heard his brother’s words.

The wolf’s body sensed danger. Silver meant fire, and fire would kill. The human mind understood that Cade had a knife, and he was using it on Alex.

But he hadn’t killed her yet. Right now he was just playing with her, as a cat might play with a mouse right before he ate it.

And just like a cat, if something bigger threatened to take away that mouse—

Gulp.

So Julian fed his anger with the scent of blood and fear—Who dared mark her but him? Who dared scare her at all?—and he threw up his invisibility cloak just as Cade turned around.

His brother’s eyes narrowed. But there was nothing to see.

Cade spun back to Alex. “I’ve got all night. I can make this last. You’ll beg to die. You’ll wish you had.”

“Eat me,” Alex muttered.

“Oh, I plan to.”

Cade drew a test tube out of the pocket of his loose sweatpants. “First things first, just in case I get carried away.” He slid his fingers into the belt of the robe, then slid the flat of the knife along the smooth, flat expanse of her stomach. “Hmm,” he said.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Cade laughed. “I’ll think about what I want and do what I want. My days of listening to anyone are over.”

Alex lifted her eyes and seemed to look right at Julian. But she couldn’t know he was there. Except—

He sniffed. When he’d arrived he’d smelled her fear. He’d seen it in the stiff set of her body and the wariness in her eyes. Now…

He smelled blood but no fear. Flames but no panic. She seemed as relaxed as a woman-wolf could be while hanging from a monster truck with a psychotic werewolf running a silver blade over her abs.

“Whoops.” Cade’s wrist twitched, and a thin line of red appeared at Alex’s waist. She didn’t even flinch. Not when he cut her and not when the flames danced along the wound like a thousand tiny tongues.

Cade waited for the flicker of fire to die, then bent and licked the blood. As he straightened he stepped in and captured her mouth with his.

“Urgh,” Alex said, twisting and turning as if she was in greater pain than when she’d been bleeding and burning.

Cade lifted the hand that wasn’t holding the knife and cupped her breast, viciously tweaking the nipple until she gasped.

Julian erupted from the invisibility bubble, hands and feet sprouting from paws, even as his snout crunched inward to become both nose and mouth. If anyone had been watching it would have seemed as if he just appeared from thin air, a wolf pouring out of the ether and landing upon the earth as a man.

Before Julian could grasp his brother by the neck and wring it, Cade had danced to the side and the tip of the silver knife hovered just above Alex’s jugular.

“That’s what I thought,” Cade murmured.

“You are so fucked now,” Alex said.

Julian’s eyes widened. She had that much confidence in him? He wasn’t sure anyone else ever had.

“Let her go, Cade.”

“I’m done listening to you. She deserves to die for what she did to Alana.”

“Alana was never happy as a wolf.”

“She would have been!” Cade shouted. “If she’d been with me.”

“You were a werewolf, too, Cade,” Julian said softly. “And in the end, she hated it.”

“She would have grown to love it.”

“That’s what I thought, what I hoped. But the longer she was one of us—” Julian paused, then admitted the truth. “She was never one of us.”

Alana had never embraced being a werewolf, and once she’d learned the truth that had been denied her—

“Alana wanted to die. If it hadn’t been Alex, it would have been someone else.”

“You lie!” Cade roared, and the knife nicked her skin.

Zzzt!

The tiny flame sounded like a bug zapper, but Alex’s body jerked as if she’d been jolted by a cattle prod. Silver near a major artery appeared to be a very bad idea.

“Alana’s gone,” Julian said. “We can’t bring her back. Hurting Alex won’t change that.”

“No,” Cade agreed. “But it’ll make me feel better. And you’ll feel better, too, once she’s dead. She won’t be your mate anymore. You’ll be free.”

Julian’s eyes met Alex’s. Surprisingly, he didn’t want to be free if it meant no more her.

“He doesn’t care about you,” she said. “He wants me dead so you’ll be too sick to fight when he challenges you.”

Cade’s lips twitched. “I guess that cat’s out of the bag.” He tapped the tip against Alex’s neck again, and again flames spurted as she jerked.

“Stop!” Julian shouted despite himself.

Cade ignored him. “Did you know that she’s a spy?”

“Right.” Julian’s gaze was on Alex’s face, concerned at the paleness of it. Which was the only reason he saw the shift in her eyes. He glanced at Cade, who smirked.

“Edward told her that the werewolf who killed her father was here.”

“Is that true?” Julian asked.

Alex straightened her shoulders, the movement giving the impression of lifting her chin, even though she couldn’t without risking another painful zap from the knife. “Yes.”

“I could have told you that there was no murderer in my village.”

“Except for him?” She switched her gaze from Julian to Cade.

“She’s got you there, bro.”

Julian ignored Cade, his eyes on Alex. “Why didn’t you tell me about Edward?”

“I think she made an agreement, Julian. I think she’s supposed to give him you.”

He had to give her credit: She held his gaze, she didn’t look away. “Is that true?” he repeated.

“No.” She swallowed, the movement of her throat bringing her skin treacherously close to the knife. He barely had time for relief at her words before she continued, “I’m supposed to give him the whole damn village.”

A chill passed over Julian that had nothing to do with his standing buck naked in the middle of the Arctic. “And in return?” he asked.

“I lose my tail.”

Julian blew out a derisive breath. “Edward’s not going to cure you. He’s going to keep you. You’re the perfect spy. Hell, I trusted you.”

Her mouth trembled. “I know.”

He wasn’t sure if she was commenting on Edward’s duplicity or Julian’s trust, then decided it didn’t matter.

“So,” Cade said, “okay if I kill her now?”

“No.”

Cade’s eyebrows lifted. “You want to?”

Julian rubbed his forehead. “No.”

“Well, I’m not going to fight you until she’s dead.”

“I’m not going to fight you at all.”

“That’ll make it easier.”

“You can’t let him win,” Alex said urgently. “He’ll treat the Inuit like animals, chase them through the wilderness and hunt them down like…”

“Prey,” Cade murmured. “Great idea. I just figured I’d have my very own human farm. I could pick and choose what I’d like for dinner. But the werewolf version of ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ would be a lot more fun.”

“You think my wolves will stand for that?” Julian asked. “No one likes to kill but you.”

“They’ll do what I say.” He spread the fingers of the hand that wasn’t holding the knife. “Once you’re dead.”

“Will they?” Julian murmured, and his wolves emerged like an army from the trees.

Julian had felt them coming. He’d known they were there. He always did. They were a part of each other, between them a connection that only death would break.

The werewolves stood in a semicircle, human eyes peering at Cade from two hundred lupine faces.