We’d already pushed it to the limit on our hunt for Cady last night. I couldn’t afford to push it and end up stranded while Tara made it to Port Tortuga—out of my reach.
I’d spent my life hating this place. One real road in, one real road out. Trapped.
Now it was the only way to find her.
I made it to the bridge without stopping. By then my heart was in my throat, an unfamiliar sensation that made it hard to breathe.
Something is wrong.
I jerked the truck off the road, tires lifting off the concrete, nearly sending me into the bay.
I was less alarmed by Tara’s car sitting halfway in the water than I was by the black SUV parked on the shoulder just a hundred feet away.
The beast roared for control.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t fight it. I gave in to the fury, letting him lead.
I barreled past the SUV, toward a series of abandoned buildings.
The beast was careful, holding himself at bay beneath my skin until we were safely obscured by the shadow of a building. That was when he unleashed himself, clothing splitting at the seams as I grew.
Everything was clearer like this. Blood and fear created a lip-curling scent in the air. There were human smells, all of them faint—except Tara.
My ears swiveled, taking in every rush of wind. Every metallic splash as water lapped at Tara’s car. Feet scuffing on concrete. Heartbeats crashing like thunder.
I stalked toward that final noise, the tension inside me loosening.
A teenage boy stood tense and pale between two buildings, watching as a seven foot monster descended on Tara.
He barely made it two more steps before my claws were embedded in his back. The other werewolf twisted away, yellow eyes wild with hatred.
Claws glanced off my face. A second set swiped at me from behind. The kid joining the fray.
I couldn’t say it was an easy fight. The instinct was there. The muscle memory from years of fighting with my brothers coming back to me.
But I’d let myself get too comfortable.
Clumps of fur flew through the air. An arc of blood sprayed across concrete. The beast reveled in the taste of it on his tongue.
I would give them pain without end.
Until there was an end. A whimper. Blood pooling. Two sets of eyes glazed with exhaustion.
And there, beneath their fatigue, was what I wanted to see.
Fear.
They feared me. They remembered their place inmyworld.
I stood in a ring of gore, chest heaving, as my enemies retreated.
I waited until they were out of sight before turning my back to them. Toward her.
There was another set of eyes clouded with fear. They fell on me with terror like blades, cutting at my already broken skin and making me wince.
Tara was curled in on herself, huddled in a narrow alcove between two buildings. Her legs moved with violent tremors, her knees crashing together as she lifted them to shield her body.
Something broke inside me.