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  Sighing, because if she’d been able to suck it up for a few weeks, she probably would have made enough money to catch a bus somewhere north along with a new identity.

  Oh, well, she thought with a sigh as she allowed her fingernails to turn into razor sharp claws. It looked like she was going to have to come up with a Plan B, because-

  “Get your fucking hand off her ass,” Drew said charmingly as he stepped up next to her, appearing as though he really didn’t care what was happening in his club, but his eyes...his eyes told a different, more terrifying story.

  “We’re just having a little-Ow!” the little bastard that had decided that her ass made a great hand warmer ended on a bloodcurdling scream that was easily covered up by the loud music echoing through the busy club.

  When his hand was suddenly removed from her ass, Kara was forced to grab onto the edge of the table as her head spun from the scent of all that blood, the screaming and the fact that all the men sitting at the table were now giving off the delicious aroma of fear, not that she ate humans, because that was just disgusting, but it was still an intoxicating scent to ignore for an Alpha, who had the ability to shift at will and indulge in her other side whenever she liked.

  Right now though, what she really would have liked was a chair, a brown paper bag and for her world to stop spinning. That would have been very nice indeed, she thought as her blurry thoughts registered a slight sting to her arm, probably too late she thought sluggishly as her legs gave out on her. Thankfully the shifter standing behind her broke her fall just as she registered a second sting on the back of her neck.

  Once she realized that she was about to die, her last thought was regretting not kicking Drew in the balls when she’d had the chance.

  *-*-*-*

  “My hand!” the human might have screamed, but all of Drew’s attention was on the small curvy woman who was hastily being lowered to the floor by a shifter that he’d never seen before

  He felt numb as he stood there, staring down at her as throngs of dancers moved around her, barely avoiding stepping on her as he watched the telltale emerald green start to highlight her veins, letting him know that she would be dead by morning. He should walk away and leave her to her fate, but he couldn’t move. He just stood there as the fucking human who’d laid his hand on her ass and his friends practically fell over themselves as they decided to make a run for it while he was distracted.

  Not that it mattered since Mick would smell them coming a mile away and finish the job for him. Not only had the piece of shit marked his hand with Kara’s scent, but Drew had made damn sure that Mick wouldn’t miss his punishing mark on the human. He would take care of it, make sure the boys kept their mouths shut and never came near his club again and he…

  He would have his life back by morning. He absently looked up for the shifter that had lowered her to the ground, but he was long gone so Drew returned his attention to Kara as the silver spread throughout her body, telling himself that all of his problems would be gone by morning.

  It should make him happy, it did make him happy, he told himself, but it also pissed him off, because someone had come into his club with the sole purpose of harming his mate and he’d allowed it. He’d avenge her death, pain in the ass or not, because she was his and no one had the right to harm a hair on her head without fear.

  With that in mind, he took a step towards her, took a knee by her side and scooped her up in his arms as the silver continued to color her veins, marking its passage to her heart with the intense emerald green that he would have thought was beautiful in any other circumstance. Right now, it just felt like another chapter in his life was ending and he needed to see it through.

  “Close the club down,” he said as he carried her limp body past the bar, knowing that his staff would have the club shutdown and emptied in less than ten minutes.

  He didn’t say anything as he carried her back towards his private elevator and anyone that saw her green veins knew better than to ask any questions. Shifter, Demon or vampire, they all knew what it meant. He knew that he would be investigated by their Council for her death, but he also knew that he would be released without punishment since he would still be alive and shifters that killed their mates died right along with them. It was a protection given to mated couples to ensure that they wouldn’t turn on each other.

  Using his thumbprint, he hit the call button for the elevator and waited patiently for the elevator to finally arrive. There was no rush, no reason to lose his mind with worry or to even panic, because she was already dead and he was free. Within a matter of hours he’d forever be free of the little bitch and crawling between the legs of whatever female caught his eye.

  Everything would go back to the way that it was supposed to be, he realized numbly as he stepped inside the elevator, hit the button for his penthouse apartment and simply waited as the elevator carried them upstairs. He considered calling for Mick and giving the large shifter a chance to say goodbye, but then just as quickly dismissed the idea since it was unnecessary.

  Kara would never know that her cousin had come to pay his last respects and Mick would never forgive Drew from putting a halt to his revenge. As Kara’s only living male relative, it was his right to hunt down the shifter who’d done this and rip him apart. By their laws, it should actually be Drew’s right, but he didn’t take it out of respect for Mick.

  So, knowing that there was nothing else that he could do, but wait, he walked out of the elevator, headed towards his room and kept walking until he came to the guest room at the end of the hallway. After a slight pause, he opened the door, walked inside and laid her down on the queen size bed.

  For a moment he simply stared down at her, wondering what it would have been like to have children with her, what they would have looked like, if they would have had her mischievous smile or his boyish charm. After a minute he realized that there was no point to any of it.

  She was finally gone and that’s all that mattered, he realized as he turned around and walked away, shutting the door behind him with an deafening click, marking the end of this chapter in his life.

  Now it was time to move on…

  Chapter 7

  Oh, God…please let it stop!

  Everything hurt so goddamn much and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. She just wanted to go back to the void where the pain was somewhat bearable, but she knew that it would be over soon.

  This was…

  This was…

  A scream tore through her lips as she felt more of her flesh being ripped open. She tried to push away, to curl up so that she could go back to that black void that promised an end to her suffering, but no matter how hard she tried to move, she couldn’t.

  No sound beyond a pathetic whimper passed her lips. Her arms and legs betrayed her, refusing to move as she lay there screaming inside her head, begging for it to stop, but it didn’t stop.

  Not even close.

  The pain, oh God, the pain was too much to bear. She tried to shake her head, tried to beg for mercy, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t do anything, but lay there as more of her skin was ripped open, sending searing pain through her neck and down her back until she swore that her back was about to snap in two from the pressure.

  She tried to beg, tried to let go, but something or someone wouldn’t let her. No matter how badly she wanted it to end, it wouldn’t. She would give anything, absolutely anything to make this stop.

  A scream echoed throughout her head as she felt her skin torn open on her side. She tried to fight off whatever was attacking her, but she was still stuck somewhere between that void and this pain filled existence that she wanted to escape from. Unable to do anything, but suffer, she continued to lay there as the process continued, she’d feel razor sharp fangs tear into her in one spot before moving on and tearing open a whole new section of her body as she laid there, helpless to do anything to stop it from happening.

  The only coherent thought that
ran through her head was damning Drew to hell and back for doing this to her. He hadn’t let her die in peace, but had literally thrown her to the wolves. She wondered if he’d simply thrown her body in the back alley and she was being devoured among the trash back there while hookers did whatever they could to earn enough money to get through the day. Or maybe for shits and giggles he’d tossed her body over to one of the Packs that he was trying to enlist as an alley.

  Nothing would please them more than having a little fun with Drew’s unwanted mate. It would certainly clear things up nicely for him, she told herself as she became aware of the warm, wet heat pouring down on her and the cool, unforgiving tile beneath her body. One minute there was intense pain like she’d never felt before and then…

  There was absolutely nothing but her, the cold tiled floor beneath her and the hot water pouring down on her trembling body. Slowly she began to feel her arms and legs and after a few minutes she was even able to pull those trembling extremities closer against her weak body.

  The sounds of the shower running slowly came into focus next as did the sounds of someone getting sick. Already regretting the action, she forced her eyes open and nearly cried as she saw all that crimson red being washed down the drain, off her body. For a minute all she could do was stare as the water continued to wash her blood down the drain.

  “Fuck,” she heard the familiar groan that forced her to look up in time to see Drew, naked and covered in blood from his mouth to his stomach, standing over the toilet with an equally bloody hand over his stomach as he bent over and vomited a mixture of blood and what appeared to be silver.

  Unable to do anything else, she simply watched him, deciding that it was better than watching all of her own blood go down the drain. When he was able to catch his breath, he flushed the toilet and simply said, “Shift.”

  Hoping that he was talking to someone else, she simply laid there, staring at him as he stumbled towards hers. “Shift!” he growled as his fangs shot down.

  Shift?

  She could barely move. She shook her head, because as much as she would love to shift and heal her wounds, she couldn’t. She was too weak, too tired to do it and in that moment, she wished that she was able to use her power without shifting so that she could simply heal her wounds without going through the agony of trying to shift this close to death.

  “Shift!” he snarled through a muzzle that was more wolf-like than human as he continued to come towards her, his body expanding, thick, hard muscle covering his expanding limbs as he continued to grow, becoming more animal than man by the second until she had a nine foot werewolf joining her in the shower.

  When he growled, she knew exactly what he expected of her. “No,” she said, weakly, shaking her head. “I can’t shift.”

  Another growl, this one more vicious than the last, but it didn’t frighten her. Nothing did right now, not with everything going numb and the pain finally disappearing. She didn’t try to fight it, didn’t try to hold on, she simply closed her eyes, felt her body let go and-

  Screamed as she felt the large jaw with razor sharp teeth wrap around her neck. Another growl, this one more demanding, but she couldn’t do anything, especially not like this, so she tried to shake her head only to stop immediately when she felt those razor sharp teeth tear her skin apart.

  It was an act to teach her, her place, to put her in submission, but most of all, it was meant to piss her off and it did a great job of that.

  *-*-*-*

  Well, this was a wonderful turn of events, he thought dryly as he lay on the cool tile, panting and wishing that he could reach up and turn the temperature of the water higher to warm his freezing human body, but thanks to the late night snack of silver that he’d decided to have and the fact that he’d used his last bit of energy to shift so that he could force her to do the same, he could barely move.

  What he could do was watch the seriously pissed off seven foot werewolf stalk the normally large shower while she growled and snarled at him as the water continued to soak her beautiful black fur. He should glare back at her, make one last effort to shift in a last ditch attempt to save himself, but he was too fucking tired and cold to anything more than close his eyes and pray that she didn’t rip his balls off while he was passed out.

  *-*-*-*

  “Hey, Drew,” Ryan said, walking into the large bathroom as he glanced over the very promising list in his hands, “I think our staff problem is a thing of the…oh, shit,” he ended on a groan when he spotted the large and seriously pissed off werewolf take a threatening step towards him even as it kept its large body protectively over Drew’s pale, unconscious one.

  “Good evening, Kara,” he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably, because he’d seriously thought that she’d be dead by now, not shifting her body so that she could launch herself at him and tear out his throat if he said the wrong fucking thing. “How are you feeling today?” he asked in his most jovial tone, really hoping that she didn’t follow through with that murderous gleam in her eye, because he really didn’t feel like getting torn apart by his Alpha’s unwanted mate this early in the morning.

  Correction, he didn’t feel like getting torn apart by his Alpha’s marked mate this early in the morning, he amended as he took in the scent of his best friend’s mark on the furious werewolf