The inhuman growled words made me jump and whirl around to see Lucien, now in his human form and naked, holding down Mack entirely with a single hand pressed against his neck. The sight of him pinning the big Beta down so strongly with little to no effort made me gasp, especially since Mack was trying to thrash against his hold and failed.
And Lucien’s face ... It was the same as earlier, in the hospital. The same kind of face I saw on Mack. The sinister, twisted one that spelled trouble. That seemed like the wolf part was in charge under his sun-kissed human skin.
Mack tried to growl, but Lucien put pressure on his vocal cords, so the growl turned into merely a hiss. “Fuck you, French mutt,” he managed to spit, though, in a strangled whisper.
Lucien raised his free hand, and the sight of his extended claws made me subconsciously take a step back, because those were lethal. I could see the tips glint with how sharp they were. “Last chance, Mack.”
Mack’s only response was to spit in Lucien’s face.
And Lucien responded by disemboweling him with one savage, bloody sweep of his claws.
Mack screamed, and I felt myself almost screaming, too, because I watched as Mack’s guts literally spilled out in a mass of tissue and distorted organs. I felt sick to my stomach, as if Lucien had just impaledmygut, and my head grew light, as if I were really going to pass out this time.
But like watching a horror movie, I couldn’t look away from the gory sight. Not even when Lucien climbed off Mack, grabbed the hem of his former Beta’s shirt, and wiped his bloodied claws—now a mere human hand—clean.
And despite my stunned state, I couldn’t help but conclude there was no fucking way Mack was actually the one who had physically attacked Lucien. The power imbalance seemed far too great for that to even be an option.
Lucien then turned to me, and his face was no longer twisted with the wolf but no less intimidating with his anger. “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked, stepping toward me slowly.
Against my will, my legs forced me to step away from him.
He stopped, and something flashed in his eyes. He seemed ... hurt. Grimly, he shook his head and strode past me, toward Alby and Dianna.
I didn’t follow him, though, since my eyes were now latched on to Mack’s face, which was staring blankly into the sky, slack with eternal serenity.
Chapter 13
One Room, Two Beds
Apparently, regular bullets weren’t fatal to werewolves, so while they were in pain, Alby and Dianna wouldn’t die from blood loss.
“Werewolves’ blood clots faster,” Lucien explained while the paramedics carried the wounded werewolves inside the hospital, ignoring the gory scene as if it was nothing to write home about. “The real scare here is from contamination, which is why they still need to be treated.”
I looked on as Alby and Dianna succumbed to their fates quietly, faces pale not just from pain but also from sheer terror. They couldn’t even look directly at Lucien, they were so terrified. That helped the paramedics usher them inside quickly, leaving Lucien and me alone in the parking lot only mere minutes later.
Before I could ask him anything, Enoch exited the hospital and headed toward us, glancing briefly at Mack’s lifeless body, his white coat billowing behind him dramatically. “You have no idea how many favors I had to call in to sweep this whole thing under the rug,” he said, glaring at Lucien. “It’s also time you rest.”
Lucien grinned humorlessly. “There is no time to rest, Enoch,” he said quietly. “If what we think is right, time is of the essence.”
Enoch folded his arms. “You need to rest,” he repeated with a soft growl, eyes flashing.
The two glared at one another, and I glanced between the two of them, concerned and also burning with a need for answers, before, to my surprise, Lucien sighed and pushed his hair back. “Fine,” he growled lowly. “We’ll get to the hotel.”
The hospital director’s face lit up with triumphant satisfaction. “Good. Call me tomorrow morning.”
Lucien gave him a single nod, and without goodbyes, grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the Rolls-Royce.
His touch made me stiffen. I was still trying to reconcile the monster who killed Mack without so much as breaking a sweat and the man who’d been nothing but kind to me. The disparity was so wide, I was left in utter confusion, and even fear.
Lucien must have noticed that because he immediately released me as if my skin was on fire once we arrived at the car. Wordlessly, he pulled open the passenger seat door for me.
This gentlemanly gesture only added to my overwhelming emotions, and my throat closed up as tears threatened to well in my eyes. “Thanks,” I barely whispered as I slid into the car.
I expected him to close the door, but to my shock, he kept it open, grabbing the top of the car as he leaned toward me, blue eyes stormy. Yet his voice, when he spoke, was overwhelmingly gentle. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly, his gaze ensnaring my own in an unbreakable hold. “I willneverhurt you. If you can’t believe anything else, at least believe that you have no need to fear me on that level.”
My body began shaking, not just because of his words and the real hurt I could feel emanating from him at my sudden mistrust and distance, but also because the events of the last twenty-four hours—hell, the last few days since I found him, even—were finally catching up to me, as though my mind was only now processing it all.
It was far too much for me to bear.
