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PROLOGUE
Wolf
Two monthsago
The vampires draggedin another broken wolf.
He seemed as if he were dead, the scent of blood hanging in the air. His skull had been shattered. He was barely clinging to life, his heart a slow, thready beat that came not quite regularly, his every breath a desperate fight with the last of his brain stem as his shattered ribs pressed into his lungs.
They could save him, though. As long as his heart still beat or had barely faded. They had done it once for me.
He smelled familiar, though I didn’t remember any of the packs now. I didn’t remember anything about being a wolf.
“Let him die, Caroline,” I said. “You don’t need the trouble of another wolf.”
“You’re no trouble at all.” She rested her head against my shoulder, carrying with her the sickly sweet, coppery scent that lurked under her floral perfume. It still turned my stomach, after all this time. “You’re a delight, Wolf.”
“That’s another reason to let him die,” I said. “What are you going to call him? Wolf two?”
She let out a high, trilling laugh. “You’re our only wolf, I promise. Don’t be jealous.”
“I’m not. I don’t like him.”
“He hasn’t done anything. He can’t do anything.” She looped her arm through mine. All the vampires crawled over me, wishing for a hedonistic connection I couldn’t tolerate. But Caroline was the one who touched me as if we were truly friends. “And he might remember his name. His head wasn’t blown to smithereens.”
“His head is cracked open.” I could smell his brain matter: the scent of protein, like raw eggs, mixed with a metallic odor.
The temptation to step forward and put my boot on his head was so strong that only Caroline’s arm looped through mine prevented me from moving, faster than thought. To press down until the last of his skull shattered and his brain oozed across the expensive Italian marble and even the vampires couldn’t save him.
“He’ll be fine.”
“You don’t need another wolf,” I said again. “I’ll bring you the girl.”
“I know you will, Wolf. No one is trying to replace you. You are just such a delight.”
I sighed under my breath. “I don’t need flattery, Caroline. I’m not afraid of being unwanted here. That wolf is… vile.”
“You can tell that from the way he smells?” She sounded curious, instead of condescending, the way the other vamps might’ve sounded.
“Yes.” Let’s pretend I had supernatural powers. As long as we just let him ooze his way to death. He was so very close.
“You know we’re a little evil too,” she murmured into my ear.
There were low pitched shuffling noises behind us. The other vampires were coming.
I had already lost the argument. They would not be easily swayed.
“I can’t watch,” I said, and Caroline laughed softly, thinking I was joking.
I turned and moved away, letting her hand fall from my arm. The vampires parted way for me, with a few affectionate pats on the shoulder and whispered greetings.
I left them behind until the sunshine warmed my face.
But while my friends always welcomed danger into their house, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this time they had invited too much death.
CHAPTER1
Shaw
