Page 29 of Hollow Moon

She could tell there was no point in pleading. Instead she thought of everything Knox had told her about the drug. It had seriously disoriented him, and the effects kept reappearing. Now she was going to get an injectable dose—which had to be stronger than breathing it.

All the disturbing information she knew from her studies of recreational drugs leaped into her mind. Reactions varied. If you were susceptible to something, you could get addicted the first time you tried it.

She winced, hoping that hadn’t happened to Knox.

“Get ready for a great high.”

Campbell walked to the door, opened it and called out, “Lane bring me one of those injectable doses we were working on.”

The moment his back was turned, Maggie sprang off the bed and leaped toward one of the windows. It was closed, but she grabbed a handful of the curtain and bashed her palm against the pane. It was old, and her fist crashed through.

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On his way to the car, Knox heard the sound of glass breaking. Stopping in his tracks, he reversed directions and went running back toward the house.

Cole tried to grab his arm, but he savagely shook his cousin off and kept plowing ahead. Focusing on the room where he thought Maggie was being held, he was in time to see that something had crashed through the window glass. Not a solid object like a paper weight. A fabric, covering—something. Then he figured it out. She must have shielded her hand to break the glass.

For just a moment, he saw her face at the window as she looked wildly toward freedom. He prayed that she had spotted him, but he couldn’t be sure. In the next second he saw her brother behind her, pulling her back. Then they were both gone and Knox was left feeling like the breath had been knocked out of him.

He might have rushed forward, but Cole and Zack had caught up with him.

They both held him fast. One of them slapped a hand over his mouth as they hauled him away from the house and back into the woods. He tried to bite the hand, but the werewolf’s grip was too firm.

Although they were out of sight of the windows, the two Decorah agents who had pulled him to safety kept their hold on him.

“Rushing in there won’t do you any good if you get captured again. This time they’ll probably kill you and ask questions later,” Cole said.

Knox growled deep in his throat.

“Nod if you’re not going to shout—or try to get away.”

He thought about it for a moment. They were right. Getting himself killed wasn’t going to help Maggie. Gritting his teeth, he nodded.

Cole took his hand off Knox’s mouth, and he looked up to see Jonah and Brand had joined them. He turned to the telepath, knowing he looked like a condemned man pleading for his life.

“Do you know what’s happening in there?”

It seemed like the world turned upside down before Jonah answered, “Yes. I finally locked onto the scene—I think because her emotions were broadcasting like a power plant about to explode. She tried to escape because he was going to give her the drug—and she was afraid she was going to talk about you.”

“Shit.”

He heard Jonah swallow.

“What?”

“He’s giving her a shot—not making her breathe the stuff. She’s a nurse. She’s afraid of the potency.”

“Christ.”

“We’ll get her out of there,” Brand said.

“How?”

“A diversion. Getting it ready won’t take long.”

“Great. If her brain’s not fried,” Knox spat out.

“There’s nothing we can do about the drug now. He’s administered it.”

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