Page 57 of Deadly Ties

Link just grunts, but he leads me out into the cocktail lounge. He doesn’t head back to the elevator, which I assume is on lockdown, but pushes behind the bar. I follow, trying not to look at the crumpled bodies around us, and then we’re in the staff area out back. A short corridor leads to the kitchens and some utility rooms, but we keep going towards a pair of steel doors. The service elevator. I look around for the others, but Rory’s voice comes out of Link’s headset. “Ah, I sent it back up to you, but it seems to be stuck at the penthouse level. Wait, it’s moving again…” A light flicks on above the doors, and Link sweeps me backwards right as Rory says, “I think he might be in the elevator right now…”

“Fuck, Rory!”

But the doors are opening, right as something huge and dark and vicious stalks towards me from the depths of my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I see Link lift his gun, but I dart around him right as Arben steps out of the elevator. My feet falter only for a moment before my wolf propels me forward, and then five-inch claws are coming down on my shoulders.

It's not Arben, or his wolf, but something in between. He’s huge – at least eight feet and twice his normal width – with thick black hair all over his body. It takes me a moment to realize the lumps all over him are muscles and not injuries. Which means he’s in a half-shift, only there’s more beast than man about him right now. I can still see my Arben in the shape of his face, but the rest of him is like something out of a werewolf horror story. Because his silver eyes are staring down at me with a feral cunning that makes my hair stand on end. And when he opens his mouth, there are so many teeth fighting for space, I can barely see his lips.

“Mate.” The word reverberates through me, making my skin twist on my bones. He’s calling my wolf as much as me, and she is tearing at my insides to get to him. I try to hold in the whimper of pain, but those wild silver eyes flick over me. As he takes in my injuries, a growl rips from his chest, his huge arms lifting to rake the ceiling. As bits of sheetrock rain down on us, he snarls, “Shift.”

The command rips through me, right as Link yells, “She can’t. They cuffed her! And you’re just hurting her, you rabid shit!”

The fact Link is defending me would make me laugh if I wasn’t trying to rip my way out of my own skin. But Arben seems to get the message, because his claws lower to the cuffs, and with barely any effort at all, he rips them off my wrists. I stare at him in shock, but before I can touch him, he steps around me and hooks those claws in the front of Link’s jacket.

“What the fuck?” Link doesn’t even try to lift his gun, his boots squeaking on the floor as he’s hauled against Arben. And then my mate’s head jerks down, his massive fangs sinking into Link’s throat. I’m staring at them in shock, completely paralyzed by the sight, when a spiky thread twists to life in my mind. Link’s wide eyes lock on me as I feel a new bond snap into place.

Well, crap.

I wince, since there’s not much else I can do as Arben chews on Link’s neck. And when he’s finally done, he sets him back on wobbly legs and licks his bloody fangs. I try not to grimace as his eyes burn into mine. “Call your pack, princeshë.”

I put an arm out to hold Link up – seems the least I can do under the circumstances – and while he leans on me, he curses as he swipes at the enormous bite on his neck. But my monstrous mate is still staring at me like he’s waiting for a response. “Um… what?”

“Call your pack,” he growls. “You will shift, and we will hunt.”

Ah. I guess that explains the biting-my-asshole-enemy part. Strength in numbers. “And what exactly are we going to do when we catch them?”

Those silver eyes blink at me, before a feral smile stretches across his face.

Arben

Vriti te gjithe…

Cam

Walking into that ring to face off against Kelly was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. As we’d scrambled to come up with a plan to get into the Tower, Link was the one who suggested targeting the fighters. We have a few contacts in the Dark River Pack and know most of the guys on the circuit, so it wasn’t hard to work out who was scheduled to fight. Only problem was, Bisha had brought in an outsider. A rabid fucker who didn’t care who he was fighting, or why they were in the ring. Knowing we didn’t have time to reeducate him, Link took him out with a sniper rifle and I dosed his manager. I knew they’d just toss someone else at Kelly if his fighter didn’t show, so I’d disguised myself as best as I could and then went to fight my omega.

That first glimpse of him, barefoot and jittery, was like a punch to my chest. Rory had caught us up as we worked on the logistics, and I knew he and Kelly had finally bonded. I was happy for them – it was a damn long time coming – but I couldn’t stop the pinch of rejection. Which was stupid. Kelly only ever wanted friendship from me, despite a few quick and dirty fucks when we could grab a moment in the Tower. He liked my cock, but helovedmy brothers. And then Bisha had sold him out from under us, and the only thing on my mind was getting him back.

Part of loving a male omega is living through their heats. Violent, painful days when all they want is to kill anything in their path. Rory said it was different last time, that Arben and Elvi had somehow tamed Kelly’s wolf. But as he stalks around me in the ring, looking for another bit of flesh to sink his teeth into, I can’t picture it. Kelly is borderline feral, and he’s tearing into me like I’m his mortal enemy.

Don’t take it personally, dickhead.

But it doesn’t matter what I tell myself, my heart is aching. Because Kelly can’t see me. He watches me like a predator tracking its prey, but there’s nothing more than the flesh and bone he wants to destroy. There’s no connection under the fury, no matter what I whisper in his ears. I’ve tried every trick in the book to get him to recognize me, and that’s saying something. But for all my head-twisting skills, nothing is getting through his rage. I’m not his friend, or his brother, or his savior. I’m just a sack of meat standing in his way.

I don’t know how long we’ve been at it, but I can hear the crowd booing and cursing as I grab him in another bodylock. They’ll probably try to stop the fight soon – I’ve seen the asshole togs in the corner with the manager I drugged. They’re about a second away from ripping out his throat for my poor performance. I’d feel bad for him if he didn’t knowingly put rabid fighters in the ring against omegas. But instead, I block them out, knowing I have to hold on to the charade for just a little longer. And while it’s torture feeling Kelly fight so hard to get free of my clinch, I kind of like it, too. I never got to hug Kelly as much as I wanted to, so I guess I’m making up for lost time.

Not that he sees it that way.

“Let me fucking go,” he hisses in my ear, jerking forward to snap at my neck. This time I let him land the bite, and he doesn’t hesitate. His teeth rip into my flesh, digging way too close to the vein. But he doesn’t try to rip it out, like he did when he got a chuck of my arm between his teeth. This time he goes still, his brow furrowing as he swallows my blood and whatever meat he’s taken.

“It’s okay, Kelly,” I tell him, running a soothing hand down his spine. What does it say about me that even while he has my throat in his mouth, I want to breathe in the scent of his hair? I only grew mine long because he liked to play with his, and I thought it might nudge him a little more in my direction. But now he pulls back slowly, some of those warm whiskey tones flashing under the silver in his eyes. “It’s okay,” I repeat, hoping he can see the truth behind the mud-brown lenses I’m wearing. “Do what you have to do.”

But instead of tearing into me again, he leans forward and laps at my neck. A purr echoes softly in the back of his throat, and as his tongue gently tastes the wound, I feel his cock nudge my thigh. Rages get him hard, since it’s just another muscle responding to the adrenaline in his body. But this feels different, and as omega arousal floods my senses, he looks up at me through his lashes. “Mate.”

The word hits me harder than anything his heat has thrown at me.

“Yes,” I tell him, hoping he can hear the promise in my voice, although it sounds as shaky as a wolfling’s first howl. “I’m yours, Kelly. I always have been.”

“Then why haven’t you bitten me?”

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