His mouth lowered to her throat. He licked her, taking her blood. “First claws,” he whispered. “Then I get to bite.”

“Jane!”

Alerac’s roar broke the night. That fierce cry was the most beautiful sound that she’d ever heard. He was coming for her.

He’d realize what Liam was doing. She opened her mouth to scream for him.

But Liam sank his teeth into her throat. Pain engulfed her.

Then—then it started to thunder. No, not thunder.

Gunshots.

Liam’s mouth tore from her neck, and his body fell away from hers.

She crawled away from him. Her hand went to her throat as she tried to stop the blood from flowing.

“Hurry, Keira! Hurry!” Ryan’s desperate voice.

She looked to the left. He was there, at the edge of the woods, and he still had a gun in his hands.

Jane cast one fast glance at Liam. Smoke rose from the bullet holes in his chest. His eyes were closed.

Was he dead?

Liam’s eyes opened.

No, not dead. Jane jumped to her feet and ran toward Ryan. He lifted the gun higher. Seemed to aim right at her.

She ducked.

He fired.

A groan sounded from behind her.

Ryan opened his left hand to her. She grabbed it, holding it like the lifeline that it was.

He pulled her close against him. “We have to get out of here,” he whispered.

Great plan. Fabulous plan. Only…

She was bleeding so much from her throat. She couldn’t speak. And she felt too weak.

He turned. Rushed back into the brush. She tried to follow him, but after three steps, she fell flat on her face.

“Keira!”

Hands lifted her up. She was tossed over a shoulder. Then she didn’t see anything else.

But she heard something…a long, low howl that sent a shiver of fear chasing her into the darkness.

***

When he broke from the trees, Alerac’s gaze went straight to the stream. To the stream that smelled of Jane’s blood.

But Jane wasn’t there. Three wolves were. Wolves from his pack. They were hurt, one was shuddering.

Yet, as soon as they saw him, they attacked.

What. The. Hell.

They came in hard and fast—and they came in for the kill.

But Alerac wasn’t the pack alpha for nothing. Soon it was their blood flowing into the stream. Their bodies hitting the ground.

They died in mere moments.

And he howled into the night, lost, betrayed.

His gaze swept the scene. Seeing so much. The tracks of a man, but the scent of a vampire.

The tracks of another wolf, heading away from the stream. Heading back up the mountain. That wolf’s scent was familiar, and the sting of betrayal burned ever deeper.

Why didn’t I see…?

The rage built in him, but Alerac held tight to his control. He left the broken bodies behind him.

In the form of the wolf, he inhaled deeply, pulling in all the scents—those both familiar and foreign to him. He locked onto the one scent that mattered. The only one that did.

The scent of Jane’s blood.

He’d been willing to let her leave him.

He wasn’t willing to let her die.

The paws of the beast flew across the ground. When he crossed the stream, he sent the bloody water churning and splashing around him. The others scents there—he took note of them.

Jane was his priority. Finding her.

Punishment. Justice. Payback. All of that would come. It would f**kin’ come.

***

Liam raced deeper into the woods. No, no, no. Jane shouldn’t have escaped. Her blood was in his mouth. Sweet and rich and powerful. Everything that he’d ever dreamed.

But she was gone.

Her bastard brother.

He’d told Alerac to kill the fool. Over and over, he’d given him that order.

But Alerac didn’t take orders from anyone.

I’m the lackey who jumps at his command.

No more. Jane was his ticket to power. He’d known that truth for years. She’d been the one to amp up Alerac’s strength. She can give me the same boost. As soon as Jane had been located, Liam had known that he would have to take her from the alpha.

He’d even hired those vamps to try and take her in Florida. Those men hadn’t been working for Lorcan. They’d been on Liam’s payroll. Both attacks had come by Liam’s order.

He’d encountered plenty of vampires over the years. He’d drained most of them. But some, a few that he’d thought would prove valuable, Liam had let some of them keep living. They owed him, and he’d been collecting on those debts. Sending out those vamps on his blood mission.

He’d been the one to connect Heath and Jane. Heath had been working under his orders the whole time. Studying Jane’s blood, trying to determine the source of her power—and of Alerac’s.

But when Liam had realized that Alerac was going down to Miami to claim Jane, he’d sent his vamps to collect her. He’d known that his time to experiment had run out. He’d needed to make his move.

Only those vamps had failed.

But Alerac hadn’t realized Liam was his enemy. Alerac was too focused on Lorcan. Always Lorcan.

Hell, Lorcan wasn’t even in the game. As far as Liam knew, the bastard wasn’t in the country.

Liam had tried to be careful. He hadn’t wanted to battle directly against Alerac, not until he’d taken plenty of Jane’s blood to boost him.

But his plans had changed. Alerac kept defeating every enemy that Liam had thrown at him.

Tonight, when Jane had gone off on her own, it had been his best chance.

I took that chance.

Now Alerac would know that he had a traitor—traitors—in his pack. Alerac would come for him.

His chest heaved. His claws cut into the tree near him as fury pumped through his gut.

Let him come. He knew Alerac’s secrets. Every bloody one of them. And he’d use those secrets.

He’d take out the alpha.

He’d rule the pack.

Alerac would die.

Chapter Seven

“Hold on, Keira! Just hold on!”

The words sank through the veil of darkness that surrounded her. She groaned and tried to open her eyes.

But then her face slammed into something hard. Wait, was that a man’s back?

Her body was bobbing, jerking, because she was flung over someone’s shoulder. And that someone was running fast.

“I’ll get you out of here,” the guy was promising her.