Scarlet Heat Read online

  He shook his head. “The Shadow Lands are dark but they’re only Hell’s doorstep. The Abyss…it’s the real thing. No witch or warlock dares go there—it’s almost impossible to get back. But this witch…” He shook his head. “She’s either very brave or really damn stupid.”

  “I don’t care what she is, just make sure your circle holds until I do the spell.” Celeste glared at him.

  “If you’d stop showboating around and get on with it, this wouldn’t be an issue,” he growled at her.

  “I’m going to. But these things have to be done in a certain way.” Celeste lifted her chin regally and strode over to Taylor. Shaking back the long white sleeves of her robe, she raised the long silver dagger above her head. Moonlight glittered along the blade and I felt my heart clench in my chest.

  “Don’t…fucking…touch her,” I growled. I had a hard time getting the words out—my mouth wasn’t shaped right for speaking anymore. Little by little the beast was pushing his way forward.

  “I’ll do more than touch her,” Celeste taunted, running just the tip of the silver dagger down Taylor’s tear-streaked cheek. “I’ll drain her, wolf—right in front of your eyes. Look at it this way—at least you got a chance to say goodbye.”

  “Say the spell,” the guy with the strangely blurred face shouted. “Say it now, Celeste—no more stalling!”

  “Fine,” she huffed. Obviously she was pissed about not being able to put on more of a show. Once a drama queen, always a drama queen, I guess. She turned to Taylor and gripped the dagger high above her head.

  “Beneath the moon this sacred hour

  I come to take this female’s power

  To walk in day and eat the meat

  Gained through breeding scarlet heat.

  Let it wash me in a flood

  Bought and paid by stolen blood

  When the last red drop I drain

  No more in dark must I remain.

  Her soul I claim, her powers see

  Let them enter into me

  The moon must heal, sun’s curse abate

  By blood and silver, change my fate

  So Mote it be.”

  On the last word, Celeste plunged the dagger down and made a long vicious slice across the right side of Taylor’s throat. Then she leaned forward, clamped her mouth to the wound and began to drink.

  “Taylor!” I roared. “NO!”

  At the same time I heard the warlock scream, “They’re coming! The barrier is coming down—I can’t hold it!”

  I knew that Corbin was on the way—that I should try and hold out and let him kill Celeste so I could rescue Taylor. But I couldn’t hold back anymore. Seeing the woman I loved wounded and possibly dying stripped away the last of my self-control. I roared and thrashed against the chains as I felt myself begin to change.

  “Easy, big boy!” LeeAnn pulled on the chain around my throat but she couldn’t control me. My brands burned, the old and the new alike shooting pain and change and rage through my entire system. The beast had been held off long enough—too long—and now he was coming out.

  My vision became a wash of pure, bloody scarlet and then I knew no more.

  Chapter Twenty-seven—Taylor

  I saw him change.

  Celeste’s mouth was clamped to my throat, draining my blood, taking my life, but all I could see was Victor. All I could do was watch as the beast inside him took over completely.

  His eyes, which had been red before, changed even more. The scarlet pupils seemed to spread, covering the whites, taking up the entire eye like an animal’s. As I watched, the last scrap of humanity leaked away, leaving nothing human behind.

  Coarse black hair sprouted all over his body until it covered him like a pelt and his mouth and nose became long and pointed, turning into a wolf’s muzzle. But though his head changed, his body didn’t follow…not the way I expected it to, anyway. He didn’t turn all the way into a wolf. Instead, he grew bigger, more massive, more muscular as his clothes burst at the seams and fell away from him. He grew until I swore he stood nine feet tall, his head blotting out the moon.

  I stared in terror and fascination at what he had become—a monster out of a fairy tale told to frighten children at night. A beast from mythology. A man with the head of a wolf and the appetites of an animal.

  As Victor’s size increased, his strength did too. He snapped the chains that held him to the thick metal stake with a guttural, animal roar. The vampires and weres that were Celeste’s minions backed away slowly. All except for Tozer—he took one look at the transformed Victor and ran away as fast as he could. Only LeeAnn and Celeste weren’t leaving—Celeste because she was too busy draining me and LeeAnn because she was plainly still determined to take Victor down herself.

  Despite his dramatic metamorphosis, she was still hanging on grimly, trying to control him by the thick silver chain wrapped around his neck. When he snapped his other restraints and stood free of the pole, she yelled his name.

  “Victor—no!” She yanked hard on the chain, trying to bring him to heel like an owner forcing a reluctant dog to behave.

  It was a bad idea.

  The beast Victor had become turned toward her, moving with frightening speed for a creature so large. The thick muscles of his chest and arms flexed with raw power and that was all it took—the silver chain around his neck popped like a string.

  Still LeeAnn wouldn’t quit. Either she had a death wish, or she was incredibly arrogant.

  “No,” she shouted, shaking the broken chain at him. “Bad! Get down! Bow to your Alpha! You’re mine, Victor—mine. Bow to me now or—”

  Victor simply swatted her away like a fly. The backhand sweep of his massive hand sent her flying right at me. I would have ducked but Celeste had me locked in place and all I could do was watch.

  LeeAnn’s head connected with the thick roots of the tree right at my feet. I gasped behind the gag at the impact—a wet, sickening thud. It was the sound of an overripe melon being split open.

  She was lying at my left side and Celeste was feeding from my right so I was able to look down enough to see what had happened to her. LeeAnn had landed at my feet, her naked body limp as a rag doll’s. She might have survived the impact but one of the tree’s roots was poking crookedly out like an old witch’s gnarled finger. Looking down I saw that it had pierced LeeAnn’s right eye. Her other eye had rolled up to stare sightlessly at the night sky and blood trickled from her nose and mouth. Dead.

  I barely had time to take in LeeAnn’s demise, though, because the beast was already coming toward me. I moaned and struggled but Celeste still held me tightly, her mouth locked on my throat.

  “Hold still,” she muttered, between swallows of my blood. “No point struggling now, my dear. As soon as I drain the last drop of your blood, your powers will be m—”

  She never got to finish her sentence. A huge, heavy hand reached down and dragged her off of me. I felt an instant of relief when her mouth left my throat but my wound was still bleeding freely, the blood flowing down my neck. I had no way to stem the tide and even if I had, I was mesmerized by the scene playing out before me.

  Celeste was finally looking at Victor—at the beast he had become—and I could see the terror and disbelief on her face.

  “No,” she breathed as he lifted her, his scarlet animal eyes glaring into hers. “No, it can’t be. The curse—it’s not true. It’s all superstition and nonsense!”

  Victor raised her higher and growled, deep in his throat. Celeste screamed and tried to break his grip but she couldn’t get free. She looked like a doll in his massive hands, a tiny blonde doll that kicked and shrieked as he brought her closer and closer to his gaping jaws.

  “Get back! Get away!” Celeste reached out with one hand and clawed at his eyes. She got the side of his face instead—the side she’d so recently branded.

  Victor’s beast snarled in pain and anger. He grabbed her arm and I heard a low popping sound as her shoulder disconnected from the socket.