scrambled against the ground to find purchase as Freki lunged at him again, faster than any wolf, as fast as

a shark, but his body was a long way from healing and he felt like what he was at the moment—a broken

bag of bones.

Freki’s jaws slashed the air in front of her, saliva flying. Her teeth snagged his jeans and she tossed his

head, throwing him like a bag of dirty laundry against the opposite wall, his bones crunching alarmingly

on impact and making him heave with the pain. Then, before he could even catch his breath, she lifted him

up with her claws and tossed him down again. Kevin whined pitifully as more bones broke and blooded

jetted from between his lips. His body was lanced with searing, unbelievable pain. His brain vibrated

with agony. He spat blood and tried to crawl away, but Freki sank her claws into him and ripped eight

deep furrows down his back, shredding his fur and skin. Kevin felt his head spin and his vision darken.

“Time to come home with me, little wolf,” Freki said, throwing him effortlessly over one shoulder, but

before she could take even a single step, something huge charged her like a locomotive, driving her into

the wall and making her drop Kevin on his side.

Moaning, he clenched up in a fetal position, then forced himself to turned over just in time to see Toby in

wolfen form standing there on his hind legs. He was huge—not as tall as Freki, but at least as wide as she.

He lashed at the air with teeth and claws, his ebony fur shining, his golden eyes narrowed menacingly.

His tail swished back and forth with anger as he stood between Freki and her prey.

“T-to-oo-by,” Kevin croaked. “No…Toby…!”

“That’s right, Toby,” Freki hissed almost like a snake, her greedy jaws snapping like a metal trap. “Run

away, little black wolf. Run back to the fold before I destroy you.”

Toby snorted and stood his ground. “Fuck you, bitch.”

“That’s fuck you, your majesty,” she roared.

Toby slashed at the air with hooked claws. “Go away, Freki, and leave Kevin alone!”

“Don’t make me laugh, pup,” Freki taunted him. “You were nothing but a slave when Roman found you.

You’re but a slave now. Give him to me!”

“No!” Toby shouted, bearing huge, ragged teeth. “I serve my alpha. I don’t serve you!” And then, over one

shoulder. “Run, Kevin. I’ll hold off Freki and these two clowns.”

Kevin groaned as he pushed himself up, covered in blood, sweat and city grime. He wanted to cry with

the pain; his bones felt loose and shattered and every breath he took made it feel like he was trying to

breathe through broken glass. He trembled all over with his injuries, but he was still running on

adrenaline, and that got him through. Somehow, he managed to make it onto his hands and knees despite

his broken bones and what was likely a punctured lung. “No, Toby,” he croaked, “she’ll kill you.”

Toby eyed his queen as Freki’s two bodyguards moved forward a step, their tails lashing the air angrily.

“She killed Jonah, so I don’t care.” He growled savagely to warn back his enemies, then snapped his huge

jaws until the two smaller betas whined and backed off. Freki barked at them, driving them forward once

more. Toby threw Kevin a look. “See that ledge?” He indicated a second-floor window. “Go. Get to your

sister. I’ll hold them back as long as I can.”

One of the werewolves launched himself at Toby, but Toby easily knocked him back with a massive

uppercut, boxing like a professional. The second moved faster, latching onto Toby’s arm. Toby yelped

and brought a giant fist down atop its skull like a gavel, shattering it. The second wolf slumped away,

dead, but not before the first was on him once more. Toby grabbed its jaws, cracking them wide open so

blood and foam poured from the monster’s mouth. He tossed the first one away like garbage.

Growling with frustration and bloodlust, Freki moved forward to engage Toby herself.

Kevin weaved to his feet and spat penny-sized droplets of blood onto the asphalt. He was far from all

right, but his wolfen blood was healing him much faster than if he’d been a mere beta. Besides, it was

only a matter of time before Freki turned her attention on him once more, and there was no way he could

defeat her—not without help. He looked at Toby, but realized there was no way he was going to be able

to talk the big man down.

“Thank you,” he told Toby, then dived for the wall and scrambled up the bricks to the windowsill. He’d

just crawled into the window when the sounds of growling and the tearing of flesh, followed by Toby’s

piteous cries, rose up over the city, turning his blood to ice.

***

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jonah was dead. Toby was dead. Terror, more real than Kevin had ever felt, surged through his body and

brain, driving him on despite his many injuries.

Having stolen some new clothes from out of the apartment complex, Kevin rushed to Matthew’s place.

The security officers in the lobby knew him well and waved him by without question. He took the

elevator up to the sixth floor and sprinted down the long hallway to Matthew’s flat. He started pounding

on the door, but it fell open on him.

Kevin stopped and stared at the open door. No one in this city left their door open, not even for a minute.

He immediately knew something was wrong. “Hannah?” he called softly, as if afraid he might awaken

something terrible within. His heart was slamming upward, trying to crawl into his throat. Then he

realized how foolish he was being. He didn’t have time for these games. Hannah didn’t have time.

“Hannah!” he cried. “Matthew!”

No answer. He rushed inside only to find the entire living room ransacked, the soft lying on its side, an

end table toppled, a light broken, broken dishes scattered everywhere. The sofa bore several long, clawlike

furrows in it from which the stuffing had been ripped, and there was blood on the floor—not a lot, but

enough to make Kevin despair. Enough to make Kevin angry.

That bitch had invaded the sanctity of his family!

He checked the whole apartment top to bottom to make certain no one was left behind, but his sister and

her boyfriend were gone. Taken. The only thing he found was a disposable cell phone lying on the kitchen

table and a note next to it, written in blood. The note said: Take me.

***

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kevin sat in the dark of his living room, the cell phone in his lap, waiting for it to ring. He thought about

picking it up and dialing the police, filing a missing person’s report, getting a citywide manhunt going for

Freki and the pack. But how would he explain something like that?

How do you tell the police that your sister and her boyfriend were abducted by an angry pack of

werewolves? Who would take him seriously? Besides, it had only been a few hours. Hannah was an

adult; he knew the police would want to wait twenty-four hours before searching for her, and by then…he