“Because I’m stronger. I’m smarter, I can–”

Gabe barely stifled a yawn. He’d heard this spiel a dozen times. “Take me to him.” Then he’d kill Drake, eliminate this werewolf dumbass, and he’d take all the territory in Alaska.

Wolves were always weakest without a leader. Without Drake–they’d be easy pickings for his vamps.

Michael smiled. No, some arrogant fools never saw death coming.

Not until the moment death reached up and yanked their beating hearts right out of their chests.

Chapter Seven

He’d taken her blood. Euphoria filled Paige’s body. She’d been so afraid she wouldn’t be able to get Drake to take her blood.

But he had. Her wolf hadn’t even hesitated.

He’ll be safe now.

She wrapped her arms around him, holding tight. They’d just climaxed again, and the pleasure still hummed through her body.

Then an alarm began to beep, a shrill, deep cry that came from the far right of the room. Paige tensed in Drake’s arms because she knew what that sound meant.

They’re coming.

Gabe and his vampires had managed to track them through the snow.

You didn’t find us soon enough, asshole.

Drake pulled away from her and stalked, naked, to the line of monitors. She followed him, but paused long enough to yank on her clothes as fast as she could.

She didn’t see anyone on the monitors, not yet.

“Motion sensor,” he said, not looking away from that screen. “Could be anything…”

But the clench in her gut told her that not just anything had triggered that alarm.

Then she saw the movement of a shadow. No, not a shadow.

A wolf. A white wolf, running toward the cabin. Paige tensed. “Are we…are we supposed to be having company?” She didn’t see anyone else, just that wolf.

“Michael.”

While she watched, the wolf began to shift. As the white fur vanished, it almost looked like snow was dripping away to reveal the man’s flesh. Then he stood, staring up at the camera. Up at them. In that moment, with him back in human form, she recognized the werewolf.

Paige’s hand went to her throat. The faint scratches were long gone by now, but she never forgot anyone who gave her pain, no matter how slight the wound was.

Not until she’d given payback for her injuries.

The old Paige, the girl she’d been, had never thought of vengeance and punishment.

The vampire knew there had to be a rough justice in the paranormal world. Only the strong survived.

She’d survive. So would Drake. She’d make sure of it.

“Why is he here?” Drake demanded. “He should be at the lake, hunting the vampires. He should–”

“He’s not alone.” Because she’d seen the other shadows. The ones that were closing in on the shifter.

Michael had to hear the vampires. Had to smell them.

But he just kept walking toward the cabin like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Does he know how to get past your security?” Her heart was racing in her chest.

Michael headed for the cabin. Another camera zoomed in on his face as he approached the front door. For just an instant, Paige caught sight of the smile that curved Michael’s lips.

Hell.

“He brought them here,” she whispered as the cold certainty settled in her gut. Michael was going to lead the vampires inside. Right to her and Drake. They would be sitting ducks for the vamps.

Their safe house had just become their prison.

Two of them. Two against–how many vamps?

The shadows pushed toward the cabin. One. Two. Three. Four…

Five?

“He’s not getting in,” Drake said as he punched a series of codes into the computer. “He doesn’t have the right access code. I changed a few days, and, after he hurt you, I didn’t give it to him.”

Her breath rushed out.

“Never really trusted him,” Drake muttered as he reached for the radio. He connected almost instantly with the compound. “Wolf gone rogue at safe house one,” he said, biting off the words. “Send back up…”

Michael wasn’t smiling anymore. He was kicking at the door. Punching. Guess he’d realized he didn’t the right code to get inside.

“That’s steel, bastard,” Drake said, voice hardening, “Reinforced fucking steel, and no, I didn’t tell your ass about that little feature, either.”

Because Drake had known that Michael might turn on him?

Another voice crackled over the radio. “Coming now, alpha. Two teams. Are there–”

The vampires closed in on Michael. They grabbed him and hauled him away from the cabin. Michael didn’t fight them. The wolf went with them willingly.

But she could see he wasn’t smiling anymore.

Her chest began to burn. She knew what would happen next. Michael might have thought he was working with the vampires. He might have thought that…

“Michael brought the vampires,” Drake said flatly into the radio, “and, they’re–”

Killing him.

Or, they would be, soon enough. Right then, they were holding him down. Slicing into him with their razor-sharp fangs.

Drinking from him.

And making sure that the security cameras saw everything.

“Get the fuck here,” Drake snarled and tossed the radio aside. Then he whirled and headed for the stairs.

Paige grabbed him. “You can’t go out there.” A glance at the monitors showed her that Michael was fighting back now. Screaming.

The vampires were still drinking.

Only it wasn’t just four vampires any longer.

Six.

Her breath caught when she saw Gabe. He wasn’t drinking from the werewolf. Gabe just stood there, staring up at the cabin.

Waiting.

He’d waited on this one attack for years.

Secrets. She hadn’t told Drake everything yet. There hadn’t been enough time. There still wasn’t.

“I’m alpha,” he growled as his gaze burned into her. “Michael is one of mine, traitor or not.”

Um, there was a not portion? That guy was a straight-up traitor. No doubt.

“I won’t let them drain him,” Drake’s voice rumbled over the beeping alarm. “Not while I just watch.”

No, Drake wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just stand back while another wolf suffered. That wasn’t who her shifter was.

She knew that…and that was just one of the reasons she’d known that she had to get close to him again.

He’d taken her blood, but the boost from that blood didn’t happen instantaneously. She’d learned from the vampires in Florida–the vamps that weren’t twisted freaks–that when a vampire offered her blood to a werewolf, well, the result could be pretty damn amazing.

The wolf could become stronger.

She wanted Drake as strong as he could possibly be.

But the boost took a little time. The vampire blood had to work its way through his body.

I’ll give him the time he needs.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered because he’d hate what she was about to do.

But, sometimes, a vamp just had to do what she had to do.

Since he wasn’t expecting the attack, Paige had the advantage. She grabbed Drake and shoved him back against the wall. The wall had to be reinforced with steel. The whole place was reinforced.

This would hurt. But she had to hurt him in order to save him.

“Paige, what the hell–”

She kissed him. A deep, hard kiss that held all the passion and longing she felt for him. Did he know that she still loved him? That she always had? There’d never been another in her heart. There wasn’t room for anyone else. Even with all the miles and years between them, Drake had been the only one she wanted.

He shuddered against her. “Paige.” Lust. Need. Fury. All were in his voice. And he was about to try and break away from her. She knew it.

Couldn’t allow it.

I’m sorry. The words were only in her mind this time. She brought his lips back to hers. Kissed him again. She knew just what she had to do. Give him an injury that would disable him–for a bit–but allow him to come back even stronger once her blood started pumping fully in his veins.

A tear leaked down her cheek. His arms were around her. He was holding her tight. Some attacks, you never expected.

Paige tore her lips from his. In the same instant, she reached up, grabbed his head, and slammed it back against the reinforced wall. The thud of impact had nausea rolling in her gut.

Her shifter went down with a groan.

She stared at him, aware that her heart just hurt. “I’m sorry,” she said again. She had to move fast. She knew shifters–no, she knew him–and he’d be recovered in three, four minutes tops.

He’d come after her.

He’d go after Michael.

But Drake wouldn’t die. Because she wouldn’t allow it.

She spun away. Punched in the codes she’d memorized. She’d watched him so carefully, just in case…

The steel slid back. The trapdoor opened. She rushed through the opening but took precious seconds to secure the door behind her.

Her gaze flew around the cabin. She rushed to the left, to the right, and did her best to cover that trapdoor and protect her wolf.

Then she bent down, and her hand slid inside of her boot. Oh, that sweet weapon. Without a stake, she’d feel naked. She never left home–or her wolf’s compound–without it. Held inside by special straps, the weapon was waiting for her.

Time to die.

She ran out of that cabin and raced right toward her worst nightmare.

The vamps were feeding. Michael was screaming. And Gabe–Gabe opened his arms to her as if he were greeting a lost lover.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, voice smooth as silk.

Paige’s heart raced as she ran into his open arms.

***

Fury filled him as Drake’s eyes flew open. What. The. Hell.

He leapt to his feet. His gaze went to the monitors, and he saw Paige, his Paige, running into the open arms of a vampire.

The fuck no.

He leapt up the stairs and punched in the code to open the door. The steel slid back, and he shoved against the wood.

Only…the wood didn’t move.

He shoved again. Harder. The wood lifted, then fell back down with a snap. His eyes narrowed. Paige had put something on top of the trapdoor. She’d locked him in.

His beast didn’t like to be caged.

With a roar, Drake slammed his shoulders into that wood. He pushed. He heaved.

The wood broke apart. He leapt up, still shoving–the bed, she’d put the bed on top of the trapdoor–then raced for the front door.

He could hear the snarls and shouts and they seemed to burn his ears. The image of Paige running into that vampire’s arms was branded into his mind. Why? Why?

He rushed outside. Saw the blood on the ground. Michael. Still alive. Barely moving.

Paige–she was…

“Hello, alpha.” The taunting voice came from his left.

Drake’s claws were out and so ready to claw that SOB apart.

“Did you lose something?” The vampire asked as Drake turned to face him.

The vampire was tall. Blond. Bleeding. And he held Paige in his arms. The embrace wasn’t one of a lover, though. One of the vampire’s arms locked around her throat, while the vamp’s other hand held a wooden stake right over Paige’s heart.

“Because it looks like I found something.” The vamp smiled, flashing fangs.

Drake saw the other vampires stalking toward him. Was he supposed to be intimidated? Scared?

He was just pissed. “Let her go.”

The vampire–he had to be the one Paige had told him about, the one she’d called Gabe-shook his head and laughed. “If that’s what you want…she’s already served her purpose.”

Drake was looking at Paige then. He saw her eyes flare wide in horror, then Gabe spun her around so that she faced the vampire.

“You’re free now,” the vampire told her, voice soft, almost tender, “because that’s what your wolf wants.”

Paige struggled against him, clawing, punching–

Drake realized, too late, just what the asshole was doing.

You’re free now.

He was killing her.

Drake roared and lunged forward, forgetting the other vampires, desperate to reach Paige, to help her and–

Gunfire.

Bullets. Thudding into his flesh. Burning. Tearing apart muscle and bone.

His blood spilled onto the ground. His legs stopped working. He wanted to reach Paige, but he couldn’t.

He was falling.

The snow turned red beneath him.

His claws lifted as he tried to dig out the bullets. So many. In his chest. His back.

He managed to tilt back his head. He could see Paige. She was still fighting with Gabe. The stake was covered in blood.

But she was still alive.

She glanced back at Drake and screamed his name.

He’d promised to protect her. She’d asked him for just one thing.

I want you to rip his head off, and I want you to make damn sure that he never rises again.

Now that vampire was laughing. She was bleeding.

And I’m dying.

No, no, he wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t go out like this.

Drake called on the beast within. Wake up. Drake pushed to his feet. Stumbled. Yanked out the silver in his shoulder and barely felt the burn.

Wake up.

The beast hated silver.

But the wolf loved the woman who was screaming for him.

A vampire came at him, still with a gun in his hand. Fool. You came too close. Drake grabbed the gun. Shot the vampire in the chest. Swiped out with his claws.