On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(17)

Rose swallowed. “Julian…”

The boat was already moving.

Julian turned his back to her. “Don’t forget…”

Her hands twisted nervously in front of her.

“I’ve already kept up my part of the deal. Your turn will come soon.”

She knew he’d just given her a warning.





Chapter Five


He wasn’t surprised to find Rayce Lovel waiting on the island’s dock. The wolf shifter would have heard the boat’s approach, and Rayce—being Rayce—would have come down to see just what was happening.

After all, Rayce and Julian had both been left to guard the island in Luke’s absence. If anything happened to the place while their buddy was gone, there would truly be hell to pay.

“Didn’t expect to see you back so soon,” Rayce called out. His blond hair glinted beneath the light on the dock. “Poor hunting night?” Then his gaze darted to Rose—a very quiet Rose. “Or perhaps, a very, very good hunting night?”

Julian growled. He didn’t like the way Rayce eyed Rose. The wolf needed to tone that shit down.

“Why do wet women keep being brought to this island? Not that I’m complaining,” Rayce added as he caught the line that Marcos threw to him. “Quite the contrary. I just—”

“Get the human off the boat. He needs to be taken into containment until morning.” Francis had woken up on the ride out to the island. His terror had turned into screams—screams that had stopped when Julian gagged the fellow. “I am not in the mood to deal with him now.”

No, what he needed right then…it was a run. A wild, fast and furious run across the island. He had to let his beast out. Too much had happened that night—

Two times. Two f*cking times death tried to take Rose.

His control was razor thin. The beast demanded his freedom, and the man wasn’t going to be able to hold him back much longer.

“A bound and gagged human?” Rayce bounded onto the boat and eyed the kid. “Definitely an interesting hunting night.”

Julian grunted. “I think he was under a compulsion. He doesn’t seem to remember jack shit right now, but I am hoping with the right…tools…” Tools the human would not like. “With the right tools, I’m hoping that will change.”

Rayce easily slung Francis over his shoulder. “I know just the cell for him.”

Because, yes, Luke’s island paradise came complete with its own prison. Luke truly believed in being prepared.

But before Rayce could leave the boat, Rose stepped into his path. “He’s a kid, okay? Not some prisoner. He doesn’t belong in a cell. He’s confused and scared and he has no idea what’s happening.” Her words tumbled out, fast and husky. And…shaking. “You can’t just lock him up. You can’t hurt him.”

They could. “The cell is for his protection, Rose. Rayce and I aren’t the only monsters on the island right now.”

At that one word—monsters—she flinched. Then she turned the full force of her big, green eyes on him. “Locking him up…how does that make us better than the ONS? How does that make us any better than—than this Collector guy that you keep worrying me about?”

“It doesn’t make us better.” He’d never said he was better and, hell, he was almost out of time. He could feel his muscles jerking and stretching. In just a few moments, he’d be doing a full-on shift right in front of her. He didn’t want her to see that.

Shifts weren’t pretty. They were brutal and they were vicious and, sometimes, if he wasn’t very, very careful…his panther could take over completely.

There was a reason he had no pack to call his own. A reason he’d gone rogue long ago.

He was a killer. Someone who could never be trusted. Especially not around humans. Especially not around…

Someone like her.

I knew that from the beginning, but I couldn’t stay away from her.

“Take Rose to the main house,” he ordered Rayce.

Rayce just lifted his brows. “What? Do I look like some errand boy to you? Drag the human…” he muttered as he turned away, heading up the winding path that led to the house. “Get the girl. Do all my shit for me because I’m Julian and I can’t handle—”

“Rayce.”

His friend—friend, general jack-ass, trouble-maker, whatever—turned back toward him. And whatever he saw on Julian’s face had Rayce tensing.

“Rose,” Rayce said her name flatly. “Bring that sweet ass of yours up here with me, now.”

“I don’t like him,” Rose muttered.

Julian clenched his hands into fists. He jumped off the boat. He had to get away from Rose. He had to get away from them all.

But Rose—she followed him. She grabbed his arm. “We aren’t done, Julian! You can’t just run away from me—”

“You don’t want to see what happens next.” His voice was rough, broken. Speech was too hard then. His bones had started to snap. In a moment, he would be on all fours, and fur would burst from his skin. He’d learned to control the shift—mostly—since coming to Luke’s island so long ago. But because of that hellish night, because of all the things that had happened to Rose, there was no longer any control left for him. He was at a breaking point. The panther loved it when the man broke.