On the Prowl (Bad Things #2)(53)

He started…moving the knife. Cutting her chest.

He’s cutting out my heart. Rose screamed.

“Bend to break,” the blonde’s voice—the muse—was the loudest of all. “Bend to break, my magic to take. Bend to break—”

“You’re extra special, you see,” he kept cutting, still ignoring the other women as if they were of no consequence. “Because you weren’t born to be a vampire. You were a human who was made—you’re the one with the magic of rejuvenation that I need. You came back from death once. You were brought back. And your heart will bring her back, too.”

“Who?” God, she hurt! “Who are you bringing back?”

He paused. “My Helene. My wife. A beast took her, but I will make her live again. She will come back to me. I’ll pay any price. I’ll do anything…” The knife cut again. “Just like your shifter.”

No, no, he was nothing like Julian. Not a damn thing. And he was cutting her heart out of her chest while she just lay there, trapped.

“You know why you were warned never to be staked or burned?” Simon asked.

Her chest felt as if it were on fire.

“It’s because Luke Thorne wanted to protect your heart. He knew it was the center of your magic. A heart that came back from death to beat again, a heart that was brought back not through the bite of a vampire, but through pure dark magic.” He exhaled. “The perfect heart for me.”

And he pressed down with the knife again.

“No!” The cry broke from Rose…and so did the band around her right wrist. Her hand flew up and locked around his hand.

He stilled. His eyes had gone wide with shock.

“My heart isn’t…for you.” Her breath heaved out. “It…already belongs…to someone else.” Then she twisted his wrist. He was leaning over her, shocked, and she used that against him. She drove the blade into his chest.

He lurched away from her, but it was too late. The knife was hilt deep in him. He staggered back then his knees seemed to give way as he fell to the floor.

Her breath heaved out. “Okay, okay…keep up that chanting…and get me out of here.” Blood pulsed from her chest. She was bleeding like a stuck pig, but she still had her heart. And Simon wasn’t going to get it.

***

He heard her scream and the world f*cking stopped for Julian. Rose’s cry was full of pain and fear and he went a little crazy. He didn’t shift back into the form of a man, he was too far gone for that. He leapt out of the grass and ran straight for the building.

He heard a wolf howl behind him.

The guards started screaming. They fired their weapons, but he dodged the bullets as they flew at him. The dirt kicked up near his body as the bullets thudded into the ground.

Then he was on the first guard. He slammed into the bastard and his teeth sank into the guard’s throat. The man never had a chance to cry out.

“Freaking monster!” The other guard yelled. “Go to hell!”

Julian whirled around.

But the wolf beat him to the attack. Rayce jumped onto the other guard, sending him crashing down.

“Guess that means you have to deal with me.”

Julian turned at the taunt. The scent of brimstone made his nose twitch. The guy was shifting in front of him, transforming into the stone figure of a gargoyle. Growing bigger, stronger, and standing between Julian and the thing that mattered most to him.

I’ll get to Rose even if I have to claw this bastard apart.

Time to see if his panther’s claws were really strong enough to cut stone. He was betting they were.

He growled then sprang forward. His mouth was open, his sharp teeth bared and—

The gargoyle was grabbed from behind. Hefted high up into the air by…Leo?

“My turn, you sonofabitch,” Leo snarled. “Let’s see how well you fly without your wings.” Then he grabbed the stone wings and he shattered them in his grip. As the stone rained down, Leo shot higher and higher into the air, taking his captive with him.

One less problem.

Julian roared again and broke down the doors of that facility. An alarm began shrieking, loud enough to wake the dead, and more guards rushed toward him. They fired and he realized they weren’t using tranqs when one of the bullets sank into his side. The bastards were shooting to kill.

He used his claws on the man to his right, raking him open. The other jerk who was trying to shoot him in the head? Julian tossed him through a wall.

Rayce rushed in behind him and the wolf leapt for the throat of a third guard.

Julian stood, his chest heaving, and he glanced around. His nostrils flared. He didn’t hear Rose any longer but he could smell her…

Her blood.

Someone is about to f*cking pay.

He raced down the hallway to his left. I’m coming, love. I’m coming. He’d promised to have her back, and he intended to always keep the promises he made to Rose. Always.

***

“Bend to break, my magic to take…” The witch was leading the chant. “Bend to break, my magic to take…”

The others were chanting with her, like a coven that had formed, and Rose could feel the power swirling in the air. “Bend to break,” she heard herself whisper. “My magic to take…” She thought the chant might be working. She could feel—