The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(42)

“Do you think I’m like him?” Duncan cut through his words. His muscles had tightened.

“I think you’re a dangerous man,” Pate said softly. “But I knew that about you the moment we met.” Pate turned away. “Let’s see what the night brings. We’ll both find out just how dangerous you can become.”

Suspicion had filled Duncan’s heart. With the news of Connor, well, his whole life had changed. He wasn’t sure what to believe now. Who to believe. “You should have told me,” Duncan muttered. The whole time that he’d been in the Para Unit, he’d been a ticking time bomb. Just waiting to get bitten.

“What would have been the point?” Pate asked. Werewolves walk the earth. You could have been bitten at any moment, walking to the store or even going to a bar.” Pate shrugged. “You knew we were battling paranormals. The choice to join the group was yours.”

The silver burned against his neck. “Did you want me to change?” The question that mattered most. No, the question that mattered most was…did you set me up to change?

Because he was realizing that Pate would go to almost any extreme in order to get what he wanted.

“Having a werewolf on my team would be an advantage,” Pate said as he gave a faint nod.

The sonofabitch wasn’t even acting like the loss of Duncan’s humanity was a big deal. Shit.

“But there are other werewolves out there who could have joined the unit. Fully transformed werewolves who aren’t psychotic.” Pate lifted one brow. “So no, I didn’t throw one of my own men—”

“To the wolves?” Duncan snapped.

“Just so I could up my paranormal power scale for hunting.” His lips twisted into a dark smile. “Trust me, I’ve already got plenty of paranormal power in the unit.”

Was he talking about Holly? Or someone else?

The answer was in Pate’s eyes. Someone else.

“The monsters aren’t always the enemy,” Pate said as he turned away once more. “Sometimes, they’re the men fighting right beside you.” Then he was gone. Locking the door.

Sealing Duncan inside the room.

The light shone down from overhead.

Duncan exhaled slowly and tried to remember a time before monsters. A time when he’d had a brother.

A family.

A life.

But it had all been washed away in a tide of rising blood.

***

“Seriously, if you keep looking at me like that, I might bite you just for the hell of it,” Shane said as his gaze narrowed on her. “Don’t tempt me.”

She blinked.

“I’m not going for your throat. I had plenty of opportunities.” He tilted his head to study her. “Of course, we are all alone now. The others are far away, and I bet you’d never even have the chance to scream.”

She shoved him away. Actually, she threw him away. The guy flew back about five feet and crashed into her instrument tray.

He laughed as he rose. His dark, rumbling laughter made goosebumps rise on her arms.

She glanced around desperately, looking for something wooden. But when Pate had made her lab, he’d been sure to keep the wood to a minimum. In case anyone found out the truth about her, he hadn’t wanted them going all stake crazy.

“I do like a woman with bite.” Shane took a step toward her.

Holly bared her fangs at him. “Take another step, and you’ll find out just how much bite I have.”

He didn’t take another step. He just—appeared right in front of her. She blinked, and he was there. Then he grabbed her arms. Held her tight. “You are just a beginner in my world.”

Dark. Deep. The easy going mask was totally gone, and she stared up into his eyes, seeing the darkness that she’d always sensed with him.

“A vampire’s power comes with age. Your bite can never compare to mine.”

In his gaze, she saw the cold promise of death. “Wh-what do you want?”

His hold eased. “To keep you safe.” He pulled in a breath. His fangs receded. His stare started to look a bit less like the grim reaper’s. “That is my job, right? What Pate told me to do?”

“Does Pate know about you?” He couldn’t. No way. He—

“Of course. Why do you think he recruited me?” His tongue ran over the edge of his teeth, as if checking to make sure the fangs were gone. “If you’re going after monsters, doesn’t it make sense to have your own paranormal arsenal to fight them?”

Her heart thudded too hard in her chest.

“But what I don’t understand is why Pate isn’t using you more. Why keep you here, locked away, when you could be fighting in the night with us?”

“B-because he wants me to find a cure. He wants me to be human again.”

“There is no cure for us.”

“Not yet.” Her chin lifted. “But I’m working on it. Vampirism is a virus. We were created. We can be cured.”

“Is that Pate talking or you?”

“I—”

“What if we don’t want to be cured?”

That was the question she’d hoped he wouldn’t ask. In the back of her mind, she’d wondered if Pate wanted to completely eradicate all of the vampires by making them human again. No choices. Just a cure.