The Wolf Within (Purgatory #1)(8)

What she was?

Holly darted a quick glance at Duncan. “I can help him. You know I can. Just…give me time.”

Since she was looking at Duncan, Holly missed the calculating gaze that Pate gave her.

Duncan didn’t miss it, and he wondered what game the guy was playing.

“Don’t be afraid to amp up that silver,” Pate advised her. Then he was gazing at Duncan once more. “I know you’re angry.”

Duncan laughed. A bitter, twisted sound. “I knew…the risks coming in…” Talking seemed hard. As if it were some foreign activity, and his voice was rougher and deeper than it had been before. “But I told you…always…I’d never wanted to be like this…”

“Most would have died from your injuries, McGuire. And you know that only about one percent of the population can even become werewolves.”

One percent. The deadliest one percent. Men and women with DNA that had designed them to be perfect killers. Men and women who were skilled at hunting, at dealing death.

I was too good at my job.

“Not everyone can track wolves the way you did, moving almost as damn fast as them,” Pate continued.

Duncan shoved his claws behind his back.

“Now we need to see just what you’ll become—”

Duncan laughed at that. “I’ll become a monster, you know it. I know it.” He inclined his head toward Holly. “She knows it. The collar will hold me for now, but what the hell happens when the full moon rises and I turn?” Because all werewolves shifted into the form of the beast when the moon rose. During the rise of the full moon, a werewolf was at his strongest, most dangerous point. “You just gonna keep me locked up forever? Because that’s what you’d have to do. If you let me out, I’ll kill.”

“One step at a time,” Pate said, voice flat. “The moon won’t rise for a few days.”

That wasn’t exactly a whole lot of time.

“A lot can happen between now and then.”

Yeah, things changed fast all right. Just yesterday, he’d been a human with a hard-on for the sexy little doc who stood just a few feet away. Now, he was a werewolf.

And he still wanted her.

Pate cut his gaze toward Holly. “Give me your report as soon as you’re done examining him.”

“Right.”

Then Pate was gone. The fool actually left Holly alone with him.

Holly stared after Pate a moment, then she headed toward those swinging doors that led out of the med unit. She punched in a series of numbers on the keypad near the left door.

A bolt slid into place, locking her and Duncan in the room. Locking the others out.

“You sure that’s…wise?” Duncan muttered. “You just locked yourself in—”

“With a big, bad werewolf?” Holly finished and turned toward him. Surprisingly, there was no fear in her eyes. “Don’t worry, I can handle you.”

Because she still had her little fingers curved around the remote. “And what if the silver stops working?” That tiny little remote didn’t seem so all powerful to him.

Her gaze went to his neck. “Then I’ll come up with a Plan B. I’m pretty good at coming up with backup plans.”

He wanted to smile. If his life hadn’t gone straight to hell, he probably would have. “You’re too smart for this. You know that you need to get away from me.”

The woman who’d spent so long blushing and avoiding his gaze now tilted her head back and stared him straight in the eyes. Then she began to walk toward him with slow, but sure steps. “Why? Because you might decide to take a bite out of me again?”

He’d be honest. “Because I don’t have a whole lot of control right now, and, doc, in case you missed the little show earlier, I want to f*ck you.”

The blunt words made her hesitate, just for a moment. She rallied pretty quickly though. “I…um…didn’t miss it, no.” Holly motioned to the table behind him. He’d glanced back at the straps he’d shredded. Duncan didn’t really recall ripping them apart. “Can you get back on the table? I need to finish my exam.”

Because he was the new science project in the Para Unit. He turned away from her and faced the table. She closed the distance between them, the clicks of her high heels filling his ears and her seductive scent wrapping around him. “Dammit.” His hands slammed down, and his fingers curled around the side of the exam table. He was pretty sure that he was about to dent the metal.

“What is it?” Then she made a mistake. She touched him.

He whirled toward her and grabbed her hand. Careful, careful. Her wrist felt so delicate in his grasp that he was afraid one wrong move from him would shatter her bones.

“Why do you smell like that?” Duncan demanded as he inhaled deeply, desperate for more of that scent.

Her eyes were wide. Darker than the night. “Like what?” Her voice came out as a husky whisper. The kind of whisper a woman used when she was in bed.

“Like honey and sex. Sin. Fucking temptation.” And resisting temptation was becoming harder with every second that passed.

She tried to pull her hand away. “I-I don’t know what you mean.”

Her scent was driving him crazy. His temples began to throb. So did another part of his body.