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  Spice, the alpha female of the Vasi pack. Her lips and left eye were swollen. A cut on her forehead bled and had turned her hair from platinum blond to strawberry. Katrina wasn’t sure what to do. Calling nine-one-one wasn’t an option.

  That dirty bastard must have attacked the Vasi. He’d hurt her alpha female. She brushed the hair from Spice’s face.

  Chen remembered Katrina as submissive, but she’d changed during recent years. Let him try to hurt Spice again and discover how feral she could be. Deep inside, she called for her beast. She’d shift and guard her alpha until she woke, then they’d fight their way out of here. She reached deeper, searching…

  Nothing happened.

  She couldn’t sense her beast. Cold claws of panic strangled her. Katrina grasped the metal collar and yanked. Panting, she tried to find her other self, her animal twin. Nothing responded. Empty. Alone. She cried out, a desperate, weak noise echoing in the deserted room, then collapsed to the floor.

  A bitter taste coated her tongue. Silver. He must have made her ingest silver, poisoning the connection. Ever since they’d become legal citizens, it was illegal to incapacitate shifters like this.

  Lying on her back, Katrina stared at the ceiling. Her fingers slipped from the collar. The Vasi would come, if not for her, then for Spice. Katrina curled close to her friend. How would she explain this when Spice woke?

  Life in rural China, in the mountains, was hard even for shifters. They stayed isolated from humans in small villages so they could keep the bloodlines pure. Shifter babies were born human, but they all got turned in their adolescence. She’d never even considered staying human–that option wasn’t available to anyone born in a pack.

  She recalled the day her parents sold her to Chen’s father.

  Pressed against the wall, she curled in a corner of the bedroom. Nothing could jump her from behind and she had a good view of the door. A thick rug lay under her knees, softening the cold, wooden floor. She ran her fingertips over it. Silky and thick. Her birth pack couldn’t afford such luxuries. She’d never even seen a rug until today.

  A large futon lay on the floor at her right. She didn’t hold any false pretenses of her role. Her pack had sold her for breeding. Whoever said beauty was a gift wasn’t born a shifter. It had only given her grief.

  Her parents had delivered her to this strange pack. She knew they weren’t given a choice, but that didn’t ease the betrayal.

  Pack came first.

  She’d be mated to the alpha’s oldest son, Yul. As a child, her friends would whisper stories of soulmates. A shifter tale they wanted to believe. Katrina knew the truth, though. Daughters of pure bloodlines made babies for the highest bidder.

  They provided her with a nice bedroom, a small writing desk and a chair. This was more than she’d had with her pack. Her mate could be a nice man. She didn’t even care about him being handsome. She’d give him babies and maybe he’d fall in love with her. Was this too much to ask?

  The sliding door to her room cracked open.

  She stiffened, unsure what to do next.

  A pair of dark, cold eyes met hers. The hungry stare punctured her soul.

  He slinked into the room. “You’re more beautiful than I expected.”

  “Yul?” She knelt and bowed her head to the floor in submission, as she’d been taught since birth.

  “No, that is my brother.” He whispered as he slid the door closed behind him and locked it. “I am here to save you by making you mine.”

  With a shake of her head, Katrina banished the memory of meeting Chen. Some things were best forgotten.

  Next to her, Spice moaned, then sat bolt upright, ripping out of Katrina’s clasp.

  The sudden movement left Katrina breathless. She couldn’t help being in awe. Her alpha–who’d only been a shifter for less than a year–carried so much power. Sometimes survivors were much stronger than those born to shifter parents.

  “Where the fuck am I?” Spice brushed her blood-matted hair from her face, then pulled at the metal collar around her neck. “What the fuck?” Scrambling to her feet, she stumbled as she struggled with the restraint.

  Katrina watched, too exhausted and frightened to stop her.

  “I–I can’t sense my beast!” She screeched her frustration. It split the air and Katrina’s hearing.

  Covering her ears, she pulled her knees to her chest and curled into a ball. The raw sound reflected her terror. It shattered the bare threads of what courage she had gathered.

  Spice knelt in front of her, panting, then pried her hands from her ears. “What’s happened? The last thing I remember was the sound of a crash at home. I walked out of my bedroom…” She shook her head with a look of concentration. “Nothing else.”

  Chen’s pack must have attacked Sugar’s brownstone. Who had been there during the attack? Katrina clenched her eyes shut. Were any of them left alive? “It’s all my fault.” She rocked back and forth. She never should have run away from Chen. “All my fault, my fault–” A sharp slap stung her cheek.

  Her eyelids popped open and she gazed at her furious alpha. Katrina deserved it. Chen had attacked the Vasi because she’d run away from him. The Vasi had been kind enough to give her a home. Spice should beat her to a pulp. Laying flat on her stomach, she submitted to her.

  “Katrina, snap out of it.” Spice shook her. “Come on, where’s the person who stabbed me in the fucking heart with her claws? I need you.”

  “They’re here because of me.” She moaned, pressing her face to the floor. “I ran away.” She repaid all their kindness with betrayal and pain. Her cramps were a bad sign. Chen’s timing couldn’t be coincidence. God, she didn’t want to bear his pups.

  Spice stroked her hair. “We knew.”

  “I was mated to their alpha.”

  The petting stopped. “We didn’t know that. You were their alpha female?”

  “No, of course not.” She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “Only for breeding purposes. I come from a very pure line of shifters, which is important in China. Things are done differently in the east.”

  “No shit.” Spice helped Katrina to sit facing her. “Why can’t I shift? Is it these collars?”

  Katrina met her alpha’s gaze. She expected contempt, or at least anger, but Spice’s face was pale and she chewed on her bottom lip. “Your beast is still there. It’s a silver-tainted drug they’ve given us, which stops the shift.”

  “How long does it last?” Tearing at the metal collar again.

  “I don’t know.” Katrina grabbed at Spice’s hands as her nails gouged the tender skin of her neck. “Careful. You’re making yourself bleed.” With a tight grip, Katrina pulled her hands away. Her alpha never lost control to fear. To anger, yes, but the terror in her eyes unnerved Katrina.

  “I can’t stand being held captive.”

  She gripped Spice’s hands. No words of comfort came to mind. They’d be lies and Katrina had lied enough for a lifetime.

  The door to their room swung open.

  Both of them jumped and faced their captors.

  Two large Asian males stepped inside, followed by Chen. His presence sucked all the oxygen from the room.

  Katrina cowered. For a fraction of time, her heart stopped beating. The memories she’d thought buried and gone sprung fresh in her mind.

  Being passed around like a whore when she wasn’t in heat. Then during her fertile periods being the focus of Chen’s horrid ideas of intimacy.

  This crazed male had killed his own father and brother to become alpha of his pack as a teenager, before he’d even been made a shifter. To keep his power, he’d taken a huge risk and endured the same fast shifter infection like Spice, getting stabbed in the heart so the virus could seed quicker and root faster.

  She’d been made to witness this ceremony.

  The room shrank and she felt exposed with nowhere to run or hide. She missed Tyler and wanted his warm, reassuring presence, his strength, and his love. But he was better o
ff without a lying, two-timing whore.

  Spice blocked Chen’s direct path to Katrina. “What do you want with us?”

  Chen circled Spice, stepping over the chain connected to her collar.

  Katrina’s stomach rolled with nausea when she recognized his heated interest.

  “So, this is the Vasi’s alpha female.” He tracked a finger down Spice’s arm. “Attractive.”

  She shrugged it off. “What are you doing on our territory?”

  “Taking back what’s mine.” He dismissed Katrina with his hand and eyed Spice from head to foot. “With interest. I’m making an example of your pack. No one steals from me.”

  “They did not steal me. I ran from you.” Katrina stood on shaky legs, facing her demon. Fear gnawed at what little courage she owned and would reduce her to a submissive dog again if she let it. She hated the old Katrina and didn’t want to change back. “They should not be punished for my behavior. They don’t even know anything about my past.”

  Chen grabbed her by the collar and yanked her close. “No matter to me. If you weren’t so pure of blood, I would have slaughtered you on the streets of so-called Chinatown.” He sneered his words into her face, his breath minty and sharp, before tossing her to the floor.

  She hit with a force that rattled her teeth. Leaning on her elbows, she tried to focus her vision on Chen, but three of him loomed over her. She blinked and shook her head.

  Spice shoved him away. “Leave her alone.” Some strength from her beast still present even with the drug, she truly was special among shifters: White of fur, pure of spirit, and vicious like a mother protecting her pups. Spice deserved her title as alpha.

  Katrina narrowed her eyes as she glared at Chen. He didn’t.

  Without effort, Chen spun around Spice and captured her from behind, pinning her arms. He pressed his body against hers so his groin met her ass. “You, my pet, are my prize.”

  Chapter 4

  Sugar’s rapid heartbeat beeped on the hospital monitor. It drove Tyler crazy, sounding like a frightened trapped animal. His beast wanted to hunt the delicate flutter and put an end to it. Sam, another of his roommates, sat in a chair across from him. He stared at nothing, lost in his thoughts.

  Her injuries were so bad she needed a ventilator, which had gotten her a room in the intensive care unit. A long tube extended from her mouth connected to the machine that breathed for her. Matching black eyes almost made her face unrecognizable. Hell, she even had tubes coming from her chest, draining blood.

  The sight had devastated Tyler when he’d first walked in. Now, he kept his eyes from wandering over her, unable to process the anger and frustration the sight caused him. Those emotions fed his beast. The last thing he needed was to shift in public again.

  Bad enough Daedalus would go apeshit when he saw Sugar in this condition. Eric had decided they should wait for news at the hospital and keep the vampire from ripping the medical staff apart. He’d sent Tony to Chinatown to speak with the elders of the community.

  They had no leads to find their mates, so they rallied around the only survivor, the frailest of their small family. Shifters could do a lot of damage to a human, and whoever hit Sugar hadn’t held back.

  Night reflected in the hospital window. Slouching in his hard plastic seat, Tyler watched the flickering light of a plane fly across the sky. The fleeting beacon blinked in time with Sugar’s heartbeat. Life as a shifter was savage. No place for a human. They never should have convinced her to let them into her home.

  Heavy footsteps rang outside the room, announcing Daedalus’s arrival. “Shut up, Eric. I need to see her first, before talking to any healer.” He strode in, followed by their alpha, fury pulsing from his body as he loomed over Sugar’s unmoving form.

  The air grew heavy and Tyler’s throat constricted. He didn’t want to witness this but he couldn’t pull his gaze away from his mentor. The Nosferatu never pushed him to learn how to fight like he did the others. Tyler wanted a quiet life for himself and Katrina. Daedalus respected that wish. What a fool he’d been to refuse the training–his mate could have been sitting next to him instead of in the hands of a monster.

  Reaching out for her, the ancient vampire’s hand hovered over hers for a second before grasping it. “Why is she tied to the bed?” His sharp question wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular.

  Tyler cleared the cobwebs from his throat. “It’s to protect her from accidentally pulling the tube from her throat.” Normally, he’d be tempted to make a joke so everyone could have a laugh. But nothing seemed funny anymore.

  “She might wake up?” Daedalus knelt by the head of her bed, pressing his face on the mattress close to her. The tube kept them apart. With a fingertip, he brushed her cheek, staring at her face as silence strangled the room. Tyler had never seen the vampire so distraught. Breakable.

  Sam lifted his head from between his hands, but didn’t look at Daedalus. “They’re keeping her asleep so she can be comfortable. That’s all the doctor will tell us. We’ve been waiting for you.” Tyler knew Sam blamed himself for Sugar’s injuries. He was her shadow during the day, her protector, his unofficial job in the pack. Her Sigma.

  Brushing a matted curl from Sugar’s face, Daedalus rose to his feet and faced Tyler. “Eric told me Katrina’s old pack is responsible for this. What do you know?”

  The question stabbed Tyler in the gut. He was just as much in the dark as everyone else. Worse, his so-called soulmate had never confided anything in him. He’d wanted to push her to tell him about her past, but they’d found her in such a terrible state that he feared she’d return to her shell again. What an idiot he’d been. “She’s mated to their alpha.”

  The truth hurt more then he’d thought possible.

  Resting a hand on his shoulder, Eric squeezed. “It couldn’t have been a true mating if she ran from him, Tyler.”

  “Why didn’t either of you mention this possible threat?” A visible tick twitched on Daedulus’s cheek. Three werewolves should be able to contain one vampire if he lost it, but he wasn’t a run-of-the-mill bloodsucker. Nosferatu warriors could do some serious damage on a supernatural level.

  “I didn’t know until today.” His voice cracked from the strain of not yelling as he faced off with the Nosferatu who could mash him into pudding if he wanted. “You’re not the only one who wants to find these bastards.” Rage erupted inside Tyler, almost tearing him to pieces.

  God help those shifters when Tyler found them. He would tear out that alpha’s heart and swallow it whole. The wish surprised him. Daedalus, Eric, and Robert were the warriors. Tyler was…well, he was a real estate agent.

  Eric pressed between them and drew Tyler away. “No death wishes tonight.” He whispered as they retreated from the pissed-off Nosferatu.

  A gentle knock on the door broke off their conversation. The woman entering wore a white lab coat. “I’m Dr. Jotan. I’m taking care of Sugar. Which of you is Daedalus Pal Robi?” She glanced at each of them.

  The vampire offered his hand.

  To her credit, Dr. Jotan didn’t flinch at shaking it. She acted as if bald, incredibly pale vampires strolled through the hospital nightly.

  Maybe they did? They were legal citizens. Who’s to say that some of the night staff couldn’t be undead?

  “She’s been seriously injured. Whoever attacked her crushed her chest and broke several of her ribs, bruising her heart.” She led Daedalus to a chair and with a gentle hand guided him to sit. The vampire sank like an anchor. “Sugar’s lucky to have survived the trip to the hospital. At this point, with such a crushing trauma, nothing surgical can be done. We have to wait and see, support her lungs, and let the medicines work.”

  “Will she live? That’s all I need to know.” Daedalus rubbed his chest where his heart didn’t beat.

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry, and I’ll keep you updated with any changes.” She turned to leave.

  “Wait. I have a question.” Tyler stepped forward. “Has anyone test
ed her–” He glanced at Daedalus then at the doctor. “I mean, was she bitten or scratched by the attacking shifters?”

  The vampire’s eyes narrowed while the armrests he held squealed in protest.

  “There are no signs of the lycanthrope virus in her system. She’s still human.” She rested her hand on Daedalus’s shoulder. “If Sugar has any family, they should be called to come to see her.”

  All the warmth vanished from the room. Just the steady beep of the monitor made any noise.

  Rubbing his temples didn’t relieve the growing ache in Tyler’s head. He wanted to hit something, tear things apart, and howl at the sky.

  They were good people. They helped the weak, guarded the humans of Chicago from predators, and lived full lives. What happened to karma? Where were the fairy godmothers to make things right?

  He glanced at Daedalus. The emotional explosion hadn’t happened.

  The Nosferatu pulled his cell phone from his back pocket of his jeans. He scrolled through a screen. “I have a few calls to make.” With those words, he left.

  From the blank expressions on Eric’s and Sam’s faces, Tyler wasn’t the only one surprised.

  “Who the hell could he be calling?” Sam pushed off the chair and paced the room. “He should be staying by her side.”

  Eric scrubbed his hands through his hair. He looked like he shared the same stylist as Albert Einstein. “Not everyone deals with things the same way. Maybe he’s calling another doctor?”

  A phone rang and they all checked their cells. Eric had the call. He spoke quietly, then hung up. “Robert’s with Tony. Someone gave them an address to check out.”

  Hope heralded through Tyler’s body like a wave of warm water. “Let’s go.” He crossed the room and heard Eric tell Sam to stay with Sugar.

  “Where are you going?” Eric caught him at the elevator.

  “I can’t stay here. I’m going with you.” The doors opened and they rode to the lobby.

  Eric leaned against the wall, his head hung low and his shoulders bent. “There’s going to be fighting.”