Declan returned his gaze to Epoc, a slow grin stretching his lips “Actually, Epoc, I think it’shernameyou’llbe cursing.”And he transformed.
The very second Regan snapped her leg up and stamped her heel down hard on Epoc’s foot.
Regan stumbled away, staring dumbstruck at the sight before her.Declan, or rather, the great, grey wolf he’d become, slammed into Epoc, front paws thumping against the smaller man’s chest with an audible crunch.Epoc fell backward, stunned disbelief on his face.He staggered once under Declan’s weight before, with a shudder and an ear-shattering growl, transforming into a black wolf larger than a buffalo.
The two animals snapped and tore at each other, saliva and blood splattering their muzzles and thrashing bodies.Epoc’s bulk dwarfed Declan’s, but Declan was quicker.Each time Epoc lashed out at Declan’s neck, Declan whipped it away, flinging the wolf off him and snapping at its exposed belly.
Frozen to the spot, Regan watched.The icy sting of Epoc’s hypodermic radiated up into her head and she pressed her hand to her neck.He hadn’t injected her—she didn’t think—but her neck hurt like hell from the needle’s brutal puncture.A small trickle of blood seeped from the tiny wound, probably caused by the needle’s abrupt withdrawal when he’d jerked away from her.It was nothing however, compared to the bloody gashes and gouges the two werewolves inflicted on each other now.
Howls and snarls rent the air.Turned the room into an aural nightmare.
Declan pinned Epoc to the floor, front paws driving into his shoulders, muzzle clamped shut on his throat.He thrashed his head side-to-side, fresh blood spurting past his fangs and curled lips, staining his fur a dark crimson.
Regan’s heart hammered.Declan was winning.Holy shit, he was?—
Epoc growled, gold eyes wide, bulging.He bucked wildly, his massive bulk dislodging Declan in a sickening pitch that hurled him through the air.Flinging him, spine first, against the solid corner post on the bed.
“Declan!”Regan screamed, leaping forward.
“The suffering I will cause you!”
At the roared words, she spun about and her blood ran cold.
Epoc—humanEpoc—stalked toward Declan’s prone form, sweat and blood slicking his naked body, muscles coiled and ready to attack, the syringe he’d pressed to her neck back in his hand.
“Declan!”Regan screamed again.
With a grunt, the grey wolf lifted its head from the floor and twin silver eyes locked on her.A ripple ran through its body and, before she could blink, it transformed back into a man.Back into Declan.
The very second Epoc launched himself through the air and thumped down upon him.
“Finally,” Epoc snarled, and plunged the needle straight into Declan’s neck.
A howl, louder than the shattering of an iceberg, tore from Declan’s throat.
Regan cried out, slapping her hands to her ears.Oh, God!What had Epoc done to him?Terrified, she watched him snap into a violent arc, head thrown back, arms flung wide, hurling Epoc from his body and across the room.He leapt to his feet and spun about, glaring at the man struggling to stand on the other side of the room.“No, Epoc,” he growled, stalking toward him, fists clenched, eyes burning.“It isIthat will makeyousuffer.”
“How can you be moving?”Epoc cried, shrinking back into the wall, his face draining of all color.
Declan lips parted in a deadly grin.“Easy.”And then a spasm rocked his body and he collapsed to the floor.
“Interesting.”Epoc straightened, all sign of his horrified disbelief gone.Crossing the room, he stopped at Declan’s side and gazed down at him.“A delayed response toPlumbago zeylanica.”He lifted his foot and slammed it down on Declan’s chest, grinding his heel into the weeping wound near Declan’s heart.“I’ve never seen that before.It had an instant affect on you in Dublin.Interesting.”
Regan leapt forward, anger and fear roaring through her veins.
An insane gold stare snapped to her.“Come any closer, cunt, and I’ll rip O’Connell’s arms and legs off right here and now.Plumbago zeylanica, or White Leadwort, if you prefer, is a paralyzer—of sorts—and there’s nothing he could do to stop me doing so.”He gave her a malevolent grin, canines crimson with saliva and blood.“Or save you, for that matter.”
Regan faltered, staring hard at Declan.His gaze locked on her, wide and anxious.
Don’t.
Only one word.Whispered in her mind.But it kept her still.
Epoc smirked.“Smart girl.What a pity you’re just a human.Intelligent, feisty and entirely fuckable.A rare find.It will be almost a waste to kill you.”He dropped his gaze to Declan, ground his heel harder to his chest.“I have longed for this day for centuries,Onchú.You truly have no idea how much.The night your clan—yourancestor—took Aine’s life, my beautiful, sweet, gentle Aine, your own life was forfeit.Before you were even born, you were dead.With the extraction of yourcroí, not only will I fulfill a promise I made to my lifemate’s departed soul, I will becomemorethan any of our kind ever dreamed, in all the millennia of our existence.Once that happens, the true lycanthrope war will begin.AndIwill be the sole victor.”
“Sole fuckwit, you mean,” Declan muttered, voice choked and barely audible.
Epoc’s eyebrows shot up.“You can still talk?”
