Triana didn’t flinch. “You might want to rethink that, since you’ll need my help to survive the change. Especially if he has to bite you more than once.”
Lee’s eyes narrowed. “You’re just saying that to save your neck. And his. Why the hell would he need to bite me more than once?”
“This isn’t science, you know,” she shot back. “It’s voodoo magic. If you want to be a werewolf, you’re going to have to keep both of us around.”
Remy finally realized what Triana was doing, and he had to admit, it was brilliant. She’d created a situation where Lee couldn’t kill either of them, not if he wanted to become a werewolf.
As inspired as the deception was, Remy was even more impressed with how convincing Triana sounded. For a woman who’d told him several times she didn’t buy any of this magic stuff, she was doing one hell of a good job selling herself as a voodoo priestess. Even though Remy knew how werewolves worked, he liked Triana’s version better.
Lee looked at the two other men in the hold. “Get me something to stand on.”
When they brought over a wooden crate, Lee stepped up on it and rolled the sleeve of his dress shirt to his elbow, exposing his forearm. “Go ahead and bite me. And when I say let go, you’d better do it or Quinn will take great pleasure in scooping an eye right out of her pretty head.”
Remy only growled in answer. He was tempted to suggest a bite to the neck would work better, but he doubted he’d get Lee to go along with that. He had no idea what was going to happen after he bit Lee, but he prayed Triana had something in that clever head of hers that would get him out of these chains.
Lee glanced at the two men who’d brought over the crate. “Be ready to shoot him if he doesn’t let go.” He shoved his arm in front of Remy’s face. “Well, get on with it.”
Remy eyed Lee for a long moment, then opened his mouth, letting his fangs slowly extend to their full length of an inch and a half. Lee went as pale as a ghost at the sight, but Remy didn’t give him time to change his mind. He clamped his teeth down on Lee’s forearm so hard he hit bone. He’d never bitten a person before, but then again, up until now, he’d never had a desire to. Sinking his teeth into Lee was satisfying as hell, though. The wolf inside wanted out to tear the asshole to pieces.
Remy ignored Lee’s order to stop, immersed in the feeling of a rippling sensation spreading over his body as every muscle spasmed. He had no idea why it was happening, but he was shifting. The only other time he’d managed a full shift, it had hurt like a son of a bitch. This time…not so much.
Little by little, the chains around his chest loosened.
“I said, let the fuck go!” Lee shouted, punching him.
Remy would have ignored him, but then he heard Triana whimper in pain and knew he couldn’t do anything to risk Quinn hurting her. He retracted his fangs and pulled away, resisting the urge to rip Lee’s forearm off.
Lee stumbled off the boxes and over to Triana, holding his bloody arm out to her. “Is this deep enough? You’d better tell me it is because it hurt like hell.”
Triana looked at the wound. “I think so. We’ll only know for sure if you change.”
“When will that be?” he demanded, wrapping his other hand around his arm, trying to stanch the flow of blood.
“It could be a few minutes or a few hours,” she said. “I don’t know.”
“You’d better not be lying to me.” Lee cursed. “Someone get me something to stop the bleeding, and hurry the hell up!”
Remy only half listened as Lee rambled on about how much his arm frigging hurt. He was too busy trying to breathe through the muscle spasms making his whole body shiver. Luckily, Lee’s men were so focused on bandaging his arm they didn’t notice the chains around Remy’s chest slip another inch as his torso tried to morph into its new shape. If he kept shifting, there was a good chance he’d be able to scramble his way out at some point.
Keep distracting them a little while longer, Triana.
He felt the bizarre sensation of fur slowly sprouting on his back, when the sound of gunfire erupted from somewhere outside the ship.
“What the hell is that?” Lee demanded at the same time one of his men yanked out his cell phone and shoved it to his ear.
The man listened for a moment, then his eyes widened. “It’s the cops,” he told Lee as he hung up. “There are at least a half-dozen of them. Looks like SWAT.”
Lee cursed. “Quinn, bring her.” He turned to the other two men. “You come with us,” he said to one of them, then looked at the other. “You shoot him in the head.”
The bastard didn’t hang around to see if everyone followed orders, but instead ran for the exit.
Triana screamed, fighting against Quinn even as Remy struggled against the chain binding him. When it held fast, Remy struggled harder, but that only served to slow down his body’s transformation. He growled in frustration. It took every ounce of willpower to force himself to relax and let his body finish shifting while Quinn wrapped his arms around a struggling Triana and carried her up the metal stairs at the far end of the cargo hold.
Remy hadn’t realized how far his face had shifted until the man Lee had ordered to kill him stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening in fear. He lifted his pistol, trying to aim, but his hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t hold the thing steady. Remy took advantage of that, lunging at the guy with a ferocious snarl.
Scared shitless, the man backpedaled and squeezed the trigger. The bullet zipped past Remy and ricocheted around the hold a few times before thumping into something behind him.
While the man stood there in shock, Remy’s shoulders cracked and popped as he shifted further. A few more seconds and he would be free.
