Zane looked up in panic to see five more vampires step onto the dais, the whites of their eyes as black as their irises.
He fought against the cuffs again, ignoring the pain spreading through his chest and stomach, straining his arms until the bones creaked. But other than digging the shackles deeper into his wrists, his struggles did nothing. And he only got weaker as he continued to bleed.
Zane glanced at the dais again to see Stefan shoving his uncle off the stage and into a cluster of vampires waiting for him with open arms. The former chief of police briefly cried in pain as the creatures proceeded to tear him apart. Zane would have considered that to be justice of the most poetic kind if he wasn’t so damn terrified for Alyssa.
Zoe and Chloe screamed in terror as each of the old vampires holding them dragged them closer. The other three women simply stood there, paralyzed with fear.
Alyssa was still trying to get loose, kicking and clawing at Dario like her life depended on it. Dario backhanded her with a snarl of rage.
Zane lost it then, all rational thought disappearing as the woman he loved and who loved him in return hit the floor so hard she bounced. He strained so violently against the cuffs his bones cracked again. Only this time, they didn’t stop cracking until the manacles slid off his wrists.
He grunted in shock when his shoulders hunched forward sharply at the same time his back began to pop and shift, forcing him to stay on the floor when all he wanted to do was run to Alyssa. It was only when his whole body was twisting into a completely different shape that he realized what was happening. He didn’t pause to wonder why it was happening now, considering he’d never come close to a full shift in the entire time he’d been a werewolf. When the transformation was complete, and he was, indeed, a wolf, he made a beeline on his four legs for Alyssa—and the vampire who dared to hurt her.
There was a hiss of pain from the far side of the dais, and he darted a quick look that way to see the vampire who’d bitten Zoe rolling around on the floor, clutching at his smoking face. Everyone was so focused on that they didn’t even see Zane coming until he let loose a snarl that echoed through the theater like a rumble of thunder.
Screams and shouts resounded off the walls as guards moved to intercept Zane. In a blur, he was already running full speed across the room, the claws on his four enormous paws digging into the stone flooring as he launched himself at Dario.
Zane didn’t realize how fast he was moving until he slammed into the vampire and knocked him backward a good ten feet. There was a pop as a bone in Zane’s fur-covered shoulder cracked, but he barely felt it. That was when he realized nothing hurt. Not the multiple gunshot wounds he’d just sustained. Not even the long-suffering wound in his left arm. In fact, he felt better than ever.
Dario rolled to his feet quickly, his clawed hands slashing out and tearing through Zane’s side. It stung, but he quickly discovered his thick fur had limited the damage. He lunged forward again, his teeth chomping down on the vampire’s outstretched arm right down to the bone. The taste was as bad as the smell.
He and Dario danced back and forth so fast Zane knew they were nothing more than blurs of movement as they tore into each other repeatedly. It quickly became apparent that Dario wasn’t interested in a one-on-one fight when he shouted at the guards to open fire, but when the shooting started, it wasn’t aimed in Zane’s direction. Instead, the vampires’ guard force aimed toward the entrance and the eight members of the Dallas SWAT team who came rushing in—Gage and Brooks among them, in their fully shifted wolf forms. Zane’s heart pounded even harder when he saw Christine and four other federal agents on their heels.
The theater filled with screams, shouts, and gunfire, but it was the growls and snarls of Zane and his pack mates that sent the vampires running for the exits, crushing their enthralled servants in the process.
Realizing he wasn’t going to get any help, Dario lunged for Alyssa, maybe thinking he could take her hostage. Zane cut the vampire off before he could reach her. She scrambled to her knees, her wide eyes taking in Zane in his wolf form as well as the chaotic scene around her.
Zane pushed the vampire back toward the rear of the dais with a snarl, the two of them trading more slashes and bites, both of their blood spattering everywhere. Dario screeched in rage and leaped at him, his clawed hands rearing back to tear him apart.
Zane jumped at the same time, his jaws aiming for the vampire’s neck. Dario’s claws embedded themselves deep in the ribs on his left side, but Zane’s teeth found their mark as well, clamping down tightly on the vampire’s neck and sinking in until he felt bone crunch.
Dario tore and slashed at Zane with his claws like a creature possessed. But it did no good as Zane began to shake the vampire back and forth as hard as he could. Dario shrieked, a sound that seemed to paralyze every vampire left in the amphitheater. Zane shook Dario harder, grinding his jaws side to side.
He was actually a little surprised at how easily the vampire’s head came off, but that didn’t make ending the asshole any less satisfying—though he would have given a hundred bucks for a bottle of Listerine right then, so he could wash the revolting taste of Dario’s blood out of his mouth. Well, maybe a bowl of Listerine might work better in his current form.
Zane stopped worrying about bad breath when he realized Alyssa was no longer on the dais with him. Terrified, he looked around and caught a glimpse of her disappearing out one of the theater’s side doors at full speed.
He didn’t stop to think. He just went after her.
Chapter 13
Alyssa wasn’t sure how long she knelt there on the dais and stared at Zane as he fought Dario in his wolf form. When Zane had told her some members of his pack could fully shift into a wolf, she hadn’t been able to really envision what he meant. But she’d never imagined in a million years it would be like this. That he would be this…beautiful.
Beautiful.
That was the only word she had to describe the mesmerizing mix of power, grace, danger…and fur. He had fur! How the hell could he ever have called himself a monster?
A large part of her soul had died when Zane had been shot. He’d been hit multiple times in the chest and stomach at a range of less than five feet. Even as Dario had dragged her back to the stage and the start of the ritual, she’d known there was no way anyone could survive those wounds. Not even a werewolf.
But then she’d looked up and seen a snarling gray wolf the size of a small horse charging across the room, trailing torn pieces of Zane’s clothes behind him, and she’d known without a doubt in her mind that he’d shifted completely to save her.
Movement out of the corner of her eye dragged her attention away from the fight between Zane and Dario. Stefan was slipping out one of the side exits, using Stacie as a human shield against all the bullets flying around. The girl wasn’t even resisting. In fact, she actively put her body between Stefan and any danger even though her eyes were so blank she looked like a zombie.
Alyssa threw a quick glance at Zane. He had Dario by the neck and was shaking him like a rag doll. She was pretty sure that fight was almost done, much to her relief.
She searched for Zoe and Chloe. Jake was herding the twins, Lindsey, and Georgie toward an exit with the help of a huge wolf with dark fur. All around the room, men and women in police tactical gear fought vampires and their human guards. She spotted her FBI teammates as well. Even Christine was there. The place was a complete madhouse. No wonder no one had noticed Stefan leave with the girl.
That made up her mind for her.
