Tension snaked through the room, charging the silence as I dug with my other hand to produce one of the spare bullets—pure silver. I held it out to Cliff in an open palm.
“Just a precaution.” I narrowed my eyes slightly, as though maybe I could discernsomethingthat would prove this wasn’t my best friend. But his impatient moss-green eyes, the slightly tousled edge to his short hair, the clench in his jaw—it was all utterlyCliff.
“You think I’m a shifter?”
“Just touch the silver.” My voice was low and level.Bracing.
He sighed. “Sure. Fine. I’ll give you a goddamn handjob on the way if you want, but let’smove.”
“Now, Cliff.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Cliff barked. “For all we know, Lee’s trying to pit us against each other for a bigger score. What, if he says he sees a goddamn guardian angel, you gonna start looking for that, too?”
With a metallicsnick, I removed the safety from my pistol.
“Fucking touch it!” I shouted.
Cliff balked in the doorway, nostrils flaring as he glared between us, shifting foot to foot. His hand tightened on his rifle, and I swore I caught him glance toward the loading bay like he might charge right past us if he could be quick enough.
His refusal was deafening.
And then, Cliff’s expression twisted into a cruel, derisive sneer as he looked past me at Lee. “What kind of a freak knows fabrics like that?”
His gravelly voice was still the same, but it held a smooth venom I didn’t recognize, the cadence off.
A chill went down my spine. Lee was right. Where was therealCliff? And Sylvia?
I squeezed the trigger, but the shifter was already moving, charging into me like a bull before I could aim a second shot. He slammed me into the wall with inhuman strength, the pistol flying from my hand as a gilded frame painfully cut between my shoulder blades. I crumpled onto my side, the air fully knocked out of me.
Cliff’s face, but definitely not his strength.Fucking shapeshifters.I was lucky not to have a fractured spine.
As I struggled to regain my senses, the shifter rounded on Lee. Through ringing ears, I caught clipped shouts, a struggle, Lee’s strangled protest. A fierce, sickening blow. Cliff’s doppelganger knelt over Lee, zip-tying his hands behind his back on the floor. Before he withdrew, he took special care to remove the iron cuff on Lee's wrist, tucking it into his pocket.
“Eros will be glad to have this back,” the shapeshifter said, every syllable dripping with Cliff’s reckless charisma. He patted Lee’s cheek coarsely. “See, an animal would just snap your neck, Rhodes. They even gave me the green light to do it, you know. Says a lot about your worth despite your reputation, doesn’t it?” His gaze slid back to me, glittering with intrigue that verged on mania. “But I enjoy being a part of something bigger. The purpose of it. Your bodies can be used for many things for this grand plan.”
Shit. He could have ended us both with that rifle the moment he spotted us. To a creature like him, a weapon like that was little more than a performance prop.
It was impossible to overpower a shapeshifter with bare hands.Silver.I needed silver. My pistol was five feet across the floor. I lunged for it on hands and knees, clawing it back into my grasp. As I staggered back onto my feet, I was grateful that those guards had thought to prepare for the event with silver bullets. I had six rounds left in the chamber by my estimate. Six chances to get through that tough skin and end this imposter here and now.
But when the shifter turned to face me, my finger hesitated on the trigger.
It was my best friend.
A wicked smirk crawled onto the shifter’s face. He was well aware of my turmoil and taking full advantage. “Problem?” he drawled.
Hearing Cliff’s stolen voice again was enough to sever the taut thread in my chest. I pointed the barrel of my pistol at his heart and squeezed the trigger. The shapeshifter dodged, then charged for me with a cold, singular focus.
I fired another shot, this one clipping his thigh and making him stumble. The shifter groaned, his stride faltering as blood bloomed through the fabric.
Now.I had to move while he’d lost momentum.
Four shots left. I closed the space between us, clubbing him over the head with the gun to daze him further. I thrust the barrel against his neck and—
The shifter bared his teeth, bashing his forehead against mine with inhuman strength. Spots flew into my vision, and the pistol was torn from my hand and tossed aside.
I landed on my back beside Lee, the air utterly knocked from my lungs. I was reminded why Ifucking hatedfightingshapeshifters. Nearly as strong as vampires, and chatty psychos to boot. Groaning, I locked eyes blearily with Lee, who looked more terrified than I’d thought possible for the smug bastard.
“You’re doing great,” he panted.
