“Maybe if you’re a good girl the men waiting for you outside will let me fuck you before they start experimenting on you. Like I didn’t know who the hell they were,” he snorted. “Only Council scientists pay that kind of money for a Breed’s fuck, and they only pay that much for a special kind of fuck.” He threw a tight, cold smile over his shoulder. “A mate. Are you his mate, sugar?”
Malachi would kill him.
Holden wouldn’t make it out of the hotel . . .
The thought was heralded by a howl that seemed to echo through the stairwell, sharp and piercing, filled with rage and the promise of retribution.
Malachi was pissed now.
Isabelle collapsed on the step as Holden paused. “I told you,” she breathed out weakly. “He’s not going to let you leave this hotel with me. Let me go, it will give you a head start. It’s the only chance you have.”
“Move your ass.” He jerked at her wrists again, his hold tightening as he tried to move faster down the stairs while Isabelle fought to slow him down.
It seemed to go on forever, but she knew with every step and every level, she knew they were getting closer to the ground floor.
“How did you know?” she whispered painfully as the weight came down too heavy on her ankle and she nearly fell again. “How did anyone know that I was his mate?”
He rounded on her, pushing her back into the wall, his hand wrapped around her throat as he glared down at her. “I would have worshipped you,” he sneered in her face. “I would have given you anything you wanted, but you fucked that Breed instead. Fucked him and let him knot you like a fucking animal.”
“How did you know?” she asked again, fighting to center her thoughts. There was no way she was going to get out of this if she didn’t find a way to fight past the mind-numbing pain that rolled through her in debilitating waves.
“Stupid,” he muttered, his voice lowering to disgust again. “Mating heat has a scent. They still have some Breeds who know their place and they’re always searching for that scent. Malachi Morgan just so happened to have gotten careless with his mate. And now, she’s gone bye bye,” he laughed as he dragged her back to her feet.
“I don’t think so.”
Isabelle looked over Holden’s shoulder as he froze.
The voice was unfamiliar, lazy, almost amused.
Holden jerked around, his hand going to his belt for the weapon Isabelle had managed to knock out of his hand as he shot Ashley. He hadn’t been able to retrieve it.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
Laughter echoed through the stairwell as Isabelle stared down at the strange sight in bemusement.
He had to be a Breed. A tiger Breed of some sort if the two stripes extending parallel across his face were any indication.
“Did you lose your gun, little man?” the stranger drawled as he reach behind his back and drew his own out. “That’s okay, I have mine.”
Holden’s jaw clenched. His fingers wrapped in her hair and as he began to turn to throw Isabelle down the stairs, a shot rang out.
Blood splattered.
Isabelle stood carefully still, her hands now free and pressed flat against the wall as she let her gaze travel to where Holden was sprawled out on the steps at her feet.
His blue eyes were sightless, lifeless as he stared up in blank horror. The side of his head looked as though it had been peeled back, exposing raw meat and the bare white covering of his skull.
He had never been handsome, Isabelle thought, but he looked better dead than alive.
“You okay?”
Her head jerked around.
Somehow, she must have slid down the wall because the stranger was hunkered in front of her as the sound of voices, loud and enraged could be heard above as the pounding of feet moved down the stairs.
Her eyes dropped to the weapon that dangled casually from his fingers as he rested his wrist on his bent knee.
“Are you going to kill me?” She lifted her gaze again and met the emerald brilliance of his. There was an almost feverish glow to them, as though he were ill and in pain.
“No, I’m not going to kill you,” he said gently, the look in his gaze filled with sadness.
The voices were getting closer. She swore she could hear her name being screamed from above.
“Malachi’s coming,” she told him, though she wasn’t certain if it were a warning.
“Yes, he’s coming.” He nodded, his gaze somber. “When he’s come down from the adrenaline rush, tell him I said our debt is clear now. He saved my life, I saved his mate.”
“You tell him.”
“Isabelle!” Malachi was screaming her name.
As the stranger jumped back, Malachi vaulted over the side of the upper steps as Emma, Rule and Stygian raced down the steps.
He came to a crouch, a vicious snarl tearing past his throat as he faced the other man, his body braced protectively in front of her.
“Easy there, old boy,” the stranger murmured as Malachi growled low in his throat. “Let’s not go feral, hmm?”
“What the hell are you doing here, Gideon?” Malachi snarled furiously.
Gideon. Dark blond hair striped with the prettiest golden brown streaks. It wasn’t colored, it was natural. Emerald green eyes glittered with pain and sadness, but his stance was relaxed, his weapon held down.
Malachi’s gaze dropped to Holden’s body then, sprawled to the side, half his head blown away.
Gideon chuckled. “He thought he was going to sell her to a team of Council soldiers that guessed she was your mate.” Gideon shrugged. “They caught the scent of her last night as they passed your room. You should start using candles when in public, it hides your scent.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Malachi snapped as he tried to figure out whose team Gideon was on. When he had disappeared just after leaving the group Malachi had been a part of, rumor had been that he was pure Council. But, he hadn’t been seen again and until now, Malachi hadn’t known if he was alive or dead.
“You do that,” Gideon nodded. “Until then, pass a message along for me, would you?”
“What message?” Gideon always had a reason for everything he did and an agenda that only he understood.
“Tell Lawe Justice this one was for you alone, not Breeds as a whole or because I’m getting soft or weak. I owe you, even more than this could repay.” He nodded to Isabelle.
Malachi had never felt that Gideon owed him shit, but he was more than willing to accept the debt now.
“What does Lawe have to do with this?” Malachi snapped.
“Because, Gideon’s the Breed we’re searching for, Malachi,” Rule answered for him. “We didn’t want you dragged in the middle, so we didn’t inform you of that fact.”
Gideon’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t know they were searching for me?”
“I didn’t know,” Malachi agreed. “But it doesn’t change anything, Gideon. I took a vow to the Bureau. I won’t break it.”
“And I don’t expect you to.” Gideon nodded. “But after this, Malachi, take your woman from this place. Take her and leave, otherwise, both of you will get drawn in the middle of this battle. And it’s a battle I intend to win.”
“Gideon.” Malachi tried to stop him from running.
Before Malachi could do more than say his name, the other Breed was gone. Just that fast he vaulted over the side of the stairs, made the jump to six landings below, a feat even Malachi wouldn’t have wanted to try, and he was gone.
That didn’t mean Rule wasn’t trying like hell to catch him.
He and Stygian were down the stairs and running hard and fast, but if Malachi knew the other Breed, and he did, then he wouldn’t be caught. Not this time. Not until Gideon was ready.
With the danger to his mate disappearing Malachi twisted around quickly and caught her against his chest. He may have been confronting Gideon, but every sense he possessed had been locked on his mate.