“Tristan will be here any minute.” Her voice rang with the sound of her half-shift. Her eyes wolf, her body human, his Summer hadn’t returned to herself yet.
“They’re obviously delayed and I’m enjoying myself” He really was. Kendrick was so weak, he still held him by the neck with his right hand. Next to him, Summer sniffed the air.
“You smell like yourself but altered. Did you eat something strange or take some kind of drug?” She had no inflection to her voice. Cullen wondered if in her current state she could feel any emotions. He’d never tried to feel much of anything when he’d been in that dual state himself, his whole focus had been on not vomiting from the influx of extrasensory sensation into his brain.
He tried to focus on what she said and ignore the strangeness in her voice and the sheer joy that holding Kendrick’s life in his hand caused him. His arms and legs tingled while his heart pounded everywhere. He could even feel his pulse in his teeth. He felt wonderful, powerful, unbeatable and eternal. It was like the universe had opened up to him and he finally knew how a shifter was supposed to be. No one could stop him.
When you think those thoughts, I disappear.
What? Whose voice was that? He shook his head. Something was wrong. Kendrick started to laugh. Why was the man laughing? He had him by the throat. He could end his life at any moment.
“That’s right, Cullen Murphy. Feel the anger. It’s extraordinary isn’t it? Claudius is gone but it’s his gift to us.” Kendrick’s voice was strained from the pressure on his neck, his eyes were wide, his pupils huge.
Something Kendrick said rang warning bells in his head. He closed his eyes, not letting go of Kendrick’s neck. What had his former Alpha just said that killed the glorious high he’d just had moments earlier?
The touch of a hand on his arm made him jump and open his eyes. Summer stood before him, her eyes back to their normal gorgeous blue. All trace of the wolf was gone. Why was he relieved?
“Cullen, what’s going on? What’s wrong with you? Your smell is changing more and more every second.” Her voice sounded frantic.
He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. Kendrick’s feet hung off of the floor. It would feel so good to kill him.
“Go ahead, do it.” Kendrick sounded completely sincere. “You’ll just take over where I leave off. My dream will still come to pass.”
“Cullen.” Tristan’s voice had him turning his head to the left. When had the others arrived? He took a quick head count. Nearly the entire pack was in the room with them. How had he not noticed? “Something isn’t right Cullen. Something has been done to you here.” Cullen heard Tristan take an audible breath. “Let my father down. I will finish him and we will fix you. Do it for your mate. I have the feeling that you won’t come back if you don’t.”
“Please.” Summer’s eyes bored into his, sparkling with unshed tears, pleading with him not to lose himself.
Let go.
Claudius had told him he was making him angry with the drug he gave him. He hadn’t exaggerated. Was this what had happened with Kendrick? Had Claudius made him sick? He had no time to dwell on the questions, he needed to make a decision. His legs burned like someone banged on them. Gods, what should he do?
Every pore in his body wanted Cullen dead, screamed at him to do it. He turned his head to stare at Summer. One lone tear fell from her right eye as she blinked the other one away.
“Take him, my Alpha.” Cullen dropped Kendrick. His former Alpha crashed to the floor with a bang.
Tristan leapt from the floor shifting into his wolf form in mid-air, a highly impressive feat Cullen wasn’t sure he himself could have performed, and slammed into his father. The two rolled on the ground, growls emitting from both their throats. Kendrick shifted into his wolf form. Virtually identical in fur and body, it was hard to tell the difference between the two except by scent.
Kendrick smelled sick. Cullen hoped beyond hope that he didn’t emit a scent like that.
The entire pack moved into attack formation, ready to fight for the Alpha. Cullen’s head started to clear and he pulled Summer into his arms. She made a slight sobbing noise and planted a soft kiss into his shoulder blade.
Across the room, he heard Ashlee suck in her breath when Tristan took a hard hit from his father.
A wave of nausea struck him hard and he shivered as he tried not to puke. Whatever they’d pumped into him had almost made him lose his mind and now he was going to go through withdrawal from it. The whole thing seemed very fast but he didn’t have a clue what had been forced into his body. Did Kendrick have to take the stuff every day? Could they save him from it?
Kendrick let out a yowl at a high frequency that seemed out of place for his fight. It wasn’t pain or aggression. What the hell was the devious son-of-a-bitch doing? Cullen jumped down off the table just as ten flying demons swept through the ceiling into the room.
“Oh hell.” Summer shouted.
“Literally.” Cullen pushed her to the ground and covered her with his body. “Everybody down.” There was no time to explain to everyone how to kill the creatures. “Don’t let them touch you with the upper part of their hands, they’ve probably secreted the acid. That’s what happened to Theo.”
His pack mates hit the floor but Tristan continued to fight with his father. The demons encircled the pair. There was no way in hell he was going to let those creatures get his Alpha.
“Stay down.” He hoped Summer heard him as he shifted into his wolf form and leapt into the fight between Kendrick and Tristan.
He bit down on Kendrick and the demons shrieked. A loud, powerful sound that made his ears ring and his head pound. Kendrick snarled and backed up, drool coming out of his mouth.
My Alpha, remove yourself from this. I would not have you hurt by the demons.
Fighting his father was a matter of honor, but Cullen wouldn’t let Tristan be hurt by the creatures Kendrick had let loose on the earth again.
I am not a coward. Cullen could hear that Tristan’s teeth were clenched even in their telepathy.
Farthest thing from it. But this is not a fair fight nor is it the showdown with Kendrick you deserve. Kendrick had stacked the odds. They would have their battle but this was not it. One of the demons swept down and picked up Kendrick, taking him out of reach of the fight at hand. The other demons began to swirl like vultures. They were going to pick the room’s occupants off one by one. Cullen had seen them in this formation before. It was deadly. But Cullen wasn’t afraid as he’d been when he last saw them like this. He’d been young then. Three hundred years had given him know-how and now he was going to use it.
One of the demons let out a roar and Cullen narrowed his eyes. Gabriel, Azriel, Michael, Rex, protect your Alpha. Why did he have to tell these boys to do everything? Had they not been paying attention for the last century?
Gabriel and Michael grabbed Tristan by all four of his legs and dragged him to the door. The string of profanity escaping Tristan telepathically gave Cullen a momentary smile. He looked up at Kendrick, who floated above the room cradled in the arms of one of the demons like a baby.
He leapt up and grabbed Kendrick by the leg. He wasn’t leaving this easily. The man had threatened his life, nearly destroyed the pack, and most importantly had the gall to attempt to kidnap and abuse his mate.
“Cullen, let him go.” Summer’s voice rang through the room.
He shook his head. I can’t Summer. It has to end here.
“You cannot beat me, Cullen. I am eternal.”