They'd be back. She just had to make certain she was ready for them.
The bones snapped, crunched. The fur melted from his body and the beast that had prowled on four legs slowly stood upright.
Blood dripped in long, slow rivulets down Lucas Simone's shoulder.
The bitch had shot him. With a silver bullet.
The poison was in his body. He could feel it, eating away at him.
He lifted his right hand. The tips of his nails stretched into three-inch-long claws. Clenching his teeth, he drove the claws straight into his wounded shoulder.
His pack gathered around him, heads low, bodies shaking.
The blood poured faster now.
He ripped away the skin, the muscle. Found the bullet. Jerked it from his shoulder.
The silver burned his fingers and he threw it, tossing the bullet far into the night.
In the distance, he could hear the roar of the motorcycle, fading now as the vampire fled.
She hadn't been his prey. He'd wanted the man.
The rules of the game had changed now.
"We find them," he said, his voice ringing loud and clear. The wolves around him stiffened, stared with unblinking eyes. "I don't care how f**king long it takes, but we find them ." There would be no safe place for the vampire and the man.
The wolves began to growl.
He held up his hand. Skin and blood coated his claws. "The vampire is mine." Blood for blood.
The others needed to know the kill would be his.
Only his.
Lucas threw back his head, rage racing through his body, and howled his fury to the night.
Adam drove hard and fast through the city. The motorcycle slid easily into the curves, then shot past the cars and trucks on the highway.
Maya held on tight as they streaked forward. She'd directed him to the busiest part of town deliberately. If they were followed, well, the werewolves would have to take their human form.
Even they wouldn't be stupid enough to risk running around the town as giant, furry wolves.
Hiding in plain sight was one thing.
Terrorizing the humans by charging through the city in full-on shifter mode was a whole different matter.
No, even they wouldn't be that stupid.
She hoped.
"Stop here!" She leaned in close and since he'd never put on his helmet-another human with a death wish-she spoke the words directly into his ear.
He pulled the bike over to the curb. Shut off the engine. They were in the nightclub district, and the streets were jammed with traffic and people partying.
Fancy dresses. Perfect hair. The women were laughing, the men were drinking. Long lines of human bodies circled some of the clubs as the folks waited for their chance to enter the "in" places.
Maya's gaze scanned the street.
Adam's body shifted in front of her, and she eased back automatically, making room for him to climb off the bike. He turned back toward her almost immediately, his features tight. "Where the hell are you hurt?"
She'd almost forgotten about the leg. The throbbing had eased and the skin just felt strangely tight now.
Her hand touched her thigh.
His jaw clenched and he reached for her.
Her hand caught his. "How'd you know I was hurt?" She hadn't said anything to him about the wolf clipping her. There hadn't been a point, really. It was only a matter of time until the injury would heal and she'd be as good as new.
He pushed her hand away. "I could smell your blood." And he sounded incredibly pissed about that fact.
She blinked. For a human, the guy had a well-developed nose. But then, she was becoming increasingly convinced that there was more, much more, to Adam Brody than met the eye.
His hands were on her thigh, jerking an even larger hole in her favorite pair of jeans. They were parked underneath a streetlight and the bright glow easily showed the blood caked on the denim.
Adam swore.
"Ah, Slick. Relax. It's not as bad as it looks."
Another jerk and the hole in her jeans expanded a couple more inches. Then his fingers were on her skin. Warm, strong fingers pressing lightly against her inner thigh.
A shiver of awareness worked its way down her spine.
He knelt before her, his gaze on the wound. Maya swallowed over the sudden dryness in her throat and craned to see over his shoulder. "Really, the wound will heal-"
His head tilted back. "It already has."
No damn way. She was a fast healer, but not that fast. "Impossible." She'd gotten the gash less than an hour ago.
But the skin had already closed. The flesh was a bright pink now, and soon, she knew the hue would fade to her normal too-pale complexion.
Her gaze lifted to his face. She found him watching her with that deep stare of his. His fingers were still on her thigh, moving lightly, almost stroking her. Around them, people brushed by and the sounds of laughter and voices drifted on the wind.
Maya wet her lips. "I shouldn't have-the marks shouldn't have faded so fast." She had to stop thinking about how good the man's hand felt on her and focus on the fact that her body had just done the impossible. Healing in less than an hour's time.
His fingers caressed her flesh once more.
Her ni**les tightened.
Down, girl.
Adam's hand fell away from her as he rose to his feet.
Damn.
"Maybe you're getting stronger," he said, his voice perfectly calm. "Vampires do that, right? Get stronger as they age?"
Not after just five years. But, well, maybe the wound hadn't been as bad as she'd thought. When the wolf's claws had pierced her, she'd thought the flesh ripped open all the way down to the bone.
Perhaps she'd just been confused. A hell of a lot had been going on at the time. The wound could have been shallow and not nearly as deep as she'd feared. Yeah, that was possible.
Screw it. They didn't have time for her to waste worrying over a cut.
Maya swung her left leg over the bike. "We need to get rid of this bike." Fast. "If the wolves put a tracker on us," and they probably had, the bastards, "then he'll be out there now, following the scent."
"The scent?"
Well, not his scent because the man didn't have one-but she did. And the bike did. If they ditched the bike, sent it in another direction, it would buy them time to get out of the city.
Luckily, she knew someone in the area.
She studied the long line of well-dressed men and women waiting to get inside Heaven and Hell, the bar at the end of the block. A glance at her ripped and bloody jeans told her that she wasn't going to be blending well with them.
Then again, she'd never been particularly interested in blending.
She headed for the bar.
Adam's hand caught her wrist. "What did the priestess say?"