TWENTY-EIGHT
He has her .
Pain surges up each vertebrae of my spine until it reaches the hairs lifting on my neck.
Viktor has Courtney.
She’s not at one of the transport houses Nik is going to.
No.
Not unless they decided to paint the walls of each house red.
I recognize it in an instant.
Behind Courtney’s frightened face in the picture is an arterial palette I saw my first night at Volk.
Veronica Tate.
I remember the way blond hair swayed behind her every time she looked over her shoulder at me with a satisfied smirk and an arched eyebrow.
I win , she was probably thinking.
Now, I know she couldn’t have been more wrong.
Volk is a hunting ground for our pack.
She strutted into that room, and unbeknownst to her, was quite literally thrown to the wolves.
I’d never wish that for anyone, even Veronica of all people. But it isn’t her picture on my phone. It’s Courtney. And if I don’t do something fast …
who knows what Viktor will do to her?
I stand from the couch, carefully balancing on the pads of my feet.
The floor creaks but is no louder than the rest of the noise in the apartment.
I could be shifting on the couch, after all.
No cause for alarm to the man with his head tilted against the wall and a crossbow in his hands.
At least, I hope it isn’t.
If I end up with a silver arrow in my chest, this will all have been for nothing.
I should wake him up.
I should tell him what’s happened.
It’s the sensible thing to do.
Surely, I’ve seen more than enough movies to know this is nothing more than a trap to get me alone.
Then, I look at the message again, the bright screen of my phone illuminating the near black room.
Come alone or she dies.
If Dimitri or Nik show up to Volk, Courtney will die before they get through the front doors.
Fuck, he was inches away from ripping me apart tonight until Nikolai stopped him. Can he stop his brother from slashing out her throat in time? I’m not so sure he can. And am I really willing to risk her to find out?
No.
Not a fucking chance.
I take small steps toward the doorway, easing across the wooden floors until the silver-tipped arrows glint off my phone light.
They aren’t in an organized stack but seemingly tossed into the uneven pile chaotically.
I grab the closest arrow within reach, praying it won’t disrupt its brothers and sisters, and let the cool metal ease against the hot skin of my arm.
Nothing.
The room is as still as before.
Maybe more so when the AC cuts off, leaving a dry taste in the air.
I ease out the breath I want to sigh and tiptoe to the counter, eyes fixed on a set of keys near the duffel bag.
This is a bad idea.
A very fucking bad idea. Viktor is using Courtney to lure me out of this safe house. He knows Nik would’ve planned for this. That Dimitri, his closest friend, will also fight if it means helping him protect me. But this isn’t about me, anymore. It’s about Courtney, and I would gladly die if it means saving my closest friend … even if I have to march into the Vostik hunting grounds myself. And as I stare out at the bright building across the street, the lights illuminate a string of purple petals resting on the windowsill.
*
There’s no paparazzi waiting for celebrities.
No line wrapping around a block if not two.
Not a single bouncer waiting outside the abandoned club with spotlights still shining to the looming clouds overhead.
It’s utterly vacant.
A stark contrast to the Club Volk I left tonight.
I was in danger. I was at risk. And now, I am willing to do whatever I can to make sure Courtney doesn’t take my place. She shouldn’t have to pay for what I brought into my life. The things that howl when the moon is full. This is my doing, and I’ll be damned if these fucking wolves think they can have her.
Trudging up the carpeted steps, I keep the point of the arrow in my fingertips while the long wooden shaft rests against my forearm hidden from view.
Each step screams fire in my thighs but I don’t relent.
No.
I keep ascending the staircase to the front doors, my sights set on the small amount of light breaking through the cracks.
I have a plan.
It’s not foolproof by any means. Shit, it might even be suicidal. But it’s all I could think of when I crawled out Dimitri’s window to the fire escape, my knees dusted with the remnants of wolfsbane.
I tug on the door handle, and instead of being greeted by locks, it opens freely, echoing into the hall of the club.
Trash litters the ground.
An array of cocktail napkins, confetti, and things sure to be tossed in a lost and found bin.
The most overpowering sensation about being in here, about being in Volk, is the sheer silence.
No footsteps.
No crew cleaning up the mess after a sold-out night.
It’s still.
Quiet.
Only the eerie sound of my footsteps bouncing off each wall.
I stare up at Nikolai’s loft for a moment, hoping—pleading he’s up there and will come down those steps.
But the hatch remains sealed.
And in that moment, I know for certain that I am truly alone.
He’s not going to save me from this.
I am the only one that can stop Courtney from paying for my sins.
My crime of falling for someone so cursed.
“Viktor!” I shout, still gripping the silver arrow in my palm.
Despite screaming his name with sheer confidence, there’s an underlying fear pounding at my insides like a hammer.
I have to face him.
I have to stand against Nikolai’s brother if it means getting Courtney out of this alive.
I take a deep breath and cry his name again, “Viktor!”
Volk is as silent as before.
There’s no music.
No crowd lined up at the bar shouting drink orders.
Nothing.
Simply static and my own heartbeat thumping viciously in my ears.
“Viktor Vostik!”
The red room door swivels open inch by horrible inch, slowly lurching back until it smacks against the wall behind it.
The lights are off inside, but the bloodied walls are unmistakable.
Trash flitters around the threshold, a small gust leaving the opening as if the room itself can breathe.
I clench my fists, one of which pierces my fingertips with sharp silver.
I have to do this.
Courtney is in there. I. Have. To. Do. This.
When I take my first step in, copper invades my nostrils.
The overwhelming stench of filthy pennies and … something else.
Raw flesh.
I can’t see what slickens my shoes but I don’t dare use the flashlight of my phone to find out.
There are chains bound into the red cement walls, some even holding claw marks thick enough to show the gray plaster hidden beneath.
This is where they take them. The cattle they deem ready for slaughter. People brought into this VIP area only to find out they are the next Vostik family meal. Vomit heaves up my throat, and I swallow it down in one uncomfortable gasp.
“Natalia …”
A singsong voice comes from around the corner.
It’s thick.
Sinister.
Worst of all, deadly.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Natalia …”
His ragged voice dampens behind the thumping in my ears, each heartbeat sending blood pulsing to my trembling limbs.
Around this corner is something I’m not so sure I’ll come back from.
My life, whether I’m cut down here or thrown into some van for transport to the Vostik estate, is about to change forever.
And it isn’t until I hear a familiar whimper that I will my body forward.
“There she is,” Viktor says, his eyes glowing in the dark of the red room.
The lights flip on, a string of fluorescents dangling from the ceiling.
“Right on time.”
Horror twists my face as I stare at Viktor, my mouth losing slack.
He’s not alone.
No, he’s standing behind someone, his impressive claw readied at her throat.
His nails have already broken the first layer of skin, leaving blood to trickle along Courtney’s small neck and down her sternum.
“Natalie,” she gasps, and he digs his claws deeper.
“What is happening?”
No.
No, no, no.
This can’t be real.
I won’t let this happen to her.
Tears roll down Courtney’s cheeks as quickly as new pearls of blood stream down her chest and dress.
There are slash marks cutting the fabric along her torso. She might’ve put up a fight, maybe she even got a few good shots in. But she is no match for the wolf standing alarmingly close to her back.
If I take another step, she dies.
If I run away … she dies.
I stare at her, wishing I could say all of the things I’ve ever thought to myself, all the love I have for her out loud.
Panic fills her bloodshot eyes, and the monster keeping her steady seems to enjoy the absolute terror on both of our faces.
“It’s going to be okay, Court,” I say softly and nod.
“He doesn’t want you.”
Viktor smiles wide, his grin sadistic and ravenous.
“Yes, Court .
I don’t want you.”
My heart rate doesn’t spike, but sputters erratically.
The scalding temperature of the room does little to melt the ice building in each limb.
Those eyes.
Those haunting fucking eyes dim a shade darker than I’ve ever seen.
“You,” he whispers in her ear loud enough for me to hear, his hellish gaze never leaving mine.
“Have proven useful.”
“Let her go, Viktor,” I demand through clenched teeth.
He glances at Courtney for a moment as if he considers it, then directs his gray glare to my hand hiding the arrow, my bobbing neck, and finally, my wide, terrified eyes.
“I could,” he says, his grip on her noticeably loosening.
“But how else is my big brother going to learn?”
“Learn what?” I stare at him with conviction.
A hideous grin spreads Viktor Vostik’s face.
His canines grow to sharp points.
Each of his pupils expand until the whites vanish in pure, unsettling blackness.
“That I am the next alpha, and—” He pauses, his voice becoming menacing and distorted “—he.
Can’t.
Fucking. Save. Anyone. ” He claws through the first meaty layer of her neck, leaving blood to spew around the ivory cartilage dangling from her slashed throat.
Horrified screams rip from my lungs, the sounds unrecognizable as I watch a fountain of scarlet spit from her shredded cavity.
Courtney wrenches open her mouth to scream too but nothing comes out, only a choked gasp fleeing her breathless lips.
And where her blood makes its final splash are on the floors of the red room, I take notice.
I watch the way her fluids mix in with stale flesh, and the nauseating chunks of human remains.
Her fresh blood swims toward me, an arterial surf of gushing, bubbly red.
Her body flails forward, a lifeless plunge with eyes as glassy and vacant as a doll’s.
Courtney.
My best friend.
The only person I can ever truly count on, slumps forward, landing at a contorted angle with her immovable limbs sprawled to the sides.
Blood continues to spill from her gaping neck, finding home at the soles of my shoes.
This isn’t happening.
This isn’t fucking happening.
Tears sting my eyes, blurring the disgusting red walls around me.
She doesn’t move.
No, she doesn’t even claw at the floor for purchase.
Courtney simply lays there, her head cocked to one disturbing side while her arms and legs remain stuck at an impossible angle.
She’s gone.
My friend. My best fucking friend is dead, and what’s left of her is painting the ground at my feet. More tears make their escape. Tears and an undeniable sensation of rage.
“No!” I scream, and rush forward, brandishing the arrow hidden in my fingertips.
The heart.
I have to strike him in his heart.
Raising my arm high, I take aim, ready to slam the silver pointed tip into Viktor’s large chest.
I close in on him.
Arching my clenched hand to the spot I’m certain will put this animal out of its misery.
End the horrible things he’s done and still intends to do.
Nik can’t save me now.
Dimitri can’t either.
I have to do the impossible. What Lenny’s book deemed a fool’s errand. I have to kill this werewolf if I want to make it out of the red room alive.
“Ahh,” I scream and slam the arrow forward.
Viktor grabs me by the wrist, the silver edge stopping mere inches from him.
I push forward with all of my strength, praying to whatever god will hear me to have this arrow strike true.
No.
Viktor raises my hand above my head and lifts me in the air with frightening ease.
I kick for solid ground to no avail, dangling at least a foot above the blood-soaked floors.
He grins wickedly, even laughs, wafting the rancid stench of death in my face.
This is it.
The worst-case scenario that played in my mind on repeat the moment I decided to come here. A collage of images, each one ending with my mutilated corpse.
But there’s something I know that Viktor doesn’t.
Dimitri was thorough when safeguarding his apartment.
He spent the better part of an hour spreading these little flowers at every point of entry.
I found it odd, of course.
How could something so small help keep me safe?
“It’s poisonous to them,” Dimitri said when crushing the petals in his large fist and scrubbing each windowsill like it was a cleaning solution.
His home was werewolf proofed after that, and luckily enough for me, there was more than enough left over to pocket on my way out.
Wolfsbane.
I slam my other palm in his face, dragging the small purple flowers along his forehead.
His cheeks. His chin.
Large scorch marks hiss on his skin, the sound reminiscent of a frying pan.
A low-guttural howl escapes him, and he drops me to the floor.
I nearly lose the arrow in the fall but manage to keep a hold of it and find firm footing.
This is it.
I raise my hand again, the sharp silver tip shining off the fluorescents.
This is for Courtney. I thrust the arrow at him like a spear, giving every ounce of strength I can muster.
It lands.
The arrow finds home in his large shoulder, and more horrible shrieks resonate throughout Club Volk.
Black liquid spews from the wound in spurts, and each of his tendons strain around the gaping hole.
“Careful, Viktor,” I say scornfully, digging the arrow as deep as I can.
“You are no use to me if you can’t stand!”
The large man falters, doubling over as his knees splash in the bloody floors.
I pull out the arrow and take aim once again, this time making sure I won’t miss his heart, if Viktor Vostik does indeed have one.
I steady my arm, fighting against the exhaustion setting in.
One well-placed strike and this will all be over.
One final plunge.
I pant and lift the arrow high, ready to send this beast back to the hell he crawled out of.
Thick vibrations hum in the red room.
Each set of chains in the walls clank together, adding an eerie chime of metal to the background.
There’s something sinister building, and as I glance down at Viktor, prepared to drive this arrow through him, I feel every drop of blood drain from my face. No.
The sound, the vibrations … are coming from him.
Baring his teeth, they grow sharp and jagged.
His once-pained expression turns fatal.
Deadly.
Something isn’t right.
Fleshy canyons trail up Viktor’s nose when he snarls, leading to his low and furious brow.
The flesh of his body begins to melt away, leaving only dark tufts of black fur beneath it. He’s— God, no. There’s no full moon tonight. There’s no way he can be transforming. But … he is. If I hadn’t seen a shift happen already, I wouldn’t think this is possible. Then, I remember Nik. How his limbs cracked and twisted. How his human body practically dissolved like he was dipped in acid. Viktor’s turning.
He’s turning into a werewolf.
Before I can stab the arrow into him again, the man shifting into a monstrosity knocks me back.
The air rips from my lungs, and I land at the far corner of the room.
My head bashes against the wall, dimming everything around me but Viktor taking his true, horrifying form.
The lights above us sway as he slashes off what remains of his human self, the last ounce of skin splashing in Courtney’s blood.
It howls.
A deafening sound plaguing what must be the entire city.
A roar loud enough to throb in my rib cage.
And as I inch backward, fighting the panic seizing my chest, two murderous eyes fix on me.
One.
Two.
Three merciless stomps in my direction.
The ground shudders beneath its clawed feet.
A low snarl.
Saliva oozing down each side of its jaw.
Long, pointed ears nearly scraping the fifteen-foot ceiling.
This creature stalks toward me, fur as black as charcoal.
Gnarled hands unclenching to reveal razor-sharp nails on each human-like finger. The worst thing I see are those large, soulless eyes reflecting my own unimaginable horror. A small image of me cradling my knees to my chest in the fetal position.
This is it.
Just how I imagined it to end the moment I took those fucking car keys.
No one is coming.
Not Dimitri.
Not Nik.
Here I am, staring up at death in its purest form. The real monster of the Vostik pack. And all I can manage to do is watch with fresh tears staining my cheeks.
Then the monster reaches for my throat.