Free The Wolf Within by Cynthia Eden Page B

flashing his fangs. “No one’s coming to save you. It’s just you and me, sweets. You…” He leapt toward her and yanked the towel away. His claws sliced down her arm. “And me.”
    She didn’t cry out at the pain. He wanted her to scream and beg. She could see it in his eyes. “You don’t want to…do this.”
    He brought his mouth close to her neck. “I want nothing more. Your scent was in the air, did you know that? In the fuckin’ ventilation. I smelled you all those days.” His teeth raked over her skin.
    She shuddered.
Stay strong. Focus.
    “Why do you smell so good
?”
    He hadn’t changed into a wolf. That meant she had the advantage. His mistake. “You want to know why?” Her fingers lifted and pressed lightly against his shoulders. “Because I’m not human.” Because she had a brew of drugs in her body that had tried to make her some weird mix of human and
vampire.
The drugs had the side effect of sending out that sweet smell. Vampires always smelled good, that was just one of the ways that they lured in their prey. But her scent had been amplified by the drugs. A bad side effect that she’d try to fix.
    “What are you?” Saul demanded.
    Instead of answering, she shoved him back, as hard as she could. He flew through the air, rammed through the doorway, and sent chunks of wood shooting up around him. She ran out after him. She wasn’t sure how her strength would stack up against him, but she’d get the collar’s remote and totally disable him—
    He was already back on his feet. And between her and the nightstand.
    Then he started to laugh. “Aren’t you…full of surprises?”
    Her breath was panting out. Her heart racing too fast.
    And she was naked. Dammit,
naked,
in front of that psycho.
    Her gaze darted to the nightstand.
    “Ah…looking for this, are you?” He lifted the remote from his pocket.
    No.
    “Why don’t you come and get it?”
    Fine. She would. Time to see who was stronger…the beast or, well,
me.
    Holly pushed back her shoulders. Lifted her chin. Then bared her own fangs.
    Saul’s eyes widened.
    “You should have stayed away,” she told him.
    He smiled at her. And crushed the remote in his hand.
    Oh, hell. Holly swallowed, choking back her fear, then she attacked.
    Holly raced across the room. This wasn’t about testing herself. This was survival. Kill or be killed.
    His claws sliced across her stomach. More blood flowed from her.
    No more.
    She grabbed his hands. Held them tight. Then her mouth went for
his
throat.
    Bite. Bite. Bite.
    The temptation that was always in her mind. Only this time, she wasn’t resisting temptation.
    “You fuckin’ bitch, I’ll slice you open, screw you while you bleed—”
    It was his turn to bleed. Her teeth sank into his throat. His blood trickled over her tongue.
    He howled then. A loud, inhuman sound. He tried to shove her off him. They wound up both falling to the floor. She held on tight, not about to let him go. She
couldn’t
let him go.
    His blood was in her mouth. Werewolf blood. Powerful. Heady. The rumors she’d heard were true. She could already feel his blood making her even stronger.
    He rolled, twisted, and came down on top of her. She kicked out at him, even as she kept her teeth in his throat.
    He yanked his hands free from her grip. “Should have known…should have
known
…” His hands closed around her head, and he shoved her skull back against the floor. “
I know what you are.”
    Good for him. She knew what he was, too.
    He lifted one hand. His claws glinted. “I know what you are…so that means I know how to kill you.”
    Hell.
    And, right then, her alarm stopped its wild shriek.
    He smiled. “Ready to die?”
    Again?
“No.” Her chin lifted. “Are you?”

Chapter Five
    He followed Saul’s scent—sweat, animal, fear—back to a small building on the outskirts of the city. From the outside, the place looked like an old fire station. One that someone had converted into a house?
    He inhaled