Howl For It
Page 66

Kayla had realized the truth. After all Lyle had said, she had to know it now.
Dammit, he hated this. She shouldnt look broken. Broken wasnt his Kayla. Strong. Fierce. That was her. Not this lost shell. She looked like shed just lost everything. She hadnt. Didnt she see that?
Gage caught her arms. Pulled her close. When he cut you, he knew. Sometimes, wolves could recognize potential mates from a scent, just like the bastard had said. But if blood was involved, oh, yeah, that recognition level amped way the hell up.
Blood always tells.
Knew what? A faint line was between her brows. That Im some predestined wolf mate? Thats bull
Now a little spark was coming back. He didnt want a spark. He wanted a raging inferno. Theres nothing predestined about it. Certain people are genetic matches for shifters. Its DNA, not a merging of the souls. Some human females could carry a hybrid shifter. Some couldnt. Science.
But women like her were getting more rare each day. Had that been the reason Lyle first attacked her? Maybe hed thought her mother was a match, but then hed found an easier target just waiting there in the house for him.
He wont kill you. Gage said it with certainty. His fingers flexed against her skin. Soft. Weak. Human.
He wont get the chance, Kayla snarled right back and even though it looked like tears might be glistening in her eyes, her voice cut better than any shifters claws. Good. Ill take his heart first, then shove it right down that bastards throat.
Ah . . . inferno. There was the woman he wanted.
Only if you beat me to the attack, Gage said. She wouldnt. Now, sweetheart, its time for us to get the hell out of here. Because while Lyle might not actually carry through on his threat to kill Kayla, the guy would no doubt get off on hurting her.
Wont happen.
Or maybe Lyle would just kill her brother.
And shell break then.
Gage wouldnt let her break.
There were whispers about wolves in the paranormal circles. Of all the supernaturals out there, the wolf shifters were the most unstable. The most given to insanity. Unless they had the security and the strength of a pack, their primal natures could take over with dangerous consequences.
Wolves werent meant to be alone.
But Lyle was.
And from what Gage had seen, Lyle was most definitely psychotic. The sooner he was dead, the better.
Lyle walked slowly down the hallway. He didnt glance back at the holding cell. There was no point in looking back.
There never was.
Kayla knew the truth about him now. Good. He was getting rather tired of hiding himself.
A hunter passed andnodded his head toward Lyle. Lyles back teeth clenched. They were all getting on his nerves.
Years . . . years hed spent playing attack dog for Uncle Sam. Being the federal governments bitch.
At first, hed hunted alone. So much darkness. So much blood.
Sir. Another hunter slid by him. This one even gave him some dumbass salute. A new recruit sent up from some boot camp in the South. Did this look like the fucking military?
Lyle turned a corner and stalked into his office. He slammed the door, and realized his hands were shaking.
The wolf inside wanted out. Hed denied the beast for too long. He needed to hunt. To kill.
Not to hide in some dank hole in the ground. Not to stand back while the blood flowed.
He liked the blood too much to just stand back. Liked the kills. The screams . . .
Kaylas mother had screamed. So sweetly. Shed screamed and begged, and so had Kayla. The beast had loved their cries.
The beast had wanted to rip Kayla open, and hed slashed with his claws. That night, hed known only blind rage and bloodlust, until hed caught the sweet scent in the air. Until the beast had realized that Kayla Kincaid wasnt just prey. She was something more.
Something far more precious.
The man had pulled back the beast. Stopped the slaughter. Of course, it had been too late then. Her parents had been dead. Her brother barely breathing. And Kaylashed been terrified.
Lyle paced to his desk. Sat down heavily in the chair, then looked down at the claws that had burst from his fingertips.
A slip. He was having more and more of them lately. If he wasnt careful, the hunters would all learn the truth about him.
He clenched his hands into fists and his claws cut right through his skin.
The beast wanted out.
And the man was just tired of fighting him. Lyle knew he was . . . different. Too savage. Too twisted. Hed always known. But hed tried to channel that bloodlust, to use ithed hunted his own kind. Tracked the deadliest paranormals.
But they werent enough.
Sometimes, innocent blood just tasted sweeter.
His teeth were lengthening. His bones starting to pop.
No, no, he couldnt shift now. He had to hold on just a bit longer. He had a job to do.
A pack to destroy.
The wolves in Vegas thought they were so smart. Banding together. Growing stronger. Wolves didnt face the risk of insanity when they were in a pack.
The pack is strength. A stupid wolf mantra his parents had told him long ago . . . before theyd been killed by the government. The same government that had taken Lyle in and made him into the monster he was.
The pack is life. Did Gage recite that same bullshit?