Twilight Hunter

A large lump lodged in Frankie’s throat. “Allsun, I’m so sorry. I know this is going to hurt, but I have to get your skin off this iron. If your head stays where it is, the metal will eat completely through your skin until it reaches your skull. I can’t let that happen.”

Inhaling a steadying breath, Frankie hoisted Allsun’s body off the metal floor. The sound was disgusting, like peeling an old bumper sticker from a used car. Allsun’s screams vibrated through Frankie’s head as if someone had shoved a tuning fork inside her ear.

In one quick swoop, she had Allsun off the floor and sitting in her lap. The other woman weighed practically nothing, but her blood poured onto Frankie, staining her white tank top a deep crimson. Allsun screamed and writhed in Frankie’s arms.

“Shh. Shh. Allsun, it’s okay. It’s okay.” She gripped her friend tightly around the middle to hold her still. She couldn’t let her touch the iron again. “We’ll be out of here soon. I promise.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” The voice came from the other side of the room.

Frankie looked up as Allsun’s screams started to fade to groans and her bleeding slowed. Leaning against one of the warehouse walls, Robert stared at her with unrelenting, cold eyes.

Frankie scoffed. “A cage, huh?”

A smirk crept across his face. “You like it? I thought it was very fitting.”

She snorted as if she’d never heard of anything more ridiculous—anything to piss him off. Anger made people sloppy, and sloppiness meant a better chance for them to escape. “You’re really subtle with your insults, aren’t you?”

He frowned. “Laugh if you want, but you’re the one locked up like the bitch that you are. You’re nothing more than live bait.”

Frankie stroked Allsun’s hair, trying to calm her panic. “What do you mean? You have me trapped. What else do you need now? Why don’t you just kill us already?”

“My, my, don’t we have a large ego.” He moved away from the wall and stalked toward the cage. “Don’t flatter yourself, packmaster. You’ve never been my target. It’s your hunter I want.”

Her stomach dropped. “What do you want with Jace?”

He grinned as if he were a cat who’d just swallowed a large canary. “To kill him, of course.”

It took everything Frankie had to hold back her anger and remain still for Allsun’s sake. “What about ransacking my apartment, kidnapping me? What does that have to do with Jace?”

He chuckled and kneeled next to the cage. If he moved any closer to the bars, she thought, she could speed-shift and slip her muzzle through the opening. She would have liked nothing more than to rip his face off with her teeth.

“You must be even less intelligent than you appear. Let me spell it out for you.” He pointed to himself, then her. “I kidnap you, which leads Jace straight to me. He won’t be able to resist saving you.”

“And Allsun? What about her? She’s not involved in any of this.”

Allsun stirred. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse from screaming. “To lure you here,” she said in a near whisper. “Only it didn’t work.”

“The troll’s smarter than she appears.”

“I’m not a troll,” Allsun said. “I’m Fae.” She winced as she said it, but her voice remained strong.

Robert ignored her comment and stood again. “When you didn’t come for her, I took a more...direct approach. There’s no question. He’ll be here.”

Frankie swallowed down the bile burning the back of her throat. Jace wasn’t involved. He hadn’t betrayed her. Her heart thumped in her chest, its pace quickly increasing until she was near panic. She’d hurt him. She’d told him that she didn’t love him, called him a liar, and all the time he’d been telling the truth.

But he was still a Skinwalker.

Frankie’s head spun. Had he really not known? Had he really thought he was part werewolf? Could anyone have faked the inability to shift as well as he had? Why had she not believed him?

Silently, she cursed herself for acting on stupid impressions, on following a gut fear rather than facing the fact that even though the man she loved shared something in common with her parents’ murderer, it meant nothing.

Frankie growled. “Jace is going to tear you to shreds.”

Robert laughed as if she’d told his favorite joke, the kind that never gets old. “Don’t fool yourself, packmaster. Do you think Jace can match my strength? My speed? My abilities?”

Frankie didn’t say a word. She clamped her mouth shut, but a smug grin spread across her lips.

A fire lit behind Robert’s eyes as his anger melted his icy shield. He marched to the cage and kicked one of the bars. “Tell me what you know.”

She stared him in the face, challenging him to give it his best shot.

When she didn’t respond, he snatched a key from his back pocket and unlocked the door to the cage, his knife pointed straight at her. “Get out.”

She didn’t move.

Robert let out a deep-throated growl. “Get out. Now. Before I get my gun and plant a silver bullet in the middle of your forehead.”

Frankie shook her head. “You can’t kill me. You need me as bait to get Jace here.”

He chuckled. “That’s where you’re wrong. You see, as soon as Jace finds the little note I left him, written in some of the delicious blood from that neck of yours, he’ll come here ready for a fight. Your death will only cause him more pain. Why wouldn’t I want that?” He brandished the knife. “The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is so I can kill you and fuck you right in front of him.” He smiled, and it was a look of pure evil.

A chill ran down Frankie’s spine. Every animal instinct in her body screamed for her to run, but she couldn’t. She had to listen to him, if not for the sake of her own survival, then for Allsun’s.

“Let my friend out of the cage, too. I’ll get out if she comes with me.”

Robert eyed her for a moment, sizing her up as a potential opponent. “One at a time. Her first.” He nodded to Allsun.

Allsun groaned, her body lying limp in Frankie’s lap. Frankie gripped her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. “Allsun. Allsun, you have to get up. We have to get out of here.”

Allsun let out another moan and rolled her head to the side. Her eyes flickered open, and she stared at Frankie. “I can’t.”

“You have to. The longer you’re near this iron, the weaker you’ll get.” Frankie placed a hand on her friend’s cheek. “You can do this.”

“This is all very touching, but I suggest you hurry the fuck up.” Robert’s voice rose as his impatience grew.

“Allsun, get up. You can do it. Do it for David.”

Allsun inhaled sharply. Her whole body language changed, as if she’d found a new resolve. Frankie helped lift her onto her feet. Stumbling, back bent so she didn’t hit her head, Allsun escaped the iron enclosure.

Robert grabbed her by the arm and drew her into his body. He held the knife to her throat, then nodded at Frankie. “Stay,” he commanded, as if she were a dog. He kicked the cage door closed, and the lock snapped shut automatically.

“Hey!” Frankie screamed. She crawled on all fours toward the door, then moved to stand. If she could charge at the lock with all the fury she could muster, maybe she could break it open.

Robert held the knife tighter to Allsun’s throat, but all his focus was on Frankie. “Don’t get up.”

She put her hands up in surrender and sank back down to the floor. “I thought you wanted me to come out?”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Robert’s eyes remained on Frankie even when he leaned his mouth down to Allsun’s ear. “You first.” He backed away, dragging Allsun with him.

“What are you going to do to her?” Frankie yelled. She slammed her fists against the bars. The pounding rattled the inside of her skull.

Robert maneuvered Allsun several feet away, where a pair of shackles hung from the end of a chain that had been haphazardly attached to the ceiling.

“Let her go!” Frankie shouted. She barely recognized the voice as her own from the panic in her tone.