Shadows continued to threaten her vision, but Zarina ignored them when she saw the big blond man turn his weapon Tanner’s way, trying to line up a shot at him. She scrambled for her lost gun, crawling over Cam as her hands flailed around, searching for it. She found the auto-injector first, scooping that up out of instinct as she kept searching for the revolver.
She felt something hard under her hand and scrambled to pick it up even as the blond man shoved the barrel of his weapon up against the back of Tanner’s head. Even though she knew she was out of time, she got the weapon up, pointed at the man, and squeezed the trigger.
The gun jumped in her hand just before the blond man’s did the same in his. She had no idea where her bullet landed, but his hit the wall right over her head, peppering her with stone fragments and then ricocheting back and forth down the corridor. She flinched hard but kept pulling the trigger until the weapon didn’t fire anymore. She had no idea whether she’d hit anything until the blond man dropped to his knees and then fell forward onto his face with a thud.
Everything was quiet then, except for the horrible ringing in her ears. She wondered if she should reload the revolver when it occurred to her that Tanner wasn’t growling or fighting with Ryan anymore.
She pushed herself into a sitting position and twisted around, fearing the worst. Tanner crouched a few feet away from her, his eyes glowing vivid red. She had to force herself not to flinch. She might love him like crazy, but in the dim light, he looked pretty damn scary.
His fangs were still extended, and his long claws scraped against the floor as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His jeans and bare chest were covered in dark stains that were impossible to mistake for anything other than blood. She searched his red eyes, hoping to see some indication the man she loved was in there somewhere, but all she saw was the beast and the rage.
She looked over his shoulder at the torn and twisted shape lying in the darkness behind him. Ryan was dead. Tanner’s hybrid half had killed him. While she had no doubt the man deserved everything Tanner’s inner animal had done to him and more, she knew Ryan’s death was one more thing that would eat at Tanner for the rest of his life.
Swallowing hard, Zarina slowly placed the revolver as far away from her as she could reach, then carefully push herself up to her knees. Tanner would probably think the auto-injector in her hand was much more dangerous than the gun, but there was no way she could set it aside now, not when he was this far gone. Gaze never leaving his, she slowly crawled toward him, the injector cradled protectively in her palm.
“It’s me…Zarina,” she whispered softly when Tanner growled at her a little. “I want to help you, but you have to trust me. Okay?”
He growled again, but this time, it almost seemed like he understood what she’d said, or at least realized she wasn’t going to hurt him. Zarina prayed that was the case, because she didn’t want to use the antiserum on him. Not without talking to him about it first.
Stopping in front of him, Zarina sat on one hip, then very slowly reached up to gently cup his jaw. He closed his eyes at her touch, giving her hope that everything was going to be okay.
“Are you in there, Tanner?” she asked in a low murmur. “Please be in there. Because I don’t want to give you this drug if I don’t have to.”
He leaned into her touch for a moment, but when he opened his eyes again, they were as scarlet as ever. His fangs and claws were just as terrifyingly extended as before, too. She continued to murmur soft words to him in English and Russian like she had so many times in the past, praying they would soothe the beast inside the man she loved.
But this time, her words seemed to have no effect. Normally, Tanner’s more obvious hybrid attributes would have faded away by now, leaving him exhausted and heartbroken over yet another loss of control. It was like the hybrid had decided it wasn’t going to relinquish control.
As if she needed an example, a loud scream from somewhere in the tunnels reached them, making Tanner’s head jerk around in that direction, a deeper growl rumbling from his throat. Zarina immediately caught his chin with a finger, tugging his face back around so he was looking at her.
“You have to come back to me now, Tanner,” she told him, her voice breaking a little as tears clouded her vision. “Before it’s too late and you do something you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”
Tanner glanced at her, but most of his attention was focused on whoever had screamed, or maybe an errant whiff of blood she’d never be able to pick up. Either way, Zarina knew he could be seconds away from bolting on her. If he ran, a lot of people could die. That was blood Tanner would never want on his hands.
Knowing what she had to do but hating it nonetheless, Zarina lifted her hand and showed him the injector. His eyes sharpened on it immediately.
“This can help you,” she said, more tears coming as she realized this was where they’d been heading for a long time. Maybe even from the very beginning. “It’s the only thing that can help you now, I think.”
Tanner regarded her almost curiously, and she lied to herself,
