He flexed his hand, much like he’d done with the exercise ball.
His head swam with memories of Liberty as a child, hiding under his desk, scared to come out, her face sliced wide open. Of the pain she’d been in.
Rage consumed him as his promise long ago to kill every person responsible for her being harmed came back to him, filling him with adrenaline. His bear jerked awake fully, hungry for blood—for vengeance and for its mate.
Fur sprouted over his forearm and hand a second before claws emerged from his fingertips. The bear continued to take control and Rurik let it.
Fuck the consequences.
Fuck if he needed to be chained and locked away for everyone’s safety later.
Fuck if he never turned into a man again.
Liberty was all that mattered. There was no way in hell he was letting Pavel harm her again.
He snarled.
“Shit, look!” shouted one of the men.
Several of them leapt on Rurik’s back, trying to keep him pinned to the ground.
Blind rage rooted deep in his belly. Roaring, he came up off the floor, taking the men with him as he did. He knocked them away and stood there a second as fur sprouted over his upper chest. His mouth and jaw began to shift as well. He knew what he looked like. That he was now a cross between a man and a bear.
A monster.
The men around him regained their footing quickly but not fast enough.
Rurik swiped his clawed hand out, catching one by the throat. He brought a foot up, kicking the man in the chest, spinning him so the blood sprayed onto his buddy just as Rurik spun and took that one’s head clean off.
The remaining two men shared a look that said they were not about to come at him head on. They were going to take the coward’s way out.
They lifted their weapons as Rurik dove at one, his other arm and hand shifting forms as well. His back pinched slightly before it began to partially shift forms into a bear. He plunged a hand through the protective vest of the man—as if it was nothing more than a thin shirt, rather than bulletproof—and then right through his body.
Wrapping his hand around the asshole’s heart, Rurik locked gazes with the man, watching as the realization of what was occurring came over the asshole’s face.
The bear wanted Rurik to bite the man’s throat out. To sink his teeth into the enemy’s most vulnerable spot, savoring victory. It slammed at him from within, wanting the thought to become a reality.
Rurik restrained it as best he could, knowing all too well that giving in to a demand such as that could leave him shifting fully and getting stuck that way. While he was fine with sacrificing himself to save his mate, the longer he could hold off the pending changeover, the better.
Rurik opted instead to take the man’s heart. The action would satisfy the bear’s appetite for death. No supernatural that Rurik was aware of could survive losing their heart. The bastard had made his choice, aligning with the enemy, and daring to come after Liberty. He was getting off easy as far as Rurik and his bear were concerned.
Rurik jerked his arm back, taking the man’s still-beating organ with him. He held the heart up for the man to see in the few seconds he lived.
Using the man’s body as a shield, he went at the remaining man as the guy fired at him. He tossed the heart in one direction and the dead body in another before he made short work of the last bad guy.
When he was done, the bedroom was bathed in blood, as was he. He didn’t bother trying to cage his beast as he rushed out of the bedroom, following the scent of his mate.
He made it to the top of the staircase and was greeted by more hybrids. They swarmed him, but he didn’t back down. He seized one by the throat, lifting him off his feet before he threw him at the others, knocking them down the steps.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Liberty blinked awake and found herself bound and gagged with tape in the back end of a van. The back doors were open and male voices came from just outside the vehicle.
“Pavel’s plan was to take her to the warehouse. We’re just supposed to cut her and leave enough blood here for Romanov to think she’s been seriously hurt. But The Corporation wants her as unharmed as possible,” said one of the men.
“I know what Pavel said.” As the woman spoke, Liberty tensed. She knew that voice. It belonged to the reporter. “I’m telling you to do something different. You’ve all seen him. You know what The Corporation thinks of him. Do you really think he’s in charge of this mission?”
Silence greeted her.
“Do you?” she demanded, her voice rising in pitch.
“No,” said the men all at once.
“Who the hell handled everything with those nosy professors from the university here?” she asked.
“You did,” replied several of the men.
“And who kept you from being killed in Savannah like so many others, during Pavel’s failed attempt at destroying Romanov?” asked the woman, her tone mocking.
“You,” they answered.
“What are you going to do with her?” asked one of the men.
The reporter laughed, sounding like she was off her rocker. She had to be if she was involved in whatever was happening. “Libs and I have a history.”
Libs?
Only her friends called her that. The reporter was anything but a friend.
“Don’t we, Libs?” asked the reporter as she stepped into view.
Two men moved in behind her, as if closing ranks. They were armed to the teeth and dressed in tactical gear. The eyes of one were familiar. It was then she remembered he’d been the one to knock her out.
“How is she alert?” he asked. “It’s not even been ten minutes yet since we gave her a dose. Pavel said it would keep her knocked out for at least thirty.
