Page 18 of Act of Command

He remembered what Duke had been like when the bloodlust had taken hold of him, leaving him stuck in shifted form as he tried to kill anything that neared him. There had been a moment when Duke had thought Mercy was dead. It had sent him into that crazed state and the only one who had been able to bring him back was Mercy. The stunt, while earning Duke the Asshole of the Week Award that the men playfully gave one another, had scared the team. They’d worried they’d be left no choice but to cage Duke in his wolf form for eternity or to put him down, as he wasn’t safe to others.

Fear crawled into the back of Corbin’s mind. Would he lose control and need to be caged or killed? Would he go too far? Already he was struggling to stay in command of his own body. He could see himself getting lost to the lion’s emotions, to the lion itself. He knew it then—he’d easily fall over the edge and into the abyss of bloodlust if Mae was harmed.

The self-revelation wasn’t exactly causing the warm and fuzzies to spread through him. Rather, a newfound sense of panic took hold of him, doing nothing to help his control issues.

“Get it together, Jones,” he said, glancing in the rearview mirror, instantly noting his eyes were that of his lion’s. “Or this is going to end poorly.”

Soon, he was able to smell the scents of the ocean, and the pull deep within intensified tenfold. He did a hard right and followed the pull, thrusting the accelerator to the floor as he did. When the feeling within him reached critical mass, Corbin whipped the SUV off the road and into an abandoned lot. Overpasses were close, the street lamps there providing only a small amount of illumination. He could hear the sounds of water and knew he was close to it. He also heard something else, the muffled sounds of men talking. He caught their scent and recognized it. They’d been at the university in the parking lot, near the black van.

“Can’t believe Caesar sent us out here to do a sweep of the area. I think he’s fucking cracking under Felix’s pressure,” said one man.

“I think he has the hots for that new number we brought in a couple of weeks back,” replied another man, setting Corbin’s teeth on edge. He held no doubt the man was referencing Mae. Every instinct in him said as much. The smart move would have been to slink away into the darkened area, locate the source of the voices, survey them and then find the best way to Mae.

Unfortunately, Corbin’s shifter side didn’t give a fuck about doing the smart thing. Lifting his hands, he glanced down as fur coated them once more. His upper arms thickened to the point his shirt tore and split, the sound was one of the last things he made full sense of.

He charged at the men, and when he came upon them the smell of their fear filled his nostrils, driving him onward. Each was a supernatural in their own right, yet they knew who the alpha was. Nature made sure they caught on to the fact right away. Corbin roared, at one with his beast. He seized hold of one of the men’s throats and lifted him high off the ground. Through partially shifted teeth and mouth, he spoke. “Where is she?

The man beat at Corbin’s forearm, fighting for air Corbin would not give him. The other man leapt on Corbin’s back as if that would do anything to stop him. All it did was piss him off more. With a quick twist, Corbin flung the man free from his back and tossed the one he’d had by the throat as if he were nothing more than a ragdoll. He turned, focusing on the man nearest him now. This one had flaming red hair, cut close to his head, his beady green gaze narrowed on Corbin. A challenge flickered in the man’s eyes.

If it was a fight the man was after, it was a fight he’d get. Corbin stalked towards him, closing the gap between them, knowing he looked like a monster. It took an enormous amount of control to cling to a form that was between man and fully shifted lion. For the moment, it felt as if he could hold the in-between form forever and a day.

“Where is Mae?” demanded Corbin once more, snapping his jaws at the man.

The redhead shook his head, holding up his hands before glancing to the side, a calculated smile curving his lips. Pain lanced Corbin’s torso as the man he’d tossed moments before rammed a hunting knife into his side and tore downwards, ripping Corbin open. The wound was deep, but Corbin’s burning desire to find his woman ran deeper.

Through eyes of the lion, he looked down at the knife sticking out from his side. Reason told him to leave it to avoid blood loss, but reason was no longer guiding his actions. Pure rage was. He plucked the knife free from his body without so much as flinching and stared at the man who had stabbed him. “Bad form. Was that supposed to stop me?”

The man wet himself.

They were all cowards.

Corbin threw the knife at him, hitting him between the eyes. He went down quickly, and Corbin knew he wouldn’t be getting up again. He turned, only to find the redhead had run off.

Catching the coward’s scent, he gave chase, following the man, the thrill of the hunt exciting his lion more and more. He sprang up and over a dump truck, vaulting it as if it wasn’t even there. As he landed, he caught the redhead’s scent again, this time stronger. Corbin pursued the man. The moment he came around the corner of another truck, he found additional men descending upon him. He made short work of several, but more kept coming.

They shot him full of darts, and while he knew what that meant—he was on borrowed time before he’d succumb to sleep—his lion didn’t care. It had one focus—get to Mae. It pushed him onward. He fought with the men, slowing little by little as they shot him with more and more darts. Everything around him began to spin as he fell to one knee, still partially shifted.

“What the fuck does this guy eat for breakfast?” one shouted.

“I didn’t think he was ever going down.”

“Load him in the truck. We’ll take him to Felix.”

Chapter Eight

Mae came awake with a start and clutched her chest, her heart racing. There was a thumping from the other side of the room and it took her a moment to realize the noise was Brad at the window, hitting it. She fumbled for her glasses and put them on, bringing Brad into focus.

“Mae?” he asked, worry in his voice. “Are you okay?”

Confused, she glanced around and then took a calming breath when she realized she’d had a nightmare. “I had a bad dream. Woke up and turns out, I’m actually living a nightmare.”

Brad offered a warm look. “I understand. Want to talk about it?”

She put her feet on the cold floor, but stayed seated on the bed. Her heart was still going a mile a minute and she didn’t trust that she wouldn’t pass out if she stood too quickly. “There was a man in it.” She thought harder on her dream. It had been the blond man from campus. “Oddly enough, I dreamt of a guy I only saw briefly and from afar the night I was taken.”

Brad simply watched her from the window.

She continued, “He was searching for me. He knew I was being held against my will. But he was going the wrong way.”

---