I draw in a breath, let his words flow through me and out of me.
My child.Must think of my child.
My child will not be the son of a killer.
My child will be the son of an alpha lycan and a vampire princess.
I turn my back on Richard and meet Rogan’s gaze.“Take me out of here.Please.”
He touches my cheek, and the tenderness in his caress nearly melts me.So much of me feels so much of him.How can it all be a lie?
“Princess,” he says, “I would if I could.”
I jerk away from him, and his hand falls back to his side.
“I told you,” he continues, “that I know very little about the ether.And I sure as hell don’t know how to get out of here.”
I rub my hands over my forehead.Outside the walls, the demons are laughing, howling, making noises I have no description for.
“A portal,” I say, remembering.“There’s a portal in your bedroom closet.At the penthouse.”
“Princess—”
“It’s got to be here somewhere, Rogan.We just have to find it.”
25
Victor
Hannah grabs my hand.
How do I tell her there’s no portal?That I don’t know what she’s talking about?
I must do something—must get Hannah and my child out of this place before she does what the demons want her to do and kills her stepfather.
She won’t be able to live with herself.
She thinks she will, but she won’t.
I need to get her to safety, and then I must return to the war—which is where this asshole demon king should be as well.
No wonder the demons want to mutiny.
I have more power in wolf form, so?—
I open my mouth, let out a human howl as my jaw snaps.
I’m used to the change, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an agonizing process.
I clutch my chest as searing pain courses through my body.My bones crack and shift beneath my skin and contort into different shapes.My fingers shorten while my nails sharpen into claws.My jaw extends, and my teeth become razor sharp.My muscles morph from human to canine.
Inside me, my internal organs shift, stretching while at the same time shortening.My heartbeat quickens, accelerating to an inhuman rhythm.My lungs expand, yearning for the taste of the night air.My gut twists and churns, becoming carnivore instead of omnivore.
Then the nose.
The worst and most painful part.Always.No matter how many times I shift.
My human nose twists and elongates as the bones shifts beneath the skin.Everything inside me stretches, tugs, and then…