Desire Unchained (20 page)

laugh, and she turned to him, her smile innocent and flirty all at once, and Shade wanted to barge

in there and crack open the bastard’s skull.

“Fucking Roag,” he snarled. “Man, I want to make him bleed.”

“We all do.”

“Really?” Shade whipped his head around. “Do you really? Because you and Roag were

always tight. You never saw the bad in him.”

Eidolon blinked a couple of times, as if he couldn’t believe Shade had said that, and yeah,

that was a low blow.

“Hey,” Shade muttered, “I’m sorry. I’m frustrated. And pissed. I shouldn’t be a

werewolf, I shouldn’t be bonded, and Skulk shouldn’t be dead. Oh, and my neck burns.”

Frowning, E brought his fingers to Shade’s throat. “
S’genesis
. It’s coming. Any minute

now.”

Naturally. He rubbed his eyes, wondering how he’d backed right up to a cliff edge so

quickly.

Rotating lights on the walls began to flash, and the faint warble of ambulance sirens sent

a jolt of adrenaline surging through Shade’s veins. It never failed to amaze him how, when E

first proposed building a hospital, Shade had resisted, having no desire to help anyone. But he’d

quickly grown addicted to the excitement, the rush that came with every emergency.

He knew Eidolon was feeling the same thing, would be jonesing to sprint to the ER and

take command of whatever was going to be exploding through the doors.

Shade scrubbed his palm over his face. “I need to get back to work.”

“You sure?”

“It’ll take my mind off things. Besides, who knows how my poor ambulances were being

treated while I was gone?” He couldn’t leave Runa alone, though, not when it would be so easy

for her to run away. “Runa can ride along on the ambulance runs.”

“As long as you think you can handle it.”

“I’ll work on the new duty schedule tomorrow and start runs as soon as the full moon

phase is over.”

The lab door opened, and Runa stood there, looking adorable and lost, and he wanted to

drag her into his arms and hold her. He was in so. Much. Trouble.

“Frank said I’m done.”

Frank
. Not
the lab technician
. Or Mr. Williams. Frank.

This raging jealousy was not good.

Eidolon knew, clapped a hand on Shade’s shoulder. “It’ll get easier.”

“Whatever,” he mumbled. “You heading home?” When E nodded, Shade added, “You’re

sure Wraith’s okay.”

“For now. Kynan is keeping an eye on him.”

“Kynan Morgan, right?” Runa asked.

Eidolon cocked a brow. “You know him?”

Runa bit her lip in that way she did that made Shade want to kiss her. “My brother knows

him. I thought I recognized him earlier. From pictures,” she added hastily.

“He was the doc working on Wraith.” Shade grabbed her hand, hating that she was

asking about the man. “Back to the cave.” Because the way he was behaving, he belonged in a

fucking cave. He might as well take her by the hair and drag her there. To top it off, his skin had

begun to tingle and stretch, and he had a feeling he was about to go canine.

“I’d like to run some more tests,” Eidolon said, falling back into doctor mode. “An MRI,

a bone marrow aspiration—”

“Bro, we stay much longer and you’ll need to send her to a vet clinic for all that.” Shade

glanced at Runa. “We’re going to hit the cafeteria on the way out.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Did you notice the demon species on staff? They all have unique diets. Which includes

raw meat.”

She wrinkled her nose. “So you keep …”

“Not live animals. But we’ve got a walk-in fridge full of carcasses.” Her expression of

disgust made him smile. “You eat raw meat three nights a month and you’re offended by our

cafeteria?”

“It’s not like I
want
to eat raw meat. Trust me, if I could cure the lycanthropy, I would.”

She glanced at Eidolon. “Do you think there’s a chance, at least, that Shade could be cured?”

She wasn’t supposed to care, and that she did made Shade’s heart bleed. “He’ll do his

best,” he ground out, and tugged her toward the cafeteria. To Eidolon he said, “If you learn

anything from the tests, ring me. And let me know if you get any leads on Roag.”

“I will.

“Be careful, Shade. Be really careful,” Eidolon said, but he wasn’t talking about Roag.

He was talking about Runa.

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The cafeteria was like nothing Runa had ever seen. Strange, foul odors mingled with

familiar, spicy scents that made Runa’s stomach both turn and growl with hunger.

The tables and benches appeared to be made of massive slabs of granite, and a pit, maybe

five feet deep and forty by forty feet in size, took up one corner of the cavernous room. Three

demons of unidentifiable species were in the pit, tearing something apart with their teeth and

claws. Around them, a half-dozen smaller creatures, grotesque, spiderlike things the size of

Chihuahuas, were snapping up scraps.

Runa shuddered and clutched Shade’s hand a little harder. “I hope those things aren’t

employees.”

“The big ones are patients. The others are cleaners.”

One of the demons, a green, winged, man-sized thing, turned to look at her, and she

nearly froze at the intensity of the evil in its gaze. Except, it really didn’t have a gaze, since it had no eyes.

Shade barked something to the creature in a language she didn’t know, and it snarled, but

it went back to crunching bones between its sharklike teeth.

“Don’t antagonize the patients,” he said to her, but she didn’t have time to protest,

because they stopped at a table where a pretty black-and-blue-haired woman in scrubs sat alone,

reading a mystery novel and sipping coffee from a mug stained with her black lipstick.

“Gem,” Shade said, and the woman looked up. “This is Runa. Keep an eye on her for a

minute. No one is to lay a finger on her.”

He didn’t wait for a reply, simply strode off with the arrogance of someone who knew

damned good and well he wouldn’t be disobeyed. Annoyance and appreciation warred as she

watched him walk away, all silent menace in his black leather and boots.

The female he’d called Gem stuck her pierced tongue out at him and then gestured to the

bench across from her. “Have a seat. You must be Shade’s—” she glanced at Runa’s bare arm

and broke off. “Or not.”

“I am,” Runa sighed. “I just don’t have the marks yet. Shade’s brother is trying to figure

out why that is.” She watched Gem take a sip from her cup. “Smells like a Kona-Colombian

blend.”

Gem’s pierced brow shot up. “Wow. You’re good.”

“I used to own a coffee shop.”

Pushing aside the mug, Gem gazed longingly at the lunch line. “I’d love you forever if

you taught these morons how to brew a decent pot of coffee.”

“Brewing bad coffee should be a crime,” Runa said, smiling. She liked this woman. “So,

are you a doctor here? Are you human?” She bit her lip. “Was that a rude question?”

“Not at all.” Gem slipped a bookmark between the pages of her paperback and put it

aside. “I’m a doctor. And I’m half human. Eidolon’s mate, Tayla, is my sister. I’m sure you’ll

meet her soon. She can help you figure out what to expect from the bond—and from Shade.”

Runa stared across the table at the Goth doctor, wishing she wasn’t such a stranger to this

world. A stranger to Shade. “How well do you know him?”

“I’ve known him for years, but honestly, I don’t
know
him that well. He’s a great

paramedic, can run the hospital as well as Eidolon, but when it comes to his personal life, he’s

pretty tight-lipped.” Gem lowered her voice. “You love him, don’t you?”

“We hardly know each other,” Runa said, which wasn’t an answer. “I mean, we dated

before … sort of. But I caught him with these—” She closed her eyes and blew out a breath.

“I’m babbling.”

“Yeah, you are.” Gem grinned. “But you’re allowed. You’re in love.” Gem’s smile

turned sad. “But he barely knows you exist, right?”

“Something like that,” Runa said softly. She watched a red-skinned nurse walk by on her

way to the food counter, where two human-looking servers dished up unidentifiable hot meals.

“But I don’t love him.”

“Whatever.” Gem rolled her eyes, making the silver and ruby-jeweled piercing in her

eyebrow climb up her forehead. “But girl, you’ve got scars that run deep, and they have nothing

to do with Shade.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Runa said, even though she did. Shade’s betrayal a year

ago had cut her deeply, but truthfully, she’d come to understand the situation, even if it still hurt.

But that wasn’t what the other woman was talking about, and Runa knew it.

Gem’s green eyes glowed with an eerie luminosity. “Shade can heal them, but only if you

let him. Only if you trust him.”

Utterly absorbed in Gem’s words, Runa jumped when Shade’s hand came down on her

shoulder. In his other hand, he held a burlap sack.

“Let’s go.” He jabbed a finger at Gem. “Mind your own business and keep your

Shredder-shit to yourself.”

Gem stood. “I’m going to let that go because I know a lot has happened to you.” She

swept up her book. “But don’t forget that I can see your scars, too, and the path you’re on will

give you a lot more.”

“You’re out of line.” Shade’s voice cut through the low-level buzz in the cafeteria,

drawing a tense silence. Even the demons in the pit grew still.

The Goth doctor locked gazes with him, as if she wanted to press the issue, but the flat

black of Shade’s eyes promised zero tolerance. “I know what I see, Shade.” She swept out of the

room, a blur of black and blue and silver piercings.

With the way Shade had tensed up, Runa expected to hear a string of blistering curses

from him, but he surprised her by saying mildly, “Come on.”

She didn’t move. “What’s ‘Shredder-shit’?”

“Gem is half Soulshredder. They can see weakness, scars, and exploit them. Let’s go.”

“Wait. What path was she talking about?”

“Nothing, dammit. Now, were you wanting to grow fur here in the hospital or back at the

cave?”

“Nothing?”

“Runa, let it go. You don’t want to know. Trust me.”

God help her, she wanted to trust him, wanted to know that at least one person besides

her brother cared about her.

She looked at him, at the demon she was bonded to. His eyes were narrowed into dark,

dangerous slits, and his expression was as hard and unyielding as his body.

Yes, God help her.

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Shade was not in a good mood when they arrived back at his cave. Runa tried talking to

him, but his responses amounted to grunts and the occasional snappish yes or no.

He strode straight to the bedroom-slash-torture-chamber and hung the bag of what she

assumed was meat from a hook on the ceiling.

She wasn’t about to ask what else he had hung from there. Still, she crossed her arms

over her chest and nodded at the equipment hanging neatly, arranged by type and size, from the walls. “Tell me about all of this.”

Shade shook his head, the soft whisper of his hair brushing against his jacket collar

joining the eerie squeak of the meat hook swinging back and forth. This was the strangest

situation she’d ever been in, and when you worked for the U.S. Army’s paranormal unit, strange

situations were a daily deal.

The thought made her flush with guilt. Shade had been distant, not entirely open with her

about everything, including what happened in this room, but she’d been keeping secrets, too, like

how much the Army knew about his hospital, and why she’d truly come to New York.

And what the heck was she going to do once the full moon was over and she had to go

back to work? Shade wasn’t going to let her walk away, but she wasn’t about to give up the job

she’d grown to love so he could keep her prisoner in his cave.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Runa, you don’t
want
to know.”

“You keep saying that, and I’m sick of it,” she said, jamming her fists on her hips. “I’m

not a docile little mouse anymore, buddy, and I want answers. Now.”

Shade cursed, ran his hands through his hair over and over as he paced. She tore her gaze

away from him, mainly to give him time to compose himself, because he seemed to be on the

verge of exploding out of his skin.

So she stared at the walls, where the rows of whips, canes, and bondage equipment hung.

Bottles and jars lined a shelf, alongside gloves and masks, and even some less-threatening toys

such as feathers. God, how many females had he brought here? And what did he do with them?

“Shade? Do you force them?” Her gut tore up at the question, mainly because she was

afraid of the answer.

“No.” He swung around, his eyes so fierce she actually recoiled a little. “Never. I choose

females who demand it. Who need it.”

“What do you mean, need it?”

He began to pace again, his long legs eating up the length of the bedroom in fewer than a

dozen strides. “Remember that first time at your coffee shop? I told you I could sense your

need.”

The memory of what they’d done in the alley made her flush hot. “That was sex. I can’t

imagine anyone
needing
to be beaten.”

“They need to be liberated. I sense all sexual needs, including the need to be released.”

Okay, now things were getting weird. Well, weird
er
. “Released? From … life?”