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his partner. Together they hoisted her into the air, Carlson holding her ankles, while the other held her by one arm.
    Ohmygod, she thought . I’ve failed!
    A cold fear twisted through Raine’s system as the reality of the situation spread over her. Her eyes filled with hot, blistering tears of outrage, while her mind filled with a torrent of strange questions that revolved around McConnell. Would he try to rescue her a second time? Or would he simply wash his hands of her, once and for all?
    The Casus began carrying her down the deserted street, and she screamed so loud she was surprised the glass storefronts lining the road didn’t shatter from the harrowing noise. Her heart raced, beating faster and harder, raw panic searing her veins, and she suddenly found herself throwing the Marker onto the ground. Without the cross in her palm, she was able to release the deadly talons on her right hand, and she lifted her arm over her head, clawing at the Casus’s forearm, trading the cross’s protection for the chance to get free. Dark satisfaction poured through her veins as her fingers sank into his flesh, digging all the way down to the bone, until his hot blood poured over her hand. He roared with fury, releasing her arm, and her upper body crashed to the ground, pain radiating through her skull with the force of a hammer as it cracked against the asphalt.
    The bastard who held her legs—the one named Carlson, who she’d come there to kill—suddenly let them go, and with a low, mocking spill of laughter, he smiled down at her. “You dropped the Marker,” he rumbled, reaching down and undoing the top button on his jeans. “Without its protection, you’re fucking helpless. Just like you were before.”
    Raine was still disoriented from the blow to her head, but she managed to roll over and start crawling. She had no idea where she was trying to go—only knew that she had to get away. She had made it no more than a few feet when there was a sharp tug on her hair, reminding her of every time this asshole had attacked her at Westmore’s compound. Her throat closed with fear as her head was wrenched back, a fresh surge of pain radiating through her skull.
    “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he asked with another low laugh, flinging her onto her back. He came down on her with all his weight, straddling her waist, and she tried to claw at him with her talons, but he backhanded her so hard that she went numb, stars flickering across her vision.
    Then he hit her again, this time with his fist, smashing her lips against her teeth and breaking the skin, the scent of her blood instantly filling the air.
    “Damn,” he groaned, his graveled voice thick with hunger. “You have no idea how good that— oomph! ”
    One second Carlson was sitting on top of her, and in the next he was gone, a furious roar jerking from his chest as something crashed heavily into his body, tackling him to the ground. Scrambling into a sitting position, Raine pushed her hair out of her face just in time to see McConnell pin the Casus facedown against the road, wrench back the hand Carlson had just used to hit her, then twist and torque, breaking his arm so badly that the bone broke clean through the skin. The monster’s howl of pain filled the air, the look on the human’s faceone of dark, violent rage. The other Casus finally pulled himself to his feet, his body shuddering as he began to make the change into his true Casus form, but McConnell grabbed the gun tucked into the back of his jeans and drilled three bullets into the male’s chest.
    Then he lowered the gleaming automatic weapon to the back of Carlson’s skull.
    “No!” Raine screamed, her sharp cry echoing through the night, but she was too late. The shot rang out, silencing the bastard’s howls, his blood flowing out over the road like a dark, inky stain.
    “I can’t believe you did that!” she seethed, watching as McConnell rose to his feet and stalked toward her,