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“It’s just a scratch.” From some very big claws. Her head turned. She met his gaze. “They attacked just after dawn.” If they’d come sooner, she would have been able to fight back more.
    He nodded, immediately understanding what she couldn’t say with so many others close by.
    “How did they get in?” Holly whispered. The facility
should
have been secure. “The guards outside—”
    “Are dead.” Flat, but emotion blazed in his eyes. “Slaughtered. These wolves came here because…fuck, I think they tracked
him
.” The him in question…well, Pate was staring at Duncan.
    Duncan’s head turned toward them. She knew he’d heard what Pate had just said. With his enhanced werewolf hearing, the guy could probably hear a pin dropping to the floor.
    But why would the werewolves come for Duncan? Why—
    Saul was still smiling.
    Her eyes narrowed on him. She marched toward him, aware of throbbing in her arm from the werewolf attack. “Tell us what’s happening here,” she demanded. Because the guards inside were dead. The ones outside were dead. And the whole mess was nothing more than a
bloodbath.
    Saul kept grinning. She felt like giving the jerk something to grin about.
If it wasn’t dawn
…
    And then…Duncan let out a low howl. He tossed his head back and started to shift. The sound of the transformation was horrible. Muscles seemed to rip and tear. Bones broke. Snapped back together. His body contorted, and she had to lock down every muscle in her body so that she wouldn’t run to him and try to help.
    Because there was no help that she could give, and if she got too close during the shift, Holly knew he might attack her. Wolves lost control of their bodies during the shift. Their arms flew out, their legs kicked. She didn’t want to chance another swipe from a werewolf’s claws.
    Then he was on the floor. Naked. Sprawled face-down. The muscles of his broad back were so strong, but trembling, and his ass—
    Wow.
    Great ass, and it was a very bad time for her to be noticing it.
    Duncan pushed up to his feet. Pate tossed him a pair of sweats that he’d just pulled from a nearby storage locker. Duncan caught them, yanked them on, and had to put a hand on the cell’s bar to steady himself.
    When his fingers began to smoke, he lifted that hand away.
    She couldn’t stay back any longer. Holly took a step toward him.
    But Duncan shook his head. “Don’t.”
    The one, clipped word felt like a slap in the face.
    Then Duncan moved in a lightning-fast lunge. His hand shot through the side of the cage, sliding right between the bars. His fingers wrapped around Saul’s neck, and he jerked the guy forward. Saul’s head slammed into the bars. Smoke rose.
    “She wants to know…” Duncan said, voice so rough and deep, “what the hell is happening here. Why did those wolves attack?”
    Saul couldn’t speak, mostly because Duncan seemed to be choking him. Saul’s face had turned a dark shade of purple.
    “Uh, you need to ease that grip,” Pate muttered as he came closer to Duncan. “You know the dead can’t talk.”
    That wasn’t entirely true.
Sometimes they can.
    Holly fisted her hands and refused to reach out again to Duncan. He’d already shot her down once in front of Pate and the others.
    Duncan’s grip on the werewolf eased. Saul sucked in a deep breath. Another.
    Then he started talking. “They can…smell you.”
    A faint furrow appeared between Duncan’s brows.
    “Alpha scent,” Holly whispered, understanding.
    Pate gave a barely perceptible nod.
    “When you changed, they
knew
…” Saul’s breath wheezed out. He still wasn’t free of Duncan’s grip, but at least he was getting oxygen now. “But a human doesn’t just get to be…top dog…you have to…fight for it…”
    “I don’t want to be the damn top dog,” Duncan snapped, “I don’t want—”
    “Not about what
you
want. About what the…beast inside wants.” Saul’s gaze darted to Holly. “He’s gonna…take