His hands shook. The ghost of Luca’s skin teased his senses. His scent, oh god, his scent, it burrowed through Nox’s chest, settling in his balls. His cock throbbed, and he wanted nothing more than to bury it in Luca’s body. To fuck him with the same brutality he’d taken Luca’s brother with.
Koda.
His Alpha.
The man who’d entrusted Nox to keep Luca safe. And right now, safe was the last thing Nox was.
“Please, Nox. Don’t stop.” Luca wadded his fists in the front of Nox’s shirt.
His hand trembled as he pried open Luca’s fingers. “I’m sorry.” The first step back ignited his blood with burning glass, the second splintered his bones, the third…
The agony tearing through Nox was nothing compared to the hurt in Luca’s eyes.
Luca darted for the door.
“Luca—” It slammed shut. Luca’s footsteps faded. “Fuck!” Nox drew back his fist to hit the wall but leaned against it instead. The Anubis hummed under his skin, and he strained for control.
A distant echo of pleasure washed over Nox. He flinched, knowing what he felt came from Luca. It shouldn’t have, but it did.
And Nox should have been doing that for Luca. Not some stranger. Luca needed to wear Nox’s scent. Outside, inside. Luca was meant to be stained with Nox’s cum.
“No.”
The presence of the Anubis surged. Luca’s scent flooded Nox’s nose and filled his lungs. Phantom hands swept down Nox’s body. No, not his, Luca’s. A growl rose in Nox’s chest, and he caught himself heading toward the door.
Shivers ran down Nox’s spine, and an ache built in his gut. Luca’s release only stoked the rage of the Anubis swelling inside Nox.
His flesh rippled, his muscles rolled.
Nox threw himself back, knocking his hip against the dresser.
Then fear eclipsed the rise of the Anubis, anchoring Nox to the ground. There was only the motel room, the sounds of life and…
The fear wasn’t his.
Nox roared and yanked open the door.
He rounded the corner just as the first of the Anubis lunged. The world froze, Luca midturn, the beast air born. Light, sound, it all stopped. Nox closed his hand around the Anubis’s neck and life returned.
The creature twisted in Nox’s grip, and he rammed his fist down its throat. Teeth punched through his bones. But it fell into the background, an inconvenience to the prospect of destruction. The desire for it boiled through him. He smashed the Anubis into a wall, buckling the brick veneer. The two by fours splintered behind it, and the entire wall shifted.
The impact collapsed the left side of the Anubis’s skull, crushing its eye socket. Jelly and ichor dripped down its cheek. The pale green-yellow of its remaining eye dimmed, and what stared horrified at Nox was something human, not of the Anubis.
The Anubis did not feel fear.
Something wasn’t right, but it had tried to take what was his, so it didn’t matter. Nox seized the creature by its muzzle and yanked, separating the bottom jaw from the skull.
Bone snapped, flesh parted, and cords of tendons broke. He released the lower jaw and wrapped his arm around its head. The wounds covering it had already healed.
Nox used the locked position to secure his grip then twisted his torso. Thick tissue muffled the crunch of vertebrae. Nox continued to pull until its head came free with the wet sticky sound of tearing flesh.
A shadow flashed overhead, and Nox had just enough time to turn before the black mass shoved him back into the front of a compact car. The windshield shattered. Fire dotted his back. The Anubis sank its clawed hands into his shoulders.
Nox punched his fingers through its neck. Teeth snapped next to his face, and hot breath carried the stench of copper. Nox squeezed, crushingcartilageand bone. Blood rushed over his hands, and he twisted his grip, tearing away flesh,cartilage, and fur as he threw the thing off him.
It landed thrashing on its side. Ichor fanned from the open wound. The wound knit but at a fraction of the speed Nox healed.
Room doors opened and closed. People filled the parking lot.