Taken by the Alpha Wolf by Bonnie Vanak

cold, Jorge squeezed his fist.
Biting back a scream, she watched as Etienne clapped his hands to
his ears, an unearthly howl torn from his throat. Diaz squeezed
tighter. Blood gripped from her mate’s nose and ears.
    “Where’s Cindy?”
    “Go to… hell,” Etienne ground out.
    “Already been there, wolf.”
    And then he squeezed his fist again. Blood
streamed from Etienne’s nose, ears and eyes. His moans turned to
screams and then he fell to the floor.
    Jorge stalked over to Etienne, removed the
long dagger from his thigh scabbard. Then he kicked him in his
wounded side. Etienne did not make a sound. Cindy smothered a
strangled cry.
    “Big, bad Navy SEAL, not so tough now, are
you?” Jorge taunted. He tossed the dagger out of the closet.
    She desperately grabbled for their mind link.
Nothing. He was unconscious. But she knew his heart still beat.
Cindy could feel it resonating inside her, a steady drumming
echoing her connection to him.
    And then she felt it grow weaker.
    Fear congealing in her throat morphed to pure
rage. She cocked the trigger of her gun, stepped behind the boxes
and fired.
    A bright bloom of black blood stained Jorge’s
shirt. The demon studied the smoke curling from the revolver’s
barrel and then a sudden spike of pain stabbed her head. She cried
out and dropped the gun.
    “Gotcha. Liony, you handle her. I’m slightly
drained.” He grinned.
    Liony Diaz entered the closet, eyes glowing
red. Demon red eyes trained on her. Panic rose in her throat as he
raised his fist and squeezed.
    Pain exploded in her head, the drilling of a
hundred sharp knives. Cindy closed her eyes and screamed, trying to
hold her thoughts at bay, but could not. She had no magick to fight
him. Don’t think of where the Orb is, no, no, think of something
else…
    Liony made a sound of disgust and unclenched
his fist. The pain ceased, became a low ache, leaving her
drained.
    “Weak as a Draicon pup. I should have
suctioned your thoughts sooner. Your father kept insisting you
didn’t know anything,” he sneered.
    She cried out as he grabbed her wrist,
twisting hard and yanking her out of the closet with him. Liony
pushed her to the floor and then went to the hamper. He retrieved
the Astra Orb, holding it in his palms. Greed shone in his eyes,
reflected in the globe’s glass surface.
    And then his form shifted.
    Oh dear gods, he changed, his skin turning a
mottled gray, his eyes blood red, his teeth turning yellow and
pointed like a shark’s.
    His true form.
    Liony began to inhale and the colors inside
the Orb turned dark as a red mist drifted out of the globe. Jorge
cursed.
    “Not all yours,” he growled. “We share.”
    The two demons lay their palms on the globe.
The Diaz brothers were suctioning all the Orb’s powers. Her powers.
And they’d become even more powerful.
    We can’t let that happen, a deep voice spoke into her
mind.
    Etienne!
    Her gaze flicked to the closet. Her mate
crawled out, bloodied, but grimly determined.
    Cindy stared at the glowing crystal in hands
of demons who’d injured her destined mate and her father. The
immortal Kallan’s words echoed in her mind.
    “ Destroy this and you destroy yourself, Cynthia
Parker.”
    Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself,
seeing her life stretching out like a thin thread, and then snipped
short.
    So be it.
    “Good-bye me,” she said softly. Cindy glanced
at Etienne.
    I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But this is a no-win
scenario.
    I can’t lose you, Cyn.
    And you can’t let them gain more power. They’ll
become invincible, use my father to gain access to judges and law
enforcement who will turn a blind eye to their drug smuggling.
Thousands of people will die. You know what you must do.
    He lifted his head. Anguish shadowed his
gaze. He brought his left hand around.
    Clearly displaying the 9mm hidden there.
    Etienne pulled the trigger.
    The crystal orb shattered beneath the impact
of the bullet. The demons screamed and jumped back. Etienne