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“I was so worried about you,” Marcus murmured against Ethan’s sweaty and dirty hair.
“Found Bel just like you told me to. We also found some of Rafe’s friends.” Ethan lifted his head and peered around Marcus to smile at an exhausted-looking Rafe. “Lola is a total badass.”
Rafe managed a small half smile. “Yes, she is.”
“Speaking of, Lola and the others won’t be able to keep them distracted for much longer,” Bel interjected. “We need to get out of here now.”
Marcus nodded and released Ethan. “Agreed, but Minerva needs to be taken care of as well. Get Ethan, Winter, and Rafe out of here. I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
“Not happening,” Winter growled.
“I’ve got to agree with the wee one,” Rafe drawled. He pushed away from the wall, standing on his own. “We’re not leaving you, darling brother.”
“You’re injured—” Marcus started to argue but Winter cut him off.
“We’re all injured. Well, except for maybe Bel.”
“I did scrape my palm when I climbed over the wall.” Ethan snorted when he saw Bel hold up his perfectly healed palm.
“Someone needs to get Ethan out of here,” Marcus snarled.
Ethan started to argue, but Rafe beat him to it. “No, he needs to stay, and you know it.”
Okay, that was weird and disturbingly ominous, but he wasn’t going to counter Rafe. He wanted to stay and try to keep Marcus as protected as possible.
Marcus glared at Rafe for a moment, but the sibling didn’t back down. The standoff didn’t last more than a second before Marcus nodded. “Let’s find Minerva and end this.”
They collected a few weapons they found dropped by the attacking vampires and continued through the house on the first floor. They slaughtered several more of the Black Wolf clan, but there still wasn’t any sign of this Minerva that Marcus mentioned.
On the second floor, there was no one waiting to stop them, which felt worse than the hordes ready to throw themselves at the invaders. Of course, after the results of some of Ethan’s bullets and Bel’s knives, the attackers were a little more hesitant to lunge at them. Ethan did what he could to protect Marcus, but his arms and legs were starting to ache from the exertion. He hadn’t thought he was in bad shape, but it was clear he needed to work on his endurance the next time he found his way to the interior of a gym.
They moved as quickly as they could, glancing in one room after another until they finally came to a pair of shut double doors. That didn’t feel great.
Glancing over his shoulder at Marcus, he threw his lover what he hoped was a reassuring smile before reaching out for the doorknob. The second his skin touched the cold metal a voice rang out from the other side of the door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Ethan released the door like he’d been burned and jumped away, his shoulders bumping into Marcus’s chest. A strong, reassuring hand smoothed down his head and came to rest around the back of his neck. Ethan barely registered the touch, but it was enough to override the flight instinct that was still pushing him.
It was her.
The one who slaughtered his family, who haunted his nightmares.
The reason Ethan had to be there at Marcus’s side as he hunted down the vampire behind the attacks, kidnappings, and the deaths.
With teeth clenched, Ethan grabbed both door handles and shoved the doors open. The room looked as if it was a massive ballroom with a shining parquet floor and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on a black sky. A quick count revealed about a dozen vampires scattered around one side of the room.
And in the center of the waiting group was a woman in a dark-red blouse and black slacks. Her brown hair was long and hung limply down her back. She smiled broadly at him, her mouth smeared with blood and her fangs visible even from a distance. It was the woman who killed everyone he loved, who ruined his life.
“There’s my boy. The one that thought he could get away,” she said, her words ending in a cackle. “How long has it been?”
Ethan’s legs trembled as he walked into the room. Everything within him screamed to run. She was going to kill him, just like she’d murdered sweet Lucy and Macy. She’d rip his throat out just like she’d done to his mother and leave him in a spreading pool of his own blood.
But he didn’t run. He didn’t beg for Marcus to finish the monster for him. And he knew that Marcus was aching to step forward and rip her fucking head off. This bitch had also threatened his new family. Her fucking soldiers had laid their hands on Marcus and his brothers. They’d broken into his house twice.
Fuck. That. Shit.
