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Grabbing the covers, he ripped them from the vampire and pulled away the pillow. Bel groaned and blinked. The poor vampire really was horrible about waking. During the past two months, they’d only needed to wake him once during the daylight hours, and it had been pretty big ordeal just to get him to budge.
“Bel, you need to get up,” Wyatt said firmly.
“The sun’s still up,” Bel slurred. He blindly reached around his body, searching for a blanket or pillow to pull around him.
“We’re under attack.”
“What?”
He still sounded dazed and half-asleep. Wyatt was starting to wonder if he could just wrap the man in blankets and carry the bundle out to the garage. If they packed him in the trunk, they could get him out of the house without exposing him to the sunlight. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but it was the safest option at the moment.
“The house is on fire, and they’re trying to break through the metal shields.”
Those words had Bel bolting upright, blinking several times. “Fire?”
“Yes. Those are the smoke alarms,” Wyatt said, waving absently toward the hall where they were still blaring loudly.
River rushed back into the room and dumped a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt on the bed for Bel. He’d also grabbed Wyatt’s shoes, which he dropped on the floor. Bel grabbed up the clothes and pulled them on.
“Sunlight. What happens to you in sunlight?” Wyatt demanded. He thrust his feet into the shoes without socks.
“I burn,” Bel said and there was no missing the horror filling those two words.
“Like spontaneous combustion?” River asked.
Bel shook his head. “No, but it doesn’t take much for it to kill me. With full exposure, time to death is measured in seconds, not minutes.”
“Then we keep you out of the sun.” Wyatt grabbed blankets off the bed, intending to wrap Bel like a fucking mummy if he had to. They were not losing their vampire. “We go straight for the garage, put you in the trunk of the sedan, and we barrel out.”
“What if they have the driveway blocked?” River asked.
“We push through. We have no choice.”
“We go straight to the lab.” Bel’s voice was muffled as he pulled the shirt over his head. His hair popped out like a dandelion puff, making him look adorable, but there was a deadly seriousness to his eyes.
Wyatt was already shaking his head. “We don’t have time. The lab is a dead end. We’ll be trapped.”
“It’s not.”
Bel cut around Wyatt, leading the way out of the bedroom. But instead of going down the stairs, he continued on to the hall linen closet. He touched another hidden panel, and part of the wall moved to reveal a small stash of knives, swords, and a shotgun. Wyatt’s mouth fell open. Bel had weapons. His sweet scientist Bel had a fucking cache of weapons.
“I don’t know how much this will help,” Bel said as he shoved the shotgun into Wyatt’s hands along with a handful of ammo. “I was planning more for a vampire attack. Getting shot just tends to make them pissy.” He placed a machete with a serrated blade into River’s hands and grabbed a pair of long daggers for himself.
“We’ll make do until we can get to the garage.”
“The lab,” Bel snapped.
“You got more secrets in there?” River asked.
Bel flashed a wicked smile. “Yes, but you’ll need me to unlock things.”
“We leave together, or we don’t leave at all,” Wyatt growled. Bel had been the one to say it. There was no sacrificing. No martyrs in family. They fought together to the end.
A loud crash echoed through the hall and shook the house. Flames flared out from the open doorway in Bel’s bedroom. Possibly part of the ceiling had collapsed, dropping burning timbers and roof into the house. They were running out of time.
Wyatt took the lead down the stairs, his heart pounding hard in his chest. The smoke was already starting to burn his eyes and clog his throat. He held the gun tucked against his shoulder, as he swept from left to right, searching for any intruders. A shaft of bright sunlight slashed across the hallway, and it looked as if there was another cutting from the back of the house.
They were in the house.
Shadowed movement cut across the living room. Wyatt whipped the muzzle of the gun around. As the figure solidified, charging them, Wyatt squeezed the trigger. The gun barked and the figure was thrown across the hall. Wyatt cocked the gun, chambering a fresh round while ejecting the spent shot. He didn’t pause in his steps. They had one target.
The lab.
If Bel said they could find safety in the lab, he believed his vampire. He would get his mates safely to the lab.
A low snarl was their only warning. Wyatt’s eyes were locked on another figure lunging for them when the noise rippled from behind. He fired and twisted around in time to see a man pull himself up over the stair banister and launch himself at the trio. They crashed together, sending them all spilling down the remaining stairs in a tangle of limbs and weapons. Fuck, they’d be lucky if they didn’t impale themselves.
