“But—”
“Goddamn it, now.”
Headlights from the Jeep flashed on the open passenger door of Dom’s car. Squeezing the hand brakes, she jammed her weight to the side, lifted one leg and laid her beautiful bike into a slide on the pavement. The skidding, scraping and grinding echoed in her ears as she imagined layers of chrome and pearlescent white paint on the pavement.
She tensed her muscles, ready to push her body away, when from out of nowhere strong arms wrenched her off the still-moving bike and shoved her into the car.
The door slammed shut and Dom flattened himself against it, a barrier between her and the Jeep. When the vehicle stopped, Dom pulled something from his waistband and swung his arm around his head. A crack like a whip stung the air, jangling her raw nerves. His arm jerked down, and a body flew from the Jeep, landing on the pavement in front of Dom’s car.
Like a snake striking, Dom was on the man before her mind even registered that he’d moved from the door.
He stood astride one of her attackers, his heavy boot crushing the man’s neck. Flailing and kicking, the man struggled, trying to push Dom’s foot away. For the briefest moment, the guy managed to turn his head toward Mackenzie and her heart practically stopped. The headlights illuminated him like a spotlight. Fangs hung from his mouth in a wide snarl, and his eyes were two black orbs with no whites. Mackenzie’s hands flew to her face, and she watched through the slats of her fingers.
A long glint of metal caught the light as Dom lifted both arms overhead, his back arching, his strength coiling. The blade flew down in a fierce blow and plunged into the chest of her attacker.
A sob spilled from her throat as the man shuddered and convulsed. She wanted to pinch her eyes shut, to block the horrifying images from her brain, but she couldn’t. The man’s body folded in on itself, leaving a dark pile of rubble, ashes maybe, because a few small bits floated away, disappearing beyond the headlight beams into the night air.
This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. It was just a dream. A damn nightmare.
As Dom holstered the knife somewhere beneath his clothes, he raised his head and his eyes locked onto hers. And that was when she saw them. His fangs.
He was one of them.
Dom took a step toward the driver’s side. Mackenzie flung herself over the console, scrambling for the lock. She hit the window button, and it rolled down slightly before she found the right one. With a click, the locks engaged.
“Open the door.” His mouth was at the crack in the open window.
Stifling a scream, she fumbled with the keys and turned them in the ignition. A harsh sound grated the air. The car was already on. She grabbed at what she thought was the stick shift, but it was the emergency brake and nothing happened.
“Mackenzie, I’m not going to hurt you. Open the damn door. There are others coming, and I can’t take them all down myself.” He rattled the handle, and she flew back to her seat, away from the sound of his voice. She grabbed at the passenger door handle, which lifted easily without opening. Locked. A movement outside the window caught her eye. A figure emerged from the Jeep. Blood pounded in her temples. She was trapped.
A weapon. She needed a weapon. She patted her waistband. Nothing. It must’ve fallen out in the slide.
“I’m sorry.” Dom’s voice was low from the driver’s window, and her head snapped to the left. He stood on the other side of the glass with his dark brows pinched together in an unfathomable expression of worry, the ice-blue eyes pleading with hers. He looked almost normal except...
A swirling gray cloud enveloped him and he was gone. She whipped her head around. Where was he? What had happened?
A thick fog spilled in through the crack of the window, cascading into the car like a waterfall. Her screams echoed in her ears, and she clawed at the door to get out.
The man from the Jeep was at her window, teeth bared, blood dripping from his temple. With nowhere else to go, she scrunched down into the foot well and covered her head with the collar of her jacket, wishing she could snap her fingers and be gone.
With a jolt, her head bumped the underneath side of the dashboard as the car lurched backwards. Knees and elbows banged against hard surfaces as she was buffeted about like a rag doll.
“Get up.” A hand grasped the scruff of her collar and wrenched her up.
As Dom cranked the steering wheel hard to the right onto the roadway, she fell on the center console, almost into his lap. He punched it, and the car shot forward. She flew back with what seemed like the G-force of a jet fighter.
“Seat belt. Now.”
What did he just say? Her mind was numb as she tried to translate the words into something she understood. Seat belt? She pawed at the side of the bucket seat where the strap originated but her hands fumbled getting the thing over her shoulder. Without taking his eyes from the road, Dom reachedacross her chest, pulled the belt over her lap and snapped it into place.
The dull throbbing pain in her upper arm pulsed over and over with every bump and turn. Warmth dripped down the inside of her sleeve. She tried stanching the flow with her good hand, telling herself not to look as it would only make it worse. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, closed her eyes and wished she could sleep, make everything go away. Another jolt knocked her hand free. It was covered in blood.
“Here. Use this.” Dom waved a handkerchief. His knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel, and his hair billowed in the wind from his rolled-down window.
Her mind barely registered the car rounding another sharp corner but the pain in her arm had sharpened even more. Dom grimaced as he looked in the rearview mirror. He didn’t act like one of those monsters, but she knew what she saw.
So, when Dom’s darkened gaze met hers, the blue of his irises completely gone, she remembered the monsters in the Jeep and everything went dark.
