“Yes.”
Mollie lifted the quilt from her shoulder and held a piece of it out to him. He took it from her and slid under it. His body warmed her far more than the quilt, and she found herself melting against him.
It made no sense, he could kill her as easily as any of those things, but she felt a thousand times safer with him by her side.
Draping his arm around Mollie’s shoulders, he cradled her protectively against him.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.
Chapter Sixteen
A blood-curdling screamjolted Mollie awake. She went to bolt upright, but a hand on her shoulder kept her restrained from leaping to her feet.
A hand! Why is someone touching me?
Panic flooded her, and a scream lodged in her throat as some instinct told her to remain silent. She searched desperately for the source of that hand, or to seeanything, but the darkness was absolute. She went to jerk away from the hand, but Mike’s whispered words froze her in place.
“It’s okay.”
The memories of the past few days crashed over her, and Mollie relaxed beneath his grip. Another scream pierced the night and rose higher until it bounced off the walls. She clasped her hands over her ears as the person’s agony dug into her until she was certain it became a part of her. Mike held her against his chest and rested one of his hands over her ear.
The scream abruptly cut off, leaving them in nerve-racking silence. Mollie slowly lowered her hands as she pressed closer against him. Mike’s heart lumbered beneath her other ear while his chest rose steadily. She didn’t have to witness what happened; she knew the screamer was dead.
Mike lowered his hand from Mollie’s ear when she sat up beside him again. In the rays of the moon filtering through the cracks of their barrier, he could barely make out her extraordinary eyes. She looked helplessly at him before turning her attention to the front of their hiding place.
“That didn’t come from too close by,” Mike assured her.
“How do you know?” she whispered.
“By the sound quality.”
Another howl pierced the night, and then the maniacal, hideous bastards out there hunting the escapeeslaughed. She loathed them all.
“Is that the first one they’ve caught?” she asked.
“No.”
She’d slept through the death of at least one other then. Gripping the rifle, she drew it closer and held it against her chest as more howls answered the first. The final cry sounded far too close for her liking.
When she tensed against him, Mike ran his hand over her hair to soothe her, but she didn’t curl up and relax against him as she had while sleeping. He’d enjoyed the warmth of her body, the feel of her fingers against his chest, and her steady breaths.
Then the Savages caught the scent of their prey and woke her.
And he was glad she was awake because he needed her to help ground him. He despised it, but a part of him was as enticed by the prospect of the hunt as it repulsed him. He hated those things out there, he’d rather die than become one of them, but he could not deny his vampire nature, and it was lethal.
His hands stilled on her hair before sliding around to clasp her head. He tugged her gently toward him and held her against his chest. She remained rigid before gradually relaxing and melting into his embrace.
He rested his lips against her ear as he spoke. “It will be okay.”
Mollie didn’t reply; she was too afraid something might hear her words. She cuddled closer to him as the excited sounds of the chase outside amped up before cutting off. In the ensuing quiet, the tick of Mollie’s watch sounded abnormally loud.
She didn’t know how much time passed before a woman screamed and excited shrieks pierced the night.
* * *
She didn’t thinkshe’d ever sleep again, but somewhere near dawn, when the howls and screams died away, she drifted off again. When she woke, she discovered light filtering through their barrier and Mike’s cheek resting on top of her head as he snored softly. He must have fallen asleep after her.
She should wake him; they had to get moving, but he’d slept less than her, and she didn’t want to disturb him. Glancing at her watch, she saw it was only seven. She’d give him another hour.
