The increasing violence between the Savages covered any noise Mike might have made while descending the hill. He adjusted his grip on the stick he’d honed to cook Mollie’s food as the Savages rolled off the man’s feet.
The man gawked at the Savages as if he couldn’t believe his luck and squealed when he spotted Mike approaching. The man scrambled to his feet, but though they were determined to kill each other, the Savages remained aware of their prey as both vamps seized his ankles and yanked him back. With a broken scream, the man slammed into the ground.
Giving up on destroying each other, the Savages pounced on him again. One sank its fangs into the man’s throat while the other claimed his arm. Mike stopped behind them, but they were too focused on their meal to realize he was there. Shaking his head over the obliviousness to their impending deaths, Mike lifted the stick over his head and plunged it into the back and through the heart of the Savage feasting on the man’s throat.
The Savage reeled back; its fingers clawed at the wood piercing its body before Mike yanked the stick free. He ignored the dying creature as he turned to the other one, who was no longer oblivious to his presence.
Blood streaked the Savage’s chin and teeth as its red-stained lips curved into a sneer. Then it leapt at him with fangs extended and fingers hooked to gouge out his eyes. Mike swung the stick around and battered it against the side of the Savage’s face. The blow shattered the creature’s cheekbone, knocked it off course, and sent it tumbling across the ground.
Spitting, the vampire righted itself and turned to face Mike before glancing over its shoulder toward the woods. Mike read its intention to flee in the subtle shifting of its body. He couldnotlet it escape.
Racing forward, Mike was almost on it when the Savage leapt up and spun toward the woods. He grasped the vamp’s neck and jerked it off its feet. Turning in his grasp, the creature lashed out with a fist and spat blood in Mike’s face as it screeched. Mike dodged the punch and swung his fist into the creature’s chest. Flesh and bone gave way beneath the force of the blow.
The Savage’s heart beat against Mike’s hand before he enclosed it around the organ and tore it free. The creature’s fingers ripped the skin from his forearms before the Savage toppled away from him. Mike gazed at the heart in disgust before releasing it and stomping it into the debris littering the forest floor.
He inhaled a ragged breath as he strained to rein in his baser instincts. The demon in him relished a good fight and blood, and he cravedmoreof it. He couldnotlet Mollie see that part of him.
Feeling in control of himself enough to face Mollie, he turned to discover she’d descended the hill and was kneeling at the man’s side.
“I told you to stay where you were!” Mike snarled.
The bloodlust roused from his kills, his concern for her, and the fact she wastouchingthe man’s shoulder caused his newly regained control to unravel.
Mollie’s eyes widened when Mike stalked toward her. Red started to bleed through the blue of his eyes as his gaze latched onto her hand on the man. The man released a gurgled cry and tried to scramble away, but Mollie held him in place.
“It’s okay!” she assured him. “We’re here to help you!”
Even as she said the words, she wasn’t sure they were true; Mike looked ready to level everything in his way.
“Mike?” she croaked.
The distress in her voice stopped Mike in his tracks; not only had the man recoiled, but so had she. The last thing he wanted was to scare Mollie, but she looked more afraid ofhimthan any of the Savages.Get yourself together!
Closing his eyes, he distracted himself from the jealousy shredding his insides by kneeling to wipe his bloody hand on the dirt. Lifting a handful of leaves, he also scrubbed the blood from the gashes the Savage left on his arms. He’d already stopped bleeding, and his skin was knitting itself back together.
He didn’t look at the others as he worked; he was afraid the sight of Mollie might set something off in him again. For the first time in years, he recalled the night in their friend Kathleen’s cabin when vampires attacked Sera. When Liam saw what happened, he’d been more Savage than man and nearly turned Sera right then. It took hours before Liam was stable enough to go anywhere near Sera again.
Mike recalled how helpless he felt while watching the incident unfold. He’d wanted to intervene and pull Sera away, but he couldn’t risk setting Liam off further. Liam had already reached a point where anyone touching Sera made him half-crazed. If Mike had tried to pull Sera away, Liam wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him, and with the way Liam was that night, he would have succeeded.
It was the only time in his life Mike feared his best friend and what Liam would do if Sera didn’t become a vampire. Mike walked on eggshells around Liam until Sera successfully made the transition.
At the time, and over the years, Mike convinced himself nothing like that could ever happen to him. Even if he did find his mate, he would never lose control like Liam. He’dneverunravel in such a way, but the reminder of Mollie’s hands on that man caused his fangs to lengthen with the need to tear the man’s throat out.
He ground his teeth together as he scrubbed more vigorously at his arms. He hadn’t done anything more than kiss her. Even if Mollie was his mate, he shouldn’t feel this out of control already. Their bond hadn’t progressed enough for this level of possessive and irrational behavior to take hold.
Mike lifted his head and glanced around the woods. Maybe their bond hadn’t progressed, but he already suspected what she was to him, and her life had been in danger since the second they met. The knowledge monsters hunted his possible mate had most likely accelerated his need to keep her safe and make her immortal.
A rustling behind him snapped his head around. He clamped his lips together to keep from sneering as Mollie helped the man into a seated position against the trunk of a tree. The man was deathly pale, blood trickled from the gash in his neck, and his arm looked like someone tried to flay it.
“You’re going to be okay,” Mollie said as she turned the man’s arm over. She tried not to wince as she inspected the injuries. “We’ll get you bandaged, and you’ll be fine.”
She had no idea what they would use to bandage him, and then her eyes went to the quilt she released when she first lifted her rifle. They could use pieces of the blanket to bind the gashes. Reluctantly, she looked at Mike. After the barely leashed brutality she saw in his eyes earlier, she was frightened of what she would see there now, but when he met her gaze, the red vanished from his irises.
“We can use the quilt to bandage him,” she said. “I dropped it at the top of the hill.”
Rising, Mike kept one eye on them as he raced to retrieve the blanket. When he returned, he strode over to the man’s side and knelt there.
The man recoiled from him, but Mike ignored him. “I’ll do it,” he said when Mollie reached for the blanket.
