More wood groaned, but Mike ignored it as he sank his fingers into the vampire’s throat. He should have destroyed this bastard earlier when the creature was weakened. The power of the Savage radiated over his skin. This vampire was older than him, a killer, and stronger, but Mollie’s blood in his veins fueled Mike to levels of strength he’d never achieved before.
The vamp’s lips pulled back in a sneer and his vicious, red nails sliced down Mike’s side. Mike grunted when his flesh splayed open, and his blood spilled free, but he didn’t dare ease his grip on the Savage. He’d felt this thing’s desire to get at Mollie. She’d escaped him once, and if he got the chance, this bastard wouldn’t let it happen again.
Mike would bet money he held Raul Mrack, club president and proud owner of more trophies than any other Savage in the club.
“Raul?” Mike growled, and the vampire smiled smugly.
Somehow Raul managed to get his hands up between them. They came down on Mike’s arms, knocking his grip free. Mike grunted and dodged in time to avoid a kick to his chest, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid it altogether. Raul’s foot caught him on his shoulder.
The strength of the kick knocked him into the outer half walls. Rotten wood cracked beneath his weight before the wall started to give way. His arms pinwheeled as he tried to stop himself from going over, but it was too late. Already off-balance, there was no defying gravity when the boards splintered apart, and air rushed up to meet him.
A loud cracking caused Mollie’s heart to plummet as the railing gave way and Mike vanished. “No!” she cried and lunged forward before stopping herself from getting any closer to the vamp standing between her and the broken boards.
Mike! No! No! NO! Not dead! He can’t be dead!But her heart felt as if it were tearing in two, and her hand trembled on the rifle as tears filled her eyes. She pointed the gun at the vamp’s back, and in her fury and sorrow, almost pulled the trigger, but the beams supporting the roof blocked her from a kill shot. As much as she wanted to murder this bastard, she couldn’t waste her bullets or risk attracting more Savages.
Mollie scrambled back when the vampire with the lethal talons turned toward her. His grin revealed the glistening points of his fangs as he prowled toward her, bobbing and weaving again to avoid giving her a good shot at him. Cruelty emanated from every inch of him as he stalked her with the casual ease of someone who knew their prey was already theirs.
Raul,she recalled as she’d heard Mike call him Raul and seen the vamp’s smug smile. She loathed him even more now that she knew who he was.
A crashing bang jerked her head toward Doug and the vampire he battled before they fell backward and disappeared into the stairwell. She winced when their bodies thudded off the steps as they tumbled down. Aida remained at Mollie’s back while they edged toward the stairs.
When her sister turned to slip down the stairs, Mollie tried to follow. She didn’t make it two steps before a hand entangled in her hair and yanked her back.
Chapter Forty-One
Air toreat Mike’s clothes and hair as the earth rushed up to meet him. Except, he didn’t slam into the ground. Instead, he landed on the corner of the roof below. His teeth clacked together when the impact jarred his entire body and his back cracked. Agony exploded across his brutalized spine, and his legs went numb before the pitch of the roof caused him to roll down it.
He got his hands under him and braced himself as he fell the remaining ten feet to the ground. When he crashed onto the earth, his breath wheezed out of his lungs, but he tried to jump to his feet. His numb legs didn’t follow the commands of his brain and only his chest came off the ground.
“Mollie,” he breathed as he fell back again.
Determined to get to her, his fingers dug into the earth as he started dragging himself toward the door of the lighthouse. He didn’t know if his back was broken, if his spine was severely bruised, or if he’d pinched a nerve. His spine would heal faster if it weren’t broken, but he didn’t think it would be fast enough to get to her in time.
No. He wouldnotlose her! And he would not allow Mollie to endure what Raul would do to her.
Drawing on the strength of her blood flowing in his veins and his intense love for her, Mike pulled himself faster across the ground. He didn’t care what it took; hewouldsave her.
* * *
A scream lodgedin Mollie’s throat, she kicked backward at the creature when his hands twisted in her hair and tore strands of it free. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she refused to shed them.
When the nails scouring her skull drew blood, she almost released her rifle to beat at them, but he’d probably only laugh at her attempts to get him off her, and she refused to be his entertainment. Plus, she also couldn’t bring herself to release the only weapon she had.
Reemerging from the stairwell, Aida flung herself against Mollie and started hitting the creature. Raul gave a mirthless laugh and caught one of Aida’s wrists with his free hand. Lifting her off the ground, he held her away from him. Aida twisted in his grasp as he let her dangle in front of Mollie. Aida’s face was a mixture of pain and fury as her feet kicked in the air.
“Let her go!” Mollie yelled.
She tried to lurch forward, but Raul bent her head back until he nearly drove her to her knees. Gritting her teeth, Mollie struggled to remain on her feet; she wouldnotbe subservient to thisthing.
“Pretty little toys all for Raul,” the twisted bastard holding Mollie said and made a clicking sound that sent chills down her back. “But I already tasted this toy.” He drew Aida closer until her feet brushed against Mollie’s knees. “And she was delicious.”
“You prick!” Mollie spat, and Raul laughed.
With a flick of his wrist, he flung Aida away as if she weighed no more than a rag doll. Aida soared a few feet through the air before crashing to the floor and skidding across it until she slammed into another section of rotting wall. The wall shuddered, and Mollie held her breath as she waited for it to give way beneath her sister’s weight, but the wood remained intact. Aida’s head thudded off the boards before she rolled to the side. Getting her hands under her, Aida pushed herself halfway up before collapsing and going still.
“But first, I want to play with this pretty,” Raul murmured and yanked Mollie upright.
Mollie nearly screamed when he skimmed one of his claws down her throat and pushed her shirt lower to reveal Mike’s marks on her flesh. Mollie kept the rifle against her chest and her finger curled around the trigger; she’d kill herself before she ever allowed this bastard to destroy her, but that would be a last resort.
