Chapter Three
Logan plasteredhimself against the wall as the car burst out of the gate. Its engine and wheels screeched. The driver tried to fix its trajectory before it shot into the desert and away from them.
Bullets tore chunks of brick out of the wall above Asher and Elena. Running toward the still opening gate, Logan slammed his hands against it and dug his toes in to close it before more hunters spilled out.
The gate screeched as it tried to keep opening, but Logan put all his weight and muscle into getting it to stop, which it finally did with a loud, clanking noise. Blood seeped from his injuries, but he ignored the discomfort as he dug his toes into the earth and pushed against the thick piece of solid metal.
The metal screeched as it fought against him before finally giving way with a loud crack that caused the full weight of the gate, which had to be at least a thousand pounds, to sag. It became tougher to move, but he held it up enough that it didn’t drag across the earth, making his task a lot easier.
Getting the gate closed wouldn’t buy them much time, but it would make it a lot more difficult for the hunters inside to get free. If he worked fast, they could have the car and be out of here before they managed to get the heavy gate open again.
As of right now, the driver and passenger of the car were focused on Elena and Asher. Because he was a vamp, they probably assumed he’d fled into the night just as some of them believed he and Asher were the killers.
Before the Alliance, there was a time he would have assumed the same things about vampires too. He’d believed vamps were nothing more than bloodthirsty, murderous monsters and the only good one was a dead one.
Now, he knew better, but plenty of hunters remained stuck in the old way of thinking.
Logan sprinted after the car as it screeched to a halt behind Asher and Elena. The driver’s side door opened and a leg emerged, but before anyone could get out, Logan bashed the door into the man. The hunter howled as the blow shattered his leg.
Mateo, the hunter in the passenger seat, exited the vehicle and started firing, except the bullets weren’t aimed at Logan as he’d anticipated. His heart sank when not only did Asher cry out, but so did Elena. Unlike the other hunters, Mateo didn’t care if he hit her if it got him what he wanted, which was him and Asher dead.
Adrenaline pumping through him, and fury propelling him to speeds he’d never experienced, Logan pulled the door open again, grabbed the still screaming driver by his throat, and threw him out of the car.
Jumping into the seat, he shifted the car into park before leaping out from behind the wheel. As he moved, the driver who had been crawling away, rolled onto his back and started firing at him.
Logan zigzagged back and forth to avoid the bullets before catching up to the hunter. He ripped the gun out of the man’s hand and bashed the butt end into the guy’s forehead.
It made a sickening, cracking sound, and a purple lump appeared almost instantly. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head before he slumped to the ground. For a second, Logan feared he’d killed the man. Holding his breath, he waited to see if he’d become a murderer. Then, the man’s chest rose and fell.
Logan didn’t have time for relief as he turned and, ignoring the pain in his leg, sprinted around the car. As soon as he ran around the hood, gunfire erupted again. Jumping back, he managed to avoid the bullet that kissed his cheek with fire.
Knowing their time was running out, he ducked away and retreated toward the back of the car. He didn’t go all the way to the back; instead, he stopped in the middle of the car, took a few steps back, and ran at the vehicle.
When he was a few feet away from the car, he jumped into the air. His legs kicked in the air as he soared over the vehicle and landed on the other side.
The hunter faced the back of the car, but he hadn’t expected an attack from above. When Mateo swung the gun up, Logan backhanded it so hard that something snapped before the gun went flying.
“Fuck you!” he spat at Mateo.
The hunter started to fumble for something in his pocket. Logan bent and ripped away the stake before punching Mateo in the face. The blow knocked his head back and caused his eyes to roll into his head.
While Mateo was still trying to recover, Logan quickly searched him. He found some extra bullets that he shoved into his pockets before punching the hunter. This time, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped to the ground.
When Logan let the unconscious man go, his head thumped off the ground. He glanced at the gate to make sure it still wasn’t opening before turning his attention to Elena and Asher; neither moved.
His skin crawling with dread, and an impending sense of doom building inside him, Logan cautiously approached Asher and Elena. The coppery scent of their powerful hunter blood hung heavily on the air and seeped out to stain the sand.
He didn’t know what he would do if they’d murdered his best friend. And for some reason, the idea of Elena being dead caused a chill to settle around his heart. If they were dead, he should get out of here as fast as he could, but what he really desired was to tear the gate down and slaughter anyone who got in his way.
Starting with Mateo.
And he wouldn’t stop until they took him out.
He’d worked tirelessly to keep himself under control after he agreed to be changed and Declan turned him into a vampire, but that control started to unravel with each of his steps. The bloodlust thrumming through his veins caused his fangs to throb.
He hadn’t felt this out of control since he first woke and went after Elyse because he was so damn thirsty. He’d worked hard toneverbe that out of control again, but his head buzzed like a swarm of bees surrounded it, and everything in him screamed for vengeance and blood.
He didn’t worry about becoming a Savage. He didn’t kid himself into thinking he could take all the hunters out before they destroyed him, but he would do a lot of damage first. There were more than a few innocents in there, and he could very well take them out too, but as Asher and Elena remained unmoving, he found he didn’t care.
