“What’s happening?” Elena asked as she scrambled out of bed behind him.
Logan tugged on his jeans as he half hobbled, half ran toward the door. “I don’t know.”
At the door, he paused to shove his feet into his sneakers while Elena searched for her clothes. She dressed hastily and was tugging her hair into a ponytail when Logan ran into the hallway. She chased after him.
Asher was already opening the front door when she caught up to Logan. As the two of them ran out, she hesitated before the doorway, but only for a second. Something was wrong, and she had to help.
It didn’t matter if someone saw her running out of the house. All that mattered was saving whoever was out there.
Elena ran across the porch and jumped over the steps. Her feet hit the ground, and she sprinted after Logan and Asher. Logan had taken the lead and was a good fifteen feet ahead of them.
She was worried about whoever was shouting, but she wished he’d wait for them. He had no idea what he was running into and might require help.
Then, someone started screaming again. Their awful, high-pitched shriek was like a dagger to her heart. She longed to throw her hands over her ears to block the sound, but it would only slow her, and Logan was getting further away.
Then someone released the wailing sob of a being who had suffered unimaginable heartbreak. But she didn’t understand how that could be possible. They hadn’t sent out any hunting parties since Manuel returned, so they couldn’t have lost another hunter.
Unwilling to risk more hunters until they knew what was going on with Manuel, Juan had ordered the compound to remain shut down. There shouldn’t be any heartbreak tonight unless Manuel died.
And while she could understand there being sobs if that were the case, why were so many shouting?
Logan glanced back at Elena as he raced down the road toward the screams. He’d hoped her fear of being caught with him would have deterred her from leaving the house, or at the very least made it so she’d take more time to arrive at whatever was happening, but that hadn’t happened.
He’d prefer if she’d run the other way, but there was nothing he could do to stop her, short of forcing her back. That would take too much time, and she wouldnotcooperate. He would have to make sure she stayed safe.
He turned his attention back to the shouts and sobs. Most of them were coming from the medical building. Something had happened, and he prayed they weren’t too late to stop it from getting any worse.
He rounded a corner and nearly crashed into Manuel as the hunter tossed aside the man he’d been holding. Logan barely had time to react before the crazed hunter came at him with hooked fingers, bared fangs, and completely black eyes.
Those eyes were the most disconcerting thing he’d ever seen. There was no white to them anymore or a darker ring around the iris, and he couldn’t see a pupil. The entire eyeball was that hideous, empty blackness.
It was like he was staring into the eyes of a shark.
He jumped back as Manuel swung out a hand and barely missed grasping his shirt. “Shit!” he hissed as Manuel continued swinging at him while charging forward like a bull at a red flag.
Logan darted to the side and swung out as Manuel lunged at the place where Logan had stood. His fist caught the hunter in the back of his head. The blow knocked Manuel forward, but whereas it would have leveled many, he didn’t go down.
The hunter was strong and fast, but he was also lumbering and not very graceful. Logan didn’t know if he’d always been more of a bull in a fight or if the bloodlust emanating from him was affecting him; either way, he had to stay out of the hunter’s grasp.
Seeming to decide Logan was too much trouble, Manuel homed in on Asher, who ducked the first punch Manuel threw at him but didn’t avoid the second. The blow was a straight shot to his jaw that caused him to reel back a few feet.
Elena stared in dismay as the brutal scene rapidly unfolded before her. She hadn’t expected to run intoManuel,and she wasnotprepared for a battle. She hadn’t brought any weapons with her to Logan’s house, why would she?
The compound was the safest place she’d ever known, and yet, it had become as perilous as the streets she once called home. She was good with her fists and her feet, but Manuel was far stronger than her.
However, she was faster, and she had to do something. She couldn’t stand here watching the two of them take on this monster.
When Asher nearly went down and Manuel leapt at him, she lowered her shoulder and ran at him. She caught Manuel in the side and shoved up with her shoulder. He grunted as she propelled him back a few feet.
Knowing she had to keep moving, she pushed away from him and sprinted onward. She’d expected him to become distracted by something else, but he wasn’t. Instead, he chased after her.
“Elena,run!” Logan bellowed.
She didn’t have to hear the terror in his voice to spur her to move faster; the sound of Manuel’s harsh breathing and thunderous steps close behind her was enough to do that. She ran for the medical building as a group of hunters raced toward her.
The lights from the medical building spilled across the ground and illuminated the bodies lying outside the building. She couldn’t see who they were, and she didn’t bother to try as she could practically feel Manuel breathing down her neck.
“Get down, Elena!” Juan yelled.
