The only problem was she needed more than distance. Shehadto get away from him.
Asher’s jaw and teeth throbbed from her punch, but he didn’t let them or the blood seeping down his throat slow him. Instead, he propelled himself faster as Brie raced to the far end of the parking lot.
His guard hadn’t been completely up around her. He’d assumed since she alerted him about the impending attack on the compound, she wouldn’t be violent. That assumption had been completely wrong, and while she wasn’t a Savage seeking to destroy him, she would do everything possible to stay free.
He should have seen that coming, given he’d been chasing her for miles. But he’d been too focused on the fact she’d tried to save him to consider she might also kill him to keep her secrets.
He wouldnotunderestimate her again. He would have to take her down and restrain her when he caught her. She’d fight, but he’d be prepared for it.
They were almost to the edge of the parking lot when a smell like a mass grave full of rotting bodies washed over him. The image of putrefying flesh, with worms and bugs squiggling in and out, flashed through his mind, but there were no mass graves nearby.
No, there were only more Savages coming for them.
Fuck!he cursed inwardly.
He didn’t dare take the time to look around; a distraction now might get him killed, but the slap of numerous footsteps against the asphalt rebounded throughout the night. They were coming fast, and there were a lot of them.
The only chance they had was to run or to fight together, but he wasn’t about to suggest that to the woman who’d punched him in the face. She might knock him out and leave him for the Savages.
He was about to risk a glance at the new, enclosing menace when a white van squealed to a stop outside the opening in the chain-link fence, only ten feet in front of Brie. Were those doors about to open and unleash a van full of Savages on them?
He’d fight to the death. That was the only way they’d take him. He wouldnotbecome one of the vampires and hunters the Savages and demons starved and tortured into becoming one of them. Death was a far more preferable option.
No!Asher inwardly screamed when the side door slid open.
Brie didn’t hesitate, though he was certain Savages were about to pour out and swarm them. A vampire stood in the doorway of the van.
The vamp held a hand out to the woman as he shouted, “Faster, Brie! Run faster!”
Asher was now cursing the van for an entirely different reason. If Brie got in that van, he’d lose her for good.No!
He poured on the speed, but he wasn’t sure it would be enough. It hadn’t been so far, but this was it. It was now or never.
Brie reached for Cabo’s hand as something crashed into her back. She was propelled forward even as a hand entangled in her shirt and dragged her back. It was the hunter; she knew it as soon as the scent of spruce pushed through the reek of rot permeating the air.
Hesmelled like that; his scent had haunted her since she encountered him in the airport. She’d dreamed of the smell, which reminded her of walking in the woods on a crisp winter day.
She’d only ever met him once before, but the comforting, familiar scent caused her to relax as his arms pulled her closer. For a second, she almost lost herself to the comfort of his arms.
Then, she recalled this was a life-or-death matter, and she couldn’t allow him to stop her.
Asher ducked her head when it swung back with the intent of caving in his face. She wiggled and kicked with the strength of an alligator trying to break free of the ropes binding it.
The scent of peonies filled his nostrils as her brown hair tickled his hands and cheeks. Everything about her bombarded his senses until she was all he could see, hear, and feel. The power of her body, the strength of her muscles flexing and bunching beneath his palms, felt so right.
Then he recalled the Savages were coming, and if he didn’t do something soon, they would end up dead. But he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t lose her again.
“Brie!” the vamp from the van shouted.
The vamp didn’t smell like a Savage, but if he meant to take her, then he was the enemy. Brie jabbed back with an elbow, catching him in the ribs and knocking the air from his lungs.
When she swung her head back again, he dodged the move and tightened his hold on her as they fell to the parking lot.
“Incoming!” the vamp shouted.
The retort of a gun firing echoed through the night as the vamp shot at the approaching Savages. It was followed by the thumps and thuds of wooden bullets hitting flesh, squeals, and bodies hitting the ground.
Brie shifted in the hunter’s arms and twisted around to face him. She got her fisted hands into his belly and delivered one, two, three blows that pummeled the air from his lungs. The oomph he emitted blew the hair back from her face.
