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She’d never seen him so enraged. Nor more afraid. It shook her as surely as a physical blow. She backed up so fast, she nearly stumbled. She wheeled around and ran, her heart throbbing in her chest, cold and leaden. Her tears were hot on her cheeks as she pushed out the door and fled into the night, fumbling to pull her phone from her pocket.
She hit the number for her father’s private line. He picked up on the first ring.
“Daddy!” Her breath hitched on a broken sob. “Oh, God, it’s Rune . . . Please, I need your help.”
~ ~ ~
Rune didn’t let out his breath until he heard the staff door slam shut behind Carys.
She was gone.
He told himself he was glad. He felt relief, for sure. Seeing her in the same room with men loyal to Fineas Riordan had been the worst kind of terror he’d ever known.
Her confusion and mistrust when they’d called him by his given name had wracked him. When she’d spied the black scarab tattoos on the men, there had been recognition in her keen gaze. She knew the mark, knew what it meant. Who it belonged to.
Which meant the Order knew it too.
Bad enough he had wounded her by standing her up at the Chase Darkhaven. Tonight, he’d lost her for sure. And if the Order found him first, her father would no doubt want to be the one to kill him personally.
Rune had never felt dread like he had when Carys had stood primed to strike tonight—for him. She never would have survived it. Her Breed genetics were powerful, but not even the purest of their kind was bulletproof.
Together, he and Carys might have taken out a few of Riordan’s men, but not without risking their own lives. Rune could hardly be troubled to worry about his own hide now, but there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep Carys safe. Sending her away was the only choice.
s humiliated and hurt as she’d felt, sitting in her family’s living room, waiting for him to finally show up, the concern she’d felt had overruled it. Now, that concern chilled over into bone-deep worry.
No sounds flowed out to the street. The club was dark. Quiet.
Eerily so.
Her feeling of foreboding deepened, and instead of entering through the unsecured front door, she went around to the staff entrance at the back of the old church building.
Before she even stepped inside, the scent of spilled blood and death blasted her senses. Her gums twitched in response as alarm turned to ice in her veins.
“Rune?” Her voice vanished into the silence of the place as she entered the cavernous, underground arena and bar area. “Rune, are you here?”
He didn’t answer, but there he was. Standing inside with a group of six large, menacing Breed males, all heavily armed with semiautomatic pistols trained on Rune. Signs of a struggle were everywhere. The broken mirror behind the bar. Toppled chairs. Shattered glass littering the floor like diamond shards in a sea of pooled liquor.
And blood.
So much blood. On the wall and the floor. All over Rune.
“Oh, my God! Rune, what hap—”
When she stepped forward, his stark gaze halted her. There was a warning in his eyes that made her fall silent. Made her quell the spark of her Breed instincts.
One of the vampires moved beside him now, clamping his hand onto Rune’s shoulder. “Well, well . . . who have we here?”
The male’s angular face had a dangerous edge to it. Under his short dark hair, his piercing gray eyes glimmered with interest. And unmistakable cruelty.
Rune cleared his throat. “Club’s not going to open tonight,” he said, directing the statement at her. “You and the other girls can take the weekend off.”
Carys wasn’t sure how to respond. The Breed male standing next to Rune like he owned him didn’t give her the chance.
“Not so fast now, boyo. Don’t be rude.” His mouth split into a leering smile. “Why don’t you introduce us first? Didn’t expect this dump to employ such a fine piece of ass.” His gaze ran over her like an unwanted caress, narrowing when he saw the mark on the side of her neck. “Breedmate, besides, I see.”
Rune didn’t correct the mistake, nor did Carys. Although everything Breed in her flared with the urge to attack, she held herself in check. Rune’s miserable gaze seemed to command her compliance. He was clearly reigning in his own fury too.
“Go on home. Do it now,” he said tightly, his eyes pleading for her to obey.
