Page 89 of Blood and Trouble

“Vampires at the edge of the wards,” Locust said.

“We have to go,” Bow explained. “The patrol said they saw a witch. It’ll only be a matter of time before she breaks through the wards, and us being here puts the whole pack in danger.”

I allowed myself one second of dread, one second to imagine Lycan had been caught, and they’d broken him, and he’d led them here. Then I shoved that inside a box labeled, “Things that would never fucking happen,” before I turned to Ava and scrambled to find the rest of my clothes.

“How?” Ava said, jumping up and racing around to get dressed. “How did they find us?”

“We don’t know,” Locust explained. “Thurjin said something about finding a deer that smelled like a vampire on their run, but other than that, they’re fine.”

I raced around the cabin, shoving whatever I saw into my backpack. Guns. Laptop. Journal. Clothes. Phone. Everything else wasn’t important. Ava rushed to get her necessities as Locust and Bow helped us gather the rest. It took two minutes, maybe three, before we were out the door and running through the woods, my palm gripping Ava’s to help her keep up.

“What about the pack?” she asked. “We can’t leave them.”

“Staying here puts them in more danger,” I added.

Ava whined, and a thick cloud of shame shot through me. Hers. For having to leave Madeline, Astrid, and the others. There were children here. There were elders and people who couldn’t fight. She wanted to dig in her heels and insist we stay to protect them.

“Are you sure?” She furrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip with indecision.

No. They’ll slaughter the whole fucking pack when they don’t find us.

But that wasn’t my concern. When it came to saving Ava, saving my mate, I’d do whatever the fuck I needed to protect her.

“C’mon,” I said with a gentle tug.

We stumbled through the undergrowth, dodging trees and fallen logs until we made it on the other side of the wards. We’d just gotten to a clearing with a small wooden building a few yards ahead when that wretched stench hit me square in the face. I nearly doubled over. Decaying magic. Rotten flesh. Old coppery blood. Vampires.

Three bodies stepped out from behind the shed. Two more jumped out of the trees behind us. I grabbed my gun from my waist holster and held it up, aiming at the head of the biggest one. Rodent, said the name patch on his cut. Locust fell into step beside me, pistol poised to shoot. Bow circled to the other side of Ava as three more vampires closed in from the left.

Some were Helena Scorpions. Some were newly made, judging by their coloring and mild odor. Our suspicions had been correct. Evelyn rounded up the European Scorpions and turned them.

“Give us the girl, and we’ll let the rest of you go,” Rodent said, holding up a gun pointed at me.

Fat fucking chance.

My fangs elongated at the insinuation that I’d ever agree. His buddies closed in. Locust and Bow got tighter around me. Ava froze at my back.

I didn’t wait. Heart pounding and lungs heaving for air, I fired. The steel bullet hit the vampire between the eyes, and he fell backward with a loud splat. I aimed at the one next to him, but he moved too fast for me to get a good shot. Booms rang out around me, deafening, and gunpowder lined my throat. I pulled the trigger, trying to hit the moving target.

I finally got him in the chest, and he dropped to the ground just as a third motherfucker tackled me to the side. I dropped my pistol five feet to the left, out of reach, but it didn’t matter. I’d trained for this fight.

I used my weight to roll us so I was on top, my knees in his chest, his pointed teeth snapping near my face. Another vampire grabbed my arm to try to pull me off, but I swiped at that one and ripped out his eye. He screamed and fell back.

Fury simmering in my veins, I clawed at the fucker’s neck until I hit bone. Then I wrapped a fist around his cervical spine and yanked. His arms went limp. His head detached from his body, and I kicked it away. Another vampire tackled me from the left, and I landed hard on my side.

I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything, just the incandescent anger of a feral male whose mate was in danger. The vampire got his arms around my neck, but I elbowed him in the gut hard enough to make him wheeze, loosening his hold. I twisted around and punched through his rotting chest, squeezing his heart. I hardly noticed the mess when I ripped it from his chest.

More shots rang out, and I stood, circling the bloodsucker to stick my fingers in his mouth from the top. Gripping his upper jaw, I braced my foot on his shoulder and yanked. His head split as easily as butter on a hot knife.

But before I could move on to the next piece of shit, fire erupted on my side, toppling me over. I gripped the wound, expecting my hand to come away fresh with my blood. When it didn’t, I stared at my ribs, confused for half a heartbeat. Excruciating pain rippled through the mating bond, mind-numbing fear and anxiety taking root in my chest.

Ava.

I looked up just as she dropped to her knees, clutching her midsection. Locust grabbed her and dragged her to the building, pulling her out of the fray.

No.

“Ava!” I shouted as I ran to her, kneeling at her side.