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Tarnley
“They’re coming from fucking everywhere!” I call out to Elijah. Blurring forward, I grip a female vampire by the throat. She claws at my hands until I squeeze. Her throat collapses, and I toss her back to Elijah so he can remove her head and make sure the job is done.
I’m covered in blood, the sticky copper clinging to me like a blanket of death. And why shouldn’t it? I sure as fuck lost count what feels like ages ago.
A man stumbles back into me, so I set him up. “You good?”
Brad nods, frantically. “Never been on this side of things before.”
“Not fucking pleasant,” Elijah retorts.
“Not at all.”
Brad ducks, avoiding the clawed arm of a bear shifter, then blurs away and slams into the body.
“Do you see Bronywyn?”
“She was with Fearghas!” Rainey calls out over the sound of her blade meeting the blade of another hunter. He slices out toward her, but she’s too fast. Her blade buries to the hilt in his chest, and she lifts her leg, planting her booted foot against his abdomen and leveraging the silver free.
She turns toward us and raises her gun, firing a single shot. Both Elijah and I turn to the right as a woman stumbles backward, sword in hand. “Fucking hunters.”
“Turn back!” someone yells.
The three of us prepare for a fight if the order came from our side. As luck would have it, though, those fighting for the council begin to pull back, turning and running toward the tree lines alongside the remaining council members.
In the distance, I see Odette being ushered away, surrounded by a group of supernaturals.
“Yes! Run, motherfuckers!” Rainey bellows over the thundering of footsteps.
Elijah beams at her with pride while I shift my attention to those of us left standing. With the numbers Brad brought us thinned out, it unfortunately looks like we lost damn near as much as they did.
Brad moves over bodies as he walks toward me, exhausted and barely managing to remain standing. “Anyone who is wounded needs to go inside. The worse the injury, the faster they get to Rachel. The others can take seats on the front and back porches or in the barn just behind the house.”
He nods and walks away while I scan the thinning crowd for those I cannot live without.
Willa’s wolves begin to transform, turning from animal to man, and Delaney moves quickly across the battlefield to hand Willa a robe.
“Thanks,” the alpha says as she places it on her shoulders.
“Thank you for showing up when you did. We—I don’t think they would have turned back had you not.”
Willa glances back at Z. “Someone reminded me that sometimes standing up for what you believe in is worth the risk. Ever since Jack died, it seems I’ve forgotten that.”
Delaney’s eyes fill, and she nods. “Thank you.”
Willa nods tightly then turns to her wolves. “Gather the wounded!” she calls out.
“Carry them inside,” I tell her, and she relays the message.
As soon as they’re moving through the fray, I blur forward, rushing around the battlefield in search of Bronywyn. Her blood hangs in the air, my senses able to separate it from the hundreds of others.
But she is nowhere to be found.
“Bronywyn!” I call out, desperation in my voice as my heart hammers. My palms are sweaty, my stomach churning, as I return to the house. Rachel is just inside, helping a vampire with a silver wound to the chest. Brad stands over her, offering his wrist.
“Where is Bronywyn?” I manage.
Rachel turns toward me. “I haven’t seen her. She’s not outside?”
