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“If you insist.” Alexander materializes a foot away from me, facing Sawyer down. Sawyer doesn’t allow him to intimidate us, being straight backed to tower over him. Alexander flashes his fangs with a scowl. “You have twenty seconds to decide what you’re going to do. They’ll know about Hayley. How you handle the situation is up to you. They’ll cage her, and there won’t be anything you can do about it. I’ll stand by their sides and take the heir that is rightfully mine, considering what you’ve taken from me.”
Goosebumps pickle over my skin, and I narrow my eyes on Alexander. He not only threatens me, but he also threatens my child, and there’s no fucking way I will ever allow him to put his hands anywhere near my baby.
“You must be mistaken,” I say, ignoring Alexander to speak to the leadership myself. “We’re not here for some idiotic consequence to a law that is clearly unfair, considering that there were witnesses to prove that Alexander attacked me first. He killed one of your own health keepers in the city. If anyone needs to face the consequences, it should be him. He is responsible for all of this, and you know it.” My voice booms from my protective circle between my guys, and I nearly cower away, my human instincts hating to threaten vampires like this because they could kill me. But my dhampir nature makes me stronger, gives me power, ensures that I can move past the fear clutching my chest. I’m not weak. I have an entire crew backing me up, and I have the power given to me by my mother.
Alexander reaches out his hand, trying to get close enough to grab a hold of me. “How dare—”
Sawyer swings his long knife down, slicing it right through Alexander’s wrist and severing his hand.
He shouts in pain, stepping back, but I can’t control the sudden urge to attack him. His blood sets me off, stabbing me in my nature on a deep-seated level. I remember the hundreds of times I’ve drank his blood through the years, every time he nearly killed me by making me produce blood for the blood rain or any time that I had injured myself. I can smell his blood so potently that I can taste it. And it tastes horrible like every single day of my life in his care.
“Order!” Narcisa shouts, pulling a weapon from beneath her blazer.
There will not be order here. There will only be destruction. Death. Because that is what the leadership stands for. I will see to it that they face the same fate that they try to inflict on others.
I launch forward at Alexander, shoving past Sawyer to get to the man who tries to ruin my life over and over again. His blood sprays across me as he tries to fight with a hand that’s no longer there, and I grab a hold of his remaining hand and twist as hard as I can, breaking his bone. I jerk my head and sink my teeth into his shoulder, biting him hard enough to taste the blood bloom through the fabric of his shirt.
Alexander jerks away, putting space between us. He disappears, and I spot his other brother opening a door to leave. The two of them vanish.
“You fucking coward! Face me!” I spin to run in the direction he abandoned us, but three of the leadership guys materialize in front of me.
I freeze in my place, feeling the vibrations of growls coming from behind me as Sawyer, Monroe, Knox, and Cooper back me up. Knox and Monroe were supposed to leave, but I don’t think they will now. They’re going to fight by my side. No matter how this ends, we are together. We’ll either get out of this alive, or we will fall together. That’s how our lives will be.
“Don’t come any closer, dhampir. You should not exist, you abomination.” The man in the middle points his finger in my face, bearing his sharp fangs, extending them as far as they will go for a kill bite.
I ignore him and take a step closer. “Are you scared of me?” I shift on my feet and look over my shoulder, the edges of my vision tinted red from the blood hunger rushing through me.
“I said don’t come any closer. You’ll put your hands up and not fight. This is over. If you even think about attempting anything, I will kill you immediately. If you submit and do as we ask, we will let you live.” The man pats his coat until he reaches for his blade.
“You are afraid of me.” I bite my bottom lip between my teeth, the satisfaction even sweeter than I realized it would be. “Do you hear that, guys? They’re afraid of us. They know what I am.”
The man glowers. “Dhampir, I—”
He doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Sawyer flies forward, dodging past me.
“Get her out of here. Now!” he shouts, commanding the others.
But I don’t let them grab a hold of me. I stick to the plan. This might not have been how things should’ve been, but I’m not giving up now.
I will drain every single fucking person on the leadership dry.
Chapter twelve
Cooper
Fight or Flee
“Wecan’tgrabherand run. She needs to do this. She is the only one of us who is powerful enough.” I mutter the words, watching as Sawyer flies at the leader in the middle.
“Hayley, behind you!” Knox jerks his hand, throwing his knife and sinking it between the shoulder blades of another one of the leaders. It’s five against five, but I can’t really guess the odds and if they are against us.
Because I know Hayley’s power. I know that when she’s threatened, she can destroy anyone. She destroyed Lawrence, and he was the oldest vampire I have ever known, far older than the Vampire Uprising.
Hayley spins with a high kick, using her flexibility and strength from all the years doing her aerial acrobatics and manages to knock another leader away.
I’m so enthralled by watching her in action that I miss the man sneaking up behind me. Sharp pain explodes in my upper back, and I growl, realizing that I can’t move because it’s not a blade. The leader squeezes my heart, sending agony blurring my vision.
“Stand down or I will take his heart.” The deep, guttural growl vibrates over my skin.
