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My heart races as I cling to Kylie, her small whimper striking me right in the heart. This isn’t how her birth was supposed to be. We should’ve been able to cuddle and love up on each other and get to know each other. Why is it that today has to be one battle after another? We had won. I know we have won. Alexander is just trying to cause chaos, turning this day into a disaster as a form of revenge.
But I won’t stand for it. His heart is mine.
“Give me some clothes. A weapon.” I try my best not to break down in a panic. All I want to do is hide with Kylie and hope for the best, but I know that it’s not going to be so simple. We need to stand together. I can’t let my guys try to find Alexander on their own. They might be powerful together, but they need me. If they could beat him, they would have done it already. It takes all of us to take down somebody as old as he is. Or maybe it’s just me. I’m who he wants.
“I know you want to hide and protect me, but we have to end this, Knox. I need you to take Kylie. She is our number one priority. Do you understand?” My breathing quickens with my words, even the thought of having a foot of space between me and our daughter destroys me. This isn’t right. I shouldn’t have to go through this bullshit. Haven’t I’ve been through enough? It’s as if the universe wants to test me one last time, or maybe it’s begging for help, needing me to kill Alexander once and for all.
A holler sounds from the hallway, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to think about Monroe’s yell. I know he can handle himself. He has Cooper to back him up.
“Hayley, this way. We need to get out of here. This isn’t a fight you need to face right now. You just had a baby.” Knox quickly helps me change into a pair of blue cotton pants and a shirt, cradling Kylie in one of his arms. “You’re healing.”
“I’m done healing. I feel like normal. The only thing that hurts is the stupid bite. Give me a weapon. I know you always have extras. We can’t just leave the others. So protect Kylie. I command you, Knox.” I don’t capture his gaze, but I hope that my words are enough to get him to agree with me.
Knox scowls, revealing his fangs. He turns his attention toward the door as another yell sounds out. This time, it’s Sawyer. “Hayley—”
The door swings open, cutting off Knox, and I spot a familiar vampire, but it’s not Alexander. It’s his remaining coven brother.
I steal the blade from Knox’s hand and charge forward without a second thought. I need to get this asshole away for my daughter. I will not let him near her. I know exactly that’s what he wants. I would rather die than allow anyone to put their hands on her.
I only get within a foot of the bastard before a hand locks into my hair and drags me back. Alexander used his coven brother as a distraction, and it catches me off guard. I let my fear and anger get the best of me, leaving me open. I stare at him with wide eyes, taking in the sight of his dirty, torn suit and his missing hand. I’ve never seen him like this before.
I push the surprise away and swing at him, smacking his face.
He roars and shakes me hard enough to get me to stop. “My baby doll, what a magnificent surprise. I was hoping that the bastards had managed to end your life to make things easier, but this is actually even better. I can watch your face as I kill the Bella Crew and take my dhampir heir.” Alexander swings me, slamming me into the hallway wall and I roll away from him. Blood splatters across the pristine tiles and ceiling, but it’s not mine. It smells familiar though, awakening my deep-seated need as a dhampir. Because the blood is a mixture of my guys.
And then I see them.
Sawyer lies face down on the tile and I spot Monroe under what looks like a piece of the roof. Cooper rests on the ground with his back against the wall, his throat slit and pouring blood across his shirt. But they’re all alive. They’re breathing.
“You fucker!” I scream and thrash, shoving my hands to the floor to get to my feet.
“Hayley!” Knox calls from the room, holding his blade up with one hand while clutching Kylie against his shoulder with the other. Alexander’s coven brother stalks the two of them, trying to corner them.
“Don’t touch them.” I hiss with the words, anger exploding through me at the sight. Alexander steps in my path, blocking my way.
He charges me, wrapping his hand around my throat and shoving my back against the wall again. He lifts me off my feet as if I weigh nothing at all and flashes his fangs. Using his other arm, missing his hand, he bends my neck.
I don’t even get a chance to react as he chomps his teeth into my shoulder, biting me hard enough to blur my vision, sending stars peppering the world around me. He pulls back and bites me again and again, filling me with his venom, leaving me in shock and agony.
“Stop trying to fight, Hayley. This is over. The dhampir is mine and the Bella Crew is done for.” Alexander growls and snaps his fangs at me, getting close to my throat. “You have underestimated me. You think that you’re so damn powerful, but you’re nothing. You are my baby doll and you are only intended to be bred and then broken. That is your life. That is how this ends.”
I spit in his face, throwing my hands up as I throw my weight forward. He forgot one thing. I might have been his doll, and I might’ve been broken, but I’ve been rebuilt stronger than ever. I am not afraid of him anymore. I’m more than a donor or a dhampir. I am the mate of the Bella Crew and I’m a mother. I am intended to change the world. Some call me a gift to humanity, others are afraid that I’m the destruction of the city. But I’m both. I’m a beautiful disaster that will tear things down to rebuild them. I will fight with my last breath. I will stand tall even when my knees shake. I will face this man and prove to him that he is nothing to me. He is simply the trigger that sets me off. He will detonate my power, taking himself out.
“You little bitch. Sit down and watch as I destroy every fucking thing you love.” Alexander shoves me so hard into the wall that my head cracks against it, and I think I black out for a second.
I blink my eyes, now sitting on the floor as he rushes toward Sawyer and drags him from the debris with one hand.
Sawyer growls and tries to fight, but his arms are broken. His leg might be too. Alexander punches him in the face, sending his blood splashing across the wall.
And then he goes for Sawyer’s fangs, grabbing the right one between his thumb and index finger, pinning him with his other arm, jabbing his elbow into his sternum.
The world spins around me and I lose focus. Light and shadow blur through my vision. It’s as if I’ve left my body, yet it still lives on. As if my inner beast forces me to relinquish control. And I gladly allow it. Alexander will not face his broken little doll. He will face the monster he created from years of abuse and years of manipulation. He will face a woman scorned and broken and beaten but also a woman who burned only to be reborn from the ashes.
This is for every donor. This is for the Gemstones. This is for the Bella Crew. For Opal. For my mother.
This is for me.
For my daughter.
