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I nodded. “Just let me think of—-”
“Calys, I really need to talk to you. It’s about Raoul.”
For some reason, the mention of my cousin’s name had Pasquale tense. “Get him to come in,” he bit out.
I shook my head furiously. “No, please, let me just make an excuse—-”
Pasquale cocked the gun. “I won’t ask you again.”
Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Dark Half, if you can hear me now, you need to come out.
But a second passed and nothing happened. Forcing my limbs to move, I called out, “Just a sec.” I tried to think of a way to reverse the situation without risking any harm to the boy or Juriaan, but nothing came to me. Nothing.
Slowly, I opened the door.
“I’m sorry this is sudden, but I really have to talk to you about Raoul.”
I heard footsteps heading towards me. Behind me, Pasquale hissed, “Get him to come in.”
I forced a smile. “C-can we talk about this inside?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” There was something odd about his smile, but I was too anxious to figure out what it was. All I knew was that I now had two innocents relying on me to keep them safe. God, please help me, I prayed as I reluctantly pulled the door open.
I waited for Juriaan to come inside, but he did something else. Something that I never thought he’d do, something I would have never imagined possible.
Wings spread wide open, and then Juriaan was flying inside.
Behind me, Pasquale roared and the boy let out a scream of terror.
Chapter Six
ALEJANDRO
Alejandro had only been waiting in the dark for a few minutes when his guts told him something was wrong. Around him, his surroundings were quiet, but not too quiet. Birds still sang, frogs croaked, and the wind was whistling as it should.
It was normal, in other words, when it shouldn’t be.
For a second, he hesitated. If he left his post now and his hunch was wrong, he would be allowing assassins into Midway. It wasn’t just Calys who might be hurt. Other innocents might be harmed, too, local shifters who had welcomed them with open arms and human guests who were only guilty of being in the wrong place and time.
But if he was right?
Then it might mean Calys was going to fight for her life against Pasquale, and he might not be alone.
With a curse, he swung away and leapt back towards town, shifting into his Lyccan form as he did. His speed was greater when he was on all fours, and he reached the street leading to Calys’ rented cottage in record time.
Even from afar, Alejandro saw the door to her cottage was left open and his heartbeat tripled in fear. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
Howling in fury, Alejandro crashed through the window, using his sense of smell to find his target and take him by surprise. The sound of glass exploding was only Pasquale’s clue of his presence. By the time he turned around, Alejandro’s wolf form had already smashed into the house, his fangs latching onto the panther’s arm.
In the periphery of his vision, Alejandro saw something black – wings – followed by a strong gust of wind.
He wrestled Pasquale to the ground, but desperation lent the panther greater strength. Shoving Alejandro off, he aimed his gun at the wolf—-
“Noooooo!”
Alejandro was already running straight to Pasquale, confident in his ability to dodge a bullet, when he heard Calys scream. The next thing he knew, Calys was there in front of him just before Pasquale fired his gun.
Blood splattered on his face as the bullet wheezed through her heart.
Calys’ blood—-
A drop of it fell to his fangs.
He was tasting Calys’ blood—-
Calys’ blood—-
There was no fucking way, just no fucking way for a human to survive a bullet through her heart.
Alejandro snapped.
Terror exploded inside Pasquale when he saw Alejandro look at him with crazed fury. He let out a howl, the signal for his men to come to his aid.
But it was too late.
Pasquale Hernandez was already in pieces by the time his pack got there.
Soon, they, too, were in the same shape as their alpha’s heir, all their flesh ripped apart and their bones crushed into bits.
“ALEJANDRO?”
“Alejandro?”
“Alejandro?”
He heard the voice but didn’t heed it, thinking it was only his imagination. Calys was dead. She was dead because he had been too late to save her.
“Alejandro, please wake up,” the voice that sounded like Calys whispered as a hand brushed gently against his fur.
Alejandro didn’t stir, didn’t bother shifting back into his human form. He smelled blood and knew it was because of him. He had killed so many tonight, but somehow it did not feel enough.
And then she whispered something in his ear.
Something so strange that it roused him from his self-pity.
Something so familiar, it reminded him of a scene where Peter Parker was unable to believe his beloved Gwen—-
