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“Your gun!” Alec reminds me of the weapon strapped to my body. My fingers reach for the trigger at the same time that the vampire attacking me tears it from my body. The instant the trigger is pulled, there’s a loud bang and a blinding flash of white. Instinctively I reach up to shield my eyes from the bright light. As I drop my hand and open my eyes, I gaze in wonder. Everything has slowed before me. The once loud surroundings are now a haze of white noise.
The gun is slowly being turned to face me as the pale vampire points it in my direction. I’m able to easily snatch the gun from the vampire’s grasp and smash it across his face as his body seemingly continues to defy time and gravity.
Cold drifts around me as I move, seamlessly and easily while others are trapped for only a moment in this warped field.
I watch in awe as time speeds once again and the sound of screams ring in my ears, seeming louder than before. The vampire crashes on the ground and time returns to normal. My finger pulls the trigger and I welcome the flash of white as I barrel toward the still vampire and rip his throat out with my fangs. The magic relents quicker than before and time ceases to still for me as I watch Alec take the strike of a blade across his throat. I pull the trigger a third time and don’t wait for the flash of light. I ram my body into the vampire, whose fangs are bared, prepared to feast on Alec’s weakened body. I smash his head into the cement floor over and over without mercy. Even as time resumes, I continue bashing him into the hard, unforgiving ground until his skull breaks and his struggle becomes nothing.
Alec’s body falls to the ground and he reaches for his throat. I crawl on the floor to reach him, but his eyes find mine before darting behind me in warning. I turn prepared for an attack, adrenaline spiking through my veins, but instead I see both Veronica and Vince losing their respective battles. Fear crushes down on me. Natalia and Veronica are each armed with blades, and they both have several pierced into their bodies. Veronica is much worse off, though, with a glaring gash down the front of her chest. Her body heaves, but her eyes are focused on vengeance.
Vince is struggling beneath Remy, both with their fangs out and snarling as they attempt to reach each other’s throats. I quickly pull the trigger waiting for time to stop, for the moment to easily rip Remy into two, but time no longer obeys. I pull the trigger over and over as I run toward the two werewolves, wrapped around each other in a fight to the death. I toss the gun aside in a fit of anger as the magic no longer grants me an advantage and barrel into Remy's body, forcing him off of Vince. The second I have him pinned under me, Vince rises and quickly wraps his hands around Remy’s throat, pulling with all his weight. I push my body on top of Remy’s and wrench against Vince’s strength. Remy screams in terror and pain as his neck snaps from the strain and his body goes limp.
I rise quickly, preparing for more, only to find myself surrounded by bloodshed. Carol hovers over Alec. Two sorcerers are surrounding the witches with white light. The vampires all lay dead, scattered in pieces across the large room.
The only noise is a violent hiss as Natalia and Veronica circle each other in the center of the room. Their dark, distorted dance of death has them weaving in and out among the humans who are still tied to the chairs, which have toppled over. Vince races to the center of the room, ready to help his mate.
“Behind me!” The bellowed command and the blur of Veronica’s vision comes to form, her back to his. Natalia’s body whips in front of Veronica’s as Vince bends forward and Veronica leans her back against his as she wraps her legs around Natalia’s neck, forcing the vampire to claw and slash at her legs. Vince moves as fast as he can, pushing the two vampires to the ground before grabbing Natalia’s arms and pinning them behind her back. Veronica’s legs bear several wounds. A deep gash in her upper thigh seeps blood as she squeezes her thighs around Natalia’s neck, cutting off her oxygen.
Natalia struggles violently as she’s forcefully contained between the two members of my pack. Veronica reaches forward and grips both sides of Natalia’s mouth as she screams; she pulls with all her force against the vampire’s jaws until they finally snap and separate. A shattered scream ricochets against the hard walls as Natalia’s life is ended.
Vince releases the dead vampire, but Veronica’s dark eyes are fixated on Natalia’s tormented face. Her body is covered in blood and still badly wounded, but she disregards Vince as he tries to take her in his arms. Her fingers wrap around one of Natalia’s fangs and she rips out the pair in turn before smiling in triumph at her dreadful victory. Vince raises his brows in question at his mate when she finally looks at him.
“For my queen.” Her softly spoken words offer an explanation that Vince accepts as she heaves in a steadying breath. He opens his arms to her and she immediately goes to him, finally resting in his embrace.
They’re safe. My pack is safe. Even that knowledge doesn’t grant me reprieve, though. I need my mate. With my shoulders heaving as I attempt to calm, all I know is that I need my mate.
“I’m glad they used the guns I gave them.” Alec’s voice resonates in the quiet warehouse as he walks slowly to where Theo’s and Marcus’s bodies lay, still trembling in shock. “They’ll talk if they want to live. All we need is one to tell us what we want to know.”
“Is it over?” I question, eager to leave and return to Grace.
Alec glances around the room before settling his kind eyes on me. His large hand raises and slaps against my shoulder.
“It’s never over, my dear friend. But this battle has come to an end.” He gives me a weak smile before walking to join Carol. No one has escaped unscathed, but we’ll all heal. Except for the vampires who dared to betray the Authority. Two will live to give answers, but they won’t live long after.
I will get back to my mate. I will love her and she will love me.
Heaving in a breath, I know that’s all that matters. With death surrounding us and corruption in every corner of our world, our pack is safe and that’s all that matters.
Grace
Devin hasn’t taken his hands off of me. A warmth swept over me the second he stepped foot on the estate, and it hasn’t left. With every soft hum that vibrates up his strong chest, it only intensifies. It’s not the heat, it’s something else that sparks between us. With his back braced against the threshold to the kitchen, he holds me close to him, his hand running soothing strokes up and down my back. His chin rests on the top of my head and every so often, he kisses my crown.
Each time he does, a smile is pulled to my lips.
Even if he was broken and bruised when he arrived, the shower seems to have cleansed all of that away. For each of them, every member of my pack.
The night has set and the sun will no doubt be rising soon, but the adrenaline hasn’t left the room.
I shift against Devin to peek at Veronica and Vince in the corner nook of the room. Something’s changed between them, something possessive and raw. Something that’s dropped her guard and that’s not the only noticeable change between them but it’s so hard to place what’s changed.
“Did something happen?” I whisper the question to Devin, peeking up at him through my thick lashes, exhaustion beginning to weigh my eyes down.
“Nothing that didn’t have to happen. It all happened as it should.” He kisses my temple and the warmth spreads throughout me once again as I close my eyes, feeling a familiar comfort I associate solely with my mate wash over me. “Fate conspired in our favor.”
I can’t help but whisper back, “Something’s changed,” and when I open my eyes, Veronica’s sharp gaze meets mine. There’s only a knowing look that she gives me before Vince cups her chin in his large hand and kisses her. He takes her lips with his and the gentleness between them is genuine and it shouldn’t surprise me so, but it does. It’s not unlike Caleb, Dom and Lizzie.
“A lot has changed very quickly, sweetheart,” Devin murmurs into my hair and I shake my head, refusing to let the shift go.
“Something … something in the air is different,” I say and the moment the thought leaves me, a chill runs down my shoulders. Devin’s hand soothes the goosebumps that appear on my arm, running down my arm in the chill’s wake.
