AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know!”
Rey grunted, pulling back so fast Devin almost crashed all the way down before he controlled her descent. Bruising her arms, he held her steady until Devin found her balance.
“Then I’ll be back in twenty minutes. I expect that bed to be stripped and a new nest in its place by the time I return.”
“Rey—Daniel, please, just—”
“I mean it.” He didn’t shove her away. Disentangling her fingers from where they grabbed hold of his sleeve, Rey nudged Devin back. He moved her down the hall with gentle hands before reaching for the door. He looked back over his shoulder with brows pulled down over the bridge of his nose. “Be ready for me.”
Flinging the door open, Rey’s back stiffened.
Devin’s world shattered in a cascade of vicious thunder. The tinkle of broken glass underscoring the rapid-fire explosions that punched through wood and plaster. She screamed and dropped to her knees, but it didn’t stop her from crawling towards the chaos. Towards the safety of her bellowing Alpha.
Rey fell on top of her, curling his far larger body around Devin. Tucking her against him, a living shield. His body jerked and swayed, but he clamped his arms tighter around her. Protecting her from another spray of bullets as they punched through the walls and ricocheted through the foyer.
Devin couldn’t stop screaming. The spatter of hot liquid decorating her arms, her legs, she felt it trailing down her back. None of it was hers, but she felt each thundering crack as if it ripped through her body.
“Stay down,” Rey snarled at her temple when the gunfire tapered off. Shoving her through the nearby doorway, he rose to his full height. Thumping his chest with a bloody fist, he turned to face the waiting danger.
The wet slap of flesh filtered through the ringing in her ears. Roars and shouts. Sounds of violence, mayhem. It tried to hide the crunch of glass, footsteps drawing near.
Devin dove towards the couch, but she wasn’t fast enough. Ankle caught, someone dragged her through the vicious debris. Pinned beneath the weight of a huge male as he sat on her stomach. His leer was far more terrifying than the long blade he pressed to her neck.
“This is going to be a lot of fun for me,” the Alpha rasped as he replaced the knife with his hand. Leaning his weight on the delicate column, he worked his way backwards until he could shove Devin’s leg away to work his way between them.
“Hey, that’s not part of the plan,” a far smaller Beta hissed as he stumbled into the room, holding the deep wound on his arm that dripped blood onto the soft blue rug.
Recognition teased at the edge of her memory but refused to become clear in the chaos.
The bond came alive within her chest. A silent roar bursting through her, hammering against the back of her ribs. It surged through her veins, lighting her synapses on fire. It gave her a strength she wasn’t sure she had as she launched herself at her attacker. Devin’s throttled scream brought the Alpha’s attention back to her. Long enough for the sharp edge of her nails to rake down the side of his face. Scoring the flesh in long lines before she reached for the limpid brown of his eyes.
The back of his hand slammed into her cheek with a resounding crack. It tried to knock her senseless as her head whipped to the side. Devin squinted through the dizzying swirl of colors, kicking with all her might. Angling for his eyes once more. Digging her nails in deep as she dragged them down over the furious blaze.
Her teeth bit deep into the Beta’s arm as he came to help the struggling Alpha. Wrenching her head to the side, she tore a chunk of flesh free. Spat it out with a victorious cry as the Beta fell back with a ragged shout. Warm liquid spilled over her lips, scalding the frozen skin of her chest as it dripped from her chin.
More dark bodies flowed into the small space. None of them Rey’s. Devin’s scream wouldn’t end as she lashed out at anything that came close enough. Shoving her back into the corner, she hissed and growled at the wall of flesh pressing close. Baring her teeth at them, Devin grabbed the only weapon that came to hand. A thick shard of glass that cut deep into her palm as she wielded it, slashing the glittering piece through the air as the males tried to reach for her.
The savage roar stopped short. Not just the one echoing through the frigid air from outside, but the one within. Icy cold sluiced through her, the shock enough to send Devin reeling. She stumbled from her crouch, slamming into the wall as she clawed at the sudden stillness within her breast. Choking on a breath that didn’t want to be pulled into desperate lungs, agony pulsed through her chest. Ripping through her, flinging bits of her heart and soul away with wild abandon.
“No!” Devin’s wail was a broken, desolate thing as she launched herself at the busted windows. She had to get to him. Had to find Rey and stop the virulent pain. Bring him back before it could dig its claws deeper and destroy her.
She couldn’t survive without him. He was hers as much as she was his. Unable to withstand the ferocious torment, she tried to climb through the jagged pieces of glass to the too still body laid out on the frosty grass. Blood poured from the side of his head, staining the crisp blades of faded brown. A pool of dark crimson built beneath him before the cold ground sucked it in. Devin didn’t care about the deep lacerations that patterned her skin, their pain nothing compared to the echoing stillness inside of her.
Caught and held in too many brutal hands, Devin shrieked and sobbed. Skin slick with blood as she struggled, she wasn’t certain what was hers, what was theirs. Her sole need to get to Rey banishing the ache of the deep cuts, dismissing the bruises and punching fists. Small fingers gouged and tore, feet connecting with the soft parts of her assailants. Rey didn’t move. Too far away for her to see if he still breathed.
“Hold her still.” A new voice. Strong, commanding. It swept through the room and tried to punch through Devin’s hysterics. Instead, it made her more savage. A glimpse of a weathered face and sad brown eyes before the butt of a pistol came down on her temple.
“I had hoped you wouldn’t be here,” Anthony Caivano murmured as they shifted Devin’s limp body into his arms. “He’s not dead, little one, but if you don’t stay quiet, he will be.”
Devin gave a final sob before the gray haze clouding her vision faded to black.
* * *
