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Thomas stood and bolted up the remaining stairs. Sonny was up there.
At the top of the stairs, Thomas did not stop but lunged forward and crouched behind a bureau. He tried to listen, smell, and see. There was still screaming and scattered gunfire. The air was smothering with the stench of blood, cordite, and burnt phosphorus.
You are very clever,Sonny sent to Thomas.You used Scarab’s temper as a weapon. But you are also wounded. I can smell your blood. That brief clash must’ve cut you deep.
Thomas couldn’t tell how wounded he was. He could feel blood dripping down his back and three long, deep gouges as their source.
Thomas saw Sonny standing in fully shifted lion form near the large bedroom window. He wasn’t facing Thomas at all. Sonny was facing out the window like a king surveying his kingdom.
Thomas stood and turned toward Sonny.
Are you out of your fucking mind, old man?Thomas thought at Sonny.
My people, your people. There are only a few holdouts left. Your mother left you the whole Leone pride, and look what you’ve done.
Thomas understood what Sonny was trying to do. The same thing Thomas had done to Scarab. Thomas would charge forward, and Sonny would slip under him, sending Thomas right out the upstairs window. Scarab’s fatal error had been that he aimed high when he lunged at Thomas. Thomas ducked so only Scarab’s claws found purchase in Thomas’s flesh.
Thomas decided lunging would be a fantastic idea, but he would lunge low, real low. Get his jaws on a leg, and get that femoral artery, which was really easy to grab.
So what if they went out the window in a heap of claws and paws and gnashing jaws? Thomas wanted the Leone pride to have this kind of conclusion, where the enemy was bested in bloodlust in front of them.
Aren’t you going to face me?Thomas asked.Of course, you aren’t,Thomas answered himself. That was when he lunged forward. His love for Lorena, his desire to free her from Sonny, his mother’s dying wish that he build the Leone pride bigger than ever, all of this was the rocket fuel that jetted him head-on into a fight to the death.
Thomas dove low at the last second, clamping his jaws on the inner thigh of Sonny’s hind leg.
Thomas heard the glass crack and shatter and felt them sailing through the air. Before they hit the ground, he wanted to get in every bite he could on that rear femoral artery.
Sonny frantically stabbed claws into both sides of Thomas’s flank, making plenty of holes and gashes. Thomas didn’t falter. Their tangled bodies crashed to the earth, and Thomas chomped and tore and pulled at that hind leg. Glorious hot, and salty bursts of blood jetted into the back of his throat.
They hit the ground … hard.
First, it was dark, then Thomas felt hands on both his arms pulling him up and dragging him into the back of a sprinter van.
“Put these on,” Daryl told him, and he tossed Thomas a pair of black overalls.
Thomas looked down and saw that he was completely naked, shifted back into human form, and covered in blood.
“Sonny?” Thomas asked.
“You did what you said,” Daryl told him. “Dispatched him right in front of everybody. You need to be dressed before we get to the safe house. If Lorena sees what shape you are in, she’ll freak.”
Thomas climbed from the van and walked up to the house. He dismissed his crew, the fighters and medics, so that he could talk to Lorena in private. He did his best to hide his injuries.
Thomas found Lorena inside the log cabin.
“Look at you,” Lorena exclaimed. “You are all torn up beneath those clothes.”
“Now, with Sonny gone, I have one more thing to handle. And that’s to tell you I won’t let you go,” Thomas answered back. “I love you too much. I was in love with you before I knew you. When I look back, I see how empty my role and the power that came with it really was without your light in my life.”
Thomas paused for a moment, not for dramatic effect, but to wrap the right words around his feelings. “I fall in love with you more and more each time I see you. You can’t possibly take that away from me. I won’t let you.”
Chapter19
Lorena
“Lorena, please stay with me and the pride. Whatever you are thinking about right now. About how the battle went down. Or about us. Well, it’s all wrong. Yes, shifters died. But mostly those who were harmful to our cause.”
She stood at the door, her coat in her hands, ready to leave. “Thomas, I don’t want any deaths on my conscience. None at all. I don’t want any more fear or hurt. Can’t you understand?”
