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“We can’t leave them. This is no way to live,” Devon argued.
“Can we carry them out?” Leah asked and jolted as gunshots exploded nearby.
“Not if we want to escape.” Marek’s eyes flashed an ominous red. He advanced threateningly toward her. “Maybe that’s your plan. Maybe you’re stalling for them.”
“Back off!”
Julian stepped between them, his shoulders tight and ready for a fight.
Marek’s words were a cold bucket of water on her. Was she being controlled? No. Her head didn’t hurt. The shot had worked, hadn’t it?
She wasn’t hurting Julian. Wasn’t hurting them. Dmitri wasn’t subtle. Last time, she had been bleeding out of her nose and her ears by the end. None of that was happening right now.
She had to have faith.
Leah placed a calming hand on Julian’s back. “It’s okay.” Her next question was for him, because he was the only one she trusted completely. “Is there really no other way?”
“We can kill them,” was Devon’s response, his features twisted with wrath. “Anything is better than this.”
Leah’s heart jumped. Everyone was quiet for a second. She widened her eyes. They were seriously considering it. “We can’t! They’re still alive!”
“Devon’s right.” Julian sighed. “Even if we revive them with blood, there is no guarantee their minds are still intact. We don’t know how long they’ve been here, or what kind of torture they’ve suffered. They could wake up with only the vampire and none of the human.”
He knew more about vampires than she did. He was right. Yet, Leah couldn’t stomach killing them. The survivor part of her couldn’t just kill someone without giving them a chance.
“We’ll leave them.” Before anyone could interject, she added, “But we’ll come back for them with more people.”
“You think they’ll stay here? They’ll have moved by then. We won’t find them again,” Marek sneered.
“But we’ll find another one just like this. And another one!” As the words left her, Leah knew that was what she would do. “I promise you the Organization has dozens, if not hundreds, of places like this. We’ll find them and destroy all of them!”
Her impassioned speech left her audience in stunned silence until Julian lifted her and kissed her roughly. An emotion she didn’t dare put a name to, one that she wanted to always see in the future, filled his gaze.
An emotion that suffused her every cell.
Love.
“Yes, we will,” Julian said after setting Leah down on her feet. “These can’t be the only vampires the Organization has captured. We’ll find all of them.”
Marek and Devon nodded, their faces grim. They stuffed a few bags of blood along with some other supplies in the backpack in case of emergency. Once they were ready, Julian lifted her again, and they sprinted outside.
Julian let Marek and Devon take the lead as they navigated out of the facility. The two vampires fought off the Hunters they encountered while Julian protected Leah, ensuring no stray bullet shot past his defenses. The place, which looked to be a research facility, was not as heavily guarded as he’d expected. He thought Dmitri would’ve deployed more Hunters. Underestimating Julian was Dmitri’s last mistake.
As they raced toward the exit, Julian caught a familiar scent, one that made his blood boil.
Dmitri. The bastard was close by.
Instinctively, he tightened his hold on Leah, who looked up at him questioningly. He said nothing, not wanting to scare her if he could avoid it, but the scent was getting closer and closer. It seemed that they were going in the same direction.
Marek and Devon skidded to a stop. They’d arrived at a wide-open area that looked like the lobby. At the very end were two double doors, the only exit, blocked by two vampires, Aidan and Rowan, who had their claws out and fangs bared.
The five Hunters, including Dmitri, were caught between the two groups of vampires. Three Hunters turned to fight him. Their fear was a visceral stench, but Julian had to give them credit. Their hold on their weapons was steady and calm, ready to fire straight and true if needed.
Dmitri whirled around, shock evident on his face when he saw Leah. Julian’s vision reddened at the sight of a young woman in his arms. The asshole had a knife to her throat.
“You bitch!” Dmitri pointed the knife at Leah before snapping it back to the hostage’s throat.
“Emily!” Leah jumped to her feet. “Let her go!”
