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“Got it,” I said, scanning the area for anything that might be of use. My eyes landed on a broken piece of metal from one of the damaged cars, its jagged edge glinting in the moonlight. I grabbed it and weighed it in my hand, hoping it would be enough.
“Here goes nothing.” I steeled myself for what I was about to do. With a deep breath, I charged at the vampire girl, aiming for her heart. She saw me coming and dodged. Jaxon tried to hold her, but she moved, and I pierced her right shoulder.
My makeshift stake had gone all the way through her flesh. I looked on at their continued battle with a small amount of smug satisfaction when I realized her right arm was hanging loosely by her side. She was only able to use her left arm, and she seemed to have visibly slowed. Jaxon was landing more hits now.
I looked over at Dean, still locked in ferocious combat with the male vampire. The fear and helplessness I’d felt earlier was replaced with a fierce desire to protect those I cared about, no matter the cost.
A pained groan pulled my attention away from the fighting. My gaze darted to Ridge. If anything, he looked worse than when I’d left him. The small patch of fur on his chest had grown larger, but that couldn’t be right. His shifter healing should have kicked in by now. Cold dread filled me as fear for my mate took over. I rushed to his side, my wolf’s concern mirroring my own.
Then I heard a snap. In the stillness of the street, the noise seemed to echo even louder. My head whipped around to see Dean standing over the male vampire, whose neck hung at an unnatural angle. Dean’s expression was smug, but as he caught sight of the frantic worry on my face, his features softened with confusion.
“Hey, it’s okay.” He walked toward me. “I didn’t kill him. He’ll heal, and he’ll be back on his feet in a few hours. We’ve got time to get away.”
“Dean, it’s not that.” I gestured to Ridge’s unconscious form and the bite. “Look at him. Something’s wrong.”
Understanding flickered across Dean’s face, and he dropped to his knees beside me. As he examined Ridge, the vampire girl broke free from Jaxon’s grasp. She bolted away, disappearinginto the night. I wanted to pursue her, but Ridge was my priority. My wolf’s fear blended with my own.
“Can you help him?” I pleaded with Dean, desperation lacing my tone.
“Let me see what I can do,” he said.
Kyle limped over and put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at my brother, grateful for his support.
“I’m scared, Kyle.” Tears tracked down my cheeks, then I remembered he’d been thrown into a car. “Kyle, are you okay?” I started feeling his limbs for injuries, something we’d done a lot for each other when we were training to be hunters.
“Tori, I’m fine. Tori. Tori!” Kyle grabbed my hands, stopping me and forcing me to look at him. “I’m fine, I swear, just bit banged up and a little embarrassed. I’ve never fought a vampire before, and I’ll admit I made a rookie error. I misjudged her. All I saw was a girl. I didn’t know they had such enhanced strength. She threw me like I was the lightest bowling ball in the alley.”
He sheepishly put his hand on his shoulder and rotated it. It was clearly hurting, but if he was moving it, it wasn’t broken. A few days’ rest, and he’d be fine.
As Dean tried to assess Ridge’s condition, my mind raced. I had no idea how to help him. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing him. I felt useless and scared, and I fucking hated it. Our bond pressed down on me, making the need to protect him even stronger.
“Guys, we have to get out of the street,” Jaxon warned.
Too late. A police cruiser screeched up the streets and stopped in front of us, lights flashing and sirens blaring. With everything that had happened, I had completely forgotten about the stolen car and the woman who’d called the police. It felt like hours had passed, when in reality, it had only been a few minutes.
Panic overwhelmed me as I looked around. There was the twisted wreckage of a car. Across from us, a man lay with his neck at an unnatural angle, horrific injuries marring his body. At the side of the road, almost forgotten in the surrounding carnage, the older model sedan was still running. Everyone could see it had been broken into—the steering column had been pulled off, and it had been hot-wired. My mate lay in front of me, unconscious, sprouting a patch of dark fur from a bite wound to his shoulder. I held his hand and bit my lip to prevent a sob. If I started crying now, I wouldn’t stop. How the hell were we gonna explain this to the police?
As the policeman stepped out of his vehicle and looked around, shock came over his face. He raised his radio to his mouth, probably to call for backup, when a blur dashed across the road and stopped in front of him.
Dean. I had completely forgotten about Dean’s supernatural abilities. As a vampire, he had the power of persuasion, and we were about to see it in action.
I watched as the officer’s eyes took on a strange, glazed look as Dean held the officer’s hand, shaking it. “Thank you for coming, sir. But I think there’s been a mistake. We’re all fine. There’s nothing for you to report. Must have been a false alarm or kids.”
It was likeStar Wars, which Ridge had made me watch one night. I remembered when the old man waved his hand and said, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
The cop got into his cruiser, turned off the lights and siren, and drove away without looking back. One crisis down. Fuck knew how many to go.
“I better go check on Hanna, Camila, and Gabe,” Kyle said, his voice strained with pain. “They can’t have missed all the noise. They’re probably petrified that the hunters have come back.”
He limped away, leaving me with Dean and Jaxon. I turned to them, seeking answers. “What happens when a shifter is bitten by a vampire?”
Jaxon’s gaze flicked to Ridge’s bite mark, alarm flitting across his face before he schooled his expression into one of calm reassurance. “He’s going through a forced shift, but his body is fighting it. There’s a compound in a vampire’s saliva that reacts with shifter blood. It’s a bit like going feral, but it takes hours, not months. He’s already shifting and burning up with a fever. We need to get him out of here before he starts losing control and shifting. Then we need to find a cure.”
“If we don’t find a cure?” I asked, unable to keep the tremor out of my voice.
Jaxon hesitated for a moment before speaking. “If we don’t find a cure within the next couple of hours, Ridge will keep waking in a delusional frenzy, shift, and hurt anyone in sight. After that, he’ll slip into a brief coma, where his shifter healing will fight the potent vampire venom that’s already ravaged his body. He’ll fight until his heart gives up.” Jaxon ran his hand in a comforting gesture down my arm. “We won’t let it get to that point, Tori. We’ll do everything we can to help him.”
“All right.” Fear clawed at me. I needed Ridge to be okay. The urgency of the situation wrapped around me like a suffocating blanket, and I fought against the rising tide of panic. I couldn’t lose Ridge. I wouldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t lose him.
