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“Is he…?” I began, but Julia shook her head.
“Temporarily,” she said, looking tense. “But we need to help him before it’s too late.”
The hunter was breaking off a tree branch to use as a stake. I had no idea if that would kill a vampire for good, but I wasn’t about to let Dean die.
I roared, charging at the hunter with my remaining strength. He looked up just in time to see me barreling toward him. With a snarl, he swung his makeshift weapon at me, but I knocked it aside. My claws raked across his chest, drawing blood and eliciting a scream of pain.
“Get away from him!” I locked eyes on the hunter as he stumbled back.
“Ridge!” Julia called, already at Dean’s side. “I’ll take care of him. You need to find Tori.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The witch nodded, her expression full of fierce intensity. “Go save your mate,” she said. “We’ll hold them off here.”
The battle raged on, the scent of blood and smoke filling my nostrils. I gritted my teeth, my side throbbing from the silver blade wound. My ears caught a familiar voice in the chaos. Kyle.
“Ridge! Over here.”
Relief surged through me, but it quickly turned to horror when I saw that Tori wasn’t with him. Kyle was stumbling down the road toward town, supported by a shifter boy who borea striking resemblance to Camila. Blood seeped from a bullet wound in Kyle’s arm.
“Kyle!” I roared, my heart pounding as I fought off another hunter. “Where’s Tori?”
“Ridge,” he gasped, pain and fear blazing in his eyes. “William took her. He dragged her and put her in one of the armored vehicles while I was fighting them off.”
“Fuck.” Cold fear settling into the marrow of my bones. “I have to find her.”
“Use your connection, Ridge,” Kyle rasped. “Find her before it’s too late. I can’t lose my sister.”
My chest tightened at his words, and I nodded grimly. I closed my eyes and reached out through our bond, trying to locate even the faintest trace of Tori.
“Stay strong, love,”I thought, willing her to hear me.“I’m coming for you.”
As I searched for her presence, the sounds of battle continued to rage around me. Wolf shifters from town joined the fray, their fierce growls and snarls mingling with the cries of the hunters.
“Ridge,” Kyle said, pulling me from my concentration, “I can help you fight, Just find her.”
“Focus on getting yourself to safety.” I ordered, my voice firm but caring. “You’re in no shape to fight.”
He hesitated, and the stubborn look in his eyes, so like Tori’s, wavered before he finally nodded. The shifter boy helped him away from the battle, and I spared them one last glance before turning my attention back to finding my mate.
“Where are you, Tori?” Desperation began clawing at my chest. The connection between us was still new, our bond not yet as strong as I would have liked. She was distant, her emotions a faint echo of what they should be. There was something, though—a flicker of pain, a spark of fear. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to latch onto.
“Stay with me, love,”I urged her, following the thread of our bond as it led me deeper into the chaos.
My wolf screamed at me to protect my pack, but I couldn’t ignore the pull of my mate. I pushed through the melee, dodging attacks and dispatching hunters when necessary. My sole focus was on Tori. I had to get to her before it was too late.
“Please,”I said, praying that she could hear me.“Hold on just a little longer. I’m coming, Tori. I swear, I’m coming.”
The nightmare had become a reality, and I shifted back into my wolf form. In a blur of fur and desperation, I sprinted into the woods, leaving the chaos of the battle behind me. The world around me became a mosaic of dark shadows and the scent of blood.
“Where are you, Tori?”My thoughts raced right with my paws against the forest floor. I strained to pick up any trace of her scent or a flicker of our connection.
“Ridge?”Dean’s voice echoed in my head through his vampire telepathic powers.“What’s going on? Where are you?”
“You’re okay?”I asked him.“You scared the shit out of me. Kyle’s on his way back to town. William took Tori.I’m trying to track her down.”
“Shit.”His concern reverberated through our mental connection.“Takes more than a hunter to keep me down. I’ll do what I can from here. Just find her.”
