Kallum broke off contact with them, sending his mother a soothing kiss. That would hold them for a while and give Lily and Mac some space. It was plain the vampire needed to be alone with his mate judging from the speed that he was moving and the expression on his face. “Is now a good time to say congratulations?” He deliberately injected humour into his voice, trying to lighten the sombre mood.
Mac shot him a quick look and then stopped, taking a deep breath. “If I hadn’t been such an ass none of this would have happened,” he ground out.
“You need to stop that before we get to Lily, Mac. She needs you, her and the baby both. Wallowing in guilt will not help the issue. We can all look back and think if only we’d done something differently. The thing is we didn’t and events happened. Let’s all just be grateful Lily’s safe.”
He clapped him on the shoulder and walked past him, turning to look over his shoulder. “Though, if my sister throws herself off a cliff again to get away from you, I am going to rip you to pieces. Just thought I should let you know that.”
“If Lily ever does anything like this again, I won’t even put up a fight, Kal.” Mac continued on down at his side, his thoughts solely on Lily, and how he could make this up to her. ~~~~~
The compound erupted into a hive of activity. One moment it was silent and then next vampires and Vârcolac alike were racing around. The tall, brown-haired hybrid took off into the trees with a trail of people following in his wake. Reasa watched them go, moving silently through the trees towards the back of the house where they’d come from.
Lying on the ground was the red-haired hybrid, a blond vampire standing protectively over him issuing instructions to more vampires. The men and women listened and then took off into the surrounding trees in formation, clearly protecting the outer perimeter of the compound.
What the hell was going on? The male on the ground didn’t appear physically injured and there was nothing to indicate why the place had erupted into a panic. Reasa knew they hadn’t found her. She was still alive and that wouldn’t be the case if they had. No one was even coming in her direction but something was clearly wrong.
In the distance, wolves began to howl and the sound sent a shiver through her. The wolves would be immune to the poison, which meant she had to act now while everything was in disarray. If the Weres arrived too soon then she would fail in her mission.
There was only one vampire still within distance of her mark but he looked vicious. She would have to take him out first and that caused her a moment’s pause, but it didn’t last long. He was protecting the abominations. He was therefore collateral damage. Reasa pulled the gun from her waistband and sighted down the barrel at the blond vampire.
Liam struggled to close off the emotions assaulting him. The pressure in his head was mounting and he knew if he didn’t stop it now something awful would happen, something much worse than Lily falling from the mountain. He slammed up mental barriers one at a time. It was slow and painful, closing each compartment in his mind, shutting down his own emotions as he did, but he had to do it to protect everyone.
Stray thoughts started to bleed into his head, no… not thoughts; emotions. They weren’t coming from any mind he knew but there was something faintly familiar about it. Hadn’t he sensed it earlier, that strange itch he’d had at the back of his head?
Intent. So powerful, so focused, so determined.
Liam stiffened, shock rippling through him. Kothari was calling out that he had Lily, but he couldn’t stop to think about that. Evil was near and it had a specific target in mind and it wasn’t him!
Karn tensed the instant he saw Liam go still. He started to turn, sensing danger close by somewhere on the left. “Brandon!” Even as he called telepathically, he knew that whoever was out there was already moving to hurt the Vârcolac. “The compound’s under…”
He didn’t get a chance to finish his warning. Liam suddenly rose so swiftly, he was a blur of movement. The air rippled as the man vanished and morphed into an enormous russet wolf. Something whistled through the air towards Karn, and then the wolf sprang, throwing him to the ground and covering his body like a shield.
Reasa fired the silenced gun. It should have taken the vampire down but the abomination changed into a wolf just as she pulled the trigger, barrelling into the blond. The bullet hit the wolf square in the back and it went down hard, pinning the vampire to the ground.
Heart pounding in her chest, she jumped from the tree running at full speed across the yard towards them. She still had to time to complete her mission; the vampire was helpless under the weight of the wolf. Talons bared, she raced for the wolf, screeching in denial as another wolf appeared from nowhere, sailing through the air to crash into her, spinning her away.
Reasa’s talons sliced down the side of the attacking wolf but it was a glancing blow, the animal rolling and twisting on the ground to come back at her in a fury of teeth and fur. The sounds of more wolves and returning vampires told her she had failed, but she wasn’t going out without a fight.
Her leg kicked out, catching the wolf in the stomach as it dived at her again. She used all of her strength to boost the animal as far away from her as possible, her sharp eyes searching for the dropped gun.
The multi-coloured animal attacking her had to be a Vârcolac. Reasa’s talons were tipped in vampire venom and the animal was still coming at her. A normal Were would be dying in agony by now even from the shallow wounds inflicted. If she could reach her gun, she could poison this one as well before she died. She dived for the weapon as the wolf sprang again.
Liam felt fire racing through his back as the bullet struck home. He fell on Karn, effectively pinning him down but not being able to move as the shock of being shot stunned him.
“Liam, move. I can’t get up.” Karn pushed with all his strength but the wolf was too heavy even for him. “Liam, move!” He cursed loudly as he felt the other man’s blood start to leak on him, fury exploding inside him. He’d failed! He was supposed to protect the Vârcolac and Liam was injured, possibly poisoned.
A startled yelp had him turning his head and he saw another wolf attacking the female vampire who’d breached their security. The wolf’s exotic markings of red and golden streaks on brown fur told him who it was that had just been injured. Elina! More fury erupted, enough that Karn found the strength from somewhere to roll Liam from him and get to his feet just as Praetorians and wolves appeared in the practice yard. “Protect Liam!”
He was aware of Brandon and the others rushing to the fallen Vârcolac’s side as he headed towards the battle taking place. The vampire had broken off and was heading towards the weapon she’d used on Liam. No way in hell was she going to use that weapon on Elina. It would be over his dead body. Karn leapt after the female, tackling her to the ground and driving his fist into her stomach as they rolled in the dirt. Talons wreaked havoc within her body as she shrieked in agony and the wolf joined the melee going for her throat.
“No!” Liam screamed, struggling to get to his feet. “Elle, save her! Please, save her.”
Elina’s head swung away from the assassin, wolf eyes blinking in disbelief as she watched her cousin in wolf form approach on shaky legs, falling and trying to drag himself forward. “She tried to kill you, Liam. Have you gone mad?” The fury within Elina needed an outlet. Someone had dared harm her cousin and that couldn’t go unpunished. She could hear the woman screaming as Karn ripped at her flesh and the sound filled her with joy.