Seventeen
The tires screeched as they turned the last corner. Rylee had spotted the steeple a few blocks away, and angry butterflies threatened to slice through her stomach with the wicked beats of their wings. Niko hadn’t said a word since they’d bounced off the dirt road and onto the pavement. Had she been anyone else, she might have been frightened at the speed with which he drove, but all she wanted to do was urge him to go faster. They had to get to the church before it was too late.
All the way there, Rylee had pictured Bonnie in the clutches of a mad vampire, her throat torn out, her eyes cold—lifeless. She’d had to swallow her sobs more than once. It was one thing for her to be in the line of danger—she took that risk on with every job she agreed to do—but Bonnie hadn’t asked for this. None of them had. She had to get those monsters away from the town. She sniffled before she could stop it, then stiffened. Maybe Niko hadn’t caught it.
“Stop,” Niko said. The firm tone in his voice yanked her from her thoughts. “It’s not your fault, and you’re not running. You promised me tomorrow,” he reminded, proving just how well he read her already.
“Bonnie—”
“Bonnie is going to be okay. She’s a lot tougher than you think. Almost as tough as you,” he said as he reached over and squeezed the hand she hadn’t realized she’d clenched into a fist on her thigh. Right then, she didn’t feel strong. Not at all. She wanted to close her eyes and make it all go away.
He brought the truck to a stop right in front of the church under a streetlight and tossed her the keys. From where she sat, she could see a scuffle happening at the far end of the yard, but the shadows kept her from seeing anything more than fast-moving bodies slamming into one another. “You lock the doors, and don’t open them for anyone but me. If things go wrong, you leave,” Niko ordered. Before she could say a word, he jumped out of the truck and was running full-out toward the battle.
Rylee couldn’t hear a thing past the thundering of her heart in her ears. The air in the cab grew thick and warm, refusing to fill her lungs. Every muscle in her body clenched as she tried to see what was happening, but the shadows swallowed Niko along with the others.
Air. She needed air. Rolling her window down a few inches, she closed her eyes and listened. The deep rumble of voices—harsh and angry—cut the silence.
She spotted a huge wolf racing along the shadows. Right on his heels, a slightly smaller one that had her breath catching in her throat kept pace. With Niko’s identical coloring, it had to be Luca. That meant the bigger one had to be Jaxon. Neither of them glanced in her direction as they crept toward the garden hiding her mate.
Jaxon’s wolf froze halfway there. The hair on his scruff stood on end, and a wicked growl rumbled from him. Luca moved with him, flanking him. Snarls erupted from both beasts as they snapped their teeth at an unseen enemy.
A tall, lanky figure stepped out of the bushes, dragging a slumped body behind him. When he lifted his free hand and swiped it across his lips, it came back red. Blood. Oh, God. He was wiping Bonnie’s blood from his mouth. That blond hair still clamped in his fist was hers.
Rylee’s scream echoed in her mind. She watched in horror as the vampire yanked her friend up so that she wobbled on her feet. She was alive. She wasn’t strong, but she wasn’t dead.
“Give me the cougar, and she’ll live,” the vampire grated out, his booming voice sending shivers along Rylee’s spine.
The demand was met with more growls, but rather than be undeterred, the creature turned its head and looked straight at her. He puckered his pale lips and narrowed his eyes, assessing her from where he stood.
Fear froze her insides. Weren’t vampires supposed to be super quick? What if that thing broke free and came after her?
The wolf she knew to be Jaxon lunged, but the vampire was too fast. One second it was there, the next, it was ten feet away with Bonnie still clutched to him like a live shield. At least it hadn’t gotten closer.
Think, Rylee. How do you kill a vampire?
Silver bullets. That might work if she had a gun…or silver bullets. Her gaze darted around the church. There had to be something they could use. The fence was made of wrought iron. The only cross she could see on the building was at least four feet tall and secured to the wall. Even as scared as she was, she wasn’t chancing her safety on her ability to pull that thing off, much less use it as a weapon.
A flickering streetlight down the road drew her gaze for half a second, but it was long enough to see what she hoped was her solution. Slipping over the seat to the driver’s door, she opened it and closed it again as quickly and quietly as she could. The interior light had been on for two seconds, at most. If she was lucky, the bastard wouldn’t have noticed.
With a shaky breath, she bolted from the side of the truck, heading straight for the neighbor’s yard. The torn-up lawn wasn’t pretty to look at, but the landscaping stakes sticking out from the ground were the most glorious things she’d ever seen. When she reached the first one, try as she might, she couldn’t get the damned thing to budge. She went to the next. Putting all her weight behind her, she shimmied it back and forth until it loosened enough that she could yank it from its spot.
Even though the night was cool, sweat trickled down her spine. Her knees wobbled, but she wouldn’t quit. She’d been in scary situations before. The fact that this time it involved a vampire instead of the city’s underbelly was no different.
Rather than go back the way she’d come, Rylee went to the other side of the church. The tall hedges that had hidden the enemy from sight now sheltered her as she made her way around. She ignored the sting as branches scraped at her bare arms.
“If you release her now, you can still walk away.” Rylee faltered at the sound of Niko’s voice. Why hadn’t he shifted like the rest of them?
“You take me for a fool. I want the cougar. I will suck her dry if you don’t give him to me,” the vampire threatened.
Moments later, a faint whimper sounded, followed by vicious growls.
Rylee had been around powerful men and women enough to know that neither side would back down, and Bonnie would pay the price. She wasn’t letting that happen.
All she had to do was shove the stake through the bastard’s heart. Simple. Right?
Her fingers shook so hard she nearly lost her weapon, and her lungs refused to cooperate. They alternated with not being able to suck in enough air to keep her seeing straight and breathing so fast she thought the shadows were closing in on her.
Through the foliage, she spotted the vampire. His back was to her. In front of him, Niko stood, his hands out as though he’d be able to reason with the monster. Next to him, Jaxon and Luca still growled. Every few seconds, one of them lunged forward, only to retreat when the bastard pulled Bonnie between them.
Niko’s lips drew in a tight line, and his fists clenched. He didn’t look around, didn’t say a thing, but his nostrils flared. He knew she was there. And if he did, so did the others. Fine by her.
Taking care not to make a sound, she came out of the bushes with her stake clutched between both hands. She’d only have one shot. Hitting the shoulder blade would be disastrous. She had to go lower. Through the ribs and into the heart. Suddenly, her plan didn’t seem so sure. The stake was thick. Getting it to penetrate more than a few inches would be hard. Getting it to the heart, next to impossible. But what other choice did they have?
All she could hear was her own heart hammering against her ribs as she took a deep breath and swung with all her might. In the second before she struck, the vampire turned, dropping Bonnie to the ground. His eyes flashed red. Long, pointed fangs, still stained with Bonnie’s blood, protruded from beneath his top lip.
His wide, startled eyes rounded further as the stake stabbed into his left side, just beneath the rib cage, pointing up. The screeching hiss that came from the vampire’s lips would have had her covering her ears had it not been for the fact that she refused to let go of her weapon. He reached for the piece of wood. His long, slender fingers wrapped around it, just shy of her own hand. Sharp, black hails dug in, getting a better grip, but before he could yank it out, a blur of brown and white fur crashed into him. The wolf’s weight and momentum further impaled the vampire and sent him toppling on top of her.
His mouth yawned wide, and a blood-curdling scream rent through the night air. Arms flailing, he struggled to regain his footing but stumbled again—falling hard, stealing what little breath she had left as he crashed into her.
It could have been seconds or hours, she couldn’t be sure, before the heavy weight was lifted from her. Niko’s face came into view, and try as she might to be strong, all Rylee could do was reach for him. He lifted her into his arms, and only once her nose was buried in his neck did her sob finally break free.