Jameson
“Come on baby, light my fire,” I sang under my breath. “Come on baby, light my fire. I can set the night on fire-er.”
Cass punched my arm and I served her a smirk.
We hadn't gotten quite as far into the battle as I'd hoped. And by not far, I meant nowhere. We were on the roof of the giant oven building, backs to the door as two Hunters tried to force their way out.
The ice-cold metal bit my bare back. I was about two seconds from turning. But if I went full wolf I'd have to leave Cass to hold the door on her own. Probably could have managed it, powerhouse that she was. But I wasn't about to abandon my one and only. Thing about life or death situations was, they apparently turned me into a real sap. Like, imagining my wife and children with the leggy redhead currently sat at my side. That kind of sappy.
“What do you think of the name Thor for our first child?” I mused, jamming my back against the door as it opened an inch.
“Jameson!” Cass snapped. “Can you please concentrate?!”
“Yeah, you're right. Thor's not cool enough. How about Rambo?”
“Jame-es-son,” she snarled through her teeth as she battled against the door.
“Shit - of course! Jameson Junior.”
“That's it,” she snarled. “On three, we move and face them. If we're quick enough, we'll have the advantage.”
“Whatever you say, Firefly.” I gave her a grin, my hair falling forward into my eyes.
She snorted a laugh. “Go!” she commanded and I followed her like a dog on a leash.
She rolled, I rolled. In seconds we were facing the door as it flew open.
Two ebony-haired Hunters stumbled through it, guns raised. They looked related. Brother and sister? Uncle and niece? Maybe he was her father-uncle – who really knew how messed up these Hunters were? I wouldn't put incest past them.
Cass leapt onto my back, using my shoulders like a springboard to propel herself into the air. Did I get a view up her dress? Yes. And it served me with a sharp punch to the jaw from the father-uncle. I staggered backwards, falling like a toddler onto my arse.
“Ow,” I barked, swiping my legs sharply to the side and knocking him to the ground. In a flash I was on top of him, hand in his hair, ramming his face into the gravelly rooftop.
His elbow impacted with my jaw and my ear popped in a worrying way. How was I gonna put Larkspur on that? Might have to use a cotton swab...
I rubbed his face further into the gravel, knocking a blade out of his hand. I snatched a gun from the back of his jeans, but before I could press the barrel to his head, he threw me off him in some ninja-ass move.
I flew across the roof, skidding and skidding until the ground disappeared beneath me. My stomach floated, my heart dove-
I reached out at the last second, gripping the edge of the roof, hanging my weight from one arm. I'd kept hold of the gun with the other and took shot after shot as the footsteps of the father-uncle stormed towards me. My aim was off. Way off. I couldn't see for shit.
“Argh!” I roared my rage, scrambling to get myself up.
One knee over the edge, I hauled myself forward. Too late. Father-uncle gripped my belt and threw me backwards. Not before I grabbed his leg, taking him with me.
I go out, you go out.
He flew over my head and the world dropped away beneath me. A hand caught my arm and I swung hard into the side of the building, bashing my forehead.
The world swayed for a second.
Cass tugged me up onto the roof and I buried my nose in her hair, gripping her waist. Beyond her, the other Hunter lay in pieces on the ground, blood oozing toward us in a glistening stream.
That's my girl.
I glanced down to the street where my attacker lay in a twisted heap of limbs.
Cass wordlessly applied Larkspur to my various wounds and I watched her with a roguish smile.
“Jameson!” a voice reached to me from the road below.
My heart tumbled into the pit of my stomach and acid filled its place. Nasty and acrid. I turned, practically snarling, hands in tight fists as I gazed down at Ulvic, poking his head out of an SUV at the edge of town.
What the hell was he doing here?
“I have a way out!” he called, his voice choked as he locked eyes with me. “Come with me,” he pleaded, but it wasn't a command.
I gazed down at the street below, spotting a streetlamp a few feet away. Throwing myself forward, I caught the pole between my hands and slid down it at speed. I hit the tarmac with a thump then marched toward Ulvic, passing the smoking wreckage of the vehicle Varick had taken out earlier.
I grabbed Ulvic by the collar, yanking him half out of the open window.
“You can't hurt me,” he yelped, his face inches from mine. I longed to rip his head off and feast on it in wolf form.
“No, but I can.” Cass floated past me, quiet, hauntingly beautiful as she approached him, teeth bared.
I smiled, urging her to do it, holding his neck out for her.
“I'm the only one who can fly the p-plane!” he blurted.
Cass paused, glancing at me, her eyes flashing.
I trembled with rage, gripping him, wanting to snap every bone in his body but bound by obedience not to. And now this. He was either a dead man, or our saviour. The choice was mine.
I shut my eyes, energy thrumming through my body. Cass took hold of my wrist.
“We need him,” she said softly. “You'll have another chance.”
I opened my eyes, falling into the green wells of her irises. Heat scorched away the hate inside me, burying it under some alien emotion.
I released Ulvic and he fell back into his seat, panting, wiping his sweaty brow.
Cass turned back in the direction of the hotel. All was quiet. The battle was over. It was time to find the others. Time to get off of this godforsaken island.
“Stay here,” I muttered to Ulvic and he whimpered a reply.
Cass moved at my side as we headed down the road, but the closer we grew to the site of the dying battle, the more my hackles rose, my instincts telling me something was wrong.
Very wrong.