Arden’s lip peeled back over dagger-sharp fangs. His emerald eyes glowed with vicious intent.
No sooner had I thought it than the sound of the guard’s windpipe being crushed echoed in my ears. I looked away from the rest. I knew what he would have to do to ensure the vampire truly died.
Instead, I focused on trying to make the world stop spinning as I climbed to my feet again, but as soon as I made the mistake of trying to put any pressure on my bad leg, the earth bottomed out.
I fell, fully expecting to sink into the mud as darkness beckoned. Instead, warm arms caught me and pulled me against a firm chest.
Luke’s face swirled in my vision as he scooped me into his arms. Even with the frown threatening to leave wrinkle lines between his eyebrows and across his mouth, he was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.
“Ryn,” he breathed as he took me in from head to toe.
I knew that I looked like something out of a horror movie, and the worry etched across his face confirmed it.
His hand came up, fingers running through the uneven strands of my hair. When he examined the rest of my body, finding the unhealed gunshot, rage blazed in those eyes. Every ling of his body tensed.
“I have to help,” I wiggled in his arms, only causing the fire in my leg to flare again. Passing out was becoming unavoidable. I could hear the blood hitting the ground below my body.
As if he hadn’t heard me, Luke started carrying me away in the opposite direction of the fight. The cool air that his speed kicked up was refreshing against the clammy skin of my face. “Not part of the plan. Aella and the others can handle this. I’m getting you out of here.”
The plan... They’d staged a rescue mission. Aella, the wolves, and apparently Arden Mason – my would-be killer – would fight the guards while Luke got me out of there.
Warmth stirred in my chest.
But it still felt wrong to let the others fight without us.
“Luke,” I protested, sounding breathless even to my own ears.
“You’ve done enough, honey,” Luke whispered against my forehead, holding me tight as I finally fell into oblivion.
31
Aella
The plan was solid. I would go in first and scope the area. I needed to get an idea of how many vampires we would be taking on before we rushed into things. And that meant keeping Luke out of it until it was safe for him to grab Ryn and get the hell out of there while me and my team fought off the guards.
I made it to the edge of the woods just in time to see Ryn flying through the air. She landed with a crunch, skidding through the sludge on her back. The hit seemed to completely daze her as she laid wheezing in the mud.
The vampire that threw her took a step toward her, and my hackles rose. I needed the others to hurry. They’d made me promise not to go in alone again.
I swallowed my rage as he stepped closer to her. And then a twig snapped to my right. I cocked my head, curling my lip when I found my backup to be none other than the emerald-eyed vampire assassin.
We regarded each other for only a moment, and then a gun cocked.
I swung my head toward the fray.
A guard had his gun pressed to the head of a small girl. She was trembling so hard in his grip, she nearly looked like she was convulsing.
Beside her, a snarling brunette girl tried to wail on the guy with little success. I cringed as the guard kicked her straight across the jaw.
Her small body rolled – her face angled toward me as she landed in the mud.
My entire body seized up.
I knew this girls face. I’d been searching for her for months. That was Katherine, the girl from the Arizona red wolf pack that I’d been brought in to help find.
Oh my god.
She was actually alive.
The moment of elation was quickly stifled as the guard brought the barrel of the gun back to the other girl's temple. Ryn twitched on the ground, trying to get up. Arden had turned into an utter statue beside me. And my team was somewhere in my dust.
Promises be damned. I was out of time.
I launched out of the woods like my tail was on fire, pushing my muscles as fast as they could possibly go. The slick mud gave my paws little traction as I flew across the courtyard.
The guard's finger curled around the trigger as I soared over Ryn.
I wasn't going to make it... Oh god.
No. No. No.
Air lashed at my fur as Arden raced past me, a near blur of motion as he slammed into the vampire guard. In one swift movement, he disarmed him, the gun smacking against the thick mud. He wrenched his arm back with one hand, snapping it at such an angle it looked like something out of a Saw movie. The guard's agonized scream was quickly cut off as Arden wrapped his other hand around his throat, squeezing until his knuckles turned bleached white. The fury in his eyes nearly made them shine like emeralds in the night.
The girl collapsed to the ground beside Katherine, unmoving, but alive.
I changed my direction, narrowing my sights on the guy who'd thrown Ryn across the yard. His eyes were already on me, widened in surprise as he scrambled to bring up his gun. Too late.
I tackled him to the ground, our bodies crashing together with the force of two cars losing control on the highway.
My teeth clamped onto his wrist, shaking the gun free of his grasp. The guy was nearly twice my size, and clearly a trained fighter. He brought his arms up, trying to get them around me. I jumped back, releasing his wrist in my effort to get away. If he got me in a bear-hug, he'd crush me.
His lips pulled back over his fangs - the vampire equivalent of an intimidation method. Fortunately, I came with my own set of glistening canines. My hackles stood on end as I dipped my head low, feet spreading wide into a fighting stance. The growl that rose up in my throat split the night air as I flashed every last one of my teeth in a snarl.
"Oh look, another dog to experiment on," he sneered.
That was it.
I launched, aiming high. My paws landed first, shredding and scraping with my front and back legs as he tried yet again to get me in his grasp. When that didn't work, his hands caught my face. I snapped, clipping the tendon between his thumb and forefinger. And then he started trying to pry my mouth apart. A strangled cry rasped through my throat as he crushed my snout in his massive hands, cutting off my air supply.
Something crashed into his legs. And then we were falling.
He hit the ground with a thud, and I tumbled right out of his grasp.
Wilder's silver eyes blazed as he clamped onto the vampire's throat, thrashing violently as he gurgled on his own blood. In a last-ditch effort to save himself, the vampire brought his arms around Wilder's back. I leaped.
My teeth scraped bone as I sank them into the flesh of his wrist, prying his arm away.
Gunshots popped around us as Tara and Seraphim rushed in, taking on two of the guards. Arden had already discarded of the first. He was hovering over the small black-haired girl who still lay motionless on the ground. And there was something in his face that I'd never seen before. Something like agony.
Finally, the guard stopped thrashing underneath Wilder, and I was able to release his wrist. Yards away, voices were starting to rise inside of the clave's massive castle. With all the gunshots and howling going on out here, we were sure to arouse suspicion at some point. It was high time to get out of here.
I turned toward the two girls, preparing to shift and scoop Katherine up when another yelp caught my attention. A small, red-colored wolf was caught in the arms of one of the vampires.
Everything started to go in slow motion. If I had been in human form, I would have screamed in horror.
Jamie. Jamie was in his hold. She was being crushed against him, his arm digging into her ribcage so hard I heard bones shatter.
Her wolf squealed at the pain. Panic flared in her golden eyes.
I launched forward as he brought his gun up. Wilder was right on my heels.
Not Ja
mie. I screamed in my mind. Not Jamie.
I was too far away. He was crushing her and I was too far away to stop him.
A marbled grey wolf charged, leaping for them. Seraphim. He was closer. He could make it.
He barreled into them, knocking Jamie loose of the vampire as they tumbled together in the slick mud. It covered them both from head to toe as Seraphim moved to stand up. His feet slipped beneath him, making him stumble when he should have launched. The gun went off. Seraphim's eyes flared wide in surprise as his body ricocheted back, sending him sprawling.
The vampire raised the gun again as he got to his feet, but Tara was suddenly there. She soared, dangling from his arm, yanking his body forward, straight into the hands of Arden, whose fist shot straight through the vampire's chest. He snarled, ripping his hand out of the guard's chest cavity with a wet, squelching sound. His heart thudded to the ground, and the guard dropped like a lifeless doll.
My whole world came to a halt as I skid through the mud. Jamie was crawling toward Seraphim. Seraphim, who'd changed back to human form. Seraphim, who wasn't moving.
The shift was so instantaneous, I didn't even feel the pain as I melted back into my human skin.
"Ser!" I hovered over his body, shivering violently as my hands pressed against the bleeding hole in his chest. I had to stop the blood. I had to stop the blood and then his body would begin the healing process and he would be okay. He'd be okay. He'd be okay.
"Seraphim," I rasped.
I touched his cheek with one of my bloodied hands. His blood was everywhere. All over me. All over him. All over the ground.
His hand gripped my wrist lightly. He stared at me as he gasped for air. His back lifted off the ground once, twice, but his chest never moved.
He blinked, his gaze becoming unfocused.
"Don't," I shook him. "Don't you dare."
The hand holding onto me released, falling limp at his side.
My ears started to ring as his eyes glazed over. The blood leeched away from my face. It felt as if it had been drained from my whole body.
"No," my lips trembled as I bent down and breathed into his mouth.
I started CPR at a relentless pace.
"No. You're not going like this."
Another breath.
A warm hand touched my shoulder and I jerked away. I couldn't stop. I had to save him.
Another breath.
Wilder pried my hands away and I shrieked, slapping at him. He just crushed me to his chest as I thrashed, whispering soothing words into my ear.
"I know," he was saying. "I know."
A guttural sob choked me as I collapsed against him. I was shaking uncontrollably. Cold had settled deep into my bones.
And Seraphim... I gasped for air as I wailed. Oh god, Seraphim.
His blood... His blood was on my hands. And he was dead.
Seraphim was dead.
32
Aella
I barely remember getting to the car or driving home. I barely remember the silence in the vehicle or the way my friend’s faces were bleached of color. I barely remember Wilder carrying Seraphim’s body through the pack and laying him before my alpha.
Nothing in my head was working right. Everything came in clips and images. The sound of my mother’s gasp. The trembling of Jamie’s lips as tears streaked down her muddy face. The way members of the pack came out to greet us, only to stare on with their fingers pressed to their lips, covering their children’s eyes.
How many times had I returned home from missions to this warm welcome? Seraphim should have been walking beside me, his head held high, that arrogant smile plastered on his face as he waved at everyone.
He wasn’t.
Wilder’s long shirt covered me from shoulder to mid-thigh, and as the wind whipped, I didn’t even feel the cold. I was the cold. It was in my very bones, my blood, my soul. I was nothing but a responsible party in my best friends’ death. If I hadn’t let Jamie come... If I had been faster... He would be alive.
It was all my fault.
My back was pressed against a solid, warm body when I finally stirred awake. Exhaustion had been my only friend, my only escape from reality, and I gave into it wholly when I’d made it back to my house. Of course, that didn’t stop the pain that lanced through my chest like a cannonball as soon as I woke up.
Everything came rushing back. Seraphim’s eyes as he stared up at me, dying. His blood clotting in my hair as I’d performed CPR. His hand falling from mine.
I cringed, and the heavy arm draped around me held me tighter.
Wilder started to sit up, and I turned my face into my pillow, shrinking away from him. I didn’t want him to see the silent tears already sliding down my face. I didn’t want him to see me at all.
I wasn’t worthy of his comfort. I wasn’t worthy of any kindness at all.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
I tried to discreetly wipe away my tears before turning to face him. His eyes softened as I looked up at him. And maybe I should have been confused about how we’d ended up in bed together, but I just couldn’t care about that right now. I needed his strength – his warmth.
“What are you thinking?” He brushed my hair back from my face, his fingers trailing along my cheek.
“I’m trying not to think,” I admitted, my voice scraping from disuse. I hadn’t used it since...
“How’s that working out?”
I shivered, and he pulled me against his chest. Hot tears burned the back of my eyes. The ache in my chest felt as if it might never heal.
“I never got to tell him that I was sorry.” My voice splintered as a sob broke through. “We were fighting, and I never got to tell him...”
“Shhhh,” Wilder crushed me against him, gently stroking my back. “He knew, Aella. He knew.”
But that wasn’t enough. Our last words to each other had been harsh and unkind. Losing Seraphim was like losing one of my vital organs. He was a part of my life for such a long time – my partner, my confidant, my best friend. He was the first person I called whenever I needed backup or solid advice.
The cruelest part of it all was that multiple times now, I’d nearly reached for the phone to call him and ask what I should do – or if I would ever feel normal again. But my friend’s strong voice would never again come through that line. Never again would he be there to back me up when things turned topside. He wouldn’t be there to help Wilder with his shifting lessons. He wouldn’t be there to steal my last granola bar or beg to stay at a fancy hotel while we were on a mission. He wouldn’t be there to give me the extra blanket when we were camping out in freezing temperatures.
Gone. And I just couldn’t fucking take it.
A light knock at the door shook me from my broken state. Wilder was off the bed and out of the room in half a second. I sat up, slapping the tears off my face.
There was mumbling at the door, disjointed voices that I could hardly pay attention to. I wasn’t ready for visitors. I wanted to lay in this bed and sleep, and sleep, and sleep forever.
“Now’s not a good time,” Wilder was saying.
“I get that,” someone sighed. “But I think she needs to see this.”
There was a long pause.
“It might help her,” the person on the opposite side of my front door added.
And with that, I could hear the creak of the door opening wider and the shuffle of boots as Wilder let the visitor into my house. I was going to strangle him.
Not five seconds later, there was a tap on my bedroom door and then Ryn opened it. As soon as her eyes landed on me – taking in my tear-streaked face, my unruly bedhead, my sallow skin color – her eyes softened.
She turned back to Wilder where he stood in the hall, and I saw that her hair had been shaved down on one side. “I need a minute alone with her.”
He stared at me, waiting for my approval. I just nodded.
“I’ll be in the living room.” He cut Ryn a look that spoke of endless pain if
anything were to happen to me, and she cocked her eyebrow before he left.
She shut the door behind her as she entered the room and leaned against the wood.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. My fingers fiddled with the knit blanket draped around my waist. I couldn’t even look her in the eye. What would she see there? Certainly not a leader. Not a huntress whose only mission in life was to protect her pack. I’d stripped myself of that title.
“Your mother lifted the ban from Luke and me. I’m officially free to roam pack lands as long as any visits into the pack house are supervised by either her or yourself.”
That didn’t surprise me. My mother was a good judge of character. She knew that Luke and Ryn were good at heart. Whether the rest of the pack accepted this news or not was another matter.
“And I came to beg your forgiveness.”
My head jerked up. Was she shaking? She had to be. There were tremors running up and down the length of her arms straight to her fingertips.
“For what?”
“If it weren’t for me... If you hadn’t been there to rescue me...”
I knew where she was going with this. Her feelings sounded far too similar to mine. Ryn thought that Seraphim’s death was her fault. She was putting the blame on herself.
“Don’t,” I held up my hand to stop her. “It was my job to protect him. It was my job to bring my family home. I failed. The blame isn’t yours to bear.”
Ryn shook her head. “Aella, you can’t take that responsibility. Seraphim made a choice. He died protecting someone he loved. He knew the risks.”
“I knew the risks!” I snapped. “I knew the risks and I still let him go.”
She sighed. “I have a feeling that we’re never going to agree on this.”
“Probably not.”
Her jaw tightened as she stood straighter and made her way over to the bed. When she reached me, she extended her slender, porcelain hand.
“Come on. There’s something you should see.”
It was a short walk to the pack house, and still, it exhausted me. The only thing keeping my head held high were the two strong forces beside me. With Wilder and Ryn on either side of me, I couldn’t collapse. They wouldn’t let me.
Marked By A Rogue: The Rogue Hybrid Book Three Page 15
