by Lexi C. Foss
I paused at one who was mostly intact, patting down his thigh for potential knives. Finding none, I moved to the next corpse and located a dagger in his boot. A third body gave me a second blade. And the fourth had a pistol that fit nicely in my hand.
Ryder had taught me how to shoot with a similarly sized gun back at his house. I checked the ammunition like he’d taught me and found it fully loaded.
Excellent.
I stole the belt and holster from the body and latched it around my hips. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it had a slot for one of my knives, which allowed me to keep at least one hand free.
A bellow of agony had my wolf growling in my head. Ryder. I nearly started running, my instinct to help taking over, but the colder part of my mind—the vampire in me—held me captive.
What would Ryder do? I asked myself, moving on to another body to search for more knives.
If he was in trouble, I needed daggers I could throw.
I found a few, their weight reasonable and precise.
Then I heard the sound of a heel on marble coming from inside.
Shit! There was no time to duck behind another bush, so I squirmed partly under a dead human, allowing his blood and stench of death to hide my scent.
It was instinctual and fucked up, but I didn’t have time to evaluate the decision.
“Find the hybrid,” a female voice muttered. “Grab Damien. Get Ryder. Anything else?”
My brow furrowed. Who the hell is she talking to?
“Oh, and if you could also do the entire job without so much as a ‘thank you,’ that’d be great,” she continued. “Sure! I’d love to. Shall I eat you out as well?”
The female grunted, stepping right over me. It was the same one from earlier with the red shoes.
She sighed audibly. “Where the hell do I even start?” She pinched the bridge of her nose, stopping a foot away from me. “It reeks of death out here.”
Yeah, it does, I agreed.
“Fuck,” she muttered, then looked up and down the street. “Oh, Willow!” she called. “Ryder’s looking for you!”
My brow furrowed. You don’t really think that’s going to work, do you?
She whistled next, then took a few more steps before yelling for me again, claiming Ryder had sent her.
Uh-huh, I thought at her. She continued on, varying her behavior between hobbling several steps and shouting lies. I waited until she was about twenty feet away before I started the process of worming my way out from beneath the dead body.
She was too busy whistling and calling for me to notice my slow progress. It took a few minutes, mostly because I didn’t want to risk her seeing me, but I finally made it out and into a position where I could shoot her.
Only, I didn’t want anyone to hear gunfire.
So I palmed a knife instead.
If I couldn’t detect conversation inside, then the trouble was far enough away that I didn’t need to worry about someone overhearing this bitch grunt.
I slowly rose to the balls of my feet, creeping forward in a squat.
The female cursed and kicked off her shoes, completely unaware of me approaching from behind. Considering she thought I was dumb enough to fall for her calling act, she absolutely didn’t anticipate me sneaking up on her.
I weighed one of the daggers in my hand, contemplating the throwing velocity required, then released it when I was about five feet behind her. It hit her square between her shoulder blades, resulting in a shriek that turned into a grunt as I pounced on her from behind.
She went down with an “Oomph.”
I took another knife and drove it into her skull with a force created by my lycan side.
Aside from a gurgle, she fell silent.
I quickly looked around to see if anyone else had noticed and found a few vampires peeking out of nearby buildings, most of them probably wondering what the hell this female had been yelling about.
When no one reacted other than to gape, I rolled off her and onto the balls of my feet.
She’d wake up eventually with a headache. While I suspected she might be Benita, I wasn’t sure, as I’d never really seen her aside from her shoes when I first arrived with Ryder—and that felt like forever ago now. He’d only brought her up a few times with Damien, then mentioned to me that he thought she was passing information on to Lilith.
Which, if that was true, meant Lilith had somehow won inside.
Given the agony I’d heard from Ryder, that seemed unfortunately likely.
Swallowing, I began the process of creeping through the dead bodies again, this time with the aim of entering the building. My left hand still gripped several knives, leaving my right hand available for a potential throw or to grab my sidearm.
I moved silently—something that seemed to come naturally from my wolf side—and kept low. With all the lights on inside, it was easy to see the morbid scene in the lobby. The majority of the bodies were lifeless with only a few limbs twitching here and there. I stepped through the entrance Ryder had made rather than through the doors, then ducked behind the reception desk area. That was probably why he’d chosen this path—he knew a natural shield existed on the other side.
“…see yet?” I heard a female asking, the tone sending a chill down my spine.
Lilith.
How many films had I been forced to watch in school that featured her voice? How many tapes? How many recorded ceremonies of worship?
My throat went dry at the memories.
She presented herself as this benign, beautiful goddess. We prayed to her daily. Begged her for her precious gift of immortality. Longed for her to choose us for the Immortal Cup.
It was driven into our minds at a young age.
She haunted my dreams as a child, her voice one I both adored and feared.
And to hear her callous tone now further drove home the lies she’d fed us.
Such a small thing, but a defining trait she’d just shattered within seconds of hearing the real her.
Because that tone she’d used on Ryder a moment ago radiated malicious intent.
“Oh, Damien, how uncomfortable you must be,” she continued. “Don’t worry, sweet child. It’ll all be over soon, just as soon as your Sire opens his eyes.”
My skin rippled with electricity, that hum in my head intensifying once more and making me wince. It’s her, I realized. Something she was doing. But I had no idea what.
I forced myself to swallow, then crept out from behind the desk to survey the room again for any signs of life.
Nothing.
“Come on, Ryder. I know it hurts, but I expected you to be stronger than this,” she continued. “Where’s that rebel I’ve come to loathe? The one who thinks he can just waltz in here and dismantle every law I’ve ever created?”
Her voice was coming from the dining area off the lobby. I hadn’t been in that room since the first night Ryder and I had arrived when he killed all those vampires.
The memory warmed my blood—a reaction I very much needed with the ice flowing through my veins. It helped me tiptoe toward them.
“Do you have any idea how many centuries I’ve been planning this?” she asked conversationally. “Michael and I thought of everything. As I think you’re now learning, hmm? As I recall, you’re fond of technology, but I bet you never could have imagined this.”
Ryder growled in response, which stirred a tinkling laugh from Lilith.
I paused outside the door, waiting to see if she could sense me. A lycan would be able to smell me. What about a vampire?
Although, I was covered in the blood of that human from the ground. Perhaps that would help mask my wolf half?
“It’s based on the hive mind,” she added. “A telepathic link that disables the mind and body. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
I frowned. A telepathic link? I almost risked glancing around the corner but held myself back, not wanting to give myself away yet.
“I’ve used it to break so many of our kind.” She sou
nded so proud. “Cam, of course, refuses to behave.”
Her heels clicked against the floor.
“Perhaps you can share a cell with him,” she mused. “He’s gone half-mad, so that should suit you just fine. At some point, I’ll take his Erosita from Luka, merely to see what fun I can have with her to fracture him further. It’s just been more amusing for now to hold it over his head and taunt him with what-ifs and whens. You should see him try to reach out to her. It’s terribly sad.”
This was what I expected from vampire kind.
Lilith resembled evil in its purest form.
And somehow she’d taken Ryder down.
“There you are,” she said.
I froze, thinking for a second she’d found me, but her next words were still directed at Ryder.
“Look at those beautiful dark eyes spinning with rage,” she cooed. “I love it. Let’s make you really mad, shall we? Up you go.”
A scuffling noise tickled my ears, and I imagined her trying to help him sit up. Which implied he was awake but paralyzed from whatever she’d done with her telepathic link.
If I could find the source, then perhaps I’d be able to wake him back up.
But the source had to be inside.
A gun skidded across the floor, narrowly hitting the edge of the door frame. “Won’t be needing those, hmm?” Lilith said.
Did that mean she was unarmed?
Metal slid another way, suggesting she’d just kicked away another weapon.
I palmed the handle of the gun at my side, then glanced at the one a few feet away. It was the same one Ryder had handed me when the car flipped over.
Was it loaded or empty?
Did I want to risk it or go with the one at my side?
“There,” she said, sounding pleased. “This presents a perfect angle, allowing you to see Damien’s head roll.”
My eyes widened. What?!
That would kill him.
Which was why she told him it’d all be over soon.
Fuck, I needed to act.
She was clearly alone in there. But she had some sort of weapon that had disabled Ryder. What chance did I have against that?
Does it matter? I asked myself. Either I stay here and listen to him die or I try to stop her.
There wasn’t even a question.
I had to do something.
Ryder had nearly lost himself over Damien being hurt. If she killed his progeny…
No. Not happening.
I had weapons and surprise on my side. She’d also underestimate me just like everyone else had.
Do it, I coached myself. Do it now!
I stepped into the doorway to find her back to me as she bent to pick up a battle-axe. Ryder sat in a chair across from her, completely unmoving.
Stop staring and move! I shouted at myself, bending to pick up the gun she’d discarded.
Still silent. Still unseen.
Because she wasn’t expecting me.
The hybrid.
Ryder’s pet.
She began to speak, but I tuned her out, focusing on the gun and aiming it at her. I had one shot to get this right.
Ryder’s instructions filtered through my mind, my breathing calming as I pretended he was right behind me, coaching me and telling me what to do.
When you first start, always aim for the torso, he’d told me. It’s a bigger target and easier for a newbie.
Her white dress melted from my mind into the targets he’d lined up outside.
My wolf focused.
Seeing the dot in the middle.
Then my finger pulled the trigger.
The sound was deafening, the crack of the bullet making me wince.
Then beautiful red bled into my vision.
Lilith spun around, shock evident in her expression as she dropped the axe. “How dare you,” she sputtered.
The human in me fought not to bow.
But that human no longer told me how to move or how to react. My wolf had taken over now, her fury at the female for hurting her mate roaring to the forefront of my mind as I stepped forward and sent another bullet into her torso. And another. And another. Until all that was left were clicks without the subsequent crack.
I roared with a rage I didn’t know I was capable of feeling and charged her with a knife, plunging it into her heart and sending her to the ground.
She glared up at me with cruel green eyes, her hands locking around my throat, squeezing.
So I stabbed her again. And again. Then drove a blade right through her fucking eye.
I put another in her neck. A third into her chest. Then patted my side, searching for more.
Only then did I realize she’d stopped moving. That I’d taken her down. And when I looked at Ryder, it was to see tears rolling down his cheeks, his dark eyes glistening with a pride I felt to my very soul.
Except he still wasn’t moving.
“How do I fix it?” I asked him, spinning around and searching for whatever had caused him to sit there like that.
A growl drew my attention to Damien.
I gasped upon seeing his empty eye socket, his handsome face a battered mess. He growled again, this time in impatience. The ball in his mouth preventing him from speaking. I stood and moved to him with a tremble in my limbs but somehow managed to unfasten the leather strap behind his head. “Her phone,” he said immediately. “Find her phone. It’s in her dress.”
I went back to her, searched the shredded fabric for a pocket, and finally found it near her thigh.
“Use her right index finger to activate it,” Damien instructed.
I wasn’t sure what he meant until the screen lit up, asking for identification. I did as Damien said, then gaped at the screen littered in codes and pictures.
“Bring it to me,” he demanded.
I jumped back to my feet and held it before him to review. He had me select various icons, swiping this way and that, until finally I pulled up one that seemed to interest him. “There. Press the red button.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do it,” he snapped.
My finger shook as I followed his command.
Silence.
I swallowed. “Damien, are you—”
“That fucking cunt!” Ryder roared suddenly, causing me to jump so high I nearly lost the phone. He stalked forward, grabbed the axe, and sliced it through her neck so fast that I would have missed it had I blinked.
Then he began hacking into her chest, cursing at her with each swipe, his fury a palpable wave that had my wolf doing circles inside me in excitement.
What the hell?!
I gaped at him, confused by my inner reaction and subsequently terrified of the beast staring at me when he turned around.
He grabbed me in the next second, his palm a brand against the back of my neck as he pulled me in for a kiss that stole my very breath.
I melted into him on instinct, my tremors turning to full-on quakes of desire-filled violence.
A throat cleared behind me, but Ryder was too busy devouring me to pay it any mind. Then Damien said, “Could you at least untie me before you fuck her? I’m all for watching the show, but I’m in a little pain here.”
Ryder ignored him for another beat before smiling against my mouth. “You are so fucking mine, Willow.”
“I thought we established that outside,” I replied, a little breathless.
He bit my lower lip hard enough to bleed. “Don’t move. We’re not done yet.”
34
Ryder
Damien’s screen flashed with data from Lilith’s phone, the progress bar inching upward slowly as he downloaded everything from her device into our system.
I palmed the back of my neck and stretched the stiff muscles going down into my shoulders. Whatever the fuck Lilith had done to my head still remained in lingering pulses, shooting sporadic spasms down my spine.
Beating her with that axe had felt good, just as Damien had enjoyed chopping off the head of several immorta
ls in the lobby, but the lasting impacts of her visit left me feeling weaker than I wanted to admit.
Lifting my arms over my head, I tried to loosen up my joints to rid myself of her lingering touch.
A telepathic link replicated through the use of technology, I marveled for the thousandth time. She’d somehow found a way to harness lycan hive-mind energy and apply it to her advantage.
I was both sickened and impressed.
No wonder she’d taken down Cam. I also had a new appreciation for why he hadn’t reached out to Izzy. “She must be accessing the mind through the mating connection,” I said, pacing. “That’s the only telepathic link I’m aware of, except in the rare occasions where it’s enabled during blood exchange.”
Sadly, that wasn’t an ability I possessed. Mmm, how I’d love to enter Willow’s thoughts. Especially right now since she was napping downstairs. Leaving her in our suite to shower alone had been excruciating—seeing as all I wanted to do was fuck her up against a damn wall—but I couldn’t leave Damien to clean all this up on his own.
It was my fault he’d been here alone when Lilith had arrived.
Just as it was my fault he’d been turned into a pawn in this dangerous game.
I wouldn’t make that kind of a mistake again.
“Hmm, accessing our psyche via a door reserved for mates would explain the alarm sensation,” Damien replied. “Your mind would fight the intrusion and blast signals of wrongness, which could be interpreted through sound.”
“But how did she paralyze me?”
“Some sort of mental manipulation through the link?” he suggested. “Or it was your body’s natural defense to shut down.” He hit a few strokes to check the progress on our download. Only sixty percent and we’d been at it for almost ninety minutes. The bitch had a lot of data on her phone.
“Going through the mating link would also explain why Cam hasn’t reached out to Iz.” I had always assumed he was trying to protect her through some backward approach, and after feeling the pain of the mental intrusion, I fully understood that protection. However, my short-lived experience also indicated it might be literally impossible for him to contact her. “It felt as though my brain had been shut down. All I could do was focus on Lilith’s voice.”
