by Gray Holborn
An unrecognizable sob wrenched from my chest and lodged in my throat, until I was choking on the grief as it washed over me.
Wade was dead because of me.
He left the house, barely able to stand, and now he was on the ground in a lifeless heap.
My death didn’t matter anymore, there was no surviving this agony, no surviving this abject misery.
No point.
Chapter Nineteen
Eli
I could feel my blood coursing through my veins as we moved across the forest, weaving through the trees. We followed Rowan’s lead as we made our way towards Max, but no matter how fast we pushed, it didn’t feel fast enough. His words were rushed and laced with terror as he’d explained what happened. I just hoped we weren’t too late.
Please be alive. Just hold out for a little bit longer, we’re almost there. Please, please, please.
My thoughts were racing like a whirlwind through my head. We should’ve gone after her as soon as she ran, as soon as she pieced together what Atlas was—though I didn’t know how she did.
Something broke between us tonight, I knew it in my gut, could feel it as acutely as a knife; that look on her face when she figured it out almost cut me in half.
Complete dejection, fear, broken trust.
If only lying about Atlas was the only way I’d broken her trust this week. My stomach churned at the thought.
When she ran, Atlas said to give her some space. He saw the realization on her face as clear as day. We thought that the creepy lab vamp was the only thing out here that was any real threat to her. And we’d already taken him down.
Atlas was in his wolf form, so he reached the clearing just before the rest of us did, Rowan falling in line with me and Dec. If he was surprised or terrified by Atlas’s transformation, he didn’t show it—didn’t even break his fucking stride. I searched through the bodies to find her. Rowan said there were only four, but as soon as we pushed past the trees, I counted at least a dozen. My eyes were drawn to Max like a moth to a flame, my breath stuttering in relief when I saw she was still alive, if barely.
“Max,” Rowan screamed, as he pushed himself harder and faster to get to her. There was so much desperation in his voice—the sound achingly chilling.
Her clothes were torn and there was blood—so much blood—covering her head-to-toe. Just as soon as I found her, I saw Wade, positioned a few feet away from her as she ran screaming towards him. Atlas let out a heart wrenching sound, somewhere between a howl and a sob, as we saw it happen in slow motion, too far away for us to stop the dominoes. In a flash, the vampire snapped Wade’s neck like he was nothing to him, little more than a toothpick.
Atlas’s horrifying howl of grief shook me to my core as I dropped to my knees, my fingers digging into the dirt to keep me grounded.
Did that just happen? Was this real life? Maybe it was a trick of the light. I held onto that hope as I stood and surged forward, pushing my way towards them both.
Wade would be okay, it was a mistake, a weird angle, nothing more. We would get there, we’d fight them all off, he would be alive, then we’d go home and laugh about this later. Just like we always did after a close mission.
My heart beat a panicked song against my ribs as I pushed and pushed, fighting to get to them. I was vaguely aware of Declan and Rowan at my side, keeping pace, but I felt them more than saw them there.
Atlas was tearing through the clearing ahead of me, but long before he reached Wade, a tall man appeared, as if out of nowhere. He looked down at Wade’s crumpled body with a small frown, picking him up like a bride. With a slow, meandering glance around at all of the creatures lying in wait, he studied the scene.
And then, as if hypnotized, the creatures in the clearing sank back into the forest, disappearing from sight.
The man looked down at Max with an unreadable expression in his dark eyes before disappearing.
He was there one second, and the next Atlas was soaring through where he’d just been standing, the clearing now empty except for the bloodied, battered hellhound and an even bloodier Max.
She stood, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Her legs wobbled uncontrollably, and I realized as I reached her just how torn up her body was.
“Wade,” she said, the word nothing more than a whimper, hollow and chilling.
And then she collapsed.
I caught her at the last second, delirious with gratitude when I felt a soft pulse. She was alive. We’d sort through everything eventually, but she was alive. And for now that would have to be enough.
I cradled her against my chest as the hellhound limped over to us. He wasn’t in the best shape, but he’d survive. His large muzzle inched towards Max and he nudged her a few times before licking a few smudges of blood from her face and neck. As if satisfied she was alive, he stepped back a few feet, his large, intelligent eyes meeting mine. I couldn’t exactly read what was there, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt us, that all he wanted was her safe.
I had no idea why he was so obsessed with this girl’s safety, but I was grateful that he was. She had a way of making you want to watch out for her, so I guess I understood, at least on some level.
I nodded at him, silently thanking him for keeping her alive again, and then stood. Declan walked over to me, her hand ghosting across Max’s face, as if she could wipe away the pain and anguish still visible in sleep.
“She’s okay?” she asked, her words an echo of the grief I felt.
“Alive, at least,” I said. It was enough. It had to be enough.
As one, we looked over at Atlas as he curled up against the spot Wade’s body was pulled from, moments before. His wolfskin was shaking in uncontrollable sobs of pain, of rage. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything about Wade—it was as if saying the word out loud would make it real somehow.
“We need to get her back, now.” I looked down at her face, at her body covered in bloodied rags, and pressed her closer to my chest. It was like my brain was unconvinced she was alive, no matter how heavy she was in my arms or how soft her breaths were as they brushed against my skin.
Neither of us wanted to leave Atlas here, but one of us would have to. He couldn’t come back with us, not like this. We couldn’t handle another tragedy here tonight.
Rowan walked up and studied Max, his eyes filled with relief and reverence. He pulled her gently from my arms into his own, and I had to push back my instinct to resist him. If anyone could be trusted with her safety, I had to believe it was her brother.
“I’ll stay with Atlas,” Declan said, watching as Max was transferred to Rowan, her breathing an unusual rhythm, like she was crying in her sleep. “You should take them back. Call Seamus and Cyrus on your way and see where they are. They need to be filled in—on everything. Everything except—”
Except for the fact that Atlas was a wolf.
With a glance back at him, I met Declan’s devastating eyes. I saw my grief mirrored there, the pain so acute that I had to look away. Without another word, Rowan and I started the impossibly long walk back to The Guild, our silence an echo of all that happened tonight, both of us filled with the abject fear of where we went from here.
Thank You For Reading
This book was a ton of fun to write and I can’t wait to continue writing and living in this world.
If you loved hanging with Max and the members of Team Six, find out what kind of mischief she gets into next. Grab a copy of Book Three in The Protector Guild Series: Dreams of Hell.
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About Gray
I’m a teacher by day and a writer by night (and, occasionally, I moonlight as a bartender as well). Most of my time is happily spent hanging out with my cartoonish dog (who is spoiled to the core, as he should be), going for meandering walks around the city, and reading everything I can get my hands on. I drink way too m
uch coffee, binge-watch obsessively with the best of them, and love playing board games or kayaking with friends.
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