Chapter One

by Jaden Sinclair

  “Now, keep in mind the last time you did it, sweet thing.” He put his hands up like he was surrendering, letting his eyes roam over her body as he licked his lips. “I liked it a lot.”

  “I’m going to kill him this time.” She drew her gun, and Dimitri took her wrist before she could aim it.

  “Smell that?” Dimitri asked her.

  Carissa raised her head up in the air and sniffed. “Yeah. Fuck!”

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  “You can plan for next time, love.” Shadow gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and jogged to the front door, calling out, “If all of you will please follow me, I’ll direct you to your transportation. Please pay no mind to the breeds overhead.”

  “He’s out of his damn mind,” Carissa said.

  Dimitri snorted. “Took you long enough to figure that out.”

  Backing away, Dimitri looking up and around. Carissa did the same, going in the opposite direction. In a well rehearsed move they pulled their guns from the holsters on their hips, cocked them, and waited.

  Dimitri saw the first one up on the roof of the house. He aimed and fired, hitting the breed right between the eyes. The breed fell into the yard behind Tempest as she ran from the house with Lucan in her arms. Tempest screamed, lost her balance, tripped, and fell, losing her hold of Lucan. Carissa got to them first, helped Tempest up, and gave her a shove towards the RV.

  “Carissa, get down!” Dimitri yelled.

  Grabbing Lucan, she knelt and quickly draped her coat around the boy to protect him. Bullets fired, hitting her back. Tempest screamed and started back for Lucan.

  Dimitri moved fast, grabbing her around the waist.

  “Shadow, get in!” Dimitri yelled, carrying Tempest kicking and screaming to the side door and shoved her in. “Calm down! He’s fine.”

  As he said the last word, Carissa’s coat opened, and she stood up with the boy hunched on the ground between her legs. She came up with her automatics in her hand, turning and firing, dropping breeds all over the place. Guns empty, she bent, picked up Lucan, and tossed him to Lucian who ran toward her. Along with Julian and his baby, they sprinted to the RV, the luggage they’d started out with scattered in front of the door.

  Dimitri provided cover fire, dropping breeds as fast as Carissa.

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  She turned and threw a knife at another breed about to attack Ambrose as he dashed for the RV, hitting the ugly fucker in the head. Corbin was the last one racing by her to the waiting vehicle, past Dimitri, and through open door.

  Dimitri, his guns empty, jumped in, but leaning out the open door. “Carissa!’ he yelled. “Come on!”

  She ran to him as Shadow pulled out. Dimitri held his hand out to her. Carissa made a leap of faith. As their hands connected, a breed leaped on the back of the RV, climbing to the top.

  “Give me a boost,” she said.

  With all his might, Dimitri pushed her up with one hand. She crawled to the top, and he pulled the door shut.

  “We have one on top,” he told Shadow.

  “I hate it when she’s right,” Shadow grumbled. “Shit! She’s not going to let this one go for a very long time.”

  “What’s wrong?” Julian asked.

  They heard a loud bang and thump, and Carissa slid down the windshield of the RV

  backwards with a trail of blood following her. She stopped on the hood with her head hanging over.

  Lifting her head, she yelled, “You just had to get a bus!”

  “Did you really think a damn sports car was going to fit everyone?” Shadow yelled back.

  She got up in slow motion and knelt down with her face right in front of his. “When we get home your ass is mine!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, get that pretty ass of yours back up there and get him off the roof!”

  She stood up, reached up over her head, and a breed flew over the hood. He landed on the road, and Shadow ran over him.

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  “Happy?” Carissa yelled.

  “Oh, I’m not going to live this one down,” Shadow mumbled.

  “This is what you guys call a controlled extraction?” Julian shouted. “You guys are fucked up.”

  “Julian, please sit down,” Ambrose came up behind him, pulling Julian away by his shoulder. “Where is she?”

  Tempest screamed as a large knife came through the roof.

  “Someone might want to get up there and help her,” Shadow stated, looking in the side mirror. “She’s hanging from the side now. I’ve got this strange nagging feeling more breeds have jumped aboard.”

  “Fuck,” Dimitri mumbled. He turned to go but stopped in shock. Julian was already climbing up through the roof hatch. “Where the hell is he going?”

  * * * *

  Carissa hung on tight to the side of the RV, dodging strikes from a very sharp blade.

  She’d slipped on her own damn blood, and the fucking breed took full advantage.

  Couldn’t blame it, she’d have done the same damn thing.

  “Hey!”

  Carissa and the breed trying to knock her off the roof turned at the sound. Julian winked, took aim, and shot it in the head. Julian was definitely the last person she’d expected to come out there to lend a hand.

  Julian knelt down to extend his hand to her. Taking it, she discovered he was stronger than she would have given him credit for when he pulled her up. She opened her mouth to say thanks, but instead pushed him down on his back and covered him with her body as something whizzed by their heads.

  “Hate those things,” she stated.

  “You’re welcome.”

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  She made a harrumph sound, pushed up on her hands, and kicked out behind her.

  Her foot hit the last breed in the face, knocking him off into the road. When Julian frowned, she smiled. “We’re even.”

  Pushing up off of Julian, she pulled out one of Shadow’s homemade bombs. At the same time she shoved Julian back through the hatch, bit the end off the bomb, tossed it at the car following close behind them, and followed Julian. He landed on his back. She landed straddling him.

  “Hold on!” she yelled to everyone.

  The car behind them exploded. The RV shook and rocked. Once it was steady, she moved away from Julian to the front of the bus where Dimitri sat next to Shadow.

  Dimitri smiled at her. “Have fun?”

  She rolled her eyes at him and leaned over Shadow. “We only had one tail that I could see. Use the back road so we don’t pick up anymore of them.”

  “Got it, love,” Shadow nodded.

  “You’re bleeding,” Dimitri stated. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her arm, turned her, and prodded at her shoulder at the edge of the vest. “This is a deep one.

  You’ve lost a lot of blood too. You need to replace it before you drop.”

  He extended his arm to her, but she shook her head. “I’m all right.” But she wasn’t.

  She was losing too much blood and feeling lightheaded.

  “When was the last time you fed?” Dimitri asked.

  She shrugged. “Couple days ago maybe.”

  “We lost them.” Ambrose said.

  “How the hell did they know where to find us?” Lucian asked, standing up.

  Carissa turned away from Dimitri and headed to the back. She swayed a bit and hoped no one noticed. “Ask Julian. He’s the one who pissed Renzo off,” she taunted, even though Lucian’s home was only one more of the vampire homes attacked by Renzo.

  No one knew how he found any of them.

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  She went into the tiny bathroom and closed the door before Julian could respond to her remark. Locking the door, she sat down on the toilet. Her hands shook, gums ached, and her incisors lengthened. She was hungry, but lately she refused to feed. Because she was hurt, she was going to have to
and that sucked. Already, she could feel her strength fading and hoped like hell it held out until they got to the doc.

  Knock—knock.

  “You okay?” Dimitri asked.

  She licked her lips, wiped her nose, and took a couple deep breaths. “Fine. Be out in a few.”

  Forcing herself to stand, she turned the water on and washed the blood and dirt from her hands. Her shoulder throbbed, and when she looked at it, fresh blood oozed out. The bullet in there was going to hurt like hell coming out.

  She took a few more deep breaths before leaving the bathroom. Glasses back on, she looked around at everyone. Dimitri stood up front with Shadow, Tempest had Lucan in her lap, holding him tightly, Julian held his baby daughter, and Ambrose talked with Lucian. Corbin sat alone, his face white.

  She managed to get herself to a seat so she could sit down, but her peace was short lived. No sooner did she close her eyes than a tiny hand gripped hers, startling her to open them again.

  “He missed you,” Lucan whispered. “That’s why he’s so angry.”

  She stared at him. His dark brown eyes held so much knowledge it should’ve frightened her. Instead, his steady gaze calmed her.

  “But everything is going to be fine now. You’ll see.” Lucan smiled then turned and went back to his mother.

  The rest of the ride was in complete silence. Energy slipped out of her with each mile, every bump in the road. She felt the wound, warm and sticky, but she refused to let it get the best of her. I’m stronger than this. A bullet isn’t going to weaken me.

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  When the RV came to a stop, she couldn’t have been more grateful. Pushing herself up, she left before anyone else, sighing because she felt a sense of dread at the same time.

  Ambrose’s old Victorian home was the one and only home Carissa had known for eight years of her life. She was five when she came here, thirteen when she left, or as much as Julian knew.

  “You okay?” Dimitri asked.

  She nodded.

  “Well, it looks like everything worked out,” Shadow stated in a cheerful voice.

  Carissa walked up to him. With her last bit of strength, she decked him with a closed fist. Both of them went down to the ground. For the life of her she couldn’t get up or move off of him.

  “Sucker punch, huh? Not fair, love.”

  She could hear the smile in Shadow’s voice at the same time Dimitri hands closed around her arms.

  “Carissa? Damnit,” Dimitri growled at her.

  She thought she was getting up on her own, until she looked at him. Her arm was slung over his shoulder, and his arm was around her waist. “I’m okay.”

  “Yeah, I bet. Let’s get you fixed up.”

  “I can walk.” She looked down at her legs, bent and refusing to hold her weight.

  “Okay, maybe I can’t. Shit!”

  He helped her to the house, up the steps, and through the door. In front of the wooden stairs, she shrugged Dimitri off.

  “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and tried to take a step, but ended up swaying backwards. His hands went around her body, but as for the rest, it went black.

  * * * *

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  “She okay?” Julian came up to Dimitri just as Carissa passed out and Dimitri caught her.

  The smell of her blood was thick in Dimitri’s nostrils, and he felt the stickiness of it on her clothes. He just hoped that bullet hadn’t nicked anything vital. Taking a deep breath, he scooped her up in his arms, giving Julian a dirty look.

  “Yeah, she’ll be okay. Just another one of her dumb ass mistakes.” He went around the stairs to the dark hall on the left. Julian stayed right behind him. At the moment, he didn’t give a shit. “It seems since you’ve been back that’s all she does anymore.”

  Halfway down the corridor, he stopped and pressed against the wall. A hidden doorway slid into view. Dimitri walked down the stone steps with her in his arms.

  Under the house, stretching over three miles was a complete living complex. At one time it was filled with Guardians ready to do battle or practicing their skills. They trained down here, lived, invented, and anything else that might need to be done. It currently appeared as barren as the house above.

  For the past few months, while they searched for any others who might have survived, Ambrose sent bloodmates here to safety, putting out an SOS to doctors, nurses, and lab techs. They were trying to regroup, and they were having some luck with it.

  They had a medical staff and five bloodmates, which helped. Dimitri hadn’t met them yet. He’d been too busy trying to find Carissa and keep Ambrose safe at the same time.

  “I never knew this existed down here,” Julian said.

  “No one does outside the order,” Dimitri remarked back. “Ambrose wanted to keep it hidden in case there was ever a need for it.” He stopped in front of a set of double swinging doors. “Now we need it.” He pushed through using his shoulder.

  The hallway they came from was dark and damp, but the room they walked into was completely opposite. Bright white, it looked like an emergency room you’d find in any modern hospital with beds lined up against the walls.

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  “Julian!”

  Dimitri stopped in the middle of the clinic. A calmness and hunger rushed over him at the sound of that sweet voice. Dimitri turned his head, and his eyes locked on the female who had spoken, a vision perfect body, perfect smile.

  She seemed to light up as she rushed toward Julian. Soft, midnight black hair reached her shoulders, highlighting gray eyes, sensual lips, and curves in all the right places. She ran straight into Julian’s arms, hugging him tightly. Dimitri’s fangs quickly lengthened. He definitely didn’t like seeing that woman in Julian’s arms.

  “Claudia!” Julian smiled, arms wrapped around her. “What’re you doing here?”

  She held onto him, even after the hugging stopped. “I’ve been here for a couple of months now. Ambrose found me. He brought me and a few others here. I’ve been helping out in the clinic. What about you?”

  “Dimitri? What’d Carissa do this time?” asked a woman approaching them.

  Julian turned at the sound of the voice. “Doctor Ivy?” he questioned.

  Dimitri sighed, wishing he was anywhere but where it appeared Julian knew everyone.

  “Hello, Julian, you’re the last person I thought to see. Where’s your bloodmate? Last time I saw her she was expecting.”

  Julian’s face lost some color, and as much as he hated to admit it, Dimitri felt sorry for the bastard. Dimitri cleared his throat, to get the doctor’s full attention. “She’s been shot this time,” he said, answering her first question. “From what I know, she hasn’t fed for a few days either.”

  Ivy shook her head, motioning for him to follow her over to a bed. “Why does she keep doing this? Claudia, bring me the surgical kit. I’ll do this right here.”

  Dimitri put Carissa down on the bed and helped the doctor turn her over onto her stomach. He pulled her coat off or more like peeled it away. The damn leather was stuck to her vest thanks to the dried blood. Carissa’s entire back was covered. Leaving the 22

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  doctor to tend to her, Dimitri went back over to Julian. He tried like hell not to stare down at—what was her name? Claudia?

  “Hi, I’m Claudia Wyborn.” She extended her hand out to him.

  Dimitri was powerless to deny her the simple action of shaking her hand, taking it carefully, engulfing it with his own. “Dimitri.”

  “I like that. Sounds mysterious.”

  Her big, bright smile almost buckled his knees. Dimitri cleared his throat and made himself let her hand go before turning to Julian, but he watched her from the corner of his eye as she worked with the doctor on Carissa. “Ambrose said you and your daughter, along with the rest of the family can stay up in the rooms of the house.” Dimitri
said.

  “Can you find your way, or do you need me to show you the way back?”

  “I think I can figure it out.”

  Dimitri nodded. “Then excuse me. I need to clean up before we all meet again.” He glanced once more at Claudia before walking away.

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  Chapter Two

  Dimitri was clean and dressed in fresh leather pants with a snug black t-shirt and polished boots. His hair, still wet from the shower, stuck to his neck, but he’d brushed it back out of his eyes.

  He pushed on the wall and the hidden door slid open. He got a bit of a surprise when he saw the house was getting a major cleaning. Bloodmates were walking around with brooms and dusters in hand, talking as they cleaned. He’d only been down there for an hour, maybe two tops, and already the place was taking on a more homelike appearance.

  Lights were on, windows opened letting in the bight moonlight, and everything was getting a major makeover. Corbin seemed to be the one in charge.

  Watching what was going on, Dimitri turned to head to the back of the house. He went on the defensive as someone rushed toward him. Recognizing that it wasn’t an attack, he moved fast in reflex when she ran into him, dropped to one knee, and caught the box about to hit to the floor. When he looked up, his breath caught in his chest.

  Claudia!

  “God, I’m so sorry,” she gushed out. “I didn’t see you there.

  Dimitri stayed down, just staring at her. God, she was lovely. She felt like a fresh breeze in the springtime coming through the open doors. Or in his case, the breeze bursting the door open.

  “No harm done,” he managed to say. Her face turned an attracted rosy hue with him staring up at her from his kneeling position. Very slowly he stood up, still holding the box, still staring.

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  She smiled, a very shy smile, one that had him smiling too. “Wow! You’re big,” she said, then rolled her eyes, “What I mean is…” As she waved her hand back and forth, he kept smiling, with his head tilted to the side waiting for her to finish. “…you’re tall. Very tall.” Her mouth opened, and she coughed a little to clear her throat. “Now I’m sounding like an idiot.”