by Lauren Dawes
This was his opening. Drake took aim and squeezed the trigger. The recoil kicked into his shoulder, but the bullet found its target. The Yellow Eye went rigid then fell backward, his brain matter spraying the ground behind him like a gruesome fireworks display. Drake emerged from behind the staircase, keeping the weapon trained on the Yellow Eye male.
“Mateo?” he hissed, tapping the guy on the shoulder with the toe of his boot.
His violet eyes opened and rolled to the side, his mangled mouth opening and sucking in a shuddering breath. “Sasha.”
Drake’s head jerked up, his eyes settling on a form in the dark adjoining room. All the drapes had been closed, and as he got closer, he stopped.
That was when he saw the rest of the bodies.
33
Neve had done her best to ignore the pile of bodies she was sharing space with, but it was hard to avoid looking at the chef sitting opposite her. His mouth was slack, frozen. His eyes were still open, but they’d gone opaque in the short time since his death.
Bang!
Without thinking, she leapt up, fumbling when Drake’s gun slid from her grip. Wrapping her fingers more tightly around the grip, she eased open the same door Drake had disappeared through, looking around before stepping out into the hall. Everything had gone quiet, except for a short rasping sound. She found out what that was when she got to the staircase. Mateo was on the ground, his hands resting on his chest as he sucked in air. Beside him was a dead male. She turned her head to the left and saw Drake crouched down in a darkened room.
She halted a few feet from the double-doors, her shoulders tightening until it was almost painful. The smell of blood was so prolific, her olfactory senses weren’t just saturated, they were drowning. Someone made a strangled sound, and Drake glanced sharply over his shoulder, his fierce expression melting away.
“Neve.”
She hardly heard him, just walked forward until she was on the threshold of the room. Reaching out with a shaking hand, she flipped on the lights and stared at the death on display. Haltingly, she walked into the room and fell to her knees, staring at the Leos and their mates discarded in that darkened room.
Her gaze fell on a female only a few feet from her, a ragged sob climbing up her throat. She pushed it down, inviting the cold numbness to take over.
Drake’s concern washed against her like a warm caress. “Do you know her?” he asked.
“It’s Michelle Scheller, the Yellow Eye Leo’s mate.” She began to stroke the hair from her face. The only wound she had was a small bullet hole between her eyes, the flesh around the entry point turning the surrounding skin necrotic.
“I don’t understand. My mom said all the females were going on a winery tour while the meeting was taking place. They aren’t supposed to be here with the Leos.” She forced herself to look around, to see the faces of the Leos who’d died beside their mates, who’d died protecting their mates. But where were her parents?
“I don’t know,” Drake replied tightly. “But we’re going to find out.”
He helped her up, his free hand holding hers. There was a low groan, and she saw Sasha in her cat form lying on the ground, doing her best to keep one of her legs very still.
“Broken leg,” Drake replied, crouching down beside her and stroking her head like she was just a house cat and not a hundred-sixty-pound killing machine. Sasha purred a little and blinked up at him slowly.
“Mateo,” Drake called. “How are you feeling?”
Mateo sat up slowly, his face a patchwork of drying blood and already forming bruises. “Like Mike Tyson and Ronda Rousey’s lovechild cut their teeth on me.” He glanced down at the dead male beside him and grinned. “Thanks for not missing, boss.”
Drake grunted. “Can you do anything for Sash?”
“Only the superficial—”
“Neve! Run!”
Before the words could stop echoing around the foyer, Neve’s blood turned to ice. Her mom. That was her mom. Neve’s pulse jammed into her throat at the sound of absolute terror in those words. She was moving before she knew what she was doing, running out of the room, only to be slowed down when Drake grabbed her wrist.
“Let me go,” she gritted out, yanking her arm back hard. She stumbled away as Drake released his fingers, and she frowned. By the look of frustration on his face, he hadn’t expected to do that either. She turned and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Drake followed behind her, his fear for her life blanketing her, suffocating her with its strength.
At the top of the landing, she looked in both directions but had no idea where the sound had come from. Her head wrenched to the left at the sound of twin gunshots. The scent of blood hadn’t been as pervasive up there until that sound. Now, it was strong enough to coat the back of her tongue.
She rushed forward, Drake yelling her name in warning. She wasn’t listening, though. Her parents…
The double doors flew open with such force that she jerked back a step and fell onto her ass. She looked up at the male standing between the jambs, the expression on his face making her heartbeat thrash in her ears. Covered in blood from head to toe, his lips pulled away from very human teeth as he fixed his attention on Drake.
“Lewis?” Drake asked.
The other male—Lewis—held out his hands as if presenting himself. Gore covered nearly every inch of his skin, and Neve felt her stomach turn. His skin seemed to shiver then, and he shifted between one breath and the next. How was that possible? Unless he was one of the Shadows who had found his blood mate?
“Fuck!” Drake shouted, throwing his hands up to protect his face as Lewis leapt. Neve scrambled to her feet and ran into the bedroom he’d just exited, keeping her eyes on Drake as he tried to wrestle the cat off him. Drake managed to get his legs underneath Lewis’s stomach, and he kicked out, sending the other male sailing through the air and crashing into the wall. The drywall crumpled under the force, sending dust into the air.
Drake slapped a hand to his neck as he staggered into the room and shut the doors.
“Let me see, dammit,” Neve demanded, trying to pull his hand out of the way to see how badly he was injured.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied weakly, grimacing. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. His hand fell away from his neck, revealing the gaping wound that had been inflicted with claws.
“Drake?” She slapped his face, rousing him for a moment before he lapsed back into unconsciousness.
Desperately, she looked around the huge room. It smelled of Michelle, and she realized it was the Yellow Eye Leo’s master bedroom. Shoving to her feet, she went looking for the bathroom to get a towel to press against the wound, but her world came to a sudden stop as her eyes passed over the alcove by the dormer window, and saw two figures slumped over in matching chairs—the missing dining room chairs.
The blood drained from her face as an inhuman sound was wrenched from her throat. She crouched down at the feet of her parents, reaching out to touch her dad’s knee. They’d been executed, and if she hadn’t hidden in the kitchen, she could’ve saved them. Tentatively, she reached out and touched her mom’s cheek with the tips of her fingers. Warmth lingered there, but even now, she could feel it was leaving her body, draining from her just like her life was.
The door to the bedroom suddenly shattered apart, and she jumped to her feet in time to see Mateo wrestling the feline Lewis. They rolled into the room, coming to an abrupt stop when they crashed against the foot of the bed. She rushed to Drake and pulled him out of the way. She had to get out of there. Grabbing Drake under the arms, she waited until the doorway was clear, then dragged him out onto the landing. Mateo and Lewis were still twisting on the floor, blood spraying and clumps of fur flying.
Lewis swiped his paw against Mateo’s torso, the sound of skin ripping filling the room. Mateo dropped like a stone, his legs jerking up to his chest as another layer of blood was added to the bouquet. Neve’s breath was whooshing out of her lungs, but she coul
dn’t seem to catch it, to slow it.
Lewis spun around to face her, his gold eyes glittering with so many promises of earth-shattering pain. Lowering his body down to the ground, he prepared to pounce. Remembering all her training, she lowered her center of gravity too, shifting her weight to remain balanced. The other cat’s eyes darted to Drake, his lips peeling back in a feral snarl. Neve hissed back, baring her hopelessly blunt human teeth.
“If you want him, you’ll have to get past me first.”
He leapt at her a moment later, aiming for her throat, but she twisted around, taking the brunt of his claws and teeth on her shoulders and back. Her back was suddenly blazing with acid fire, ribbons of agony tearing down either side of her spine. He rode her down to the ground, leaping off to attack again. Crawling the few feet to Drake’s inert body, she threw herself over him, protecting him. With her head bowed and her breath whistling past her clenched teeth, Neve tried to get her feet back under her, pausing when she heard a growl of warning.
With blood streaming down her back, soaking through her shirt, she peered up to find Sasha standing over her and Drake, protecting them. Her leg wasn’t working properly. She wasn’t putting any weight on it, and it seemed to be misshapen. The two jaguars hissed and growled at each other, circling just a few feet away.
Neve jerked back when Drake reached out and touched her shoulder, his fingers coming back bloody. He touched them to his mouth, his tongue darting out to taste her blood. He swallowed roughly then collapsed back.
“Drake?” she whispered.
His hand shot out and pulled her closer, their mouths brushing in a kiss that made her lips tingle. She tasted copper and felt a physical connection to Drake that hadn’t been there before. No, that wasn’t right. It had been there, it just hadn’t been as strong as she felt it now. It was almost like hearing a car alarm going off from a block away to hearing it right outside your house. It was loud and intrusive, and the power that flowed through him and into her would’ve knocked her on her ass if she wasn’t already there.
“Blood to blood,” he groaned. “Knife…right ankle.”
“What?” she asked in a hiss, but he was out again. Neve closed her eyes as the sound of battle raged around her. Sucking in a breath, she could almost see a golden thread coming out of her body, from her heart, connecting her to Drake. From Drake, there were another four threads, each a different color. A silver one was linked to Sasha and a deep forest green one connected him to Mateo. Two others—a royal purple and sky blue—disappeared above them, obviously connected to Jett and Grayson. As she looked down, she found a silver thread was sprouting, as well as a forest green one.
They both stretched out from her chest, creeping toward Sasha and Mateo. She was jolted with awareness as they connected, and Sasha turned to look at her sharply. The distraction cost her, though, and Lewis attacked. He forced her backward until she was on top of them, crushing them. Neve struggled to breathe. Something hot dripped down onto her face, making her to turn away to stop it getting into her nose.
Sasha suddenly went slack, her muscles turning to lead, and Neve had to beat back the panic that she was going to die this way. The weight was suddenly lifted away, and Neve sucked in a deep breath. She blinked up at Lewis as he stood on two feet once more. His clothing was shredded, revealing patches of his skin that was just as bloody as the rest of him. Reaching down, he grabbed her by the back of the shirt and hauled her off Drake like she weighed nothing at all.
Pressing her lips into a tight line, she held back the scream as every terrible twist and turn of her torso made her whole body tremble in pain. She needed to get away from him, needed to lead him away from the others, but she also needed a weapon…
Knife. Right ankle. Drake’s words filtered through her mind.
Gritting her teeth, she kicked her legs out, throwing her weight around and trying to knock him off-balance. Her body torqued painfully to the left, and she felt his grip on her shirt slip. Finally, she tipped him off-balance, making him curse as he let her go. Landing heavily on her hands and knees, she scrambled over to Drake and wrenched up the leg of his pants. Her fingers had just brushed the hilt of the knife when she was hauled away.
Neve screamed in frustration, twisting around until she was on her back and facing her enemy. The claw marks on her back were on fire as she was dragged across the carpet, but she used that pain and channeled it into her fight. Lewis dropped her at the top of the stairs, his bare foot on her hip.
“Enjoy the ride,” he sneered, kicking her off the edge and sending her tumbling down the stairs. She tried to protect her head as she rolled, but judging by the black spot bursting into her vision, she knew she’d failed. Sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, she took a minute to suck in air before finally pushing herself onto her knees. Lewis was slowly walking down the stairs like he had all the time in the world. Drawing on a strength she didn’t know she had still left in her, she pulled herself up and started toward the living room. Her right ankle ached with each step, but she had to keep moving.
Pausing at the door, she left bloody handprints on the wood before stumbling into the chaos. She searched the three bodies they’d found when they first arrived, patting down their bodies to find a weapon. She found a knife on the body of the redhead then froze at the sound of Lewis’s voice from the doorway.
“So kind of you to come here so we didn’t have to travel to you, Neve,” he told her with a smile that would’ve been cheerful under any other circumstances. Right now, it just looked downright evil.
Keeping the weapon hidden behind her, she stepped away until her back hit one of the dining room chairs. He came to a stop in front of her.
“You know, I’m starting to get a taste for shifter meat.” A feline snarl came out of his throat as he shifted into his cat in an instant. He leapt at her, knocking them both into the table. China plates and flatware rained down on them, the candles toppling over and extinguishing with the force. Fetid breath that stank of blood and rancid meat blew over her face in a steady stream as his razor-sharp teeth grazed her cheek. Just like she’d practiced in training, she jammed her forearm between Lewis’s throat, shoving him away and giving herself the room she needed to work with the blade.
It was only a second, but she repositioned the knife in front of her, driving it forward while using the momentum of his own pounce to bury the steel to the hilt in his stomach.
His roar of pain was so close to her ear that it nearly deafened her.
Forcing Lewis backward, she purposefully fell with him and twisted the blade deep into his gut. Hot blood spewed over her hand as it escaped his body, running down the sides of his abdomen. Still, Lewis snapped his teeth at her, weakly snarling in her face.
“Fuck you,” she breathed then struck again, driving the blade through his heart this time. And again. She was lost in a frenzy, her arm moving independently of her body as she avenged the death of her parents.
Lewis’s body finally went slack against her, and she shoved away from him with what little strength she had left. On shaking legs, she righted herself, brushing shards of wood and china from her clothes. The handle of the knife, now slick with his blood, tumbled to the ground at her feet.
34
Both Neve’s ankle and knee on her right side were screaming as she pulled herself up the stairs. With the battle over, the adrenaline drained out of her and her whole body went limp. She dropped to the ground at the top of the stairs, dragging herself over to Drake. His chest was still rising and falling shallowly, and if she concentrated, she could visualize their golden thread. She also saw Sasha’s and Mateo’s connected to her chest and Drake’s.
Sasha whined when she saw Neve.
“I’m going to get us out of here,” she said. Working as quickly as she could, she limped to the bathroom and grabbed as many towels as she could find. Pressing one to Drake’s throat, she was relieved when he lifted his hand and held it weakly in place.
She rolled Mateo over
onto his back, moving his hands out of the way. She was expecting to see his intestines being held in position, but all she saw was a wound that looked as if it had been healing for weeks rather than minutes. He blinked up at her with his violet eyes and gave her a half smile. “I’ll be fully healed in a couple of hours.”
“Good to hear,” she said. “Are you able to walk?”
“I’m sure I can manage that if I take it slowly.”
She gave him a curt nod. “Good because I could use the help.” Glancing back at Drake, she said, “Do you have enough juice to heal him a little bit?”
He flexed his fingers. “I might be able to.” Getting up slowly, he shuffled over to Drake and practically collapsed beside him. Reaching out with his right hand, he hovered it about an inch over the throat wound and shut his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, then a warm yellow glow began emanating from his palm. Drake groaned, his body relaxing. Even a little color started to come back to his skin, going from a grayish tint to a pallid white.
The glow faded out after only half a second, and Mateo squeezed his hand into a fist. “I’ve taken away some of his pain.”
She pulled the towel away from his throat and found that the bleeding had slowed but not stopped. “Okay. It’ll have to do.” Walking around to the top of his body, she slid her hands beneath his shoulders and hauled him up. She cursed when his full weight hit her, but she gritted her teeth and dug in, getting him in a fireman’s carry.
Over her shoulder, she said, “Have you got Sasha?”
There was a grunt and a small indignant hiss, and when she looked back, she found Mateo cradling the other cat like a lover. They moved down the stairs together, that feeling of ‘wrongness’ she’d felt before gone from the house. Outside, she popped open the rear door of the Escalade and tried to get Drake inside without hurting him any more than he already was. Leaving him half hanging out of the car, she limped around to the other side and opened the opposite door. Positioning her knees on the seat, she hooked her hands under Drake’s arms and braced herself. She blew out a breath and began to pull, shuffling him inch by inch into the car.