The few people who dared to venture outside earlier had retreated hours ago, but there were people mixed in with the vampires. Savages weren’t stupid; they knew they required the strength numbers provided them.
“What’s with the flames?” she whispered.
“Intimidation tactic,” Declan said. “And if someone refuses to let them in their house, they’ll set it on fire.”
“Shit.”
Hiding in the attic wouldn’t be enough this time. Before, only humans were doing the search, but Savages might detect their heartbeats or smell them. Some of the Savages broke off from the main group; they took some of the people with them as they approached two of the homes and knocked on the doors.
The booming thud of their fists hitting the door reverberated down the street and bounced off the houses. Those homes probably had doorbells, but battering on their doors like assholes was probably another intimidation tactic.
“I’m going out there,” Declan said.
He’d spent the past fifteen minutes trying to come up with a plan to get them both out of here, but their time was up sooner than he’d anticipated. Now he just wanted to make sure one of them escaped… her.
“No, you’re not!” she blurted.
His mouth quirked in a small smile as he cupped her cheek in his palm. “It has to be this way. I’ll go out there and draw them away. Once I do, you go out the back. Those Stepford fuckers are still out there, but I’ll create a distraction that will draw them away or divert their attention. As soon as you can, go out the back and run until you’re far from this town.”
He loathed the idea of her out there amongst these things without him, but it was the best chance she had of survival.
“I’m supposed to run away while you go out there and fight them or end up in their hands? That’s not gonna happen. Even if you weren’t my mate, I would never let someone sacrifice themselves for me.”
“I’m not sacrificing myself for you; I’m giving you a chance at freedom, which gives us both a chance to survive. We’re connected, and once you’re free and have reunited with Ronan and the others, you can use our connection to find me if they catch me.”
“And what if they kill you instead of capturing you?”
“They won’t. They need strong fighters on their side.”
“They had no problem killing Leonard and probably the rest of the Alliance I was with; they were all strong fighters. My life is bound to yours. If they kill you, or you get caught by them, and I can’t find you, I’m as good as dead anyway. I’d rather go out there and fight them with you than run away like a coward.”
“There are too many of them; the two of us can’t take them all. At least if we split up, we still have a chance of getting out of this.”
“I don’t know where the compound is; you do. If I can’t find you, and they succeed in turning you into a Savage, you’ll lead them to everyone there. Let me go out there and distract them while you run.”
“That might be true, but if they haven’t found Lucien, then Ronan’s already preparing to abandon the compound.”
Trying to reason with him was accomplishing nothing, so she decided to put an end to it. “I’m not leaving you behind to face them on your own. You wouldn’t do it to me, so don’t ask me to do it to you. I’m not going to waste any more time discussing it because it’s not going to happen, and they’re getting a lot closer.”
Declan’s protest died on his lips. She was right; he would never agree to run while she went out to face the Savages. While he preferred to keep her safe, she was a fighter and a member of the Alliance; she deserved the respect such an honor warranted. Many didn’t make it through the training she’d endured to be here.
“Fine,” he relented. “Then we need a new plan.”
Willow didn’t gloat over her victory. The only win she’d celebrate was getting out of this alive.
“And the only one I have is to go out the back and make a run for the woods,” he said. “We don’t have any other options.”
“How do we get past the people in the backyard?”
“Maybe the Savages have provided the distraction for us.”
“That would be fantastic.”
When Declan held his hand out to her, she took it and let him lead her out of the craft room, down the hall, and back downstairs. He stopped in the living room where Gus and his family were gathered in front of the window, watching all the commotion outside. The Savages were only a few doors down and closing in fast.
“What is going on?” Gretchen asked.
“I don’t know,” Gus murmured.
“We’re leaving now,” Declan said, and they all jumped at his voice. Before they could react, he calmed them as he continued speaking. “It’s okay; you’re all safe with us. When the searchers get to your door, do everything they ask of you, but don’t trust them. You’re not going to remember anything about us or this conversation. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Take care of yourselves. Look back out the window now.”
The family blinked at them before returning their attention to the window.
“I wish we could stay and protect them,” Willow said as she followed Declan into the kitchen.
“If we stay, we’ll get them killed.”
“I know, but I feel awful that we got them mixed up in this.”
“We’ll come back to check on them. Now, we have to make sure no one sees us leaving here.”
They crept into the garage and peeked out the window at the man standing a hundred feet to the left of the house. The Savages hadn’t replaced the humans with vamps when the sun set, and curious about what was going on, the man had turned to watch as the Savages came down the street.
A woman a couple of hundred feet down from him was also looking the same way, and so was the man at the end of the road. With their attention distracted, Declan inched open the door and ducked outside.
Willow stayed low to keep behind the small rhododendron planted next to the door as Declan followed her outside and closed it behind her. Crouched low, they remained against the house as Declan pointed to the right.
Another man stood about a hundred feet to the right of them. Unfortunately, the same thing distracting the others was also drawing his attention. There was no way they could run across the backyard and into the woods without being spotted. Fortunately, there were no guards beyond the man as they were near the end of the road.
“You run for the woods while I take care of him,” Declan said. “And no arguments about this.”
“Okay.”
She was a purebred vampire and a member of the Alliance, but she wasn’t as fast or strong as him. He could make it to the man before her, and having two of them out in the open might draw the attention of the others.
“Go,” Declan said.
Willow didn’t bother to stay low as she pushed away from the door and sprinted for the woods. Speed was more important than stealth; she had to get to the woods before one of the other guards turned away from the Savages.
The woods were only fifty feet away, but she swore they somehow got further away with every step she took. Almost there… almost there…
She pushed herself faster as she waited for a cry of alarm to sound or a gunshot to resonate through the night.
The trees were getting further away. She was sure of it.
Almost… Almost! Don’t see us. Don’t see us, she pleaded with every step she took.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only seconds, she plunged into the woods. She glanced back at the guards still watching the Savages, before running toward the man Declan went after.
The trees blurred as she raced past them, but she still saw the man swinging his rifle toward Declan. Before he could pull the trigger, Declan grabbed the barrel, yanked it away, and seized the man’s throat before running with him toward the woods.
Declan set the man down as Willow reached him. Drawing on his power, he probed at the man’s mind, fu
lly expecting to come up against a wall that wouldn’t allow him entry. However, though his current commands created some resistance, he broke through. Whoever had taken control of this man was a weaker vampire than him.
“You’re going to go back out there and act as if this never happened, do you understand me?” Declan inquired.
The man nodded.
“Good. You are going to continue your watch on the neighborhood, and if anyone notices you were gone, you’ll tell them you had to take a piss. Understand?”
“Yes,” the man muttered.
“Let me see your gun.”
The man held his rifle out to him, and Declan opened it to check the bullets. “Metal,” he said to Willow. “They’re looking to catch us, not kill us.”
She didn’t find that at all reassuring.
Declan handed the rifle back to the man. “Now, forget all about seeing us and go resume your post.”
The man rested his gun against his shoulder, walked out of the woods, and returned to his place on the lawn. The others hadn’t noticed his absence as they remained focused on the Savages who were almost to Gus’s house.
Declan held his hand out to Willow when the tendrils of her apprehension brushed against him. She slid her hand into his and squeezed it.
“That was easier than I expected,” she said. “We just have to get through the rest of the town.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he said flippantly.
She smiled at him. “Not at all.”
“Let’s go.”
Chapter Forty
Instead of running toward the end of the street, they ran through the woods and away from Gus’s house. They covered almost a hundred feet of woods before arriving at the back side of the homes lining the next street.
Out on the road, flames sputtered in the torches a different group of Savages carried as they searched the street. A knot formed in his stomach while he watched them carry out their mission with ruthless precision. He’d underestimated the number of Savages in town.
He glanced at Willow as she stood beside him with her eyes narrowed on the scene. He had to get her out of this, but he had no idea how they would evade the creatures crawling all over this place. They couldn’t stay hidden in these woods; they weren’t big enough to keep them concealed.
“This way,” he whispered and tugged on her hand.
They remained parallel to the homes as they sprinted through the woods before coming across another street. Except this road ran through the center of town, and they were standing on the back side of the buildings lining the street.
Declan stopped to study the main street. There were no homes here, but there were apartments over some buildings, and people and Savages guarded the sidewalks. They were at least a mile from Gus’s house now. They could turn back and follow the woods as far as they would take them in the opposite direction, but they would only run across another road and more Savages.
Besides, the Savages might be moving into the woods now. They could turn back, but Savages might already block the way as they closed in on them. There were people out there, but this street had a lot less innocent bystanders on it than any of the roads with homes on them. Trying to find a way across the street and into the woods beyond was their best bet for survival.
“We’ll follow the back of the buildings. Maybe we can find a break in the guards, or one of them will get distracted,” he said.
“Maybe,” Willow murmured.
When they first drove through here, she’d marveled at the quaint town and the welcoming people who called out greetings to Gus. Now, the sinister air enveloping it was so thick it made it difficult to breathe. She felt like she’d stepped out of an air-conditioned store and straight into a muggy afternoon in mid-August as she tried to inhale the thick air.
Declan released her hand as they followed the woodline while they ran behind the buildings. They progressed until the trees thinned and the main road intersected with a side street.
Grasping her arm, Declan pulled her to the ground as headlights from a truck turned in their direction. Dead leaves and a stick dug into her cheek when she flattened herself against the earth.
She wanted to melt into the ground and never be seen by these things, but that was impossible. Still, she didn’t move as her breath rattled the leaves, and she inhaled a chunk of dirt.
Please don’t let there be any worms. They were most likely deep beneath the earth where the creepy little wigglers belonged, but as her fingers dug into the dirt, she couldn’t help picturing them squirming toward her.
She closed her eyes as she tried to block out the image; now was not the time to let her irrational phobia take control. She had far more significant problems.
The headlights flashed over the trees before the truck turned onto the side street and vanished around a bend. Declan’s fingers entwined with hers, and she inhaled the musty scent of wet earth before turning her head to look at him.
He also lay flat on the ground with his head turned toward her. The moonlight filtering through the trees was the same silvery color as his eyes. They lay, staring at each other. She took in the chiseled planes of his face, the auburn stubble lining his cheeks, and the curve of his lips.
Longing speared through her. She yearned for the life they could have together and the future they would spend with each other. She could love this proud, broken, beautiful man. They could build a life of happiness and laughter on the foundation of a love so true that it would strengthen and better them as they grew older.
That life was so close she could almost touch it; she could practically hear the laughter of their children and see the sun spilling over him as she woke beside him every morning. She could taste the millions of kisses they would exchange and feel his arms enveloping her.
Yet it was also so far away it seemed unattainable. She closed her eyes against the tears burning them. She’d made it this far; she would not give up hope. She would have that life if she had to slaughter every single Savage to make sure it happened.
Keeping Declan’s hand in hers, she placed her hands beneath her and pushed herself onto all fours before rising with him. Shouts came from the main road; without saying a word, they turned and ran back behind the buildings. She was starting to feel like a cornered animal with a trap hovering over her head, waiting to spring.
As they neared the other end of the main street, the stench of rot filling the air alerted them that Savages were on the intersecting road ahead. Declan skidded to a halt, and Willow stopped beside him.
The demon clawed at his insides as it sought to break free and unleash Hell on anything posing a threat to Willow. His fangs throbbed as he searched the woods. These trees wouldn’t keep them hidden all night, and if they kept running back and forth like rats in a maze, it would only get them killed.
Turning his attention back to the main street, he studied the guards there. If they were fast enough, they might make it across the road and into the woods on the other side before being shot or attacked. There was no way to avoid being spotted, but they would have a better chance of losing the Savages in the woods over there than they had of continuing to avoid them where they were now.
“We don’t have a choice,” Willow said.
“No, we don’t,” he agreed. “But we should go back so we’re in between this road and the one on the other end. That way, it will take longer for the Savages on both streets to come to the aid of the ones on this road.”
“Okay.”
Staying close to his side, she focused on his scent as she tried not to think about what lay ahead of them. They would get out of here, and they would live the beautiful life she could see for them. They’d get to know each other better, lie beside each other every day, and one day hear the laughter of their children.
When they were at the halfway point of the intersecting streets, they stopped between two small, squat brick buildings. A small alley ran between the buildings, and across the street, another row of brick bu
ildings faced them. And beyond that lay more woods.
Willow wasn’t looking forward to running through more woods for miles upon miles again, but the promise of those trees was brighter than the sun at noon. She rested Declan’s hand against her belly as she lifted her head to take in the red in his eyes.
“We’re going to get through this,” she whispered.
“We are, and the first chance we get, we’re going on vacation.”
Willow snorted with laughter. “As long as that vacation doesn’t involve the woods, I’m there.”
“I’m thinking white sandy beaches for miles and drinks that come in coconuts.”
“I love the way you think.”
Declan bent to kiss her temple and closed his eyes as he inhaled her heady scent. He’d just found her, and he couldn’t lose her. She made it so he remembered what it was like to be a man, instead of a monster on edge all the time. She’d brought love and happiness to a life devoid of it for too many years.
And now he was on the verge of losing her, and that verge was making the demon inside him more ravenous than ever before.
When Declan pulled away from her, his eyes were completely red. More than that, black and red color was seeping out from the corners of his eyes. The fine lines made it seem like the fire in his eyes was spreading through his flesh.
She’d heard what happened to a purebred vampire when pushed to the edge, and especially when someone threatened their mate, but she’d never seen the effects of it before. Willow rested her hand on his arm in the hope of calming him, but it didn’t work.
“Stay close to me,” Declan said.
“I will.”
“Let’s go.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice; she stayed at his side as they bolted out of the woods and between the two buildings. She didn’t look toward the guards when her feet hit the sidewalk, and she never checked to make sure no one was coming before plunging into the road.
A shout sounded from somewhere to Declan’s left, a car horn blared, and lights from a nearby truck flared to life as a key turned in the ignition. The increasing stench of rot told him the Savages were closing in, but he didn’t see them yet.
Bound by Torment (The Alliance Series Book 5) Page 21