Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“On my face,” I grimaced and then winced.
“It’s not so bad,” he soothed, his hands shaking as he rubbed his thumb over my temple.
“It’s bad,” Chance argued. “Think I can see your teeth.”
I let out a shocked huff of laughter.
“Gods, Chance,” Beau barked. “Shut the fuck up.”
“You got this?” Ambrose asked, falling back on his heels. “I’ll go get Lucy and Reese.”
“Take Beau,” Erik ordered as he gently wrapped something around my shoulder. “No one goes anywhere alone.”
I gasped and dug my fingers into the dirt, pressing upward. “My pop,” I wheezed as Daniel tried to push me back down without hurting me.
“He’s fine,” Erik assured me, though there was no way he could’ve known. My pop was out there somewhere in the dark without Thunder to watch his back.
“We need to go get him,” I argued, shoving weakly against their gentle hands.
“I’m here,” Pop called, breathless.
A few moments later, he stumbled into the clearing, his face so pale that it practically glowed in the dark.
“How is she?”
“She’s fine,” I replied, coughing as I choked on blood.
“Yeah, looks like it,” he said, barely making it to my side before dropping. He landed awkwardly, like his legs had simply gone out from under him.
Thunder scooted closer, nudging Pop’s arm.
“Good boy,” Pop praised, his eyes still on me as he scratched Thunder’s bloody fur.
“We need to get her home,” Erik said as the sound of the brothers and their mates filtered through the trees.
“I can walk,” I said in protest as Daniel gathered me into his arms.
“Let me hold you,” he murmured in my ear.
The rest of the Bouchers reached us just as I realized that my pop wasn’t rising to his feet.
“I’ll meet you,” he said, his voice reed thin. “You go.”
“Pop,” I whispered.
I’d thought that seeing Seamus with a gunshot wound in his belly had broken me, but I’d been wrong. Seeing my pop on the ground, unable to rise, was the final hit that shattered everything inside me into thousands of sharp pieces.
“Unacceptable,” Erik replied. He didn’t wait for permission. He just took two steps, crouched, grabbed my pop’s arm, and yanked him over his broad shoulders.
“All set?” Chance asked, for once, not making any snide comments.
“Careful,” Ambrose ordered as we hurried through the trees toward the house. “Beau?”
“Nothing,” Beau replied.
“Clear here,” Chance added.
They were spread out around us as we moved through the trees, security for those of us unable to fight.
“Good back here too,” Lucy said from somewhere behind us.
“Stay close,” Erik ordered.
“Nah, I thought I’d hang back a little bit,” she mumbled to herself.
The driveway and yard were littered with bodies, but the Vampires around me didn’t hesitate as they walked past the men on the ground. We converged on a large SUV, and Daniel waited as Beau and Chance tossed everything out of the trunk before climbing in, holding me in his lap. Pop crawled in beside us. Then Thunder.
“I didn’t know he could move like that,” Daniel said as his family piled into the front.
“He’s got hidden depths,” I replied groggily as Thunder laid his head tiredly on Pop’s hip.
“Never see him comin’,” Pop added proudly. He twined his fingers with mine and squeezed, holding them tightly.
“You know, they can slow down,” I mumbled. Daniel’s body swayed, and me with it, as we flew around a corner. “This shit may hurt, but it’s not like it’ll kill me.”
I closed my eyes, pressing my forehead against the pulse beating in my mate’s neck. “I’ll be fine. I can handle anything for a while.”
“Let’s not take any chances,” Daniel replied gruffly.
I shrugged and was surprised to find that my shoulder didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had. That had to be a good thing. Maybe my body was already healing itself. I’d heard of Vampires and their mates healing faster than humans.
I drifted in and out of consciousness as we raced toward the Boucher property.
“How bad is it?” Daniel asked my pop when they thought I was passed out.
“Not good,” Pop breathed, his thumb smoothing over the back of my palm. “Do you think someone would go get my chair from the house?”
“Of course,” Daniel replied sympathetically.
Then the road changed, and I lifted my head a little as we pulled onto gravel.
“Almost there, baby,” Daniel said.
I hadn’t realized that he’d been tenderly bracing my bad arm until he shifted, and white-hot pain shot down from my shoulder.
The Bouchers swarmed out of the SUV the moment it stopped. The inside lit up as the liftgate in the back opened to reveal Chance standing there.
“Let’s not make this weird,” he said briskly, reaching for Pop.
“Fuck,” Pop groaned as Chance lifted him out of the SUV.
Thunder followed them.
“Now, us,” Daniel said, scooting forward until he could drop his feet to the ground. When he stood, Beau and Reese were there, waiting to see if we needed any help.