The forth one stood his ground, although he was breathing too erratically to be as calm as he wanted her to believe. She advanced on him slowly, drawing the death out, making him anticipate his passing. It was no less than he deserved for taking the lives of those he didn’t understand, killing them simply because they were different.
When he squeezed the trigger she pounced, sending shiny, unyielding steel through his throat. His head shot back and she yanked hard, removing the blade from his spine. His wide eyes revealed his panic, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as blood poured from the gaping hole beneath his chin. As he fell forward she moved aside and took a perverse amount of pleasure in the sound of his body scraping against the pavement.
“Ava, please. Wake up!” she heard the shifter snap and she turned, gazing over her shoulder. The large male was shaking the woman in his arms, her head wobbling on his elbow. From this angle she could see the mortal wound at the base of her head, the large, gaping hole revealing a bloody mass.
She swiped her sword clean using the shirt of the dead man at her feet, returned the blade to the sheath situated along her spine and walked back to the woman and shifter, taking purposeful steps. The male growled weakly at her approach but she didn’t hesitate, taking a knee at his side, studying the fragile female in his arms.
“Stay back, vampire.” The shifter wheezed and attempted to move away.
“She’s mated to your Omega, is she not?” He didn’t answer but he didn’t have to. She’d been in attendance the night Diskant Black had swooped in and claimed the tiny female onstage at Club Liminality. “Listen to me carefully. Her mate won’t make in time to seal the final stage of the bloodbond. I can scent death consuming her.” Sadie met his glowing, topaz-colored eyes. “My blood can sustain her until he arrives and assists her through the transition.”
She watched him struggle with the truth. “You expect me to trust you?”
“I’ve given you no reason not to.” She motioned to the dead Shepherds. “If I meant you harm, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
After a moment, he allowed her to move closer. She studied the woman—Ava—closely, trying not to inhale the perfume of her blood. Her skin was now ashen, her eyes sunken. Pulling back her sleeve, Sadie bared her wrist. A quick strike and her blood flowed.
“Open her mouth.”
He tilted Ava’s head back and pressed his fingers to the crease of her lips. When they parted Sadie carefully lifted her hand so blood drizzled from her wrist. Drops splattered against pale skin while others made it to the intended goal, spilling past bluish-hued lips.
Sadie felt the weight of the shifter’s stare and had to force herself not to squirm. “Who are you?” he asked. “What were you doing here?”
“That’s not important.” She studied the woman in his arms and breathed a sigh of relief when her throat convulsed. As a mage vampire with a capacity for healing, it wouldn’t take much, a few tablespoons at most, to be certain Ava would survive.
Slowly color returned to Ava’s cheeks and her throat moved as she swallowed. Sadie felt the bloody spot at the base of her skull with her free hand and exhaled in relief when she felt the bone start the mending process, the rough, uneven edges coming together.
Unexpectedly, she was thrown from Ava and the shifter. Her head struck the wall before she crashed to the ground. Training ensured she landed in a crouched, defensive position, knees bent and hands extended.
Lifting her head, she met the infuriated gaze of the fallen woman’s mate.
Shit.
The Omega.
Diskant snarled at the vampire trapped against the wall, allowing his fury, outrage and devastation to bleed through. His mind was a haze of pain, anger and loss. The void so deep and unrelenting it hurt to breathe. As a being who was tied to all the races, he’d felt the death of each of his pack mates, like an electrical blackout leaving everything dark and empty. There was only one light left shining in the abyss, one soul among the lost who continued to exist.
Ava.
He’d transformed into the fastest form possible—the peregrine falcon—to make it back to his mate, his only relief arising in the knowledge that somehow she’d managed to survive. As he’d descended upon the fiery wreckage of the bar he’d allowed the grizzly to come to the surface. He wanted to hurt those who had hurt him, to make them bleed and suffer as none had ever suffered before.
“D!” Nathan screamed. “Stop!”
He didn’t listen, stuck in a frenzy of fury and contempt. The bodies littering the alley wouldn’t provide sufficient relief. He needed to kill something, to repay the loss of life with something of equal value. He lashed out with claws that sliced flesh and scored bone. The vampire’s blood flowed in a heavy stream down her torso, her pale blonde hair speckled with it as it sprayed into the air.
He was too far gone to realize that she wasn’t fighting back, her arms defenseless at her sides. Instead he gloried in the rusty odor of her blood as she bled out, able to see the pulsing of her heart as his claws had penetrated far enough to allow him to glimpse within.
“Ava needs you, Diskant,” Nathan thundered. “Stop fucking around!”
The words penetrated the red haze of madness.
Ava needs you.
Turning from the vampire, he focused on Nathan and the limp form in his arms. The beast receded, replaced with the fear of a mated male.
“Ava,” he whispered and rushed to her side and pulled her from Nathan’s embrace. She was smeared in blood from nose to chin, her heavy lashes resting peacefully against her cheeks. She didn’t move as he held her in the safety of his arms—too still and too limp.
“You have to finish the bloodbonding,” Nathan said quickly. “The wound at the back of her head is a mortal one. The vampire helped keep her alive but her blood will only do so much.”
Shifting Ava slightly, he moved his hand until he could carefully examine the injury Nathan spoke of. His stomach contorted, fear returning sharp and merciless. It was indeed a mortal wound, one that would have likely killed her if not for the bonds already established between them. Although the bone wasn’t crushed, the skull bent inward. There was likely blood pooling in her skull, something that was dangerous for anyone, shifter or no.
Grief engulfed him in a heavy shroud, settling like a dead weight in the center of his chest. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He intended to unlock the most important mark during an intimate moment, when he could look into her eyes, see her accept him and cherish her willingness to spend their lives together. It shouldn’t occur when she wasn’t conscious of it, taken unaware because it was the only way he could be certain she’d heal and survive following his inability to protect her.
Sirens wailed in the distance and Nathan grasped his shoulder. “We don’t need to be here when the police start asking questions.”
Diskant stood, lifted his mate and gave a sidelong glance at the wall. The vampire was gone, leaving nothing behind but a large pool of blood on the concrete. Remorse washed over him but vanished when Ava moaned slightly, bringing his attention back to her. He hurried down the alley, toward the road. There was a vehicle the pack kept parked a few buildings down, in case of an emergency.
An emergency, he thought bitterly. This was far more than that. Shepherds might be dead on the street but they’d done what they’d set out to do, creating a substantial void in the shifter population.
His temper resurfaced when he thought of how lucky they were the explosive inside the van didn’t detonate. If it had, they entire city would have been in chaos.