They reminded him of fugitives, men on the run with nowhere to turn and few resources. Perhaps the Purist movement really was dying.
You don’t have to go with him if you don’t want to, Daniella. We can figure something out.
Yes, I do. Her voice quivered as it brushed his mind with heartbreaking familiarity. It’s my only option.
“I thought we agreed to no weapons,” Moravian said with a sneer. “And I only expected to have your Guardian here, Richard. Not you.”
“Yes, well, you didn’t come alone either. Your friend from the Falcon Clan is armed, and I’d bet the fellow from the Bear Clan, the one hiding in the woods to my left, is also armed.” Richard shrugged. “I guess we both broke the rules, but given what you’ve been up to, I’d say it’s par for the course.”
“Where is she, Richard?” Moravian barked.
“Looking a bit under the weather, Moravian.” Richard inched closer to Dominic. “What’s the matter, are you and the other Purists having a hard time fending for yourselves since your leader was killed?”
Sweat broke out on Moravian’s brow, and the other man inched behind him bit by bit, but he was still in Dominic’s sights. Fear rippled from their energy signatures, although both tendrils were far weaker than a typical Amoveo pure-blood.
“You don’t care about us or how we’re doing,” Moravian snapped. “Just show her to me now, Richard, or this meeting ends before it gets started.”
Richard and Dominic exchanged looks. He may not have been able to see Daniella completely, but unless the guy was blind, it was relatively obvious she was hiding behind Dominic.
“Where’s Matt?” Dominic asked. He kept his eye on the man with the gun in his hand standing next to Moravian because it was pointed at the prince. “The human. Did you really take him, or is he one of your puppets too?”
Movement to the left caught Richard’s eye, and with the lightning fast reflexes of an elder and a royal Amoveo, he whipped out another gun from the back waistband of his pants and shot into the tree line without looking. A growl and a loud crashing sound followed as the Purist hiding in the woods was shot and killed.
Static crackled in the air as Moravian bellowed his outrage, but Richard swung his guns at the two men. “I suggest you tell your comrade next to you to stand down, Moravian, or I’ll put two bullets in his head.” Richard grinned and cocked both guns. “Or yours.”
“Do as he says, Samuel,” Moravian snapped.
“No, Uncle.” Samuel, his eyes wild with fear, kept his gun on the prince. “I—I won’t leave you unprotected.”
“Do as he says, boy,” Dominic growled. “Or you’ll end up like your friend from the Bear Clan.”
Samuel licked his dry, cracked lips and flicked his gaze between the two men, but eventually, he tossed his gun on the ground and put both hands in the air.
“I’m—I’m right here,” Daniella said in a shaking voice as she stepped out from behind Dominic.
“What the hell is going on?” Moravian seethed. His eyes glowed brighter, and his energy signature whipped around them like a storm. “Where’s my daughter? Where’s Savannah?”
Tension filled the air along with a good amount of confusion.
“What are you talking about?” Dominic asked as he glanced at Daniella. “We brought you Daniella, like we said we would.”
“No.” Moravian shook with fury as he clenched his hands into fists. “You have my daughter. I know you do, you son of a bitch. You took her when you and your filthy Loyalists stole that pregnant girl from me.”
“Actually,” Richard said slowly, “I told you we had the traitor, and we would give her to you in exchange for Matt. Come to think of it, I never referred to her by name. I only said we had the girl.” Richard’s energy waves rippled faster. “Where is Matt—the human?”
“I don’t have any human,” he sputtered. “I don’t even know who you’re talking about, but I want my daughter back.” Moravian’s eyes glowed as he bellowed with blind outrage. “I know you took her. Where’s Savannah?”
Moravian rushed forward, charging the prince, and at the same instant, a large grizzly burst out of the woods to the left. Richard spun and shot several rounds into the enormous bear, killing him once and for all. Dominic aimed his gun at Moravian, knocked Daniella backward, and squeezed the trigger twice, hitting the good doctor in the chest.
Moravian and the Bear Clan Purist tumbled to the ground, and their bodies skidded to a stop at Richard’s feet. The bear shifted into his human form as the life faded from his body. His head settled next to Moravian’s, and two sets of lifeless eyes stared up at them blankly.
“No,” Daniella screamed as more gunfire tore through the night sky.
In that moment, time seemed to stand still.
When Dominic looked up, Samuel’s rage-filled gaze was all he saw as Daniella launched herself in front of her brother. The bullet slammed into her chest, and the force of the blow sent her flying into Dominic’s arms. He cradled her against his chest and barely registered the second shot as Richard killed Samuel, and the woods fell silent once again.
A gurgling sound escaped her lips as her energy signature sputtered and waned. Dominic pressed his hand against the wound in her chest, like Tatiana taught him, but the blood continued to pump, and he watched helplessly as it seeped through his fingers. Daniella clutched his hand, gasping for air, and winced as pain wracked her body.
“I’m sorry, Dominic,” she whispered through ragged breaths. “I—”
“Don’t talk, Daniella.” He bit back the tears and held her close, but blood poured from her, taking her life force with it. “We’ll get you back to the ranch, and Tatiana will help you.”
“She’s at the ranch,” Daniella wheezed between short sporadic breaths. Her eyes rolled back in her head as her body convulsed.
“Yes,” he murmured. “We’ll take you to the ranch.”
“No.” She choked on the word, and blood ran from her nose. As her body went limp in Dominic’s arms and the life faded from her eyes, one final word escaped her lips. “Savannah.”
Chapter 14
Malcolm swooped over the house, using the binocular vision of his golden eagle to survey the property. He still detected the phantom energy signature but couldn’t pinpoint where it was. Richard and Dominic hadn’t been gone long, but Malcolm couldn’t shake the growing sense of impending doom.
The thick atmosphere of the summer night washed over his bronze- and gold-feathered body as he circled above the stables, but it did little to ease the tension. Whoever was lurking nearby was frighteningly good at disguising his or her presence, and he found it infuriating and unsettling.
Soaring on a thick current of air, he reached out to touch Zachary’s mind, wondering if perhaps he picked up on it as well. However, instead of finding the familiar zap of a mental link, he was met with an unsettling void.
Landing silently on the weather vane at the peak of the stable roof, his yellow talons gripped the metal tightly, and he sharpened his focus. He thought that perhaps the shield Richard placed around the house was somehow impacting his ability to connect with the others. He shook his feathered head and let out a low screech.
If Samantha were here, she would tell him he was being impatient and give him one of those smiles that made his heart melt. Malcolm bobbed his head as movement in the shadows to the left of the house caught his attention. Zachary? Eric?
Malcolm extended his energy signature in search of the source as a muffled, whooshing sound sliced through the air. An instant later, white-hot pain bloomed in his chest as the force of the blow knocked him from his perch. He fought through the searing ache and struggled to fly, but the wound was too severe.