Page 32 of Salvation
Xavier shook his head. “There’s no way other than blowing this place to smithereens.”
Running his fingers through his hair, Wolfe appeared more tired than she had ever seen him. The weight of all of this and the people he was responsible for had to be incredible. They didn’t even have a death count yet, but she had a feeling it was high.
“Aurora, thanks. If you could get Luna to anyplace safe, I would be grateful.”
“Done, but maybe taking her back to my old place would be better. I never had any trouble there. I think being a church kept the riff-raff out.”
“Before I go anywhere, I need to know Ella’s okay.”
Wolfe paled slightly but pulled himself together. “I’ll see what I can find out. You wait here.”
* * *
He didn’t even knowwhere to begin, but Wolfe had to figure shit out, and fast. He faced Aurora, the woman he wanted to pull into his arms and bury his nose into her hair, breathing a sigh of relief that she was alive. It wasn’t to be. Instead, he spoke, “Get Luna to a seat that’s not in the middle of this mess while I figure out what’s going on.”
“Xavier, you up to getting to work?”
The vampire nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Wolfe watched as Aurora led Luna away and toward an area in the back lobby that appeared clear of bloodshed and had a small loveseat near a window that didn’t have a board over it. The sun cast a warm glow that would hopefully make Luna feel better.
“You are in big trouble, my friend.”
He looked at Xavier. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The vampire jerked his head to where the females sat. “Aurora. You still have it bad for her. It’s written all over your face, which makes no sense to me.”
His patience was waning. They didn’t have time to stand around discussing his love life, or lack thereof. “Of course, I still love her. Those feelings have never gone away.”
“You’re not getting it. You have a mating mark, which everyone assumes belongs to Luna, but you still want Aurora. No feelings for Luna?”
“We don’t have time for this chatter. We need to assess our current situation. Since the sun is up, you take the hotel, I’ll take to the street.” Then he stormed away. As he stepped outside, his vision focused on the carnage. Demons and rogue had either turned or were still turning to ash. The rest were blood and bodies.
“Jesus, let me guess, rogue?”
He turned to face Noah. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
“We just got back. Parked my nice shiny ride down the street along with the eight others.”
While Wolfe wanted to ask about the vehicles they had come back with from Vegas, there were more pressing matters. “No, I mean, you’re standing in the fucking sun and not burning. Care to explain?” He scanned the vampire for any mating marks, but nothing was visible. “You get a mark while you were gone?”
“Nope. I don’t know how or why, but I suspect it had to do with the fact I exposed myself to the sun a little every day. It was difficult sometimes to get completely into the shade.” He shrugged. “Maybe that had something to do with it?”
“We’ll discuss this later. Now there are people to take care of.”
He nodded. “Right. I’ll gather a team and we’ll take the other side of the street.” He scraped his fingers through his hair. “This is going to require a bigger blade.”
Wolfe knew what Noah was referring to. Heads would have to be severed from anybody that showed signs of being bitten. It sucked but had to be done, otherwise the dead would come back as rogue and that was the last damn thing they needed.
“Send someone to get the truck. We’re going to have to figure out a proper burial for the dead.”
“On it.” Then Noah jogged off while Wolfe scanned the links he had to his people. The voices came at him like a fast pitch, but he sorted through the mental mess. So far, he’d lost two vampires, and the human body count was up to thirty.
Wolfe?
Yeah? You and Luna okay?
Yes, but this isn’t any place for her to be and she has agreed to leave now rather than wait on word of Ella. I’m going to pack up some rations and take her back to the cathedral.
