Page 78 of Don't Bite the Director
“Yeah, yeah, big scary Saiden,” Derrick grumbled, but there must have been some real concern in there because he kept his trap shut after that.
“It’ll be okay,” Tressa said, reaching over to pat Cora’s arm.
Truthfully, Tressa didn’t even need to be there. They’d quickly concocted a plan to save Saiden before heading to the airfield, and it all rested on Cora’s shoulders. Both because of her human skill and her newly acquired Lilith’s Gift, something the other vamps were seriously jealous of once they’d figured it out.
She didn’t think she would survive the flight with Derrick alone, though, so Tressa volunteered to be a buffer. Cora really did miss the calming influence she used to get from the perky vampire, even if she had declared it was never to be used on her again. She’d been a bit peeved when she realized Tressa had been soothing her anxiety, but was starting to debate whether she should ask for another hit or not. Nothing waiting for her in Sacramento could even come close to the terror coursing through her veins as they bobbled their way south.
Pain.
Suffering.
Torture.
That’s what always waited for her at the end of a flight.
Not this time, she reminded herself, steeling her nerves. She wasn’t sick Cora anymore. She was badass vamp Cora, and no plane ride was keeping her from saving Saiden.
Still, it was probably a good thing that there was nothing left inside her to throw up.
The sun hadn’t quite crested the horizon when they arrived at the tiny airfield just outside Sacramento, so there was still a faint hint of darkness to the city. Not that it meant anything to Cora. Not anymore. Her vampire sight cut through the shadows like a flashlight, revealing everything the night normally hid from mortals.
Which wasn’t a particularly comforting benefit when Derrick landed the plane, and she had to watch the ground rush up to meet them in ultra high-def.
A town car waited for them at the edge of the landing strip, and Cora spent the entire trip to the warehouse trying to calm her thundering heart. She’d survived the hard part. Now all she needed to do was save Saiden from a psycho barbie doll with fangs.
Was it weird that she would prefer taking on an unhinged vampire over getting back in that bucket of bolts excuse for an airplane?
Derrick didn’t have Saiden’s death wish driving skills, but he still had a vampire’s reaction time that let him push the car to dangerous speeds. It was only a few minutes before he slid to a stop, two blocks east of the warehouse.
Tressa turned around from the front seat and reached back to cupCora’s face with her soft hands. “You can do this. You’re one of us now, Cora. Do you hear me? You’re family. You are stronger than you realize.”
Cora gulped. She really wished they were coming with her, but Bianca would smell them in a second. She was on her own, and that would have to be enough. She’d nearly died once and had no intentions of doing that again. Nor would she watch Saiden die to save her. He might be the enforcer you saw coming, but Cora would be the assassin who snuck through the back door and stabbed you in the kidney. Metaphorically, anyway. In reality, she had the stealth of a hippo, but luckily stealth wasn’t needed for her plan.
Tressa pressed a small blade into the palm of Cora’s hand. “Go bring our boy home, okay?”
Derrick twisted in his seat to grin at her. “And tell him he owes me a new pair of pants while you’re at it.”
With those words of encouragement, Cora slid out of the car and started toward the brown building with the Hydra Warehouse sign. Glancing down at her watch, she knew Saiden had to be in the city already, if not closing in on the industrial district.
She took off at a jog toward the door on the side of the building. Her plan only worked if she could beat Saiden to Bianca.
Please,she begged anyone who would listen as she quickly ate up the distance with her vamp speed.
Please don’t let me be too late.
Chapter forty-seven
Saiden
Blood no longer pumped through Saiden’s veins. The only thing inside him was pure ice. Or at least that’s how it felt when Bianca waved a hand, and he whipped around in time to see Cora emerge from the office at the back of the warehouse.
No. Not her. It wasn’t possible. His mate was safe at the compound, protected by nearly his entire cadre, all of whom would do anything to keep her from harm.
It had to be a nightmare. He crashed the Porsche and was currently lying half dead and hallucinating on the side of I-5 somewhere.
That was the only logical scenario because it simply couldn’t be the love of his life walking hesitantly toward him. He’d scanned the warehouse. There’s no way he wouldn’t have heard her heart beating. Or smelled her delicious strawberry scent. A scent that now mingled with his own fresh bread aroma, reminding him of their first and only date and the strawberry pie they never got to share.
If the circumstances had been different, he would have spent an hour just drinking her in. She’d been beautiful as a human, but as a vampire she was radiant. Glowing with a self-assurance and vibrancythat made her seem so alive that nobody would ever believe she was undead.
