Page 94 of Eternally Bound
Nathan’s gaze flicked to her. “Fair enough,” he replied. “I smell garbage, like you said the Savages of your kind smelled, but it’s worse than what I’ve experienced before.”
Ronan edged Kadence behind his back as he spoke. He didn’t trust Logan anywhere near her. “There are a lot of them inside that building.”
Nathan’s gaze went to the warehouse. “Joseph is in there?” he asked as he slipped the crossbow onto his back.
“I think so, or at least I saw him in there, sort of,” Kadence said.
“What do you mean by that?”
Kadence sighed. “It’s tough to explain, but you know how I always kind ofknewthings?”
“Yeah.”
“I kind of knew this too, but in a way I’ve never experienced before. Joseph was in there when I saw how to get here.”
“Interesting,” Nathan said. “So what do we do now?”
“Now, I’m going to get closer and see what we’re up against,” Ronan replied.
“I’m coming with you,” Nathan stated.
Ronan opened his mouth to tell the hunter no, before deciding against it. They were here to try to work together on this. However, he didn’t want to leave Kadence here with the rest of the hunters. Seeming to sense this, Declan moved closer to her while Lucien and Killean stepped into position in front of and behind her. Saxon hedged her in on the other side. Kadence scowled at them, but she didn’t protest the box they’d closed her into.
“My men won’t harm my sister,” Nathan said.
“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take, not with her,” Ronan replied.
Nathan turned to face the remaining hunters. “I’ll be back shortly. Make sure Kadence stays safe.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, I’m probably stronger than you now,” Kadence muttered, earning her a dark look from her brother that she returned.
The two of them didn’t look much alike, but in that moment, Ronan saw the striking similarities in the twins’ obstinate personalities.
“Let’s go,” Ronan said and slipped from the woods.
Nathan stayed close by his side, moving noiselessly over the ground toward the back of the building. Stopping beside the warehouse, Ronan edged toward one of the broken windows. The board covering it had slipped to expose the bottom of the window. He knelt beside it, and Nathan crouched down across from him. Nathan’s eyes were wary, but Ronan didn’t detect a spike in the hunter’s heartbeat over being alone together.
Rising slowly, Ronan peered into the window. His teeth clamped together when he saw the vast number of Savages within. There had to be at least a hundred of them, and probably more on the upper floors. Beside him, Nathan’s breath hissed in when he rose to look inside too.
Mixed in with the Savages were humans. Most of the humans were dead, their bodies littering the floor, but there were still some who were being feasted on by numerous Savages at once. His gaze ran over the naked bodies covered in blood and writhing over each other as many of them feasted on each other while they screwed in the middle of the floor.
Ronan’s forehead furrowed as his eyes were drawn to the back wall and the line of vampires there. All of them had their hands pulled over their heads and were chained to the wall. Their red eyes gleamed in the candlelight and their fangs extended as they jerked against their bonds. Their emaciated frames made it impossible for them to break free of their binds.
Despite the stench of the place, Ronan didn’t get an overwhelming sense of power coming from the Savages crowded within. He would bet most of them were no more than a month old.
Sliding away from the window, he rested his fingers on the ground as he tried to puzzle out what was going on within. Anger etched Nathan’s face when he knelt in front of him again. Ronan jerked his head to the side and glided back toward the woods. An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of his stomach with every step he took. Something was wrong here; he just didn’t know what it was yet.
“Why is my sister here?” Nathan asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Ronan stopped walking to face him. Nathan had a good four inches on him, but he still stepped away from him. “Because she is.”
“She doesn’t belong here.”
“If I forced her to stay behind, I’d have done to her what you did to her, and look at how well that worked out for you. She may love me, but she’ll grow to hate me and it will destroy her if I try to lock her away, even if it’s what I’d like to do to keep her safe.”
Saying the words out loud made him realize how true they were. He’d agreed to allow her to come to make sure she didn’t try to find Joseph on her own, but he realized he’d also agreed to it because he knew he could never crush her spirit. He loved her too much for that.
“She belongs here as much as you do. Besides, she’s right, she is stronger than you are now. She’s stronger than any other turned vampire who has come before her, and I’ve been training her,reallytraining her. She’s lethal.”
