Page 117 of Bound by Vengeance
More smoke filled the clearing as the firespread to one of the homes. Nathan blinked away the smoke burninghis eyes as, across the way, he spotted Joseph gliding through thecrowd.
Joseph’s golden-brown hair was disheveledfrom battle, but he grabbed a hunter by his shirt collar, liftedthe hunter off the ground, and with a sharp thrust of his thumbunder the man’s chin, Joseph snapped his neck before tearing offhis head. The vamp lifted the head over his mouth and opened hislips to let the blood slide down his throat.
Rage tore through Nathan, but Vicky’s mindbrushing against his kept him from rushing heedlessly into thecrush of Savages surrounding their leader. No matter how badly hewanted to feel Joseph’s life slipping away in his hands, withVicky’s survival depending on his, he wouldn’t do anything to riskher life.
More would die if Joseph escaped here, moreinnocents would be turned into monsters against their will, but farmore would be lost if rage got the best of him. The hunter factionswould fall further apart. The Alliance might crumble. Not only didVicky’s life rely on his, but so did the lives of his people, andhe wouldn’t let any of them down.
Vicky seized Nathan’s arm when she felt hisblistering fury. “Where is he?”
“There!” Asher shouted and pointed over hershoulder.
Vicky’s stomach somersaulted when shespotted the Savage pouring blood down his gullet. Bile surged upher throat, and for a second, she thought she might throw up.Before she could react, a Savage snatched a handful of her hair andyanked her head back.
Vicky didn’t make a sound, but a stab ofpain emanated through their bond and into him. Nathan clutched theSavage’s hand and jerked it to the side, causing the bone to piercethrough flesh before he punched the monster square in the face,knocking it back.
Before Nathan could finish the kill, twomore Savages pounced on him. One of them locked their arm aroundhis neck and jerked his head back while the other grabbed his waistand tried to drag him down. Nathan tore at the arm around his neckas the creature sank its fangs into his throat.
Agony unlike anything he’d ever experiencedtore through him when the Savage pulled his blood from his bodyagainst his will. His limbs stiffened as his body became paralyzed.This was what Vicky experienced in that warehouse, he realized.Thiswas what she’d been talking about, but there was nodescribing this kind of pain.
Vicky appeared before him. Red filled hereyes, and her skin was turning a mottled red and black color thatreminded him of Hellfire. He’d seen the skin color change happen toa vampire only once before; Ronan’s skin had done the same thingwhen Kadence was threatened. Ronan later told him it was a trait ofpurebreds and that he’d probably never see it again.
But now,hispurebred was furious asshe drove her palm straight into the face of the Savage feeding onhim. The Savage screeched as it was knocked away so forcefully thatone of its fangs remained embedded in his shoulder.
Nathan gulped air into his burning lungs,for the first time realizing he’d stopped breathing when the Savagebit him. He didn’t have a chance to recover before Vicky pounced onthe Savage and took it down.
Nathan knocked the fang from his shoulder,seized the arm of the creature still dangling from his waist, andtore it away. Tossing the arm aside, he swung his hand down,backhanding the vamp across the face. Nathan pulled a stake freeand drove it into the Savage’s heart.
Vicky tore the head from the Savage who’dbit him and tossed it aside. When she lifted her head to look athim, blood splattered her face, but beneath the blood more Hellfirespread across her face, causing her eyes to burn brighter and theaura of her power to crackle against his skin when she leapt to herfeet and returned to his side.
Glancing down the line of vampires andhunters, Nathan saw Abby, Aiden, and Ronan all had that samered-black color mottling their skin as they slaughtered theirenemies.
Because their mates are in danger,herealized.
Flames leapt higher into the sky as thetrees a hundred feet away from them caught fire. Sparks filled theair, and some landed on the roofs of the closest homes. Smokestarted spiraling up from the shingles when some of the emberscaught there.
They had to get out of here soon. In amatter of minutes, humans would be crawling all over this place.Nathan staked the next Savage before pulling out his crossbow andtaking out three more.
Suddenly, the wave of Savages cleared, and apathway toward Joseph opened. The Savage strolled across thesmoke-choked grounds and toward the back half of the property.
Some of the Savages fell back to followtheir leader, but the spreading fire split some of them off,exposing Joseph more. From the corner of his eye, he saw Kadenceand Ronan running toward Joseph.
He didn’t have to look at Vicky before theywere racing forward in unison. Joseph glanced at them over hisshoulder; amusement flickered across his face before he vanishedinto the thickening smoke.
Vicky ducked and spun away from a Savage wholeapt at her. Turning, Nathan battered the Savage’s cheek, knockinghim off balance before the monster could grab her. The Savage hitthe ground, rolling away and vanishing into the smoke.
Nathan moved closer to Vicky as they closedthe distance to where he’d last seen Joseph. Kadence and Ronanmerged with them, and the four of them homed in on their prey asJoseph emerged once more. Through the smoke, Nathan saw the shadowsof more Savages coming forth, and he realized Joseph had lured theminto a trap.
CHAPTER 51
From the right of Ronan, a wave of Savagesrushed forward with a unified cry of bloodlust. A scream lodged inVicky’s throat as the first of twenty more monsters emerged fromthe smoke. Before the Savages could collide with Ronan, vampiresand hunters poured through the smoke to clash with the Savages.Cries of victory turned to ones of pain as the Savages were broughtdown.
Joseph turned to flee, but Kadence darted tothe side, heading him off, and Nathan ran at him from behind. WhenJoseph spun to escape in another direction, Vicky moved tointercept him.
The spreading flames heated Vicky’s back andcaused her hair to dance in the billowing wind. Smoke burned herthroat as the four of them closed in on Joseph while Declan,Lucien, and Saxon advanced from the other side.
Cornered, Joseph turned and charged straightat Vicky with teeth bared. She braced her legs apart, waiting forhim to get closer before dropping suddenly.
It was a move she’d perfected duringtraining, one that had thrown Aiden and other trainees off as shehit the ground flat on her back. Not expecting it, Joseph couldhave run over her, or she could have rolled out from under him.This time, she threw up her right leg, kicking him square in thenuts.
