Page 119 of Bound by Vengeance
She tried to reach out to Nathan throughtheir bond, but she was too weak. “What… what happened?”
“Gas line or propane tank, I’m assuming,”Declan said as he finished putting out the flames.
Vicky’s teeth started to chatter as goosebumps broke out on her non-charred skin. She was burnt to a crisp,yet freezing.
“We have to go,” Saxon said as he arrived atDeclan’s side.
“Vicky!” Abby screamed, and then her sisterwas kneeling beside her.
“I’m fi… fi… ne,” she said throughchattering teeth.
“I’ve got her,” Aiden said as he kneltbeside Declan and gently slid his arms under her stomach. “Don’tmove.”
“Nathan. I… I want… to… to see Nathan.”
Aiden turned her, and when she lifted herhead, she spotted Nathan running through the smoke toward her. Athis side, Ronan carried Kadence in his arms. Nathan’s eyes werewild when he halted beside her. Blood cleaved his ripped shirt tothe torn flesh of his chest, but he seemed not to notice as heclasped her face.
“Vicky,” Nathan whispered, unable to keepthe tears from choking his voice or a tremor from his hands. Theblack and peeling flesh of her back was broken only by raw skin andblisters.I wish it was me,he thought.
I don’t.
He hadn’t realized he’d mentallycommunicated the thought to her until she responded. She closed hereyes when he tenderly kissed her.
“You’re going to be okay,” he whispered.
“Ye-yes.”
“We have to go,” Ronan said as wailingsirens sounded in the distance.
Nathan eased her from Aiden’s hold. Vickydraped her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around hiswaist; she bit back a scream when the motion caused her burnt backto crack. Pain lanced across the nerve endings already puttingthemselves back together.
Over his shoulder, she watched as huntersand vampires lifted the bodies of the dead and dying Savages andtossed them into the spreading fire. Others carried dead andwounded hunters and vampires while they ran from thestronghold.
“Joseph… is… is… he…?”
“He got away,” Nathan said. “Some of hiscronies grabbed him when the house exploded.”
“No,” she moaned.
“We will get him.” Gently, he clasped theback of her head and pressed it into his neck. “Feed,” he commandedas he started running.
CHAPTER 52
“There are thirty-five dead, includingtrainees and hunters,” Nathan said to the others the following dayafter the losses were tallied and the dead buried. “The majority oflosses, twenty-five, were hunters from the New Hampshirestronghold. We lost five hunters from here and five vampiretrainees. We’ve taken in seventy-five of the hunter refugees.They’ve decided to remain with us and join the Alliance.”
“So they’re not complete idiots,” Luciendrawled.
“No, they’re not. After learning whathappened between Kadence and me, Enlai has talked his newly formed,larger stronghold into joining the Alliance. He believes the visionwe shared, and the fact we were able to save lives because of it,is an indication our birth is a herald of good things to come fromus. Whether he’s right or not, I don’t know, but if it gets them onboard with us, I’ll play along with it.”
“So will I,” Elfry said.
“Fifty hunters were taken from thestronghold Joseph attacked, including Simone,” Nathan said toKadence.
Kadence flinched, and Ronan pulled herclose. “We’ll do what we can to find her,” Ronan vowed as Killeanslipped from the room.
“We will,” Nathan agreed.
Suddenly feeling drained, Nathan claspedVicky’s hand and helped her to her feet. She moved slower thannormal and was still sore from yesterday. The flesh on her backremained pinkened, but she was healing fast. Kadence had cut hersinged hair off to just beneath her ears.
