Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Adeline
The loud noise of the engine grows louder before it drives straight into two of them, and Cyrus barely manages to jump out of the way in time. Another car screeches to a stop before Calum and Emery jump out along with three other men.
I can just about make out the blurred movements in front of my eyes and the sounds of tearing flesh before I am suddenly jerked backward by my hair, my scream ringing out loudly.
I turn, trying to see who has grabbed me, and I come eye to eye with Sam’s father, everyone else fighting their own battles.
I start trying to get out of his grip as he wraps his arm around my throat, crushing my windpipe, as he starts dragging me between two houses.
My head becomes light as I struggle to breathe, thrashing and kicking, but it is useless against a vampire, and he continues pulling me away from my mates.
I claw at his arm, trying to escape before going limp in his arms and dropping my weight. He grabs me, tossing me against a wall, my body hitting the bricks before smacking the ground and knocking the air out of my lungs.
I get to my hands and knees and feel blood trickle down from my hairline as I look around, dazed, deaf to my surroundings from the throbbing in my head.
I feel a pair of hands grab my arm again and hear a growl, the sound so menacing, before I see a gray wolf running at me and attacking him.
He shrieks when the wolf bites into his neck before punching it off.
A loud gurgle noise leaves the wolf before it shakes itself out and attacks again, both fighting each other and neither gaining the advantage.
My vision blurs as I try to figure out how to get back to my mates.
Looking around, I see him dart off before hearing bones snap. My eyes are too fuzzy to see who it is, and I feel my eyes roll into the back of my head, my body going numb as my sensations dulls.
I feel warm hands grab me and darkness swallowing me. “Eli?” I mumble as I feel myself suddenly lifted from the ground.
“Not Eli, dear. It is Maverick. Hang on, I will get you out of here,” he says.
I gasp, knowing Eli doesn’t trust him. I can feel movement and vaguely hear him telling me to stay awake before I succumb to the darkness and drift off into oblivion.
* * *
Cyrus
Through the chaos surrounding us, I can feel her moving further away. I stop, looking around frantically for her. She was right behind us only moments ago, but now there is no trace of her.
I only get fleeting pain from her, then I get nothing, like she has just switched off, and I know that isn’t a good sign. Eli also stops, noticing the same thing, and the vampires suddenly retreat, sensing she is no longer here. Emery’s pack warriors chase after them as they flee.
“Well, the government is going to have fun explaining this away,” Emery says, coming over to me, but I can’t give a rat’s ass about being exposed. I worry more about my missing mate when Emery’s phone starts ringing.
“Where is she?” Eli says, coming over to me before sniffing the air.
He starts running between two houses, and I follow after him before stopping when we notice blood on the ground. Addie’s blood, her scent strong. I see the house’s occupants turn the lights on before the curtains open as they peer out, trying to figure out what is going on outside.
Emery comes running toward us just as Eli starts yelling for pack members to start searching the neighboring streets.
“She is okay. Dad has her,” Emery says, and Eli growls menacingly at her.
“He fucking took her,” he says, grabbing her arms, his claws slipping from his fingertips and into her flesh.
“He will keep her safe. He is heading to the packhouse.”
“Keep her safe? Are fucking stupid, Emery? He is the last person I trust with her,” Eli says before taking off to go in search of Addie.
Emery and I follow after him as he tosses one of Emery’s warriors from the car and climbs in the driver’s seat.
Emery and I barely shut the door before he takes off at alarming speeds, the tires squealing as he drives through the streets, heading toward the other side of the city.
“Eli, slow down,” I tell him, and he growls at me before turning another corner so fast the car nearly flips on its side as it skips across the road before he plants it again. Emery hangs onto the door, seemingly unfazed by his erratic driving.
“Eli, he wouldn’t have rung if he intended to hurt her.
Slow down before you kill somebody,” I reason with him, and he takes his foot off the accelerator, letting the car slow to a more appropriate speed though it definitely is above the speed limit.
Lights turn on, and the city’s power is restored.
“I don’t get why he cut the power,” Emery says, looking out the window as signs light up, the street lights coming back on.
“He was a hunter. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Less visibility to humans as to what is going on,” I tell her, and she seems to think before nodding.
“I suppose that’s one reason,” she says before pointing ahead. “Turn there, shortcut,” she says, pointing down an alleyway. The car jumps as it hits the slight dip as he tears down the alley.
“Left at the end and then first right,” she says, giving directions.
Eli follows them, and I see the new apartment building that still has scaffolding and is still undergoing construction come into view.
Eli rips up the handbrake, forcing the car to a stop behind Maverick’s old Buick.
Eli jumps out, startling a few people as he walks toward the apartment building naked.
If Eli turned heads when he walked out, they now look like they are about to faint when Emery gets out behind him, heading to the gold-trimmed glass door.
Eli walks to the elevator, hitting the buttons, before opening the fire escape and running up the stairs.
“So impatient,” Emery mumbles, chasing after him.
Eli runs three flights up, and I follow him, not knowing where to go, when he stops in front of a door.
“Please, don’t kick my door.”
Eli kicks the door in, and Emery sighs, shaking her head. Walking in, Addie is unconscious on the white leather couch, and Maverick is dabbing her head with something that smells strongly of Dettol. He stands as we enter the room, just in time for Eli to punch him.
* * *
Adeline
The sting of something cold being dabbed on my head makes me stir, coming back to consciousness.
My head is pounding, and I clutch it sitting up.
My eyes are blurry as I squint to see two figures fighting, one hitting the other repeatedly while the other just holds his hands up.
I hear a feminine shriek before recognizing Emery’s voice.
“Eli, stop, please!” I hear her say to him.
My vision starts to clear to find a naked Eli hitting his father, who is bleeding from his nose, turning his white shirt red, his eyebrow cut open, and blood trickling from his lips. Eli shoves him, letting him go, and Maverick stumbles backward before wiping his lip on the back of his hand.
Cyrus grabs my face between his hands, looking at me while I just stare back like an imbecile, trying to figure out where I am and what is going on. Cyrus bites his wrist, bringing it to my lips, and I lick it.
“Keep going. You have a nasty gash on your head,” he says.
I clutch his wrist, his blood flooding my mouth. I feel the pounding in my head start to lessen before disappearing completely. I let his wrist go and see Maverick and Eli standing there staring at each other, Emery standing between them.
“See? She is fine. You should be thanking me, not hitting me,” Maverick tells him.
Eli just growls at him but turns around to look at me. Maverick walks off toward the hall, and Eli comes over to me.
“Well, I need clothes. Be back in a second,” Emery says, and I watch her walk off, her milky-white ass swaying as she walks off.
Cyrus turns his head to the side, his face nearly touching my breasts, and I yawn, exhausted and feeling dead on my feet.
“Baby is fine,” Cyrus whispers before Eli grabs my face.
“Did my father hurt you?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“No, he saved me like he said,” I tell him just as Maverick comes back out, tossing a pair of shorts at Eli.
“Coffee?” he asks, and I nod before watching him walk off toward the kitchen.
Looking around, I find the place quite cozy and feminine, so I know it has to be Emery’s place. There are vases of flowers on every cupboard, and I am sitting on a white leather couch with a light-blue rug on the floor at my feet.
“Stay for the night. Just pick one of the spare rooms,” Emery says, coming out into the living room with a dressing gown on.
“I am not staying here with him,” Eli snaps at her.
“Yeah, and where do you plan on going, Eli? Suck it up for your mate. She is pregnant and tired. You’re staying, or do you want her out there with Sam watching?”
“We can stay the night and figure out our next move tomorrow,” Cyrus says, pinching the bridge of his nose just as Maverick walks over with a tray of coffee.
I reach forward to grab one when Eli grabs my wrist, picking up the cup and sniffing it before taking a sip.
“Really? You think I’d poison my own grandchild?” Maverick asks.
“Nothing surprises me when it comes to you,” Eli growls at him before handing the cup to me.
I take it, warming my hands on it, and Eli sits next to me, grabbing his own. Cyrus also grabs a mug off the tray, his eyes on Maverick, who sits across from us.
“And how have you been, Cyrus?” Maverick asks.
“Oh, you know my name?” Cyrus says, making me look at him, and Maverick shakes his head.
“Can’t we just leave the past in the past and move forward? I am not the person you remember, Cyrus. I know I have done some questionable things in the past, but my intentions here are good,” Maverick tells him.
“Well, that would be a first. I will just take your word for it,” Eli says, sitting back on the couch, draping his arm around me, and pulling me against him, so I am leaning on him.
“I do have an idea, and before you say no, just let me have a say,” Maverick says.
“The only thing I will let you have a say in is how you die, old man. By Cyrus or me,” Eli spits at him.
“Can I choose a third option, like life?” Maverick says, rolling his eyes at his son.
“Let me take Addie home. She will be safe with the pack,” Maverick says.
“Like fuck are you taking her back to those savages,” Cyrus says, standing up.
“Cyrus, just hear me out. And they aren’t savages. No more. Clara is dead. She no longer runs things, and I run everything differently now. You would probably be quite surprised if you came over,” Maverick explains, though I don’t like the idea of going anywhere with him.
“No!” Eli says firmly.
“Eli, they can protect her. She will be safe out there. Hunters won’t come near my pack. You know this. We have always lived off-grid and don’t have any hunters assigned to us, given our location and ways of living. Though, that has also changed,” Maverick tells him. “You would be welcome to come.”
“Yeah, because I was planning on leaving her alone with you,” Eli says sarcastically.
“Think about it, Eli. The safest place for her is out there. You know this. It is sacred ground. Not even humans dare go out there,” Emery tells him.
“Yeah, because even they know stepping into those woods means they won’t come back out,” Eli retorts.
“She will be safe from Sam until they catch him,” Maverick says, and I look at Cyrus who genuinely looks like he is thinking it is a good idea.
“Maybe ask Addie. Let her have some input,” Emery says, looking at me.
I furrow my brows at her words. I have no input on this. I don’t even know the man, so why would I want to go off into the woods with him?
“I’m not going anywhere without my mates,” I tell her, and she nods, looking at Eli.
“I swear, son, I am not who you remember. I just want to make things right,” Maverick says.
“Really? How did mom die then?” he asks, and Emery looks away from him.
“I killed her,” Maverick says with a sigh. Eli chuckles like he’s known the answer all along.
“You know she wasn’t of sound mind. I couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t watch my pack suffer anymore, and I wanted you, kids, back.”
“We would never have left if you didn’t try selling us off,” Eli snaps at him.
“You know that wasn’t me. That was all your mother, Eli.”
“Yeah, and you still went along with it. You hunted us. Fuck, how many times did you nearly kill me? I gave you a chance before, and I am not stupid enough to risk my human mate’s life. She isn’t as durable as Cyrus,” Eli says, standing up, his face twisting in anger.
I reach up, grabbing his hand. “Eli…” I tell him.
His eyes dart down to me, and he squeezes my fingers. “We can discuss this tomorrow. I am taking her to lie down,” he says, pulling me up with his hands.
“You go ahead, I will be in soon. I want to speak to your father,” Cyrus says, and I see Maverick nod to Cyrus. Eli glares at his father before pecking Cyrus’s lips. His father looks away but says nothing.