Chapter 6
Since learningGabriel was my mate, I’d developed this keen ability to sense sunrise. And right now, my synapses were firing off all sorts of warnings. I couldn’t see any light yet, but we were also in a location where the dense vegetation and tall trees obscured the horizon. The dark sky above hadn’t begun to lighten yet, but I felt the sun’s approach. I felt it in my bones, in my blood. And I saw the truth etched on Gabriel’s face. With every passing minute, his jaw grew tighter, as did his grip on me.
“Avery,” I called over the propellers.
“I know,” she shouted back. “We aren’t far.”
Those words didn’t provide as much comfort as I might have liked. Everyone perceived distance differently. To Avery, we might have been a mere ten minutes away. But to me, those ten minutes might be enough to rip away the person most important to me—my person.
“How far?” I demanded, panic infusing my voice.
Gabriel leaned down and kissed my forehead, which spiked my fear. Maybe we could find something to wrap him in. Maybe we could dig a trench somewhere, bury him in the earth. At this point, I would consider anything.
I kept the spotlight aimed dead ahead, hoping for the moment?—
“There!” Avery shouted.
I peered through the darkness, then sighed with relief when I spotted the dock. Finally.
Avery expertly navigated the boat toward the shore, the propellers slowing to a stop as we neared. My heart pounded, each beat a critical reminder of our lethal countdown. I knew from experience that some vampires could remain awake during the day. But I didn’t know of a single one immune to the sun’s deathly rays if touched by them.
The boat nudged the dock with a soft thud. I gripped Gabriel’s hand and hauled ass, our movements swaying with the boat. I pulled him onto the dock with Avery hot on our heels.
She took the lead, our footsteps thumping on the weathered boards. Then it was back into the mud and vegetation again. A frustrated growl slipped past my lips before I could swallow it.
“I know,” Avery said, her voice soft, “but we’ll be through this in a few moments. There’s a boardwalk nearby.”
A few moments were a few too many.
I squeezed Gabriel’s hand, fear quickening my pulse.
But true to Avery’s word, the vegetation quickly thinned and we scrambled onto the boardwalk. We had no time to revel in that relief, considering the formerly dark sky wasn’t so dark anymore. Hints of pink and orange streaked through the darkness and pierced my heart.
“We need to move,” I urged.
“We’re almost there,” Avery said.
Gabriel hadn’t spoken a single word since we docked, and a glance back had my stomach clenching in terror. We’d never pushed it this close to sunrise before. Usually by now, he would have retired to a dark room, ready to sleep. Not running from the dawning sun. His skin was ghastly pale and his eyes pinched, as though every second caused him pain.
“Avery, we don’t have time!” I shouted as we bolted across the pathway.
“Look! The road!”
My gaze snapped up. “A road?”
“A road,” she repeated. “And where there’s a road…”
“There are cars,” I muttered.
“Not just cars. Houses,” she said. “Specifically, the pack’s safehouse. Come on.”
We were there? Oh please, oh please.
We ran toward the road, dawn stretching behind us. Every step felt like a race against time, the sky above us turning into a canvas of pinks and oranges that spelled death for Gabriel. His silence was louder than words, the effort needed to stay awake clearly sapping every ounce of his remaining energy.
The transition from the boardwalk to the road was abrupt, the firm surface beneath our feet a stark contrast to the sucking marshland we’d left behind. It was a sign of civilization, but not one I could revel in.
Avery led us down the road at a sprint, her familiarity with the area now our guiding light. Houses sprung up in front of us, and my heart leapt at the sight. Shelter. Safety. Everything a girl mated to a vampire could want right now.
“There!” Avery called, pointing to a house set back from the road, its fa?ade partially hidden by overgrown foliage. It looked deserted, or at least uninviting, but it was a haven compared to the oncoming sun.
We didn’t slow our pace until we reached the front door. Avery kicked aside a rock, revealing a burnished key. Her hand shook as she struggled to unlock the door, and I felt like I might jump out of my skin at any moment. This was not the moment to falter now.
“Come on, Avery!”
“I-I… I got it!” The lock clicked, and she shoved open the door to a dark interior that promised sanctuary.
“You have to invite him in,” I said, hurriedly.
“Gabriel, please come in.”
She’d barely uttered the words before he stumbled inside, his strength fading fast. I guided him as far into the house as I could, but he’d hardly made it four steps before his body gave out and he dropped—hard—his head bouncing off the wooden floor.
I winced sympathetically, but his noggin would survive. A blow like that would do very little to him, especially considering he was now unconscious. When night came, he would be completely healed.
“That was close,” Avery said.
I nodded, my entire body trembling. More emotions than I could name fired through me. But the loudest was fear. I’d almost lost him. Another minute and he would have succumbed to the sun outside. Avery and I were strong, being that we were werewolves, but I’d truly feared we’d have to carry a two-hundred-pound vampire while racing the sun.
“Okay, we’re okay,” I whispered, stroking Gabriel’s hair back from his face. He seemed peaceful now, at least. Completely oblivious to the world around him.
Upside, Adrian and Elias would be equally oblivious. Or at least, confined somewhere dark. That gave us time.
Pushing to my feet, I focused on breathing, then set to work. Time to triage.
“We need to get him somewhere safer than the hallway,” I said. “Do you have a room he can use? One that’s vampire safe?”
“A room, yes,” Avery said. “But vampire safe? No. We don’t house vampires often.”
Frustration rose hot and fast, but I nodded. “Okay, then blankets. Curtains. Whatever you’ve got. We need to black out one of the rooms so that the sun can’t touch him.”
“On it,” she said, before racing toward the stairs. She stumbled on the second one and crashed onto her knees. Cursing, she shoved herself back up and kept moving.
Yeah, we were both exhausted, but I had to imagine she was even more so. I had no idea how long Adrian had been keeping her in the cage. Or what he’d been doing to her in the meantime. But the scent of blood had filled that concrete room. Her blood. She’d definitely been injured.
“Triage,” I told myself again. Avery was moving. Gabriel wasn’t. And Avery wasn’t allergic to the sun.
I set into motion, scouting the main level. It all seemed perfectly normal. A kitchen with an attached dining area and a living room. Nothing more. Nothing less. Two dusty couches with complimentary pillows sat in the living room. And a fridge full of recently replenished food stood in the kitchen. My stomach instantly rumbled at the sight of it, but food was so low on my priorities list right now that I didn’t even pause to nibble on something.
The kitchen and living room both had windows. If we kept Gabriel upstairs, they wouldn’t be a problem, other than allowing someone to peek in on us. Thankfully, they had blinds, so I snapped them shut. Then I returned to the kitchen and searched. If this was a safehouse, meaning a place for people to hide, logically, one would think they’d keep a phone here for emergencies.
But where would they keep it?
I rifled through drawers but came up empty-handed.
Hurrying back to the stairs, I called up, “Avery?”
“Yeah?”
“Is there a phone here somewhere?”
“On the wall next to the fridge.”
I frowned. “Huh?”
“It’s a landline phone.”
I blinked, then chuckled and returned to the kitchen. Sure enough, right next to the fridge was a phone hanging on the wall. It’d been a long time since I’d seen one, let alone use one. So long, in fact, that I hadn’t even thought to look for an old school landline.
I picked up the receiver and nearly sobbed with relief when a dial tone buzzed in my ear. I lifted my hand, about to type in a number, then froze the moment I realized something heartbreaking.
I didn’t know anyone’s numbers!
Cursing, I hung up the phone. There went any plans to call for help. I made a mental note to commit everyone’s number to memory once we returned home, then hurried back into the hallway to check on Gabriel. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. At least, not until the light started filtering through the windows—which likely wouldn’t be too long from now.
I dragged my ass upstairs to find Avery tacking a dark blanket up over a window. I grabbed the other edge and assisted her. Afterward, we stood back and appraised our work.
“Think it’ll do?” she asked.
I bit my bottom lip. “It’ll have to. Maybe we’ll cover him with another blanket, just in case?”
“He won’t overheat?”
“He’s essentially dead,” I said, and I caught her wince. “Yeah, that was how I felt when this all started too.”
“How’d you get over that? I mean, there’s a dead man in your bed.”
“I said he’s essentially dead,” I groused. “He isn’t actually dead.”
“Hey, whatever floats your boat, kid.” She turned and faced me, her exhaustion evident in the purple bruises under her eyes. “Did the phone work?”
Heat scoured my cheeks. “I, uh, don’t know anyone’s number.”
To that, Avery laughed. “Well, you’re in luck. Cuz I do know some numbers.”
“Thank goodness. Let’s get Gabriel tucked in up here and go make some calls.”
Together, we tromped back downstairs, and between the two of us, hauled my mate up to bed. It wasn’t too difficult of a task, thanks to our preternatural strength, waning or otherwise.
Avery helped me lay him down, then left me to do the rest. I appreciated the gesture. A moment alone with Gabriel, even while he was unconscious, was better than nothing. I still hadn’t taken the time to deal with everything we’d gone through. And I didn’t have the time to stop and deal with it now. But I did want to take this moment just to be with him.
I brushed the hair off his face and kissed his cheek before pulling another blanket up and over him. A final layer of protection, just in case. Then I hurried back downstairs.
Avery stood in the kitchen, the phone up to her ear. Excitement bubbled in my stomach as I strode toward her.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, her southern Louisiana accent thickening as she spoke. “I’m at the south New Orleans safehouse. Not alone. Two civilians.”
I bristled at that. I was hardly a civilian. I was a vampire slayer and a werewolf, for crying out loud. A warrior. And Gabriel was the freaking King of Vampires.
“Requesting pickup, asap. One is a vamp, so we’ll need equipment to safely transport him.”
My body relaxed, and I slumped against the wall.
Avery was about to hang up when she paused and glanced at me. “And can you get in contact with Sam? Let him know I have his sister-in-law here with me.”
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I nodded my thanks to Avery. I longed to speak to Lucy myself, but I would take this as a win. The instant the pack called Sam, he would tell Lucy, and with luck, she would tell everyone else. Soon they would know Gabriel and I were alright.
“Yes, ma’am. I understand. We’ll be ready for transport at fourteen-hundred hours.” Avery said goodbye, then hung up the phone with a small smile. “Well, that’s taken care of. And we’ll be gone from here before sunset, meaning we’ll have a lead on the vamps.”
“Thank you,” I said. “For asking them to contact Sam. It means the world to me.”
Avery nodded, then turned to the fridge. When she opened the door, our stomachs simultaneously growled.
“Yeah, I figured you would be as hungry as I am,” she commented. “How about we make some sandwiches, and then we take a few moments to acquaint ourselves? I have some questions, and I suspect you do too.”
Oh, I had so many. Now that we weren’t running for our lives through the bayou or racing the dreaded sun, I was itching to ask them all.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” I said.
I leaned into the fridge, then burst out laughing when Avery and I both reached for what looked like shredded rotisserie chicken.
“Werewolves gonna werewolf,” I teased.
“Luckily, there’s plenty for both of us. Now, let’s get nomming.”
And nom we did.