11. Chance #3
Almost every cage was occupied. Every Vampire or human mate was injured, traumatized, and terrified. Missing ears. Missing limbs. Missing eyes. I spoke quietly to each, telling them where to go, but I didn’t have time to coddle any of them.
At some point, an agonizing wail filled the warehouse, and I knew without looking who it was.
Byron’s mate had finally realized that he would never wake up again.
They either hadn’t completed the bond or their bond was so new that immortality hadn’t had a chance to occur.
For her sake, I hoped it was the former.
When I reached the last Vampire in the row, I nearly froze at the face staring back at me.
Billy Filau. The Vampire who’d lured us away from our home so the humans could attack.
I nearly pulled out a blade. He was chained to the floor. It would be so easy to end him and leave him where he was.
Instead, I shot the chain near where it connected to the floor and dragged him to his feet. He had enough self-preservation to keep his mouth shut as I brought him to the staging area, but each drag of his chains on the cement floor was like nails raking across a chalkboard.
“Oh,” Beau said when we reached him. “Good.”
“Gunfire has died down,” Sully announced. “Everyone’s out?”
Beau and I did a quick search to make sure everyone had made it to the center of the room. When I reached Byron’s cell, his body was still lying in the center.
I stared.
I still had to get all the wounded and traumatized Vampires to the rendezvous point for pick up. The night was far from over, and they were counting on us.
But I couldn’t leave him there. Not in the place that had stolen him. Not in the cage where he’d lost his life, speaking through the wires to his mate until he’d lost the ability.
“I’ve got you,” I murmured, laying my hand on his back.
I carried him to the group, his weight heavy and necessary on my shoulders.
“I’ll carry him,” a Vampire with a British accent said, stepping toward me. “Give him to me.”
“You’re wounded,” I protested, looking down at the stitches bisecting half his chest.
“I’ve been healing for two days,” he said, his arms outstretched. “I’ll be fine.”
I nodded in thanks and handed over my charge. After, I searched the crowd for Gordy. He was standing with his mate, who had her arms around the dead Vampire’s widow.
“Stay together,” Beau told the hollow-eyed group. “Follow the big Vampire.” He pointed at Franco. “Do not stop. If you don’t believe you can walk, speak up now.”
He waited for a few moments, then nodded.
Sully and Cap had gone to the eastern doors and were peering out as we made our way down the long aisle.
I felt like a sheepdog as I kept one eye on the wounded Vampires and one eye on the doorway. When we reached it, first Sully and Cap, then Beau and I exited, scanning the industrial park around us.
Then, silent beyond the shuffling footsteps and the chains around Filau’s ankles, our charges followed us out, Franco in the lead.
We stood firm as they passed through the walkway we’d left between us. As they reached Sully and Cap, we moved with them, staying at the edges as we made our way down the path we’d mapped out. Spinning, I walked backward, staring into the darkness for any sign of movement.
The sound of gunfire and brawling rose up from every direction, but we couldn’t see any of it from our vantage point.
I couldn’t help but wonder who it was and where they were, but I didn’t let it distract me.
My mission was the Vampires and mates who were gathering speed as they rushed toward safety.
I could hear the engines idling up ahead, their drivers waiting to extract the wounded.
We’d almost made it to the line of trucks idling along the roadway when a flash of light came from the darkness beside the warehouse we’d just left, and I barely had time to aim and fire before I was falling onto my back.
As I went down, silent shadows converged on our position.
I struggled up onto my elbow, yanking my rifle out from where I’d fallen on it.
“Happ,” one of the shadows called.
My shoulders slumped as I blinked against the fog that was obstructing my vision.
“Father,” I breathed.
“Keep going,” Beau ordered the group somewhere behind me. “To the trucks. To the trucks.”
“On your back,” my father ordered, his hands pressing on my hip.
I clenched my teeth to keep from crying out.
Gunshots sounded from somewhere to my left, and my father threw himself on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs.
“We’re good,” Elgin announced once it was quiet again. “But we need to keep moving.”
“This is going to hurt,” my father said as he crawled off me. If I’d had the breath to say it, I would’ve told him that it already hurt.
Agony speared through me as he did something just above my hipbone, and I was still trying not to black out as he stood, pulled me up, grabbed me by the wrist, and slung me over his shoulders.
“Are they safe?” I slurred, trying to keep my eyes open. “I’m okay. Put me down.”
“They’ve already left,” my father said as he began to jog, jostling me with every step.
I wasn’t sure if I replied or not.
Everything went dark.