Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Thea was smaller than Conall, though still larger than a normal wolf. Her fur was beautiful—dark brown with flecks of caramel. Her eyes gleamed gold as the light began to fade across the land. Conall MacLennan was twice the size of an ordinary wolf, his fur so black it almost shimmered blue in the setting sun. In fact, the sun was low enough behind the trees for the vampire to step out of that building before them.
With an automatic weapon in each hand.
Their preternatural senses detected the release of the bullets from their chambers just in time for all four of them to swerve to avoid the assault. Disgust fueled Echo as they weaved around the spray of bullets. There was a time for weapons, and there was a time to fight with honor.
With a scream of rage, Echo launched herself feetfirst toward the vampire, a bullet winging through her arm with a sting seconds before she slammed into him. He soared at speed into the stone building, the crack of his head a sickening noise through the field. Echo had landed on her ass but quickly got up from the weak position.
“You’re okay?” Elijah asked, grabbing her arm.
She nodded. “Already healing.”
Her mate nodded and then waved a hand at the guns. They melted into the ground as the vampire groaned, coming to. A stake suddenly appeared in Elijah’s hand, his magic tingling the air. He held it out to her just as a wolf came bounding around the corner of the building. Conall and Thea intercepted the enemy wolf as Echo quickly took the stake and drove it through the vampire’s chest. He burst into ash, and Elijah tugged her up, leading her past the fighting wolves and into what was an old farmyard.
All three of the utilitarian buildings faced onto it.
Echo focused, trying to drown out the sound of the fight between wolves behind the stone building. “I hear eight heartbeats other than ours.”
“I smell two wolves and two vamps.” Elijah pointed toward the wooden building that looked like stables. “The two vamps are in there with our family.”
The vamps were going to kill them.
Echo buried her fear and raced toward the barn. Just as suddenly, she was hit with a ton of weight at her back and found the ground racing toward her. She smacked into packed dirt just as burning, tearing, excruciating pain exploded from her shoulder down her back. She screamed as the wolf’s scent mingled with her blood.
An unworldly roar reverberated around them, and suddenly the weight was gone. Fighting against the agonizing pain, Echo scrambled to her feet in time to see Elijah hold the huge gray wolf in a crippling bear hug. The wolf whined, his eyes widening in shock as Elijah crushed his ribs seconds before he snapped his neck. With that, he dropped the wolf, panting with outrage, his eyes a gold so bright they were almost blinding.
“Are you all right?” His voice was deep and echoing … not of this world.
It was his roar she’d heard.
Echo had never heard anything like it.
Magic vibrated from him … and her mate had never looked more fae. More beautiful.
More deadly.
Echo attempted to ignore the scalding pain when she realized it was her injury that had awakened the extremes of his supernatural ability. The air snapped and crackled around him as he moved toward her. He was exactly what they needed him to be right now, and having a chunk of her shoulder ripped out wasn’t going to stop them. “We’ll heal me later. Let’s go!”
Thea soared past them in wolf form, blocking their path. She crashed at their feet with a whimper of pain. An infuriated howl ripped through the air seconds before another wolf whine was abruptly silenced.
Conall in wolf form raced around the building as Thea got to her feet, limping. He nuzzled her face, and she bussed into him in reassurance.
“Thea, you good?” Echo asked.
The wolves turned to look at them and Echo saw their eyes widen with human reaction to the sight of Elijah. Even his hair was pulling free of its elastic band like he was surrounded in static electricity. His skin glowed with the golden hum of light.
“What?” he asked in confusion.
“You look like you’re about to go nuclear,” she explained. “You’re literally glowing right now.”
“Really?” He cocked his head in a decidedly unhuman manner. “Then I guess we better find those two vamps so I can treat them to my William method.”
Echo grinned viciously, even as the blood trickled down her arm, dripping from her fingertips. His cockiness was hot. “Go blow them to hell.”
Elijah was a streak of color he moved so fast. Conall and Thea sped after him, and Echo sucked in a breath as the world tilted on its axis. “No,” she gritted between her teeth. “You pass out later once Odette is safe.”