Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“You look like shit,” he said, sitting on the bed near my feet.
Danny came in next with Ambrose on his heels.
“I feel like shit,” I replied, running my hand down Reese’s back as she stirred in her sleep. “What do you know?”
“Other than the fact that you eliminated anyone we could’ve interrogated?” Ambrose asked sarcastically. “Not much. All three were former human military. Their truck was found around the block, filled with food wrappers—”
“And piss bottles,” Chance added. “Fucking animals.”
“It looked like they’d been surveilling Reese’s apartment for at least a day. Maybe two.”
“Why?”
Danny looked at Ambrose. Chance looked at Danny.
“We don’t know,” Ambrose replied. “But we know now that Zeke was taken just after he’d found his mate. Now, Reese.”
“Fuck,” I spat.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that two members of our family had been targeted.
“It’s not like she could go back to her place, anyway,” Danny said quietly. “But we need to move Reese into the house. She shouldn’t go back there.”
I sighed. “She’s got a job and a life—”
“She’ll be up your ass for the next year at least,” Chance said, waving me off. “Hopefully, by then, we’ll have taken care of whatever shit this is.”
“Did you call command?”
“Arthur is headed out here in the morning,” Ambrose confirmed. “We need to know everything they’ve found in the last few days.”
The four of us grew quiet as we thought about what we already knew. It wasn’t much. Someone was targeting Vampires and if our suspicions were correct, they were looking for newly mated ones. In order to stop whatever was happening, we needed to find the head of the snake.
“Who did you call in today?” I asked curiously.
“Who says I called anyone in?” Ambrose asked innocently.
“Because the three of you wouldn’t be inside this room if you didn’t have someone out keeping an eye on the property.”
Danny laughed quietly.
“Just some mated locals,” Ambrose replied, his lips twitching. “Makes it easy to round them up when they all have prior training.”
“Paying them well?”
Danny scoffed. “Like any of them would expect payment after they saw those humans you left in the parking lot.”
“To be fair, one of them was at the top of the stairs,” Chance corrected.
“Vampires get itchy when humans decide to play games,” Ambrose said, stretching his arms above his head. “A problem for one of us is a problem for all of us.”
“When are you guys heading out?” I asked tiredly, letting my head drop to the pillow.
“Once you’re back on your feet,” Danny replied.
I shook my head. “Don’t wait.”
“We’re not leaving you here,” Chance argued.
“This one’s going to take weeks, Happ,” I reminded him with a grimace. “You guys need to get over there now and find him.”
“Another couple of weeks won’t matter,” Danny said stubbornly.
Looking down to the end of the bed, I met Ambrose’s eyes. If these humans were searching for Zeke’s mate, too, he may not have days to wait. He nodded.
“We’ll leave in the morning,” he conceded.
“We’ll catch up as soon as we can,” I promised. “Once I’m healed and Reese has settled.”
“She did well today,” Danny said, glancing at my mate. “Kept it together.”
I barely remembered anything once I’d made it back to the apartment. The only vivid memory was Reese’s face. “Yeah?”
“I mean, she’s kind of a princess when it comes to blood,” Chance said, pulling out a pocketknife so he could fiddle with it. “But she didn’t pass out.”
“She sat with you during surgery,” Ambrose explained. “But she kept her head down.”
“Probably best,” I mumbled. “How’d it go?”
“Alice got all of them out,” Ambrose replied soberly. “One was tucked in right next to your heart.”
I nodded, realizing how close I’d come. I could’ve survived a shot to the heart, but I wouldn’t have been able to keep my feet. If the human had been slightly less terrified of me and his shots cleaner, I might’ve woken up in a hut somewhere. Reese and Danny, too.
It didn’t matter. I still would’ve made the same choices.
My eyes grew heavy.
“We’re losing him,” Chance joked, straightening from where he’d been leaning against the wall. “Better let him get his beauty rest.”
“Let me know before you leave,” I ordered as Ambrose stood.
“Of course,” he said, smacking my foot.
Once they were gone, I looked down at Reese.
Her face was still swollen from crying, and every few minutes she twitched in her sleep like she was dreaming. Carefully rolling toward her, I grimaced as my chest and thigh pulled tight and sharp. The shot in my gut felt like it was already healing, but the others still hurt like hell.
I should’ve known that Reese would hold up well under pressure. My mate came out swinging when she was scared. She’d been doing it since we met.
“Why are you awake?” she rasped, her eyes half open. “You want me to turn the light off?”