Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Streetlights flickered as if responding to their arrival and somewhere nearby, a car alarm began to wail, a discordant cry that only added to the chaos.
The human man—Branson, Noelle had called him—whipped his head around at the noise.
His eyes widened as he saw the two massive Kindred sprinting toward him from the shuttle, weapons in their hands and murder in their eyes.
Bright only prayed they could get Noelle away from him in time.
79
BURN
Burn hit the ground running.
The cold Earth air slapped him in the face, sharp with winter damp and the chemical tang of leaking gasoline from the crushed SUV beneath the shuttle. Dry leaves scraped across the pavement in thin, papery whispers. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked frantically.
But all of that faded to nothing the moment Burn saw her.
Noelle—the woman he and Bright both loved.
Her face was pale in the glow of the nearby streetlamp, tears glittering like glass on her cheeks. The human male had his hand clamped around her throat, squeezing hard enough to leave bruises. She made a choked, desperate sound that ripped something vital inside of Burn.
He barely registered the four rough-looking humans dragging a frail elderly female—Noelle’s grandmother—across the porch. The woman’s thin cries floated on the cold air like broken glass.
Under normal circumstances I’d break every bone in your bodies for daring to hurt a female like that, he thought savagely, muscles tensing. But first he had to save Noelle.
“Stay back!” the bastard holding her barked, swinging his head toward Burn and Bright as they advanced. “Stay back or I’ll kill her! I swear I will!”
You try it, Burn thought, Rage simmering hot and red beneath his ribs. I’ll rip your fucking heart out with my bare hands, you fucker!
“She’s not yours! She’s ours!” Bright shouted.
Burn felt the wave of pure fury roll off his best friend. It took a lot to push the Light Twin into Rage, but he was definitely there. Bright’s eyes were glowing red, pupils narrowed to slits, his chest heaving with berserker fury.
Burn felt it too—the Rage roaring in his bloodstream, begging to be unleashed.
Not yet, he told himself fiercely. Control it. Aim. Breathe.
“Noelle is coming with me!” the human snarled. “She’s my wife!”
“The fuck she is,” Burn growled under his breath.
The man’s hand tightened around Noelle’s throat. She gave a strangled, gasping cough, her eyes going wide and glassy with terror. The bastard’s other hand fumbled clumsily at his belt—reaching for a weapon.
Burn didn’t hesitate…he didn’t even think.
He raised his blaster, sighted the target, and squeezed the trigger.
The energy bolt tore across the front lawn of the old house in a crackling streak of red and hit the bastard squarely in the shoulder.
The man screamed—a high-pitched, panicked howl—and his grip on Noelle broke at once. She stumbled backward and Bright was there, catching her, pulling her close.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I’ve got you—Burn and I are here,” Bright murmured fiercely, cupping her face in both hands.
“My Abuela,” she gasped hoarsely, pointing toward the porch. “My grandmother!”
Burn followed her shaking gesture—and what he saw made his blood go cold.
Four grown men—big, burly, masked—had their hands all over a trembling, older woman. The old lady was sobbing so hard her frail frame shook. One held her wrists, another her shoulders. One of them barked something into a radio.
Disgusting, Burn thought, Rage flooding every vein. Cowards. Bullies. They ought to be ashamed to terrorize a helpless female like this. What the fuck is wrong with these humans? Where is their honor?
“Get away from her!” he roared, raising his blaster to cover the group. “Get back or I’m going to fucking shoot! And this time I’m aiming for the head!”
The four men jerked like puppets whose strings had been cut and their hands shot into the air.
One of them backed up too fast, tripped over a flower pot, and toppled right off the porch. He landed in a crackling bush with a startled yelp, scrambling like a panicked turtle on his back.
“What do you want to do with them?” Bright asked tensely beside him, still holding Noelle tight. “Noelle says they’re federal agents of some kind—shooting them might cause some kind of incident.”
“No, we’re not going to shoot them,” Burn said. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face as the perfect idea hit him like a lightning strike. “We’re going to do something much, much worse to them.”
Because Burn wasn’t just a Dark Twin Kindred…he was a male whose female had been threatened.
And for that crime, there would be no mercy.
80
NOELLE
Noelle stood on the cracked, weed-choked sidewalk with one arm wrapped tightly around her abuelita, shielding the frail woman’s trembling body as best she could. Her grandmother’s head rested against her shoulder, thin white hair fluttering in the cold night breeze, and Noelle could feel every delicate tremble that still racked her small frame.