The screaming continued.Rex pulled on his jeans and rushed out the door.He almost collided with Arlen and Mallory, who were coming out of the room next door.
“What happened?”Mallory asked.
Rex shook his head.“I know as much as you do.”
Mallory swore.“Whatever it is, we’re not going to like it.We need to be ready to defend ourselves.”
Rex glanced down at himself.He was barefoot and bare-chested, but it didn’t matter.He’d been fighting for his life for hundreds of years, and he could do so naked if he had to.The problem was that he’d be facing a bunch of dragon shifters.They could shift and stomp him to death without thinking twice about it.
Mallory looked Rex up and down.“I didn’t expect you to sleep in the nude since you have a roommate.”
He sounded amused.Rex flipped him the bird and ran in the direction from which the screaming had come.He hoped it was the right direction, anyway.The screaming had stopped, so it wasn’t easy to tell.
He could feel people behind him, so he knew he wouldn’t have to face whatever the fuck they were about to walk in on alone.It was a relief, even though he wished Harmon didn’t have to be there.
Shit.Rex finally understood how his siblings felt.All of them were dating people who were more than capable of defending themselves, yet they still freaked out at the thought that they would have to.He didn’t want Harmon to be in danger.Rex didn’t want anything to happen to him—not even a scratch.
Rex was fucked, wasn’t he?He was already thinking of Harmon as his to protect, even though they’d only spent one night together.
One of the bedroom doors in the hallway was open.Rex didn’t hesitate to rush through, ready to defend himself or attack, whichever was needed.
Neither was.No one attacked them, and there was nothing to defend anyone from.There was a body on the floor, with a woman standing over it.She wasn’t screaming anymore, but she was sobbing and holding both hands to her mouth as if to suffocate the screams.
Mallory made a beeline for her.She was startled and jerked back when he gently touched her shoulder, but he didn’t let that stop him.He gently guided her toward the door, and she went easily, which was a surprise.Rex would have expected her not to want to go anywhere with a vampire she didn’t know.Clearly, she was in shock.
“What the fuck?”Merrick muttered as he crouched next to the body.
It was the body of a man, and he was very clearly dead.The knife in his heart was a pretty good indication of it.There was a pool of blood under the body, and when Rex crouched on the other side of the body, he could tell the man had been dead for a while.The smell of blood was strong, making him wrinkle his nose.Normally, he wouldn’t mind, but with how long the blood had been there, it didn’t smell great.
The man’s skin was pale, which was to be expected considering the amount of blood on the floor.He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but his feet were bare.His eyes were open and cloudy, so Rex reached over and closed them.He didn’t think anyone would mind.
“What’s happening here?”Jacob asked as he pushed his way into the room.His steps faltered when he saw the body on the floor.He took a step back, looking from Rex, who was still crouching next to the body, to the other people in the room.Merrick slowly straightened as if getting ready to intervene.
“What did you do?”Jacob asked.
Rex snorted and got to his feet.“If I’d wanted to kill this guy, I wouldn’t have stabbed him in the heart,” he said.“But I didn’t do anything.I’ve never seen this guy before.”
Jacob licked his lips and looked down at the body.He was pale and looked like he was about to puke, which wouldn’t help anyone.“He was one of Martin’s supporters.”Jacob looked up at Rex again.“You killed Martin.You want all his followers dead.”
Rex shook his head.“I couldn’t care less how many supporters that dickhead had.As long as they stay out of my way, I don’t want anything to do with them.”
“You’re here to force a new leader on us.”
“Wanting the clan to have a good leader doesn’t mean I’m going around killing people.”
“Hewanted to be the next leader.”
That wasn’t surprising if the guy had been one of Martin’s supporters.Rex still wasn’t sure why that meanthe’dkill him.“And if he’d stepped up, we would have told him to fuck off.”Supporting Martin would have been enough.
“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.I shouldn’t have let you into our home.”
“I just told you that I didn’t kill this guy.Hell, for all I know,youkilled him and are using me as a scapegoat.”
Jacob looked offended.“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Well,Iwouldn’t killthisguy.”Rex didn’t want to say that he wouldn’t kill anyone because it would be a lie.He’d killed people before, and he was pretty sure that Jacob had, too.Clearly, the man was ashamed of it, which he should be since he’d probably been following Martin’s orders.Rex had only ever killed to defend himself.
“Enough,” Arlen snapped.
