“Is the other one Rosemary?” I asked, searching the hill.
“I doubt it,” Ian said softly. “Someone had to get Mom and the boys out of the safe room.”
Everything inside me stilled.
I’d only experienced the sensation once before, but I’d been too young to fully remember it. When my father realized what he’d passed down, he’d done his best to equip me with the tools to keep it in check. We’d had so many conversations about it as I grew, and long after I was an adult.
Up until that point, I’d always been able to hold it back by calming myself down.
Unfortunately, the box that I’d held my emotions in for most of my life was suddenly nowhere to be found.
My father said that when it came over him, it was as if his senses heightened, but everything came through a filter as if his body knew instinctively what mattered and what didn’t. All pain disappeared. Tiredness was washed away. Thought narrowed into precise focus.
Like father, like son.
I didn’t realize I was moving until I was already upon the men near the SUV. Through a red haze, I cut them down. I didn’t even bother with the rifle hanging over my shoulder. The knife in my hand worked just fine.
Chance’s voice came from somewhere behind me, but I ignored it.
There was a man inside the SUV. I took care of him too.
Then I strode toward the house.
There were so many of them inside, and they all came to meet me.
My rifle was still on my back, but my pistol was easily accessible in my holster, so I used that as the men raced toward me.
I grunted in frustration as Chance and Dalton ran up the stairs, chasing a few of the men down.
My hands flexed as I stalked through the bottom floor. No more men.
Ian stood next to me, saying something, but I couldn’t hear him.
He wasn’t important.
Turning, I walked back out the front door. My mate was here somewhere, and I needed to find her. Walking down the side of the house, I searched for more of the humans. Shots pepperedaround me, but I ignored those too. A bullet wouldn’t slow me down unless I let it.
My mate was somewhere on that property, and I was going to find her.
I wasn’t sure how many men I faced as I moved toward the back of the property, but there were a lot. They swarmed like locusts on a field of wheat. When one fell, another took his place.
Ian was still beside me, fighting with a skill I hadn’t known the young Vampire possessed. It was a good thing that he was so skilled, because I wouldn’t have stopped to help him if he got into trouble.
Behind the house were a large shop and two smaller ones. All were dark, but the doors were open and there were men everywhere.
I stumbled as I crossed the yard, but I used the momentum to keep moving forward. There were no helpful shots coming from the ridgeline above the property on this side of the house, and I had to meet every man myself. By then, I was moving slower than I was used to, but it was still effective.
We cleared one shop and had entered the second when Dalton and Chance caught up to us.
We cleared the last shops quickly.
Then there was just silence surrounding us.
“They’re not inside,” Dalton said so quietly that even I barely heard him.
“Don’t touch him,” Chance hissed as Ian moved beside him. “Leave him be.”
“But—”
