“Watch out!”
I whirled around to see the abandoned rushing toward me with its jaw unhinged, sharp teeth coming straight for me.
Shit! It’s behind me!
My heart tanked to my stomach as time fucking slowed.
Corbin threw himself in between me and the creature at the last minute. His pupils dilated as those hazel eyes locked with mine. Brown locks floated in the air from his forceful jump to the middle of the fight.
“Don’t die,” he managed to say before the abandoned’s sharp teeth clamped shut over his neck, penetrating Corbin’s soft skin.
Thick blood sprayed out from the impact of the bite, splattering the walls and furniture, pooling on the floor at his feet.
“No!” I cried out.
A thump sounded from behind me from someone passing out.
Crimson blood gushed from his chapped lips, dripping down his chin to join the bloodbath seeping from his neck. He pulled in one last shuttering, haltering breath with a God-awful gurgling sound that filled the room as blood mixed with air in his lungs.
Corbin went limp, and the creature crunched down on him again—the sound of his bones shattering would haunt me forever. His blood had a nauseating scent, mixing with the unnatural smell of death the abandoned reeked of.
It dropped Corbin, and his body smacked into the ground at an unnatural, disturbing angle. His eyes were wide with no sign of life, and his mouth jarred open.
I sunk to my knees in front of him, staring into the purple glow of the abandoned’s eyes as Corbin’s warm blood soaked into the fabric of my leggings.
God-awful sobs and screams bounced off the walls around me.
I shouldn’t have come here.
“No you bloody shouldn’t have!” Blaise’s ballistic voice responded to my thoughts as the windows smashed to pieces in the dining room.
The three vampires made an entrance like my knights in shining armor. I didn’t think I’d ever been so relieved to see them before.
The abandoned rammed into my chest, throwing me toward my family like they were a bunch of bowling pins.
Before I fell into them, strong arms wrapped around my middle and stopped the momentum as my back hit a chest. Charcoal and soot invaded my senses, and I hadn’t known I could miss a smell or a person as much as I did at that moment.
Hot tears flooded my eyes as Kai rushed forward, putting the creature in some sort of headlock to hold it still as Thaddeus reached inside it and squeezed the glowing purple orb.
The purple light that beamed from its obliteration was brighter than the others, making the whole area light up like a blacklight party.
“What the bloody hell were you thinking, Poppy?” Blaise growled against my ear.
I turned in his hold and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his firmly, the bitter taste of my tears seeping between our lips. His grip tightened as he kissed me back for a few seconds.
Kai grabbed my upper arm and jerked me into him, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. “What were you thinking leaving like that?”
“I wasn’t.” Tears obscured my vision as what had happened started to set in. “Fuck. I wasn’t thinking at all.”
“No. You weren’t, and because of that, one of your humans is dead,” Thaddeus snapped.
My heart plummeted as disgust crawled through my bones.
How am I supposed to explain all of this to my family?
Were they ever going to be okay again?
Corbin definitely wasn’t. He’d died for me. He fucking sacrificed himself for me.
