Jules moved first, pushing Shawn toward the door. Shawn stumbled forward but finally got with the program. Lucas let out a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived because some of the vampires had closed the distance. They had guns and swords pointed straight at Bennett.
Lucas let Sage’s hand go and froze the head vampire before he could grab Jules. He let energy wash over him until he had a gray ball of light, throwing it into the hoard of vampires coming toward Bennett.
Sage ran past Lucas straight to Bennett who moved aside even as he fought off a vampire who’d come to close.
Lucas threw another gray ball, which ended up being a mistake because he couldn’t hold the leader anymore.
The leader pulled Jules back as soon as he was free. Lucas didn’t even think when he launched another ball in that direction, forcing the leader to let Jules go in favor of protecting himself. The strongest vampire hit the floor, letting the light sail passed him into one of his followers.
Jules ran toward him, and he directed him to walk under Bennett’s front legs to the side.
“Bennett!” The attention Lucas took to protect Jules and Shawn allowed too many vampires toward Bennett until he was overrun. Lucas released ball after ball until Bennett could fight them off on his own. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew Shawn hadn’t made it out of the house yet, but the thought took a back seat when his vision faded to black.
His legs crumbled but he never felt the hard floor. Instead he floated on a cloud that smelled like cinnamon.
“Bennett.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bennett shifted in time to catch Lucas as he fell. He lifted Lucas’ unconscious body to him and held him close. Lucas’ head lolled around for a few seconds and then finally settled on Bennett’s shoulder.
“Let’s go! There’s too many of them,” Ramsey said, after he shifted. They all made their way to the tree line, disappearing into the thick forest. They were a few yards away when Ramsey stopped them. “Vaughan, take Sage and this other one to the plane.”
Vaughan led Jules and Sage north.
Sage turned back to Bennett and Lucas. His brows drew together. “He saved our lives.”
Whatever had happened at the vampire’s mansion had obviously built a connection between Lucas and Sage.
“Let me know how I can help him.” Sage turned and followed Vaughan through the woods. He had a dark stain on the back of hisjeans, which made Bennett cringe. Fuck, Lucas hadn’t been kidding when he said Sage had needed help.
As much as he hated the fact that Lucas had drained all of his energy, even Bennett saw why fixing Sage had been so important. The poor guy would have bled to death.
Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and he pulled away, growling at whomever wanted to take his mate from him. The threat to his mate brought the dragon to the surface. Bennett fully admitted that he had already been primitive in his thinking about most things, especially when it came to Lucas.
“Hey now, brother. I’m just checking on how you’re doing. How is he?” Gabriel said.
“He’s not doing well. I can feel him slipping away. I need to get him to Mom.”
“Ramsey, we have to go.” Gabriel yelled over to Ramsey. He reached out to touch Lucas, moving in closer, as if to make sure Lucas was still alive. Bennett raised his eyebrows at Gabriel. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Hey, I like the little guy. He’s feisty and I think he’s good for you. I’m concerned, too.” Gabriel ran a hand over Lucas’ hair as if he was a sleeping child. He inhaled, leaning over Bennett’s shoulder. “Son of a bitch.”
“What?”
“Lucas has been with my mate.” Gabriel looked pissed off. He huffed out a sigh and glared at Bennett. “It’s got to be the human. The one the vampires snagged back there. Fuck, this is not something I want--”
Gabriel sniffed the air right before he turned, shifting in midair. He growled and stood in front of Bennett, protecting him. Bennett didn’tknow what set Gabriel off until a vampire with long dark hair and a sword strapped to his hip came around a clump of trees.
The vampire held his hands up as if surrendering but quickly dropped them when another smaller guy came at them with a gun. The dark-haired vampire pulled his sword and swung it around so quickly Bennett had a difficult time tracking the movements.
The sword’s tip drew blood as it pressed into the smaller vampire’s neck. “Submit, Edward.”
“I’ll never submit to you.” The smaller guy showed his teeth.
“Not me, you idiot. Him.” He pointed to Ramsey.
