“Are you okay?” Nathan asked her as Kadence and Ronan stepped out of the woods to stand beside him.
Relief filled Simone when she spotted more vampires and hunters slipping through the trees to stand behind Nathan and Ronan. Now things would be more even. “Yes,” Simone said.
Ronan’s gaze raked over the battle before he focused on Kadence. “You and Simone are to stay close to me, but out of this as much as possible,” Ronan said before turning to the others. “Kill them all,” he commanded.
The vampires and hunters were silent as they glided from the trees to hunt with ruthless intent. Some of the Savages, unprepared for their arrival, were taken down before they realized the Alliance had arrived. When the other Savages became aware they were being hunted, they rushed forward with little regard for their lives.
Ronan sprinted forward to take down one of the six Savages surrounding Declan and the others. Blood poured from a gash on Declan’s cheek, and a vivid smear of it stained Saxon’s shirt. Lucien’s shirt was gone, and blood spilled from the three large cuts marring his chest.
Simone ran beside Kadence as they followed Ronan while Nathan broke off to work with Asher and Logan. The three of them started cutting through the horde of monsters protecting Joseph and trying to take down Killean.
Killean’s pulse thundered in his ears as he narrowed in on Joseph who continued to wear that hideous smirk.Kill. Destroy. Murder. Feels soooo good. Kill. Kill. Kill.
The words became an endless litany in his mind as the aroma of blood clogged his nostrils and his body became coated with the sticky substance. The cries of the dying were sweet music he relished.
However, no matter how much death he delivered, he craved more, and he especially wanted the end of one.
His gaze remained locked on Joseph as he homed in on him. He would tear Joseph’s heart out and bathe in his blood by the time this was over.
Despite the murderous intent taking him over, Killean kept his senses attuned to Simone as he hacked through his enemies. Through their bond, he monitored her distress and uncertainty while knowing her exact location. He’d almost given up his pursuit of Joseph when the Savage went after her, but she’d taken the creature down before he could divert from his course.
Killean grasped the throat of the next Savage who lunged at him while another jumped onto his back. Before Killean could react, the one on his back sank its fangs into his throat.
Pain burst through his body, but instead of immobilizing him, he channeled the agony into his body and turned it into something he couldthriveon as his skin deepened in hue. An almost brutal glee descended over Killean as he enclosed his arm around the Savage’s head.
When Killean squeezed it like a nut in a nutcracker, the Savage’s skull gave way with a crunch of bone before he ripped the creature over his shoulder and threw him on the ground. The vamp barely had time to recover before Killean seized its shoulders, lifted him, and sank his fangs into the Savage’s throat.
The vamp’s fingers tore at Killean’s face before it stilled in his grasp. Keeping the vamp’s back against his chest, Killean fed on it as he used the Savage’s body to batter back the others. When the last of the vamp’s life flooded his veins, Killean threw aside the Savage and ran at Joseph.
Joseph’s eyes went beyond him, and for the first time, Killean saw uneasiness on his face as his smirk vanished. Killean didn’t have to look to know the sun had reached the horizon, he’d become acutely attuned to it since its rays became lethal to him. Killean was almost to Joseph when the bastard turned and glided into the trees.
“No,” Killean snarled as he poured on the speed.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Killean barreledthrough the remaining Savages in his way and was almost on top of Joseph when Nathan burst out of the woods to the left of him. Killean spotted Ronan charging at them from the right with Kadence and Simone running behind him.
From somewhere within his coat, Joseph produced a crossbow and fired it at Nathan when the hunter was only three feet away from him.
“Nathan!” Kadence screamed when the bolt pierced through her brother’s chest, lifted him off his feet, and knocked him on his ass. She broke away from Simone to rush to her brother.
Killean spotted more Savages gliding through the trees and closing in on Ronan. “Ronan, behind you!” he shouted.
Ronan turned as two of the creatures launched at him. Simone skidded to a halt to avoid running into Ronan when the weight of the Savages knocked him to the ground. Ronan gripped the shoulder of one and threw it away as he rolled to pin the other beneath him. Killean was closing in on Joseph and about to jump on his back when another Savage loomed up behind Simone.
“No!” Killean bellowed and switched course.
He closed the ten feet separating them in less than a second, and swinging his fist forward, he plunged it into the vamp’s chest cavity. His fingers clinched around the creature’s pulsating heart, and he tore it free. Simone gazed at him with wide eyes as he released the heart and the Savage toppled to the ground between them.
“Killean?” Simone whispered.
She barely recognized the blood-drenched man before her as his fangs hung low over his bottom lip and his skin continued to pulse with those colors. Then gold flickered through the ruby color of his eyes and she once again saw the man she loved. Red swallowed the gold again, but she’d seen enough to know that Killean was still there.
He almost touched her, but the blood dripping from his fingers stopped him from doing so. “It’s okay.”
Simone didn’t know if that meant he would be okay or not, but his love for her shimmered across their bond. And then Killean’s attention was drawn away from her and to Nathan, who had regained his feet and was closing in on Joseph.
Lunging forward, Nathan clamped his arms around Joseph’s waist. Joseph twisted in an attempt to throw him off, but Nathan clung tenaciously as Kadence jumped onto Joseph’s back, seized his hair, and ripped his head back. She delivered three, bone-crushing blows to his face before Joseph reeled backward and bashed her against a tree trunk.
