He’s okay. He’s okay,she repeatedly told herself as she turned to wait for the others to exit the cellar. Mal was the last one through. Charlie searched the cellar behind him as Mal turned to shut the door.
She almost ran back, flung the door open, and rushed back inside to find Jack, but Dylan’s small, warm hand in hers froze her. She had to get him somewhere safe before she could return for Jack.
Charlie glanced at the cliffs behind the lighthouse, but they were too high for her to risk bringing Dylan down them. Unfortunately, they’d probably have to climb down to the beach. The areas without cliffs would probably be crowded with Savages trying to evade the fire.
“This way,” Mal said, and they followed him into the woods.
Charlie kept Dylan’s hand. She wanted to lift him into her arms and run with him, but if anything came at them, she needed her hands free to protect her son. Dylan hadn’t been outside during a hunt since they fell into the tunnels, and her instincts screamed to hide him away.
The sun disappeared as they ran through the woods at a speed the humans could match. Charlie frowned at the unexpected darkness. Her breath caught, and her hand tightened on Dylan’s when she realized the smoke had risen to block out the sun. Birds screeched as they flew away from the fire destroying their homes.
“It’s going to destroy the entire island,” Darlene breathed.
“Hopefully, it doesn’t take us with it,” LeNae said.
To her left, Mal came to an abrupt halt, and as she was turning to see what caught his attention, she saw someone step out from behind a tree. She had only enough time to yank Dylan back before she crashed into the man. She released a startled cry, and Dylan’s hand was torn away from her as she hit the ground.
Charlie became aware of the figure looming over her, but she didn’t give them a chance to pounce before she yanked a knife free and leapt to her feet. She was about to let the knife fly when she met the royal blue eyes gazing warily back at her.
Recognition flashed through her mind as she recalled those eyes from her dream. She realized she’d been given the vision so she would recognize Mike when she encountered him and not try to kill him.
“Mike,” she blurted.
His eyebrows shot up, and his eyes raked over her. “Do I know you?”
“No,” she said. “But I’ve seen you before.”
He couldn’t have looked more confused if she told him that, from now on all humans would be born with two heads. And who could blame him? A strange woman had literally run in to him and blurted his name before babbling nonsense at him.
“You have?” he asked.
“I was with Jack on the cliff when you escaped.”
Hope lit his eyes. “Is he alive?”
Charlie was glad his concern for Jack stopped him from questioning her further. Yes, she’d seen him from the cliff, but she hadn’t been close enough to have recognized him without her dream. “Yes.” Charlie held her hand out to Dylan, and when he clasped it, she drew him against her side. “But we have to get out of here.”
“We’re not leaving here without Jack,” another man with black hair and green eyes said.
Liam. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she was sure he was Jack’s friend, Liam.
Charlie had been so stunned about running into the wall of Mike that she hadn’t realized there were more vamps in the woods. Though she knew they were here to rescue Jack, uneasiness crept through Charlie as she noticed there were eleven of them and she didn’t knowanyof them. The fact they all looked prepared to tear off someone’s head did not help her uneasiness.
They were spread out through the woods and the reason Mal abruptly halted. Her gaze traveled over the vamps once more; she would bet some of them were Liam’s children and their mates, but she still didn’t relax.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Jack’s coming,”Charlie said.
Mike’s eyes went to her neck. “Shit! You’re his mate.”
“What?” a beautiful woman with chocolate brown hair and gold streaks asked. The woman’s violet eyes looked about to pop out of her head as she gawked at Charlie. “Jackfound his mate?”
“It seems so,” Mike murmured.
“Poor woman,” Liam said, and the others chuckled.
“Mom, what’s a mate?” Dylan asked.
