Willow buried her sorrow when she realized the young hunter’s heart had stopped beating. There would be time to mourn the loss of the fallen later, but if she didn’t get out of here, she’d be mourning the end of her life.
She lost count of how many Savages emerged from the woods before she sprinted into the trees. Because she’d stopped, the Savages were closer than they’d ever been. Their hideous laughter was like fire nipping at her heels as it spurred her to speeds she hadn’t believed possible, but impending death or incarceration until she turned into a monster were great motivators.
The trees were nothing more than blurs, and the blows their limbs dealt her left welts and bruises on her skin. One slapped her in the corner of her eye, and she wasn’t sure if involuntary tears or blood spilled from it. She didn’t bother to wipe it away as she concentrated on not running straight into a tree or boulder.
She had to come up with a plan that didn’t consist of running all night and possibly all day. She was a purebred vampire in peak physical condition, but no one could outrun so many of them forever. There were far too many of them, and they would eventually overtake her.
Another tortured scream came from her left, but this one was too far away for her to attempt trying to locate the victim. By the time she got there, they would either be dead or taken prisoner, and that was a fate worse than death.
Only five of them came on this mission led by Lucien. And now, as far as she knew, only three remained, and that was if she included Lucien, but he was probably the first one taken down.
She didn’t know how he could have escaped the horde swarming him. She tried not to shudder at the thought of her commander taken out by a wave of Savages, or worse, being held by them until they turned him into one of them.
He’d rather be dead;she’drather be dead, and she wassonot ready to die. She was young and had so much to live for still. And she would leave so many heartbroken people behind.
Mom. Dad.
The reminder of her parents brought tears to her eyes, and she blinked them back. Her mother was so upset when Willow announced her decision to join the Alliance. She’d hated her mother’s tears, but she was determined to be a force of good in this world. Her father had stoically handled her decision, but she saw the concern in his eyes and felt it when he hugged her on the day she left.
“Come back to us,” he whispered in her ear.
“Of course,” she vowed.
And now the lie of that promise whispered like a tiny, evil devil in her ear. A devil telling her she wouldn’t make it, she would never see them again, and they wouldn’t recover from this. They had nine other children and a growing number of grandchildren, but they would never be the same if they lost her. A piece of them would die with her, and she couldn’t let that happen.
Her siblings would be devastated too, and poor Wyatt. She had a lot of nieces and nephews, but since joining the Alliance last summer, she’d grown a lot closer to her sister Vicky’s son.
Wyatt was five now, and she was one of his favorite people. Every time his mom was mad at him, Wyatt would run to her, and she would spoil him rotten, which irritated the hell out of Vicky. Her sister’s annoyance was a bonus.
She’d grown closer to Vicky, but they still loved to needle each other like they did when they were kids. Vicky wasn’t thrilled when Willow joined the Alliance, but over the past nine months, she’d accepted this was what Willow chose to do with her life.
The howls and chatter of her pursuers reverberated off the trees and through the rise and fall of the hilly terrain. She couldn’t keep this up. Even if she could eventually outrun them, she might end up injuring herself worse than a twisted ankle, and when she did, they would tear into her like jackals.
Chapter Two
She dodgedanother branch as a grunt sounded from somewhere nearby. Turning, she strained to see through the shadows and the blur of the trees, but she was moving too fast to make out anyone in the shadows. Her split-second distraction cost her as she turned back in time to see a tree trunk in front of her.
Darting to the side, she tried to avoid plowing straight into the tree, but her left shoulder caught the corner of it, and the blow staggered her back a few steps. Her fingers on her left hand went numb, and her shoulder sagged awkwardly, but she didn’t have time to examine the injury.
She didn’t miss a step as she seized her arm and yanked it upright. Her teeth clamped down as a crack issued from her shoulder. She tried moving her fingers, and at first, they remained hanging limply at her side, but then two of them twitched as feeling gradually returned to her healing shoulder.
A higher-pitched howl split the night from somewhere nearby. The hair on her nape rose as the cry intensified. Just as it faded away, more howls sounded until they reverberated all around her and drowned out the sound of her labored breathing.
With those awful howls filling the air, she couldn’t tell if one of them was closing in on her. But they probably intended to confuse her when they started their chorus. When some of them faded away, more of them filled the night, until it sounded as if a pack of wolves was on her ass.
Throwing up her hands, Willow plowed through a series of low-hanging branches that battered her flesh and caused fresh welts to pepper her skin. She was moving so fast she nearly collided with a patch of briars on the other side of the copse of trees.
Skidding to a halt, she ran parallel to the thorns while she looked for an opening in the thicket. She couldn’t plow into them; they’d tear through her clothes and flesh. She healed fast, but they would track her through the blood sticking to her clothes and skin. The last thing she felt like doing was fleeing a bunch of Savages while naked.
Finally encountering a break, she bolted forward as a howl cut off and a series of curses and grunts issued from the woods behind her. One of the Savages hadn’t avoided plowing into the briars.
A branch snapping was like a gunshot in her ear. She turned toward the sound as a weight crashed into her back and knocked her off her feet.
Before she could get up, a hand embedded in her hair while another tore at her clothes, and the monster planted himself on her back. Stunned from the impact, it took her a second to react, but when it jerked her head back, adrenaline surged through her.
She wouldn’t let them take her alive, and she wouldn’t let them feast on her either. Reaching over her head, she clawed at its face. Shredded skin embedded beneath her nails, and the Savage twisted her hair until involuntary tears burned her eyes and strands of it tore free.
Willow didn’t ease her assault as she grasped its ear and yanked on it. The Savage screamed, and its other hand encircled her throat. Its fingers digging into her windpipe cut off her air as she tore its ear away and tossed it into the dirt.
