“That would be fantastic.”
When Declan held his hand out to her, she took it and let him lead her out of the craft room, down the hall, and back downstairs. He stopped in the living room where Gus and his family were gathered in front of the window, watching all the commotion outside. The Savages were only a few doors down and closing in fast.
“What is going on?” Gretchen asked.
“I don’t know,” Gus murmured.
“We’re leaving now,” Declan said, and they all jumped at his voice. Before they could react, he calmed them as he continued speaking. “It’s okay; you’re all safe with us. When the searchers get to your door, do everything they ask of you, but don’t trust them. You’re not going to remember anything about us or this conversation. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Take care of yourselves. Look back out the window now.”
The family blinked at them before returning their attention to the window.
“I wish we could stay and protect them,” Willow said as she followed Declan into the kitchen.
“If we stay, we’ll get them killed.”
“I know, but I feel awful that we got them mixed up in this.”
“We’ll come back to check on them. Now, we have to make sure no one sees us leaving here.”
They crept into the garage and peeked out the window at the man standing a hundred feet to the left of the house. The Savages hadn’t replaced the humans with vamps when the sun set, and curious about what was going on, the man had turned to watch as the Savages came down the street.
A woman a couple of hundred feet down from him was also looking the same way, and so was the man at the end of the road. With their attention distracted, Declan inched open the door and ducked outside.
Willow stayed low to keep behind the small rhododendron planted next to the door as Declan followed her outside and closed it behind her. Crouched low, they remained against the house as Declan pointed to the right.
Another man stood about a hundred feet to the right of them. Unfortunately, the same thing distracting the others was also drawing his attention. There was no way they could run across the backyard and into the woods without being spotted. Fortunately, there were no guards beyond the man as they were near the end of the road.
“You run for the woods while I take care of him,” Declan said. “And no arguments about this.”
“Okay.”
She was a purebred vampire and a member of the Alliance, but she wasn’t as fast or strong as him. He could make it to the man before her, and having two of them out in the open might draw the attention of the others.
“Go,” Declan said.
Willow didn’t bother to stay low as she pushed away from the door and sprinted for the woods. Speed was more important than stealth; she had to get to the woods before one of the other guards turned away from the Savages.
The woods were only fifty feet away, but she swore they somehow got further away with every step she took.Almost there… almost there…
She pushed herself faster as she waited for a cry of alarm to sound or a gunshot to resonate through the night.
The treesweregetting further away. She was sure of it.
Almost… Almost!Don’t see us. Don’t see us, she pleaded with every step she took.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only seconds, she plunged into the woods. She glanced back at the guards still watching the Savages, before running toward the man Declan went after.
The trees blurred as she raced past them, but she still saw the man swinging his rifle toward Declan. Before he could pull the trigger, Declan grabbed the barrel, yanked it away, and seized the man’s throat before running with him toward the woods.
Declan set the man down as Willow reached him. Drawing on his power, he probed at the man’s mind, fully expecting to come up against a wall that wouldn’t allow him entry. However, though his current commands created some resistance, he broke through. Whoever had taken control of this man was a weaker vampire than him.
“You’re going to go back out there and act as if this never happened, do you understand me?” Declan inquired.
The man nodded.
“Good. You are going to continue your watch on the neighborhood, and if anyone notices you were gone, you’ll tell them you had to take a piss. Understand?”
“Yes,” the man muttered.
