His eyes were like the fires of hell as he tore the head off one Savage and used it to bash in the skull of the next. When Willow tried to reach out to him again, she encountered the wall once more.
She knew mates could shut each other out, but she didn’t understand why he would do it now. However, it didn’t matter; she had to focus on getting out of this mess. She could ask him about it when they were free of this place.
Willow yanked the foot out from under one of the Savages and used his leg to kick another one who lunged for her. She staggered to her feet as hands clasped her arms. She jerked against their grasping touch, threw punches, and kicked at them, but theykeptcoming.
They succeeded in gripping her arms and holding them straight out from her sides, and they managed to avoid her feet as she kicked at them. Then they twisted her arms forward until something popped in her shoulders, and they pushed her to her knees.
Panting and irate, Willow continued to thrash against them as the hunter driving the truck strode through the crowd. The Savages all stepped back to let him through like he was Moses parting the Red Sea.
And he was coming for her.
Declan couldn’t think beyond the fury pulsating through him. When he saw one of them hit Willow in the face, the rage that exploded through him enabled him to get to his feet. Every beat of his heart caused more blood to ooze from the hole in the center of his chest. The bolt must have nicked an artery.
It was the closest he’d ever come to death, but his fear for Willow and her blood in his veins healed him faster than ever before—as did the emotions swirling around him. The intensity of the Savage’s bloodlust and hatred slipped beneath his skin and battered the walls he’d built around his empathic ability.
But it was Willow’s terror and determination that affected him the most as it flooded his system and increased his desperation to get to her and keep her safe. The emotions were pushing him toward a precipice he’d never experienced before.
And this time, instead of resisting, he relinquished his control over the demon part of him and his ability. Killing anything standing between him and Willow became his main focus as the power pulsing through his veins caused his muscles to swell while his body worked to repair itself.
Thiswas the something more he’d always sensed about his ability. This fueling of his powers that made him capable of doing things he could never do before, like healing a heart injury in minutes instead of hours or days.
While he welcomed this release if it meant saving her, he also feared he might not return from it. Through the crowd surrounding him, he spotted Willow as the Savages succeeded in pushing her to her knees.
He bellowed as he shoved Savages out of his way, but a stake to the back of his knee knocked him to the ground. With a snarl, he tore the weapon free. Rising, he turned and plunged it under the chin of a Savage coming at him.
When he looked to Willow again, he spotted the hunter from the truck approaching her. Staggering to his feet, Declan gripped the shoulder of a Savage and used it to pull himself forward.
Willow lurched forward and nearly succeeded in breaking free of the hands grasping her before they yanked her back. She didn’t see the knee coming at her face until it smashed into her nose.
She instinctively tried to grasp her broken nose as blood gushed from it, but it was pointless. Feeling as if someone had taken knives and jammed them into her cheekbones and nose, Willow blinked away the involuntary tears filling her eyes.
She bit back a startled cry, refusing to give these pricks the satisfaction of hearing it when they tore her jacket off and threw it aside. There went all her weapons.
Through the crowd, she saw someone hit Declan in the back with the door he’d torn free of the truck and thrown at the hunter. When he tried to rise, the Savage lifted the door over its head and bashed it off the back of Declan’s head. He collapsed onto the sidewalk.
Chapter Forty-Three
Willow had refusedto cry out for herself, but now it tore free from her, and she lurched toward him. The hands on her arms and shoulders yanked her back as the hunter stopped in front of her.
She didn’t look at him as she craned her head to see around him. Savages blocked her view, but she caught a glimpse of Declan lying on the ground. She found it increasingly difficult to breathe as terror constricted her chest and blood clogged her nose.
Kneeling before her, the hunter clasped her chin and jerked it toward him. Willow bared her fangs at the piece of shit. The turned hunter examined her with a coldness that caused her skin to ice over.
They’d succeeded in turning him Savage, but something about the man told her it wasn’t a difficult task. Her skin crawled when his thumb stroked her cheek. When she got the chance, she would make him pay for this.
“Under normal conditions, you are quite lovely,” he murmured.
“Leave her alone!” Declan roared. “Let her go and take me.”
The hunter turned away from her, and the Savages standing behind him parted until she had a clear view of Declan again. He lay on the ground with his hands pinned behind his back while eight Savages knelt on top of him.
The black and red color originally in the corners of his eyes now encompassed his face, neck, and what she could see of his skin. It made his eyes shine brighter as violence oozed from him. If he broke free, he’d destroy them all… and possibly himself.
“We already have you,” the hunter purred.
“I’ll leave here without a fight,” Declan said.
“Fight all you want; you’re still going to lose.” The hunter turned dismissively away and back to her. His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to inspect her more closely. “Are you a purebred?”
