Xander slams into Aiden, shouting and trying to restrain him. It’s the only glance I allow before I climb higher, my breaths and pounding heartbeat so loud that they nearly drown out the snarling below. My foot slips, only my death grip on the branch saving me until I can find a better foothold.
The resounding snap as the limb breaks makes time seem to stand still. Anxiety and fear grip me in a stranglehold, but as my back slams into the next branch, I shove them aside. My attempts to grab something, anything, fall flat, leaving me only with splinters and scraped skin. Eyes clamped shut, I shrink in on myself, bracing for the impending impact and praying I don’t break an arm or a leg.
Pain explodes in my side as Aiden’s claws tear into my flesh. I crash down a second later, his attack saving me from a straight fall, breaking the momentum as he pounced. Devin is there a moment later, driving a fist into his temple as he tries to sink his teeth into my throat. Xander and Caleb tackle him to the ground, the latter whipping his shirt off to wrap it around his mouth. While he’s only trying to muzzle him, it serves the dual purpose of cutting off the scent of my blood.
While I press a hand to my side, scooting away from them, a bit of clarity starts to return to Aiden’s eyes. Caleb and Xander are on top of him, pinning him to the ground, and soon, he stops bucking and fighting, making himself smaller. Changing back, he keeps a hand pressed against the shirt, pinning it to his face, horror morphing his features.
“I didn’t, I don’t know wha-“ He cuts himself off, shutting his eyes and whispering, “I didn’t mean to.”
“What the fuck happened?” Xander demands, arm still pressed against the back of Aiden’s neck, pinning him to the ground beneath him.
Devin offers me a hand to help me up that I don’t take, scooting back another few inches, determined to keep the tree between us. “No wonder everyone’s after you if your blood’s that strong. I thought the masks were overkill because we’re already used to being around incorruptibles, but it seems they were a good call in your case.”
Something cool brushes over my fingers and with as high strung as I am, I jerk my arm back, turning away from Devin. Relief has my shoulders slumping, and I nearly burst into tears. A fraction of a second later, the sound of a telltale click divides my attention, looking away from Stryker to see Mason with a gun pressed against Caleb’s temple, Bane materializing a moment later, aimed at Xander.
Before I can so much as breathe, Devin is crouched behind me with a blade pressed to my throat. “Easy, now.” A furious hiss slips from Stryker’s serpentine mouth as he rears up, prepared to strike. “You want the girl, right? Not much use to you dead, so back the fuck up.”
Xander removes the pressure on Aiden’s neck, but doesn’t move more than that, eyeing Bane with absolute hatred. “You kill him, there’s nothing keeping us from taking the girl down with us out of spite.”
Bane raises an eyebrow. “Then you’d lose your only bargaining chip and there’d be nothing keeping us from killing the three of you next. So I’m only going to ask you nicely once. Tell your dog to get his hands off of my mate.”
Xander’s eyes swivel to mine, furrowing in confusion before widening as it dawns on him. “Home.“
Teary eyed, I nod, noting the way that Devin moves the blade the second that I started to move, like he didn’t want to risk actually cutting me. It makes me pause, reevaluating their words at surface value instead of searching for ulterior motives. If they had wanted to use me, they wouldn’t have stopped Aiden, trying to keep him from hurting me. After they killed my mom, they could have simply grabbed me and dragged me to the car instead of trying to explain themselves.
“You said that you keep people like me safe. Explain.”
Caleb doesn’t even hesitate. “The same way that shifters have convinced humans that we’re nothing more than myths, we’ve done the same. Why do you think most people haven’t even heard of incorruptibles, and the ones that have, consider them nothing more than legend? People can’t find them. When something is out of sight for long enough, people forget, and they move on.”
Xander sighs, sounding weary. “But there’s always that one asshole that finds one before we do. Like Everly. When we heard about the way she was searching for you, caught wind of the pissed off people that had gotten hooked on your blood before you disappeared and stories started spreading like wildfire, we dug into it.”
He scans my face before hardening his expression. “From what we could put together, the people we think were your birth parents died in a car accident. Jack and Everly probably came across the scene, and when they realized your father was one of us, assumed you might be too. So rather than call the police and leave them to deal with it, they took you in, instead.”
Aiden’s voice is full of self-deprecation as he adds, “While you might be incorruptible, the people around you aren’t. They very likely had no idea what you were for years, and then couldn’t withstand the draw of power.”
Stryker slithers closer and I stretch out a hand, Devin tensing behind me, but not making any move to threaten either of us. Winding around my arm, his tail flicks against the chains on my hand that suddenly seem heavier than before.
“I ruin people.”
“No.” Xander’s voice is as stern as his face as he gets to his feet, eyes flitting between Mason, Stryker, and Bane with distrust. “You make themmore.All your blood does is enhance what’s already there. You don’t poison or corrupt anyone; you’re above that.”
I can’t help the watery laugh that bursts out, unsure if the tears on my cheeks are from guilt or hysteria. “Tell that to Zane. You really think that I could take down a fucking puma? I can barely climb a tree without getting killed.”
“What are you talking about, love?” Bane asks, dropping his arm and walking towards me, though he doesn’t stow his gun.
Devin and Mason hold each other’s gaze for a few tense seconds before they each withdraw their weapons, stepping away from their hostages. Stryker rests his head on top of the bandage on my shoulder as Bane helps me to my feet, hissing in a sharp breath as he sees the damage to my side.
“He did that to you?” he demands and I clam up, realizing there’s a very serious possibility that one of them will shoot Aiden before letting me explain it was my fault.
“Risa?” Mason prompts, seeing right through me as I try to pick apart my potential wording so that I don’t lie.
Sighing, I lean into Bane’s side as Devin rejoins his pack. Backpedaling to when I woke up in the back of Zane’s car before he shot Bennet, I give them the abridged version, filling them all in. By the time I’m done with the story, Stryker back on two legs, butt-ass naked, we’ve fallen into a sort of silent truce, all of the hostility directed towards a series of dead bodies.
A faint scream has us all jerking to attention, pulled out of our pensive thoughts and heads swiveling back towards the house we left behind.
“Addie,” I whisper on a horrified breath.
Pulling away from Bane, I grip my bloodied side and start jogging, shoving down every jolt of pain that stems from each step.It’s got to be over a mile. I’m never going to make it in time. And even if I did, what would I do?
