Page 31 of Bad Blood Alpha

He always had backups.

Flynn reached under the chair cushion for the knife he kept there. Then, just in case, he rose and slid a spare pistol out of his desk drawer.

Silent as the cat inside him, he crept down the stairs. He was buck naked, but that didn’t bother him.

The better to Change, if he needed to.

When he was on the last step, he stopped and opened his senses again. There was no one in the cabin who shouldn’t be—he would feel their presence.

Outside? That didn’t feel right either.

He heard a faint sound from the back of the house.

Kira?

Like a shadow, he moved down the hallway towards her bedroom. The door was closed and no light shone underneath.

All his senses were screaming now.

In one sudden movement, he kicked open the door and rolled through, coming up with his gun in one hand, the knife in the other, blade gleaming in the faint light from the bedside clock.

There was no intruder. Just Kira, curled up on the bed, shaking and whimpering.

And the smell of blood in the air.

Flynn flipped on the light. “Kira? Kira!”

No response.

He moved over to the bed. Her eyes were open, but vacant, and blood dripped from her nose. She was shivering from head to foot, twitching as if from the aftermath of a seizure.

Holy hell. What the fuck was wrong with her?

Flynn dropped his weapons on the bedside table and grabbed the damp towel hooked over the closet door. He eased onto the bed. Kira’s skin was icy cold, and her eyes were still vacant. But it was those tiny, painful whimpers that stabbed him in the heart.

This wasn’t the cool, competent warrior he’d seen earlier. This, he didn’t know how to handle.

Hesitantly, he slid underneath the covers. He scooped her up, cradling her against him, and wiped the blood from her face with the towel.

As she settled against him, a shudder went through her body, and he thought he saw a blue flame flicker across her skin, but it was gone before he could be sure.

The whimpers faded, but she was still shivering, and blood still trickled from her nose.

“Flynn?” she murmured through chattering teeth.

“Shh,” he said. “Don’t try to talk.”

Of course she didn’t listen.

“I saw…dragon. Screaming.”

A screaming dragon? “Where? Were you dreaming?”

She shook her head slightly. “Visions. Usually just…voices. Screaming. Begging…”

She shuddered again, her teeth clattering together.

Flynn pulled her closer and rubbed his hand gently up and down her back, trying to get some warmth into her. Gradually, she stopped shaking.