Page 45 of Fated to Her

The loud noise of the engine grows louder as it drives straight into two of them. Cyrus barely manages to jump out of the way in time. Another car screeches to a stop and Calum and Emery jump out along with three other men.

I can just about make out the blurred movements in front of my eyes and the sounds of tearing flesh before I’m jerked backward by my hair, my scream ringing out loudly. I turn, trying to see who has grabbed me, and I come eye to eye with Sam’s father, everyone else fighting their own battles. I try to pull out of his grip but he wraps his arm around my throat, crushing my windpipe.

He drags me between two houses. My head becomes light as I struggle to breathe, thrashing and kicking, but it’s useless against a vampire, and he pulls me farther and farther away from my mates.

I claw at his arm, trying to escape before going limp, dropping my weight. He grabs me, tossing me against a wall, my body hitting the bricks then smacking the ground and knocking the air out of my lungs.

I get to my hands and knees. Blood trickles down from my hairline as I glance around, dazed, deaf to my surroundings from the throbbing in my head. A pair of hands grab my arm again and a menacing a growl sounds just as a gray wolf bolts at me and attacks him. He shrieks when the wolf bites into his neck before punching it off. A loud gurgle noise leaves the wolf before it shakes itself out and attacks again, neither gaining the advantage. My vision blurs as I try to figure out how to get back to my mates.

Staring around, I see him dart off as bones snap. My vision is too fuzzy to see who it is, and my eyes roll into the back of my head, my body going numb as my sensations dull.

I feel warm hands grab me and darkness swallowing me. “Eli?” I mumble as I feel myself suddenly lifted from the ground.

“Not Eli, dear. It’s Maverick. Hang on, I’ll get you out of here.”

I gasp, knowing Eli doesn’t trust him. I can feel movement and vaguely hear him telling me to stay awake before I succumb to the darkness and drift off into oblivion.

Chapter 13

• Cyrus •

Through the chaos surrounding us, I can feel her moving farther away. I stop, glancing around frantically for her. She was right behind us only a moment ago, but now there’s no trace of her.

I only get fleeting pain from her, then I get nothing, like she has just switched off, and I know that isn’t a good sign. Eli also stops, noticing the same thing, and the vampires retreat, sensing she is no longer here. Emery’s pack warriors chase after them as they flee.

“Well, the government is going to have fun explaining this away,” Emery says, coming over to me, but I can’t give a rat’s ass about being exposed. I worry more about my missing mate.

Emery’s phone rings.

“Where is she?” Eli says, coming over to me, then sniffing the air.

He takes off running between two houses, and I follow. We stop at the sight of blood on the ground. Addie’s blood, her scent strong. The house’s occupants turn the lights on and the curtains open as they peer out at the noise.

Emery comes running just as Eli yells for pack members to search the neighboring streets.

“She’s okay. Dad has her,” Emery says.

Eli growls menacingly at her. “He fucking took her,” he says, grabbing her arms, his claws slipping from his fingertips and into her flesh.

“He will keep her safe. He is heading to the packhouse.”

“Keep her safe? Are fucking stupid, Emery? He is the last person I trust with her,” Eli says before taking off in search of Addie. Emery and I follow as he tosses one of Emery’s warriors from the car and climbs in the driver’s seat. Emery and I barely shut the door before he shoots off at an alarming speed, the tires squealing as he drives through the streets, heading toward the other side of the city.

“Eli, slow down,” I tell him. He growls at me before turning another corner so fast the car nearly flips on its side as it skips across the road. Then he plants it again. Emery hangs onto the door, seemingly unfazed by his erratic driving.

“Eli, he wouldn’t have called if he intended to hurt her. Slow down before you kill somebody,” I reason with him, and he takes his foot off the accelerator, letting the car slow to a more appropriate speed though it definitely is above the limit. Lights turn on, and the city’s power is restored.

“I don’t get why he cut the power,” Emery says, staring out the window as the streetlights slowly come back on.

“He was a hunter. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Less visibility to humans as to what is going on,” I tell her, and she seems to think before nodding.

“I suppose that’s one reason,” she says before pointing ahead. “Turn there, shortcut,” she says, pointing down an alleyway. The car jumps as it hits the slight dip, the car tearing down the alley.

“Left at the end and then first right,” she says, giving directions.

Eli follows them, and I see the new apartment building that still has scaffolding and is still undergoing construction come into view. Eli rips up the handbrake, forcing the car to a stop behind Maverick’s old Buick. Eli jumps out, startling a few people as he rushes toward the apartment building naked. If Eli turned heads when he walked out, they now look like they are about to faint when Emery gets out behind him, heading to the gold-trimmed glass door.

Eli stomps to the elevator, hitting the buttons, only to open the fire escape and run up the stairs.