Midnight Secrets

Addie met us outside the training facility, looking far better than she had this morning. Her freshly dyed pink hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and her face was still free of makeup. “Fay told me you were here,” she said before I could ask her any questions.

“Take her back to the pack house, straight to the pack house. No detours,” Cass said, pinning the full weight of his gaze on Addie. She didn’t shrink back or snap at him for telling her what to do and instead nodded. Cass pulled his focus away from her and turned to me, cupping my face. “I have to check the borders. Adalind will take you to the house, and I want you to stay there until I come to find you. Do you understand?”

I nodded, but based on his expression, he didn’t like my nonverbal response. “I understand.”

His lips came down on mine in a hard kiss that was too damn brief, and gave me a lingering look before he followed Leon—he’d been the one to come and tell Cass about the problems at the border—into the trees, moving faster than I’d ever seen them run, but nowhere near as fast as Ezra. I was in way over my head in this supernatural world.

“We should hurry,” Addie said as she hooked her arm through mine and pulled me along the path back toward the house. Her walking pace was almost too fast for me and had me jogging to keep up with her.

My heart rate picked up as Addie kept scanning the surrounding trees, and not just because we were moving so damn fast. “Are we safe? Does this kind of thing happen often around here?”

“Not the day after a full moon,” she said, not sounding the least bit winded. The bitch.

“You guys keep mentioning the day after the full moon. What’s so special about today?”

Well, tonight since the sun had set during my time in the training facility.

Addie’s focus remained on the surrounding trees as if she was expecting someone to jump out, or maybe she heard something. I couldn’t hear anything other than the grass and leaves crunching under our feet and the blood pounding in my ears.

“During the full moon and the day before and after, our wolves are stronger and wild, more out of control. No one in their right mind would dare enter packlands. Pissing us off won’t end well for them, and they all know it’s a death sentence.”

“So if someone—another supernatural—is here—”

“Then they’re not here to talk,” Addie finished for me, picking up her pace.

I hadn’t realized how far it was from the training facility to the house earlier. It was a struggle for me to keep up with her, and I was practically sprinting at this point, my lungs burning in my chest as I stumbled and nearly tripped over an exposed root. “Why are we running so damn fast?”

“We’re not alone.” Addie’s voice was so low I had to strain my ears to catch her words.

My blood ran cold, and I stumbled another step, this time from shock. “What? Who’s here?”

Addie didn’t say anything at first, still staring into the dark forest, barely illuminated by the shafts of moonlight filtering in through the trees. If we weren’t running from invading supernaturals, I would’ve been impressed at how she managed it while sprinting and not falling over. “Vampires. The cocky bastards aren’t even trying to hide their presence. What the hell are they trying to pull?”

“Vampires? As in more than one?” The most vampires I’d ever dealt with at once had been one, and even that had been way too damn many for my taste. Addie didn’t respond to my question, and that was answer enough. I figured vampires wouldn’t attack werewolves on their home turf without at least a dozen. I guess I was hoping I’d been wrong.

Out of nowhere, Addie plowed into me, knocking us to the forest floor. My arms and legs stung from hitting the ground and stray twigs digging into my skin as we rolled to a stop. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, swearing under my breath until I looked up and found Addie blocking a vampire from getting to me. Just like Ezra, he was so fast he was nearly a blur, and my eyes struggled to focus on him. Despite him being faster than Addie, she avoided his strike and flipped him onto his back.

He easily maneuvered out of her hold, moving at that impossible speed of his. As she stopped another attempt to get to me—I guess he’d rather deal with the weak human than a werewolf—she glanced my way. “Run. Get to the house and go to Sebastian’s study. Now!”

While I didn’t want to leave one of my best friends behind, I knew she could take care of herself, and all I’d be was a liability. This was a fight between powerful supernatural beings, and I had no place here. I took off toward the house, grateful that the path was clear and visible in the dark. I was sprinting as fast as I could, but even that didn’t feel like it was enough. How could I outrun something that moved faster than my eyes could track?

The towering house came into view, and even though I was a hundred feet away, I began thinking I could make it to safety. I should’ve known it was too good to be true. As I ran, I didn’t hear anyone following or approaching, so I wasn’t ready when someone grabbed me from behind and lifted me off my feet.

Acting on instinct, I threw my head back. Pain bloomed in the back of my skull. Holy shit. What the fuck was this guy’s head made out of? The only consolation was his grunt, letting me know it hurt him too, only not enough for him to let me go.

I struggled against his hold, kicking at him, clawing his arms, jerking my elbows back: it didn’t matter what I did. His hold remained like steel. Stupid fucking vampires and their super-speed and strength.

While I uselessly struggled, he ran his nose along my throat and inhaled my scent, which was creepy on so many levels, especially when he moaned, and had me struggling even more. A pained scream tore out of my mouth when he bit my neck, and he hadn’t been gentle either. That shit fucking hurt and burned like hell. It was like my blood was boiling as he gulped it down. I swore I could feel my blood being ripped from my body, and it was pure agony in a way I’d never experienced before.

He’d only drank from me for maybe a few seconds, but it felt like several minutes. The pain subsided, for the most part, when he stopped drinking my blood, but there was still a lingering ache from where he’d bitten me—blood dripping down my neck from the wound. My head felt a little light, but at the same time, throbbed with an oncoming headache.

“You were right. This is the best shit I’ve ever had,” he said, and at first, I had no clue who he was talking to.

“I told you.” My blood ran cold when I heard the familiar voice and looked up to see Ezra in front of me.

Moving faster than my eyes could track, he was gone. The vampire’s hold on me vanished, and I was dropped to my feet, my legs buckling under my weight and sending me crashing to the ground in a painful heap. As I pushed myself up, I heard the distinct sound of bones snapping, and my focus landed on Ezra as he threw the vampire to the side, his head bent at an awkward angle.

“Too bad I don’t share what’s mine,” he murmured.

I didn’t wait for him to turn his focus to me. I was already shoving myself onto shaky legs and sprinting toward the house. It was a futile effort. I knew I’d never outrun him, but I had to at least try. I didn’t even make it twenty feet before he caught me and pinned me against a tree, my back stinging at his rough handling. In true Ezra fashion, he sent thoughts and images racing through my mind, making the emerging headache worse. Even with the knowledge he was doing this to me, it took me several seconds to break through the haze.

He pressed his body against mine, and despite the countless thoughts he planted in my head about how much I wanted him and how this turned me on, I was utterly repulsed and tried shoving him away.

“Let me go, you psycho, gross-ass vampire!” I shrieked, no longer giving a shit if I offended him.

He shushed me as if I was a child or as if he was soothing me. “It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to save you. Save you from their manipulations. You’ll be safe with me. In time, you’ll learn to love me.” He said the words with such sincerity and conviction that I knew there was no reasoning with him.

This guy was completely delusional. He and Lindsay would be perfect for each other.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. I want nothing to do with you,” I practically spat at him as I tried kicking him.

“You’ll change your mind once I turn you, and you no longer feel him manipulating you.”

I vehemently shook my head as panic bloomed in my chest. I’d never given any thought to being turned into a vampire—until yesterday, I’d thought they were a myth—but in this moment, I knew I never wanted to become one. The panic flooding my body was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and I was terrified, knowing I was helpless to stop him.

“Please don’t. I don’t want this or you. Please.” I wasn’t above begging, nor was I ashamed when a tear slid down my cheek. Ezra shushed me again, wiping away my tears as if he weren’t the reason they’d made an appearance. I jerked my head back, hating his touch.

Moving faster than I’d been expecting, even though I knew better, he dropped his head to my neck and began drinking from the same spot as the previous vampire. While it didn’t hurt nearly as much as the last time, it still fucking hurt and had me screaming, both from the pain and the terror of being turned.

I should’ve asked Cass more about vampires and their weaknesses.

Something smashed into Ezra’s side, yanking him away from me. The momentum knocked me to the ground for the third time tonight, and I just knew I’d be covered in bruises when this was all over. If I survived.

An animalistic growl had me looking up and finding a light gray wolf facing off against Ezra. It was smaller than Sebastian but still bigger than a normal wolf. Even though I hadn’t seen her shift, I knew this was Addie.

Her glowing yellow eyes met mine, and I was able to read the command in them, telling me to run. So I did.

It was a futile effort; Ezra easily caught up to me since Addie now had her hands—paws—full with another vampire. He grabbed my upper arm, jerking me to a stop as he spun me around to face him. I raised my hands to stop myself from crashing into him.

“Stop fighting me! We’re meant to be together,” he growled, his eyes crazed.

“No, we don’t, you crazy bastard.” To punctuate my statement, I drove the heel of my hand into his windpipe and then his nose, hearing the crunch of bone. His hold on me loosened enough for me to jerk back and put some distance between us.

Before I could turn to run or he could recover, a reverberating bang filled the forest from a gun being fired. Ezra’s body jerked as blood bloomed on the right side of his chest. Another shot was fired, but this time, he moved out of the way of the whizzing bullet. He dodged the next two, but the third hit him in the shoulder. His gaze shot to me and in it, I saw a resolve that had my stomach plummeting. “I’ll be back for you.”

A final gunshot had my ears ringing, but Ezra was already gone.

Quick footsteps crunching the grass had me looking to my left, my body going tense as I waited to see who had saved me. Shock flooded my body when my rescuer stepped into the moonlight, and I was able to see their face.

“Dad?”