Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(114)

I needed him to trust me and that meant I had to betray Daniel.

Daniel’s eyes flared and he growled my way. He had a part to play. “You bitch. Do you remember what I promised would happen if you did this to me?”

I nodded through my tears. He hadn’t promised me anything about this particular situation, but he had made me a promise. He would always come for me. Always. He would always love me no matter what happened. I would always be his.

Daniel was saying good-bye for now. He was going to run. He was honoring me by trusting me to survive, but he would come for me when he was strong enough.

“Take the traitor,” Louis ordered.

There was a report of gunfire and Lee covered me quickly, taking us both to the ground. When he let me up, I could see that both Zack and Danny had been hit. Daniel was bleeding, his chest covered in it. Zack had fared better. Of course, he also hadn’t recently had his heart ripped out of his chest.

“Zack, you get your master out of here,” Lee ordered.

“But…” I heard in his voice he didn’t want to leave his brother behind, but Daniel was still and unmoving as Marini reached down for him.

“Now, Zack,” Lee ordered in best badass alpha voice.

Zack threw the Mantle of Arthur over his body as he covered his master. In a flash both disappeared.

“Où sont-ils partis?” Louis asked, searching the ground. He was enraged that his prey was getting away. “Trouvez-les!”

I didn’t need a translator for that one. Every vampire in the area started looking for Daniel. Lee changed quickly and then his massive roar filled the night. He was giving Zack a chance to get Daniel out. He howled as every vampire turned to him, noting the new biggest threat against them.

I took the chance to run back and get to Dev. The ground beneath me seemed to shift as I ran through the grass to get close to him. I prayed Zack was getting Daniel as far away as possible. My heart stopped as I saw Dev’s body on the ground. He lay face down in the grass. I hit my knees and touched his back, praying for the rise and fall of his chest. It was there and it was steady enough. Now I just needed to convince Lee to run and everything would be fine. Well, everything would be completely f*cked, but Louis would be satisfied with me. He would be too busy trying to find Daniel, and Lee could slip away.

I leaned over and kissed my faery prince. He stirred and turned his face to look up at me. “Zoey?”

“It’s all right, baby,” I said soothingly. “Daniel got away. We’re going to have to…”

“Go with Marini,” Dev finished. He pushed himself up but it was a struggle. “Zoey…” I read the fear in his eyes. He knew what Marini would want.

“Don’t you do anything that could get you killed. I already set the stage,” I said as I stood up.

I heard the loud sound of a lot of guns going off at once, and my head turned to where I’d left Lee. I could only see what was happening in the shadows the moonlight cast on the ground. There was a great dark figure in the middle of smaller ones. The wolf fought so valiantly, but he was alone and there were so many vampires. They were taking their rage out on my wolf. Complete terror took over and I knew I had to get to him. I had to stop them before it was too late.

I started to run even as Dev yelled for me to stop. I ran as fast as I could because he was alone and he didn’t want to be alone, not really. He never had. It was a perverse kink of his nature that led him to solitude, but he wanted to be loved. He deserved to be loved.

I ran as fast as my legs would carry me because those gunshots wouldn’t stop. The wolf howled and lashed out but the vampires didn’t fight fair. They surrounded my wolf and shot at him from every angle. I watched in horror as his body twitched one way and then another, as though the hail of bullets wouldn’t let him fall to the ground, wouldn’t allow him respite from the pain.

“Arrêtez!” I heard Louis screaming as I ran straight for my wolf, not thinking about the fact that the vampires were still shooting.

Dev screamed his own warnings behind me, but I was only thinking about getting to Lee. The vampires ceased shooting and the night was quiet. I only stopped when I really looked at him. Then it took everything I had not to run from what they had done to my bodyguard, my protector, my friend.

His body was covered in blood. There wasn’t an inch of him that hadn’t taken some kind of damage. I moved forward and fell to my knees, trying to figure out which part of him to cover. I needed to stop the bleeding. It was happening far too fast, and it was coming from everywhere.

“Chère, it’s too much,” Louis said from above me. “The bullets were silver, every one of them.”

I heard Dev struggling behind me, trying to get to us, but the vampires held him back.

“You may let the prince go,” Louis said imperiously. “I think he will behave himself now.”

“Oh, goddess,” Dev breathed.

“Please, you can save him,” I begged, holding onto the leg of Louis’s pants. I beseeched him. “He needs blood.”

The air beneath me spun as Lee’s body changed.

“Won’t work, darlin’,” he said and even as he spoke he was spitting blood.

The damage had looked bad on his wolf body, but it was devastating to see it on his human form. Blood seeped from every hole, and they were everywhere. The poisonous metal had entered his bloodstream in so many places. His chest was a mottled mess.