The Way You Bite(43)

The vamp was fast as he parried and thrust at him, dancing around with his serrated silver blade. “Scared, wolf? You should be.”

Lexan was faster. “If you choose death, then so be it.” He swiped across the vamp’s wrist. The vamp’s knife fell.

Lexan struck lightning fast, slicing across the vamp’s neck and then driving his knife deep into his chest. He wondered if the body would corrode to ash in this dense forest, but cared not to ensure placement of the body where sunlight would hit it.

He returned to Vee, catching her hand before her knife hit its target, his chest. “It’s me.”

Warning flared in his mind. Another vamp. The vamp’s distinctive scent permeated his nostrils with a strong chaser smell of arousal and anger. He locked onto the threat.

Thirty yards away, Ambrose smiled. He targeted Lexan with a suppressed 9mm. Would he be crazy enough to confirm open warfare? This act would be considered way more than a little skirmish as part of the Stateside war.

Ambrose fired. Lexan jumped left, pulling Vee with him, and flung his knife toward Ambrose into a perfect mid-chest hit. The knife hit simultaneously with Ambrose’s second shot. Pain exploded in Lexan’s thigh.

Adrenaline surged. The official peace was over. Now they could finally deal with the virus openly. And lay down the payback the vamps deserved.

He’d deal with it later.

His priority was to get Vee out of here. Ambrose couldn’t get her back.

Within seconds, Ambrose was surrounded by his guards. His knife’s path hadn’t been a death hit. More of a slow-down hit. He and Ambrose would have their moment. Not tonight.

“Follow me,” Lexan ordered, ignoring the pain in his thigh.

A quarter-mile away, he yanked open the door of a dark-colored SUV. Vee hopped in.

“Get us out of here, Eric,” he ordered as he fell onto the backseat floor. TC jumped into the passenger front seat, pulled the door closed. The car squealed on the gravel as it kicked into gear.

TC said, “Our guys are on their way behind us.”

Lexan pulled himself up onto the seat and gripped his thigh, emitting a low curse.

“Oh, shit,” said TC. He leapt into action, climbing over the center console.

TC removed his belt from around his waist and wound it tightly around Lexan’s upper thigh. Deftly, he cut Lexan’s pants up to the wound. “One of those fuckers got him. It’s liquid silver. A death hit.”





Chapter Seventeen


“You’re shot?” Vee’s head buzzed. She concentrated on her breaths, trying to slow them down, but the buzzing in her head continued.

Something inside her twisted up hard at the thought of Lexan dying. Doctor mode kicked in, locking down all emotion.

Vee leaned around TC to look, but TC shifted, blocking her.

“Damn it. You got zinged with a liquid silver bullet in the femoral. You ran on this?” TC pulled his finger away and wiped blood off on the back of the front seat.

Her heart raced. She managed to whisper, “Let me see.”

“What’s the point? It’s right into the artery, which has already pumped this shit everywhere. No one can make this magically disappear,” TC said.

“I expected it was something like that,” Lexan murmured.

“Was it intentional?” Eric asked from the front seat.

“Ambrose meant to do it.” Lexan locked gazes with Eric in the rearview mirror.

“Next time I see him, he’s dead. They’re all dead.” Eric slapped a hand against the steering wheel. “What’s your order, sir?”

Vee shouldered in front of TC, which was like moving a stubborn Mastiff who was barely keeping his aggression in check.

Lexan’s eyes were shut tight, his head thrown back.

TC tried to pull her away from him. The buzzing in her brain worsened. A low animal growl came from her throat.

Lexan’s eyes popped open. “Stop.”

TC and she froze at the order, neither sure to whom he spoke.

Lexan grasped her chin. “Vee, look me in the eyes.”

She met his gaze.

“Your pupils are dilating and contracting. The wolf wants out, but you can’t shift right now. When it happens, you’ll need help…probably blood. I can’t let you have blood right now. You are going to get control.”

“I’m fine. I’m not turning into a freaking dog.” She glared at TC, who’d released her but looked as if he was about to lean in and grab her again. “Do you see another doctor around here?”

“Look all you want, Vee.” Lexan waved at his exposed thigh.

She cast TC a warning glare, then probed around the bullet’s entry point. The rich smell of Lexan’s blood had her canines elongating. The buzzing in her brain drowned out all ambient sounds. A part of her wanted to claw her way out of this SUV and run free. The other half of her wanted to sink her teeth into Lexan’s oozing thigh and drink until she was drunk on his taste.

Lexan grabbed her chin again and forced eye contact. “I need Dr. Scarpa right now.”

“I’m good.” She yanked out of his grasp, wondering if she really was in control.

She used the cut areas of his pant leg to dab at blood and fought the powerful compulsion to lick the area clean. There wasn’t much to see other than a pinpoint hole and some fresh bruising. “You feel any silver reaction?”