Warrior (Relentless #4)(166)

A second later, they were gone.

Jordan handed me a sword because mine was still strapped to my bike. Chris pulled out two knives, and Jordan gave knives to the two healers. They might have devoted their lives to medicine, but they were also trained warriors.

A mature vampire sped out of the darkness and came up short at the sight of his welcoming party. He obviously hadn’t expected to face eight armed warriors and two werewolves.

He veered to the right into the path of Roland and Peter just as they exploded from their clothes into wolf form. The two werewolves were on the vampire before he could scream, tearing him apart with a ferociousness that gave me a new appreciation for Sara’s friends.

The rest of the vampires burst upon us, shock registering on their faces. I went after the closest one, my blade laying open his stomach before he knew what had hit him. Another swing of my sword cut off his screams and his head.

The fight was short and brutal as we took advantage of their surprise to cut them down. Several minutes later, we stood in the driveway, looking at the bodies littering the ground.

“Eight,” Chris said, counting the bodies. “How did she know that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” I doubted I’d ever understand how her power worked. “Is everyone okay?”

We had no serious injuries. A few people had scratches, nothing that wouldn’t heal in an hour. One of the healers had shoved Sara’s human friend into the building to keep him safe.

Roland and Peter went to change into fresh clothes since they’d shredded what they were wearing. I called Wayne and asked him to send people to clean up the mess. The jet was waiting to take us to Santa Cruz, and I didn’t want to be away from Sara for a minute longer than necessary.

I walked over to Greg who came outside as we were loading up the SUVs.

“You should get out of here, too. We have no idea if there’ll be another attack, and we won’t be here to protect you.”

He drew himself up. “Don’t worry about me. Sara’s the one you should be thinking about.”

I crossed my arms. “Sara is all I think about.”

“Then why was she running around LA in the first place?” he demanded. “I know she thinks she can take care of herself, but this…” He waved angrily at the dead vampires. “This is too much. She said she was in danger, but I had no idea how bad it was. How could you let her leave your stronghold with all these vampires after her?”

I bristled at the accusation in his tone, mainly because he was right. I’d failed to keep Sara safe, and I never should have allowed her to slip away from Westhorne. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“I don’t know you, but I can see you care about Sara,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean much to me if she gets hurt because you guys can’t keep her safe.”

“Greg…” Roland said.

Greg waved him off and scowled at me. “I’ve known Sara a lot longer than you, and I was watching out for her before you even knew she existed. I don’t care who or what you are. You’ll answer to me if anything happens to her.”

Anger surged in me. There was nothing more important to me than Sara’s safety and happiness. I didn’t need this stranger telling me how to care for my mate, even if he was her friend.

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore,” I ground out. “Sara is my concern now.”

He took a step toward me. “Sara will always be my concern, and I watch out for the people I care about.”

My hands clenched. If he wasn’t a human, I would have punched him for insinuating I cared less for Sara’s welfare than he did.

Chris stepped between us and gave me a warning look. “The jet is waiting for us. We need to go.”

“Yeah, and Sara will kick your ass if you two fight,” Roland added with a smile.

Peter piped up. “And she could probably do it too.”

I nodded and turned away before I went against everything I believed in and hit an innocent human. I knew he was only overreacting because he was scared for Sara, but that didn’t cool the anger his words stirred.

“Greg’s just worried about Sara,” Roland said after we climbed into one of the SUVs. “She’s like a little sister to him, and it really tore him up when he thought she was dead.”

I watched the blond man go back into the apartment. “Is he staying here?”

“No, he’s grabbing his stuff and going to stay with his aunt in Dallas for a week. Then he’s going to Philly.”

“Good.”

The flight was short, but I spent every minute wondering how I was going to find Sara when we landed. Eldeorin had said his place was near Santa Cruz, but he hadn’t given us the address before he’d left. Was he telling the truth about the house? Even now, Sara could be in Faerie where I would never reach her.

We landed at the San Jose airport where Tristan had several Expeditions waiting for us in a private hangar to take us to Santa Cruz. When we exited the plane, I’m not sure who was more surprised to see a dwarf emerge from behind the parked SUVs.

He bowed when we approached him. “I am Heb. Master Eldeorin bade me give you directions to his home.”

I walked over and took the slip of paper he held out to me. The address on it was for place a few miles outside of Santa Cruz.