Warrior (Relentless #4)(217)

No. A bellow of rage tore from my throat. People scattered as I ran to the window and jumped through it. Ignoring the bodies littering the ground, my gaze zeroed in on Sara. My knees weakened when I saw her standing there, looking unharmed.

She didn’t move as I strode to her. Trembling, I pulled her into my arms, needing to reassure my Mori and myself she was okay. Her arms immediately crept up around my neck, pulling my head down to her.

“I love you,” she said. Then her lips met mine.

Her touch dismantled my rage, and her kiss set me aflame with a different kind of heat. I crushed her to me, my hands roving over her back, only vaguely aware of the rain plastering our hair and clothes to our bodies. She clung to me, wrapping her legs around my waist as she made me forget everything but the two of us.

My sanity returned to me, and I separated our mouths, breathing harshly. “You were supposed to stay with me.”

Her look was anything but apologetic. “You didn’t need my help, and someone had to save Chris’s ass. Again.”

I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a groan. She’s going to be the death of me.

I rested my forehead against hers. “Now I know why Nate’s going gray. At this rate, I’ll be white before him.”

She smiled evilly. “Well, there’s always Clairol for Men.”

I stared at her, and she burst into laughter before she burrowed her face against my throat. Her hot breath on my skin made me extremely thankful for the cold rain drenching us.

Chris walked up to us, chuckling and shaking his head. “Do you two want us to give you some privacy?”

I grinned at him as Sara lifted her head to say something.

Her eyes widened, and she looked down as if realizing for the first time where she was.

Satisfaction filled me, knowing I’d done that to her. Her eyes lifted to mine, and I smiled as my hands slid down to cup her firm bottom.

“On second thought, this might be worth a few gray hairs.”

Her brows came together in an unconvincing scowl, and she removed her legs from around my waist.

Ignoring her silent demand to be set down, I held her for a moment, relishing the feel of her body flush against mine.

Her scowl deepened as I lowered her to the ground. Unable to resist, I kissed her nose before finally letting her go.

Geoffrey walked across the lawn toward us, his mouth set in a grim line.

“How many?” I asked him.

“Fifteen.” He rubbed his head and stared at the bodies on the grass. “Jesus! If you and your team hadn’t been here, it would have been a massacre.”

“Or maybe they came because we were here,” Chris said.

“How did you know?” Geoffrey asked Sara. “You said fifteen were coming. How could you possibly guess that?”

“I wasn’t guessing…” Her eyes narrowed, and she rubbed her chest. “I was wrong. There were sixteen. There’s still one here.”

Elijah stood in the doorway. “The house is clear.”

“Chris, can you and Elijah do a sweep out here to be safe?” I asked as Sara walked toward the house, her lips pursed in concentration.

I followed her because her intuition, or radar as she called it, was never wrong.

She entered the house and stood motionless for several seconds. Then she pointed at the closed door to the basement where the control room was located. “There.”

Geoffrey shook his head. “There’s no way for anyone to get in down there. The basement windows are all too small.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Then one tried to go out that way and got trapped, because there is a vampire in that basement.”

He looked at me, and I nodded.

“We’ll have to flush him out,” he said. “Abigail and I will go down, and the rest of you keep an eye on this door in case he comes through it.”

“We need to find out how they found this place and if they knew who was here,” I reminded him. “Unless you’re in immediate danger, do not kill him.”

I looked at Sara. “I don’t suppose it would do any good to ask you to let the others handle this one.”

She put up her hands and walked to the far side of the living room. “I’ve done enough killing for one night. This one is all yours.”

The other warriors and I formed a semicircle in front of the basement door. Geoffrey opened the door, and he and Abigail disappeared through it.

Seconds later, a female vampire’s scream was followed by the sounds of a struggle and a crash. The vampire cried out in pain.

“We have her,” Geoffrey called.

The rest of us relaxed, and I went to stand by Sara.

“What will they do with her?” she asked, still watching the basement door.

“They’ll confine her and wait until she gets hungry to see if she’ll talk.”

I looked through the window as the other Vegas team came roaring up in an SUV. The four warriors leapt out and dashed into the house. They skidded to a stop when they saw the damage.

“Goddamn!” Evan, a dark-haired warrior with short, spiked hair, let out a whistle. “We missed all the action.”

“Fuck the action.” Jackson ran past us to the stairs. “If my Martin has a scratch on it, I’m going to find some vampire ass to kick.”

I grinned at the blond warrior who loved his guitar almost as much as he loved his mother.