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“So, what else does your little pet whisper to you?” The shouted question drowned Liam out. “Your Chosen tell you how to run your business too? Maybe she’s the one I should talk to instead of you. I’m sure she’d find me persuasive.” The vampire leered at her, baring stained teeth and sending her heart into her throat. Liam drew his arm back, guiding her behind his shoulders.

“Think it’s time we took this conversation outside,” Liam warned.

“No need. I’m here to inform you Zion’s offer has expired. He didn’t appreciate the way you treated his associates.”

“I don’t do business with drug dealers.” Liam’s low tone carried enough menace that the other players began to rise from their chairs.

“Pity.” The vampire scanned the crowd. Voice booming, he bellowed, “Zion is leading us into the future. All who stand with him will be rewarded.” His gaze met with another man’s across the room. He nodded, then fixed his attention on Liam, snarling, “Those who defy him will be punished.”

The second man launched out of his chair, gun in hand. Shots blasted, the sound thunderous in the enclosed space.

Fire seared Alex’s shoulder, and she jolted from the impact. Pain ripped a scream from her throat.

Liam leapt to his feet, shielding her. His massive body jerked with each blast of the gun. Multiple shots slammed into him.

“No, Liam,” she shouted.

He grabbed the table and flipped it, slamming it into the loudmouth messenger. Poker chips scattered. Players toppled from their chairs.

Chaos erupted. The panicked herd rushed for the exit. Several fell in front of the doorway and were trampled.

The shooter charged in their direction, kicking overturned chairs from his path. Alex clutched her burning shoulder, dragging a breath into her lungs. “Liam, behind you.”

He launched a fist at the shooter’s head while the other struggled free of the broken table. Blood poured from Liam’s wounds, so much it stunned her he was still standing.

Stampeding bodies rushed past, slamming her into the wall. Shockwaves of agony rippled through her body. The room spun, and she slid to the ground.

Over the sounds of panic, a voice snarled, “Out of the way, you bloody cowards. You’re blocking the door.”

“Gavin?” she choked out.

“Kick a hole in the wall if you have to,” said another voice she didn’t recognize.

She pushed against the floor, too weak to lift more than her head. Her shoulder burned, and a sticky warmth dampened her shirt. Her eyelids drooped. There was an explosion as though a wrecking ball slammed through the building. Then darkness pulled her under.

* * *

Liam bulldozed the wall,using the assassin as a battering ram. They plunged through the jagged opening. Wood paneling splintered around them. He hit the ground with the vampire’s throat in his hand. The asshole’s eyes bulged in his head, his face turning red, then purple. Bones cracked beneath Liam’s tightening fist.

Dead.

Liam rolled and glanced at his blood-coated chest. Multiple bullet holes riddled his torso. It was the one near his heart that would be the end of him.No time. Not going to last much longer.His body moved as though weighed by chains. Weak, sluggish, he staggered to his feet and braced for the remaining assassin to come through the wall.

“Come and get me, you bastard,” he snarled, spitting blood. If Liam was going down, he was taking this fucknut with him.

The assassin lunged.

Jericho intercepted.

He leapt the distance to Liam’s attacker and slammed his shoulder into the vampire’s chest, driving him into the ground.

Colin swept in from the other side. “Dammit, Jericho. Don’t kill him. We need him alive.”

Liam blinked, drawing into focus the whirling blobs of color before him. He preferred to fight his own battles. This time—he’d have to make an exception. Blood trickled down his chest. Too much. His life drained from his body.Fucking drug dealers.

Jericho dropped the now unconscious assassin, then turned, rushing toward him. Liam’s vision blurred, and his limbs grew numb.Aw, hell.Thick arms clamped around his waist, too late to stop his collision with the floor. Down they went.

Fabric tore, the material ripping away from Liam’s wounds. He forced his eyelids open to find Jericho kneeling over him.