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Thank you.

The Hunters hadn’t noticed Felix and Gabriella. Julian released the dead he was carrying and sprinted off, grimacing against the silver that traversed through his bloodstream.

He followed the sound of the sirens and saw the vehicle a few minutes later. Several cop cars chased it as it weaved through traffic.

He also saw the shield boundaries.

Too close.

Leah,he reached out, hoping beyond hope that this would work.Can you hear me?

Her mind brushed past his a second later, tentative and questioning, while flooding him with warmth and light. Julian didn’t allow himself to rejoice, not until he had her back.

Julian?

Can you stop the car? Or slow it down?

No response. Before he could ask again, the car swerved to the right, almost crashing into the building. His heart stopped. He hadn’t thought this plan through. There was no guarantee Leah would survive a crash.

Luckily, the car righted itself. It gave Julian a few precious seconds to catch up. He took a giant leap from the roof and landed on top of the car’s back hood.

Two Hunters sat in the back, Leah struggling in the arms of one.

Julian saw red and punched through the window. The Hunter not holding Leah drew his gun, but Julian grabbed his arm and snapped his wrists. He screamed. Julian dragged him and threw him out of the car.

“Leah!”

He fumbled for her hand, but the car made a sudden jerk to the right. He clung on with sheer tenacity. The other Hunter, along with the one in the front, fired their guns.

“Hurry and get to the boundary!” the front one shouted.

They were almost there. Five more seconds at most. Unwilling to risk Leah getting caught in the crossfire, Julian didn’t reach for her again. Instead, he slid into the back seat and snapped the neck of the Hunter in the front passenger seat.

“Die, vampire!” The driver screamed and stomped on the gas pedal.

The car lurched forward through the boundary. Searing pain, like a thousand needles stabbing into him, burned him. Pieces of his skin peeled off in black ashes, leaving behind charred, angry, and bleeding welts.

“No!” Leah’s scream penetrated the scorching agony. “Julian! Go. Leave me. Please.”

With an earthshaking roar, Julian kicked open the door and jumped out. He dragged himself into the shield with the last of his strength, away from the sun.

Failed. He’d failed.

I will find you,Julian promised through the haze of pain.

To himself. To Leah. He didn’t know.

I will find you.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Wherearetheytakingher?”

Julian slammed the Hunter into the wall, reining in the roiling anger within lest he kills the human. He wanted to tear the man apart, limb by limb. The urge to destroy something was overwhelming.

He’d lost her. The despair threatened to overcome him, but he hung on to the anger like a drowning man to a lifeline. She wasn’t dead. Deep in that empty place in his chest where his soul should be, he knew she was alive.

There was still a chance to save her.