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Dmitri took a second to think it over. “Get in the car,” he said to the other Hunters.

They did as they were told. One jumped in the open back and aimed his crossbow at Leah. Dmitri scooted to the door, jumped in, and pushed Emily to the ground.

The car jerked forward even before Dmitri slammed his door close. Leah ran to Emily and hugged her.

“Shh.” Leah rubbed her arms up and down the girl’s back. “You’re safe now.”

“No, no, no.” Emily shook with terror. “Not vampires. Please, please don’t.”

Julian’s chest twisted as he felt Leah’s pain along with Emily’s genuine anguish. Leah’s fierce protectiveness further cemented his feelings for her. He wanted to hold her close and comfort her like how she was consoling the girl.

All these years, he’d treated the Organization as a nuisance, nothing but a bunch of masochistic and close-minded humans. It hadn’t occurred to him how the Organization had recruited the young and vulnerable and brainwashed them to fight his kind. He’d done his best to protect Vegas in the last hundred years. In his arrogance, he’d ignored the way the Organization had grown and expanded. When the genetically enhanced Hunters first appeared, he should’ve known something was wrong.

We should give chase.Marek interrupted his thoughts.

Julian wanted to. Killing Dmitri would not solve all their problems, but it would weaken the Organization and give them time to plan a better defense. Yet, he couldn’t risk Leah and their new charge. It was too risky. None of them were at their full strength and they didn’t know if Dmitri had another trap waiting for them.

No. Let’s return to Vegas first.

“What should we do with the girl?” Rowan asked.

“We’re taking her with us,” Leah said in a voice that dared any of them to argue. Julian held back a smile at her fire, facing down vampires centuries older than she was.

“She’s right. We can’t just leave her here.” Leave it to Devon to be the one on Leah’s side. “I’ll take her.”

When Devon stepped toward Leah, Emily cowered and hugged Leah tighter. Devon looked helpless for once, unused to rejection from the other gender.

“Hold on.” Leah rummaged in her pack and pulled out a small syringe. She injected the needle into Emily’s arm while repeating, “Shh, it’s okay.”

A few seconds later, the younger woman calmed. She ceased crying and nodded off against Leah’s shoulder, her breathing slow and even.

“She’s fine for now.” Julian helped Leah stand up with the girl and handed her to Devon’s waiting arms. “Where’re we going?”

“We have a safe house a few hours from here. We’ll stop there for the day,” Marek responded.

”We’re not heading back to Vegas?”

”Not directly. We’re too far out.” Marek shook his head. “The sun will be up before we get back, and we can’t risk traveling during the day. There’s not enough cover between here and the city.”

Leah looked down, wringing her fingers.

“What is it?” Now it was Julian’s turn to be concerned.

She looked up at him, her pained expression squeezing his heart. “I can’t come with you.”

That had everyone standing at attention. “What do you mean? We came to save you,” Devon said.

Leah chewed on her lips. Julian wanted her back in his arms. He wanted them to be alone again, to have no worries in the world and to just enjoy each other’s company.

”I can’t come with you,” she repeated. “They can track me. If I’m with you during the day, they’ll know your location.”

”I’m not leaving you again.” No way on earth was he letting her go again. Not as long as he had a heartbeat. “Do you want a repeat of this? If you get caught, I will come for you.”

“I won’t get caught. That’s why I got these.” Leah held up the backpack with the supplies from the lab. “With these, I can go for a day without stopping. Until you catch up to me, or until I get to Vegas.”

“No.” Julian shook his head. This was wrong.

“Where is your tracker? Maybe we can take it out,” Devon suggested.