Page 41

“Boo,” a man snarled, his face whipping around the corner of the hallway. I could barely make out his features as my foot caught on the rug and I stumbled forward, involuntarily letting go of Azelie’s hand.

“Mom!” she screamed, and I glanced behind me as another man ripped open a bedroom door and lunged at her. She swung a fist, connecting with his arm. I dove toward her as a hand clamped around my ankle, and my chin slammed into the carpet.

Stars spun in my vision, blurring my surroundings as whoever held me dragged me away from her. The skin on my stomach turned raw with heat as I clawed at everything around me. Broken wood, picture frames, and torn books flew around me. Glass shards pierced my skin, but I ignored the agonizing sting. With a glance behind me, I aimed the heel of my foot at the hand holding my ankle. I kicked. Hard. With a thud, it landed against my attempted captor’s wrist.

“Mom!” Azelie shouted again as my captor released my ankle.

“Azelie!” I shoved myself upright. An arm was wrapped around her midsection, carrying her back to my bedroom that we’d just vacated. Tears of fury clouded my eyes.

And fear.

As I sprinted down the corridor after her, the weaselly man carrying her spun around and shot me a malicious grin just as he passed through the door frame. And he slammed the bedroom door shut in my face. My forehead rammed the wood.

“MAMA!” she cried out.

“FIGHT, BABY!” I screamed and ripped at the door handle. It wouldn’t turn. He’d locked it.

Fear coursed through me as hot and sharp as the glass embedded in my arms. Pounding on the frame, the wood rattled, but it did nothing to get me any closer to Azelie.

Suddenly, a hand clamped down on my shoulder and shoved me aside. Off balance, I crashed against the wall as a hooded figure spun around and kicked backward against the door. It flew open with a cascade of shattered wood. Red eyes briefly connected with mine.

And the Rougarou raced past me into the bedroom.

“Azelie!” I screamed again and darted in after the creature. In a flurry of shadows, the creature dove at the monster holding Azelie pinned to the bed. They both crashed to the far side of the mattress and out of view.

“Come on!” I waved at my daughter as she scrambled off the bed, and we raced into the hallway.

Rounding a corner, we both dug in our heels at the same time and screeched to a stop. Six men groaned on the ground, while a couple of others weren’t moving at all. Azelie’s eyes widened, and her chest rose with panting breaths. She raised a shaking finger and pointed at a body lying still on the floor.

With his neck at an odd angle. An angle that I knew indicated that he was dead.

“Let’s go,” I whispered and grabbed her hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. Guiding her through the rubble and broken chaos of wood and metal that used to be furniture, I shoved our front door open.

And froze. Five more men waited for us. My mom and dad were each held by one of them with a knife at their throats. My knives. And while you couldn’t kill someone by stabbing them, if you sliced their jugular…

“You fucked this up,” one man called out, any distinguishing features hidden behind a hood and black balaclava.

“How so?” I replied, swallowing the nerves that had nearly made me stutter. I gently pushed Azelie behind me. She tucked her face against my back.

“Who’d you call? That… That thing has shown up every time,” he asked.

I slowly shook my head. “I didn’t call anyone.”

“ALL WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO WAS TRASH YOUR PLACE!” he shouted, and then a crack pierced the air.

My eyes widened, and the assailant crumpled to the ground.

Dead. With a bullet hole in the back of his head.

Chapter 18

COLETTE

Shiny metal flickered beneath the moonlight as the remaining two men who didn’t hold either of my parents raised their own knives and spun in a slow circle. My dad thrashed against the chokehold, but his captor wasn’t as distracted as he’d thought.

“Don’t,” his captor warned, and a sliver of blood seeped from the fresh cut upon my father’s throat.

But my mind was focused on something else. Did the Rougarou even know how to use a gun? The man was just shot. A creature of the night, one cursed by the moon, wouldn’t use a gun, would it?