Page 15 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal (Kennedy Rain #4)

The car jolted to a stop in front of the decoy house, just inches away from hitting one of the three black SUVs parked next to the small porch. Before my seat belt released its protective lock across my chest, Nora was already out of the car.

“Nora, wait!” I shoved open my door and hurried after her.

Still in human form, Nora slid across the hood of the middle SUV. My navigation over the hood was far less smooth, and when I awkwardly landed on the other side, she had a grip on the door lever.

Locked.

That wouldn’t stop her for long.

She snapped the handle off. Kicked open the door—

—and a snarling wolf rammed into her side.

She shifted before she hit the ground, and Blake’s wolf lunged at her with a vicious growl.

Nora snapped at him, turned back toward the open door, and leaped toward it.

Another werewolf, this one dark gray, met her in the air. They both collided into the wall.

I backed against the SUV, trying to stay out of the way. The vehicle rocked hard when a third wolf landed on it. Hackles raised, he watched Nora and the gray wolf become a savage, snarling tangle of fur and fangs.

I wanted to stop it, but I didn’t move, afraid I might draw their attention. The treaty prevented a sane paranorm from deliberately killing me, but blood and violence triggered a werewolf’s primal instincts. I could end up collateral damage.

“Kennedy.” Christian’s call was almost drowned out by the growls. He was slowly, cautiously, approaching from the rear of the SUV. I inched his way—

Nora and the gray slammed into the passenger door inches away from me, rocking the vehicle, breaking half its windows, and leaving a single massive, crushed-metal dent in the frame.

I met Christian’s eyes. He held out his hand, made a motion to hurry, but my gaze landed on Blake. What the hell was he doing? He could stop this, but he wasn’t even trying. His huge wolf blocked the entrance to the house, watching the fight with no sign he would intervene.

“Do something, Blake,” I hissed. His golden eyes remained locked on the fight. If I’d had a rock in my hand, I would have launched it at his head.

His gaze flickered my way, just briefly.

The SUV rocked again. This time, it was the wolf on the hood, launching itself into the fight. Nora yelped when his teeth sank into her shoulder. She ripped free and then slashed her claws across his muzzle.

Two against one now. Screw this. I freed a chaos orb from my bracelet, started to throw it. Then stopped. What if I dosed them and Satine decided to make an appearance? It would be easy for an Aged vampire to kill four disoriented werewolves.

Christian risked a dash to my side. He closed his hand over mine. “Blake won’t let them kill her. Let’s go.”

I shook my head. “Not without Nora.”

“Kennedy—”

Blake let out a sudden vicious sound, something between a bark and a growl, and fear knifed through my ribs. The gray and hood wolves backed off immediately. They turned toward Blake.

But Blake wasn’t facing them anymore. He faced the doorway, hackles raised and crouching low, poised to attack. When Nora managed to get back to her feet, she did the same, falling in line with the others.

The vampires had noticed us. They were somewhere inside the decoy house, hiding in its seemingly endless shadows. The sun might be creeping into the sky, but it couldn’t have touched that darkness even if it had been noon in a blazing desert.

Christian’s arm looped around my waist, pulling me close.

Maybe he planned to drag me away. The logical part of my brain wanted him to.

A massive amount of power flooded the atmosphere, a tsunami displacing the normal world order.

It claimed the air and the earth, reeking of the same ruthless authority the compound’s previous master had possessed.

“Isn’t this lovely,” Satine sang out.

My breathing shallowed. I looked at my companions, four werewolves positioned to defend each other, to defend me, and one human whom I always seemed to be pulling into trouble. I cared about all of them, and the treaty gave me some level of protection. If I could just pull Satine’s focus to me…

“I’m here to talk to Jared.”

Satine laughed. She might as well have drawn her blood-red nails down my spine. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you again, Kennedy. And Christian. I presume one of these mutts is Lehr’s rebellious daughter.”

The four werewolves stood their ground, maintaining their wall of claws and teeth.

I stepped away from Christian, stepped toward that angry barricade and the menace beyond it.

“Oh, you’re actually serious.” Satine laughed again. “We never did get the opportunity to chat. Come in, Kennedy Rain. You as well, Christian.”

I didn’t like the way she wrapped her lips around his name.

One of her people had almost bled Christian dry after they’d crashed their vehicle into us outside of Austin.

Satine had allowed and encouraged it—she’d played with us.

The only reason we’d both left alive was because I’d pissed off Nora when I ditched her in New Orleans, and she’d broken the sound barrier on her way to tear into me.

“I don’t like to wait,” Satine said, and this time she put power behind the words. Compulsion. My foot wanted to slide forward. I fought it, fought against the hooks Satine drove into my consciousness.

I might have lost the battle if Christian hadn’t pushed away from the SUV. He walked toward the open door.

“Christian!” Unlocking my feet from the ground, I darted into his path. I placed my hands on his shoulders, forced him to look at me. “Fight it.”

His eyes didn’t see me, not until I shook him. Then he took one of my hands in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Vampire magic.”

I nodded.

His jaw locked. He turned fury-filled eyes toward the shadows inside the house.

“Such a touching relationship,” Satine said. “But you misunderstand. It wasn’t a request.”

I still couldn’t see anyone inside the house. The few times I’d entered it before, lights and lamps had brightened the rooms.

“In case you need a more obvious invitation, see that adorable blood-red light between your werewolf’s eyes?”

I looked automatically, and my heartbeat stuttered.

“Lehr would be most disappointed if his second’s brains were splattered across the ground,” Satine continued. “Or maybe he wouldn’t. Tell me, are the rumors true you’re no longer the alpha’s favorite? However did that happen?”

Blake growled. So did Nora and the other wolves. Magic strangled the air. One more tug, and this confrontation would erupt into violence.

I stepped in front of Blake.

He snapped at my hand.

And I snapped back, “I’m not going to let her kill you.”

His sharp bark sounded like a curse. He moved forward until he was beside me, his shoulder pressed hard against my hip, causing me to widen my stance to keep my balance.

I grabbed the fur behind his head. My intention was to keep him from attacking—as if that would actually work—but Blake was surprisingly soft.

Instead of gripping him firmly, my fingers loosened, then wove gently through his fur.

Blake leaned even harder into me, most likely because the red light moved to point at my chest.

Satine sighed. “You wish to speak to Jared, yes?”

“Aboveground,” I said.

“That’s not possible. It’s below or not at all.” It sounded like Satine was moving away.

Nora stalked toward the door.

“No pets allowed,” Satine said from somewhere deeper inside the house.

Nora shifted. Then Blake. I stumbled in that brief moment when he disappeared, probably would have hit the ground if he hadn’t reappeared in his human form and caught my arm, keeping me on my feet.

On my feet and pressed against his naked body.

I sucked in a breath, fighting against the urge to lean into him. My focus needed to be on Satine, on the vampires inside, not on the warmth of Blake’s skin or the memory of our mountainside kisses.

“Stay here,” I said.

Blake’s gold-rimmed, human eyes shifted from the doorway Nora had just disappeared through to me. “No.”

I grabbed his arm when he started forward. “I can’t protect you down there.”

Surprise flashed through his eyes. He extinguished it immediately. Then he very deliberately held my gaze. Invaded my space. Leaned close. “I protect you.”

Heat surged through my body. It was ridiculous to feel that flame between us here, with danger and violence waiting just over the threshold.

I backed away. Reclaimed my sanity. “Can you order Nora to come back?”

He shook his head. “Not when she’s like this.”

Of course not. That would be too easy.

I stared at the open door, mustered my courage, then walked inside.

Blake didn’t try to stop me. He followed. Christian attempted to enter too, but the remaining werewolves cut him off, likely at Blake’s mental command. A sliver of relief threaded through me. It was safer if he waited outside.

The darkness closed around me faster than I’d expected. Blindly, I reached out and found Blake’s arm. He took the lead, and my hand moved to his shoulder. Muscles flexed beneath my fingers.

“There’s a study toward the back of the house,” I said, relieved I managed to keep my voice steady. “Just left of the kitchen.”

“I sense them,” he said. Then the hallway lit up. Blake had found and flicked on a light switch.

I could have stopped touching him then.

Should have stopped touching.

The hallway light lit the study enough to see Nora heading down the stairs that were usually concealed behind a heavy bookcase.

Two vampires watched her. Then they watched us, arms crossed, not speaking.

I hadn’t seen either of them before, didn’t know if they were Satine’s guards, if they had been Arcuro’s, or if they might be loyal to Jared.