Page 251 of Cruelly Bitten

Or perhaps it was the same one. However, the frequency currently being used was hurting Willow instead of me.

Except, last time, she’d heard the hum before I had, the subtle buzz having irritated her lycan senses. She’d felt Lilith’sweapon as she’d been configuring it to be used on me, yet I hadn’t sensed it at all until it had knocked me on my ass.

Is that what she’s sensing now?I wondered with a frown.Is Cane unveiling an even worse weapon? Something meant to knock out an entire fucking city?

“Damien, we need to move,” I told him. “Send a warning to the others. Tell them what’s happening here. And try to get in touch with Cam.” Communication with Cam had been cut off earlier this morning around the time it’d become clear that he intended to fuck Izzy back into consciousness. None of us had wanted to hear that.

If anything, it had just made me want to kill the bastard even more.

But that was a task for another day.

Right now, I needed to get my mate off this rooftop and somewhere safe.

She’d curled herself even tighter into a ball, her skin turning an odd shade of blue, like she’d forgotten how to breathe.

Forcing her to her back, I took in her expression, noting the wild panic in her eyes. My mouth immediately sealed over hers, my air becoming her air as I forced her to inhale.

Her chest moved, but only through my insistent push.

What the fuck?This hadn’t happened to me when Lilith had knocked me down. I’d still been able to breathe. But her voice had controlled everything in my mind, rendering me utterly paralyzed while she’d spoken to me.

Lifting Willow into my arms, I jumped off the building, not caring at all about the three-story drop, and landed on my feet. Then I phased us away from the old Vatican walls.

Seconds felt like minutes, which resembled hours.

But the moment I heard my mate gasp, I paused, my eyes instantly searching for hers. She remained curled against my chest, shuddering as she caught her breath.

Only then did I feel the pain in my ankles, telling me that three-story drop had been a bit much. Fortunately, my age and experience allowed me to heal quickly.

And fuck if I was going to let a few bruises hold me back from saving my mate.

“Ryder,” Damien growled into my ear.

I hushed him, my attention still on Willow.

“I can’t reach Khalid,” Cedric said, his voice more distant, like he was talking to Damien in the background rather than into his communication unit. “The last I heard from him, he was entering the underground.”

“What about his tracking beacon? Anything?” Damien asked.

A beat passed before Cedric replied, “Nothing. Hazel said the tracker disappeared around the same time we lost audio.”

“Shit,” Damien muttered.

Willow coughed, her hands going to her ears again as she violently shook her head.

I didn’t think; I moved, phasing another three miles away from the compound. We were somewhere deep in the heart of former-day Rome, the buildings all deteriorating from lack of use and repair. Wildlife had returned to the city in the form of animals and greenery, giving the town a distinctly dystopian feel, just like most of the world.

No Vigils here,I thought, glancing around. They had various blockades set up around the city, along with a few architectural changes that made driving impossible without going through a checkpoint. But it didn’t exactly deter vampires from teleporting in and out.

Humans, however, would probably struggle with the obstacles, which was entirely the point—this city had been restructured to keepmortalsinside of it. Vampires and lycans were free to come and go as they pleased in any way they desired.

If I were building a fortress for my dynasty, I would have made it sono onecould enter at will. But Lilith hadn’t thought like that. Neither had Cane.

That arrogance had been Lilith’s downfall, and soon, it would be the cause of Cane’s demise as well.

Just as soon as my mate resurfaced and told me what the fuck was going on.

She was breathing again, thankfully, but she’d passed out against me, the pain seeming to have caused her to lose consciousness.