Page 232 of The Curse Trilogy

“I just need to know he’s not going to get you back. He said he wasn’t a threat yet, but-”

“But nothing. What he did made it impossible for him to ever be a threat again,” I sigh out, and it’s hard to hold my tears back.

“Just tell me, baby. Why don’t you want to tell me?” he pleads.

“I’ll tell you, but not right now. Right now there’s a lot of full bloods who will be gunned down if we don’t intercept the infected food source.”

He sighs out very hard, and then his lips stroke mine gently before he pulls back.

“Are you sure you can go back right now? We could just let them handle this,” he murmurs softly.

“I’m not ready to go back, but if the food has already been distributed, they’re going to need me and my gift. I don’t want to kill innocent full bloods. That’s what he meant when he said they couldn’t help it, wasn’t it?”

“I should have known. I’m glad they were the scum of my breed instead of innocents,” Brazen mutters guiltily.

“Don’t do that. It’s not like it’s everyday someone spikes the human food source. Let’s go help them in case the full bloods are innocent this time,” I gently urge, and this time my lips are the instigators of the sweet, comforting kiss I offer.

He smiles slightly, and then he pulls my hand in his before leading me out the door.

“The fucking food has already been dispersed. They served it yesterday which means the damn full bloods should be here any time. They’ll be traveling in a pack because of the mindless mentality it causes,” Brazen growls in disgust.

“Have you ever faced this before?” I ask softly.

“I had a human girl try to use my blood in this way to trick me once before. If Corbin hadn’t chained me up, I would have gone after her. If he hadn’t sedated me, I would have found a way to kill myself when I couldn’t find her. It’s the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life… until I lost you,” he utters a little too honestly, and my lips cover his instantly.

His hands grip me tightly, and then Clay’s cough interrupts our accidental steamy moment.

“We’re setting up to canvas the area. According to Brazen’s math, they should be here within the hour.”

“This is so fucked up,” Hale exasperates while running his hands through his hair.

“It usually is when blood is involved. Isn’t evolution grand?” Brazen sardonically rattles out.

“Fuck,” Hale growls while slapping the side of the wall, and then we hear the stirring of frenzied vehicles humming violently.

“They’re coming,” I almost whisper, and Hale quickly injects himself with olophine while arming himself with tranquilizer darts filled with the sedative we only view as medicine.

Brazen kisses my cheek before climbing up the tower with his rifle strapped to his back. Hale walks over to me and checks my guns to make sure everything is in working order.

“Worried I’ve forgotten how to use a gun in two days time?” I mockingly muse.

He smirks slightly, and then his thumb rolls over my lips as he smolders, “I always look out for you. That’s never going to change.”

I shiver lightly under his smoking-hot-as-Hale gaze, and then the sound of the cars near as suddenly the rabid full bloods begin bursting free from the vehicles to rush the gates.

“It’s time, baby,” he utters too seductively, and then he jumps over the side of the wall to start firing his tranquilizers into mindless mass.

I take a deep breath while my knees work to solidify themselves again, and then I follow his lead while dropping the five stories to the ground. Right away I see the men running toward us - unarmed and completely outside of their right minds.

I see Hale firing rapidly into the flesh of the full bloods, and they drop instantly from the few drops of the sedative that wouldn’t faze us. I fire several of my own as the mindless drones power forward in their one-tracked mission.

“There’s a lot of fucking full bloods here,” I scream out, and then my gun jams just as teeth shatter against my invincible skin.

“Damn it,” Hale breathes out in relief as I slam the full blood into the wall to knock him unconscious, and suddenly more firing brigades sound out from behind as Nicholas and his men start firing down from the wall.

Hale comes to my side just as a hailing shower of tranquilizers dipped in uranium fire into the terrifying crowds. He jerks me against him, and we thud against the wall where we’re shielded by the concreted overhang. More shots ring out as the bodies keep falling, and there’s an instant decline in the unarmed men.

“That would have sucked,” he murmurs with his lips dangerously close to mine.