Page 120 of Those That Are Lost

“Too bad Adicious didn’t listen.”

I see Red’s fingers dig harder into his scalp, nails cutting the skin. Ronan grabs her arm with his free one and tries his best to pull her off.

I move to pull his hands off her before he manages to loosen her grip. Henry’s also at my side and covered in more blood than he was a second ago. He grabs one of Ronan’s legs to ease his squirming and pins him down further.

“Any last words?” Red grinds out between clenching teeth.

“You’re just as bad as he was. Doing this, wiping out more of our kind when we’re on the brink of extinction.”

“It’s those like you that caused the hatred to ignite,” I snap, moving round the bar. I put my hands on either side of his skull and twist sharply, breaking his neck and rendering him unconscious.

I keep twisting as Red lets go of his limp body until the muscles in his neck give way and his head tears clean off.

It almost feels anti-climatic. But with three on one, there was no way Ronan had a chance. I wished there had been time to inflict the pain on him that he deserved. There had been countless times where I’d imagined peeling the skin off his bones, making him suffer—Adicious too—for all the cruelty they’d inflicted on the others in the pack. But the priority is getting rid of them.

Either way, they have ended up dead and we’re still alive.

Looking over to check on Ash, the wolf sits beside a very messed up looking Cairn. Ash has one paw on his head,looking almost comical. He lifts his paw and tilts his head as we make eye contact, his large ears flicking with the movement.

He’s checking with me whether to end the shredded unconscious vampire on the floor.

I nod and we watch as Ash gives a small bark before closing his powerful jaws around Cairn’s throat and shaking him like a chew toy. Henry moves over to hold the body still, by placing his foot on Cairn’s chest. Ash tugs again and Cairn’s head comes away, rolling across the floor.

“Here, drink.” Red thrusts a blood packet into my hand, having pulled a few from the fridge.

She moves over to Henry, handing him one as well. His arm looks horrendous and must be painful but it’ll heal. He takes the blood gratefully and immediately lifts it to his lips.

Red looks back over her shoulder and sees I’m still not drinking, so I hurriedly open the pack using my fangs and down several mouthfuls. The blood instantly heats in my stomach, my body quickly digesting it to further heal my injury.

“Can you tell where Antares is?” Henry asks as soon as he’s finished drinking.

“Have you seen him?” Red asks.

“Yeah, he was fighting with the rest out the back. We followed Ronan and Cairn in here as they tried to run.”

“Then let's go. I do feel him close.”

I nod in agreement and Ash yaps as he bounds to the door. We’ll need to burn the bodies, but first we need to finish this.

CHAPTER 49

AURORA

The house is quiet as we leave the common room. Noise and shouts come from outside as we divert to the rear exit, following the voices.

What we find outside is both a relief and a horror show.

I immediately seek our vampires, scanning those moving versus those lying in pieces on the ground. It’s hard to discern in the darkness, the only light is beams spilling out from the house.

Thankfully, our vampires have more than held their own, the three other wolves that prowl amongst them look battered but not mortally injured. The fighting, for the most part, looks over. Those of Adicious’s pack we identified as enemies are either dead or being held by our guys.

“Antares,” I shout as I spot him and Atlas regrouping, having just dispatched one of Adicious’s members between them. He’s as covered in blood as I am and his shirt is ripped but doesn’t appear wounded in any way. I jog over.

“Finally,” he replies, tone mocking. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I could say the same to you.” I shove his shoulder andthen grab him into a tight hug. His arms immediately lock around me.

I see Atlas from over Antares’s shoulder throw down the body in a pile they’re creating, then freeze. I release Antares quickly, spinning to see what danger there is.