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Tears were flowing before Jamie could help it, his cheeks growing wet even as he continued to struggle. He really, really didn’t want to die this way. Would it be too pathetic to plead for mercy with a creature that couldn’t understand the concept?

Before he could decide, a loud roar washed over them, easily covering the sounds of the feral vampire’s growls and Jamie’s pathetic whimpers.

Jamie couldn’t see anything around him, the vampire’s beefy arm held over his face to keep him still. So he had a strange, surreal moment where he thought maybe the mountain lion had shown up after all.

Good kitty , he thought deliriously.

Except no. Mountain lion cries were high-pitched, like a woman’s wail. This was more like—like a lion’s roar, maybe.

Jamie had yet another delirious thought. Are there lions in the Arizona desert?

And then the pressure holding Jamie to the ground let up as the feral vampire was knocked off him.

Jamie sat up as best he could using his good arm, bleary eyes peering at the blurry rush of movement in front of him. He didn’t need to see all that clearly to know who had come to save him.

Luc had arrived.

Relief rushed through Jamie in a wave, leaving him shaking with the force of it. But it was replaced almost immediately with the cold tendrils of dread.

No, no, no. Luc couldn’t be here. That was the whole fucking point .

His vampire may look like he was winning the fight—he had the feral fucker in a chokehold—but it wouldn’t last. Jamie had seen it. He’d seen it.

Jamie was shouting before he could stop himself, his voice hoarse from his earlier screams. “Luc, no! Get out of here! You need to leave!”

Luc looked up from where he was snarling down at the vampire in his hold, the rage in his face startling in its intensity.

“I-I’ve seen something, Luc. You need to get out of here.”

Luc growled again, this time at Jamie, who swallowed hard and pleaded his case. “The others will be here soon. They can help me. I need you to go .”

Jamie knew somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain that what he was saying was patently ridiculous. He and Luc both knew he stood absolutely zero chance against the feral vampire for more than a few minutes.

But in that moment, Jamie didn’t care if he survived. He couldn’t stand by and watch Luc get killed. He didn’t want to see his monster taken down. Jamie would take the pain for him instead. He could handle it; he knew he could.

He might scream and cry and beg a little as it happened, but stoicism was overrated, okay?

Luc only glared at him with cold black eyes, seeming to tighten his hold on the other vampire rather than letting go.

As he and Jamie made eye contact, Jamie doing his best to share his desperation telepathically if that was what it took, the feral vampire jutted his knee out, catching Luc in the gut with enough force to topple him over.

After that it was once again a blur of limbs and brutish bodies.

Jamie started yelling out names. “Jay! Danny! Roman! You stupid fucking twins! Anybody! Fucking help !”

And then it happened. Luc was on his back, the other vampire tearing into his throat.

Just like Jamie’s vision. Just like his fucking useless vision.

Jay had said beheading or fire were the only surefire ways to kill a vampire, but…how deep could this other vampire tear? Could he get clean through? How big did the hole in Luc’s neck have to be to count as beheading?

Jamie screamed again, directing his rage at the vampire on top of Luc, throwing any rocks he could find with his left arm, his right having lost all control over movement at this point. “Get the fuck off him. Get off him!”

He was trying to heave himself onto his feet to throw himself on the fucker’s back when there was another deafening roar, then a third body was delving into the fray.

Roman .

Even through the blur of his tears, Jamie could tell who it was because the dude was still in a fucking suit.

Luc’s old friend, his longtime nemesis, bodily pushed the other vampire off Luc, rolling him away and grappling in his own battle.

And Luc was just…motionless.

Unmoving as the dead, there on the hard ground.

“Luc?” Jamie crept forward, needing to see clearly. “Monster?”

Luc’s neck was one giant, mangled mess. Had his spine been snapped? But Luc couldn’t be dead, right? That didn’t happen. It wasn’t allowed to happen.

Jamie wanted to put Luc’s head in his lap, to protect it from the hard ground, but he was afraid to move it, afraid he’d tear something, break something that couldn’t be repaired.

He crouched over Luc’s body instead and started petting his vampire’s dark hair.

“Time to wake up, monster. You did so good. I’m so proud of you”—Jamie’s voice broke on the words—“but it’s time to wake up now. ”

He was vaguely aware of the others arriving around him, the sounds of the twins helping Roman in the fight. From the corner of one eye, he saw a head torn from a bulky body and tossed down the hillside.

But none of it fully registered until Jamie felt a hand resting gently on his uninjured arm, halting his hand midstroke of Luc’s thick locks.

He looked up, his vision blurry from tears.

Danny.

“Come on, Jamie,” Danny said, his voice gentle. “Time to get up. Luc will heal, I promise. We need to get you to a hospital.” He urged Jamie up with the hand on his arm.

Jamie didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to leave his vampire there, sprawled on the ground. But Danny’s grip was shockingly strong, and he seemed determined to get Jamie to medical care.

Just as Jamie’s own hand moved away from Luc, his monster’s eyes snapped open.

Jamie’s heart beat for what felt like the first time in minutes.

Luc was awake.

And apparently his monster wanted Jamie to remain by his side, because in the next moment, before Jamie could even register his relief, Luc was grabbing at Jamie’s mangled right arm to pull him closer.

Jamie couldn’t help it. He screamed again, the pain in his arm unbearable.

He tried to choke the cry off as Danny reached back to intervene, Luc snarling at his presence, Roman roaring at Luc for daring to threaten his mate.

All was chaos. Fucking chaos.