Page 78 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

As my chopper lands near the small lake, I step out and breathe in the fresh Appalachian air.

It’s no wonder Angie was looking so outdoorsy and healthy. This part of the world is still so isolated that much of its forests, streams and air are unpolluted and natural.

Of course, she’s not looking particularly at one with nature tonight as she strides towards me, her face pale with rage, hand clutching a gun which, if I had to guess, is loaded with silver bullets.

“Before you shoot me,” I call out, slipping my hands into my pockets and projecting a nonchalant, non-threatening stance, “I should tell you that I come only out of concern for you, bringing a warning, nothing more.”

Angie stops, catching her breath from the jog she’d broken into when she’d first seen me land.

“What’s so important that you couldn’t phone? What’s so important that you’d risk being followed and hazard drawing enemies to me, to my child?”

I raise an eyebrow. As far as I know the only enemy she truly has is the Princess, which is the reason, well, part of the reason, I’d determined to visit tonight. If she has others, it’s news to me.

“ Our child. And what enemies?”

“Vampires!” she shouts. “Fucking Vampires. Chief of which is standing before me right now with a smug look on his face and an overconfident belief that I won’t shoot a fucking silver bullet into his cold, dead heart.”

I laugh. I can’t help it, but stop when a bullet hits my upper leg, dropping me to my knees.

“Arghh!”

“That’s just the first of many,” Yin says as she steps out of the treeline, her gun still trained on me.

“Yin!” Angie shouts, lunging forward to stand between me and my assailant. “No.”

“Get out of the way, Angie. It’s time we ended this once and for all.”

“Yin, I said, no. At least let him tell us what message he brings. It might be important.”

“Yes, it might,” I groan as I push two fingers into the hole in my leg and feel around for the bullet. “Also, my guards behind you might rip your fucking head off and shit down your throat if you don’t put that gun on the ground.”

I don’t add that I’d expressly ordered them not to use lethal force and to simply disable her if she posed a threat. Under no circumstances were they to lay a finger on my wife.

Yin spins, too late, as four of my guards surround her, one ripping the gun from her hand, another encircling her throat with his fingers.

Of course, I’d forgotten that she was a goddamned ninja, and while my guards might be under orders not to kill, she had no such hesitancy.

During the next few minutes she and my rapidly dwindling guards perform a deadly dance as I wince and remove the silver bullet while Angie stands nearby, her expression aghast as my men battle to contain her friend.

She’s fixed on the fighting, concerned for Yin.

She needn’t be. My guards tonight are all human; I couldn’t risk bringing other vampires to her location, no matter how loyal.

I’d learned that loyalty was not something that could be relied upon in matters concerning Angie, although this evening even if they had been loyal it wouldn’t have mattered; they were up against a formidable force.

Still, there are twelve of them, and only one of Yin — I’m confident they’ll overwhelm her.

Staggering to my feet I reach out a bloodied hand to Angie and open my mouth to comfort her and thank her for shielding me.

I want to help her recognise that by doing so she’d, once again, signalled she still cared for me.

But I don’t get a chance to say anything as she raises her weapon and, with deadly accuracy, takes out three guards in rapid succession.

“For Christ’s sake,” I mutter, shaking my head in surprise and admiration.

Once upon a time Angie couldn’t kill a fly. She was truly a sight to behold now that she’d come into her own.

‘Fucking magnificent.’

I say nothing as she fires again, and Yin takes out another two of my men with her bare hands. I’m down to just two guards, hidden as ordered in the forest, by the time she and Angie are finished, and I flick my fingers, motioning them to stay where they are.

Turning back to face Angie I see that while her friend stands surrounded by corpses, her stance self-assured, expression, satisfied, my wife is anything but. Her whole body is trembling.

Sighing, I step closer to her, frowning as pain shoots through my limb.

It’ll stop shortly, but right now it stings to fuck, reminding me of the last time I’d been penetrated with silver, the night in the Louvre when Angie had been so sick.

That night, and those subsequent days when she was in the hospital, I’d been the one protecting her.

Just as I was now, even though she doesn’t realise it.

“Angie.”

Taking the gun from her, I grip her chin with my bloodied fingers, willing her to look into my eyes.

“You did well, don’t second-guess yourself. This is the kind of thing you’re going to have to get used to if you insist on staying in the world with our boy.”

“Get used to?” She whispers.

She breathes in a deep, ragged breath, her eyes not leaving mine, and it takes every inch of my self-control not to pull her into my arms and kiss her until she’s no longer trembling from shock, but from desire, as she once had.

Yin’s arrival stalls any such actions.

“Step back, Vampire,” she snaps.

“She’s in shock,” I mutter.

“And whose fault is that? Who forced her hand?”

“You did,” I scowl, “when you shot me. My guards were ordered not to use lethal force and to simply hang back and ensure I was safe.”

“They did a shit job,” she sniggers. “If Angie hadn’t shielded you, you’d be dust now.”

“And if protecting Angie was your aim,” I shrug, “you were equally as shit. Look at her.”

We both look at my wife where she stands, almost statue-like, her face as white as marble.

“I’m guessing that was her first kill?” I murmur.

Yin’s expression changes from furious to worried.

“Angie, are you OK?”

“I’m OK,” she squeaks, her words completely at odds with her body language.

I shake my head.

“We need to get you inside.”

Angie nods and I step forward, but Yin spins angrily towards me.

“Don’t think for a minute I’m going to invite you into our house. Get out of here!”

“Yin,” I sigh, “you and Angie are an impressive duo...”

“Cut the crap, Falcon.”

I look her right in the eye as I speak, so there’s no misunderstanding my sincerity.

“It’s not going to be enough.”