With a shaky breath, she bolted from the side of the truck, heading straight for the neighbor’s yard. The torn-up lawn wasn’t pretty to look at, but the landscaping stakes sticking out from the ground were the most glorious things she’d ever seen. When she reached the first one, try as she might, she couldn’t get the damned thing to budge. She went to the next. Putting all her weight behind her, she shimmied it back and forth until it loosened enough that she could yank it from its spot.
Even though the night was cool, sweat trickled down her spine. Her knees wobbled, but she wouldn’t quit. She’d been in scary situations before. The fact that this time it involved a vampire instead of the city’s underbelly was no different.
Rather than go back the way she’d come, Rylee went to the other side of the church. The tall hedges that had hidden the enemy from sight now sheltered her as she made her way around. She ignored the sting as branches scraped at her bare arms.
“If you release her now, you can still walk away.” Rylee faltered at the sound of Niko’s voice. Why hadn’t he shifted like the rest of them?
“You take me for a fool. I want the cougar. I will suck her dry if you don’t give him to me,” the vampire threatened.
Moments later, a faint whimper sounded, followed by vicious growls.
Rylee had been around powerful men and women enough to know that neither side would back down, and Bonnie would pay the price. She wasn’t letting that happen.
All she had to do was shove the stake through the bastard’s heart. Simple. Right?
Her fingers shook so hard she nearly lost her weapon, and her lungs refused to cooperate. They alternated with not being able to suck in enough air to keep her seeing straight and breathing so fast she thought the shadows were closing in on her.
Through the foliage, she spotted the vampire. His back was to her. In front of him, Niko stood, his hands out as though he’d be able to reason with the monster. Next to him, Jaxon and Luca still growled. Every few seconds, one of them lunged forward, only to retreat when the bastard pulled Bonnie between them.
Niko’s lips drew in a tight line, and his fists clenched. He didn’t look around, didn’t say a thing, but his nostrils flared. He knew she was there. And if he did, so did the others. Fine by her.
Taking care not to make a sound, she came out of the bushes with her stake clutched between both hands. She’d only have one shot. Hitting the shoulder blade would be disastrous. She had to go lower. Through the ribs and into the heart. Suddenly, her plan didn’t seem so sure. The stake was thick. Getting it to penetrate more than a few inches would be hard. Getting it to the heart, next to impossible. But what other choice did they have?
All she could hear was her own heart hammering against her ribs as she took a deep breath and swung with all her might. In the second before she struck, the vampire turned, dropping Bonnie to the ground. His eyes flashed red. Long, pointed fangs, still stained with Bonnie’s blood, protruded from beneath his top lip.
His wide, startled eyes rounded further as the stake stabbed into his left side, just beneath the rib cage, pointing up. The screeching hiss that came from the vampire’s lips would have had her covering her ears had it not been for the fact that she refused to let go of her weapon. He reached for the piece of wood. His long, slender fingers wrapped around it, just shy of her own hand. Sharp, black hails dug in, getting a better grip, but before he could yank it out, a blur of brown and white fur crashed into him. The wolf’s weight and momentum further impaled the vampire and sent him toppling on top of her.
His mouth yawned wide, and a blood-curdling scream rent through the night air. Arms flailing, he struggled to regain his footing but stumbled again—falling hard, stealing what little breath she had left as he crashed into her.
It could have been seconds or hours, she couldn’t be sure, before the heavy weight was lifted from her. Niko’s face came into view, and try as she might to be strong, all Rylee could do was reach for him. He lifted her into his arms, and only once her nose was buried in his neck did her sob finally break free.
Eighteen
Niko clutched Rylee to his chest, needing the closeness as much—if not more—than she did. Her sweet scent had reached him only moments before she’d stepped out from the bushes. Seeing her standing behind the powerful vampire had all but brought him to his knees. The only thing that had kept him upright and his reaction in check was the fact the vampire hadn’t clued in that she was there. Though, for the life of him, he had no idea how he couldn’t have. She hadn’t gone crashing through the bushes, but she hadn’t been as quiet as she’d thought, either.
One misstep. That’s all it would have taken for that vampire to spin around and catch her unaware. He could have snapped her neck in a second, and there would have been nothing Niko could have done to stop it. Or worse, he could have drained her dry in front of him. A shudder rushed through him, and her arms tightened around his neck.
The little sobs she tried to muffle as he carried her to the front of the church where the streetlight illuminated the night shattered him. He’d be willing
