Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs, and vapor billowed from her lips with every harsh exhale, but she kept going. The cold winds bit at her exposed skin, and icy needles stabbed at her feet, but she didn’t slow down.
Headlights flared from the east just as she reached the edge of the forest. The vehicle crested the hill moving with too much speed to be a scout. The lack of searchlight meant they probably weren’t looking for her or anyone else, but still, it could be a trap.
Hesitating, she looked over her shoulder, staring into the darkness of the forest, then back to the approaching vehicle. She wouldn’t go back, but she doubted she’d make it far on her own before the Hunters found her. She didn’t even know where she was, let alone how often that stretch of road was traveled. The approaching vehicle could be her only chance.
“Damn it.” Stumbling out of the tree line, she limped toward the highway, gasping when her feet finally met the blacktop.
Halfway into the road, it occurred to her that the vehicle wasn’t stopping. They weren’t even slowing down. Probably because they hadn’t seen her, and maybe they wouldn’t until it was too late. Either way, she wasn’t moving. They’d stop, or they’d hit her.
Anything was better than what awaited her back at the camp.
Chapter Two
Divide and conquer.
An effective battle strategy when used correctly. Dividing their team into multiple groups and scattering them across the country? Definitely less effective.
Some had stayed behind in Kansas City to protect the refugees at the Revenant facility. Prince Nikolai Diavolos and his mate, Kamara, would be returning to Dallas to assume leadership of the most powerful vampire coven in North America. Half of their core group was somewhere in the western part of the state, scouting a pride of lion shifters, while the rest of them were on their way to provide reinforcements.
Slumped against the passenger door of the Coalition SUV they’d commandeered, Cade Novak forced his eyelids open, even as he clenched his teeth together to stifle a yawn. They’d only been on the road for a couple of hours, but already, he felt exhausted down to his soul. Being kidnapped by vampires, drugged, and slowly drained of blood tended to do that to a guy.
He felt a little better every day, a little stronger, but he tired easily, and the medics in Kansas City had warned him that it could be weeks before he was fully healed. Unfortunately, they didn’t have weeks. The world was still fucked up. People he cared about were still in danger. Whether he liked it or not, he couldn’t remain neutral anymore. The time had come to choose a side.
Constantly on the move, always fighting for survival, it often felt like decades had passed since everything had gone to hell. In reality, it had been barely two years since scientists had released the PN2 virus in hopes of eradicating the supernatural population across the globe. Instead of paranormal genocide, however, it was the human race now topping the endangered species list.
Discovering humans had been responsible for their own self-destruction hadn’t surprised Cade. It hadn’t even particularly upset him. In the beginning, he’d just been disappointed that the virus hadn’t worked as it had been designed.
A lot had changed since those first days of the Purge, though.
Yes, he still had trust issues when it came to the Gemini, but he was trying. In particular, instead of wanting to murder Captain Deke Collins in his sleep, he almost considered the guy a friend. At the very least, he was an ally, and one Cade was grateful to have on his side. Plus, the big shifter made Roux happy, and Cade supposed that was all any of them could really hope for now—just a few stolen moments of happiness.
Even six months ago, if someone had told him he’d be riding in a car with a vampire, a shifter, and a werewolf, he’d have thought it was the start to a bad joke. Everything was different now. Everything had changed. Trusting the men and women who fought beside him, whether paranormal or human, meant the difference between life and death.
Only, this time, it wasn’t his life that needed saving.
God, he still remembered the first time he’d set eyes on Abigail Dawson. It had been summer in Trinity Grove, and the day had been unusually warm for northern Pennsylvania. He’d been pissed at Roux, and she’d been none too happy with him, either. They’d fought, and she’d broken his nose.
They both agreed he’d deserved it.
The first time he’d seen Abby, he’d lost his breath, and maybe his grip on reality, because he’d been positive he was staring at a ghost. For the briefest of moments, he’d been convinced he was looking at his baby sister. Everything about her, from her petite size to the way she wrinkled her nose when she found something distasteful reminded him of Madison Novak.
He’d spent most of that afternoon watching her…mesmerized by her. As he’d gotten to know her, he’d realized she had more in common with his sister than just physical appearance. For starters, she hadn’t been afraid to speak her mind, or put him in his place when he acted like an ass.
The more obvious similarity, however, had been their fierce and unshakable loyalty. Both Abby and Maddy stood by the people they cared about, unwavering, unmoving, even to their own detriment. Love and loyalty certainly hadn’t done either of them any favors.
When someone asked—and they always asked—Cade said his family had died in the Purge. In actuality, his dad had split sometime around Cade’s eighth birthday, and his mother had overdosed a decade before the release of
