“Are you okay?” Cassidy asked as she knelt before him.
Despite the pain, Dante grinned as he rested the palm of his good hand against the side of her beautiful face. “Yes, are you?”
“Yes,” she said as she clasped his face and kissed him.
He frowned at the strange color staining her flesh and grasped her hand. “What happened?”
“It’s okay. It will fade. It happens to purebreds when we’re pissed off, and that bitch pissed me off.”
Dante’s chuckle faded when her fingers brushed against the tears in his shirt. His raw flesh beneath made her itch to kill Jasmine all over again, but his bleeding was easing.
“I told you to stay away,” he said.
“You’d be dead if we had.”
His laughter was cut short by the pain it caused to emanate through him. “I’m glad you’re the most stubborn creature I’ve ever met.”
Cassidy chuckled, but she couldn’t disguise her concern for him.
“I’m going to be okay,” he assured her.
“We have to get you out of here.”
“Where’s Preston?”
The crashing of boards accompanied his question, and they turned to look as Kyle pulled away more of the boards from the hole Preston and Jasmine created when they went through the wall. Julie crept cautiously toward him as Kyle removed another board and peered into the hole.
Gripping the sides of the wall, Kyle climbed into the hole and vanished. He reemerged a minute later. “He’s unconscious, but he’s alive. I’ll carry him out.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Kyle called Julian to help them with the removal of the bodies. He arrived half an hour later with Aida and a white construction van. “Where did you get the van?” Dante asked.
“A couple of guys who were out for a night of fun lent it to me,” Julian replied.
Cassidy didn’t ask for further details, especially since Julian had been scowling at her and Kyle since he arrived and heard the whole story. To say he was pissed they’d come here without him was an understatement.
Cassidy kept her gaze averted from Julian as they worked to remove the bodies from the warehouse. Paint splashes stained the black mat in the back of the van, and the tarps tucked behind the two front seats. A step ladder was mounted to the wall opposite the sliding door. There was plenty of room to stack the bodies, but Cassidy dreaded crawling inside with them.
They carried Preston out last and laid him down away from the bodies. Julie hovered at his side as her gaze went from the Savages to them and back to her brother so fast Cassidy thought they might spin out of her head.
The girl was going to require some serious trauma counseling after all this; unfortunately, she wouldn’t get it. If Julie ever shared this story, she’d end up locked away or dead because some vamp would kill her.
Feeling sorry for the girl, Cassidy rested her hand on Julie’s shoulder as she introduced herself. Julie stared at her from unblinking eyes, but she told her the names of the others too.
“Those are my brothers, Kyle and Julian,” she said as she pointed out Kyle and Julian. They both waved at her. “That’s my sister-in-law, Aida.”
“Hi,” Aida said with a smile that Julie tremulously returned.
Cassidy didn’t release her as she pointed to Dante. Unsure of what to tell her his name was, she said, “And that’s my mate.”
Julie glanced at him, and when the girl shuddered, Cassidy squeezed her shoulder. “It’s okay; you’re safe with us, I promise.”
Julie nodded, but Cassidy wasn’t sure she believed her. They would have to prove to her that she was safe and earn her trust.
When they finished with everything, Cassidy gulped as she stared into the back of the van. Gripping the sides of the open doors, she climbed into the back and settled as far from the dead Savages as possible. Not only did the idea of being around dead things creep her out, but they still reeked of garbage.
Lifting her hands, she studied them, but the color was gone, and so was the wrath that propelled her in the building. Now, she felt mildly ill over her actions, but she didn’t regret them. However, she hoped she never had to kill anything again.
Kyle waved a hand in front of his nose as he climbed in and sat across from her. “Open the windows. These things still stink.”
Julian grunted in response from the driver’s seat, but he put his window down, most likely because he couldn’t take the smell either. Aida hit the window button on her side, and more fresh air flowed inside. It wasn’t enough.
“Does it really smell that bad?” Dante asked as he sniffed the air; all he detected was the coppery tang of blood.
“Imagine standing in a landfill of rotten fish in the middle of July,” Kyle said. When Cassidy lifted an eyebrow at him, he sighed. “Okay, it’s not that bad, but it is like standing next to a dump. These assholes stink, and it doesn’t get any better when they’re dead.”
“Good to know,” Dante said.
He winced as he settled beside Cassidy and shifted to get more comfortable. Blood soaked his shirt and skin, his skin remained paler than usual, and sweat beaded his forehead. His teeth were locked so tight that a vein in his temple throbbed with every beat of his heart.
“You have to feed,” she said.
“I’m okay,” he muttered.
“Don’t argue with me.” Before he could protest further, she bit into her wrist and offered it to him.
His fangs lengthened as saliva rushed into his mouth. He disliked the idea of taking her blood in front of everyone, but as those red drops slid down her ivory skin, he couldn’t refuse.
Turning his back to the others, he lifted her wrist to his mouth. He needed to feed and feel this connection with her; he couldn’t deny it.
When he bit into her wrist, he nearly groaned
