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Dawn felt that child’s life flash before her eyes. The little girl that bargained for chocolate, her smile flashing, her blue eyes gleaming with laughter. The child that saw “fairies,” ghosts Cassie had told her about not long ago. Shimmering forms of lives long past who came to her, whispered secrets to her.
She had watched Cassie grow. Sanctuary had been the haven Dash had brought his family to when he needed additional protection for them.
Before Dawn’s eyes Cassie had grown from a child to a young woman, always laughing despite her feelings that she would never fit in, that she would never be accepted because of her dual genetics.
And Callan. She stared at the blood pouring from his chest, his golden hair fanned out around him, his aristocratic, beloved features still and pale as Breeds rushed for him and Dash bellowed in white hot rage as he rushed for his daughter.
And it was Dawn’s fault.
“No. Oh God, no!” She froze; she didn’t know where to run, what to do.
Screams were echoing in her head, orders barked furiously into the link about an unknown shooter, location and trajectory.
And all Dawn could see was Cassie and Callan. So motionless, so pale. Their wounds those that few Breeds had survived. Callan’s to his chest, Cassie’s to the head.
God in Heaven. An enraged roar tore through her as Seth’s arms surrounded her, jerking her to his body as the pain struck in blinding waves through her head.
She jerked from him, fury pumping through her as she fell on the body of the bastard that had hurt so many. Callan’s pale face filled her vision. The image of Cassie, broken, taken from them, filling her head as her hands sank into warm, rich blood and her head tipped back, her roar shaking her body.
Oh God. All because of her. They were gone because of her.
“I have you, sweetheart.” Seth’s rough voice was in her ear as he dragged her back from Phelps’s cooling body. “I have you. I have you, Dawn.”
She collapsed in his arms, sobbing, holding on to him because she couldn’t hold on to herself anymore. She screamed Callan’s name as Breeds tried to staunch the bleeding, as she heard the words losing him ricochet in her mind.
No! They couldn’t lose him. They couldn’t. She hadn’t told him she was sorry. She hadn’t told him she understood why he had tried to protect her from Seth. He hadn’t hugged her. He hadn’t growled at her with that playful half-warning growl that assured her everything was fine between them.
She was losing her brother. Her pride leader. She was losing him, and the agony that lanced through her had her holding tight to Seth. Begging him, begging God, because she didn’t know how to endure this guilt.
Callan and Cassie had died because of her.
His rifle secured on his back, he jumped from the trees soundlessly, ducked and ran. He could hear the screams from inside the house. The Cougar screaming her pride leader’s name.
Fuck, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Callan Lyons had thrown himself at Phelps just in time to take a bullet. His own bullet had slammed into Phelps less than a breath later, the bullet tearing through his neck as someone else struck Phelps’s head, taking Cassie Sinclair down as well.
Regrettable. Damned fucking regrettable, and he was pissed off over it. But there was no time to stick around and make certain his aim had been true and his own calculations perfect. He had tried to save the girl. A first for him; he had never tried to watch out for casualties before, especially those who deliberately stood in the way.
Cassie Sinclair was better trained than that. She had a fucking suicide wish, and allowing her to follow through on it made him want to shake the shit out of her.
He sprinted across the mansion grounds, a shadow racing around the shadows racing to the house. The Breeds were pouring in from all quarters because their pride leader was down.
He could hear the reports on the link he had managed to acquire and disable the tracking receiver on. He had heard the orders for the Breeds to converge on the ballroom.
“Callan’s down,” someone had yelled into the link. “Son of a bitch, the basta
rd got him. I repeat, our pride leader is down. He’s down.” There was a heavy silence then. “Oh God, we’re losing him…We’re losing him…”
Fuck! This mission hadn’t gone at all as planned.
CHAPTER 25
The sixth-floor ICU and surgery had been cleared ahead of the Sanctuary heli-jets landing on the helipads on the roof of the hospital.
Feline Breed doctor, surgeon and Council-trained scientist Elyiana Morrey was already prepped and waiting with her Wolf Breed counterpart. They had three Breeds arriving. Pride Leader Lyons; an enforcer, Noble Chavin; and the young Wolf-Coyote Breed, Cassandra Sinclair.
Wolf Gunnar and his mate were on their way in, as were teams of Wolf Breed Enforcers, several of which had arrived due to proximity to the hospital.
The Breed community was converging en masse, protection and security paramount as the pride leader’s family was flown in. His mate and his son. Possibly the heir to the mighty kingdom his father had built.
