Page 17 of Bold Mercy

I could barely breathe. “Which restaurant?” I whispered. Avis didn’t intend to hurt only me. She was slaughtering humans. She was imploding, and she was determined to cause as much damage as possible. She was bringing the vampires out of the shadows, and the world was not ready.

“The Golden Spice on Fifth. I’ll see you there.”

I lowered my phone slowly, staring at nothing.

“Kait,” Jared said gently. “What happened?”

I told him. No one spoke for several long seconds. We stared at each other, all of us shocked, horrified beyond words. Finally, “Eighteen people,” I whispered. “They killed eighteen humans.”

“On camera,” one of the others said. “The vampires won’t survive this.”

“We won’t survive this,” Wyatt said.

I could feel the world changing in that moment.

We sped to the restaurant, because now more than ever, I had to find Avis Vine. I couldn’t undo the massacre, but I could stop her from butchering more humans. The police wouldn’t let me near the restaurant, and I didn’t wait for Rick to get me in. I didn’t need to see the bodies.

I caught her scent there, and that was all I needed. I shoved away the grief and horror and fear, sank into my wolf brain, and I began to hunt. I even forgot Zach in my quest, because nothing mattered but catching Avis Vine.

She was now my purpose, and I would not rest until I ripped her heart from her chest and sliced her head from her body.