Page 85 of Hunted

“Looks like it was enough.”

“We’re lucky we made it here at all. The drug takes several minutes to fully take effect. He thought he could make it here.” Her lip curled in disgust. “Instead he dragged us here straight through a firefight. We all could have been shot.”

I started to answer, only to begin coughing violently. I curled into a ball, clutching my stomach where I’d slammed onto the platform. I panted, unable to draw in a full breath.

Beside me, Jori tensed. Her hands quickly searched me over. When she probed my stomach, I screamed. Jori lifted her fingers in the moonlight. They were slick with dark red blood.

“Hold pressure on your side. I can see the entry wound. The lighting here is so bad. There’s so much blood. Maybe I’m missing the exit wound, but I think the bullet could still be inside. Either way, we need to get you to a hospital.”

“Do you have your phone?”

“I had just gotten the text from River saying we were in lockdown and to secure you.” She bared her fangs. “The vamp they sent to take you knocked it out of my hand. I’m going to have to leave you here to go for help.”

Before I could answer, rough hands wrenched me from the metal walkway.

Jori launched herself at the werewolf who held me, but another vampire grabbed her, dragging her back.

“Shut up, bitch.”

I fought against the arms holding me, biting and kicking. There was a sharp blow to the side of my head and everything went black.

Consciousness returned slowly. The first thing I registered was the swampy smell of lake water and… nutrias? Those adorable giant lake rats that loved Lake Austin. Where did they even go in a flood? And who knew they had such a distinctive smell?

I blinked, staring down at Hayden’s favorite pair of distressed skinny jeans. My stomach hurt so much I was shaking with pain. My hands and ankles had been zip tied. My sister’s fingers smoothed back my hair, but something cold brushed the back of my neck, too, something that burned. I inhaled, scenting a bitter metallic flavor. Silver. They’d put her in handcuffs. I flexed my ankles and wrists, which seemed to be zip tied. No doubt they figured that with a lowly human, they didn’t need to bother with full werewolf restraints. I was weak and injured. Hardly going anywhere.

“If you hurt either of them,” my sister snarled, “I will rip out your heart and eat it raw.”

The river roared below us, dark and deadly. Warm golden moonlight illuminated Jori, who had been shackled in silver cuffs a few feet away. A female vampire I didn’t recognize stood beside her, holding a gun to her head. She hardly needed the gun. Jori’s hands and feet were tied and they had her dangled practically over the edge of the guardrails. If they threw any of us over the side of the dam into the flood waters, there was no chance we would survive.

“She’s awake,” a male voice snapped. “Get her up.”

“Leave her alone,” Hayden growled. “She’s bleeding.”

A gunshot exploded inches over our heads.

I flinched, the movement enough to cause warm blood to trickle between where my fingers were pressed to my stomach. Black spots appeared before my eyes, the pain so awful I was sure I would pass out. Hayden tried to shield me with her body as best as she could with her hands cuffed.

“I said shut up.” Matteo Rossi prowled the catwalk, eyes glowing gold in the moonlight. There was a feral twitchiness to his movements. One of the most powerful magic users alive he might be, but he was losing the battle to his wolf and would soon succumb to madness.

“She’s no good to us dead.” A werewolf pulled me up. My side screamed in pain. I doubled over and he slapped me across the face. Ignoring Hayden’s shouts, he continued, “We need Caldwell to come. If she dies, we have no chance of taking the Tracers, and you can be guaranteed he’ll hunt us to the ends of the earth.”

Rossi pulled out his phone, snapping a picture of me tied up next to Hayden. “Then I suppose he’d better hurry.”

“You’re a monster,” I managed, breath coming in sharp pants. I couldn’t lose much more blood. I was already starting to feel cold.

“We’re all forced to make choices that someone would call monstrous. Just look at what your mate did to you.”

“He’s changed.” I didn’t flinch, even as Matteo Rossi came to kneel before me, even as I felt the Italian neural manipulator pressing on my mind, trying to break River’s shield. “You’ll never be half the man he is.”

“You’ll feel differently when I’m Alpha of all the wolves and you and your sister are two of my whores.”

The werewolf dragged me to the far side of the walkway, depositing me none too gently. As I landed, I felt something hard in my cardigan pocket. I was almost certain I’d dropped my cell phone and Sofia’s knife back at the fight in the bathroom. Could whatever this was have been planted in my pocket by Hayden or Jori?

Matteo Rossi smiled. “I’ve given River ten minutes if he wishes to exchange his life for yours. If not, I guess you’ll have your answer.”