Page 45 of Vayn

Blood splattered against the window as Beastie tore his target apart, just as he’d been trained to do. And when he was done, he’d light her on fire until only her ashes remained. I stared around me. Windows decorated each of the doors on this hall. And in each room was a different patient.

This had to be one of the facilities the kidnapped students, and other creatures of the lore were being taken to. And the Changelings who were taking them had infiltrated our academy. The dean had suspected such a thing, which was why a different breed of hellhounds were being raised, a breed that could sniff out changelings.

Each Guardian had a miniature hellhound that was being trained for this job. At first, I hadn’t wanted Beastie. But the little fella had quickly grown on me. Now, I was thankful for him. I owed him my life. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to find my mate. I kicked the door to my mate’s room open. An alarm blared.

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert,” blasted over the speakers.

I didn’t give a fuck about any of that. All I cared about was my mate. I had to get her out of there. I rushed over to her bed. My shadows emerged at the sound of footfalls heading our direction.

“Buy me some time,” I instructed them.

With a nod, they cast a quick glance at our mate. Fury filled their gazes before they teleported into the halls. Screams erupted. I took pleasure in the sound. It did nothing to abate my anger.

But it did make me feel better. I gently pulled needles from my mate’s arm. Thankfully, the wounds healed shut. Her vampirism was finally working. Once I had her unhooked from the machines, I started to lift her up.

But a message from Rage drifted through my mind, letting me know that two guards had gotten past them. A growl built in my chest. I lowered my unconscious mate back onto the bed. Beastie appeared at my side, snout covered in blood.

“Protect her,” I ordered.

He leapt onto the bed, then faced the door, snarling. I released my claws as two guards burst into the room.

It was time to kill.

Chapter Thirteen

Vayn

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My enemies raised their weapons.

Before they could fire, I teleported behind them. I snapped the first one’s neck. He went down easy. Too easy. Skinwalkers weren’t that easy to kill. I saw his finger twitch. He was still alive, just dazed. The other guard raised his weapon.

My fist connected with his face before he could fire a shot. Blood poured from his nose as I grabbed his throat and banged his head into the wall. I did it twice more, causing the gun to fall from his grasp. I kicked it away.

It skidded underneath the bed as I sank my claws into his neck and ripped his throat out, cutting his cry of pain short. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth as I continued tearing at his throat until his head fell onto the floor, followed by his body. Decapitation. That was the best way to kill a changeling.

Beastie growled. I spun around to find the first one rising to his feet, weapon still in hand. I knocked the weapon free before he could try to fire. He raised his fists. Oh, he wanted hand-to-hand combat. I liked that. Smiling, I raised my fists. When he lunged for me, I swung, fist connecting with his jaw. His head snapped back. A punch to the throat had him gasping for air.

A punch to his chest had him choking. A punch to his gut made him double over in pain, face turning red. I gripped his hair and tilted his head back. He reached for me, flailing his arms. I sank my claws into his throat. It wasn’t long before his head was on the floor with his body lying next to it.

I shook flesh from my claws. Turning around, I stared to where my mate was. She was still out cold, being guarded by a snarling Beastie. My shadows appeared in front of me. Their thoughts drifted through my mind, letting me know our attackers were dead. Good. It was time to get our mate and go.

The second I teleported to her side, the sirens went off again. A new alert came over the speakers. ‘Demo team needed to Hall Z. Increase ward range. Demo team needed to Hall Z. Increase ward range.’ That didn’t sound good. I scooped my mate up in my arms. My shadows returned to their place inside me, and Beastie stood next to me, eyes on the door.

“Let’s go home, Beastie.”

My hellhound and I attempted to teleport out of the building, only to end up in the hallway. Shit. We tried again and ended up back in the room we’d just left. One more time. Another fail. We ended up back in the hallway. The double doors at the end of the hall burst open. Was that a motherfucking mini cannon?

A shot was fired from the cannon. I raced back to the room. A loud explosion filled the air. The force of the explosion sent me, my mate and Beastie flying into the room. My shadows erupted from me. I called them back as I turned sideways so that my back hit the wall instead of my mate. Her eyes drifted open.

“Vayn,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, little one. I’ve got you.”

Her eyes drifted shut. I slowly sat up. I could feel the wound on the side of my head healing. At least my mate was unharmed. Beastie had a cut on his side. But it was healing. My shadows emerged from within me, ready to go to battle against our attackers.

“Stay,” I ordered. “Look at the fire left from that explosion.”