What the actual fuck?

Since when were vampires awake during the day?

I was startled into complete and utter stillness, not even breathing, as my brain took an extra few seconds to comprehend what my eyes had witnessed.

A vampire.

Awake.

During the day.

There was no time for me to process the implications of that little tidbit as my brain finally started to catch up. The droning in my ears cleared into overlapping voices and I realized I had missed Maddock opening the pack lines up to everyone to more easily communicate. I vaguely noted Maddock demanding to know what happened and Connor answering him.

I didn’t want to hear what anyone had to say because I couldn’t bear being ordered to leave Valorie.

Shutting myself off from the pack was possible, but painful, and I didn’t want to lose all ties to them. But I clenched my teeth, pushing the pack bonds down as much as I could, imagining a pillow muffling all the voices. It would have to be good enough.

Then I was running.

I ignored the startled yips behind me as I jumped directly onto the porch, skipping the stairs completely in my haste. A part of my brain latched onto a random factoid I had once heard: in the event of a kidnapping, you always tried to avoid going to a second location as much as possible.

Was this true? I had no idea. But I wasn’t about to let Valorie get dragged to another part of the house that would make it harder—or impossible—to save her. Especially if there were more vampires out and about.

The front door hadn’t shut all the way behind the vampire, and I plowed right through it. It hit the wall with a thunderous bang that I’m sure was heard throughout the compound.

So much for subtlety. If these vampires hadn’t known we were here from the growling and commotion earlier, they sure did now. I didn’t think of the further implications announcing our presence would cause for any future actions against them. That was someone else’s problem for another day.

Time seemed to freeze as my eyes locked on the vampire, who was only halfway up the staircase with Valorie in tow. I growled, the low sound rippling up my throat, and it was the most menacing sound I had ever made. My muscles bunched underneath me, and I launched myself at the vampire.

He dropped Valorie, stumbling up the stairs in an effort to put distance between us.

He wasn’t fast enough for that.

I clamped onto the arm he raised to protect his face and bit down, hard, as I slammed into him. We fell into the banister, crashing through it and landing hard on the floor below. I felt my left front paw bend at an unnatural angle; tears sprang to my eyes at the pain. But I refused to concede. I was still holding onto the vampire’s arm, and I almost ripped it from the body it belonged to when his other arm came around, too fast for me to move. His sharp nails raked along my ribs, taking clumps of fur with it.

I growled around the vampire’s arm as I twisted my head violently, breaking his arm. He screamed, a high-pitched wailing, momentarily forgetting that he could attack me back. Before I could move to rip out his throat, a reddish brown blur descended on him and cut off his scream. The vampire’s neck broke with a sickening crack.

The mostly limp arm in my mouth immediately became a dead weight. I dropped it, quickly, letting it thunk onto the dusty and bloody wooden floor.

I took deep, gasping breaths and nearly gagged on the stench shoving itself up my sensitive nose.

The place reeked. How I had missed that when first entering, I had no idea.

I turned to the wolf, who was already moving back to the entrance. It took me a minute to remember that it was Noah. He grabbed Valorie’s nape in his large mouth and dragged her back outside.

Sounds started flitting up through the baseboards and hesitant footsteps shuffled above me at a slowly increasing pace.

There were definitely other vampires in this place, and they were definitely awake now.

As quickly as I could, I hobbled over to the door and followed Noah out. One encounter with a vampire was enough for today. Plus, I couldn’t put any weight on my leg. I would be worse than useless in another fight. Thankfully, I didn’t think I had broken it in the fall. Small mercies. I carefully but awkwardly made my way down the set of stairs I had entirely skipped over not even a few minutes ago. My ears were buzzing, and I shook my head a few times before realizing that Maddock was trying to reopen communication with me.

I didn’t want to let him in, but I knew there would be hell to pay later if I didn’t after I had so blatantly ignored him once already.

Silence greeted me as I felt the bond to my alpha stretch like a cat waking up from a nap in the sun. It always felt like this; it was very rare that the full pack bonds were opened to me. It was like an unused muscle; there, usable, but stiff.

I let the silence wash over me. I started to tremble, with shock or nerves, I couldn’t tell.

After several seconds of what was becoming increasingly uncomfortable silence, my father spoke up.

Are you alright?

I took a couple deep breaths of fresh air before answering, I little worse for wear but nothing major.

Maddock’s voice chimed in, Tobias says that Noah killed the vampire.

Yes, I verified, but there are others. I could hear them beginning to wake.

More silence as I assumed Maddock relayed my information to Tobias. I continued to follow Noah past the tree line and into the depths of the forest. The house behind us was quiet. We knew that the vampires couldn’t come after us, not now when the sun was shining brightly. But at what point could a vampire be out during the day?

I felt another tug in my head, this one familiar to my father. I gladly let the bond fall open.

You scared me half to death, Eliza, he said. I could hear both the stress and relief in his voice inside my head.

I’m sorry, I responded immediately, but I couldn’t leave—

You don’t have to explain, he interrupted. But next time, please wait for someone to tell you what to do. Or at the very least for someone to have your back.

I contemplated the wisdom of his words for a moment. I was vaguely aware of Jonah, back in his two-legged form, taking Valorie from Noah and inspecting her closely for injuries.

Before I could form an answer for my father, Maddock addressed his wolves, Retreat back to the compound. Elisandra, wait where you are with Valorie and Tobias’s other wolves. We’ll send a someone to pick you up. We don’t want the vampires to be able to track your scents through the woods.

To be honest, I didn’t fully understand why that mattered. Couldn’t a vampire just waltz around outside after sunset, smell the wolves in the area, and then follow them back? I filed away my question to be answered later.

Maddock closed off the pack bonds, and I was blissfully alone in my head again. My eyes drifted shut as I swayed on my feet.

It’s not that I disliked the pack bonds. It was more the pack members themselves. I was just grateful that neither Bryce nor Adam had said anything—that I could hear—this entire time, even though I know they’d been around on this mission as the alpha’s own sons.

I started as someone grabbed my aching paw. I jerked back, unintentionally, even as I took in Jonah kneeling in front of me.

“Shh,” he soothed in a very calm, almost professional tone. “Let me take a look to make sure it’s not broken.”

I glanced down to watch him turn my leg to either side, but got an eyeful instead.

Jonah was…naked.

Not that I should have been surprised. It was part of the nature of being a wolf. Except Jonah wasn’t any random wolf, was he? No, this was either my future husband or future brother-in-law. And either way, it was exceedingly awkward. Had I been on my own two legs instead of four, I would have been blushing from head to toe. Thank goodness for fur.

I tried pulling back again, feeling too much in the moment. I wanted to put a little distance for my invisible blush to cool off.

His hand came around and grasped the back of my neck, holding me steady. He moved impressively fast. I almost whimpered in fright or maybe something else; I wasn’t sure. I decided I didn’t want to know.

“Elisandra,” he warned in a low tone that resonated deep within me, “you’re hurt. Now, let me look and stop fighting me.”

Keeping the hand on my neck, he bent to examine first my leg and then my ribs. The gashes stung smartly, and I was painfully aware of every breath I took.

“Your wrist should be fine to shift with, but it’s likely sprained. There’s a chance the bone might be bruised. I’ll need to bind those ribs of yours, as soon as the truck gets here with the medical supplies. Until it does, I’m going to keep an eye on Valorie. Try not to move around too much; you need to stay off that leg as much as possible until I can double check it and get it wrapped up.”

I dipped my head, carefully avoiding seeing anything that I really shouldn’t, as Noah’s paws came into my line of vision.

I lifted my head, flattened my ears, and bared my teeth in a silent growl. He was supposed to be the backup, the muscle for Connor and Valorie. Where had he been? Why hadn’t he intervened? And why hadn’t he stopped her from getting up onto the porch in the first place?

He just ignored me, moving towards his brother who was dutifully watching Valorie.

A rumble, off in the distance, heralded the arrival of the truck that was going to take us back to the compound. After a few more minutes, the truck reached us, my father alone in the cab. He grabbed a duffle from the bed of the truck and tossed some clothes at each of us. To Jonah, he handed a pack of medical supplies.

“Go shift, get dressed, and let’s get out of here.”