“I can feel him Raife, I can feel him here.”

  “Trey, keep driving.”

  “No, Raife, I’m telling you I can feel him here!”

  I put my hand on her arm because I feared she would try and jump out of the car.

  “I believe you Jules, but we cannot park in front of the house and draw attention to ourselves. We have the location and we can begin to plan. Trey take us back to the motel, please.”

  Jules turned to me and I knew she wanted to argue, but there was no way I was taking her into that house when I had no idea what we’d be facing.

  “Jules, I know how you feel, and I want the same thing you do, but we need to get Dallas out of there alive. If we go in blind, there’s no way of knowing what could happen.”

  I could feel when she relented as she sat back in the seat and rested her head. I took her hand in mine, drawing small circles on the inside of her wrist with my thumb as I looked into her endlessly blue eyes.

  “You are amazing to me Jules. Your strength, your resolve, your trust…your heart. I feel you on a level that I’ve never felt before… and it staggers me.”

  She straddled my lap and held my face in her palms before lightly pressing her lips to mine.

  “You are mine Raife, in every way and it fills me up. It fills me with light, it fills me with hope, and it fills me with love.”

  She kissed me again, her tongue darting into my mouth and dancing with mine and as I sucked her plump bottom lip into my mouth I nicked the inside with my tooth and sucked down her exquisite blood. It was exhilarating and I tingled with the power her blood held.

  Back in our room at the motel, I encouraged Jules to eat something and drink water as Trey and I planned our attack with the shifters. We had already sent people to watch the house to see if we could catch anyone coming or going and I was hoping to hear back soon that we’d been successful.

  Jules at least picked at the food Ren had brought her and she drank more water while listening to our plans.

  A text came through on my phone and I shared it with our group.

  “Two vampires just seen leaving the house through the back door.”

  Jules leapt to her feet. “So we know it’s the right house!”

  “Yes, I would say we know it’s the right house. Let’s just give it a bit longer to see if more arrive.”

  Jules stomped her foot on the ground before striding right up to me.

  “We have to go, Raife! I can’t wait anymore, I feel like we could lose him if we don’t get there now!”

  Before I could speak Jules slashed a hand through the air.

  “No! I’m going. I want you with me, but I’m leaving now, with or without you.”

  I exhaled loudly before turning to Trey.

  “Have everyone ready to go in five minutes.”

  He nodded and quickly left the room. Ren stood next to Jules with the same determined look on her face.

  “Jules, you promised me no heroics. We need to follow the plan, can you do that?”

  “I can do that Raife, but we’ve got to go.”

  Chapter thirty-five

  Jules

  Raife organized everyone as we drove. It was difficult due to the river being directly behind the house, we had to approach from both sides and were parking and meeting with the others about half a mile away.

  Trey parked on the side of a dirt road and we all got out. Ren had ridden in the front with Trey while Raife and I were in the back. I was glad that Ren was with us, because I not only liked her and enjoyed her company, I felt that I could trust her completely.

  The plan was to have the shifters spread out and cover the area on both sides of the house as well as across the street, while the vampires moved in to get Dallas, eliminating any vamps in our way.

  I could feel my adrenaline surging as I thought about fighting for Dallas and the now familiar tingle started up at the base of my spine. I approached Raife and spoke in his ear,

  “I may need you to siphon off a bit of this energy I’ve got going.”

  He pulled me a few steps to the side and our gazes held as he placed his palm over my heart.“I will take as much as I can, but let me know if you start to feel overwhelmed.”

  He began to do his thing with the bond and I felt the tingles diminish. I smiled at him.

  “Thank you, I will.”

  “You never need to thank me Jules, I will always be here for you.”

  I clung to him tightly, burying my face in his chest and inhaling his delicious scent before straightening up and trying to put my game face on.

  We walked silently through the trees, some areas with dense undergrowth and others where it was much thinner near the houses. I willed my heartbeat to stay steady, concentrating to match it to Raife’s reliably steady beat.

  The six of us stopped and waited for Raife’s signal, we were about one hundred yards from the house and hadn’t encountered anyone yet. Raife glanced at me and arched a brow in question. I nodded in response, ready to go.

  Trey and his group were on the opposite side of the house, ready to storm the front door while we went in the back. From some unseen signal between Raife and Trey we all moved, quickly and silently.

  Raife yanked open the back door and we all raced inside. There was a small hallway with a doorway on the right to the kitchen where four vampires sat around a table. I heard footsteps toward the front of the house and hoped it was Trey and the rest of our group.

  Raife streaked into the kitchen where the four vamps had leapt to their feet and I immediately jumped to help Raife. He grabbed the closest vamp and twisted his head and there was a loud crack before he fell to the floor. I quickly grabbed the arm of the vamp closest to me and swung him with all my might, his head hitting the wall so hard he left a head sized hole, then rammed my palm against his back and let a laser sharp blast of power burn a hole right into his heart. He collapsed and turned to dust before hitting the floor.

  I spun to finish off the others, but Raife was just putting a dagger into the last vamp and he turned to dust.

  We moved back into the hallway headed to the front of the house when the back door flew open and more vamps rushed in, forcing us to back up a step, the hallway was so damn narrow! Two of our vamps that were at the back of our group were quickly overwhelmed and I just reacted, rushing to help them. I threw up both hands and tried to direct my power only at our enemies. It poured from my hands and I had to drop it as Raife rushed past me to get to his men. I threw myself into the fight, landing kicks and finding that breaking a leg worked to drop a vampire just like a human, then I could hit them with my power.

  We kept fighting in the dam hallway as more vampires kept streaming in through the back door! I knew that if I had a clear shot I could get more than a few of them at once, just like shearing the top off a tree in the forest, but the fighting was too intense! Raife was a master, every movement precise and lethal as he cut down our enemies one after another. I shouldn’t have looked at him, because my inattention gave an opening to a vamp whose meaty fist landed on the side of my head, sending my head cracking into the wall.

  Not giving myself one second to recover, I dropped to the floor and kicked the legs out from under the vamp who’d hit me, slamming my palm onto his chest where he hit the floor and unleashing my power into his chest.

  Before he’d even turned to dust I was up, striking out at anyone within reach, letting the power flow through me in an endless stream. I felt fearless and in control as I moved without thought, kicking and striking as though in a dance I somehow knew deep in my brain.

  The sound of growling surprised me until I realized the shifters were outside the house, attacking the vamps still trying to get inside to us.

  The air became thick with the dust from all the vampires we’d killed and I tried not to breathe it in as it felt strangely wrong.

  I glanced behind me and saw Trey and his group fighting in the front of the house, shifters also outside, but it looked like they were being pushed back by a larger number of vamps than we were facing.

  I made the decision to go help them and sprinted the short distance, throwing myself into the fight. A massive vamp was fighting Trey, his face dominated by a scar that ran diagonally from his forehead to his jaw, cutting right through his whitened eye. He slammed Trey to the floor, but before he could finish him off I grabbed his arm and flung him off, twisting his arm so his shoulder dislocated, making his arm hang limply at his side. I quickly slapped a palm to his chest and his one good eye widened in shock before he became dust.

  Trey was up and fighting beside me as we cut through our enemy until it was just us standing amidst the settling dust.

  A beautiful red wolf stood in the front doorway and I recognized Ren as she padded over to me. She lifted her head under my palm and I stroked the soft fur as Raife came to stand beside me.

  We searched the rest of the first floor before easing open the door to the cellar and cautiously making our way down the stairs. Raife led, I followed with Trey and Ren behind me, the rest of our group staying upstairs to guard the entrances.

  At the bottom of the stairs was a solid wood wall with a large iron bolt holding it locked. We approached the door and I listened intently, but heard nothing. Either the wood was too thick to hear through, or anyone on the other side of that door wasn’t moving. Whichever, we had no choice but to go through.

  Trey eased the lock open, but it didn’t really matter because if our enemy was on the other side, they’d already been alerted to our presence by the fighting.

  Raife slipped through the doorway and I followed, gasping as I saw Dallas chained to the wall just as I ‘d seen him in my dream. I quickly noticed a group of six vampires and Danielle standing to the side, a venomous smirk on her face.

  My vision went red! I flew across the room to Dallas and took my position in front of him as the six vamps advanced on us. Trey stood to one side of me with Ren on my other and Raife in front of me.

  A huge vampire with hair cropped so short he almost looked bald was twirling what I think was a knife through his fingers, laughing in a maniacal way.

  “Oh, this is gonna be fun”, his deep voice rumbled through the room. The others all flanked him as they closed the short distance between us.

  I desperately wanted to turn around and check on Dallas, he hadn’t moved since we got to him, but taking my eyes off the vampires advancing toward us could mean our deaths.

  Moving so fast he was a blur, Raife attacked both vamps in front of him, while Trey dove at another two and Ren leapt at another with a ferocious growl. The sixth came at me, but I held my ground in front of Dallas. He swung his arm and I ducked, kicking out at his thigh and hearing a resounding crack as he went to one knee. Another kick to the side of his head and he was out cold, allowing me to slam him with a bolt of power resulting in dust.

  A yelp from Ren made me spin in time to see her holding one front leg up as the vamp tried to grab her by the neck. I leapt onto his back, grabbing his head with both hands and twisting with such fury his head came right off his shoulders and he turned to dust.

  I looked to Ren to be sure she’d be okay and she barked loudly! I turned just in time to see a knife whiz past my head to land in Ren’s flank. She yelped and fell to the floor.

  I dropped to the floor, rolling closer to Dallas before springing up. The vamp with the knives laughed from where he stood about five feet in front of me, and between me and where Raife was fighting another two vamps!

  He stood there twirling the knife in between his fingers before launching it at me with such speed I didn’t see it coming! It sliced through the inside of my bicep before embedding in Dallas’ side, just above his hip.

  Oh no, I wasn’t playing games with this fucker!

  Quickly I sent my power spiraling around Dallas and myself with one hand while zeroing in on the knife in his hand with the other. With surgeon-like precision, I sent a laser beam of power to where his hand held the knife, afraid to unleash any more because of Raife’s proximity, cutting through his hand just above his wrist and it fell to the floor with a thud, the knife clattering on the cement.

  His eyes widened almost comically as he realized what just happened, and before he could recover I dove on him, taking him to the floor, and sent a blast of power straight at his heart. It’d be hard for him to play with knives now, being a pile of dust and all.

  Glancing around, I watched Raife straighten after driving a knife into the heart of one vampire and rush to help Trey with the last one.

  I turned just in time to see Danielle pulling the knife out of Dallas’ side and I flew at her!

  “You fucking bitch!”

  She ducked and swung the knife at my legs, catching me just above my knee and slicing deeply. I didn’t stop, just grabbed her arm and squeezed until her bone shattered and the knife fell to the floor. I swung her as hard as I could and she slammed into the wall, bits of cement dropping around her. She moaned loudly and I was glad, because she wasn’t dead yet and I could hurt her more.

  My vision went completely red as I glared at the woman who had thought to take my mate from me, and I would make her pay! Rage roared through me and I raised both hands, palms out as I unleashed my power! White hot flames burst from my hands in a stream so deadly that Danielle was immediately engulfed and incinerated.

  I clenched my fists and dropped my hands to my sides, turning to where Raife and Trey stood, both staring at me.

  I looked at Raife and our eyes met, holding. Me holding onto the lifeline that he was, as tremors shook my body and I struggled to stand. I held onto the love in his sky blue eyes with everything in me, knowing he would not let me go, because the power racing through me threatened to burn me up, from the inside out. Our connection flared to life as Raife tried to relieve me of some of the power, and I heard him hiss as the heat from my power flooded his veins.

  We stood, locked together by the power flowing between us, until I finally felt the power ebb, a cooling sensation washed through my veins and the shaking subsided. I took a step toward him and he swept me up in his arms, holding me tight until I gasped, “Dallas.”

  Ren still lay on the floor on her side, blood seeping from where the knife was still embedded in her flank. Trey moved to help her while Raife and I helped Dallas.

  He still hung limply from the chains and I held my palm over his heart, relieved to feel the slow but steady beat of his heart. Raife pulled the bolt out of the manacles around his ankles, carefully releasing the metal and exposing the raw flesh underneath.

  I yanked off my shirt and tore it in half, balling up one half and pressing it against the knife wound in his side and wrapping the rest around him before tying it to hold the makeshift bandage in place.

  Then, as gently as I could I wrapped my arms around him and cupped his butt cheeks to lift him a few inches to take the pressure off his arms so Raife could release the manacles. His wrists were so raw I couldn’t look at them or the rage threatened to overtake me again. When he was loose of the chains, I gently lowered him to the floor and he moaned, but didn’t open his eyes.

  “Dallas, I’m here love, we’ve got you.” I held back the sobs that threatened and swallowed down the lump in my throat, gently running my fingers through his hair. He was covered in blood, some fresh and a lot old and dried, his torso splattered with deep purple and blue bruises, likely covering broken ribs.

  Raife gently touched my shoulder, “We need to take him home, it’s not safe here. I will carry him upstairs while they get the car.”

  I nodded and quickly glanced at Ren. She had shifted back and Trey had given her his shirt to cover up with before he carried her up the stairs.

  Raife slid his arms beneath Dallas and picked him up as gently as he could, then carried him upstairs. We made our way out the front, surrounded by the vamps still with us and walked out to the road where the cars waited.

  I got into the backseat of Raife’s car and he lowered Dallas inside, his head on my lap, his legs bent to fit into the car.

  Raife took the wheel as Trey was in another car with Ren and drove us straight home, as I murmured softly to Dallas.

  “I love you Dallas, you’re okay now, we’ve got you”, over and over again.

  When we got home Raife carefully carried Dallas upstairs to his bedroom, laying him gently on the bed, then helped me get his clothes off.

  His left foot appeared to be in the worst shape, it hung at an awkward angle and was swollen double in size, covered in ugly purple bruises. I took a pillow and gently lifted his foot onto it, trying to place it at the correct angle to his leg.

  Raife came out of the bathroom with a towel, placing it carefully across his midsection to cover him and I smiled weakly at him for his thoughtfulness. He then placed a towel under each of Dallas’ hands before gently cleaning the raw flesh of his wrists.

  I went into the bathroom and checked the cabinets for medical supplies, returning to Dallas with a first aid kit. I cut my makeshift bandage off him and cleaned all around his knife wound with surgical scrub before smearing antibiotic ointment over the whole area and wrapping it with clean bandages and gauze.

  I sat on the bed next to him softly running my fingers across his brow, one of the only places that wasn’t covered in blood or bruises. Heat began to spread across my lower back and before I let rage overcome me, I took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly.

  “Jules, lie down and sleep for a while, he’s not going to wake for some time, and you’re exhausted sweetheart.”

  “I will if you lie down with me.”

  Raife smiled, “I will be back shortly, I just have to check in with Trey.”

  I lay down next to Dallas, my fingers resting on his bicep, and closed my eyes. Before he left, Raife covered us both with a blanket. Later, I felt him lie down beside me, his arm around my waist pulling me against him as I fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter thirty-six

  Dallas

  I cracked one eye open and became disoriented before I realized I was in my own bedroom, in my bed, no longer hanging by my arms in a rancid cellar. I could hear Jules and Raife both breathing deeply in sleep beside me and decided to just lie still for a while and not disturb them.