Page 48 of Blood of Vengeance

“Flinch,” Cutter answered.

“Vamps have the truck. Don’t know where, but Adam at the yard confirmed.”

Cutter stayed quiet for about thirty solid seconds. I didn’t push or assume the phone had disconnected us; I knew he had to be thinking. Examining every angle and working every possibility.

Finally, he cursed under his breath. “Go home. We’ll start again after the wake tomorrow.”

I ended the call and looked up at Zed, who had taken to staring right back at me. “The hunt’s over for now.”

“I heard. You’d better get your ass home. If these fuckers figure out who Locklyn is, they may decide Chiggy wasn’t enough.”

The thought had my blood running cold. A human was no match for a vampire. I had left Rush with her as a guard, but that wasn’t enough. I didn’t want the bloodsuckers anywhere near my mate, but if they dared come for her, I wanted to be the one to protect her. Needed to be. And if the way I felt my teeth descend and the long fur sprouting on my arms were any indication, my wolf agreed.

“Thanks, brother.”

“Let me know if you need me.” He nodded my way once, his eyes on the horizon. “No wolf should have to bury their mate.”

Fuck me, he wasn’t wrong. I revved the engine and took off for home, hauling ass on the rural desert roads with his words bouncing around my head. Bury Locklyn? Not fucking happening. I’d go down long before anyone got a chance to take her out.

My bike rode smooth and hot, hugging curves and screaming down the straights. I had her pushed wide open at times to gobble up the miles between us and Locklyn, though by the way my fingers kept slipping into claws, it didn’t seem to be enough to appease my beast. My wolf wanted to shift and run, to have control over our travel, but the bike would be faster in this instance. I just had to keep him under my control a little longer to prove that point.

“She’s good,” I muttered under my breath, more to my wolf than to myself. “She’s home and safe. Rush has got her back until we get there.”

Yeah, that wasn’t nearly enough, so I rode the throttle a little harder.

I rolled into the driveway what seemed like hours later—even though it could only have been ten minutes or so—at a speed that would have definitely made a less confident rider wipe out. Rush stood on the edge of the porch, obviously having heard the engine moving closer at high speeds. He looked big and bad and ready to fight the world, which was good. That was what Locklyn needed. A man to kill for her.

But I needed to be that man.

“What’s up?” Rush asked once I turned off the engine.

“It’s vamps. They took out Chiggy.”

Rush didn’t speak for a long moment, didn’t even seem to register what I’d said. At least not until he hissed out a low, “Shit.”

“Yeah.” I pushed past him, needing to see Locklyn for myself. My wolf not as anxious as before but still present. Still wanting me to shift so he could see for himself what was happening with our mate. Fuck, I just needed to get my hands on her for a second, then we could calm down. I needed?—

Rush stopped me with a hand to the chest, ignoring the snarl I released at the contact. “She’s out back.”

That was enough to resettle my human mind. Mostly. “Why?”

“Don’t know, but she fell asleep in the hammock. I’ve been looping back and forth to keep an eye on her.”

In the hammock. My hammock. Where I had been sleeping. My girl had gone to my spot and waited for me. She’d needed me tonight and had found comfort where I rested. She could have been inside in my nice fluffy bed, but she’d never actually seen me sleeping there.

Locklyn had gone to what she knew as my bed to find her peace for the night.

Fuck, I loved that.

I breathed a sigh of relief as my wolf finally receded and then held out my fist, bumping his when he offered it. “Thanks, brother.”

“No worries. I’ll hang out in the neighborhood in case you need me.” He stepped off the porch, heading for his own bike. Pausing to look back at me one last time. “She’s a good one.”

Didn’t I know it.

With Rush handled, I hurried around the house and into the backyard. There, in the hammock, lay a sleeping Locklyn. She had likely once been covered by the light blanket I kept on the porch, but that sat on the ground, probably having been kicked off. Her long legs were twisted together, her ass peeking at me from the pulled-up hem of her little sleep shorts. She looked sweet and innocent and sexy as fuck, a juxtaposition I didn’t know how to deal with. She also looked unprotected right there on my back porch with no walls around her. Locklyn may have been a strong woman, but she was still just a delicate human. Against a shifter or a vamp? She’d go down before she even knew what was coming at her. And I couldn’t let that happen.

I gently extricated her from her hammock bed, lifting her into my arms and striding for the glass doors that would lead me inside. Locklyn immediately cuddled into my chest, gripping my shirt in her sleep. Making my knees bobble for just one step. Fuck, this girl had me in knots. Her snuggling close? Choosing to want me closer? Killer. I knew I was strong as fuck, but she could knock me over with a feather if she just gave me one of her smiles.

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