Page 14 of A Killer Crescent Valentine

I left Dean to deal with the search party, pricking my ears for the Cupid’s panicked retreat.

“Do not,” Slasher hissed menacingly at the witches, “touch the baby!”

Oh god, she really was a baby. Judging by the size of her wolf form, she was three at the very oldest. No wonder she’d killed those people; she must have been terrified.

“It’s okay, little cub,” I called through the woods as I followed Hugh. “We’re here to rescue you. You’re safe now.”

She ran faster, her heart working overtime, feet crashing through the woods so fast they slipped. Hugh called to her in a soft, murmuring howl, and my chest filled with an answering sound. You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe. It was instinct for a wolf to care for a cub, and my instincts were firing on all cyclones.1 I wanted to shift, but my blood wolf was huge compared to my mates’ wolves, let alone a tiny cub.

“It can’t be fun sleeping in the woods,” I said softly, knowing my voice would reach her ears. “We’ve got plenty of soft beds and warm fires in our home. Lots of food, too.”

Even with her racing ahead, I heard her stomach grumble. My eyes stung. Poor cub. I wanted to catch her and hug her, but I’d probably trigger all her stranger danger instincts. And she’d already killed three people; I didn’t want to be the fourth.

I skidded along the ground when she twisted onto a different path, her breathing rapid with panic. A stitch pulled in my side, winding me. I grunted at the flash of pain but kept going.

“These woods aren’t safe, little cub. There are things in here that’ll hurt you, but I promise you’re safe with us.”

Hugh sped ahead of me when the path opened up, the trees pulling away and—there was a massive wall ahead of us, at least ten foot high. We had a wall? Since when was the woods encircled in a wall? And did that mean the nightmare creatures in these woods were put here on purpose by Blake Hall staff? I needed a word with Brannigan and Ivelle when we got out of here, but for now I pushed back the irritation so I could stay calm.

Speaking of calm—the Cupid was anything but. She started to fully panic at the sight of the wall and us behind her, trapping her. She spun to face us, the whites of her violet eyes showing when she watched Hugh and I pad out of the trees towards the wall.

“It’s okay,” I promised her, getting to my knees in the grass to show I wasn’t a threat. “We’re here to help you. Can you understand me?”

I wasn’t sure if her lips peeling back from her teeth was a yes or no. Hugh lowered himself to the ground too, a low, sad whine leaving his nose. The Cupid snarled in response, flexing her clawed paws. The claws that had torn up three bodies. I remembered suggesting there were chunks of skin missing because the killer got snackish, and realised just how right I was. She was starving. Why did none of us think to bring food?

She pressed her furry back to the wall, her wings dragging on the floor like she was too weak to hold them up, and saliva dripped from the fangs she bared at us. But we stayed crouched in the grass, not advancing, and I hoped she realised we weren’t here to grab her or hurt her. Hugh kept up a steady stream of comforting promises in wolf language, but that only made her glance between us in suspicion.

A sudden rush of air and movement behind us made me jump up, a knife in my hand in an instant. I exhaled a sigh when Slasher stopped abruptly in front of me, rage in his eyes and blood on his mouth.

“Baby!” he gasped when he saw the Cupid. “You’re so small.”

“No sudden movements,” I warned him quietly. “She’s terrified.”

The Cupid’s snarl rose in volume, as if she did understand me, and she jerked forward like she was trying to spook us into running. Everything in her body language was a threat, and I knew the only reason she hadn’t attacked was because she was cornered and outnumbered.

“No sudden movements,” Slasher repeated, and took painstakingly slow steps.

“Slasher!” I warned when he went too far. “She’ll attack you.”

I followed him, my heart in my throat. It would be just like my sweet, obsessive vampire mate to get himself killed trying to help a wolf cub. His heart was three sizes bigger than his brain.

“That’s alright, I’m very durable,” he replied, walking past Hugh with his pale arms outstretched. I didn’t know what to do. We needed to reach her so we could take her back to Blake Hall and get her warm and fed, but watching my mate walk into certain injury tangled up my insides. My soul throbbed. “I don’t mind if you scratch me, tiny baby. I’d scratch someone if I was as small as you, too. You must be very afraid.”

She growled, the sound pouring up her small throat but loud enough to fill this part of the woods. She definitely understood us, and didn’t like the assumption that she was scared.

“Not afraid then,” I mused, smiling sadly at her obvious fear. “Just calculating your next move.”

Her eyes flicked between Slasher, me, and Hugh. I edged closer, following Slasher, ready to jump in if her teeth went for his throat. She might be small but she’d taken down three adults, so—

Slasher closed the last bit of distance in a rush of vampire speed, and by the time my vision sorted itself out, he was sitting cross legged on the grass with the white wolf in his arms, her wings draped over his thighs as he rocked her back and forth.

“Shh,” he murmured, enduring the claws scratching his arms, ripping through his trousers to gouge bleeding lines. “It’s okay, we’ve got you now, Cupid.”

“Cupid’s too tame a name for this fierce girl,” I decided, earning her attention and a narrowing of her eyes. Her snarl quietened though, so I took that as a positive sign. “Will you shift back and tell us your real name?”

She struggled against Slasher’s embrace, her head thrashing. I took that as a no.

“Vengeance then,” I said, closing the last distance between us, Hugh right behind me in his wolf form. “My name’s Rebel, and my sister was Anarchy. I think the name Vengeance suits you.”

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