Page 48 of These Dangerous Fates

Cade nods, and the car rolls to the alley. Sterling throws the car in park and both guys are out in a flash. I drop onto the floor in the back and hold my gun at the ready. As soon as the doors close behind the guys, the noises start. Gun shots, shouts, growls, the pinging of bullets as they hit the ground and the brick wall of the alley.

I want to look to see what is happening, but I know Cade is right. The risk is too great. If Sam sees me, who knows what he’ll do. No, that’s a lie. I know exactly what he’ll do, and I also know I won’t live through anything he has planned for me.

Moans and screams are added to the symphony of violence outside the car. Growls and roars sound from multiple shifters. Are the guys okay? Is Malakai okay? Cade only said he was real bad off. How bad is real bad? He’s a vampire, so he should be able to heal from anything, except a stake to the heart or head. I don’t let myself think that. I can’t let myself think that.

The fear that overcame me when I found out Malakai was in danger confuses me. Intense terror flooded my system, so much so that it almost paralyzed me. Why do I have such fear of the guys getting hurt? Just because I've had sex with two of them, doesn’t mean we’re in any kind of relationship. Does it?

Still, the connection I have with them is so strong. There is an actual sensation inside me whenever I’m near them, a tug in my gut physically drawing me closer to them. I don’t understand it, and it terrifies me. But, I don’t know what to do about it.

Do I want to do anything about it?

The sounds outside get louder. A crescendo of gunfire and shouting. I curl tighter into a ball, trying to drown out the noise. My imagination goes wild, and I can’t stop it. Images flood my mind, stopping my heart in my chest, and sending tendrils of fear oozing through my bloodstream. Malakai, with shards of metal piercing his chest. Sterling lying motionless on the ground, icy blue eyes staring unseeing at the sky above. Cade, grasping a gaping hole in his chest as he tries to save his friends. I squeeze my eyes shut tight until bright lights flare behind my eyelids from the pressure, trying to erase the awful images plaguing me.

The rapid fire gunshots finally dissipate, slowing until there’s only silence. I wait a moment more before taking a deep breath and preparing myself to peek outside. Not knowing what I’ll find or what I’ll do if the images in my head are actually reality.

“Sterling! Leave him. I need your help with Kai!”

Cade’s shout makes its way into the closed car, and I pop up to look out the window in time to see Sterling bound into view from a side alley. He approaches Cade and shifts into his human form. A twisted mess of metal lays at the mouth of the alley, and I dimly recognize it as Malakai’s black motorcycle. I can’t see Malakai, but Sterling and Cade’s grim expressions tighten my gut.

As the guys heft Malakai into their arms, I hop out of the car to give them room to slide him in. I press a hand to my mouth to stifle my gasp when they pass me. Seeing Malakai, the strong, deadly, dangerous vampire, hanging limply in his friend’s arms sends the world spinning around me. There is no smirk, no twinkling gray eyes, no … life. I wait for Cade and Sterling to get him situated laying across the backseat before I hop in and sit on the floor by his head.

Afraid to touch him, my hands hover over his too still body. He’s barely recognizable. His pale skin is gray. Cuts and bruises pepper his face. Dried blood is matted in his unruly black hair and oozes from multiple wounds. He looks dead. I shakily place my hand on his chest and almost collapse when his heart thumps slowly and weakly under my palm.

“Where are we going?” Sterling asks as he slides naked into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.

Cade climbs into the passenger side and looks back at Malakai with a frown. “I don’t know. We can’t take him to a hospital. We’ll be sitting ducks there. We really need to get back to the estate.”

“He’s going to be okay, though, right?” I ask, my voice shaking. “He hasn’t been staked, so he will heal on his own.”

Cade’s eyes shutter, and he turns to look out of the windshield. “Take us to the estate,” he says quietly.

“Cade. He’ll heal on his own, right?” I ask again. He doesn’t answer, and my heart pounds harder. “What aren’t you telling me, Cade?”

He shakes his head and presses his lips together, refusing to meet my gaze. Ice floods my veins and something ugly writhes in my gut. An anger, not directed at Cade, but at the world. An untamed need to destroy those who did this. It’s such a powerful thing it knocks the breath from me, and I have to blink back the rage turning my vision red. What the fuck is happening to me?

I snap. “Dammit, Cade! Answer the fucking question!” Terror raises my voice to a screech, and I wince. In my life I have experienced fear plenty of times, especially over the past two years, but this is like a different kind of fear. It’s paralyzing. It consumes my thoughts and fuels my anxiety. I need to know that Malakai will be okay. The thought of him not being okay makes me sick to my stomach. It mixes with the anger and leaves me shaky and unsteady.

It’s crazy how quickly these three guys have embedded themselves into my very being. Maybe it’s because they are the first ones to actually treat me like a person. Maybe I latched onto them too tightly because I want so badly to be accepted and cared for. Whatever the reason, I know the feelings I have for them are growing by the day, and the thought of losing one of them is too much.

“Cade, please.” Desperation makes my voice wobble. “Tell me he’ll be okay.” Tears slip out of my eyes and track down my cheeks.

Cade closes his eyes, as if he can’t bear to see my reaction. “He hasn’t fed in a month.”

“What the fuck!” Sterling shouts. “What the hell was he thinking?”

“What does that mean?” I whisper, looking back and forth between Cade and Malakai.

“Vampires need to feed at least every other week, if not every week,” Cade explains. “Malakai was on the edge of losing himself this morning. It’s why he left. He was trying to clear his head a little bit.”

Sterling picks up where Cade leaves off. “What Cade is trying to say is, Malakai doesn’t have what he needs in his system to heal.” I don’t need to see his expression to know it’s dire. His voice tells me enough, flat and dull.

Sterling’s words echo in my head, bouncing and rebounding, as I stare at Malakai’s still form. The strands of his hair are like silk when I trail my fingers through them, brushing a stray curl from his forehead. I can’t wrap my mind around this situation or what it means. He won’t heal on his own because he hasn’t fed? Everything inside me has gone numb, a stillness has settled over me, a white fog that stuffs my brain with emptiness.

I whip my head to look at Cade, an ember of hope bursting to light. “You can heal him, though, can’t you? You can use your magic to heal him.” The pain on Cade’s face is all I need to see to know his answer before he says it. I’m already shaking my head when he opens his mouth.

“I could heal him,” he says slowly, “But with his injuries and him not having fed in so long, he would most likely be rogue when he woke. It’s not a risk we can take.”

Rogue. Ice fills my veins. When a vampire doesn’t feed, they go rogue. They basically turn into monsters, preying on anything alive, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, the only way to stop them is a stake to the heart.

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