Page 138 of Fated In Blood

Angel’s hand dragged down my arm, leaving bloody grooves before she sank back into her seat, quiet. I gave my sister’s shoulder another squeeze, gripping the knife tightly, searching for an opening.If I could keep Tyrell talking…

“So we were what? A source of power to you?”

“Only amongst the most influential and wealthiest of our kind. Caine was rumored to keep a Silverwood by his side at all times to maintain his full strength. But a thousand years ago your family turned on us, the hunted became the hunter, and here we are today. Enemies.”

Tyrell lifted his hand and Angel rose from her chair, her tear-streaked face turned toward this fucking monster who’d taken her.Twistedher. “But not anymore. How many girls have been born in the Silverwood family over the generations? One? Five? Ten?”

I clamped my lips together, my gaze dropping to Riordan and Blake prostrated on the floor behind Tyrell, and to Bosch’sarmed guards blocking the door. We weren’t getting out of here alive.

“Two.” Unbelievably, Malachi answered. “Only you and your sister. Have you ever wondered why that is?”

“Not especially, no. I’ve had more important things to do than chart the genealogy of my murderous family, thank you very much.”

If I could break Tyrell’s concentration long enough to free Riordan and Blake, then I could take Malachi out and Blake could get one of the guard’s guns…Chances were, they had silver bullets in those clips.

“After the Silverwoods betrayed us, your bloodline was witch-cursed to only produce males, depriving us of our rightful mates. But now…” Malachi licked his lips like some sort of cartoon villain, his consuming gaze fixed on me. “Now there are two of you. One for Laurent. And one for me.”

Okay, that was disgusting.

Behind Tyrell, Riordan fixed his black, depthless stare on the Ancient, a low growl boiling in his chest. He managed to crawl a foot forward. Then another, drool spilling from his mouth. This was going to kill him.

Or Tyrell was going to kill him in front of me to make a point.

Faster than Tyrell could anticipate, I flung my knife, the tip sinking deep into the bastard’s throat, and the Ancient’s control snapped.

Blake became a blur as he crossed the ten feet separating us and gripped my wrist, then we were in the wind.

52

BLAKE

Possibly for the last time, I buried my face into Evie’s hair when we landed at the farthest end of the eastern wing of Darkmore Castle, folding her into my arms for one precious moment while I got my shit together.

Fucking hell.

Fucking hell.

Rohr landed a second later in a swirl of smoke, and I threw Evangeline behind me as my friend raised his head and snarled, face twisted into a ravenous mask. He gathered himself to spring then slumped to the ground, blood pouring from the wound on the side of his throat, his jacket glistening with blood.

Some of the black bled out of his eyes and he managed a wry smile. “Looks like I caught a few on the way out. We don’t have long.”

“We need to leave this castle.Now.” Evie wiggled out from beneath me and started crawling to Riordan before I yanked her back.

“Stay away from him. You can’t get close.”

“Fuck that, he’s bleeding. I need to?—”

“He’s right. Stay away, Evie. Listen to Blake and stay where you are.” Riordan sounded exhausted, the weakness in his voice not only from his wounds.

She looked between the two of us, confusion written all over her beautiful face. I pointed to the furthest end of the room. “You watch from there while I check him over.” Rohr’s neck was healing fast, but his shirt was stained red, the sword wound and bullet holes still leaking blood. I peeled off his jacket to check how bad he’d been hit.

“They’ll be here any minute. We have to get out of the castle.” Evie was on the verge of hysteria, bleeding from her wrist—when the fuck did that happen?—kicking off her heels before she paced to the window then back to the other side of the room.

“We can’t.” I lifted Riordan’s shirt. One of the bullets had passed straight through, another…was stuck inside.Fuck. “There’s a ward around the castle. We can’t get out.”

She wrapped her arms around her middle. “We can’t be trapped here. Wecan’t,” she muttered, rocking back and forth. “There are at least five secret passages…I escaped before. There are all kinds of ways out, I remember…”

“Not you.Us. Riordan and I cannot leave the castle,” I explained patiently as she slid down the wall until her butt hit the floor, releasing a shaky exhale.

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