Page 25 of Vampire Bite

I spun, my heart pounding in my ears. Had she gone to the back door? Or—?

A growl sounded behind me, and I whirled, but it wasn’t a wolf. It was Annika. She was standing in the doorway, holding a long piece of wood, a makeshift weapon, her eyes burning with determination.

She didn’t wait for me to stop her. She charged into the fray, swinging the wood with everything she had. A wolf lunged at her, and I was there in an instant, pulling her out of the way just as its jaws snapped shut where her neck had been.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I shouted, more angry than I should have been, but the fear in my chest was getting the best of me. “I told you to stay back!”

But she didn’t seem to hear me. She was already moving, swinging the piece of wood again, knocking a wolf back, giving me a split second to drive my knife into another’s side.

We were fighting together. And it was working. But only just.

“We need to get out of here!” I shouted. “We can’t take them all on!”

But she just met my eyes, and I saw something in her that I hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t hesitation. It was pure resolve. We were in this together, and she wasn’t going to back down. She was proving herself worthy of my admiration every single time we were in deep shit.

Then, it happened.

A wolf was on her.

I saw it happen in slow motion. The beast’s jaws snapping, its claws extended as it lunged at Annika. She wasn’t quick enough this time, her eyes wide as she froze. The beast’s massive form was closing in on her. I could feel my heart stop beating.

“No!” I roared, rushing toward her.

I was faster than the wolf, but not by much. My body felt like lead, every muscle straining, every inch of my being screaming at me to get there in time. Her breath caught in her throat, and I could see the fear in her eyes. She didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect this.

The wolf was inches from her throat, its teeth bared. I reached out, my hand grabbing her arm. I yanked her back with a force that could’ve torn her shoulder from its socket. Her body slammed into mine, and I barely managed to keep my feet under me as I fell back with her. The wolf’s jaws snapped just inchesfrom her, the hot breath of the animal curling against the side of her face.

I didn’t think. I didn’t need to.

I had only one instinct—protect her.

With a roar, I whipped my knife out and lunged. The blade sank deep into the wolf’s neck. It howled in a sound so high-pitched and filled with fury that it sent a shiver down my spine. I yanked the blade out, again and again, until it finally dropped to the floor, limp and still.

My chest heaved as I watched the wolf's body crumple to the ground. But I couldn’t afford to feel relief—not yet.

I turned to Annika, my hand grabbing her face, tilting it so I could see her eyes. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

She was shaking, her chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths. Her skin was pale, her lips trembling, and I could see how close she’d come to being torn apart. The panic in her eyes mirrored the terror I felt just moments before.

“I—I'm fine,” she gasped, her voice barely a whisper, though I knew she wasn’t fine. She wasn’t fine at all.

I helped her to her feet, keeping one arm around her waist, feeling her body still trembling against mine. “You should’ve stayed back,” I muttered under my breath, the words coming out more harshly than I intended.

She looked up at me, her eyes intense. “You told me to trust you,” she said softly, the words cutting straight through me. “And I do.”

The world felt like it was closing in, the weight of her words pressing down on me. It made the wolves’ growls and the adrenaline still rushing through my veins feel distant. I was angry, terrified, and something else too—something that I couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried. She had risked her life, and somehow, in that moment, I realized just how muchthat terrified me. Just how much I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

But there was no time for that now. At least, that was what I thought.

Then, I realized that the scratching had gone. All I could hear was silence and our heavy breathing. The shifters were… gone.

I looked at Annika. She also knew there was no time to explain.

“Let’s head back to the headquarters,” I urged.

She nodded, grabbing a few things, and a minute later, we were heading toward the headquarters, cloaked in the safety of shadows.

Chapter Fifteen

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