Page 288 of Caelum

Sheesh, couldn’t they have warned me?

Jerks.

Still, everything felt better because I was in Dre’s arms. Any of my mates would have made me happy, but with Dre? Because he seemed tohave the biggest issue with me? It just made this all the sweeter. Even if I was one big ache from having fallen down the side of a temple.

Gosh, talk about going big or going home.

In fact, Dre’s embrace even stopped me from complaining when he hefted me up until my legs had no alternative but to either swing down or cling to his hips, and he walked me out of the lot, away from the group of corpses and straight toward the hotel door.

“W-We can’t just leave them,” I stuttered, wincing when he didn’t even falter at my statement.

“They can handle it,” he growled, his anger so strong that I reared back. When I cried out when the move put pressure on a bruise, he glowered at me and spat, “Stay still.”

God, what was it with his moods? I felt like his words were a slap in the face sometimes. He’d said so much worse to me since I’d known him, had insulted me in ways that made this seem trite, and yet, I hurt more from his sharpness now because of the softness he’d just shown me.

Why was he doing this?

Why was he carrying me?

It was like whiplash, and I was too weak, too hurt to endure it.

“I meant the bodies,” I whispered, the pain from his verbal slap, as well as the ache in my bones, echoing in my voice.

He released a shaky breath, his eyes softening with an apology I knew he’d never utter. “Oh. Don’t worry. They’ll turn to ash soon.”

They would?

How had I not known that?

Clenching my eyes shut, I tried to refrain from snapping that they could have warned me…In fact—“Then why did we set fire to the bodies in London?”

“Because of the humans. Not the Ghouls,” he replied, his tone calmer now that we were approaching an elevator that would take us out of the parking lot.

Dre, Samuel, and Reed were at his back, and as we headed into the elevator, Nestor remained with Stefan and Frazer.

I carried on watching them slaughter the masses, and though I didn’t want them to, I couldn’t stop the images of what I’d just seen from flashing before my eyes.

Reed’s Hell Hound—a furious monster, all black leathery skin with long spikes down his spine and glowing red eyes. Dre’s bear—massive, covered in blood as his enormous claws raked at the Ghouls, and his maw drenched red as he bit the attackers. Nestor—his skin gray, his body movinglike he was dancing, but his arms and legs whirling in ways that had meant the end for any Ghoul he’d come into contact with.

The others had fought too, but in a more ‘humane’ manner, and they’d have died if I hadn’t saved them. When I’d seen the wave of Ghouls surging into the lot from the hotel, the urge to sing had overtaken me?—

Wait!

“What if more Ghouls come?” They’d poured in from a door that had to lead to the hotel.

“They won’t,” Reed assured me. “Even if there are still some in the hotel, they’ll scent death and avoid the scene. They’re ruthless and selfish bastards. They won’t wade into any war that isn’t of their own making.”

My throat felt tight with emotion as I contemplated that. Pondered just how close I’d come to potentially losing my mates to an unexpected battle in a parking lot.

Burrowing my face in Dre’s hair, I tried not to think about it, but how couldn’t I? Only an insistent buzzing in my body had made me awaken, and if I hadn’t in time, they’d have been Ghoul stew for dinner.

The buzz had been unusual. Almost like I was being zapped by an electric shock above my chest and knees, on my arm, and palms. It had disturbed me from my slumber, and when I’d heard the carnage outside the car, I’d had no choice but to wade into the fight.

Scared wasn’t the word, but that was nothing compared to the terror that had flooded me when I thought about losing my men.

“You got the keys?” Dre asked.

“Yeah,” Samuel stated. “Fourth floor.”

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