Page 17 of Wolf Bitten

Slade touched my arm, bringing me back to the present. Shit. I had to pay attention and deal with the fallout of Raffe and his choices once we got the hell out of here. Even if the Veiled Circle’s cause had merit, their execution was just as bad as that of the wolf shifters because I had no doubt they would do the same thing in retribution. As my parents said, two wrongs didn’t make a right, and they’d coached me to handle my bullies with that in mind.

But here was the thing. They were right, but that didn’t mean a third person shouldn’t have intervened and knocked some sense into both sides.

Forcing the thoughts from my head, I followed Slade. Despite my slowness and Slade’s scuffing, we somehow reached the end of the hallway, which turned only to the left.

“She’s more open-minded than I thought a human could be,” Warin said, his voice coming from the left of the room we were about to enter. “I don’t like admitting when I’m wrong, but Glinda could be right. She could be the answer to our cause.”

Turning to me, Slade gestured for me to come to him.

“We coven members may not live as long as your kind does, but we understand nature and magic in a way vampires never will,” Glinda said proudly. “And you’d best recognize that and realize there are some things, like Skylar, that we inherently know.”

I didn’t like how she kept emphasizing me. For the first time in my life, someone found me important, and I didn’t like it. Being an outcast had its perks.

When I reached Slade’s side, my gaze landed on a dining room table in the center of the room in front of us with a kitchen behind it. Slade pointed to the dining room then to the right.

Some of the weight lifted from my chest. At least we were heading away from Warin. With his speed and strength, Slade and I couldn’t take him. Not with the drug still in my system and Slade injured.

Slade moved forward, keeping to the right edge of the dining room. I followed, not wanting to be left behind.

Silence filled the space as whoever they were talking to responded. They must be on the phone.

A door shut somewhere in the kitchen, making my heart gallop. Of course, my blood inched to a low fizz, following my emotions.

“Do you smell that?” a female voice asked from the kitchen.

It had to be a vampire.

Slade glanced at me and flinched.

“Yes. It smells likeher,” a male responded.

Slade grabbed my elbow and began dragging me through a threshold on the right.

“Sire, she’sescaping,” the same woman said from somewhere close behind me.

We entered a mudroom, and my socked feet slipped on the tile floor. Shit. I hadn’t put on my shoes. That was what happened when you’d been confined to a room for several days. You became spacey and dissociated.

The thick door we faced lookedpromising, like it led outside. My blood came alive. We were almost free.

A large hand gripped my free arm and yanked me away from Slade. I spun and kicked a dark-skinned male vampire in the stomach. His eyes bulged, and his mouth dropped open, revealing his sharp, extended vampire teeth as he stumbled back.

Shit, they were getting bloodthirsty, and my blood was at a high fizz.

A female vampire blurred toward me, her fangs extended as she aimed for my neck.

She wanted to drink my blood.

“Fuck,” Slade groaned. He lifted his hand and shot a strong spray of water over my shoulder into the vampire’s face, mere inches from my neck.

As the water pushed her backward, she clung to me, digging her long, black-polished nails into the skin of my upper arm.

“It’s not working,” I gritted out, the stinging pain stealing my breath.

Warin and Glinda appeared behind the male vampire, who was righting himself.

The water poured harder from Slade’s hand. The female vampire gurgled and loosened her grasp. When her nails retracted enough, I yanked my arm back and broke free.

Flames flowed from Glinda’s hands toward me.

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