Page 90 of Mated Exile

Before anyone can even move, Bennett's head is torn from his body.

As the blood gushes from the open wound of his neck, his body topples over, and something moves in the darkness behind him.

The vampires have made an appearance.

Thirty-Seven

Delilah

There isn't a single vampire in the woods surrounding the Mating Circle.

Instead there are hundreds. Maybe even a thousand or more. I feel their presence like a cold shock across my back, horror filling my stomach and crawling up my throat. They shouldn't be here, just outside our most sacred place, hissing and slathering with their glowing red eyes—but here they are anyway.

Pouring out from the darkness, they stalk around the edges of the circle. A few of them pounce on Bennett's body, dragging it across the ground and tearing it to pieces. Shuddering, I study the rotting crowd, looking for a familiar face, but I don't see my captors. No doubt they're hanging back, waiting for the worst of the fighting to be done before they step in and finish things off.

I won't let them. No way are they taking me—or Bastian, who's currently growling and glaring into the darkness with glinting red eyes.

"The circle will protect us... won't it?" Lance warily eyes the sacred stones. "Even that can't have failed us."

One of the wolves, a man named Vincent Shine, pipes up. "As long as the flame can burn, the magic will keep them outside the Mating Circle. But that doesn't reassure me. All our best fighters are here—and the rest of the pack is vulnerable."

"He's right," Roarke agrees, glancing towards the low-burning, blue flame sitting atop the cauldron. "If we just sit here safe in our sacred land and do nothing to fight them off, they'll pick off the innocent. And the more the blood rot settles into the land, the more our borders will falter, until even this place will be vulnerable."

Bastian nods sharply. "We have to take them down. Here and now, before they move on to easier prey."

"How the hell did they slip in without us noticing?" Finn demands, echoing my thoughts. "We should've sensed them."

It's Niall who motions towards the mountains in the distance and points out, "Looks like they're coming form up North. Which means our borders are weakening on every side. We need to lift the curse—and get an alpha."

I hear the sound of a snarl, followed by a yelp. The sound of a skirmish filters up to us from the trail down the Mating Circle. Apparently our not-so-friendly friends from Stone Pack have been caught outside the circle's protection by the bloodsucking vamps. Even they deserve better than to go down eaten alive.

I point out, "The rest of our plans will have to wait. For now, let's fight."

"Agreed." Roarke turns to face the pack—or at least, the little bit of it here with us. "Time to shift, everyone. We all know how to tear vampires limb from limb. Keep your back to a packmate, protect your flanks, and if anyone is injured, drag them here for safety. Let's try to keep from losing any more comrades to those despicable things."

The growls and fists that rise at his words steady me. Our number may be small, weakened by broken mate bonds and uncertain of our pack's future, but at least we aren't without a strong leader. Roarke's broad shoulders may be unused to the weight of an alpha's role, but he steps into the space with ease.

So I follow his orders and shift. My wolf comes to me more easily now that I've been able to practice shifting. Her white form with mismatched eyes and pink paws flows up to the surface of my skin, effortlessly changing my body. As I shake my fur and settle my paws on the ground, I look around to see other wolves surrounding me: Kieran's grey form with yellow eyes, Roarke's brown-black shaggy wolf whose black eyes glint silver, Finn's black wolf with a white splash across his chest and a silver gaze, Lance's large white blue-eyes wolf with a black nose and tail tip, and Bastian's leggy, tan and brown wolf, sporting those eerie red eyes that stand out from the crowd.

Other wolves stand sentry in the darkness. Niall's silver wolf with teal eyes. A black-and-silver wolf I think must be Vincent Shine. Grey wolves, white wolves, black wolves; some large and broad, others small and leggy. In total there are eighteen werewolves in this circle, plus deLance's six warriors and himself.

Outside the circle are enough vampires that their hissing voices and taunting jeers undulate in waves. As they surge towards the Mating Circle, blue-white light jolts up to stop them, but their prowling never stops. Even my wolf eyes can't count their number in the darkness, so I let my awareness ripple out of me as far as it can go, wincing as it pushes up against Bennett's dead body.

It's hard to count numbers in a crowd. But I sense at least five hundred vampires, maybe more. Fewer than the thousand I feared, but far too many for us to take on just as wolves.

We'll need something more. Something like magic. Glancing over at Roarke, I give him a questioning look, and he nods sharply. Our thoughts flow back and forth, not quite words and sentences, but feelings.

I'll lead some of the warriors outside the circle, towards the north, to fight the vampires.

I hear a familiar voice jump in. Niall volunteers,I'll lead others to meet up with the Stone Pack wolves and cut off the vamps before they reach Juniper proper.

I don't envy you,I shoot at him, sending a mental image of snooty, overconfident deLance. Niall snorts.We're too outnumbered to fight them with just claws and teeth. I'll summon the land's defenses, wake it wherever I can, and try to drag as many vamps as possible off our territory.

You can do that in the Mating Circle—can't you?Comes Kieran's hesitant voice.

No.I shake my head, turning towards Bastian to aim my question in his direction.I need to connect my feet or hands directly with the earth, don't I? And pick a place near a ley line.

For the best result. Somewhere near a road or a stream would work well.

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