Page 70 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

“Well, shit,” Asher responds. “Guess you’re right.”

“Ready to get out of here none the less?” Danny asks with a quirked eyebrow.His eyes dart up and down my body taking inventory of every wound or mark on me. From the looks of his pinched mouth, he is not happy.

“You have no idea.” I chuckle but grunt as it causes pain. The other two look at me with furrowed brows and start to fully take me in, no doubt trying to determine the extent of my injuries just as Danny had. “Don’t start fretting like a pack of mother hens. We don’t have time for that. Now, let’s go.”

Thankfully, they listen even though I can tell it’s hard for them to do so. We slowly and silently make our way out up the stairs, ready for if we come across any of Zander’s men. “Where are Kane and Damien?” I whisper.

“Waiting upstairs keeping look out and making sure no one will get in our way once we bring you up,” Danny whispers back.

I nod my head, and as we reach the top of the stairs, I see Kane and Damien hiding in the shadows off to the side. Their heads whip around when our feet hit the top of the stairs. Both look me over quickly and have a brief moment of anger that crosses their faces as they take in the extent of my injuries. They quickly shake it off though, and we start moving towards the exit.

When the front door comes into view, a group of eight vampires round a corner and come to a stop when they see us. They block our path and hiss at us with looks of disgust morphing their faces.

Danny and the others move to stand in front of me. Usually, I would protest, but considering I would likely just slow them down in a fight with my injuries at the moment, they have a better chance of taking care of this group quickly while I stand back. Zander’s men run towards us, and the two groups collide. Flashes of fists and knives coupled with the thud of flesh or the slice of blades meeting flesh greet me as I watch. Zander’s men are woefully undertrained and sloppy because my men take them down in record time.

“Nice job,” I compliment them. “Now, if you all are done slacking around, it’s time to go.”

They all turn towards me and either glare at me or roll their eyes. I simply smile at them as I make my way towards the front door. I crack it open to peek outside to see if any more of Zander’s men are around. All I see are two standing by the front gate anxiously looking back and forth towards the house and the street outside the gates.

I close the door and turn to the others. “I only see two at the front gate.”

“We took care of a lot of them before we found you,” Nolan indicates. “There should only be a few stragglers left.”

I nod my head towards him. Before I can move back towards the door to head outside, Damien grabs my arm gently but firmly to stop me. “I’ll go outside with you and Danny to help take care of the guards out front. Danny, get her home, and we will take care of things here before heading back home.”

“Take care of things?” I ask in mild confusion.

Danny stares directly at me. “The plan. Zander and his whole coven need to die so they can’t cause any more damage or come after you. The others will take care of the remaining few and torch the place for good measure while I get you to safety. Then, we’ll make sure fingers are pointed at another coven looking to get rid of Zander and his coven in response to the announcement of your engagement to Zander.”

His words take a moment to process. “That’s why you didn’t want to do anything until my father made the announcement. You betted on no one or hardly anyone being pleased with the arrangement.”

“And we made the right bet,” Kane grunted. “Now, go before the last few of Zander’s men start jumping ship. We’ve got this. Trust us.”

“I do,” I say as I look directly at each of them so they know I am dead serious. “Be careful and thank you.”

“Anything for you, Talia,” Asher whispers before nudging me gently towards the front door.

Danny and Damien follow closely behind me and then move quickly in front of me. The two guards at the front see them and start moving towards us. Danny and Damien don’t even break a sweat in putting them down. Damien nods at me as he walks back to me. As he passes me, I turn to follow him with my gaze. “Be careful,” I repeat.”

“We will. Go.”

Danny grabs my hand, and we make our way out the gates. A few streets down, I see a dumpster. “You got any matches on you?”

Danny pulls out a lighter from his back pocket and hands it to me. I toss Zander’s head inside the dumpster and then start the process of grabbing pieces of paper, cardboard, and other things I find scattered around the ground that I can use to light and throw into the dumpster with his head. Danny helps, and soon, the whole dumpster is ablaze. We watch for a second until I’m confident that the fire has burned long enough to ensure Zander’s head is nonrecoverable.Better safe than sorry, right?

A few minutes later, we hop into a random car Danny confiscates. The idiot owner left his keys in the car. He deserves to be carjacked. We weave through the streets, making our way in the direction of the coven house, and finally, I relax a little into the seat. As the adrenaline fades, I become more acutely aware of everywhere I’m hurt. I hiss slightly as I try to adjust in the seat and attempt to get semi-comfortable.

I see Danny whip his head towards me out of the corner of my eye. “How bad are you hurt?”

“It’s just a scratch,” I say jokingly.

“Don’t joke about this, Talia.”

I turn to look at him and see he is gripping the steering wheel tightly to where his knuckles are white. Whiter than the rest of his usually pale skin.

“I’m going crazy not being able to tell through the bond, let alone be able to communicate with you to where I had no fucking idea where you were until Zander called me to brag himself. Why isn’t the bond working!?” His voice becomes more distressed, angry, and louder as he rants.

“He said it was some special test cocktail out on the streets that blocks the bond between a vampire and their guardian. “

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