Page 32 of Blood Lust
“God.” I ran the back of my hand over my forehead. “I have no idea if we’ve made the right decision by doing this. It seems like we’re letting vengeful thoughts control our emotions and actions lately.”
“What that witch did to you was terribly wrong, and I’m sorry it happened to you. I will say that you all made an excellent decision to merge forces against her. An ancient witch like her has never seen defeat. Shane could sense her powers the minute he made contact with you. It made him physically ill.”
“Damn. That’s terrible.”
“It could’ve been worse. If you all didn’t agree to merge and soon bond, who knows what the witch would be capable of then. She would have eventually had her way with the five of you, and Enzo wouldn’t have been the only enemy of the vampire immortals.”
“Speaking of that psychopath,” I said, “why doesn’t anyone but the vampires want to take him out?”
“He’s not a threat to us.”
“The hell he isn’t!” I said in a raised voice. “Jon, he wants domination over everything. He may not be a threat to you or any other supernatural right now, but trust me when I say that the vamps aren’t the only ones who should be worried about that asshole.”
“I heard he took your mother.”
“Yep.” I tightened my lips. I wanted to tell Jon that Enzo and mom were lovebirds and I was their lovechild, sparking the wrath of this witch, but something told me to not be so trusting with that info dump.
“I know she wasn’t much of a mother to you, but it is understood amongst all the shifters who protect Life Bloods that she was doing all of that to keep you hidden and safe from Enzo.”
“You see, that doesn’t make any sense. You all want to stay out of it when it comes to Enzo being a threat, yet you’re all right in the middle of it while you have your little elder meetings and work to make sure Life Bloods are safe.”
“That’s a task I took on myself. In a way, I had already given up the pack to Zane when I left to guard you. I sort of saw it as a retirement until I was called by the pack to leave you soon after the Banner cousins moved in.”
We were at the edge of a pond where white geese glided over the surface. This merge with the wolves would’ve been helpful if it gave me some instinct on direction and time.Where the hell are we?I glanced up at the skies, dark billowy clouds rolled in like white-capped waves creeping up to a shoreline.
The clouds mysteriously blacked out the sun, and a wind gust blew up so hard that I heard branches snap through the dense trees to our right. The force of the wind knocked my ass to the ground.
“We’re here,” Jon said to the clouds as they rolled over each other and rushed to where I knelt, looking up in shock at the red flashes of light in them.
“Who the hell are you—”
“My husband,” Marsha’s voice was almost harmonic, like an angel or something. “You’ve done well.”
I slowly stood when Jon knelt and bowed his head at the water forming up into an image of a woman. The water dripped from her soaked hair and body before it revealed a younger, flawless version of Marsha. Everything seemed angelic but her freakish, red eyes.
I stumbled backward, trying to bolt out of there, but Jon’s hand gripped my ankle. “You’re coming with us, Elle,” he said in a menacing voice.
“The hell I am.” I used my free foot to kick his fingers that were wound tightly around my ankle. “Shit. Jon! What the hell, man?” I said, unable to free myself.
“You’re the one they need.”
“Goddamn if I’m not the one every freakish thing needs,” I growled at him. “This isn’t right. What the hell did you do? That’s not fucking Marsha.”
“You don’t know my wife,” he argued. “The Marsha you knew was just as fake as the life you had in Oregon. Now, we can’t keep them waiting.”
By this time, an army of red-eyed people was exhumed from the water, and if they weren’t so beautiful in their appearance, they’d be mistaken easily for dead people.
Marsha’s smile at Jon was that of approval andjob well done, soldier!My arms were clutched from behind in icy grips that froze them solid. If I could have actually moved, I would have probably killed these bastards out of frustration for another impending abduction.
“I’ve got this side. You all go at them from behind,” Zane barked. After I made brief eye contact with him, he leapt into the air, and his human-like body was covered in fur before a black, long-haired wolf joined dozens of other people who were turning into abnormally large wolfs. I struggled against the icy cold embrace that was gripped around me, freezing me to my core and turning me into a statue the longer it held onto me.
“We’ve got to kill that thing before it takes Elle into the dead realm.”
Mother of God, the dead realm?
Cole was swift and brutal in attacking the invisible force latched onto me. If I wasn’t half frozen, I could have probably helped him; instead, I got a live viewing of at least fifty wolves and my four vampires fighting these creatures who appeared from the water and the clouds.
“It’s taking her, damn it!” Cole growled from behind me.
