Page 187 of Shadowblood Souls
He’s loosened his grip. As soon as he stops, he whirls around.
His gaze searches my body until he spots the cut. It’s shallow, but blood is trickling down my arm.
Jacob’s face goes rigid. One of the rearview mirrors snaps off its bracket like it was made of Styrofoam rather than steel.
Okay, that move wasdefinitelyhim.
The other guys rush around to join us, their expressions panicked.
“Dom!” Jacob barks, low and terse. “Get over here. Riva’s hurt.”
Even after everything Dominic said to me last night, my body balks at the thought of him extending his powers. “I’m fine. It’s shallow, nothing?—”
But Dom is already next to me, his fingers curling around my upper arm just below the cut. The worry in his eyes and the whiff of fear he gives off stop me from protesting further.
As the warmth of his healing ability washes over my shoulder, Zian and Andreas close in tighter around us in defensive stances. They both shoot me concerned glances before peering across the dimmed parking garage.
“What the hell is going on?” Jacob mutters. “That wasn’t any accident.”
Zian’s muscles flex. His frame grows a few inches in a partial shift with a spurt of fur along the back of his neck.
His voice comes out in a growl. “There’s someone up near the entrance. A bunch of people.”
A chill prickles through me. “Guardians?”
He pauses. “Yeah. It’s got to be. I think I can see a few helmets.”
“Fuck.” Andreas glances toward the RV. “Let’s get out of here. We can drive right through them if we have to.”
The words are just leaving his mouth when an ominous warbling sound rises up from the RV’s engine area. Like a rush of flames has just flared up inside it.
The image flickers from my memory of the fire started by one of the younger shadowbloods when the guardians ambushed us at the Airbnb.
I snatch hold of Dominic’s sleeve and yank him with me. “Get away from it!”
All five of us hurtle forward, staying close to the concrete wall. The next second, the RV’s hood blasts open with a burst of fire.
We’re still close enough that the heat singes my skin. Zian lunges in front of me, wincing as a few bits of smoldering debris must hit him.
Our attackers must be a squad of guardians—they’ve managed to find us again. Did they track our presence to the garage after we left last night and lie in wait hoping we’d return?
Or have they developed some new way of finding us that takes them even less time than before?
Flames dance across the RV’s inner workings. It’s obviously we’re not driving our house-on-wheels anywhere anytime soon.
But no footsteps come pounding across the concrete floor. I can make out several figures mostly poised by the far end of the garage now, lurking in the shadows on either side of the entrance, but they make no move to charge.
“Why aren’t they coming at us?” I murmur.
The answer comes to us in the form of a shout echoing beneath the low ceiling. “Jacob, Andreas, Riva, Zian, Dominic. It’s time you came home. You don’t understand what you’ve gotten yourself into. Those monsters will eat your souls.”
I flinch at the sound of my name, but as the man goes on, understanding sinks in. They’ve realized we were talking with shadowkind here.
“They’re afraid of completely storming the place in case the ‘monsters’ fight them,” Dominic says under his breath, coming to the same conclusion.
Why aren’t the shadowkindalreadyattacking the intruders after their aggressive arrival?
I look to where Rollick is standing and find him as tensed as we are. He doesn’t look particularly afraid, but his mouth is set at an uncomfortable angle like he isn’t at all pleased about the new arrivals either.
