Page 75 of Frenzy
Then I raced up the stairs as quickly as I could. I wanted to shift to wolf and race there, but I didn’t want to lose my weapons or my cell. I might need both. So I ran as fast as my human body would carry me.
Turns out that was too fucking slow. I skidded into the arena in time to see fucking Eldridge bury his fist inside Courtland’s body, a fucking gleeful grin on his face.
What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. I pulled my weapon and aimed at Eldridge, but Doc was doing the same. We both fired. Both got the Legion General in the head, essentially blowing his brains out from both directions.
A big fucker, his face distorted by my horror, stepped up behind Doc and decapitated the older Manix with a sword. As I got closer though, I recognized him. A Beta from the Pack of that fuckhead Wilkie. Didn’t know his name but like his Alpha, he was a fucking prick. Doc’s head went rolling, and then there was chaos.
Or maybe there was chaos because a fucking vampire appeared from thin air and tore out the Beta’s heart.
I slid to my knees beside Courtland. Eldridge still had his fucking intestines wrapped in his claws, even though that bastard was dead. I untangled them and stuffed them back in as best I could. Were there rules about returning someone's insides back to where they belonged?
Tears cooled on my face and that's how I realized I was crying. Fuck.
Courtland stared up at me with those dark eyes, and he looked like he was trying to smile. Trying to consoleme.
“Love. You.”
His eyes closed, and I let out a pained sound. “No, you fuck. Come back here. I love you too.You do not just get to die!”
I was screaming at him now, shaking his shoulders, until someone touched my arm. I looked up into the cool face of Lucius, who seemed completely unperturbed by the fact my heart was shattering in my goddamn chest.
“He’s still alive, barely. Move, and I will get him to your clinic.”
I scrambled away so fast I fell on my ass, and this psycho vampire just lifted Courtland into his arms like he weighed nothing. Then he was gone, moving so fast even my supernatural eyesight couldn’t follow.
I looked around the arena and noticed that Gatlin was standing in front of the Legion Generals, all except Joshua, who was squatting in the sand near Doc’s body, tears running down his face.
Fuck. Doc. Bonnie would be devastated.
I stood, walking stiffly toward Gatlin. He looked at me, his eyes filled with rage and just a tinge of pity. “Is he alive?”
I winced, but nodded. “For now.”
Murphy came up to me then, resting his hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got this. The vampires have arrived, and they’ll get everything squared away and eat anyone who was a traitor to their species.” He said it loudly, and I was pretty sure I heard someone whimper. I didn’t care. I hoped Lucius gorged himself on their blood. Murphy pushed my shoulder a little. “Go, Dom. Your Pack needs you.”
Not as much as I needed them.
43
Pryce
When I’d imagined what having a Pack would be like, I didn’t think it would be sitting in the center of a room, surrounded by hospital beds containing the people I loved. That wasn’t in the brochure, and if I’d had known, I would never have been brave enough to even try. I would have kept myself in my self-imposed isolation forever.
Dominic was asleep, propped against the wall beside the door, his body too exhausted from everything that had happened to stay awake and process this. It meant it was my turn to be the strong one, a role I’d been conditioned to play for a long time but never had the opportunity to use.
Radic had woken first, flinging himself around until he saw me. The first word past his lips was “Bonnie?”
I’d pushed his bed closer to hers, and when he could touch fingers, he went back to sleep. He’d only had a single gunshot wound, but it had nicked his heart and it was a miracle he’d survived long enough for X to arrive and fix it. How that giant, tattooed vampire knew how to do heart surgery was a mystery, but I was eternally grateful.
Bonnie had stirred, but still hadn’t woken. She had a collapsed lung and a gunshot wound to the chest, though luckily the bullet had missed anything vital. She also had a gunshot wound to the head, but it was just a graze. I had no idea who was watching over her, but she was so damn lucky. She’d take a little longer to heal apparently, but X had been happy with her progress.
My eyes kept drifting to the third bed, to Courtland’s washed-out complexion. X had sworn a lot as he performed surgery on my Alpha, muttering about them not being called outsides—whatever that meant—and growling at the ancient vampire helping him.
Nico. He was so old he made fear skitter down my spine, despite his pleasant smile and his Hawaiian shirt with cats in party hats.
But after three hours, they’d emerged, with Courtland’s legs in traction and his gut bandaged heavily. As soon as they’d said that he should be okay, that his body would begin to heal itself, Dominic had slumped against the wall and fallen asleep.
I should sleep too, but I didn’t want to be out of it if one of them woke up. I laid my head on Courtland’s bed, watching him breathe. Today had been the worst day of my life, and I couldn’t even begin to process it. I didn’t know where we even went from here. How could we live in this town, always expecting someone to jump out of the bushes and kill us to get to Courtland?
