Page 135 of Claimed By Blood

Gideon rips his throat out with his claws before he can scream, but he’s not alone.

I barely parry the blade that’s aimed at my neck, but my attacker doesn’t get the chance to strike again because Gideon is on him.

I stare, and stare, and stare some more.

I’ve never seen him shifted before. In fact, I’m beginning to think I’ve never seen an alpha lycan shifted, because Gideon is larger than any I’ve ever seen.

He’s huge, towering over me with the remnants of his clothes hanging from his frame in shreds that just about cover his modesty. Like most lycans, he stands on two feet, with a lupine muzzle, large ears, wiry black fur and gleaming eyes.

He dispatches my attacker and whirls to take out the next, and I’m forced to break my perusal of him to duck and smash my fist into the face of the next one.

In seconds, we’re surrounded by withering bodies. Gideon snarls out something which might’ve been ‘get moving’ but which is distorted by his lupine jaw, and the two of us streak up higher into the mountain.

This high up, the cloud surrounds us, forming a thick, cold mist that shrouds everything. It works wonders for keeping us hidden, but does the same for our enemies.

By the time we burst out into the gardens of the manor, we’ve taken out three squads between us and are breathing heavily.

“The van is gone,” I realise, as I take in the scorched and burning front entrance of the manor.

I check the bond to Finn, only to find that he’s moving away from us, and fast.

“They’ve left without us. Why would they do that?”

Gideon snarls, losing his hold on his lycan form and shrinking back to human. “Frost must have made the call to protect Finn,” he mutters. “We had no way to communicate and when shit gets dangerous, we have an understanding that we’ll split up and meet at the rendezvous… either that, or they’ve already been taken.”

I shake my head. “No. He’s not struggling. He’s stressed, but not in pain.”

That calms the alpha a little. His shoulders lose some of their rigidity, and he casts a glance my way. “Then we need to leave.”

I suck in a breath and turn on my heel. Only to forget my exhaustion as the move brings the mausoleum into my field of vision and I catch sight of a blazing streak of red hair at the entrance.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

EVELYN

“Immy,”I snarl, automatically taking a step forward.

Gideon’s hand on my arm stops me. “We don’t have time for this,” he says.

He’s right. We don’t. But Immy makes the decision for us. She stops cowering and steps out of the mausoleum, striding across the space between us.

She’s not alone.

Behind her, a pack of ghouls is stumbling and shambling out of the marble building, forming an entourage that just keeps growing.

None of them make a move to attack her.

“I thought Frost was commanding the ghouls,” I murmur. “Why are they not attacking her?”

Gideon’s hand tightens on my arm. “We’re getting out of here. Now.”

I don’t fight him as he starts to tug me away. In fact, I run with him for the first few steps, glancing over my shoulder as we go.

She’s closer now, and the lack of distance allows me to see that there’s somethingwrongwith my sister. She’s not walking as gracefully as she normally does, and for a second, I think she’s injured herself. Then I realise her mouth is half-open, and held that way by teeth that are just a little too… long.

It’s the claws still pushing through her fingertips that make everything click.

“She took my blood and used it to turn herself into a hybrid,” I growl, fury rising up once more.

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