Page 77 of Claimed By Blood

“Stay.” Armin growls. “I must insist.”

But he’s cut off by a siren filling the air. Morwen curses loudly, before rounding on him.

“If we lose this mark, maybe Cain will finally let me stake you,” she growls, jerking her chin at Immy and me to follow her. “We’re leaving. If you don’t believe us, check your camera feeds. I bet they got wiped as soon asyoudrew attention to us. It’ll takeweeksfor us to get this close again.”

Immy slips around Armin, and I follow her lead. He stands there, unmoving, as those dark eyes scan over us, as if he thinks we’ll slip up and give ourselves away.

“I’ll report this to your sire,” he says, as I brush past him.

“You do that,” I retort, as my stomach clenches in fear. “And make sure to tell him about how you fucked up our mission while you’re at it.”

The guards start to follow us, but Armin throws his hand out, stopping them. Whatever his reasons, I don’t trust them, and I find myself double checking behind us as we follow Morwen up the stairs and away from the building.

“Keep walking,” she hisses, as we pass the crowd of evacuated humans grumbling about the fire alarm.

As if I haven’t already noticed the men tailing us.

The three of us stride along the busy street, and I’m thankful that it’s still busy despite the late hour. More scents around us means it will be easier to lose whoever’s following us.

We don’t make it far before the low hum of a hover drive assaults my ears. I turn, just in time to see Vane and Draven jump out of a van and drag Immy and Morwen into it. I go to follow, but a pair of hands lands on my shoulders before I can take more than a single step. My hand falls to my weapon and I whirl, expecting it to be the vampires following us. Before I can turn more than half-way, I’m yanked backwards into a different car. A glance is all it takes for me to recognise it as the one we drove here in.

“Drive,” the alpha orders.

Oh fuck. I can tell from that one snapped-out word that Gideon ispissed.

I try not to pay too much attention to him; instead, I seek out Finn. Our bond is still practically vibrating with his tension, and it doesn’t feel like it’s related to what’s happening.

Frost is in the driver’s seat, careening our car through traffic like he’s trying to kill us—but I’m beginning to suspect that’s just his natural driving style. Silas is in the passenger seat beside him, holding his phone to his ear as he shoots frantic glances in the mirror, and Gideon is beside me, in the middle of the back seat, having been the one to drag me off the street.

On the other side of the alpha, trying to crush himself into the door in order to avoid so much as touching him, is our omega.

“Vane confirmed. They’ve got Morwen and Immy in the van,” Silas mutters, putting his phone down and dumping it on the dash. “Noha is taking them a different route back to evade anyone else who might be following them.”

“Good,” Frost mutters, and I grimace as he takes yet another corner too fast, and I end up half-falling onto Gideon’s lap.

“Good?!” the other alpha spits. “What about this situation can be described as ‘good?’ She went out to collect blood and decided to go dancing in the HQ of one of Cain’s most ambitious upstart generals!”

“It wasn’t her fault, okay? So don’t give her shit about it.” I’m not used to Finn snapping back, and neither is anyone else if the silence that fills the vehicle is any indication.

Down the thrall bond, his emotions are engaged in a chaotic war against the force of his instincts. Finn the omega wants to cuddle the shit out of the grumpy alpha until he calms down. But Finn the man is so pissed with Gideon that he’d rather hug a cactus.

Gideon, to his credit, says nothing back. If anything, he withdraws into himself slightly.

Silas finally breaks the silence. “It sounds like this was an innocent mistake—”

Whatever kept Gideon from arguing with Finn evidently doesn’t apply to Silas, because the alpha cuts him off without waiting for him to finish. “That ‘innocent mistake’ practically waved a red fucking flag in Cain’s face, telling him where we are!”

“This discussion can wait until we have all the details and everyone is calmer.” Frost’s tone leaves no room for argument.

Gideon’s jaw clenches. “You—”

“Don’t make me turn on the radio to drown out your shit.” Frost meets his eyes in the mirror, daring the other alpha to call his bluff.

I don’t have to be lycan to feel the silent battle taking place. It’s a bit like watching two giant predators circle one another, both knowing that once they start the fight, there’s no going back. I’m willing to bet that, if they ever did go against each other, neither would win. The only thing they would accomplish is tearing the pack apart.

Some part of Gideon must realise that too, because he shuts his mouth and settles for glaring moodily out of the windshield.

With nothing else to do, and no desire to speak and ignite the powder keg of discontent that’s brewing in the backseat, I rest my head against the window and close my eyes. It doesn’t block out the tension, but I do manage to drift off. When I wake, it’s to the sound of Silas speaking to someone on the phone. I’ve missed most of the conversation, so I tune him out and focus on the world beyond the window.

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