Page 61 of Auctioned to the Alpha

(I’m close)

You are? How—

Greely turned about then, staring down at her, malevolence in his gaze. “Time to look her over, I think. Don’t you, Straker? See if we can find it.”

The silvery glow of multiple sets of eyes winked into being in the underbrush behind the massive bulk of Straker—and they were close indeed.

She glared up at her captor, shaking her head violently.

“Oh, some spirit after all in our little whore omega! Have something to say, do you?”

Stacy nodded frantically.

Greely laughed. He dropped to a knee, one of his dirty, horrific nails extending before her like a straight razor. “If I cut off your gag,noscreaming. If you do, I’ll be replacing it with something much less pleasant. Understand?”

Nodding once more, she froze as his repulsive—butverysharp—claw slid down between her cheek and the cloth. With a quick jerk, he sliced the gag away. He rose to his feet once more.

A rustling of the underbrush could just be heard, and suddenly Straker wheeled around, facing toward it.

Two heads bounced upon the ground with a sickeningthunk, like melons falling from the kitchen counter and hitting the floor. Their lifeless eyes were open, their mouths yawning wide, their maws displaying twin hideously sharp fangs.

“These the two partners of yours?” Dmitri’s towering form strode slowly out of the underbrush, a great, carved wooden spear in one hand, the gold-hilted haft of a giant sword just visible over his shoulder, the weapon strapped to his back. He was naked save for the thick leather strap running diagonally across his torso, his eyes shining like star light. He poked the decapitated heads with the spear’s point. “You at least got one thing right.Thosetwo are definitely… done.”

Three huge wolves emerged from the brush, flanking him, one at his right, and two at his left. Their muzzles were drenched in crimson, rendered into an almost coal-black in the low light, their fearsome teeth bared.

Taking a deep breath, she sneered up at Greely. “You vampires are alotdumber than the stories make you out to be.”

CHAPTER27

Dmitri

The big one was going to be a serious problem.

Dmitri lunged forward before either of the night fiends could react, driving the spear point into the thigh of the huge vampire.

Straker? Striker? Maybe I’ll just call him big motherfucker for short.

Huge his opponent may have been, but he was deceptively fast, as even the slowest vampires were. While Knox circled around behind the big vamp, Matthias and Ryan leaped upon Straker, tearing at his shoulders and neck, their combined weight staggering the vampire.

But only for a moment.

In a flash, he’d hurled Mattias completely free, the wolf hurtling feet over snout, howling in pain as he crashed into the underbrush somewhere in the dark. Ryan fared better, tearing a great chunk of flesh from the vampire’s neck, blood spraying in a wild arc, but even in that split second, Dmitri knew it wasn’t even close to a fatal wound.

Greely moved so fast that he barely had time to register he was at his side before the vampire collided with him, knocking Dmitri off his feet, and sending him sprawling against the base of a gnarled tree. The thorns of a bramble sunk in like fire around his arm as he reached behind him to draw his sword.

Strangely, the blow hadn’t hurt him, despite the incredible power the vampires could generate.

Greely stood over him for a split second, his fanged maw spreading in a horrific rictus. “Too easy, mongrel.”

Then Straker struck Ryan with a tremendous blow, stunning him enough for the huge brute to drag the wolf off of him and fling him too into the brambles. Ryan’s pained bark heralded his crash into the thorns’ agonizing embrace.

Greely was momentarily distracted by Ryan’s howls of pain, and it was more than enough.

Stabbing sure and true, Dmitri put the spear clean through the belly of Greely, the tip of the weapon puncturing out through the vampire’s back. Though that too was not a mortal wound, the pain and shock of the blow staggered Greely, and he stumbled for a moment.

With a vicious swing, Dmitri swept the sword around, and in one clean blow he sliced completely through the vampire’s legs just above the knee. Great gouts of black blood sprayed forth, Greely toppling to the ground, cursing in his vile vampire tongue, his lower legs collapsing to the dirt, blood soaking them.

“Dmitri!” Stacy screamed, a split second before a blow of tremendous force struck him at the side of his head, just above his ear, sending him cartwheeling over the still-yelling Greely.

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