The Trail Back (20 page)

“Brody said there are vampires close,”
Landon said.

“Stay in position until you can actually see one. Then kill it,”
Prescott said.

The pride enforcer stood at the foot of the front stairs. One of the town deputies, Cameron Harvey, was guarding the back stairs. If any vampires made it past all of them, then the plan was that Brody would take the mates somewhere safe. Paris sounded good to Brayden.

Brayden was shocked to see a vampire appear, as though by magic, and lift Sean above its head. It was hugely muscled and dressed in a dark suit. It swiftly knelt on one knee, its intention to break Sean’s spine across its bent knee was obvious.

Brayden didn’t stop to think. He lunged at the vampire’s thick throat and took as much of it as he could between his jaws. The flesh was tough, but Brayden’s sharp teeth still sank deep. Brayden heard the hiss of escaping air from the vampire’s punctured trachea, and shook his head, tearing free the flesh in his mouth.

Sean was unceremoniously dropped but still managed to land on his feet behind the vampire. It was clutching at its throat with both hands. Blood oozed between its fingers, and its mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Sean’s jaws closed over the vampire’s neck from behind, and with one bite, the vampire collapsed to the ground. Its head rolled a short distance before stopping in the grass.

Sean and Brayden immediately ran for the house, the roars and howls of pain alerting them to the presence of more vampires. Prescott had two vampires playing tug-of-war with his body. Landon was standing on his rear legs, a bloody body under his feet as he slashed at two other vampires with his massive paws.

“I’ll help Cameron. You help Prescott,”
Sean said. He ran in the direction of Cameron’s agonized howls.

Brayden ran at the vampire pulling on Prescott’s rear legs and clamped his jaws around one of its thighs. The limb was severed cleanly with the force of his bite. He swung around and knocked the vampire to the ground. It screamed in pain and slashed at Brayden with its long, sharp claws.

Pain seared down his side, but Brayden ignored it, focusing only on killing the threat to Abbie. He caught the hand that had slashed at him in his mouth, his teeth met, and the hand fell to the ground.

Blood from the vampire sprayed into his eyes and Brayden had to shake his head and blink several times to clear his vision. When the vampire came back into view it was trying to slide away, pushing itself along the ground with its two remaining limbs. Brayden jumped onto its body as Prescott appeared by its head and bit through the vampire’s neck.

As Brayden stood there panting, he saw Prescott’s body was covered in long, deep gashes. They were bleeding freely, but he was alive, he’d heal. A headless body sailed past them, mere inches above their heads. It was followed swiftly by another as it became eerily silent.

“One still got past me,”
Landon said. He was gone before Brayden and Prescott had started running for the stairs. Landon’s mate was in the house, too.

* * * *

Abbie stood next to Brody, her arms wrapped around her middle as the sounds coming from outside filtered into the room. The screams they all knew to be from the vampires, but the howls and roars were from shifters. Maybe from their mates. As horrific as the sounds had been, the silence that now descended on them was far worse.

“Are they all dead?” Meg asked, “The…the vampires, I mean. Are the vampires all dead?”

Abbie glanced to her and saw that she was clutching Brody’s arm with both of her hands, her face pale, and a sheen of sweat coating her forehead. Abbie imagined she looked just as bad, and she hadn’t just thrown up as poor Meg had.

“No,” Brody said. “There’s…”

“I’m still here,” Selwyn Graves drawled. “I wouldn’t let my precious hybrids slip from my grasp again, especially not one as sweet as you, Kaitlyn.”

“I’m not going to be easy prey this time,” Kaitlyn said. She wrapped an arm around Abbie’s shoulder. “Neither of us are.”

“I’ll have you both under my control and be gone in an instant. Your mates are too late. They shouldn’t have left you alone with only this boy to protect you.” He moved his lascivious gaze from Abbie and Kaitlyn to Brody. “He
is
pretty, though. I’ll take him, too.”

“You shouldn’t gloat over things you don’t understand, vampire,” Brody said softly. “Your overconfidence will be your undoing.”

“Will you help us, Brody?” Kaitlyn said. “Abbie and I can end this if you help us.”

The mayor was wearing the same suit Abbie had always seen him wear, but he now looked decidedly less manicured. He had a bleeding gash down one cheek. The front of his bespoke suit was soaked through with blood, the material clearly shredded from claws.

Selwyn’s look turned malicious. “You will suffer greatly for any defiance, my Kaitlyn. The wolf will tell you how long the days can seem when we choose to make them unpleasant.”

Abbie wouldn’t go back there. Never again would she be a prisoner. She shifted without any hesitation. She’d fight to stay with her mates.
A survivor, not a victim.
She felt the charge in the air as Kaitlyn shifted beside her. They both took a step toward the mayor.

“I can control you just as easily while you are in that form. Stop this now,” Selwyn said, his voice rising to a high-pitched bellow.

“Let them end it,” Sean said. “They both need this.”

Abbie didn’t take her gaze from the vampire as Sean spoke. The mayor, however, stared in open amazement at Sean.

“You will live a long life, shifter, knowing it is me keeping your mate company each night. You will…”

His words froze in his throat, and his eyes grew huge as he clutched at his chest. He screamed as the skin on his face rose in red bubbles. Kaitlyn’s panther leaped at the mayor and knocked him flat. He tried to swipe at her, but his hand shook as wisps of smoke rose from his swelling flesh.

As Kaitlyn bit down on one side the vampire’s neck, Abbie ran in and closed her jaws on the other side. He tasted acrid and stale on her tongue, but she bit down as hard as she could. When she had a good grip she dug in her paws and pulled back. A huge chunk of flesh tore loose. She spat it out and lunged again at the bloody and steaming mess that his neck had become. The mayor squirmed on the floor, his hands now quivering uselessly at his sides.

She saw Kaitlyn take another bite on the opposite side of his neck and heard the scrape as her teeth struck bone. Abbie tore away another chunk of flesh. It was now so hot that it burned her tongue before she quickly spat it out again. Brayden appeared next to her, naked and bloody. He was alive.

He looked magnificent as he reached down and wrapped his big hand around the mayor’s exposed spine. He squeezed and the bones shattered.

“For you, my little wolf,” he said.

His ice blue eyes shone with love as he picked her up and carried her to an armchair. He sagged into it and held Abbie to him, kissing her fur and murmuring that he loved her. He was alive. She snuggled close to her mate. She was calmed by his touch, soothed as his scent swam around her. Abbie took a deep breath and tried to slow her racing heart. She sent her love through the mating bond to Josh and Shane. She hoped they could feel her, hoped they were alive.

When Aiden arrived at the cabins in the center of the compound he didn’t need to use his senses to find out where the final standoff was taking place. He simply followed the trail of headless bodies. One was in the dirt at the beginning of a row of small wooden cabins. Another was lying on the stairs that lead up to one particular cabin.

Slowing as he approached that cabin, he stepped over another body lying over the broken pieces of what used to be a wooden door. The cabin was brightly lit by the early-morning sunshine as it streamed in through the bare windows. He took in the scene before him as he stepped up to Elliot’s side.

“You’re not going to get out of here alive, you know,” Aiden said.

A tall, blond vampire held his father-in-law before him like a shield. Ray’s eyes were closed, his thoughts silent. He was still breathing but was unconscious.

“If you want the kitty to live, then I suggest you rethink that assessment, asshole,” the vampire said.

He had one hand around Ray’s neck, his fingertips extended into viciously long claws that had dug deeply into the panther’s hide. Blood from Ray’s wounds ran down the vampire’s arm to stain his white business shirt and blue tie. The vampire’s other hand held vials of blood. He also planned to escape with a supply of his drug.

The cabin contained five large cages, all in a row. The stench of sweat and human excrement hung thick in the air. Two cages were empty, and two others each held a naked woman. They were both cowering in the far corners of their cages. They held each other’s hands through the bars, and their eyes were wide with fear in their emaciated faces.

The final cage contained a large man. His eyes were a fiery red with his rage. He stood at the front of his cage, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists around the bars. A wolf hybrid, he clearly hungered for murderous retribution, as he stared unblinkingly at the vampire holding Ray. Aiden would help the wolf fulfill his wish.

Aiden took a step closer to the vampire and it snarled, squeezing his hand tighter around Ray’s throat.

“Don’t!” Isabelle cried. She pulled Aiden back against her and Aiden saw the vampire’s hand relax slightly.

“I’m leaving now,” the vampire said, a smirk spreading across his face. “If I don’t hear you following me I may let the cat go free.”

He took a step away from them. It placed him closer to the cage containing the wolf. Aiden wished he could enter the hybrid’s mind to coordinate their attack, but he would simply have to trust that the wolf had quick reflexes.

Aiden moved as fast as could from a standing start and reached for the hand around Ray’s throat. With one hand on the vampire’s wrist and his other on the forearm, he twisted sharply as he pushed the vampire backward with his shoulder. The vampire’s hand was torn from his arm as he flew back to collide with the wolf’s cage. Its scream of pain was cut short as the wolf’s arms wrapped tight around his throat. Aiden caught Ray before he hit the ground, the vampire’s hand still attached to his neck by its deeply embedded claws.

Aiden didn’t see Isabelle move, but he heard her growl. He looked up to see her twisting the vampire’s body as the wolf continued to hold it by the neck. When its neck snapped with a satisfying
crack
, the wolf released it and pulled his arms back through the bars. Isabelle stepped back and allowed the vampire to slump to floor. Elliot shifted and placed one foot on the vampire’s chest as he bent and tore its head free with his bare hands.

“Now it’s dead,” Elliot said. His rumbling growl shook the cabin.

Aiden passed Ray to Isabelle as she moved to kneel beside him. She would care for her mate now. Aiden pulled his cell phone from his pocket and took a picture of the decapitated head at his feet. He stepped to the doorway and did the same with the body there. He wanted Kaitlyn to confirm that Selwyn Graves was among the dead here. Aiden would continue to hunt him if he wasn’t. No matter how long it took, he would make sure he had forever with his mate.

Brayden held a shaking Abbie in his arms as the remainder of the pride streamed into the room. Sean swept Kaitlyn up in his arms and sat down on the sofa opposite Brayden. Prescott growled and shifted. Meg threw herself into his arms and wrapped herself around him. He held her close and slumped down on the sofa beside Sean.

“What the fuck did you do to the mayor, Brody?” Prescott said. He was rubbing his hands soothingly over Meg’s back.

“Mmmm,” Brody said.

Brayden looked over his shoulder to see Landon holding Brody in his arms as he kissed his mate. The huge man was covered in blood, but Brody didn’t seem to care as he gripped Landon’s hair with both hands and held his mate tight to his lips.

“Are you two injured?” Prescott asked.

Brayden shook his head and continued to stroke his hand reassuringly over Abbie’s coat. She lifted her head and looked at him. “I’m not hurt, Abbie. Just a few scratches, they’ll be healed before we get you home.”

She licked his chest, and he couldn’t help the shiver that ran through him. His mate’s touch was incredible.

“Same,” Sean said, caressing his mate as she purred on his lap. “We need to get Cameron some help. He has a broken leg.”

There was a snarl, and Brayden turned to see Cameron limp into the room.

“The vampire nearly ripped his leg off.”

Brayden simply nodded as they all came down from their adrenaline rush. The mates were safe, and the mayor was dead. He just needed word that the rest of the pride in Canada was alive, and then this would nearly be over.

Brody went to stand next to Cameron with Landon holding one of his hands. “Shall I take Cameron to Charlie now?”

“No,” Prescott said. “We need to wait until Samson is sure that there are no more vampires in town.”

Brody nodded and backed into Landon, who wrapped his arms around him.

“I’m curious, too, about what you did to the mayor,” Sean said. “It looked painful.”

“I heated all the water molecules in his body. I thought it would distract him so the ladies could kill him.”

“Boiled alive and then decapitated,” Prescott said. “It’s still a more merciful death than he deserved. Aiden will be disappointed.”

“He will be,” Sean snorted. “He’ll be happy that Kaitlyn had a hand in his death, though.” He bent and kissed Kaitlyn’s head. “Do you think we could borrow some clothes for Abbie and Kaitlyn?”

“I’ll get them,” Brody said. He disappeared just as the sound of an approaching truck reached them.

Prescott simply said, “Lachlan.”

Less than a minute later the pride Beta ran into the room. He went straight to Meg and took her from Prescott. He sat with her across his lap and stroked a hand down her face.