In an effort to keep from pushing myself yet, I walked slowly to Egan’s bedroom and pounded on the door. “Egan.”
It opened immediately.
Egan’s pupils were in slits, his dragon already surfaced. “I felt it too. There have to be a ton of them.” He breathed hard, and smoke trickled out his nostrils.
That I agreed with. “We’re supposed to meet the others in the kitchen.” I’d bet the fae were out in the woods behind the house. That seemed to be where they stayed. The front side was closer to a road and other humans. Fae wanted to keep their existence a complete secret. They didn’t allow anyone else to enter their realm.
The door across the hall opened, and Axel and Roxy joined me in the hallway.
Roxy’s forehead was lined with worry. “Are we sure it’s them?”
That question annoyed the shit out of me. “I’m dizzy just like all the other times, and Egan felt it more strongly than normal too, so that’s a hard yes.”
“We don’t need to take out our frustration on each other.” Egan touched my shoulder. “Let’s head down and channel it on them.”
He had a point. “Come on.” I hurried to the stairs, and my vision seemed clearer. Don’t get me wrong, my head was still fuzzy, proving they were still here, but I could focus beyond that.
The three followed close behind, and as we passed the den, the sound of heavy footsteps coming in our direction comforted me. At least, we were all together before they attacked.
Cassius and Donovan came into view with the rest following closely behind.
The older vampire had a cell phone to his ear, and his usually pale face was flushed.
“Titan, I don’t know where they are. All we know is they’re here.”
There was a pause while he listened to Titan’s reply.
Donovan headed over to me and cupped my face. “Are you doing any better?”
“Yeah.” I still wasn’t back at my full, normal self, but I was better than I’d been minutes ago. “I think there are a lot here.”
“Can they come into the house?” Axel asked as he surveyed the area. “Or do they have to be invited in?”
“They aren’t vampires.” Lillith rolled her eyes. “Nothing’s holding them back.”
That was the nice thing about the dorms: they weren’t tied to an individual resident but rather rolling dwellers. Vampires didn’t have to be invited in just like regular public places.
Cassius hung up the phone. “They want us to meet them at least halfway. The closer we can get to their pack, the better since that’s where all the iron is.”
“We should’ve brought some back with us.” I hated that we hadn’t considered the possibility. We’d all had a good time earlier tonight and let our guard down. “But if we’re heading that way, we need to move. The more time we give them to set up a perimeter, the harder it’ll be to get past them.”
“Let’s go shift into our wolves.” Donovan rubbed his face. “We need to be in our strongest form from the start.”
“Then how are you going to hold iron?” I agreed with him, but if we could get to the metal, it’d do us more good. “I think we push ourselves in human form and get there as quickly as possible.”
“She has a point,” Roxy agreed. “We already know they can kick our asses in animal form. Do we need a repeat performance?”
“I’ll fly high and search for a path around the fae.” Egan pulled off his shirt. “And if I can distract them, I will. If I roar three times, that means to run hard and fast because they’re focused on me.”
“Tired of ripping all of your shirts from your body?” Lillith retorted. “I bet you don’t have many left.”
“Lillith,” Dawn chastised. “The man is helping us, and you’re going to insult him like that?”
“Don’t worry.” Katherine patted the woman’s arm. “He’s used to it.”
“Not helping.” Lillith play-scowled at her best friend. “Now I’m going to hear about it even more.”
“We need to take this seriously.” Paul hurried into the kitchen. “Everybody move.”
Egan pushed forward and opened the back door. As soon as he stepped outside, he dropped his pants and underwear, and his body contorted.
He was going full dragon.
I’d never seen anything like it before.
Roxy linked to just me as she rushed out the door. I’m disappointed we’re only getting the rear view. I heard they’re huge.
Can we save the penis conversation for later? The last thing we needed was a distraction when all this shit was about to go down. I’m sure Lillith would love to be privy.
Egan’s body grew larger and larger until it was roughly the size of a small house. His body took on dark olive-green scales, and his wings sprouted from his back. When it was over, he was the same height as a living room with vaulted ceilings. He took off into the sky, almost black in the darkness.
I breathed deep to catch any odd scents. We’d learned that the fae could hide their flowery smell easily, but they were also arrogant. If they thought there were enough of them, they might be more reckless.
However, nothing seemed out of sorts.
Since the dragon hadn’t alerted us to danger, I gestured to the woods, and everyone nodded.
In seconds, we were across the backyard and into the trees. In the darkness, if we hunkered low and stayed near the trees, maybe we’d be harder to find.
The vampires could run as fast as us in human form, so we all flew through the woods. Cassius took the lead with Donovan and me right behind him.
The older vampire knew the woods, helping us move faster without making noise. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been running, but the moon was high in the dark sky. It had to be midnight.
A loud growl came from the sky, and Egan swooped down low to our left. Flames blew out of his mouth at a threat.
It had to be the fae.
As he’d instructed before shifting, our group headed right, staying clear of the threat.
A shriek pierced before Egan flapped skyward again. Colorful sparks trailed behind him, almost hitting his backside.
We had to run faster.
Three roars rang in the air like he’d told us he’d do if he created a distraction. I had thought it wouldn’t come to this. I’d been so stupid.
“Hurry,” Cassius whispered over his shoulder.
No, he shouldn’t have spoken. Any nearby supernatural could’ve heard him.
We were over halfway to Titan’s pack. I thought we might make it the entire way, but all hope came crashing down when a fae stepped in front of Cassius.
The vampire grunted and stopped in his tracks, trying not to run into him.
I raised my hand so the others behind us knew to stop. There’s a fae up ahead.
Shit, what do we do? Axel asked as he and Roxy caught up to us.
“Daddy?” Lillith said with uncertainty as she watched her father stare down the fae.
“Get out of the way, or I’ll end you.” The fae had dark purple hair that flowed over her shoulders. She was four inches shorter than me, but her eyes held a fierceness I’d never seen before. She was colder than the vampire that had tried to kill Donovan and Axel; never had I faced someone with darker demons.
“What do you want?” Cassius demanded, his voice wavered. “We’re just out for a run.”
“Shifters aren’t the only ones who can detect lies.” Her dark purple eyes landed on me. They were so dark it was as if they were sunken into her face. She was beautifully terrifying. I’d never understood the phrase until now. “Now move. We want her, the filthy half-breed.”
She was honest, which wasn’t abnormal for fae. Maybe we could learn something from her. “How am I an abomination?”
“We sense the fae inside you, but you’re also a wolf.” She wrinkled her nose as she stepped past Cassius as if he were inconsequential. “Which means you must die.”
“I didn’t do anything to deserve death.” If they thought I would lie down and take their threats, they’d soon realize how wrong they were. “I’ve minded my own business my entire life. I don’t want anything to do with your kind.”