I didn’t even get my thirty days,he thought, every muscle in his body coiled tight with the urge to protect her.I can’t lose you now. I won’t.
But if Malachi had sent Bite to do a job… Well, it wasn’t terribly likely that he’d be the one walking away.
The man himself murmured in a silky voice, “Miss Wright, please put your back against the wall. I don’t like shooting women.”
Maxine made a soft sound of rage deep in her throat as she backed up one stilted step at a time. When her spine hit the wall, she seethed, “Both of you are fucking cowards.”
“You know you’re dead, right?” Francesca breathed. Her gaze flicked up to level a poisonous glare at her captor. “Whatever you do. Whatever happens in the next few minutes. Whatever choice youthinkyou have, you don’t. You’re a dead man, Easton, because if my man doesn’t kill you, I will.”
Luis snagged her attention with an exasperated look.Don’t move,he silently instructed her.
A myriad of emotions passed through Francesca’s expressive eyes before they settled on the one that scared him most: defiance.
“The anchor for the witch,” Easton spat. “He knows what she means to you now, Luis. He knows that you’ll trade. You call Felix and tell him to deliver?—”
Gods bless her and curse in equal measure, but his incredible, defiant,brilliantanchor chose that moment to bring the meat of Easton’s forearm to meet her blunt teeth.
It was something of a universal truth that no vampire truly thought they’d be bitten. It just wasn’t done. Not even in the crudest, most ruthless syndicate circles would a man think todefend himself against a bite. Under normal circumstances, it was the kiss of death to both. The injected venom killed the bitten and the poisoned blood killed the biter.
Only the truly mad or desperate made that kind of call.
So it explained why no one seemed to expect his wily anchor to do exactly that.
Luis lunged as Easton howled a curse. The bolt gun moved off his neck. He expected to feel the instant, searing agony of a plasma bolt, but he didn’t stop moving for a second. He snatched Francesca around the waist and dragged her to the floor a moment before the air filled with the ozone and cooked meat scent of a bolt shot finding its target.
Which, as it happened, wasn’t him.
Easton collapsed onto the wood floor, the left half of his face missing. Behind him, a white curtain still billowed despite the hole that had been singed through it.
Maxine let out a sound that wasn’t quite a scream and lurched away from the wall. It was somewhere between that and a moan — the sound of a terrible sort of grief he’d seen played out again and again.
Cursing, Luis covered Francesca as much as he could and swiveled his head to get a good look at Bite, who hadn’t moved from his spot by the doorway. The assassin watched dispassionately as Maxine bowed over her cousin’s body.
“You fuckingidiot,”she seethed, knocking the gun out of his limp hand.
Francesca squirmed beneath him. “Max,” she called out, reaching for her friend. “Oh, gods, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Forcing himself to ignore them both, Luis snatched the gun off the floor and aimed it at the man in the doorway.
“I’m not here to kill you,” Bite mildly informed him, as if he’d just stopped by to drop off a note or a bottle of synth. Lowering his own weapon, he casually leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb and crossed one expensive leather boot over the other. Dark eyes that had seen more horror than most people could imagine glanced meaningfully down at Francesca. “I’m not here for her, either.”
Luis’s lip curled over his fangs. “You’re here for Malachi.”
“Of course I am,” he replied, “but that’s not why I shot the idiot.”
He was too busy keeping his aim on Bite to keep Francesca in place. His anchor, her mouth smeared with vampire blood once again, crawled over to her friend. Draping herself over Maxine like she could hide her from everyone, including Luis, she snarled, “Why are you here, then?”
He lifted his chin. The warm light filtering from the glass globes around the room glanced off high cheekbones and dark skin. “I need you to tell Ginny something for me.”
Luis stared down the barrel of his gun, his stomach sinking. “What?”
Standing up straight again, Bite tucked his gun into its holster. Dark eyes gleamed green in the shadow of the hallway as he took a step backward. “Time’s up.”
EPILOGUE
“You’resureit’s a good idea for us to come home already?”
Luis squeezed her hand. “I think leaving the safety of our home was a mistake. I loved being alone with you, but this is a family fight now. Plus, if we stayed away any longer, I’m pretty sure Marietta and Dahlia would just move in with us.”