“Hey—” Despite my enhanced hearing, his words are hard to make out through the thundering noise of the crowd.
“Give me a second to get somewhere quiet,” I shout into the phone. “I’ll be back. I need to take this,” I tell Meiying. She waves me off, her attention focused on her own phone as her fingers fly over the keyboard. Standing, I make my way through the stands, slipping through the bleachers and heading for the parking lot gate.
The half-time show is starting up and everyone is on their feet dancing to whatever song the cheer squad has going on.
“Excuse me. Sorry.” I brush past a group of humans and finally make it outside the gate. It’s still loud out here but the noise level is no longer deafening.
“Sorry about that. How are you?” I ask as I stride further across the darkened lot toward the corner of the school. The lights barely illuminate the space but shifter senses allow me to see well enough, so I don’t worry about it being dark.
“I’m good. Now, tell me about this guy you mentioned you’re seeing.”
I laugh, hearing the protective tone in his voice. “Chill with the big-brother vibes. Nothing serious is going on.”
He snorts. “Isa, you don’t date. Oliver was the exception and we saw how that went.”
I groan. “Please don’t remind me.” If I could forget ever being with Oliver, that’d be the day.
“I’m serious, though. Is he good to you?”
A smile spreads over my face as I think about Rafael. He’s still an asshole to everyone else in this school but in the small pockets of time we happen to get alone, he’s different. Still cocky and possessive but also kind, thoughtful, and surprisingly funny. Just thinking about this past week we’ve had together is enough to make butterflies dance in my stomach.
“Yeah, Josué. He is. I don’t know what it is about him but…” I trail off and narrow my eyes in the dark as I spot two men ten yards away from me. They’re not doing anything, just standing there, watching me, but still … goosebumps spread across my skin. I try to pinpoint what has my hackles rising but they’re not doing anything. Just staring.
That’s when I realize it’s their stillness that has me suddenly on high alert. Only a vampire can stand so eerily still.
“You still there?” Josué asks.
“Yeah. I’m here. Sorry, umm, what was I saying?” I turn away from the men and head back across the parking lot. I’d inadvertently pulled myself away from the safety of the crowd. I have no reason to think they’re a threat. Tonight’s game is supposed to draw the factions together. There were bound to be vampires here. But everything looks different now. Darker, more sinister. My heart races in my chest and I can barely make out Josué’s words as panic bubbles inside me. My wolf is snarling at me to shift but I ignore it. If I shift here on neutral ground, I run the risk of being expelled or worse. Shifting in itself is a sign of aggression. The vampires could see it as cause to try and put me down.
I scan the area and see Sabrina across the parking lot, but there’s no way I’m going to her for safety. I’m not that stupid. I don’t see anyone else close by, though. I chance a look behind my shoulder and just as I turn, my phone is snatched from my fingertips. The call is ended and my phone is tossed carelessly to the ground. “Hey!”
The man who took it grabs me by the throat and slams me against the brick wall of the school with supernatural strength. My head slams against the hard surface and my vision blurs, a strangled cry pouring from my lips.
“This her?” Another voice asks.
A smile. “Yeah. It’s her.”
I call on my wolf but before my shift can take hold, a strong grip on my arm grabs me at the elbow and twists.
Bone snaps. I open my mouth to scream but no sound comes out, the hand at my throat effectively cutting off all sound. My vision swims as I ride through the pain. I can’t breathe.
Both men laugh, their voices sinister. I claw at the hand at my throat with my other arm but it’s no use. He’s too strong.
“Come on, we’ll take her over here.” The man holding my throat says as he whirls me around. One arm bands beneath my chest, pinning my arms to my sides while the other one grips my throat. His skin is cold where it meets mine, his body hard like granite.
My broken arm hangs useless at my side, the pain near blinding with each jostle as he drags me further away from the safety of the school. I kick and thrash in his grip to no avail.
“Looks like tonight is our lucky night. What should we do with the bitch first?”
“Shut up, Elliot.” The vamp holding me says and I latch onto the crumb of information.
“My apologies, Samuel. I’m just excited. It’s not often we have free reign with a shifter.”
I kick out with my feet, connecting with the vampire’s shin and Samuel grunts, his grip on my throat loosening ever so slightly. I suck in a breath and try to scream but all I can muster is a wheezing sound before his grip tightens again and the second vampire, Elliot, slaps me across the face with vampire strength. The skin on my cheek splits on impact and my eyes roll back in my head, but I barely make a sound.
My head pounds from the lack of oxygen and the strength in my limbs is slowly leeching out of me. The vampire drops me to the ground and I reach for my wolf, but a swift kick to my chest has me flipping to my back right as a booted foot slams down beneath my breast bone. All the air I’d just taken in rushes out in a harsh pain filled exhale.
Mother fu—