Almost like a secret message.
Maya held out her hand. "Now, sweetheart, I need you to trust me because we don't have much time. We need to get to your uncle and get out of here." Fast. Because if they were attacked, she feared she'd be too weak to protect the girl.
Cammie stared at her offered hand, then glanced back at the wolf. Her fingers lifted, stroked the bloody fur on his side.
"Cammie…" Screw it, she'd just grab her and run.
The girl placed her hand in Maya's.
Maya's breath expelled in a relieved rush. "Good girl. Now, I want you to stay with me, no matter what you see or what happens– you stay with me. And I promise, I'll get you to your uncle."
A slow nod.
"Then let's go."
Death. Blood. Screams. Howls.
As she'd thought, all hell had, indeed, broken loose in Temptation. Maya crouched in the stairwell. She'd opened the door a bare slit, just enough to see what was happening.
And, well, it definitely wasn't good.
Full-on shifted wolves were destroying the bar. Big, muscled beasts were breaking furniture and attacking the vampires, one after the other.
The humans screamed and ran for the exits.
The vamps fought back, trying to take down the wolves with claws and teeth.
The fact that the werewolves had even bigger claws and teeth made it one damn bloody fight.
Cammie's fingers tightened around hers. "I'm scared," the little girl whispered.
Maya raised her gun and prepared to enter the battle. But first, she cast a quick look back at the kid. Forced a smile. "Don't be, baby. I'm going keep you safe-I promised, remember?"
Cammie swallowed. Her lips lifted in a ghost of a matching smile.
Maya's heart pounded like crazy in her chest. She wouldn't be able to move fast enough, not with that damn ankle, so she'd probably have to take a few of the bastards down.
Unless they were smart enough to stay the hell out of her way.
Adam kicked in the back door, fear pumping through his blood as the screams filled his ears.
Cammie.
Maya.
He ran through the kitchen, past the men and women crouched on the floor and whimpering. He followed the howls, the scent of death.
He shouldn't have let her go in alone. He should never have let Maya-
"You're supposed to be f**king dead," a furious voice snarled and a bloody, blond vampire jumped in his path.
Torrence.
Fire shot through him and the dragon began to roar. "Sorry to disappoint you." Wolves raced around the room, vampires fought them, blood flowed.
"This time, I will kill you," Torrence promised.
Not damn likely.
"Just like I killed your vampire bitch!" Torrence leapt forward.
Maya.
The heat of the change swept through him. Adam lunged for the vamp. He'd rip the bastard apart, drink his blood, burn his flesh straight from his bones, and-
A shot rang out. Torrence jerked, black eyes flaring wide. Smoke rose in a slow, curling plume from the wound in his back.
The vampire fell, shrieking.
Adam came face-to-face with Maya.
"Idiot didn't kill me," she muttered, but looked very much like she was in jeopardy of falling down, too. "He just pissed me off."
The vampire was still alive. Adam reached for him. Time to finish-
"U-uncle Adam?"
The voice he heard in his dreams. He glanced back up, saw a pair of tear-filled brown eyes peering around Maya.
Cammie.
He jumped over the vampire. Grabbed his niece and held her as tight as he could.
He felt her heart racing against his. Felt her small arms curl around his neck. "Sweetheart, I've missed you."
She cried into his shirtfront.
"Uh, I'm all happy about the reunion," Maya said, "but you need to get her the hell out of here, now."
Adam looked up. Noticed that Maya looked too pale-too weak. Just like I killed your vampire bitch. "What'd he do to you?" He demanded.
A shrug. "Sicced his dog on me."
What? Her lips firmed. "Get her out of here, Adam. Take her back to the motel and I'll meet you-"
Adam kept a stranglehold on Cammie but reached for Maya with his right hand. "Screw that.
We're all leaving-"
She shook her head. "I-I can't. There's someone I-" A vampire grabbed her from behind, and Maya spun around, slashing with her claws.
The vamp backed away, shrieking.
More dead and wounded littered the floor.
Maya froze, her gaze trained across the room. "Hell."
Adam followed her stare and saw the fierce black wolf standing on the table, fangs bared. A wolf with half a right ear and eyes blazing with fury-eyes that were locked on Maya.
"Get her out of here," she ordered, lifting her gun and taking a stumbling step forward. "I'm not finished here yet."
"Maya, no!"
But she was hurrying into the fighting crowd, shoving and pushing her way through the throng of bodies.
Cammie trembled against him.
Get her out of here. Her words slammed through his mind, following their blood link.
Adam turned away, clutched Cammie tight.
And left Maya in the swirl of hell.
The words she's said less than an hour before played through his mind, lashing against his heart.
You'd have done the same for me, right? Fuck.
CHAPTER 13
Maya stumbled down the stairs. Shoved open the steel door-
And found a nude, dark-haired boy on the floor of the basement. A metal collar circled his throat.
He lifted his head at her approach, stared at her with pain-filled eyes.
He was a kid. Barely looked sixteen. Soft face. Desperate gaze.
Torrence and his vamps had trapped him there, held him captive.
The kid didn't deserve to die in that pit.
She took a step forward.
He lifted his right hand, claws ready.
A fighter to the end. "Take it easy. I'm not gonna hurt you." Any more than she already had. She moved toward him slowly, hands up. Her gun pressed against the base of her spine.
The bullet had caught the kid in the gut, and from the look of things, the silver bullet was still in him, slowly poisoning his body.
"You've got to let me take the bullet out," she said. "Then we have to get the hell out of here."
Her fingers lifted toward him.
He flinched away from her, moaning.
"I have to take it out, do you understand?" She wasn't sure he did. Silver poisoning-it could really screw with a wolf shifter's head. Drive him crazy. Slowly kill him.
The bullet had to come out.
"I'm going to reach for my knife, okay?" Not much cleaner than her claws, but it was sharper and should work easier. "I'm not pulling it as a weapon, got that? I'm gonna use it to dig that bullet out of you." She just hoped it wasn't too late for him.